tirupati l wednesday l august 13, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Govt nod for 4 chip plants worth `4,594 cr in Odisha, Punjab, AP Out of the four projects, Odisha will get two, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh one each, Union I&B minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Tuesday odisha to witness `4,009 crore investment In all, 10 projects under national mission Vaishnaw said SiCSem will set up a silicon carbide semiconductor plant in Bhubaneswar for `2,066 crore, while Intel-backed 3D Glass Solutions will establish a manufacturing unit in Odisha with an investment of `1,943 cr; electronics component maker CDIL will set up a facility in Punjab for `117 crore; and ASIP will establish a chip packaging plant in AP for `468 crore ■ ■ The four new projects together are expected to generate a cumulative employment for 2,034 skilled professionals, a govt release said | P7 With the four new approvals, the total approved projects under the India Semiconductor Mission is now 10 with cumulative investments of around `1.6 lakh crore spread across six states, the release added `76,000 cr 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 Semiconductor unit for AP: CM Naidu thanks PM E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for approving the establishment of a semiconductor manufacturing unit in the state. The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Modi, gave its nod for Advanced System in Package Technologies (ASIP) to set up the facility in collaboration with APACT Co. Ltd, South Korea. The unit, which will have an annual capacity of 96 million units, will manufacture advanced chip packaging for various applications, including mobile phones, set-top boxes, automotive ECUs, and consumer electronics. This development is expected to boost India’s backend semiconductor manufacturing capacity and foster a complete electronics ecosystem in Andhra Pradesh. Chief Minister Naidu took to social media to thank the Prime Minister, saying, “Grateful to Hon’ble PM Shri @narendramodi ji for approving the ASIP TechnologiesAPACT (S. Korea) semiconductor facility in Andhra Pradesh. With 96M units/year in advanced chip packaging for mobiles, set-top boxes, automot ive E C U s & c o n s u m e r electronics, this will enhance India’s backend semiconductor manufacturing capacity and foster a complete electronics ecosystem in AP .” Minister for HRD and IT, Nara Lokesh, also welcomed the development, stating, “Semiconductor manufacturing comes to AP, driven by a double engine sarkar! I am grateful to the Hon’ble Prime Minister @narendramodi ji for sanctioning the facility”. 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 India-Pakistan international border. The animals can pick up the mechanical buzzing sound of the flying machines that humans ears can’t | P8 Inclusion or exclusion from rolls within Election Commission of India’s ambit, says bench Bihar SIR appears to be a trust deficit issue: SC SUCHITRA K ALYA N MOHA N TY @ 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 Priyanka vs Israel envoy PR E E THA N AIR @ 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 | P8 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 C M 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 RCP) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP). Both constituencies, seen as prestige battles, witnessed heavy police presence and preventive measures that failed to curb escalating tensions. In Pulivendula, police placed YSRCP MP Y.S. Avinash Reddy and TDP MLC Bhoomireddy E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kadapa The ZPTC by-elections in Pulivendula and Vontimitta turned volatile on Tuesday, marked by clashes, voter intimidation, and allegations of electoral malpractice between the YSR Congress Party (YS- AP, first state to grant gratuity to ASHAs E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada The state government has become the first in the country to grant gratuity to Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs). On Tuesday orders were issued approving gra, tuity payments, enhanced maternity leave, and an increase in the retirement age for these grassroots health workers. According to the government’s decision, each retiring ASHA will receive `1.5 lakh, calculated at a maximum of `5,000 per year of service. With approximately 43,000 ASHAs serving across the state, the total gratuity outlay will be `645 crore. The government has also sanctioned six months of paid maternity leave for each of the first two deliveries and increased the retirement age of health assistants from 60 to 62 years. Health Minister Y. Satya Kumar Yadav thanked CM for meeting the long-pending demands of ASHA workers despite the financial implications. From netas to abhinetas, growl grows louder An elderly woman at a demonstration for stray dogs, in 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 Delhi-NCR and place them in shelters within eight weeks. Rahul described the directive as a “step back from decades of humane, sciencebacked policy”. He added that “shelters, sterilisation, vaccination & community care can kee p 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 PR E E THA N AIR @ 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. Violence, allegations mark ZPTC by-elections SC ruling on stray dogs Pa r a m i ta G h o s h @ New Delhi Justice Aravind on panel of 3 to probe Varma misconduct him over a political matter. For Bollywood 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 B R 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 Indian comic actors such as Vir Das, all have also come out strongly against the relocation order, using their social media accounts to call it a “death sentence for all dogs”. These voiceless souls are not “problems” to be erased. Shelters, sterilisation, vaccination & community care can keep streets safe - without cruelty Rahul Gandhi Ramagopal Reddy under house arrest early Monday to prevent potential unrest. Avinash Reddy was taken into custody and briefly moved to Yerraguntla police station amid protests from supporters before returning to his Pulivendula office under tight security . DSP Murali Naik threatened to shoot YSRCP workers for resisting police orders during the ZPTC by-election campaign. Kurnool Range DIG Koya Praveen ordered YSRCP workers to vacate the office, citing security concer ns, which P4 sparked confrontations.