The New Indian Express Wishes its Readers a chennai l wednesday l august 27, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 22 l late city EDITION One-third school students take pvt coaching: Centre’s survey The survey on education found that nearly 70% of students in urban areas are enrolled in private schools, with 30.7% relying on private coaching Trend more prevalent in rural areas The Centre’s Comprehensive Modular Survey (CMS), released on Tuesday, noted that the trend of taking private coaching was more common in urban areas than in rural areas (25.5%). The CMS education survey is part of the 80th round of the National Sample Survey and is focused on household expenditure for currently enrolled students in school education education during the current academic year in government schools was estimated at `2,863 against `25,002 in private schools ■ The average annual household expenditure on private coaching per student was estimated at `3,988 in urban areas and `1,793 in rural Govt Education costlier in urban, pvt schools ■ The average per-student expenditure made by households on school Scholarships first major source of education funding for 1.2% students 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 India braces for impact 11 killed, 7 on landslide-hit as 50% tariffs kick in Vaishno Devi route Chenab, Tawi, Ujh, Ravi in spate Industry seeks urgent relief; RBI, govt offer credit, financial support Pakistan P U S H P I TA D E Y @ New Delhi Srinagar Jammu Ardhkuwari , Katra India Rescue and relief operations by CRPF personnel after a landslide near Adh Kuwari in Katra | IANS E x press N ews S ervi c e @ Jammu At least 11 people were killed and several others injured on Tuesday as relentless heavy rain wreaked havoc across Jammu and Kashmir, triggering landslides, flash floods and widespread damage to public and private property . Among the casualties, seven pilgrims died and 14 were injured when a massive landslide hit near Ardhkunwari on the pilgrimage route to the Vaishno Devi shrine in Reasi district. The incident occurred around 3 pm near the Inderprastha Bhojnalaya, halfway along the 12-km trek to the shrine atop Trikuta Hills. Officials said the yatra had already been suspended on the Himkoti route in the morning, and the old track was closed by 1.30 pm due to worsening conditions. Four more deaths were reported from Doda district in separate rain-related incidents, taking the total toll to nine. The Jammu division witnessed flooding, infrastructure damage, and traffic paralysis, prompting the administration to suspend the Jammu-Srinagar and Kishtwar-Doda highways and multiple interior roads. More than two-dozen houses and bridges were damaged, and most rivers, including the Chenab, Tawi, Ujh, and Ravi, crossed danger levels, submerging low-lying areas and roads across the region. In Kathua district, the Modhopur barrage crossed the one lakh cusecs mark, causing flooding in areas along the Ravi. All educational institutions and non-essential offices have been ordered shut across Jammu division. The weather office forecast very heavy rainfall over the next 40 hours in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Reasi, Udhampur, Rajouri, Ramban, Doda and Kishtwar. It warned of flash floods, cloudbursts, and landslides in high-altitude areas. A van swept away as raging river damaged a road, in Manali on Tuesday | PTI Dashing hopes of a last-minute reprieve, the US on Tuesday confirmed that the additional 25% tariff on Indian goods will kick in on August 27, taking the overall tariffs to 50%. According to a notice issued by the US Customs and Border Protection, the additional duties will cover a wide range of Indian exports including textiles, gems and jewellery, leather, machinery, furniture and marine products. The tariffs are being imposed under US President Donald Trump’s executive order of August 6, announcing a punitive 25% levy on India for buying Russian oil. The impact will be severe for labour-intensive sectors such as textiles, apparel, gems & jewellery, and marine products, with effective duties climbing as high as 64% once existing most-favoured nation (MFN) rates are added. However, steel, copper, aluminium, smartphones, semiconductors, and automobiles have been spared. Exporters seek urgent relief in the form of interest subvention schemes and easier access to export credit. Observing that temple funds, even if surplus, cannot be utilised by the government for public schemes or commercial purposes, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court recently quashed five government orders (GOs) granting permission for construction of marriage halls using temple funds in different locations in the state. A bench of justices S M Subramaniam and G Arul Murugan rejected the contentions of the state government that marriage is a religious activity and the construction of marriage 0% tax on Pharma, Smartphones Shrimps 50% Textile, made up 59% Petroleum 6.9% Diamonds, gold & products 52.1% ( 0 % | 50%) ( 6.9 % | 0%) Organic chemicals 54% ( 4% | 50%) Carpets 52.9% ( 2.9% | 50%) Apparel; Knitted 63.9% ( 13.9 % | 50%) Apparel; woven 60.3% ( 10.3 % | 50%) US MFN Tariff | ( 9 % | 50%) ( 2.1 % | 50%) Steel, Copper, aluminium 51.7% ( 1.7% | 50%) Vehicles,& parts 26% ( 1% | 25%) Machinery and mechanical appliances 51.3% ( 1.3% | 50%) Source: GTRI New Trump Tariff 4-lane flyover to be built along ecr The 14.2-km bridge from Thiruvanmiyur to Uthandi is the longest elevated corridor project taken up by TN government | P4 S u b as h ini V ijaya k u m ar @ Chennai Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said his state would consider implementing a scheme similar to the Tamil Nadu government’s CM’s Breakfast Scheme. He was speaking at the launch of the scheme’s expansion to government-aided schools in urban areas in Chennai on