belagavi l wednesday l august 13, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late city EDITION Govt nod for 4 chip plants worth `4,594 cr in Odisha, Punjab, AP odisha to witness `4,009 crore investment Vaishnaw said SiCSem will set up a silicon carbide semiconductor plant in Bhubaneswar for B2,066 crore, while Intel-backed 3D Glass Solutions will establish a manufacturing unit in Odisha with an investment of B1,943 cr; electronics component maker CDIL will set up a facility in Punjab for B117 crore; and ASIP will establish a chip packaging plant in AP for B468 crore Out of the four projects, Odisha will get two, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh one each, Union I&B minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Tuesday ■ `76,000 cr In all, 10 projects under national mission ■ The four new projects together are expected to generate a cumulative employment for 2,034 skilled professionals, a govt release said | P9 With the four new approvals, the total approved projects under the India Semiconductor Mission is now 10 with cumulative investments of around B1.6 lakh crore spread across six states, the release added outlay of semiconductor mission under which projects are approved CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Dr G: K’taka will regulate online games based on report E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bengaluru KARNATAKA Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara on Tuesday told the Assembly that the State Government is keen to regulate online gaming platforms. The government would take action after the committee led by senior IPS officer Pranab Mohanty submits its report in September, said Dr Parameshwara. The online gaming market in India is more than $590 million, the House was told by ITBT Minister Priyank Kharge. Dr Parameshwara said that youth are getting addicted to online games and betting, leading to social concerns. He said in the last three years 347 cases have been booked related to online gaming. This includes 84 in 2023, 104 and 159 cases. In 2021, the previous BJP government had amended the Karnataka Police Act to prohibit online games. This was challenged by the All-India Gaming Federation and the Act was struck down by the High Court in 2022. The state government has challenged this before the Supreme Court. Gaming refers to online games involving wagering, payment through virtual currency elec, tronic transfers and other means. Instruments of games include computer or computer systems, mobile apps, cyber space and other virtual platforms and software accessories for online gaming. Dr Parameshwara was responding to BJP MLA S Suresh Kumar who asked why the government has not succeeded in vacating the stay order even after two years. He said online gaming companies are sending messages tempting people to play online games. Unfortunately noted actors and sports , persons are advertising on behalf of these companies.  P4 Dogs to detect drones fired from Pak The Border Security Force has trained dogs to detect drones carrying drugs and weapons coming from across the IndiaPakistan international border. The animals can pick up the mechanical buzzing sound of the flying machines that humans ears can’t | P10 Inclusion or exclusion from rolls within Election Commission of India’s ambit, says bench Bihar SIR appears to be a trust deficit issue: SC S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that the special intensive revision (SIR) in Bihar appears to be a matter of trust deficit, adding inclusion or exclusion of citizens from electoral rolls was within the ambit of the Election Commission of India (ECI). A bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, which commenced the hearing on a batch of petitions, called the SIR row “largely a trust deficit issue”, going by the ECI’s claim that roughly 6.5 crore of the total 7.9 crore voting population didn’t have to file any documents for themselves or their parents who featured in the 2003 poll roll. Besides, “if out of 7.9 crore voters, 7.24 crore voters responded to SIR, it demolishes the theory of one crore voters missing or disenfranchised,” the bench said. