HYDERABAD l tuesday l april 07, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION three academics caught in ncert row approach supreme court The three academics in the NCERT book row moved the Supreme Court on Monday and said drafting of the content was a collective process trio has lots of credibility: defence A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was told the three experts, Professor Michel Danion, Suparna Diwakar and Alok Prasanna Kumar, were not fly-by-night persons and had credibility. On February 26, the court banned NCERT’s Class 8 social science book which contained ‘offending’ contents on corruption in the judiciary ■ 14 days special committee to vet revised chapter ■ On March 11, acting tough against the three experts involved in the drafting of the controversial chapter, the top court had directed the Centre and all state governments to disassociate from them The court was informed Monday that a committee comprising former SC judge Justice Indu Malhotra will review the revised chapter is when the supreme court bench meets again to hear the case 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 Both sides reject Pak proposal on truce, Israel hits South Pars again Ceasefire plan not enough to end war, says Trump; admits bid to arm Iranian protesters day temple of learning Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy participates in bhoomi puja of Sri Gnana Saraswathi Devi Temple renovation works at Basara on Monday | p2 Revanth hits back at Pinarayi, says Kerala CM cited old data E x p ress N e w s S er v ice @ Hyderabad Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has hit back at his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan after the latter’s criticism of the performance of the Congress government in Telangana. Revanth, in a statement on Monday, said: “Kerala is struggling with brain drain, industrial stagnation and a welfare model increasingly dependent on Gulf remittances. It deserves a better government than the one that held power for 10 years and has run out of new answers. The people of Kerala deserve the Congress model.” Revanth said: “I will be happy to visit Thiruvananthapuram on April 7 and share our data with you directly — and also hear your views — in a positive, fact-based discussion.” Countering Revanth’s allegations during his recent election campaign in Kerala, Vijayan, in a post on a social media platform, said that his Telangana counterpart was misinformed and accused him of ridiculing Kerala and its people while concealing the weaknesses of his own state. “By conveniently ignoring the bulldozing of the homes of the poor in his own state, he appears to lecture Kerala on social progress and public welfare. Clearly he has been seriously mis, informed by someone,” said Vijayan, welcoming Revanth to Kerala to learn about its welfare model. Revanth rebutted point by point the claims of Vijayan. He said: “Your data is outdated. You are speaking of the past. The statistics that you cite are from the NITI Aayog SDG Index 2023– 24 — a period representing the tail-end of a disastrous decade for Telangana, when the combined onslaught of the BJP at the Centre and the BRS in the state had pushed our people to an all-time low. That era ended in December 2023. You are measuring our recovery by data that predates our government. More mistakenly you wrote that by late 2025, Kerala is set to become , the first state in the country to completely eradicate extreme poverty We are now in April 2026. You are speaking of the past . in the future tense. Did it happen? Or is it, like many LDF promises, still a work in progress?” continued on p4 Kalpakkam PFBR attains criticality E XP R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai India on Monday achieved a major milestone in its civil nuclear programme, with the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam attaining criticality, the stage at which a controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction begins. Prime Minister Narendra Modi described it as a “defining step” in advancing the second stage of India’s nuclear programme. “The indigenously designed and built Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam has attained criticality… a decisive step towards harnessing our vast thorium reserves,” he said in a post on X, congratulating scientists and engineers. The 500 MWe PFBR, developed by Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research and operated by BHAVINI, is India’s first fast breeder reactor, a technology that produces more nuclear fuel than it consumes. Using plutonium-based fuel and liquid sodium as coolant, the reactor converts non-fissile uranium-238 into fissile material, improving fuel efficiency and reducing waste. The milestone follows clearance from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board in 2024 for fuel loading and low-power physics experiments. E x p r e s s Re a d Youth injured in attack by Congress workers in Warangal Warangal: A 24-year-old man was allegedly attacked with iron rods and sticks by Congress workers, including a ward member, after he objected to rash driving in Bapunagar village of Chennaraopet mandal in Warangal district on Monday morning. The victim, identified