COIMBATORE l wednesday l december 03, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l LATE CITY EDITION In U-turn, govt says Sanchar Saathi app is not mandatory not for snooping, says union minister Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday in a volte-face said the fraud reporting app can be deleted if users so wish phone makers not chuffed with order Many opposition leaders and critics viewed the Sanchar Saathi app as a snooping attempt, as they felt it could listen to calls and monitor messages. Scindia stepped in to defuse the crisis and denied allegations that it was an app for snooping. “If you want to delete it, then delete it... it will remain inactive till users register,” Scindia said outside Parliament | P9, 12 ■ ■ Some phone makers, such as Apple, were reportedly opposed to the mandate. Apple is keen to discuss the issue with the government for a middle path, as the ‘order cannot be implemented in its current form’ The move mimics a similar mandate by Russia in August, requiring a state-backed messaging app MAX to be pre-installed on all phones 1.5 crore people have already downloaded the sanchar saathi application 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 Lingering system pounds Chennai, west TN may face onslaught today E xpress N ews S ervice @ Chennai A weakened but near-stationary weather system, a remnant of Cyclone Ditwah, hovered just off the northern Tamil Nadu coast on Tuesday trigger, ing another spell of very heavy rain over Chennai and its neighbouring districts on Tuesday. According to the weather forecast by Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Chennai and neighbouring districts may only see light to moderate spells from Wednesday, while heavy to very heavy rain may shift to western Tamil Nadu districts such as Nilgiris, Erode and Coimbatore. Schools and colleges in Tiru- express read TN files appeal against Deepam lighting order MADURAI: A day after the High Court directed that Karthigai Deepam be lighted on the Deepathoon atop Thiruparankundram hill near the Sikandar Badusha Dargah, the EO of Subramaniya Swamy Temple has filed an appeal against the order. The HC may hear the matter on the day of the deepam festival today | P4 Revoke CBI probe in Karur case: TN to SC New Delhi: TN has filed an affidavit in the SC, asking the top court to set aside its October 13 order directing a CBI probe into the Karur stampede that claimed 41 lives. The petition said the stampede is attributable to a series of “reckless and uncoordinated actions” by TVK organisers | P7 Flooded roads troubled motorists in Chennai on Tuesday | Ashwin prasath vallur and Chennai are to remain closed on Wednesday, while a one-day holiday has been declared for schools alone in Chengalpattu. As per the up- date issued late on Tuesday by RMC, the remnant of Ditwah, which weakened into a depression and stayed put near Chennai coast after moving northnorthwestwards, had begun to move south-southwestwards at 3 kmph speed and laid centered at about 60 km northeast of Puducherry and 80 km south of Chennai as of 5.30 pm on Tuesday The minimum distance of . the centre of the depression from north TN-Puducherry coasts was 25 km. The RMC said the system may move slowly further southwestwards towards north TNPuducherry coasts and weaken into a well-marked low-pressure area by Wednesday  . P7 Putin visit to spur trade, mobility, defence relations A key economic deliverable is the India-Eurasian EconomRussian President Vladimir ic Union Free Trade AgreePutin’s visit to India on Decem- ment, for which the first round ber 4-5, his first in four years, of negotiations took place last will anchor a renewed push to year. Officials in the Ministry accelerate India-Russia eco- of External Affairs said the innomic cooperation with a se- tent is to “have the agreement ries of deals spanning trade, soon,” with the FTA expected health care, mobility, media to significantly boost market and economic cooperaaccess on both sides. tion set to be signed. Another developAlong with the ongoment is the finalisation ing dialogue on deof a pact on mobility fence, security space of skilled and semiand nuclear cooperaskilled workers. This is tion, the visit is expectexpected to ease labour ed to place emphasis movement. We are looking on narrowing the trade at the possibility Coinciding with Pugap. Bilateral trade betin’s visit, a two-day of increasing tween India and Russia India-Russia Business imports surged to a record $68.7 Forum will be held in from India billion in FY25, driven Delhi, focusing on exDmitry Peskov, by a sharp rise in enpanding Indian engiergy imports. Of this, Kremlin spokesman neering exports to RusIndia exported goods sia, scaling up Russian worth $4.9 billion, while im- imports of Indian pharma and ports from Russia stood at $63.8 food products, and enhancing billion. collaboration in digital servicFertiliser imports remain a es. These discussions align central pillar of India’s engage- with the ambitious bilateral ment with Russia. New Delhi goal of achieving $100 billion currently sources 3-4 million in trade by 2030. tonnes of fertilisers annually Putin will be accompanied from Moscow, and both sides by Defence Minister Andrei are looking to further deepen Belousov and a high-level delthis supply partnership to en- egation representing business sure agricultural security . and industry . J AYA N TH J A C O B @ New Delhi ‘Just & Fair plea’ SC asks EC to try and extend SIR deadline for Kerala S U C H I T R A K ALYA N MOHA N TY @ New Delhi Opposition leaders K Kanimozhi, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and others during a protest against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, at Parliament complex in New Delhi on Tuesday | PTI Two-day SIR debate in LS from Tuesday To be preceded by Vande Mataram discussion on Mon P ree t h a N a ir @ New Delhi Breaking the deadlock in Parliament, the Union government on Tuesday announced that the Lok Sabha will hold a debate on the 150th anniversary of the national song Vande Mataram on December 8 (Monday), followed by a discussion on electoral reforms, including the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls underway in nine states and three Union Territories, on December 9 and 10. Both discussions have been allocated 10 hours each. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi will initiate the debate on Vande Mataram, Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will reply to the debate on electoral reforms on December 10. The decision was taken after an allparty meeting and a Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting chaired by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in the afternoon as both Houses of Parliament had not been functioning over the Opposition’s demand for a SIR debate. Speaking to reporters, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said, the special discussion on the 150th anniver- Flights delayed at Kempegowda International Airport Around 58 departures from Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru were delayed on Tuesday. IndiGo reported 29 flight delays (by 60-90 mins) till 9 pm. The delay was due to ‘operational reasons’ from the airlines Illegal sex determination gang busted, 3 held E xpress N ews S ervice @ Salem/Krishnagiri Vande J&K A Vande Bharat Express train runs along the elevated Katra-Jammu track on a foggy morning on the outskirts of Jammu on Tuesday | PTI An illegal prenatal sex determination gang, which operated a mobile scan unit across multiple districts in Tamil Nadu, was busted by a five-member special medical team at Vazhapadi in Salem using a decoy in the wee hours of Tuesday. Three persons — R Venkatesan (43) of Cuddalore, and Vazhapadi residents Latha (43) and Sakthivel — were later arrested by the Vazhapadi police under the Pre-Conception and PreNatal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act for allegedly operating the unit. Officials said Venkatesan, who has studied only up to Class 12, learnt to operate ultrasound equipment by watching YouTube videos. He had allegedly bought an old scan machine near Mettupalayam, fixed it inside a car and travelled from town to town, using local intermediaries to contact pregnant women via phone. The gang allegedly travelled through several districts, including Salem, Namakkal, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Cuddalore, Kallakurichi and Villupuram, collecting up to `30,000 from pregnant women to illegally disclose the sex of the foetus in violation of PCPNDT Act. Acting on a tip-off, health officials from Salem and Krishnagiri districts kept surveillance in Belur near Vazhapadi early on Tuesday  . P7 Mobile scan unit The main suspect, a Class 12 passout, learnt to operate ultrasound equipment by watching YouTube videos. He operated it from a car two phases House census from Apr ’26, population count in ’27 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi THE long-delayed national population census, which will include caste enumeration for the first time, will be conducted in two phases starting April 2026, the Centre informed Parliament on Tuesday . Responding to a question from Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said Phase I (House Listing and Housing Census) will take place between April and September 2026, while Phase II (Population Enumeration) is scheduled for February 2027, with March 1, 2027, as the reference date. Snow-bound areas of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Ladakh will be covered in SeptemberOctober 2026. In his written response to to another question from Rahul on whether the government plans to publish the draft questions and seek inputs from public or people’s representa- tives, Rai said the Office of the Registrar General and Census commissioner was in the process of finalising the questionnaire. Around 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors will be deployed for the exercise. The timeline has been fixed to avoid clashing with board examinations, Rai said. The last population census was held in 2011. Census 2027 will also be done through digital means Nityanand Rai sary of Vande Mataram will start at 12 noon and go on for the full day On Tues. day there will be discussion on election , reforms. “When we discuss poll reforms, you can raise many issues related to it and its process. For Parliamentary democracy the election process is , extremely important. So, finally every, body agreed.” He reiterated that the SIR is an administrative exercise carried out by the Election Commission and should not be isolated from the larger debate on electoral reforms. Speaking to this paper, an opposition MP informed that the opposition and the government reached a consensus on the smooth functioning of the Lok Sabha this week. Floor leaders of the INDIA bloc will meet at 9.45 am on Wednesday in Parliament to finalise their strategy for the ongoing Winter Session, Opposition leaders claimed victory as they said, a consensus was reached during the BAC meeting and the all-party meeting on holding an exhaustive discussion on electoral reforms, the SIR exercise and the suicide of booth-level officers (BLOs). The discussion can be initiated in either House. We have decided that it will be taken up in the Lok Sabha first Kiran Rijiju, minister Oppn strategy meet today Floor leaders from various INDIA bloc parties will meet at 9.45 am on Wednesday in the chamber of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, to discuss their joint strategy in Parliament THE Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Election Commission to consider extending the December 11 deadline for submitting enumeration forms in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Kerala by one more week, in view of the ongoing process for local body elections. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi made the recommendation after taking note of submissions that the local body elections in the state will take place on December 9 and 11, and counting of votes on December 13. “It seems to us that the request is just and fair, and it warrants due consideration by the Election Commission of India,” the order said. The court allowed the petitioners to submit a formal representation to the Election Commission by Wednesday 5 pm seeking SIR extension. It asked the EC to consider the request sympathetically and take a decision within two days. Senior advocates Rakesh Dwivedi and Maninder Singh, appearing for the Election Commission of India, said the Kerala State Election Commission has already exempted SIR staff from election duties, adding that the SIR deadline had earlier been extended from December 4 to 11. Terming it a peculiar situation, the CJI said the state government staff should not be overburdened.