chennai l Tuesday l January 06, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l vellore EDITION COAI flags concerns over Prasar Bharati’s direct-to-mobile Test The public broadcaster did not involve telecom operators and mobile device companies for the test, the telecom industry body said on Monday iit Kanpur Test rules out harmful effects Prasar Bharati had roped in IIT Kanpur in 2019 to verify concerns over interference of direct-to-mobile (D2M) broadcast service with telecom services and heating of mobile devices. IIT Kanpur conducted the test in collaboration with technology partners Aracion Technology and Tejas Networks. Its report refuted the concern raised by some stakeholders terrestrial broadcast towers without an active internet connection or a SIM card. It has significant implications for spectrum usage ■ COAI has sought a fresh D2M test by taking on board all stakeholders including telcos, whose spectrum resources are directly impacted | P10 COAI Industry body demands fresh evaluation ■ D2M broadcasting allows smartphones to receive live TV directly from Claims d2m could IMPACT the spectrum bands for existing and future 5G use 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 Can raise tariffs on India very quickly, warns Trump AP villagers evacuated after gas leak, fire at ONGC well Claims Modi knew he wasn’t happy over India’s Russian oil purchase E xpress news service @ Kakinada J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi A major gas leak followed by fire at an ONGC well at Andhra Pradesh’s BR Ambedkar Konaseema district on Monday forced authorities to evacuate all people from nearby villages. There were no casualties. The incident occurred during re pair operations by ONGC’s contractor Deep Industries Ltd. Officials said there was a blowout when the drilling work was underway and large volumes of gas mixed with crude oil were released. The gas spread across the site in a thick, fog-like cloud, initially mistaken for mist by workers. Soon, the leaked gas ignited, producing flames and dense smoke that engulfed surrounding areas. District Collector Mahesh Kumar Ravirala, Superintendent of Police Rahul Meena, and other senior officials rushed to the site. Around 10 fire tenders were deployed, while disaster management teams worked to contain the situation. Videos circulating on social media showed police and workers fleeing as flames rose amid paddy fields and coconut groves, with thick smoke visible across the Godavari delta. ONGC said the well is located in a remote area with no habitation within a 500-600 metre radius, adding that cooling operations have begun. Renewing his pressure tactics on India over its trade with Russia, US President Donald Trump warned that Washington could raise tariffs on New Delhi “very quickly”. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while flying from Florida to Washington DC on Sunday (local time), Trump said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is aware of his displeasure over India’s continued purchase of Russian oil. “They (India) wanted to make me happy, basically. Modi is a very good man; he is a good guy . He knew I was not happy and it , was important to make me happy. They do trade and we can raise tariffs on them very quickly It would be very bad for . them,” Trump said. Trump’s remarks came during a press briefing on the US’s future plans for Venezuela after capturing its president Nicolas Maduro in a military operation on Saturday. India on Sunday reacted cautiously to the development, urging dialogue but get relief in ed case The Madras HC on Monday dismissed petitions filed by Rural Development Minister I Periyasamy and his family against ED’s probe into alleged money laundering linked to them | P2 Deposed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro taken to the Manhattan Courthouse in New York City for his first appearance in a narco-terrorism case | X | P9 Khalid, Imam fail to get SC bail, barred from appeal for a yr UAPA into play the bench said. , 43D(5) mandates that an accused cannot be released if The Supreme Court on Mon- there are reasonable grounds day refused to grant bail to ac- to believe prima facie that the tivists Umar Khalid and Shar- charges are true. jeel Imam in the 2020 Delhi “The expression “prima facie riots case, noting that the mate- true”, which lies at the heart of rial against them atSection 43D(5), does tracted a prima facie not invite a detailed excase under the Unlawamination of evidence, ful Activities (Prevennor does it require the tion) Act. They were Court to assess the also barred from filing probability of convica fresh petition for bail tion. Equally, it does for a year. not reduce the judicial Khalid and Imam role to a mechanical Umar Khalid stand on different footacceptance of the prosing as compared to