THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l wednesday l march 04, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE city EDITION Nitish kumar agrees to let son Nishant enter politics jubilation at jd(u) headquarters in patna Eschewing aversion for “dynasty politics”, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday agreed to launch his only son Nishant in politics an engineer keen about public affairs The announcement came from state Rural Development Minister and senior party leader Shrawon Kumar, who has been a close aide of the JD(U) supremo since the Samata Party days, in the 1990s. Party workers distributed sweets, smeared each other’s faces with ‘gulaal’ and raised slogans to express delight over the political entry of their supremo’s son ■ ■ Five Rajya Sabha seats from Bihar are going to polls and the BJP and JD(U) hold two seats apiece. Nishant, known to be reticent but with a good grasp of public affairs, may replace Harivansh Narayan Singh Former state BJP president Dilip Jaiswal said, “If Nitish Kumar’s son enters politics, it’s great... time for a new generation to emerge” 48-yr-old nishant is single and has a degree in engineering 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 787 The latest war toll in Iran, according to the Iranian Red Crescent 153 Countries affected in some way or the other by the war 1,039 Attacks by US, Israel across Iran. Qatar joined the pounding Thoughts on education, public service, dissent and AI enliven TNIE’s conclave E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Chennai West Bengal Governor Dr C V Ananda Bose on Tuesday recalled a quote from the Kothari Commission Report, “destiny of India is being shaped in her classrooms”, to underscore the relationship between education, public service, and nation-building at the ThinkEdu Conclave 2026 held in Chennai on Tuesday . Speaking on the second day of the event presented by the Tata Group and Tata ConsulTHINKEDU TNIE Editorial Director Prabhu Chawla and Editor Santwana Bhattacharya presenting a memento to West Bengal Governor t a n cy S e r v i c e s CONCLAVE Dr C V Ananda Bose at ThinkEdu Conclave; (right) Bihar Governor Arif Mohammed Khan | P jawahar, Ashwin Prasath (TCS) with Rajalakshmi Group of Institutions as title sponsor, V-C, MGR Medical University, brought the discussion closer eignty Prof Pawan Goyal of IIT . Dr Bose said that Viksit Bharat also highlighted the need for home, highlighting the power, Kharagpur, and author Sairam 2047 mission can be achieved value-driven education. pains, and representation of Surenderasan explained how only through the path of Dr Santishree Dhulipudi Pan- youth in TN’s charged political AI is already disrupting education. dit, Vice-Chancellor of JNU, Dr landscape. education. Bihar Governor Arif Mo- Sunaina Singh, former V-C of Advocating for the ‘DravidiSenior BJP leader K Anhammed Khan reflected on the Nalanda University, and Dr an Model’, Tamil Nadu School namalai called for a major overcontroversial Shah Bano case, Thangam Meganathan, Chair- Education Minister Dr Anbil haul in the civil services, while and spoke on what it means to person, Rajalakshmi Group of Mahesh highlighted the state’s former TN chief secretary V be a “Liberal Muslim” in India Institution, stressed on the im- strides in inclusive education, Irai Anbu batted for purposetoday . p o r t a n c e o f re s p o n s i bl e while IT Minister Dr Palanivel driven public servants. Swami Suddhidananda, pres- dissent. Thiyaga Rajan outlined its ecoThinkEdu 2026, with over 30 ident of Advaita Ashrama, iniSachin Pilot, senior Congress nomic success story . riveting sessions and 45 speaktiated the day’s discussions with leader, commented on the fleetDriving the importance of ers across two days, representa reminder that education must ing nature of political ideolo- self-reliance in emerging tech- ed the continuation of a 14-year also enrich the spiritual and gies in India. Senior BJP leader nologies, Prof V Kamakoti, Di- legacy of championing the exmoral centres within students. Dr Tamilisai Soundarajan and rector of IIT Madras, explored cellence of Indian thought. FULL COVERAGE: P5 Dr Sudha Seshayyan, former DMK MP Dr Kanimozhi Somu India’s roadmap to AI soverPresents An explosion in UAE’s Fujairah after drone debris fell on a part of the oil industrial zone | AP/PTI Wboth sides go full blast Asia burns as a g e n c i es @ Tehran, Tel Aviv THE West Asia war is showing no signs of abatement. Iran stepped up its attacks on economic targets and US missions across West Asia on Tuesday as President Donald Trump warned it was “too late” for the Islamic republic to seek talks. As drones and missiles crashed into oil facilities and US embassies in the Gulf, Israel bombarded targets in Iran and pushed troops deeper into Lebanon to battle the Tehranbacked militia Hezbollah. “They want to talk. I said: ‘Too late!’,” Trump said on Truth Social. Later, he said “someone from within Iranian regime might be the best choice to take power once US-Israel campaign is finished.” As if to underline Trump’s new stance, loud blasts echoed around downtown Tehran. According to Iranian media, US-Israeli strikes targeted the ‘Assembly of Experts’ building in Qom, housing the panel electing Iran’s new supreme leader. Israel’s military said its air force struck industrial sites “throughout Iran” used to produce ballistic missiles, to pre-empt their use. Iran soon struck the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh and in Kuwait City with a drone early Tuesday. The strike in Riyadh caused part of its roof to collapse, although there were no deaths or injuries. In Kuwait City the vicinity of the em, bassy was hit by two drone strikes from Iran, with no casualties. With Iran bombing Gulf monarchies on whim, the US ambassador in Israel asked Americans to move out on their own. “The US Embassy is not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel,” Mike Huckabee wrote on X. Earlier Tuesday IAEA said Iran’s , Natanz site sustained “some recent damage”, but “no radiological consequence was expected.” Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar urged foreign capitals to cut all ties with Tehran. Govt sets up inter-ministerial group to monitor, manage crisis PU S HPITA D E Y @ New Delhi THE Ministry of Commerce held a consultation meeting on Tuesday with key ministries, logistics operators, and trade facilitation bodies to assess potential risks to exports and imports due to the ongoing geopolitical turmoil. An Inter-Ministerial Group for Supply Chain Resilience has also been created to aid Indian exporters amid the growing geopolitical crisis. The group comprises members from the ministries of finance, external affairs, shipping, and petroleum, to facilitate coordination monitoring and follow-up to ensure continuity in trade flows. Some of the measures include flexibility in export-related authorisation and steps to prevent cargo bottlenecks. With the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict, exporters fear disruptions in logistics, spike in freight cost and longer transit time. As a big share of India’s crude oil passes through Strait of Hormuz, fuel prices can rise. saudi arabia US embassy hit by drones An attack from two drones on the US Embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire”. The embassy urged Americans to avoid the compound israel Tel Aviv hit injures 7 At least seven people were seriously wounded after a salvo of missiles fired from Iran hit the capital city Tel Aviv qatar Ex-Union min Unnikrishnan passes away Loud blasts heard in Doha AFP journalists in the Qatari capital of Doha heard more explosions on Tuesday, as Iran carried out a fourth day of attacks in Gulf countries E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Kozhikode uae Amazon data centres hit Tech giant Amazon said two of its data centres in UAE had been “directly struck” by drones, disrupting cloud services in the region iran Urges UNSC to stop the war Iran urged the United Nations Security Council to take action to stop the war. “ If UNSC wishes, it can certainly act to stop the war” peak of piety Lakhs of women — from across the state and even abroad — lined up on the roads in T’Puram city to offer pongala The rituals at the Attukal Bhagavathy temple began at 9.15am with Melsanthi Brahmasree Aneesh Namboothiri lighting the pongala hearth inside the temple At 9.45 am, melsanthi transferred the sacred flame from the sanctum sanctorum to the ‘pandara aduppu’ in the presence of temple tantri Parameswaran Bhattathirippad. From here, the flame was passed on to women across the city Devotees prepare offerings during the Attukal Pongala festival on Tuesday | Albin Mathew | P3 Rituals ended with the ceremonial sanctification of the hearths by 2.30pm Senior Congress leader and former Union minister K P Unnikrishnan, 90, passed away in Kozhikode on Tuesday He was undergoing treat. ment for age-related ailments at a private hospital in the city . A six-time MP from Vadakara, Unnikrishnan served as Union M i n i s t e r fo r Telecommunications, Shipping and Surface Transport in the V P Singh government during 1989-90. In Parliament, Unnikrishnan was respected for his sharp interventions P4 and policy clarity . 16 pages, including 4 pages of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Express Shailaja vs Sunny: Peravoor braces for clash of titans Nod to acquire 60 transport aircraft A n i l S @ T’Puram The hilly terrains of Kannur’s Peravoor are poised to take centre stage in the upcoming assembly elections, with a high-voltage contest brewing between sitting MLA and Congress state chief Sunny Joseph and CPM’s foremost woman leader K K Shailaja. Setting the stage for the duel, the CPM’s Kannur district secretariat on Tuesday cleared Shailaja’s name for Peravoor. The party’s state leadership had earlier decided against fielding the former minister from her sitting seat, Mattannur. As per the proposed list, Speaker A N Shamseer is also unlikely to get another term. The final decision on candidates will be taken at the CPM state secretariat meeting on Wednesday and the state committee on Thursday . There are indications that Shailaja has conveyed to the CPM state leadership that she can reclaim Peravoor, a seat she won in 2006 before losing to Sunny in 2011. However, the party is wary of creating the impression that Shailaja— once hailed as a potential woman chief minister—was being sidelined. “It’s more of a Catch-22. Keeping her away would have triggered a debate. Initially, she was unwilling to contest from anywhere other than Mattannur, which did not go down well with the leadership and led to the decision not to field her,” CPM sources in Kan● More on P4 nur said.  J a v a r i a Ra n a @ New Delhi The Defence Procurement Board (DPB) has cleared the acquisition of 60 medium transport aircraft for the IAF, setting in motion a long-pending plan to renew its tactical airlift fleet. Sources said the DPB, chaired by Defence Secretary R K Singh, met on Monday and cleared the proposal. The board vets capital acquisition proposals before they move to the Defence Acquisition Council for Acceptance of Necessity following which the , process moves to tendering, trials, negotiations and contract award. The acquisition, estimated at around `1 lakh crore, will be pursued under the ‘Buy and Make’ route, with 12 aircraft to be acquired in flyaway condition and the remaining 48 to be manufactured in India in part- nership with the domestic industry sources said. , The requirement centres on replacing the An-32 fleet. The new aircraft are also expected to take on some roles of ageing Il-76. The aircraft being sought must be capable of operating in high-altitude environments and from short, semi-prepared or unpaved surfaces, including Advanced Landing Grounds in Ladakh and the Northeast.