IAS officer elected vice-President of FATF Union Culture Secretary Vivek Aggarwal was elected as the vice president of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) during its plenary in Paris. It will be the first time an Indian is holding the post. Aggarwal will succeed Giles Thomson from the UK, who was elected FATF president. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal described Aggarwal’s election as a “major win” for India tadepalligudem l sunday l june 21, 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 Last pen-and-paper exam 22.8 lakh to take NEET retest today High security measures in place across 95K centres S l a l i t h a @ New Delhi WITH THIS ISSUE The Young Sound Wave PLUS 12 P AGES MORE than 22.8 lakh medical aspirants will appear for the NEET UG reexamination on Sunday nearly seven , weeks after the original test was cancelled following a question paper leak that triggered nationwide outrage. The re-examination will be held from 2 to 5.15 pm across 551 cities in India and 14 cities abroad. Candidates with disabilities (PwD/PwBD) eligible for compensatory time will be allowed to write the examination till 6.20 pm. Nine states will see more than one lakh candidates each, led by Uttar Pradesh, followed by Maharashtra (2,22,905) and Rajasthan (2,03,470). Lakshadweep has the lowest number with just 141 candidates. As many as 5,401 foreign candidates will also take the test. The Centre has installed 1,38,560 CCTV cameras with live feeds being monitored at national, state and ministry levels. As many as 51,311 jammers have been deployed across the 95,000-plus examination centres to prevent electronic malpractice. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke with supporters at a protest meet in New Delhi | Sayantan Ghosh A nationwide mega mock drill conducted on Saturday was declared successful. “We checked the working of the jammers, CCTVs, seating arrangements, biometrics and police deployment,” a senior NTA official said. “NTA has put in place a multi-layered security framework, including end-to-end secure handling of confidential materials under sealed protocols, GPS-enabled vehicles with police escorts for movement of examination materials, CCTV surveillance at all examination centres linked to centralised control rooms, and Aadhaarbased biometric authentication,” NTA said. Express read AP to roll out new policy for rare diseases Op Tiger hits murder acquittal roadblock Vijayawada: In a major initiative aimed at supporting patients suffering from rare diseases, the AP government is set to formulate a policy on the lines of the National Policy for Rare Diseases to provide free diagnostic tests, specialised treatment and fiscal aid to the affected | P4 New Delhi; A special CBI court’s verdict acquitting all nine accused in the 2006 Pavanraje Nimbalkar murder case appears to have stalled Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s plan of engineering a second split in the Uddhav faction of the Shiv Sena under Operation Tiger 46.85L ryots get `3,125 cr Annadata Sukhibhava aid S V i s w a n at h @ Vijayawada Participating in the PM-Kisan-Annadata Sukhibhava programme at Linganguntla in Palnadu district on Saturday Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu credited `3,125 , crore aid directly into the bank accounts of 46.85 lakh farmers for the 2026 Kharif season. Each farmer got `7,000 as the first installment under Annadata Sukhibhava. Prior to the public meeting, Naidu visited various stalls set up by the Agriculture and Horticulture Departments at the venue. He interacted with farmers and women selfhelp group representatives, and reviewed initiatives related to agricultural processing units, vermicompost production, and value-addition activities undertaken by rural communities. He joined farmers in watching the PMKisan-Annadata Sukhibhava programme addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, highlighting the Centre’s P4 continued support to the farming community . Provide Wi-Fi: DGCA to all airlines S L a l i t h a @ New Delhi Only on 28 AI aircraft Air India website shows in-flight Wi-Fi system is available on 28 aircraft—six Boeing 787-9, six Airbus A350900, 10 Airbus A321 and six Boeing 777-300. The retrofit Boeing 787-8s are provisioned to offer Wi-Fi The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has requested that all domestic airlines provide Wi-Fi internet access to their passengers on board. As of date, only 28 Air India aircraft offer such connectivity . Multiple airline executives said it is highly unlikely that the airlines would comply with the request. A communication issued on Friday (June 19) by the Deputy Director General of DGCA, A X Joseph, to the Accountable Manager of all airlines states, “Rule 29B of the Aircraft Rules 1937 allows the use of internet services by passengers on board an aircraft in flight through Wi-Fi for use of smartphones in flight mode or airplane mode.” Carriers say it’s a costly & time-consuming affair Asked about the possibility of incorporating Wi-Fi services, an airline source said, “It is not an easy process. The aircraft needs to have antennae to receive a signal. For that, we need to create a hump in the fuselage. It is a costly and time-consuming affair.” “If we add `100 or `200 as Wi-Fi charges, the passenger might even not be interested,” an airline executive said It has been issued as a Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) too, it added. IndiGo did not respond to this reporter while Air India Express sought more time to get back on the matter. A SpiceJet source said the airline has been offering an inflight entertainment system ‘Spice screen’ for all its passengers since August 2020, using which they can view movies and other content available. Asked about the possibility of incorporating Wi-Fi services, an airline source said, “It is not an easy process. The aircraft needs to have antennae to receive a signal. For that, we need to create a hump in the fuselage. It is a costly and timeconsuming affair.” Another airline executive said the cost would ultimately be borne by the consumer. “If we add `100 or `200 as Wi-Fi charges, the passenger might even not be interested,” the executive said.