tirupati l thursday l april 02, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION IAF, HAL to hold critical review meet as tejas mk1a delay drags on Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and the Indian Air Force will hold a critical programme review this month to finalise a revised induction timeline Meet to assess progress on key requirements Air force grapples with squadron shortage Sources in the defence establishment said senior IAF and HAL officials will meet in New Delhi to assess the progress made on mandatory operational requirements. “The outcome of the review will be decisive... The IAF is seeking clarity on when the first aircraft, already over two years behind schedule, will finally be inducted,” a source said | P7 ■ ■ Beyond delays in the supply of GE F404 engines from the United States, the integration and certification of the Israeli EL/M-2052 AESA radar has added to the programme’s timeline pressures The delays come as the IAF grapples with a squadron shortfall, operating just 29 squadrons against a sanctioned strength of 42.5 180 Tejas Mk1A aircraft ordered by the Indian air force 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 April 16-18 special session coming to add LS seats for women quota Indian tanker Jag Vasant, owned by Great Eastern Shipping Company Ltd, after clearing the Strait of Hormuz, is seen anchored at the LPG discharge terminal, in Mumbai on Wednesday | PTI PM takes stock of steps to safeguard citizens from crisis J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired the meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security to review India’s preparedness amid the ongoing West Asia conflict, directing officials that “all efforts must be made to safeguard citizens from the impact of this conflict.” The second such review in recent days held at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg focused on mitigating disruptions across key sectors including energy agriculture, ship, ping, aviation, logistics and MSMEs. The government assessed supply chains and explored contingency measures to ensure stability in essenInterventions tial commodities and services. Supply proposed to be diversification for LPG and LNG, fuel taken for duty reduction and power sector emerging measures were reviewed to ensure challenges in stability of essential supplies. various other sectors such as A key focus area was energy secuagriculture, civil rity Cabinet Secretary T V Somanath. aviation, shipping an briefed the meeting about the acand logistics were tion taken to ensure supply of also discussed petroleum products, particularly LNG/LPG, and sufficient power avail- Govt statement ability Measures such as exempting . certain gas-based power plants from pooling mechanisms and increasing coal supplies to thermal stations were reviewed to ensure uninterrupted electricity during peak summer demand. The government noted that “enough coal stock exists” to meet power needs in the coming months. On the agriculture front, the PM reviewed fertilizer availability Efforts are underway to maintain urea pro. duction and coordinate imports of DAP and NPK fertilizers. States have been asked to intensify monitoring and take action against diversion and black-marketing. day 33 Costly fuel 25% Price hike cap on aviation turbine fuel on domestic routes announced to prevent steep rise in airfares, though ATF rates have more than doubled to `2.07 lakh due to West Asia crisis `195.50 Hike in cost of commercial LPG rates per cylinder `2 per litre Jump in XP95, Power95, and Speed fuels `51 More for 5 kg mini LPG cylinder Just 8.5% up Price of jet fuel in Delhi is `1,04,927 per kilolitre, only 8.5% higher than `96,638 in March. Earlier in the day, OMC website showed the price at `207,341.22 per kilolitre for this month Trump says war to be over in 2-3 wks, weighs NATO exit a g e n c i e s @ Washington, London, Tel Aviv President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the US could end its operations in Iran in two-three weeks with or a without a deal. However, a third US aircraft carrier, USS George H W Bush, set sail for West Asia on Tuesday. Trump is expected to address the nation on Wednesday night (6.30 am IST). The US president sharply escalated his confrontation with Europe over the war, saying he is strongly considering pulling his country out of NATO. “Oh yes, I would say it’s (US exit from NATO) beyond reconsideration,” he told a reporter at a White House briefing. In a further sign of stress on the transatlantic alliance, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain needed to forge a “closer partnership” with the EU on defence, security and the economy He vowed not . to let the UK get dragged into the war against Iran. Meanwhile, Trump claimed Iran’s president has asked for a ceasefire. Iran’s president “has just asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. However, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson dismissed the remarks as “false and baseless”. inside SC sceptical on bid to limit birthright citizenship | p9 State collects highest-ever March net GST of `3,316 cr Census kicks off E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Vijayawada President Droupadi Murmu (pic) selfenumerating herself for Census 2027 at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi PM Modi did likewise. “Completed my self-enumeration. Today marks the