vijayawada l tuesday l august 26, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late city EDITION SC asks Samay Raina, 4 others to apologise for disability jokes Supreme Court asked 5 social media influencers to display their apology in their shows for ridiculing persons with disabilities and rare genetic disorders Penalty to be considered later, says court Commercial content is not free speech A bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said the degree of repentance should be higher than the degree of offending and made it clear that the court would later consider imposing a penalty on the influencers—Samay Raina, Sonali Thakkar, Vipul Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, and Nishant Jagdish Tanwar—for offending disabled persons ■ ■ The five influencers are accused of making fun of the disabled and those suffering from spinal muscular atrophy and visual impairment Justice Bagchi said the influencers should be more cautious while creating humour, adding that those who use social media platforms to earn money can’t label their commercial content as free speech Petition Against the influencers was filed by Cure SMA Foundation of India 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 Amazon, Flipkart data to help govt assess inflation Amid Indus waters treaty chill India alerts Pak on possible flash floods J i t en d r a C h o u b e y @ New Delhi With the weather office issuing a red alert on Sunday predicting extreme rainfall over the next two days in J&K, India formally notified Pakistan about the potential risk of flash floods in the Tawi and Sutlej rivers as a gesture of good neighbourliness. The alert was sent through diplomatic channels rather than the Indus Waters Treaty framework, since India placed the Treaty in abeyance shortly after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22. For its part, the Pakistan Foreign Office confirmed India’s two alerts: on Sunday about the Tawi flooding, and on Monday on possible flash floods in the Sutlej. Sources said that the alert was directly communicated to the Pakistani government through the Indian High Commission (IHC) Statistics ministry to overhaul the way retail inflation data is collected and measured D i pa k M o n d a l @ New Delhi IN a bid to make the official retail inflation data more updated and cognizant of the changes in household consumption patterns, the government is planning to effect major changes to the way the data is captured and measured. As part of the overhaul, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), which publishes inflation data, will source data directly from e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart. The ministry will also update the inflation basket and base year. Speaking to this newspaper, MoSPI Secretary Saurabh Garg confirmed that the ministry will track prices from e-commerce platforms across 12 cities. He did not specify the criteria for selecting these cities but said they would be chosen on a random sampling basis. “Our effort is to collect data in a way that better represents the economy today he said. ,” Earlier in the day a Reuters report said the , ministry plans to scrape prices from e-commerce sites in 12 cities with populations above 2.5 million. According to the report, e-commerce firms were told to share weekly average prices of goods with the government. These figures would be cross-checked against a broader dataset to guard against distortions. The objective is to build a more robust system for tracking retail inflation, given the rising share of e-commerce in household consumption. Estimates suggest that e-commerce sales touched $125 billion in FY24 and are projected to rise to $350 billion by FY30. The government will also revise the base years. CPI’s base year will shift to 2023-24, while the GDP’s will be updated to 2022-23. Currently , both the GDP and CPI are calculated using 2011-12 as the base year. The CPI product basket is also set for expansion and rebalancing. The weight of food in the new basket will decline, as household consumption surveys from 2022-23 and 2023-24 show a smaller share of food in monthly expenditure compared to 2011-12. The number of items tracked will rise from 300 to 400. How will it work? Given the rise in household spending on e-commerce platforms, capturing the latest online prices can improve the quality of retail inflation data. Around 27 crore Indians shopped online in 2024. The number is projected to rise 22% every year A damaged bridge following heavy rainfall in Jammu on Monday | PTI Heavy rainfall warning The IMD forecast extremely heavy rainfall across all regions of India for the next five days, following the monsoon trough’s shift to its normal position there. The IHC reached out to the Pakistani Foreign Office, instead of routing the infor mation through the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi. The Jammu region experienced record rainfall on Sunday , significantly increasing water