the ecution’s assertions. other five who had The statutory standard sought bail, which contemplates a threshcan’t be ignored in old inquiry of limited terms of “parity and but real content,” the culpability”, the bench verdict said. comprising justices It went on to observe Aravind Kumar and N that “Article 21 occuSharjeel Imam V Anjaria ruled. The pies a central space in other five — Gulfisha the constitutional Fatima, Meera Haider, Shifa Ur scheme. Pre trial incarceration Rehman, Mohd. Saleem Khan cannot be assumed to have the and Shadab Ahmed — were character of punishment.” It granted conditional bail. further said the Constitution did The charges against Khalid not conceive liberty as an isoand Imam suggest a central and lated or absolute entitlement, formative role in the violence, detached from the security of which brings Section 43D(5) of the society in which it operates. S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi HC cites privacy, quashes govt order to collect sensitive info of school students E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Madurai The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday quashed an order issued by the member-secretary of TN Model Schools (TNMS) on September 4, 2025, which instructed all government high and higher secondary schools to upload sensitive information about students belonging to 25 categories on EMIS portal under ‘Special Fo- cus Students’ scheme. A bench of justices G Jayachandran and KK Ramakrishnan passed the order while allowing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by A Ameer Alam of Madurai who had challenged the collection of data of students under three of the 25 categories. Alam stated that while other categories are genuinely connected with the welfare of students, collection of information of students under three categories — students in conflict with law, students whose parents are prisoners, and students with refugee background — would affect their privacy . Stating that many teachers collect the data openly in front of other students in classrooms and this can result in stigmatisation and psychological stress to the students, the petitioner requested the court to quash the three categories from the impugned order.  P5 Narendra Modi Donald Trump without explicitly naming the US or condemning its action. South Carolina Republican senator Lindsey Graham, who was also present in Air Force One press gaggle, said the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration were the “chief reason” India is now buying less Russian oil. Graham has been the driving force behind a proposed tariff bill that seeks to impose up to 500% tariffs on imports from countries that continue to buy Russian oil. Linking energy trade directly to the Ukraine war, Graham claimed the conflict can only be ended by targeting Russia’s customers. “Pressure must be put on President Vladimir Putin’s customers,” he said and added that India and China express read Shah, Velumani hold 2-hr, closed-door meet Tiruchy: Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a two-hourlong, closed-door meeting with AIADMK organisational secretary SP Velumani in Tiruchy on Monday during his two-day visit to the state. The AIADMK leader also held talks with Piyush Goyal, BJP’s election in-charge for TN | P4 No party can win in TN sans alliance: Cong MP Chennai: Congress MP Manickam Tagore on Monday said no party can win elections in TN without alliance and that the time has come to discuss power-sharing arrangements instead of limiting talks to seat-sharing. Power-sharing is the official position of the party, he added | P4 Tranquilizer dart for maneater hits Guj forest spotter, kills him HOW IT HAPPENED Dilip S in g h K shatriya @ Ahmedabad Tragedy struck twice within 24 hours in Gujarat’s Junagadh district after a tranquilizer dart meant for a maneater lioness accidentally hit a forest tracker who was part of a team to trap the animal, killing him on Monday Earlier on Sunday, . the animal mauled a fouryear-old boy to death on the ourskirts of Nani Monpari village of Visavadar taluka. It all happened in a flash. When a cage was being set up in a field in the village on Sunday the lioness suddenly , jumped onto it taking all by surprise. In the resultant melee, a tranquilizer gun was fired with the dart hitting the left hand of tracker Ashraf Alarkhan instead of the beast. Since the dart had thrice the amount ofsedative than is safe for humans, Ashraf passed out. He was hospitalised but could not be saved. The lioness continues to be on the loose. “This is probably the first incident in history where a forest staffer died due to a misfired tranquilizer gun,” an official admitted, calling it a “dark and shocking day” for the department. 