beginning of the first phase of Census 2027, relating to house listing and housing operations,” he said on X Andhra Pradesh has achieved a 10% increase in the net GST collection in March 2026. Additionally the , State recorded an overall growth of 6% for the financial year 2025-26, marking a significant accomplishment in the current economic scenario. According to Chief Commissioner (State Taxes) Babu A, the growth was realised despite numerous structural and policy-related challenges, particularly the effects of GST 2.0 reforms. These reforms, designed to streamline tax rates and simplify the tax system, led to reductions in ap- plicable rates across various sectors, thereby putting pressure on revenue collection. Despite such inherent limitations and revenue compression, the Commercial Taxes Department has shown strong administrative resilience by not only stabilising the collection but also realising growth. This reflects the effectiveness of strategic interventions, enhanced compliance mechanisms, and a tech-driven tax administration approach, he said. The net GST collection for March 2026 reached `3,316 crore, the highest ever for the month. The total includes GST compensation amount of `193 P4 crore.  P REETHA N AIR @ New Delhi with an eye on the upcoming assembly polls, the Centre may convene a special session of Parliament from April 16-18 to bring a bill to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 so that 273 of them could be reserved for women in Lok Sabha, sources said. While the Budget Session is scheduled to conclude on Thursday, the government may prorogue it and convene a ‘special session’ ahead of the Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu on April 23, and West Bengal polls on April 23 and 29. “The House will not be adjourned sine die but will be adjourned with the announcement that it will meet again on a specific date. We will meet again this month,” said a source, indicating the third week of April. The government recently proposed an early delimitation exercise to fasttrack the implementation of the Women’s Reservation Act. The proposed changes include linking the Act’s implementation based on the 2011 Census for a quicker rollout and potentially increasing the number of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats by The proposal Budget session supposed to end on Thursday But session unlikely to be adjourned sine die Govt planning to summon it again for 2-3 days in April 3rd week Plan to raise LS seats to 816, with 273 reserved for women Constitutional amendment bill to amend Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam to be brought Another bill to tweak Delimitation Act Redrawing of constituencies to be based on 2011 census 50% on a proportional basis. Though Home Minister Amit Shah held discussions with some NDA allies and some non-Congress opposition floor leaders last week, consultations with the Congress and TMC were yet to take place. The Opposition has demanded an all-party meeting to discuss the roadmap. The Congress also opposed the proposal to raise the size of the Lok Sabha by 50% saying such a move would “disadvantage” smaller states in the South, Northeast, and West. The provision to provide 33% reservation to women in Lok Sabha and Amid strong blowback, FCRA bill put on hold Although the bill was listed for consideration in the Lok Sabha on the Centre on Wednesday put the Wednesday Parliamentary Affairs , proposed amendments to the For- Minister Kiran Rijiju said it would eign Contribution (Regulation) not be taken up for discussion afAct (FCRA) on hold amid mount- ter massive protests by the Oppoing opposition to the contentious sition members. changes and political heat As soon as the Question ahead of the Kerala AsHour began at 11 am, opsembly elections. position members, mainly While the amendment from Kerala, started raisbill has drawn sharp critiing slogans against the cisms from the CPI(M), provisions of the Bill. church groups, and the “I had told the Congress Congress which termed it party yesterday that since `22,000 cr the Bill has been intro‘draconian’, the BJP’s inflow Kerala unit chief Rajeev duced, it has been listed Currently, Chandrasekhar said the for consideration and pasCentre would not proceed around 16,000 sage for Wednesday. But, associations with the proposed amendtoday the FCRA (Amendments without addressing are registered ment) Bill is not being the concerns raised by under the FCRA taken up for discussion,” and receive various sections, includRijiju said. `22,000 crore ing Christians. He accused the Conannually, Chandrasekhar said the gress and Left parties of according to BJP’s Kerala unit has remisleading the people of quested the Centre not to the statement Kerala, which faces Aspass the FCRA amend- of objects and sembly polls on April 9. reasons of ment bill at this stage. Countering the Opposithe bill The FCRA (Amendtion charges that the bill ment) Bill, introduced in would impact minority inthe Lok Sabha last week, sparked stitutions, Rijiju said the intent is a row as it gives the Centre the to protect national security and power to appoint a designated au- interest and asserted that it was thority which would control the not aimed against any religion or funds and assets in case the FCRA organisation. It was aimed at precertificate is cancelled, surren- venting misuse of foreign contridered, or ceased. butions, he adedd. P