RR and RCB sold for huge amounts After months of negotiations, defending champions and inaugural winners will have new owners post IPL. Deal subject to BCCI approval. If both the deals are cleared, the owners are expected to take charge post the 19th edition of the league. While the former was picked by a consortium fronted by US-based entrepreneur, Kal Somani, the latter was fronted by a consortium led by Aditya Birla Group tirupati l wednesday l march 25, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION 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 AP signs MoU with Centre for Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0 S V i s w a n at h @ Vijayawada A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) 2.0 was signed between the Centre and the G o ve r n m e n t o f A n d h r a Pradesh in New Delhi on Tuesday, in the presence of Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil. Senior officials from both the Centre and the State exchanged the copies of agreement, aimed at accelerating the implementation of the rural drinking water mission. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy Chief Minister (Panchayat Raj and Rural Development) Pawan Kalyan participated in the event via video conference from the State Secretariat. Patil lauded the efforts of Naidu in extending the JJM by taking up the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Naidu reaffirmed the AP government’s commitment to supply of uninterrupted and safe drinking water to every rural household under the JJM by 2028. The State is prioritising the operation and maintenance of rural drinking water supply systems, he said, mentioning that a comprehensive policy in this regard was introduced in September 2025. Naidu expressed his gratitude to Modi for extending the P4 JJM until 2028.  PM: LEAST POSSIBLE IMPACT ON India TrUMP likes Pak’s mediation offer The PM underlined efforts to reduce dependence on a single source of energy. “The crisis has shaken the global economy. Continuous efforts are being made to ensure that India suffers the least possible impact” US President Donald Trump on Tuesday endorsed Pakistan’s offer to be the host to facilitate talks to end the West Asia conflict by re-sharing Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif’s post on the Truth Social platform Don dials Modi on de-escalation Both leaders discuss the importance of keeping the Strait of Hormuz secure and accessible to all j aya n t h j a c o b @ New Delhi US President Donald Trump on Tuesday spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, focusing on the urgent need to deescalate tensions in West Asia and keeping the critical global shipping route of the Strait of Hormuz open, safe and accessible for the whole world. “Received a call from President Trump and had a useful exchange of views on the situation in West Asia. India supports de-escalation and restoration of peace at the earliest. Ensuring that the Strait of Hormuz remains open, secure and accessible is essential for the whole world. We agreed to stay in touch regarding efforts towards peace and stability,” Modi wrote on X. US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor, too, highlighted the maritime day safety aspect, saying “President Donald Trump just spoke with Prime Minister Modi. They discussed the ongoing situation in the Middle East, including the importance of keeping the Strait open.” The conversation is the first between Modi and Trump since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Febru- 25 Serious consequences if crisis continues: PM Amid a deepening global energy crisis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday addressed the Rajya Sabha and said prolonged instability could lead to unavoidable and serious consequences. “If the global circumstances created by this war persist for a long time, serious consequences are inevitable. Therefore, India is accelerating the resilience-building measures it has undertaken in recent years,” he said. “During the great crisis of the pandemic, the Centre and the states together presented an excellent model of COVID management. We must continue to work in the same spirit”, he asserted ary 28. It comes amid rising tensions and sharply rising energy prices. On Monday External Affairs , Minister S Jaishankar had held conversation with US counterpart Marco Rubio. Washington has signalled cautious diplomatic engagement with Tehran. It has emerged that the US has engaged Pakistan, Egypt and Turkiye in back-channel for looking at solutions for ending the war with Iran. India has engaged with regional leaders. Re slumps 23 paise, hits new low The rupee on Tuesday dropped 23 paise to close at 93.76 against the American dollar as a stronger greenback, elevated global crude prices, and FPI outflows weighed on the local currency Scheduled Caste status limited to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist faiths, rules Apex Court U D AYAN K ISH O R E @ New Delhi The long road back The Supreme Court on Tuesday held that only individuals belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, or Buddhist faiths can be considered members of a Scheduled Caste (SC), and conversion to any other faith will result in the person