Tuesday . “This is a remarkable achievement as the government is taking care of both the education and health of children,” Mann said, lauding Stalin for the initiative. Noting that Punjab is known as the “food bowl of India” due to the huge quantities of wheat and rice it produces, Mann added that the introduction of a similar breakfast scheme would be discussed at their cabinet meeting scheduled on Wednesday . With this expansion to 2,430 schools in urban areas, the scheme, first launched in September 2022, now covers 20.59 lakh children of classes 1 to 5 at 37,416 government and government-aided schools in the state at a cost of `600 crore per year. Stalin, after launching the expansion, said, “The government is making this investment because of its faith in the talent, intelligence, and ability of our children.” Emphasising that the scheme is not viewed as ‘cannot be termed as religious purpose’ As per Hindu law commentaries, the aspect of charity in religious purpose is essential, the judges said. When the state itself admits that the halls are going to be rented out for a fee, there is no essence of charity and it cannot be termed as a religious purpose, they added halls are therefore for ‘religious purposes’, meaning there is no violation of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959, which prohibits use of temple funds for non-religious or noncharitable purposes. The judges said that as per Hindu law commentaries, the aspect of charity in religious purpose is essential. The Hindu law nowhere prescribes New U.S. Sectoral Tariffs on Indian Goods applicable Mann hopes to emulate `2,100-Cr TN’s breakfast scheme HC quashes GOs granting permission to use temple funds to build marriage halls J E G A D E E S W A R I PA N D I A N @ Madurai The commerce ministry has assured industry of credit support while RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra pledged financial relief for affected sectors. Experts say these measures are not enough. S C Ralhan, president of Federation of Indian Export Organisations, warns 55% of India’s shipments to the US now face a 30-35% pricing disadvantage against exporters from China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and other Asian economies. Several associations have urged fiscal relief until trade terms are renegotiated under the proposed bilateral trade pact with US. Mithileshwar Thakur, secretary-general, AEPC, said the sector needs additional funds, moratorium on loan repayments, among others. Rakesh Mehra, chairman, Confederation of Indian Textile Industry, said finding new markets and clients can’t be done overnight. The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council has sought reimbursements covering 25-50% of additional tariff. The Indian SME Forum urged the government to launch the Global Market Intelligence System.  P16 commercial benefit for the acts of ‘religious purposes’ carried out. When the government itself admits that the said marriage halls are going to be rented out on payment of fee and would not be available to devotees for free, there is no essence of charity in the above GOs and it cannot be termed as a religious purpose, they added.  P7 TN CM Stalin, DyCM Udhayanidhi presenting a memento to Punjab CM Mann | ashwin prasath an expenditure but a social investment, he added, “When you study well, progress in life and contribute to TN’s prosperity, that will be the true success of this scheme. Our schoolchildren will no longer be dull and fatigued, they will now be energetic, confident and full of joy .” Describing the scheme as more than just an initiative to address hunger, Stalin said it has improved children’s eating habits, health and their interactions with each other.  P7 NCLAT judge ALLEGES pressure FROM the Higher judiciary E x press N ews S ervi c e @ New Delhi IN a rare incident, a judicial member of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) recently recused himself from hearing a case after he was allegedly “approached by one of the most revered members of the higher judiciary”. “We are anguished to observe, that one of us, Member (Judicial), has been approached by one of the most revered members of the higher judiciary of this country for seeking an order in favour of a particular party,” said the NCLAT order dated August 13. The order was passed by a two-judge member bench of the NCLAT, headed by Justice Sharad Kumar Sharma, who recused from hearing the case. RSS Centenary lecture series Unity does not need uniformity: Bhagwat R A J E S H KUM A R TH A KU R @ New Delhi Amid sharp political polarisation across the country RSS , chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday conveyed a message of moderation and unity pointing out that having different , ideologies is not a crime. Inaugurating a three-day lecture series to mark RSS’ centenary he said, “For 40,000 years, the DNA , of people living in Akhand Bharat is the same. Our culture and worldview is same — of living in coordination and Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (World is one family)”. He went on to state that “The natural religion of Bharat is coordination, not con- Mohan Bhagwat flict, and Hindus have the tradition of walking together. We all have a collective responsibility towards the country Defining who is a Hindu, Bhagwat .” stated, “Those who believe in the following their faith, respect those of others, and work together for the Rashtra are Hindus.” Making a point on unity he said: “The Sangh believes , that to be united we do not need uniformity We have a cul. ture of living together in harmony Bhagwat said, as he ,” stressed the importance of inclusive national development. The goal, he said, is to elevate the country to the status of “Vishwaguru” (global teacher), adding the time for India to make its contribution to the world has arrived.