REETHA N AIR @ New Delhi state assemblies was brought by amending the Constitution in 2023, but it will come into effect after the completion of the delimitation exercise. According to the broad contours available, the number of Lok Sabha seats would be increased from the present 543 to 816, with 273 seats reserved for women. The reservation will also be done on a “vertical basis” with seats allocated for SCs and STs. The redrawing of the constituencies will be done on the basis of the 2011 census rather than the proposed 2027 census. A similar exercise will be carried out for state assemblies where seats will be reserved on a pro-rata basis. While a Constitution amendment bill will tweak the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, commonly known as women’s reservation law, another ordinary bill will amend the Delimitation Act. Once approved by Parliament, the proposed laws will come into force on March 31, 2029 and will help reserve seats for women in the next Lok Sabha elections and assembly elections in Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh. RINL reports 52% growth in output for FY 2025-26 E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Visakhapatnam Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), has reported a substantial increase in its operational performance for the financial year ending March 31, 2026. RINL achieved double-digit growth across all primary production and sales metrics compared to the previous fiscal. According to the year-end data, hot metal production reached 5.95 million tonnes, a 52% increase from the 3.91 million tonnes recorded in 202425. A similar upward trend was observed in liquid steel production, which rose to 5.69 million tonnes from 3.75 million tonnes, also marking a 52% rise. Crude steel output followed suit, growing by 51% to reach 5.43 million tonnes. The company’s financial performance also saw notable improvements. RINL recorded a sales turnover of approximately `22,311 crore for the 2025-26, representing a 22% increase over the previous year’s turnover of `18,288 crore. In terms of volume, RINL sold approximately 4.42 million tonnes of steel products, up 27% from the 3.49 million tonnes sold in the previous year. Moving forward, RINL intends to continue its efforts toward improving product quality and expanding its market reach to maintain this momentum. Lok Sabha passes AP Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill; YSRCP MPs walk out P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2026, seeking to recognise Amaravati as the sole and permanent capital of Andhra Pradesh, with the opposition Congress also supporting it along with the NDA. Once the bill becomes a law, Amaravati will be the sole and permanent capital of Andhra Pradesh with retrospective effect from June 2, 2024. However, opposing the bill during the debate, YSR Congress Party MPs staged a walk out. The bill was passed by a voice vote, fulfilling the aspiration of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, whose party TDP is a key ally of the ruling NDA. Responding to a nearly twohour-long debate on the And- hra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai thanked members for supporting the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly resolution that urged the Centre to provide legal backing to Amaravati as the State capital. Initiating the debate on the bill, Congress MP Manickam Tagore said his party fully supports the legislation but wants special status for AP as promised at the time of State bifurcation. “Let Amaravati develop like Bengaluru, Chennai or Hyderabad. Let Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Kurnool also develop. We support Amaravati as the permanent capital of AP,” he said. TDP member and Union Minister of State for Rural Development and Communications Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani appealed to the House to pass Lokesh to watch RS proceedings HRD Minister Nara Lokesh will witness the RS proceedings on Thursday. He is scheduled to meet PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Vice President CP Radhakrishnan to convey the gratitude of the people of AP Union Minister Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar speaks on the AP Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, in the Lok Sabha | Express Amaravati, the people’s capital, symbolises the self-respect of Telugu people. The passage of bill in the Lok Sabha has permanently ended uncertainty over its future N Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister The passage of the Amaravati Bill, declaring Amaravati as the sole and permanent capital of our state, stands as a reflection of the will, resilience, and aspirations of our people Pawan Kalyan, Deputy Chief Minister the bill unanimously as it will ensure a permanent capital for Andhra Pradesh. Opposing the bill, YSRCP member PV Midhun Reddy said 34,000 acres were acquired by the State government for the development of Amaravati as the capital with the promise of giving free developed plots, a housing scheme and free edu- cation for the children of the affected people. However, nothing has been given to them so far. “They are not bothered about farmers. Give a specific date, a specific timeline - when the plots will be given to the farmers. Incorporate all these points in the bill. Otherwise, there is no meaning,” the YSP4 RCP MP said.