vijayawada l sunday l may 31, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l late city EDITION GT’s Shubman and RCB’s Rajat have a chance to etch history Gill aims to make statement as captain With two young Indian captains going up against each other in the Indian Premier League final in Ahmedabad on Sunday, a look… Patidar’s chance to enter exclusive list Having been dropped from the Indian T20I team, Shubman Gill has upped his intent and shown why he can be a successful batter and captain in this format. Leading from the front for the Gujarat Titans, the 26-year-old will be keen to dismantle defending champs Royal Challengers Bengaluru and lift the trophy at his IPL home ground. ■ ■ When Rajat Patidar was appointed captain of RCB, the batter from Madhya Pradesh surprised everyone with his captaincy, breaking the franchise’s 18-year IPL title drought, in Ahmedabad last year. Come Sunday, he has a chance to make history by winning back-toback titles, joining the likes of MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma | P11 TWO CSK and MI are the two other teams to win consecutive titles 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 Encomiums for Sidda at CLP meet Karnataka Congress leader D K Shivakumar with Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot and outgoing CM Siddaramaiah in Bengaluru on Saturday | special arrangement At the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting, newly elected leader Shivakumar moved a resolution praising the service rendered by Siddaramaiah during his tenure as chief minister, and sought the support of legislators. Five MLAs — Raju Kage, Rahim Khan, GT Patil, P Koliwad and H V Venkatesh — were not at the meeting DKS to take oath at Lok Bhavan on Wednesday Event to be low key; new cabinet to be a mix of old and new faces D e v a r a j B H i r eh a l l i @ Bengaluru West Asia war: India Inc goes for recycled PET J i t e n d r a Ch o u be y @ New Delhi The ongoing Iran conflict has had an unexpected positive spinoff for the environment. The beneficiary: India’s plastic recycling industry . Before the conflict began, virgin polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was the go-to packaging product for India Inc. This was despite the fact that the government had mandated adding 40% of recycled PET or r-PET to their procurement. Two important ingredients for virgin PET were imported from countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain. With the conflict disrupted that critical supply chain, it gave the recycled plastic industry a huge breakthrough. From a pre-conflict monthly sourcing of about 5,000 tonnes of r-PET, orders has now surged to around 15,000 tonnes a month. Goutham Jain, Director General of the Association of PET Recyclers (APR) Bharat, said, “If the war crisis persists, production capacity could reach 180,000 tonnes annually .” Significantly, the cost of manufacturing virgin PET has shot up from `90/kg to `135/kg, while that of food packaging-g rade r-PET climbed from `95/kg to `115/kg. The Food Safety Standards Authority has approved r-PET production capacity of around 300,000 tonnes, which represents 40% of the total PET consumption in the country. This approval is based on new curbs from the environment ministry, which mandates the inclusion of at least 40% r-PET in food packaging. However, the usage of r-PET in food packaging is only about 20% now. Experts say the curbs are slanted towards virgin plastic consumers as they allow industries to defer their recycling targets without immediate penalties. WITH THIS ISSUE Testing Times PLUS 12 P AGES DEPUTY Chief Minister DK Shivakumar was on Saturday elected Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader and will be sworn in as Karnataka’s 18th Chief Minister at 4.05 pm on Wednesday The ceremony will . be held at the Glass House, Lok Bhavan, Bengaluru, with Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot administering oath of office. Shivakumar fixed the auspicious date and time after consulting personal astrologers. Around 20 MLAs are expected to be sworn in as Cabinet ministers alongside him, though names are yet to be officially confirmed. At the CLP meeting, outgoing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah proposed Shivakumar’s name as new CLP leader. Senior leader Dr G Parameshwara seconded the proposal and all 135 Congress MLAs, two associate members, and one Raita Sangha MLA approved it unanimously. The swearing-in was initially planned on the grand steps of Vidhana Soudha but was shifted to the more modest Lok Bhavan on the advice of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who preferred a low-profile event. Following the CLP meeting, Shivakumar, accompanied by Siddaramaiah and senior legislators, called on the Governor at Raj Bhavan, staking claim to form the government. The Governor issued formal permission for the swearing-in. Party general secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal said, “Under the leadership of Shivakumar, the Congress will return to power again with the support of Siddaramaiah in the 2028 assembly election in Karnataka.” According to sources, there are indications that the new cabinet will have a mix of both old and new members. Abhishek roughed up Trinamool Congress General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee wears a helmet after stones, shoes and eggs were hurled at him during a visit to Sonarpur in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal on Saturday to meet victims of post-poll violence | PTI | p8 Outgoing chief of navy charts next frontier J a v a r i a R a n a @ New Delhi