MADURAI l saturday l july 25, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l LATE CITY EDITION Anand first-ever indian to occupy fide top post FIVE-TIME WORLD CHAMP’S ELECTION STANCE Viswanathan Anand becomes interim president of world body after Russian Arkady Dvorkovich steps aside following European Union sanctions Focus on World Championship The five-time world champion assumed the top post as per FIDE charter. During the recent Chennai Grand Masters event, Anand had said he won’t be contesting the September elections. As it stands, the 56-year-old from Chennai hasn’t announced his candidacy, but the last date for nominations is on July 26. He is expected to take a final call within that date ■ There’s still no clarity on the host for the World Championship tie between D Gukesh and Javokhir Sindarov. Anand won’t be the deciding authority but it will be interesting to see how things pan out ■ Chennai is yet to bid and there are murmurs that Bengaluru has shown interest but nothing has been confirmed yet | P11 July 26 LAsT DATE FOR filing NOMINATION papers FOR FIDE ELECTIONS 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 10% US tariff on India over forced labour concerns Mumbai Pune chennai Student groups in different cities protesting in solidarity with the CJP’s agitation, despite inclement weather and caning, on Friday | PTI/martin louis Cabinet okays bill on harsher punishments over paper leak Proposes up to 10 yrs in jail, up from five; amend bill may be tabled on Monday m u k e s h r a n j a n @ New Delhi THE Union Cabinet on Friday approved a draft bill prescribing harsher punishment for examination paper leaks, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in a midnight video message that the government would move to tighten the law. The bill amends the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, and proposes a minimum jail term of five years for those involved in paper leaks, up from the current three years. In cases of organised paper leaks, the punishment could extend to 10 years in prison along with a fine of up to `10 crore, a sharp jump from the existing three to five years’ imprisonment and a minimum fine of `1 crore. The meeting decided that the amended law would target organised gangs and institutions profiting from examination fraud, while shielding ordinary candidates from its harsher provisions. Officials said the government also intends to set up fast-track courts to ensure speedy trials of the offenders. The existing law already covers major recruitment and entrance examinations, including the UPSC, SSC, NEET, JEE and CUET. Announcing the move on Thursday night, Modi had said the Cabinet would take up a draft law providing for stricter punishment and quicker trials in paper-leak cases. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Friday that the bill would be introduced “at the earliest,” adding that the prime minister had directed there be no delay in bringing legislation concerning students. “We are preparing to present the bill. After the Cabinet briefing, we will announce the timing... It would not be appropriate to obstruct such a measure,” Rijiju said, while accusing the Congress of trying to disrupt parliamentary proceedings. He warned that any attempt to stall debate on the bill would draw public anger. Sources indicated the bill is likely to be tabled in Parliament on Monday . The Cabinet’s decision comes against the backdrop of sustained protests over alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG. It also follows talks between Union ministers and the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), which has been leading the agitation. CJP leaders said the Centre had sought time until Saturday afternoon to respond to its demand for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, while agreeing in principle to compensate families of NEET aspirants who died by suicide and to withdraw cases against protesting students. HC orders SIT probe into ‘dowry death’ of TN pregnant woman E X PRESS NE W S SER V I C E @ Madurai The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday directed the Director General of Police (DGP) to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the death of a pregnant woman under suspicious circumstances in Sivaganga on June 17. It also ordered the Director of Medical Education (DME) to constitute a neutral multidisciplinary medical board to conduct a re-postmortem on the woman’s body within 48 hours. Justice L Victoria Gowri passed the order on a petition by S Fathima Beevi, mother of the deceased Afrin, alleging that her daughter was a victim of dowry harassment. In her petition, Beevi stated that on January 25, 2026, she married Afrin to Mohammed Ashraf, son of former chairman of Thiruppathur town panchayat, by giving 19.5 sovereign gold jewellery and other household articles.  P5 day’s developments 1 Centre asks GitHub to remove Bitchat, which enables peer-to-peer communication over Bluetooth without mobile networks 2 SC said it will ensure end of ad-hocism in NEET and institutionalise the exam system for medical courses, and sought Centre’s response 3 SC to hear on Monday two pleas alleging police excesses on students during Sansad march on July 20 protesting the NEET paper leak 4 About 47 officials of the National Testing Agency have been sacked, with the Centre saying it will overhaul the testing body 5 Centre directs airlifting of 10 more CRPF companies from Chhattisgarh to be deployed in Delhi in view of the student protests 6 Delhi Police cancels all routine leaves of its personnel with immediate effect in view of the prevailing law and order situation Govt softens on two demands, not on Pradhan Rajesh Kumar Thakur and Anup Verma @ New Delhi At their second round of talks on Friday the , Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) told the government that