COIMBATORE l wednesday l april 08, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l LATE CITY EDITION Open to all suggestions, says govt amid outcry over draft IT rules Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) on Tuesday met intermediaries and civil society groups to hear their concerns over the proposed amendments May extend April 14 deadline for feedback Call for withdrawal of proposal Speaking to reporters after the meeting, IT Secretary S Krishnan said that the ministry is very “open-minded” and will examine all suggestions. Krishnan also indicated that the government may extend the April 14 deadline for receiving feedback on the proposed IT rules amendments and will consider industry and stakeholder views before finalising any changes ■ ■ Krishnan said the feedback received ranged from requests for more time to demands for outright withdrawal of the draft amendments The backlash comes in the wake of proposed amendments that significantly widen the ambit to include “news and current affairs content” posted by non-publisher users such as influencers | P12 March 30 When meity proposed draft amendments to the 2021 IT Rules 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 Civilisational wipeout threat Trump warns he will bomb Iran back to the Stone Age if it does not make a deal; Tehran defiant; Hormuz resolution in UNSC shot down a g e n c i e s @ Washington/ Tehran IN an unprecedented escalation of his war of words, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned Iran that a “whole civilisation will die tonight” if Tehran doesn’t make a deal with the US by the latest deadline set by him – Tuesday 8 pm EDT (Wednesday 3.30 am Tehran time). Iran rejected the threat, with President Masoud Pezeshkian saying millions of Iranians, including himself, are ready to sacrifice their lives in the war. The Islamic Republic urged young people to form human chains around power plants and other targets. Trump’s major demands are reopening the Strait of Hormuz and handing over the uranium stockpile. “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen... We will find out tonight!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Strong Indian advisory in Iran J aya n t h J a c ob @ New Delhi A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will Donald Trump, US president day 39 In an equally threatening tone, US Vice President J D Vance said: “We’ve got tools in our toolkit that we so far haven’t decided to use. The President of the United States can decide to use them, and he will decide to use them if the Iranians don’t change their course of conduct.” Vance’s comment, made during a press meet in Budapest, led to speculation about use of nuclear weapons. However, the White House later clarified that Vance did not mean a nuclear strike against Tehran. The developments come a day when a UN Security Council resolution aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz was shot down after Russia and China vetoed it. Even before the deadline, USIsrael airstrikes hit two bridges and a train station, as well as the infrastructure on Kharg Island, a key hub for Iranian oil production. On Monday, Trump had threatened to blow up “every bridge and power plant” in Iran, an action the UN considers a war crime. “Under international law, deliberately attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime,” UN high commissioner for human rights Volker Turk said. The Indian Embassy in Iran on Tuesday issued a safety advisory for its nationals, urging them to stay indoors and avoid military installations or upper floors of multi-storey buildings for the next 48 hours amid escalating US-Israel attacks. “In continuation of previous advisories, Indian nationals who are still in Iran must stay where they are for the next 48 hours, avoiding all electric, military installations and upper floors of multi-storey buildings, remaining indoors, and coordinating any highway movement strictly with the Embassy the advisory said. It ,” also urged hotel residents to be contact with embassy teams. “In view of the rapidly evolving situation in Iran, Indian nationals who are currently in Iran are advised to stay put where they are, shelter in place and avoid further movements,” MEA said. Any movement toward border crossings must be coordinated with the embassy . Emergency helplines have been provided: +98 912 810 9115, +98 912 810 9102, +98 912 810 9109, +98 993 217 9359.  P11 First-time voters up 34% compared to 2024 LS polls T M u r u g a n a n d h a m @ Chennai The number of first-time voters in Tamil Nadu in the 18-19 age group has increased by around 33.6% from 10.9 lakh, during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, to 14.6 lakh now, as per the figures released by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer in Chennai on Tuesday . The figures showed that the total size of the electorate, which had shrunk to 5.67 crore in the final roll released after Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, marginally increased by 6.36 lakh to 5.73 crore as of Monday the last day , for filing of nominations. This is after the addition of those who submitted Form 6 for inclusion after the release of final SIR rolls on February 13. These newly added voters will also be eligible to vote in the upcoming Assembly election. The sharp increase of first-time voters assumes significance as their proportion of the total electorate has also increased compared to 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Ahead of the LS polls, the firsttime voters (18-19) age group were 1.8% of the electorate of 6.23 crore. While the total number of voters has now reduced to 5.73 crore due to the SIR exercise, the percentage of first-time voters has increased from 1.8% to 2.5% now.  