internet loves army pilot’s proposal A newly qualified Army pilot proposed to his girlfriend right after graduation ceremony in Nashik — with a helicopter as the backdrop to new beginnings after tough training. The video spread quickly online, with people responding to how genuine and unscripted the whole thing felt. Captain Bharat Bhardwaj called it a “love ka salute” — and joked that while officers give and receive salutes at work, back home, the wife is in charge vijayawada l wednesday l june 03, 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 Finally, CBSE heads roll Board Chairman Rahul Singh and Secretary Himanshu Gupta shifted, replaced with Lokhande Prashant Sitaram & Varun Bhardwaj respectively; OSM system probe ordered Out Rahul Singh IN Himanshu Gupta Lokhande Prashant Sitaram Varun Bhardwaj S L A L I T H A @ New Delhi In a major administrative shake-up following controversy over the CBSE’s new digital evaluation system for Class XII board examinations, the Centre on Tuesday removed CBSE Chairman Rahul Singh and Secretary Himanshu Gupta with immediate effect and ordered a high-level inquiry into the procurement of the OnScreen Marking (OSM) system used for evaluating answer sheets. The government also announced the constitution of a one-member committee headed by S Radha Chauhan, Chairperson of the Capacity Building Commission, to investigate the award and procurement of services related to the OSM platform. It directed the committee to submit its report to the Department of Personnel and Training within a month. According to the official order, Chauhan has been authorised to seek assistance from officials of other departments during the inquiry while the Capacity Build, ing Commission will provide secretarial support. The action came hours after the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education held a meeting with senior officials of the CBSE and the Ministry of Education to review complaints surrounding the implementation of the digital marking system. Later, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet appointed Lokhande Prashant Sitaram, a 2001 batch IAS officer as the new CBSE Chairperson. Varun Bhardwaj, Indian Information Service officer of 2008 batch was appointed the Board’s secretary . While Rahul Singh was transferred as Additional Secretary in the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Gupta was sent back to parent cadre with the ‘extended period of cooling off ’. A denial of service attack attempt caused 1.5 mn hits on the CBSE re-evaluation portal within 2 mins and over 1 lakh bids of unauthorised file access CBSE statement ‘OSM tenders rigged to favour firm’ Sidhant Sartak, 17, made a presentation before a Parliamentary panel alleging that at least 15 changes were made across three tenders to favour Coempt Major cyber attack as revaluation portal for Class XII opens S L al i tha @ New Delhi Malicious actors attempted to disrupt services on the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) Class XII re-evaluation portal through a barrage of cyber attacks on Tuesday the day it became operational. , The Board shared the information after complaints from thousands of students since early morning that they were unable to login to the portal. An official statement from the Board said that the portal currently supports usage by 8,000 concurrent users and a total of 16,000 had successfully completed their submissions for re-evaluation of marks by 3 pm. “While thousands of students accessed the CBSE re-evaluation portal today malicious actors attempted to disrupt serv, ices through a barrage of cyberattacks. Most recent being a denial of service attack attempt causing 1.5 million hits on the portal within a matter of 2 minutes and more than 1 lakh attempts of unauthorised file access.” The platform has been further refined by the CBSE based on student feedback, it said. Session time limits have been extended to make the process more convenient and seamless, it added. There was enormous criticism from students over the need for Aadhaar verification. In another statement, the CBSE said, “Aadhaar Verification has been included for security reasons.” It also clarified that in the case of children who do not have this document, the parent’s, relative’s or guardian’s Aadhaar details may be used. “In this case, the Aadhaar Name, Date of birth and Gender must be of the person whose Aadhaar number is used,” it added. The portal was finally opened to begin the revaluation early in the day with the Board announcing it at 4.42 am on its social media handles. Annamalai suspense on as Shah summons Nagenthran RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR and S u b ash i n i V i jayakumar @ New Delhi/Chennai After aggrieved for mer Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai met Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday, the BJP leadership summoned state BJP president Nainar Nagenthran to Delhi, fuelling speculation of a possible mutual reconciliation. With the party leadership requesting him to reconsider Union home minister Amit Shah with TN BJP leader K Annamalai in Delhi | PTI his decision, sources said Annamalai hasn’t formally submitted his resignation yet. As for Nagenthran, he ar- Take SIR seriously: Naidu to TDP cadre S V i s w a n ath @ Vijayawada Chief Minister and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday called upon the party rank and file to treat the upcoming Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls with utmost seriousness. Addressing a Statelevel workshop on SIR at the TDP headquarters, Naidu said the revision process should be closely monitored. Stating that the SIR exercise, conducted once every two to three decades, is being undertaken based on the 2002 electoral rolls, he said voter mapping is scheduled to be carried out twice before July 14, and party workers should ensure that all eligible voters are enrolled. “There should be no negligence in the SIR process. Registering as a voter is the responsibility of every citizen, and creating an awareness about voter enrolment is the responsibility of political parties. Electoral rolls form the foundation of poll strategy and planning,” he said. Naidu instructed TDP cadre to verify voter records through repeated field visits and coordinate with Booth Level Officers to ensure accurate voter P4 mapping.  rived in the Capital and was scheduled to meet Shah to find an amicable solution. During his meeting with Shah, Annamalai spoke about his prolonged differences with the state unit leadership after being removed as president of the TN unit in 2025 to patch up with the AIADMK. Sources said Annamalai had made up his mind to quit and return to Chennai immediately after his resignation is accepted. E x p r e s s Re a d CM unveils plans for Godavari Pushkarams Vijayawada: Chairing a review meeting with ministers and senior officials at the Secretariat, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed officials to ensure that the Godavari Pushkarams2027 are organised on a grand scale, showcasing Andhra Pradesh’s rich cultural, historical, and spiritual heritage | P4 10 lorries intercepted, 300 cattle rescued Tirupati: Villagers intercepted 10 container lorries near Peddamandyam Zilla Parishad High School in Tamballapalle constituency of Annamayya district on Tuesday while 300 cattle was being illegally transported. The rescued cattle was shifted to a goshala. Police registered a case | P3