The Indian Navy’s next frontier of selfreliance lies not in shipbuilding, but in mastering critical technologies, from AI-enabled combat systems and autonomous platforms to quantum-secure networks and sovereign design capability, outgoing Navy chief Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi told this newspaper in one of his final interviews before demitting office on Sunday . He said the Navy is currently steering about 140 major R&D projects across 25 Defence Research and Development Organisation laboratories. “The next frontier of indigenisation lies in critical technologies and sovereign design capability The Indian Navy’s modernisation . story is increasingly being written in Indian shipyards and Indian laboratories,” he said. On the subsurface domain, he said the Navy is in the final stages of procuring six next-generation conventional submarines equipped with Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) under Project-75(I). Also, a contract for 31 MQ-9B Sky/Sea Guardian high-altitude long-endurance remotely piloted aircraft has been placed, with deliveries beginning in 2029. “The undersea domain remains central to maritime deterrence. It is not just about having submarines but about having underwater domain awareness and the ability to respond faster than any potential adversary,” he said. On carrier aviation, Tripathi identified the Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter as the cornerstone of India’s long-term indigenous carrier air power roadmap. “The future must be shaped by an indigenous carrier-borne fighter ecosystem to secure our national maritime interests, anytime, anywhere, anyhow,” he said. The strategic necessity of Carrier Battle Groups was aptly demonstrated during Operation Sindoor, when their deployment forced the adversary’s navy to remain confined to ports and the Makran coast, he said. Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan will succeed Tripathy as the next Navy Q&A: P7 chief.  Express read App for fertiliser supply soon Vijayawada: In a major step to curb illegal diversion of fertilisers and ensure equitable availability to farmers during the upcoming Kharif season, the State government is set to launch a mobile app that will digitally monitor fertiliser sales across the State | P4 CM sets 1 cr Yogandhra target Vijayawada: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed officials to organise Yogandhra-2026 in a grand manner across the State on June 21. He directed officials to conduct Yogandhra with an overall target of one crore participants statewide | P4 Vizag ITI Cluster gets 1st PM-SETU nod E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh has become the first State in the country to operationalise an industry partnership under the Pradhan Mantri Skilling and Employability Transformation through Upgraded ITIs (PM-SETU) scheme, following approval of the Strategic Investment Plan (SIP) for the Visakhapatnam ITI Cluster by the National Steering Committee (NSC). The proposal was submitted by ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India) in partnership with New Age Makers I n s t i t u t e o f Te c h n o l o g y (NAMTECH). It is the first SIP to receive approval under the PM-SETU programme. The approval was granted during the third meeting of the National Steering Committee convened by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship in New Delhi. The meeting was chaired by Debashree Mukherjee, Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and attended by senior officials from the Directorate General of Training, representatives of various ministries, State governments, industry partners and development agencies.  P4 Resilient India faces headwinds from West Asia D i pa k M o n d a l @ New Delhi INDIA’S economy remains resilient despite escalating global uncertainties triggered by the conflict in West Asia, but rising energy prices, a weakening rupee, mounting inflationary pressures and the prospect of a below-normal monsoon pose significant risks to growth and price stability, the Finance Ministry said in its Monthly Economic Review (MER) for May 2026. The ministry said the nearterm outlook for the economy is one of cautious resilience, with domestic fundamentals remaining broadly intact. Manufacturing and services activity continues to expand, the labour market remains stable and foreign exchange reserves provide a substantial buffer against external shocks. However, it cautioned that the global environment has become materially more challenging since the outbreak of the West Asia conflict, with elevated crude oil prices, tighter financial conditions and slowing growth across major econo- mies creating headwinds that India cannot fully escape. “The near-term outlook for the Indian economy is one of cautious resilience,” the report said, while warning that forecasts of a below-normal monsoon and a likely moderation in economic activity could weigh on consumption demand in the months ahead. The review noted that the conflict has disrupted energy markets, trade routes and supply chains, reviving inflationary pressures globally. Brent crude averaged $120.4 per barrel in April before easing to $108.3 in May, while supplychain disruptions intensified. The ministry flagged a growing divergence between retail and wholesale inflation. Consumer price inflation rose marginally to 3.48% in April, remaining below RBIia’s medium-term target of 4%. In contrast, wholesale price inflation accelerated to 8.3%, a 42month high, driven by elevated energy prices, rupee depreciation and favourable base effects. The inflation outlook warrants close monitoring.