losing the SC status. “No person who professes a religion other than Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist shall be a member of Scheduled Caste. Conversion to any other religion results in immediate and complete loss of the Scheduled Caste status,” the court said, while upholding an order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. A bench of justices P K Mishra and Manmohan passed the order on an ap- The Supreme Court said to reclaim the Scheduled Caste (SC) status, a person must prove they were originally born into a caste listed as SC, before they adopted other faith, give evidence of reconversion, show they have renounced the other faith they had adopted, and demonstrate their original caste community accepted their reconversion Express read Centre renews FCRA licence of RDT Anantapur: The Rural Development Trust (RDT), a leading NGO serving several regions of AP, particularly the erstwhile undivided Anantapur district, has got fresh approval under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) from the Centre, bringing relief after months of uncertainty | P4 CM lays emphasis on low-cost power Vijayawada: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday instructed officials to focus on reducing power purchase costs and bring the unit charge below the existing `4. He asked them to prepare an action plan to enable power utilities to clear debts without burdening consumers | P4 Intel wing busts terror module in V’wada Vijayawada: Sleuths of the State Counter Intelligence wing, in coordination with city police, have busted a suspected terror module with the arrest of three youths in Vijayawada for allegedly promoting antinational ideology on social media and maintaining links with terror networks | P3 peal filed by Pastor Chinthada Anand, who alleged that he faced caste discrimination from one Akkala Ramireddy and others. Anand filed a complaint against Ramireddy under the SC/ST Act and the police lodged an FIR. Ramireddy then approached the Andhra Pradesh HC. The HC quashed the FIR on the ground that Anand had lost his SC status upon conversion to Christianity and, therefore, cannot claim protection under the SC/ST Act. It had held that Anand holding an SC certificate will not help his case since conversion to Christianity, where caste distinctions do not exist, nullifies the SC status. The Supreme Court upheld the HC order. “We have no hesitation in holding that the appellant (Anand), having ceased to be a member of the Madiga community upon his conversion to Christianity, and having failed to establish any subsequent reconversion, does not satisfy the mandatory Constitutional requirement for claiming the status of Scheduled Caste,” the bench ruled. Pvt sector growth slips to 3.5-yr low as war impacts demand E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Mumbai Private sector business activities, as measured by HSBC Flash India PMI Composite Output, fell to a three-and-a-half-year low in March amid a drastic drop in demand and a spike in costs due to the ongoing West Asia conflict. The index slipped to 56.5 in March, marking the weakest growth since October 2022. The composite PMI was 58.9 in February . HSBC attributed the poor show to the West Asia conflict, weaker domestic demand, market instability and , inflationary pressures. “Output growth eased across both manufacturing and services as the energy shock unfolds. Softer domestic demand weighed on new orders, which rose at the slowest pace in more than three years, despite a record surge in new export orders. Cost pressures intensified, but companies are absorbing part of the increase by squeezing margins,” said Pranjul Bhandari, chief economist at HSBC India. The slowdown was more pronounced in the manufacturing sector, where output growth eased amid global uncertainties. Factory output expanded at its slowest pace since August 2021. The manufacturing PMI dropped to 53.8 in March from 56.9 in February, a four-and-a-half-year low, while the manufacturing output index fell to 55.1. Services activity also moderated, with the business activity index easing to 57.2 from 58.1, marking the weakest growth since January 2025. Harish departs days after passive euthanasia order E x p r e s s n e w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi Harish Rana, the first person in India to be granted permission for passive euthanasia in a landmark judgment by the Supreme Court earlier this month, died on Tuesday at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), days after his nutritional support was withdrawn. “Harish Rana passed away at 4.10 pm on March 24 at AIIMS, Delhi,” the hospital said. The Supreme Court had permitted passive euthanasia for Harish on March 11. He was moved to the palliative care unit of AIIMS’s Dr B R Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital on March 14. Subsequently, Harish’s nutritional support was gradually withdrawn. A specialised medical team headed by Dr Seema Mishra was constituted to implement the process. The 31-year-old Harish had been in a coma for over 13 years after falling from the fourth floor of a building in 2013. Harish’s family expressed hope that the court’s decision could help others facing similar situations.