levels in the Tawi, which could lead to a flood disaster in Pakistan. The Tawi in Jammu is a tributary of the Chenab, flowing through Jammu city before joining the Chenab, which eventually flows into Pakistan. The Sutlej, on the other hand, flows entirely within India and joins the Indus in Pakistan. On Sunday, Jammu experienced the second-highest rainfall in 99 years — about 191 mm of rainfall in 24 hours. The previous record was 228.6 mm on August 5, 1926, while the previous second-highest was 189.6 mm on August 11, 2022. BRAIN Innovation Hub prog at Ratan Tata Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has announced the launch of the Bharat Biodesign Research and Innovation (BRAIN) programme in collaboration with global Biodesign leaders | P4 Govt rolls out smart ration cards with QR code E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Spending trends A recent consumption survey showed that Indians were spending a lower share of their budget on food expenses. To capture the new trend in consumption, the revamped CPI index could include airfares and streamingmedia prices, reports said The State government has launched the distribution of smart ration cards to nearly 4.42 crore beneficiaries across the State in a festive atmosphere. Civil Supplies Minister Nadendla Manohar formally distributed the new ration cards at programmes held in Vijayawada and Penamalur on Monday . Speaking on the occasion, he said the government aims to complete the distribution of smart ration cards by September 15, ensuring that every eligible household gets it. “These smart ration cards are not just replacements, but Civil Supplies Minister N Manohar distributes new ration cards to people in Vijayawada | Prasant Madugula are designed to ensure complete transparency in the Public Distribution System. By scanning the QR code on the card, the government can instantly track when the beneficiary has collected his monthly ration,” the Civil Supplies Minister explained. The smart cards allow beneficiaries to collect essential commodities such as dal, palm oil and wheat from any of the 29,000 fair price shops across the State. For this, Point of Sale (PoS) machines have been upgraded to ensure smooth transactions. Beneficiaries requiring corrections or additions to their ration cards can approach local village or ward secretariat, where staff will verify details and make necessary corrections. For clarifications pertaining to smart ration cards, people can contact the toll-free helpline 1967, he said. The Civil Supplies Minister revealed that it has been proposed to set up sub-ration depots in hilly and remote areas for the convenience of PDS P4 beneficiaries.  Delhi HC says ‘personal info’, chucks Tirupati gets new system to monitor visitors CIC’s ’16 fiat to disclose PM’s degree Nethaji Kumaramangalam @ Tirupati E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi The Delhi High Court on Monday set aside a 2016 order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) that had directed the University of Delhi (DU) to disclose and allow inspection of records relating to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bachelor’s degree. Justice Sachin Datta had reserved the judgment on February 27, pronounced the verdict on DU’s plea challenging the CIC directive. The dispute goes back to December 21, 2016, when the CIC per mitted inspection of the records of ‘Not to provide fodder for sensationalism’ “The RTI Act was enacted to promote transparency in government functioning and not to provide fodder for sensationalism,” Justice Datta said in his order all students who cleared the BA examination in 1978, the year the prime minister passed on applications filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by applicants, including RTI activist Neeraj Kumar and Mohd Irshad. Following DU’s challenge, the high court stayed the CIC order on January 23, 2017. To enhance security and curb crimes in Tirupati, police have introduced the City Visitor Information and Record Management System (CVIRMS). This system mandates the collection of visitor details, including Aadhaar or other ID proofs by hotels, lodges, guest houses, PG accommodations and homestays at the time of check in. The data will be integrated with police database, enabling instant alerts to authorities if an individual with a criminal record checks in. After a successful three-month trial, the police have officially launched the CVIRMS. Recording visitor details is an ancient practice. Historical evidence shows that during the Mauryan period (4th-2nd Justice Datta, in his verdict, found no implicit public interest in the information sought under RTI, adding educational qualifications were not in the nature of any statutory requirement for holding any public office or discharging official responsibilities. “It is unambiguously clear that the ‘marks obtained’, grades, answer sheets, etc., are in the nature of personal information and are protected under Section 8(1)) of