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha and others, argued that the exclusion of about 65 lakh voters from the draft elec- toral roll is illegal. “Despite residents holding Aadhaar, ration and EPIC cards, officials refused to accept the documents. People were struggling to find birth certificates and other documents of their parents, he said. However, Justice Surya Kant told Sibal he was making a very sweeping statement that nobody has documents in Bihar. “If this happens in Bihar, then what will happen in other parts of the country?” he wondered. Contrary to its earlier advise to the ECI to consider Aadhaar and voter I-cards for the SIR process, the bench agreed with the poll body that they were not proof of citizenship. Senior advocate Abhishek Gaza GENOCIDE It’s Priyanka vs Israel envoy PR E E T H A N A IR @ New Delhi Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Israeli Ambassador to India Reuven Azar were at daggers drawn on Tuesday after the former accused Israel of committing “genocide” and criticised the Indian government’s “shameful” silence over “the devastation on the people of Palestine”. The Wayanad MP’s remarks received a sharp response from Israel’s ambassador to India, Reuven Azar. “What is shameful is your deceit. Israel Killed 25,000 Hamas terrorists. The terrible cost in human lives derives from Hamas’s heinous tactics of hiding behind civilians, their shooting of people trying to evacuate or receive assistance and their rocket fire,” Azar said on X. The diplomat’s reply was to a post by Priyanka on the microblogging platform that Israel has “murdered over 60,000 people, 18,430 of whom were children”. Targeting the BJP-led government at the Centre, the Congress leader said enabling these crimes by silence and inaction is a crime in itself. Priyanka Gandhi In another post on X, Priyanka said the “cold blooded murder” of five Al Jazeera journalists is another heinous crime committed on Palestinian soil and said the immeasurable courage of those who dare to stand for the truth will never be broken by the violence and hatred of the Israeli state. “In a world where much of the media is enslaved to power and commerce, these brave souls reminded us of what true journalism is. May they rest in peace,” she said. In a sharp response, the Israeli envoy said that Israel facilitated two million tonnes of food into Gaza while Hamas tries to sequester them, creating hunger. “Gaza population has grown 450 per cent in the last 50 years, no genocide there. Don’t buy Hamas numbers,” Azar said on X. Bombay HC: Aadhaar isn’t citizenship proof The Bombay High Court on Tuesday denied bail to an alleged Bangladeshi national, saying mere possession of documents such as Aadhaar card, PAN card or a Voter ID card does not make someone a citizen of India. “They are meant for identification or availing services, but do not override the basic legal requirements of citizenship as prescribed in the Citizenship Act, 1955,” Justice Borkar said | P10 Singhvi, representing different political parties, questioned the timeline — just before the Bihar state polls — for the completion of the exercise. The court, however, stressed that as per the rules, those excluded have to submit applications for inclusion, and it is only at this stage that anyone’s objection will be considered. But Singhvi submitted that the EC was never intended to be the policeman of citizenship. “What is happening here is de facto deletion. Non-inclusion is the clever word being used here.” Sibal pointed out that while in one constituency in the state, contrary to the poll panel’s claims, 12 people declared dead were found alive, in another instance alive persons were declared dead. But senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the ECI, said any exercise of such a nature was bound to have some defects at the draft stage. “This process can be rectified,” Dwivedi said. The arguments were inconclusive and would continue on Wednesday . EC gets plaint on Siddu’s 2018 ‘vote purchase’ Amid vote theft charges against the poll body in Karnataka, BJP MP Lahar Singh Siroya petitioned the ECI citing a video of former Union Minister CM Ibrahim claiming he had ‘purchased’ 3,000 votes in the 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections to ensure a narrow victory of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the Badami Assembly constituency  FULL STORY P4 E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Bengaluru The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), under the Union Government’s Department of Space, on Tuesday announced the selection of a consortium led by Bengaluru- based PixxelSpace India (PSI) for developing India’s first indigenous constellation of earth observing (EO) satellites under a public-private partnership (PPP) model. IN-SPACe’s partnership with the consortium is aimed at designing, building and operating India’s first fully indige- express read Bird flu virus mutation threat to humans, find IISc researchers BENGALURU: IISc researchers have found that the H5N1 (bird flu) virus can be a potential threat to humans due to specific mutations, suggesting enhanced and proactive surveillance measures. P9 Dharmasthala case: BJP seeks interim report on SIT probe BENGALURU: BJP demanded that Karnataka government release an interim report on SIT’s investigation into the Dharmasthala case. They also demanded that the government reveal the identity of masked complainant. P5 