BENGALURU l sunday l november 23, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 26 l LATE CITY EDITION U.S. bankruptcy court orders Byju’s to pay $1 Bn to debtors Byju Raveendran ‘owner failed to comply with orders’ The Delaware Bankruptcy Court found that Raveendran failed to comply with its discovery order and continued to be evasive on several occasions. BYJU’s Alpha was incorporated when Raveendran was running the management of edtech firm Think and Learn Private Limited. The judgment follows a dispute between Byju’s and US based lenders A US court has ordered Byju Raveendran to pay back default amount of $1.16 billion to BYJU’s Alpha and US-based lender GLAS Trust LLC ■ $10K ‘not allowed to present valid defence’ ■ The court said it found Raveendran’s behaviour had a strategic pattern of willful failure to comply with its orders Raveendran’s counsel said it is a default judgment, meaning the court issued it without Byju being permitted to present its defence, and instead deprived Byju of a valid defence a day is penalty that raveendran pays to the u.s. court 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 50p per kid/day for veggies! That’s what Anganwadis get A s h w i n i M S r i pa d @ Ramanagara (Bengaluru South) “We have 11 children at our centre and the government gives us 50 paise per child per day for vegetables which translates to Rs 5.50 per day for our centre. What can we possibly buy with this amount? Forget vegetables, we cannot even afford chillies, lemons, or coriander leaves,” said Geetha (name changed), an Anganwadi worker at a village in Ramanagara. WITH THIS ISSUE Divine Tragedy PLUS 12 P AGES CM letter to PM Will adhere to top brass order, Siddu after Kharge meet D e v a r a j B H i r e h a l l i @ Bengaluru Amid intense speculation and swift political developments over change in leadership and a cabinet reshuffle, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah met AICC President Mallikarjuna Kharge at the latter’s residence here late on Saturday evening. The duo held one-on-one talks and Kharge is likely to inform LOP in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi of the outcome, to take a final call. Rahul, who is abroad, will be retur ning to Delhi after November 28, according to sources. Any decision on change in leadership or cabinet reshuffle is unlikely anytime soon, according to sources. Siddaramaiah, who has been asserting at public meetings that he will be CM for five years and will present the next budget, looked visibly mellowed after meeting Kharge.  Continued on P4 The price of an egg too is fixed at Rs 6, while it varies time to time. “Eggs sometimes cost Rs 7.50 per e gg and we have been told to give eggs twice a week. But the government won’t bear the additional cost. The money is released once every three months,” she said. Anganwadis were started across the country in 1975 under the Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) to comb at m a l nu t r i t i o n a m o n g children, expecting mothers and also new mothers. In Karnataka, a pilot project started at T Narasipura taluk in Mysuru with 100 Anganwadis. Today the state has 69,919 centres, , where over 1.2 lakh people are employed as workers and cooks. These centres benefit over 40 lakh children and mothers. Over the years, the workers have been provided with initiatives and also given many responsibilities. As Anganwadis celebrate 50 years, The New Sunday Express checked the status of these centres, workers and facilities. “Earlier, we were given green gram, jaggery varieties of dals, , groundnut and other items that helped us make food tasty and healthy But now, it is lim. ited to rice, tur dal and wheat courses along with m i l k p owd e r a n d e g g s, ” Geetha said.   Continued on P6 An Anganwadi centre on the outskirts of Bengaluru | Shashidhar Byrappa j aya n t h j a c o b @ New Delhi third shortest in ashes... Australian batter Travis Head’s 69-ball century helped them beat England within two days in the first Ashes Test in Perth | afp | P13 U n d e r - 1 7 pa l e s t i n i a n t e a m of seeking solace and finding joy in football On Saturday evening, as the U17 Palestinian men’s football team held on to a 1-1 draw against India U17 at the EKA Arena in Ahmedabad, in the AFC U17 Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers tournament, they walked off the field with their heads held high. The result may not be what they wanted, but for them reaching Ahmedabad and taking the field itself was a struggle. Amidst the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine over the last two years or so, sport had taken a backseat. For this team, the prepa- ration had been far from ideal. They did not win any matches at the the West Asian Football Federation’s (WAFF) U17 Championship last month. Out of 23 total players selected, 18 were from West Bank, but only 11 from the region turned up. Several players had their lives uprooted and displaced because of the conflict, losing their documents in the process. Mohammed Joma Suleiman, the team manager, claimed that bringing in the players with Palestinian roots from other countries to their homeland proved to be a big hindrance. “Because of the express read K’taka now ranks third in fish production: CM SIR fallout Alleged Bangladeshi infiltrators wait to return home, following the special intensive revision (SIR) of poll rolls in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal on Saturday | PTI Was ready to make you CM, Gowda tells Siddu BENGALURU: Karnataka now ranks third in the country in fish production. India’s share of global fish production is about 7.7% and ranks fourth in exports, CM Siddaramaiah said while speaking at ‘Matsya Mela 2025’ to mark World Fisheries Day in Bengaluru on Satuday P5 BENGALURU: JDS supremo HD Deve Gowda said he was ready to make Siddaramaiah the CM in the past, but Sonia Gandhi chose Dharam Singh. He was reacting to Siddaramaiah’s recent statement that he would never have become CM if he had remained in JDS  P4 cash heist Gang in debt planned robbery, `6.29cr recovered R a k s h i t h G o w d a @ Bengaluru A gang of unemployed men trapped in debt, mostly due to gambling, sought the help of a current Cash Management Services (CMS) staffer, a former CMS staffer and a police constable, who were also facing financial problems, to execute the biggest daylight heist in the city They had planned the . heist for more than three months, making thorough preparations and avoiding all digital footprints during the post-crime movement of cash. @ New Delhi Proposes knowledge repository, Africa skills multiplier; global healthcare response team c h a n d r a p r a b h u @ Chennai Annappa Naik, Xavier and Gopi To ensure the plan succeeded, the gang conducted a recce and communicated in multiple languages to avoid attracting police attention. However, a team of 200 police personnel cracked the case in 54 hours, arresting six accused and recovering Rs 6.29 crore of the Rs 7.11crore stolen. A search is continuing for three accused who are absconding. The arrested accused have been identified as Gopi (36), a fleet manager with CMS; Xavier (35), a former CMS employee; Annappa Naik, a police constable attached to Govindapura police station in East Division; Ravi, son of an ex-serviceman and the alleged mastermind and operational team head, and his associates Naveen and Nelson. Ravi’s brother, who was also involved in the crime, is currently absconding.  more on P3 Many of the accused are from same locality and had planned the heist in coordination with CMS staff and the police constable in an attempt to “settle their lives” Source The cash recovered from the accused, in Bengaluru | Shashidhar Byrappa Global arms trafficking module tied to ISI busted express news service PM Modi @G20: Let’s weaken the drug-terror link public-health emergencies. “We are stronger when we PRIME Minister Narendra work together in the face of Modi on Saturday called for a health emergencies and natural coordinated global push to dis- disasters,” he said. With Africa mantle the drug–terror nexus, hosting the G20 Summit for the strengthen health-emergency first time, Modi said “Now is the responses, creation of a Global right moment for us to revisit Traditional Knowledge Reposi- our development parameters tory and accelerate skills and focus on growth that development across Afis inclusive and sustainrica, in his address to able.” India also proposed world leaders at the 20th a G20-Africa Skills MultiG20 Summit in Johan- We’re stronger plier Initiative, aimed at when we work creating 1 million certinesburg on Saturday . In a warning on the together in the fied trainers in Africa rise of lethal synthetic face of health within the next decade. emergencies drugs, Modi said: “To and disasters The G20 leaders also overcome the challenge adopted a joint declaraof drug trafficking, espe- Narendra Modi, tion addressing terrorcially the spread of sub- On setting up of ism and climate change a global stances like fentanyl, Inand broader global chalhealthcare dia proposes a G20 lenges on the opening Initiative on Countering