as A Raju, was shifted to the Narsampet Government Hospital for treatment. According to information, Raju objected to Congress ward member Kumar Swamy’s highspeed driving through the village, which escalated into a clash. p2 38 A g encies @ Dubai IRAN and the United States received a draft proposal late Sunday calling for a 45-day ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The proposal, tentatively dubbed the ‘Islamabad Accord’, came from Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish mediators, hoping the 45-day window would provide enough time for talks to reach a permanent ceasefire. It was sent to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. Iran on Monday rejected the proposal. News agency IRNA said, “Iran... has rejected a ceasefire and insists on the need for a definitive end to the conflict.” Iran’s refusal for truce came after the head of intelligence for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Maj Gen Majid Khademi, was killed in an attack targeting him in Tehran. File photo of the South Pars gas field in the southern Iranian port town of Assaluyeh, which was hit by an Israeli missile strike on Monday | AFP Oil refiners to postpone maintenance shutdown Two more LPG tankers sail through Hormuz Indian oil refiners are planning to postpone maintenance shutdowns of their units to meet domestic production of LPG, petrol, and diesel. According to a top official, some refineries of Indian Oil Corporation and BPCL have already planned shutdowns. Two more Indian-flagged LPG tankers have crossed the Strait of Hormuz and are headed for Indian ports even as 16 other vessels remain stranded. Green Sanvi carrying 46,650 tonnes of LPG will reach India on April 7 while Green Asha with 15,500 tonnes will reach on April 9. The Revolutionary Guards s a i d t h e y w i l l av e n g e Khademi’s killing. For his part, US President Donald Trump said the truce proposal was a “very significant step,” but not enough yet to end the conflict. Word of Iran’s rejection came while Trump addressed a White House event. Asked if Tuesday at 8 pm Washington time was his final deadline for Iran, Trump replied, “Yeah.” Trump also revealed the US attempted to arm Iranian protesters but the weapons were diverted and never passed to the right people. “We sent guns, a lot of guns... The people that they sent them to kept those guns.” Besides, he threatened a media outlet with jail time if it does not reveal the person who leaked information about a US airman who was missing in Iran. Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said they struck a petrochemical facility in Iran. “The IDF has now strongly attacked the largest petrochemical facility in Iran located in [Asaluyeh],” he said, adding the facility in the Pars region services Iran’s South Pars natural gas field, and produced half of its petrochemicals. This was the second hit on South Pars in weeks. Strikes on cities across Iran killed more people, while in Israel’s Haifa, four persons were found dead in a rubble. govt advisory Book LPG cylinder through official channels ens @ Hyderabad The Consumer Affairs, Food and Civil Supplies Department has issued a public advisory urging citizens to use only official channels for LPG cylinder bookings amid rising concer ns over fraud and misinformation. The department highlighted verified booking numbers and platforms for major oil marketing companies, including Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (Bharatgas), Indian Oil Corporation (Indane) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HP Gas). Officials warned consumers against believing rumours or using unverified phone numbers circulating on social media, which could lead to scams or financial loss. The advisory promotes safe options such as WhatsApp booking, missed-call services, IVRS numbers, official mobile apps like Hello BPCL, IndianOil ONE and HP Pay, as well as company websites. The department stated that “consumer safety is our responsibility” and encouraged people to report suspicious activity through the helpline 1967.  p5 55% of voters remain excluded even after review: West Bengal Bengal, said the appellate tribunals should pass interim orders for those prima facie found THE West Bengal government wrongly excluded. on Monday told the Supreme The bench, however, declined Court that as many as 55% of the submissions and refused to voters whose names were re- set any deadline for the tribumoved from the electoral rolls nals to decide on the appeals. stand excluded even after the The court noted the electoral adjudication of claims list needs to be frozen and objections. at some point in view “Out of these 60 lakh of the upcoming Ascases, available data of sembly elections, but 40 lakh cases indicates it was leaving the decithe exclusion rate is sion to the appellate 55%,” said senior lawtribunals. yer Shyam Divan, apThe CJI asked the pearing for West BenCalcutta High Court gal Chief Minister Tribunals will go on chief justice to conMamata Banerjee. hearing and we do stitute a three-memA bench headed by not want to rush it, ber panel of former but we need to Chief Justice Surya senior judges to frame freeze the list Kant and comprising uniform procedures somewhere... j u s t i