DHARMAPURI l wednesday l December 10, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l CITY EDITION Australia bans under-16s from social media in novel crackdown A raft of the world’s most popular apps and websites face US$33 million in fines if they fail to purge Australia-based users younger than 16 onus on internet firms to check user age new zealand, malaysia may follow suit The Australian government said unprecedented measures are needed to protect children from “predatory algorithms” filling phone screens with bullying, sex and violence. The laws came into effect on Wednesday across Australia. Social media companies bear the sole responsibility for checking users are 16 or older, with some saying they’ll use AI to detect a user’s age ■ ■ YouTube has attacked the laws as “rushed” and said they would only push children into deeper, darker corners of the internet Australia’s efforts will be closely watched by all those worried about the dangers of social media. Already, New Zealand and Malaysia are mulling similar restrictions on teenagers as per news reports | P9 3.5 lakh users between age of 13 and 15 in australia, says instagram 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 Vote theft anti-nat’l act: Rahul contempt case HC tells chief secy, ADGP to appear before it on Dec 17 Alleges ECI undermining electoral process; says law can be changed to hold poll panel accountable PREETHA NAIR @ New Delhi Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday launched a sharp attack against the ruling party accusing it of committing the “biggest anti-national act” by orchestrating ‘vote theft’ in collusion with the Election Commission and undermining the idea of India. Participating in a discussion on election reforms, Gandhi also outlined a slew of electoral reforms to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process. Making suggestions, he called for providing machine-readable voter lists to all parties one month before elections, taking back the law that allows destruction of CCTV footage after 45 days, giving access to EVMs, and changing the law that allows the election commissioners “to get away with whatever they want to do”. In his 30-minute speech, he posed three questions which he claimed show the BJP is “directing and using” EC to damage India’s democracy . “The biggest anti-national act you can do is vote ‘chori’. Because when you destroy the vote, you destroy the fabric of this country you destroy mod, ern India, you destroy the idea of India. Those across the aisle are doing an anti-national act,” Gandhi said, gesturing towards the treasury benches. He cautioned the election commissioners that law can be changed retroactively to hold them accountable. “Let me remind them: don’t worry we are , going to change the law, and that too retroactively. And we are going to come and find you,” he said. Demanding an answer from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the Congress leader asked why the Chief Justice of India was removed from the selection panel for appointing the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners. Why are the prime minister and home minister so keen on choosing who the election commissioner is going to be, he asked. Lashing out at the government for altering the law with regard to CCTV footage to enable vote theft, he said, “Why was a law put in place that allows the EC to destroy CCTV footage 45 days after the election? It is not a question of data. It is a question of stealing the election.” The biggest anti-national act you can do is vote ‘chori’. Because when you destroy the vote, you destroy the fabric of this country — Rahul Gandhi, LoP in Lok Sabha ‘Opposition looking for excuses for their defeat’ Rahul Gandhi speaks during a discussion on poll reforms in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday | PTI SC warns states, asks ECI to report intimidation of BLOs during SIR S UCHITRA KA LYAN M O HANTY @ New Delhi Expressing concern over reports of Booth Level Officers (BLO) being threatened in West Bengal and other states, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Election Commission of India to take action to protect BLOs. While issuing directions on the security of ground-level electoral staff, a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi also warned states against non-cooperation in the Special Intensive Revision to cut dropouts (SIR) of electoral rolls. “Bring to our notice instances of lack of cooperation, hindrances to work of BLOs and we will pass appropriate orders,” the bench told senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the Election Commission. “Deal with the situation or it will cause anarchy CJI Kant told Dwivedi. ,” The directions came during the hearing of a batch of pleas by various states including West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and others over challenges to voter roll revision. Microsoft to invest $17.5 bn in India over 4 yrs TN to set up 100 ITIs on govt school campuses RAKE S H KUMAR @ New Delhi S u b a s h i n i V i j aya k u m a r @ Chennai The Tamil Nadu government will establish 100 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) on the campuses of government high and higher secondary schools across the state as part of a pilot initiative to expand vocational education. District administrations have been instructed to shortlist four to five schools each with at least 50 cents of unused land for the project. Officials said integrating ITIs with schools would help identify potential dropouts early and direct them towards skill-based courses that can improve employability . A circular from the School Education Department stated that the proposal was finalised after a meeting between the Director of School Education and the Director of Employment and Training under the Labour Department. District officials have been asked to identify not only vacant land but also underutilised laboratories and buildings that can be repurposed for the institutes. Schools located near industrial hubs or corridors are to be prioritised to ensure students have direct access to local employment opportunities. Localities already served by an ITI will be excluded, with preference given to areas lacking vocational training facilities.  