B’luru stampede: Ashoka wants Siddaramaiah, DKS, Dr G to resign BENGALURU: LoP R Ashoka demanded the resignation of CM Siddaramaiah, DCM DK Shivakumar and Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara, terming them A1, A2 and A3, over the stampede during RCB’s celebrations. P4 From netas to abhinetas, growl grows louder A dog lover at a demonstration for stray dogs, in New Delhi on Tuesday | PTI From the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha to Bollywood’s leading men, the tribe of ‘big brothers’ for stray dogs is growing. The backlash came from all quarters in both bark and bite. After a day of high drama, marching with INDIA bloc colleagues from Parliament to the Election Commission of India’s office over revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, Rahul Gandhi took a moment to post on social media, aimed, perhaps, at a different constituency of voters. Dog parents and animal lovers have not been at rest since the Supreme Court’s directive on Monday to remove all stray dogs from DelhiNCR and place them in shelters within eight weeks. Rahul described the PR E E T H A N A IR @ New Delhi Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday announced a threemember panel to probe charges against Justice Yashwant Varma after admitting a multi-party notice for his removal, setting in motion the process of impeachment of the Allahabad High Court judge. The inquiry committee includes Supreme Court judge Justice Aravind Kumar, Madras High Court Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava, and senior Karnataka High Court advocate B V Acharya. “The committee will submit its report as early as possible. The proposal (for removal of Justice Varma) will remain pending till the receipt of the report of the inquiry committee,” Birla said. The LS Speaker said he had received a proposal from 146 Lok Sabha members, including Ravi Shankar Prasad and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, seeking removal of Justice Varma on July 21. The committee was set up in accordance with Section 3(2) of the Judges What happens next If the committee finds Justice Varma guilty, the inquiry report will be tabled in Parliament, followed by a discussion in both Houses after which there will be voting on the motion for the removal of the judge (Inquiry) Act 1968, he added. A fire incident at Justice Varma’s residence in the national capital in March, when he was a judge at the Delhi High Court, had led to the discovery of sackfuls of burnt cash at the outhouse. Though the judge claimed ignorance about the cash, a Supreme Court-appointed committee indicted him after speaking to a number of witnesses and recording his statement. India’s 1st PPP model EO sat constellation gets push SC ruling on stray dogs Pa r am i ta G ho s h @ New Delhi Justice Aravind on panel of 3 to probe Varma misconduct 2 girl students mauled by stray dogs in B’luru Two students, who went for a morning walk inside the campus of Dr BR Ambedkar School of Economics University in Jnanabharathi, Bengaluru, on Tuesday morning, were mauled by a pack of stray dogs. The woman, Soujanya GJ from Haveri, and Rega Nikshitha from Telangana, both aged 20, are third year MSc students, and were staying in the college hostel directive as a “step back from decades of humane, science-backed policy”. He added that “shelters, sterilisation, vaccination & community care can keep streets safe” without the need for “blanket removals”. Rahul’s dog cred has never been in doubt. Former Congress leader and present Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said that he had to vie for Rahul’s attention with the latter’s dog on an occasion when he had gone to meet him over a political matter. For actor John Abraham, it is personal. He is the dad of Bailey a , mixed breed, adopted as a stray. Calling the action ‘illegal, impractical, and inhumane’, he wrote to Chief Justice of India BR Gavai, requesting a review of the sweeping order. For animal lovers, there is no north-south divide. From actor Varun Dhawan to popular playback singer in the south, Chinmayi Sripaada, to comic actors such as Vir Das, all have also come out against the relocation order, using their social media accounts to call it a “death sentence for all dogs”. nous constellation of 12 state-of-the-art commercial EO satellites. The consortium, apart from PSI, will comprise Piersight Space, Satsure Analytics India and Dhruva Space. The selection of this consortium was based on a competitive bidding process and three consortia were shortlisted af- ter a technical evaluation. Besides the PSI-led consortium, there were two other consortia – Astra Microwave Products Limited, Hyderabad (with Bharat Electronics Limited, Sisir Radar and Spectragaze Systems), and GalaxEye Space, Bengaluru (with CoreEL).  CONTINUED ON P5