1 Lioness kills boy, 4, on the outskirts of a village in Junagadh district on Sunday morning. By afternoon, a team from Sasan Gir arrives, armed with cages and tranquilizer guns. “She became aggressive and was hiding in nearby agri lands. A quick capture was critical,” a senior forest official said Ashraf Alarkhan 2 By 4 pm, lioness spotted in a field near the village. Over 30 forest officials reach the spot to set up a cage, sedate the animal. While positioning the cage, the lioness suddenly climbs onto it. In the melee, a tranquilizer gun goes off with the dart piercing tracker Ashraf Alarkhan’s left hand 3 Ashraf collapses almost immediately as the sedative quantity was safe for the beast but not humans. Colleagues abandon operation, rush Ashraf to the Visavadar Civil Hospital and later to the Junagadh Civil Hospital, where he succumbs to the sedative overdose around 7 am on Monday MANDAR PARDIKAR minister I Periyasamy fails to Maduro in court play a decisive role in sustaining Moscow’s war effort. Trump echoed this positioning and said that US sanctions were “hurting Russia very badly before specifically mention,” ing India. Referring to his recent engagement with Indian officials, Graham said: “I was at the Indian Ambassador’s house about a month ago, and all he wanted to talk about was how they are buying less Russian oil.” According to Graham, the Indian envoy had urged him: “Would you tell the President to relieve the tariff ?” There were no immediate comments from Indian officials on Trump’s statement. Last month, Indian Ambassador to the US Vinay Mohan Kwatra hosted several US senators at India House in Washington DC, including Graham, as New Delhi sought to press its case against punitive tariffs. According to data analytics firm Kpler, India’s crude imports from Russia fell to 1.2 mn barrels per day (bpd) in December 1.84 mn bpd in November. CM gives laptops, exhorts students to rule world Shatabdi trains may get VB rakes as rlys E xpress N ews S ervice @ Chennai Describing Artificial Intelligence as humanity’s “second fire” after the discovery of fire and the wheel, which propelled the growth of civilisation, Chief Minister MK Stalin on Monday launched the ‘Ulagam Ungal Kaiyil’ (The World in Your Hands) laptop distribution scheme for college students in the state. Addressing students at the Chennai Trade Centre, the CM handed over laptops to 10 students to symbolise the launch of the scheme, which aims to cover 20 lakh students from government and governmentaided college in two phases. In Chief Minister MK Stalin distributes free laptops to college students under the ‘Ulagam Ungal Kaiyil’ scheme at the Chennai Trade Centre on Monday | Martin Louis the first phase, 10 lakh laptops will be distributed to medical, engineering, arts and science college, agriculture, law, polytechnic students. Emphasising that the scheme is a “strategic investment” in the future generation rather than a mere populist giveaway , the CM said, “These are not freebies. These are instruments with which you will rule the world. My dream is for Tamil Nadu’s youth to grow as skilled, confident individuals who uplift society .” “Artificial Intelligence will change the way the world works. But remember, AI can never replace humans — it can only help us work faster and smarter,” Stalin said, and urged students to see laptops not as gadgets for games and movies, but as a launchpad for their careers. Stalin further recalled the vision of former chief minister M Karunanidhi, who introduced Tamil Nadu’s first IT policy 25 years ago.  P5 shelves plan to stop chair car production B A N B U S E LV A N @ Chennai The Indian Railways has rolled back its earlier decision to stop the production of Vande Bharat chair cars after completing 120 train sets. The Railway Board has now issued an order to manufacture 1,500 Vande Bharat chair car coaches — equivalent to 88 rakes — over a four-year period from 2026-27 to 2029-30. Of these, 720 coaches will be produced by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai. Official railway sources said that all Shatabdi Express trains operating on intercity routes, file pic whose rake production has already been discontinued, will be replaced with Vande Bharat rakes. Of the 88 rakes planned, 68 will be 16-car trainsets, while the remaining 20 will be 20-car configurations. The Vande Bharat chair car rake is designed for a maximum speed of 160 kmph and is primarily intended for daytime intercity services. As of December last year, around 96 Vande Bharat chair car rakes had been manufactured by three coach production units — ICF, Rail Coach Factory (Kapurthala), and Modern Coach Factory (Raebareli). Of these, 82 are currently in service, while a few are kept as spare coaches. A few additional rakes have already been allotted to Southern Railway, Northern Railway, and other zones, but are yet to be operational.  P5