mangaluru l Thursday l February 12, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l city EDITION SC asks Centre to file report on Air India plane crash probe The Supreme Court asked the Centre on Wednesday to file a brief report on the procedural protocol followed so far in the investigation probe by AAIB nearing its end, Govt tells SC Court gives three-week deadline Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Supreme Court that a fact-finding inquiry by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) is currently underway in accordance with international commitments and is likely to be completed in three weeks. The bench was hearing three petitions seeking an independent, court-monitored investigation into the crash ■ ■ Mehta urged a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi that the three pleas be listed after three weeks “Let us see the result of the AAIB probe and then we will see whether a court of inquiry will be needed or not,” the CJI said and fixed the pleas for hearing after three weeks | P9 June 12, 2025 when Air India flight to London crashed in Ahmedabad 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 U n i o n B ud g e t d e b a t e States to get over Bharat Mata sold D25L cr in FY27: FM to the US: Rahul P u s h p i ta D e y @ New Delhi P r ee t h a N a i r @ New Delhi FINANCE Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday rejected allegations levelled by several Opposition-ruled states that the Centre was not transferring states’ share from the divisible pool of taxes. The Union finance minister, in her reply to the Budget discussion in the Lok Sabha, said that the Centre has transferred the full 41% share of divisible taxes to the states as mandated by the Finance Commission. “The states should check if the entire net proceeds, which form the divisible pool, i.e., removing cess and surcharge from gross tax revenue, are received by them. There is no need to discuss the gross tax revenue,” the minister said. The FM said the Centre has allocated `25.44 lakh crore to states in FY27. “This much money will go to the states. This entails an increase of `2.70 lakh crore from FY26,” Sitharaman said. Commenting on the transfer of cess and surcharges, she clarified that these are collected for a purpose and if states can come with proposals on health, education, roadways, they will get the funds. “Cess and surcharge collected by the Centre are given to the States for development work in various sectors. This is separate from the 41% of funds allocated to the States,” she added. Debunking allegations that the government was not approving credits to the states, the finance minister stated the total credit has grown 13.8% in the current financial year. She pointed out that headline capital expenditure stands at `12.2 lakh crore while the effective capital expenditure, including grants to states, totals `17.1 lakh crore, amounting to 4.4% of GDP . The FM said the government has envisaged a total expenditure of `53.47 lakh crore for the next financial year, up 7.7% from the current fiscal ending March 31. After being repeatedly blocked from quoting ex-Army Chief General M M Naravane’s unpublished memoir in the Lok Sabha last week, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday mounted a sharp attack on the government over the India-US trade deal framework, accusing the Modi administration of having “sold off the nation” and terming it as a “wholesale surrender”. Participating in the debate on the Union Budget, Rahul said he does not believe that any Indian PM, including Narendra Modi, would agree to such a deal unless there is a “chokehold” on him. “Why has he sold India? Because the US are choking him. They have a grip on his neck.” Rahul asserted that the trade agreement had undermined farmers’ interests, destroyed the textile sector, and handed India’s energy security to the US. Calling it a surrender of the future of 1.5 billion Indians, he said it was driven by the need to protect the BJP’s financial architecture, which he said is facing scrutiny in the US. “The US will decide who we buy oil from. They will monitor.” He accused the government of opening the door to mechanised American farms, thereby crushing India’s small farmers, and called the move disgraceful, saying that no PM before had done such a thing, nor would any after him. “How can you come to this House and defend this? Are you not ashamed of what you are giving away? Are you not ashamed of selling India? You have sold our mother — Bharat Mata?” he said. The House saw heated exchanges after Rahul referred to Union minister Hardeep Puri and industrialist Anil Ambani in connection with mentions in the Epstein files. All set for the big day Election officials check ballot boxes and voting materials after collecting them ahead of polls, in Dhaka, on Wednesday | AP Hopes, apprehensions as B’desh goes to polls B angladesh heads to the polls previous elections, Jamaat’s support on Thursday under an unprece- hovered below 10%, while BNP sedented political landscape, follow- cured over 30%. ing the sudden exit of former With the Awami League out, many prime minister Sheikh Hasina af- believed BNP would secure a comfortter a mass upsurge in 2024. The election able majority. But Jamaat’s renewed is set to be a unique experience for vot- presence has complicated the electoral ers, many of whom will cast arithmetic, raising the prostheir ballots for the first time. pect of a close fight. Alongside electing members The NCP, despite leading of parliament, citizens will the anti-Hasina drive, has also vote in a referendum on struggled to maintain its moconstitutional reforms. mentum. It is contesting just The main contest is be30 out of 300 parliamentary tween the Bangladesh Naseats under its alliance with tionalist Party (BNP) and the Bayezid Milky Jamaat. In all, around 50 parBangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. Senior journalist based ties are in the contest. The new National Citizen Voters will cast two balin Dhaka Party (NCP), which emerged lots—one for parliament and from the mass movement one for the referendum— against Hasina, joined the race as part while the absence of the Awami of an 11-party alliance with Jamaat. League has left many uncertain. The The BNP, a seasoned force with past Election Commission has warned stints in power, was expected to domi- counting may take longer due to dual nate in the absence of the Awami ballots and higher turnout. AuthoriLeague. However, Jamaat claims it has ties say the February 12 vote will shape built a strong base and is positioning Bangladesh’s future, and citizens hope itself as a formidable challenger. In for a fair and peaceful election. Girls, aged 4 and 2, mowed down by school bus E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Bengaluru Two girls, aged four and two, died after they were mowed down by a school bus near the police quarters in Hegde Nagar in Hennur traffic police limits around 8.10 am on Wednesday . The girls were cousins. The accident occurred when the school bus driver was trying to escape after crashing into an a u t o r i ck s h aw n e a r b y. He Bhanu rammed into the scooter on which the two kids were travelling. The children fell on the road, came unVarsha der the front wheels of the bus, and died during treatment. The father of the two-yearold is a police constable attached to the City Armed Reserve (CAR). When the driver tried to escape again, policemen at the police quarters chased and stopped him. The deceased were fouryear-old D Bhanu Mali Patil, who was from Lingasugur in Raichur district, and two-yearold N Varsha Mali Patil, a resident of Hegde Nagar Police Quarters.  CONTINUED ON: P7