P5 CM, EPS, Vijay nominations accepted Chennai: Of the 7,600 nominations filed, over 4,000, including those of Chief Minister MK Stalin, Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, NTK leader Seeman and TVK president Vijay (in Perambur and Tiruchy East), have been accepted as valid by election officials | P6 Assembly elections corrected 10-yr misrule of eps: CM I P4 tvk candidate goes missing in edappadi I P4 91L out of rolls, minority 2 kids among 4 killed in sudden Manipur flare-up base of TMC may be hit P r a s a n ta M a z u m d a r @ Guwahati SU B HENDU M AITI @ Kolkata A whopping 91 lakh names have been deleted from the West Bengal electoral rolls following the special intensive revision, which could impact the minority vote base of the ruling Trinamool Congress in the state. Late on Monday night, the Election Commission released a list categorising eligible and ineligible voters from the 60.06 lakh ‘under adjudication’ electors. Of this, 27,16,393 voters have been declared ineligible to vote in the upcoming Assembly polls, taking the total number of deletions to 91 lakh. Over 32.68 lakh voters have been marked as eligible in the final rolls. With this, the number of valid voters stands at 6,77,20,728. On Monday, the Supreme Court had rejected the state government’s plea to allow certain excluded voters to vote, stating that the matter should not be rushed. Entry into Sabarimala part of denominational autonomy: Govt to SC SUCHITRA K ALYAN M O HANTY @ New Delhi With hearing commencing on a batch of review petitions challenging the 2018 Sabarimala verdict, the Centre on Tuesday supported traditional restriction on the entry of women of menstruating age into the temple, telling the Supreme Court that the issue falls squarely within the domain of religious faith and denominational autonomy, adding it is beyond the scope of judicial review. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a nine-judge bench that if there is something unscientific, the remedy is with the legislature. Wondering why advoLimits of bodily freedom cates for women’s entry into the Sabarimala temple invoke “paSolicitor General triarchy”, Mehta argued that Tushar Mehta said not the concept is not rooted in Ineverything is related dia’s societal framework. “In Into dignity or bodily dian society, we worship lafreedom. “If I go to a dies… we bow down before our mazar or a gurdwara women deities.... So let us not and if I have to cover introduce those concepts of pamy head, I can’t say triarchy and gender stereomy dignity, right or types,” he said. choice is taken away,” Mehta objected to the 2018 he added judgment’s observation that the exclusion of women in the age group of 10-50 years from the temple was a form of ‘untouchability’. Justice Nagarathna interjected, saying a woman cannot be treated as ‘untouchable’ for three days in a month and then cease to be considered untouchable on the fourth day But Mehta said he was not on the issue of . menstruation. He added that the temple’s bar was not about menstruation but on age group. Tensions flared in ethnic violence-hit Manipur on Tuesday after four persons, including two children, were killed in a bomb attack and a firing incident. The incidents sparked widespread protests, prompting the state’s BJP-led government to suspend internet services for three days in five Imphal Valley districts. A five-year-old boy and a sixmonth-old infant girl were killed and their mother was injured in a bomb attack at around 1 am in the Moirang Tronglaobi area of Meitei-majority Bishnupur district, People block a road after two kids were killed in Bishnupur district of Manipur | PTI which shares a border with Kuki-majority Churachandpur district. When news about the incident spread, locals vented their ire by setting fire to two oil tankers and a truck. Soon after, a mob stormed the camp of a central force, setting several vehicles parked inside on fire. The personnel opened fire to control the situation and five protesters sus- tained bullet wounds. Two of them later succumbed to injuries. Some other protesters sustained minor injuries. Protests later erupted in different parts of the Imphal Valley, demanding action against those involved in the bomb attack as well as the security personnel who had opened fire. Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh said the state government decided to hand over the case of the bomb attack to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The decision was taken after detailed discussions with home minister Konthoujam Govindas Singh and other MLAs. CM MK Stalin addressing a poll campaign in Cuddalore on Tuesday | Sriram R Stalin slams Fadnavis over metro promise for Madurai Express News Service @ Chennai/ Virudhunagar Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, accusing him of attempting to blackmail voters of Madurai by linking the sanctioning of a metro rail project to the city to the election of a BJP legislator. Responding to a video of Fadnavis campaigning for the BJP’s Madurai South candidate, Raama Srinivasan, on X, Stalin asked if it was the job of the Maharashtra chief minister to “blackmail” and bargain by saying the metro rail project would be sanctioned only if a BJP MLA gets elected. The BJP-led union government had earlier rejected Tamil Nadu’s proposal for metro rail projects in Coimbatore and Madurai, citing feasibility and viability concerns, which had attracted a lot of criticism from the ruling DMK and other allied parties. “A chief minister who has taken an oath on the Constitution should be ashamed to come to an opposition-ruled state and speak like this,” Stalin said. He further questioned whether the Maharashtra chief minister knows how many flagship schemes the Tamil Nadu government has been implementing despite the union governm e n t ’s n e g l e c t i n f u n d allocation. “If he doesn’t know, he should ask, find out, and then speak,” Stalin said in his post.  P5