Continued on P5 Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said the SIR has been held multiple times since 1952 to clean up electoral rolls. He said the Opposition, including the Congress, blames electronic voting machines and the SIR for their repeated defeats, but refuses to introspect | P7 Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in New Delhi | pti To support India’s ambitions, Microsoft is committing $17.5 billion to help build the infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities needed for India’s AI first future — Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft US tech giant Microsoft has announced $17.5 billion (`1.58 lakh crore) investment in India over the next four years to help build the infrastructure, skills, and capabilities needed for the country’s AI future. The firm’s CEO Satya Nadella, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday called , it “the largest investment ever in Asia”. Modi and Nadella discussed India’s AI roadmap and growth priorities, Microsoft said. The US firm’s investment in India focuses on three pillars—scale, skills, and sovereignty—aligned with the Prime Minister’s vision of building a comprehensive ecosystem that drives AI innovation and access at a national scale. Puneet Chandok, president of Microsoft India and South Asia, said the new investment will be used to continue scaling the company’s cloud and AI infrastructure, skilling initiatives, and ongoing operations across India. How Air India managed to escape crisis S L a l i t h a @ New Delhi PLANNING in advance helped Tata-owned Air India Group to ensure that both Air India and Air India Express sailed through smoothly after DGCA’s revised crew roster came into effect from November 1. This is in stark contrast to the shoddy management by IndiGo, which resulted in 1,232 cancellations last month that cascaded into a full-blown crisis from December 1. Back in October, when the Union civil aviation ministry finalised the winter schedule (October 26, 2025 to March 28, 2026) for all domestic airlines, IndiGo was permitted to oper- big minI-auction onon16list names dec for ipl A total of 350 cricketers — 240 Indians and 110 overseas players — will go under the hammer in Abu Dhabi. Quinton de Kock, Steve Smith among stars to vie for 77 slots. KKR have the biggest purse | P11 ate 15,014 departures per week, the maximum permitted for any airline. Air India and Air India Express were allotted 4,277 and 3,171 flights, respectively, per week. Sources in Air India said the the new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) were a huge challenge as literally everything had to be changed. Also, Air India was trying to rebuild its image after the Ahmedabad disaster. Air India began recruitment of Captains and Flying Officers quite early, said a source. “We went all out to recruit pilots ...we understood the new roster would require a massive increase in operational crew,” sources said. IndiGo on Monday told DGCA that a software glitch was also a contributory reason for the crisis. Air India had figured this two months ago. “When it was made known clearly to all of us that the new rules will fully come into effect by November 1, we began work on it by October. The software involved in it is a very complicated one. It took us two months to ready it,” an AI source said. IndiGo will face action for mass disruption of flights triggered by crew rostering failures Ram Mohan Naidu, Minister express read Vijay: DMK must learn from Puducherry govt Belgium’s top court clears way for Choksi’s extradition Puducherry: Addressing a public meeting held in Puducherry on Tuesday, TVK chief Vijay asked the DMK govt in TN to learn from the ‘impartial’ regime of CM N Rangasamy in Puducherry | P4 NEW DELHI: Belgium’s Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed Indian fugitive Mehul Choksi’s plea challenging his extradition to India in a `13,850 crore Punjab National Bank scam. On October 17, a court in Antwerp had said India’s extradition request is valid INDIA bloc leaders led by DMK’s Kanimozhi & Priyanka Gandhi Vadra of Congress submit the notice to Om Birla, LS Speaker | X 107 MPs submit notice to impeach Madras HC judge e x p r e ss n e w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi/Chennai AS many as 107 INDIA bloc MPs, led by DMK, submitted a notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday, seeking impeachment of Madras High Court judge G R Swaminathan for his order of December 1 and 3 directing Subramaniya Swamy temple authorities at Thirupparankundram to allow lighting lamps on a pillar (deepathoon) near a dargah on the hill. The impeachment notice accused Justice G R Swaminathan — of the Orders and Madurai bench of Madras HC — of actions of conduct that “raises serious ques- Justice G R tions regarding impartiality, trans- Swaminathan parency, and the secular function- disruptive to ing of the judiciary.” It alleged social harmony “undue favouritism” towards senior Kanimozhi, advocate M Sricharan Ranganathan DMK MP and lawyers from a “particular community,” besides deciding cases on “particular political ideology” against the constitutional principle of secularism. Copies of the notice were also sent to President Droupadi Murmu and CJI Sanjiv Khanna. The delegation included Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Akhilesh Yadav, T R Baalu, Kanimozhi, Supriya Sule and others. On December 3, Justice Swaminathan had allowed a group of petitioners to light the lamp on the pillar near the dargah, and directed CISF protection to them. Police stopped the group from lighting the lamp, leading to a furore, prompting the Tamil Nadu government to move the Supreme Court, which admitted TN’s plea. JE G A D EE S WARI PAN D IAN @ Madurai Refusing the state’s request to adjourn the contempt petition filed over non-compliance of order directing lighting of Karthigai Deepam on the Deepathoon atop Thiruparankundram hill, the Madurai Bench of the Madras HC on Tuesday directed the TN Chief Secretary and Additional Director General of Police (L&O) to appear before it through videoconference on December 17. Justice GR Swaminathan also issued statutory notice to Madurai Collector KJ Praveen Kumar, Madurai Police Commissioner J Loganathan, and Executive Of ficer of Thiruparankundram Subramaniya Swamy Temple Yagna Narayanan. He further issued statutory notice to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Madurai South) AG Inigo Divyan, who allegedly prevented the petitioners from implementing the order during the second day on December 4 despite a specific direction to Commissioner Loganathan to ensure compliance. At the request of the petitioner, Rama Ravikumar, the judge also impleaded Union Home Secretary and issued notice to him, adding that based on the response of the chief secretary and ADGP, he may seek inputs from the Union Home Secretary . Another contempt petition filed by S Paramasivam, one of the four petitioners whose petition was also allowed by the December 1 order, was posted along with Ravikumar’s petition.  P5