Mirra-cle: French Open crown for Andreeva Mirra Andreeva took 1 hour 22 minutes to defeat Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska in straight sets in the women’s final of French Open. Nineteen-year-old Russian becomes youngest to win French Opensince Monica Seles who won in 1992 aged 18. For Chwalinska, dream run from first round of qualifying to summit clash ended in heartbreak | P11 TIRUNELVELI l sunday l june 07, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l 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 Modi reviews road ahead for the economy Discusses strategy with the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister WITH THIS ISSUE Princess Diaries PLUS 12 P AGES f i r o z m i r z a @ Chennai A day before the 2026 IPL started, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi turned 15. And what transpired next in little over than two months left everybody bamboozled. The world had already witnessed what he can do with the willow in 2025 but the teenager from Bihar took it several notches higher this season when he finished as the leading scorer of the tour nament, amassing 776 runs at a strike rate of 237.30 from 16 matches. The spectacular show meant his inclusion in India’s T20 set up was a mere formality and selectors completed it when they named him in the squads for England, Ireland tours, and the Asian Games. Manish Ojha, Sooryavanshi’s childh o o d co a ch , however, feels his ward’s entry into the national team only got delayed due to an ICC rule. “He should have been in the national team for the 2026 T20 World Cup,” said Ojha. The International Cricket Council had introduced minimum age rules to safeguard the players. It said that no player below the age of 15 should play an inter- Reworked NCERT book soon D i pa k M o n d a l @ New Delhi WITH dark clouds looming over the economy amid the West Asia crisis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday convened a meeting of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EACPM) to assess the evolving situation and discuss the country’s long-term development strategy . The meeting came a day after the finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced a slew of measures aimed at boosting foreign investment inflows and supporting the rupee, which has depreciated by around 6% since January 2026. While most members remained tight-lipped about the deliberations, Modi said on X that the council discussed a wide range of issues related to India’s economic transformation and long-term development priorities. “Also shared perspectives on adding more momentum to the reform journey and ensuring Ease of Living as well as Ease of Doing Business,” the PM said on X. Vaibhav@15 ready for india colours S l a l i t h a @ New Delhi PM at the Economic Advisory Council meet in New Delhi | PTI According to sources, members of the council shared their assessment of the impact of the West Asia conflict on India and the global economy Three members present at . the meeting declined to comment on the discussions when contacted. The meet assumes significance amid concerns over the economic fallout from the conflict in West Asia. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has warned that an “economic tsunami” could hit the country Although the economy ex. panded by a robust 7.8% in the fourth quarter of FY26, many economists expect growth to moderate in the coming quarters. The RBI has revised its FY27 GDP growth forecast to 6.6% from 6.9% earlier. Months after the NCERT Social Science textbook for Class VIII courted controversy over references to judicial corruption leading to a blanket ban, a revised text with a reworked chapter on the judiciary is set to release by the third week of this month, officials at the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) said. The chapter on the judiciary has been fully reworked with all references to judicial corruption removed, a senior official said. The book, released on February 24, was with- drawn by the NCERT a day later. The judiciary took serious objection to the details on corruption complaints against judges published in the book. The Supreme Court subsequently banned its sale. Work on the textbook Exploring Society: India and Beyond, Vol II was completed recently by the three-member committee set up by the Education Ministry to rewrite the chapter, said an official. “They have submitted it to the NCERT head office. The chapter on the judiciary has been thoroughly scrutinised, and any references to corruption have been removed,” said another official. Former Attorney General K K Venugopal, former Supreme Court judge Indu Malhotra and Justice Aniruddha Bose were tasked with redoing the offending chapter. “Though all other books have been released for Class IX students, we have held back both the Social Science Part I and II textbooks. The ministry has cautioned us that there was no room for any controversy in them,” an official said. One of the books will be out by June end. E x p r ess Re a d TVK in power due to DMK, allies: Stalin 4 ex-AIADMK mins join Vijay’s party Chennai: DMK chief MK Stalin on Saturday said the TVK regime is in power only due to the benevolence of his party and its allies who had extended support to ensure that President’s rule is not imposed on TN, and the BJP doesn’t gain a foothold through that. He was addressing party cadre while welcoming over 1,000 workers from other parties into the DMK | P4 Chennai: Four former ministers — M C Sampath, Kadambur Raju, Udumalai Radhakrishnan and M R Sivapathy — seven ex-MLAs, and one ex-MP from the AIADMK joined the TVK on Saturday in the continuing exodus from the Dravidian major to the ruling party. Two former DMK MLAs also joined Vijay’s TVK at an event in Panaiyur on Saturday| P4 national match even at U19 level. Sooryavanshi though did that when he helped India win the 2026 U19 World Cup. But the age barrier apparently prevented the BCCI from giving him a break in senior team. “You look at any player, most of them made it to the senior side by excelling at the U19 WC. Vaibhav did that a day before the home World Cup began. Had that ICC rule not been there, he could have been a World Cup-winning player,” says the coach. P11 Just a trailer, says CJP head after protest Ad i t i R ay C h o w d h u r y & N i t i n R a w at @ New Delhi HUNDREDS of students, parents and young professionals descended on Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Saturday as the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) led by CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke staged its first street protest, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and issuing a seven-day ultimatum to the government. “Today’s protest was just a trailer. Thank you for showing up in such huge numbers,” Dipke wrote on X. Activist Sonam Wangchuk joined the rally at around 1.30 pm, lending prominent support to the youth-led movement. At a post-protest press conference, CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka sought Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation in seven days.