c e s Jo y m a l ya for these tribunals. Bagchi and Vipin Pan- Appellate process “Let the committee can take a month choli, noted that 59.15 prescribe the proceor even 60 days lakh out of 60.06 lakh dure by tomorrow Supreme Court cases were decided by (Tuesday) so that adApril 6 noon. judication of appeals Divan argued that the rejec- can be expedited,” it said and tion rate is very high despite fixed the matter for further the judicial safeguards. “These hearing to April 23. were mapped individuals. SevIn another decision, the court en lakh objections have already directed the NIA to take over been filed and several lakh ap- the probe into the gherao of jupeals are in the process of be- dicial officers engaged in SIR ing filed,” he said. work in Malda after noting seSenior advocate Kapil Sibal, rious allegations against the appearing for the State of West local police. S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y Kin of the victims speak to reporters; (Right) the convicts in the Sathankulam custodial death case being taken away from the court premises on Monday evening | kk sundar @ New Delhi Noose for nine TN cops in custodial death case J E G A D E E S W A R I PA N D I A N @ Madurai Mamata Banerjee addresses a public meeting in Nadia on Monday | pti ‘Stalin, Congress in cahoots with BJP’ Kolkata: Mamata Banerjee on Monday alleged that the BJP had entered into a “tacit understanding” with the Congress and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, saying many officers from Bengal had been sent to the southern state as poll observers. Also, the EC transferred around 500 officers in Bengal compared with a handful in other pollbound states, she alleged In a groundbreaking verdict, the 1st Additional District and Sessions Judge of Madurai, G Muthukumaran, on Monday, imposed the death penalty on all nine policemen who were convicted for the custodial torture and death of two traders — P Jeyaraj and his son Beniks — at Sathankulam in Thoothukudi in 2020. The nine convicts were identified as then inspector S Sridhar, then sub inspectors P Ragu Ganesh and K Balakrishnan, then head constables S Murugan and A Samidurai and constables M Muthuraja, S Veil Muthu, S Chelladurai and X Thomas Francis. Referring to similar incidents, including George Floyd’s murder in the United States and recent killing of Ajithkumar in Madapuram, the judge observed that custodial killings are a social evil and an assault on human rights. “When there is power, there should be responsibility The policemen involved . misused their power and like the fence eating away at grass, they took the life of two common men, a father-son duo, by stripping them of their clothes and beating them throughout the night, merely because Jeyaraj scolded them and Beniks tried to prevent them from assaulting his father,” the judge said, adding that the judgment should serve as a warning so that such incidents do not recur. Clarifying why a life sentence is not enough in such cases, Muthukumaran said, “If a life sentence is given, police officials may get emboldened that they can come out of jail after serving it.” Security scare at Delhi Assembly as private car breaks through iron gate E x p ress N e w s S er v ice @ New Delhi IN a major security breach at the Delhi Assembly on Monday afternoon, an unauthorised private car entered the premises after ramming through one of the boundary gates. The car with an Uttar Pradesh registration number stayed inside briefly and came out. The driver of the Tata Sierra placed a flower bouquet in the Speaker’s official car parked on the porch before fleeing, triggering a a major security scare at the Vidhan Sabha. The intruder hit a big gate and a boom barrier before en- Accused followed farmers’ agitation: Police Police sources said the accused, identified as 37-year-old Sarabjeet Singh, a resident of Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, is believed to be a follower of the farmers’ agitation. Uttar Pradesh Police reached the residence of Singh in Pilibhit and questioned his family members, who claimed he was suffering from mental health issues and was undergoing treatment tering the area via gate number 2, which is a VIP gate. Several police teams, including the bomb squad and dog squad, rushed to the spot. A Forensics team also came to the spot and lifted the exhibits from near the gate and the area where the bouquet was placed. The bouquet was also checked. Police checked the CCTV footage and intercepted the car at Roop Nagar area in north Delhi. Three persons, including the driver identified as Sarabjeet Singh, were intercepted. Forensic team inspecting Delhi Assembly premises on Monday | Sayantan Ghosh Deputy Commissioner of Police (north) Raja Banthia said that around 2.10 pm, a whitecoloured Tata Sierra bearing registration number UP26AZ8090 forcefully entered the premises of the Delhi Assembly through gate number-2. “One individual alighted from the car and proceeded towards the porch area carrying a bouquet and a garland of marigold flowers. The Vidhan Sabha was not in session. During the incident, the accused drove the vehicle in a dangerous manner with intent to run over security personnel on duty thereby endangering their , lives,” the DCP said.