its three demands — exit of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, `1 crore compensation for NEET-UG victims, and no legal action against protesters — were non-negotiable. Union ministers J P Nadda and Dr Jitendra Singh, the interlocutors who spoke to the CJP delegation at Vithalbhai Patel House, said they had heard the demands and will get back on Saturday “They had three main demands . and five reform suggestions for exams. We told them we will meet again tomorrow afternoon and share the government’s perspective,” Nadda said. The deliberations, described as cordial by the ministers, reportedly saw the government agree to two demands — J P Nadda after a meeting adequate compensawith a CJP delegation, in New Delhi on Friday | PTI tion for the families of those who allegedly died by suicide following the paper leak, and the withdrawal of cases against the protesting youth. However, indications are that the government will not ask Pradhan to quit. Instead, it intends to shift the focus towards sweeping reforms of the examination system through legislation and administrative measures. The Centre has already taken a slew of steps, including a top bureaucratic reshuffle and sacked many NTA officials as part of a wider overhaul. It’s the NTA that runs national competitive exams like NEET. In the event of a Cabinet reshuffle, Pradhan’s portfolio could change, the sources said. But no such exercise appears to be on the horizon in the short run. Delhi HC: OpenAI can use copyrighted content UDAYAN K I SHORE @ New Delhi THE Delhi High Court on Friday refused to restrain artificial intelligence platform ChatGPT from using published news material, saying it does not a m o u n t t o c o py r i g h t infringement. In an interim order, Justice Amit Bansal ruled that OpenAI’s use of retrieved copyrighted works to train its LLMs falls under “fair dealing” provision of the Copyright Act. The court was hearing a petition filed by news agency Asian News International (ANI) in 2024 against Open AI Inc and Open AI OpCo LLC, raising issues of infringement of its copyrighted material for LLM training. Justice Amit Bansal said that prima facie, the outputs generated by ChatGPT did not amount to infringement under Section 51 of the Copyright Act, since the outputs generated were not substantially similar to ANI’s ‘original literary works’. “Further, ANI has failed to satisfy this court that any memorization and regurgitation of ANI’s original literary works has happened through the responses generated by ChatGPT,” the judge said. The bench said irreparable injury would be caused to OpenAI and to public interest if any interim injunction was granted in favour of ANI at this stage. Cauvery issue: CM likely to hold talks with DKS on Aug 3 PUSHP I TA DE Y @ New Delhi Kolkata T M u r u g a n a n d h a m @ Chennai Levy to continue Hours after the 10% temporary tariffs imposed under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 expired, the US on Thursday retained the tariffs on imports from India under Section 301, citing concerns over the country’s enforcement of curbs on forced labour. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the new levy will kick in on Friday . Following the conclusion of Section 301 probe linked to forced labour, the US imposed tariffs on imports from 60 economies that it said had failed to adequately prohibit or enforce restrictions on goods produced using forced labour. Of these, 17 countries— including India, Canada, the UK, Bangladesh, and Pakistan—will face a 10% tariff, while the remaining 43 economies will be subject to a higher levy of 12.5%. “The fact that India has been placed in the lower tariff category reflects the rec... ognition by the US of the policy measures taken by India to strengthen its framework relating to forced labour,” said S C Ralhan, president of FIEO. According to Manoj Mishra, partner and tax controversy management leader at Grant Thornton Bharat, the tariff differential could improve the relative competitiveness of Indian exports. CM’s response. Meanwhile, Agriculture MinAmid Karnataka’s continuous ister R Vinoth on Friday conrefusal to release the due share firmed the CM’s visit to Karnaof Cauvery water to Tamil taka and said that TN will Nadu, Chief Minister C Joseph never allow the neighbouring Vijay is expected to hold talks state to build a dam at Mekewith his Karnataka counter- datu. “Karnataka has been saypart D K Shivakumar in Ben- ing that since there is no rain, galuru on August 3 to press for the state could not release wathe release of water to save ku- ter (to TN). But Cauvery water ruvai crops in the state. is our right, and the CM will get The meeting comes against it (through talks),” he told rethe backdrop of the porters in Thanjavur. Cauvery Water ManThe talks assume agement Authority’s significance since such (CWMA) move to defer CM-level talks on the its decision on Tamil dispute are taking Nadu’s request to order place after 14 years. release of water by The last meeting was Karnataka by a week. held on November 29, The authority, at a 2012, when the then meeting held on July 22 CM C Joseph Vijay CM J Jayalalithaa met (Wednesday), said the her Karnataka counCauvery Water Regulation terpart Jagadish Shettar on the Committee (CWRC) will decide suggestions of the Supreme on the pro-rata water share of Court. The talks, however, the riparian states at the meet- failed as Karnataka refused to ing to be held on July 28. release even a drop of water. When contacted, a senior ofDuring former CM Edappadi ficial said that Vijay requested K Palaniswami’s tenure, a decithe meeting with the Karnata- sion was taken to meet the then ka CM. “As of now, the meeting Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah stands,” the official added when in January-February 2018, but , asked about the Karnataka it did not take place.  P5