response team day of the summit. The the drug–terror nexus. document was finalised Let us weaken the wretched without the US. drug-terror economy .” Earlier, South African PresiThe proposed platform, he dent Cyril Ramaphosa welsaid would integrate finance, comed Modi at the Summit vengovernance and security tools ue with a ‘namaste’. Modi was to choke networks that channel seen interacting informally narcotics revenue into global with global leaders such as terrorism. Further, the PM UK Prime Minister Keir Starmcalled for creation of a G20 Glo- er, Italian Prime Minister Giorbal Healthcare Response Team, gia Meloni, and UN Secretary designed for rapid deployment General Antonio Guterres during natural disasters and among others. P9 drone drops current situation, we could not bring players to train together, and our preparation was not that good,” Suleiman told this daily. “There is a player from Gaza, we cannot bring anyone from Gaza also because of the war and the genocide is happening there (Israel have repeatedly denied any and all accusations of genocide),” he added. For the team, football is a way of resistance and bringing joy to the kids back home. “They know what it means to carry the Palestinian flag on their crests. Since the start, they know this is a mission and this way, they can share the happiness to Palestinian kids,” said Suleiman. P13 DELHI Police’s Crime Branch has busted an international arms trafficking module allegedly linked to ISI-backed arms network with the arrest of four people. They recovered high end Turkiye (PX-5.7) and China (PX-3) made weapons smuggled from Pakistan through drones. Ten foreign made semi-automatic pistols along with 92 live cartridges were also seized. The seized weapon PX-5.7 is only used by Special Forces. Police said they got a tip-off on November 19 on a cross-border arms trafficking module involved in supplying sophisticated illegal weapons in Delhi/ NCR. It was found that they would come to Rohini to deliver the arms consignment. A trap was laid in Rohini Sector-28 and four people were apprehended with foreign-made semi-automatic pistols and live cartridges, DCP (Crime) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said. Those arrested are Mandeep Singh (38) Dalvinder Kumar (34), both residents of Punjab; Rohan Tomar (30) and Ajay (37). The module was involved in smuggling weapons using drones. Yadav said the consignment is dropped at locations near the border, where receivers on the Indian side retrieve them. The network relies on local collaborators who monitor police movement, facilitate pickups, and transport it to safe houses. Payments are routed through hawala channels. Nuclear sector to open for private players A bill seeking to open the civil nuclear sector for private players is among the 10 proposed legislations listed for introduction in the winter session of Parliament, beginning December 1 | P9 ICAR gags scientists after row over performance of two new GE rice varieties duction, climate adaptability, and water conservation”. AgriThe Indian Council for Agri- culture minister Shivraj Singh cultural Research (ICAR) is Chouhan hailed the effort. evolving organisational guideBut a platform of scientists, lines for scientists after a re- farmer leaders, medical excent controversy over data re- perts, consumer rights activlated to genome-edited ists, and members of (GE) rice varieties. the Coalition for a GMThese guidelines reFree India rubbished strict scientists from the claim, citing data sharing their research mined from ICAR’s own findings with the media All India Coordinated and journals, this newsResearch Project on paper has learnt. They Rice for 2023 and 2024. Developing also direct scientists to The Coalition said ICtwo new GE avoid publishing any reAR’s own limited data varieties is an search papers in interdidn’t support its pubexceptional national journals until achievement lished report. ICAR they are fully confident pushed back with a of ICAR about their findings. point-by-point rebuttal. It all began after the Shivraj Chauhan “Seeking research government on May 4 credits, scientists are alannounced the release of two ways in a rush to get their works GE rice lines developed by published, which sometimes are ICAR — Pusa DST-1 and DRR not backed by robust data,” said Dhan 100 (Kamala), which it a scientist. “The new fiat will said “have the potential to lead to fewer publication of rebring about revolutionary search papers. But it will enchanges in terms of higher pro- hance credibility .” J i t e n d r a C h o u b e y @ New Delhi