the RTI Act, subject to an assessment of overriding public interest. The mere act of publishing certain information on some occasions does not dilute the legal protection accorded to personal information under Section 8(I) of the RTI Act,” the court held. Police plan to extend CVIRMS to Kalahasti SP V Harshavardhan Raju explains the newly launched CVIRMS in Tirupati on Monday | madhav K century BCE), meticulous systems were in place to document the movement of people in villages and towns. Chanakya’s Arthashastra emphasises the need for recording the details of strangers, travellers and merchants. This was done manually with officials maintaining registers dream turns nightmare BCCI faces `1,000 cr shortfall as smaller leagues suffer most G o me s h S & S w a r o o p S w a m i n at h a n @ Chennai THE corridors of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are no stranger to their sponsors facing significant headwinds. But they find themselves in the curious position of having to bring on board a sponsor for one of the most visible slots — title sponsor for all Indian teams embossed on the Tshirts — within a two-week period. With the men’s team set to feature in the Asia Cup and the women’s team featuring in a home 50-over World Cup within the next two months, they will not be short on offers (they are expected float a tender soon). What, though, remains to be seen is if they will be able to make up for the shortfall on an immediate basis. The loss, brought about because of a policy change at the Centre related to real money gaming, could run into `1,000 crore. But the real loss will be known once the board ropes in new sponsors. On Monday, board secretary Devajit Saikia confir med to this mast that they have ceased associations with Dream11 or ‘any other gaming agencies’. “BCCI cannot go with Dream11 or any other Devajit Saikia gaming agen- cies,” he said. “They will not be part of the BCCI under the current legal system. We are deliberating what can be done to substitute their sponsorship slots. We will take a call soon.” Saikia was fairly intimate when asked if a communique has been sent out to all contracted players about the change in law, vis-a-vis endorsing real money gaming firms. “Everybody should be aware of the ex- isting laws. Do I have to tell any player that they can’t go and commit any murder? It is the same situation.” While the top level of Indian cricket may cope with the headwind, all state-level T20 leagues are in a perilous situation. Several real money gaming firms sponsors these events at some level and they are struggling to find alternatives. It’s in BCCI’s interest to keep these leagues, which have unearthed several gems over the past few years, afloat.  P13 “The CVIRMS not only helps prevent illegal activities in Tirupati but also plays a crucial role in detecting crimes. After the successful implementation of the CVIRMS in Tirupati, the system will also be extended to Srikalahasti,” said District SP Harshavardhan Raju to ensure security, prevent espionage, and protect citizens. Fast forward to the present day and the same principle of , monitoring visitors for public safety continues, but in a far more advanced for m. The CVIRMS serves the same purpose as in the Mauryan era, but through digital technology . Visitor details, identification, and stay records are captured electronically, allowing police to track the movement instantly, and respond swiftly to any suspicious activity . In the future, this data will be linked to the National Crime Bureau Records, too, for tracking criminals easily . “At present, Bengaluru Police are implementing the CVIRMS. For the first time in Andhra Pradesh, Tirupati Police have launched it to ensure the safety of denizens,” District SP V Harshavardhan Raju told TNIE. As many as 644 hotels and lodges in Tirupati have been connected to the portal so far. About 75% of establishments have already uploaded data, while the remaining are expected to complete the process soon, the SP added. Free power for Ganesh and Durga puja pandals in State E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada As the Vinayaka Chavithi festival celebrations are set to begin from August 27, the government has announced the supply of free power to all Ganesh pandals across the State. It has also decided to supply free power to Durga puja pandals for the ensuing Devi Navaratri festival celebrations. Several Ganesh festival organisers and Utsav Committee presidents had approached HRD Minister Nara Lokesh seeking the supply of free power to pandals. Responding to the appeals, Lokesh took the matter to the notice of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Minister for Energy Gottipati Ravi Kumar. The Chief Minister responded positively to the plea, and issued orders directing APTrancso to supply free power to Ganesh pandals. Around 15,000 Ganesh pandals are expected to come up across the State. The supply of free power is estimated to cost the exchequer `25 crore.