HYDERABAD l Thursday l august 06, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l LATE CITY EDITION Air India taps former Ethiopian Airlines Group chief as new CEO Ethiopian national Tewolde Gebremariam will replace New Zealander Campbell Wilson, who had announced his resignation in April Piloted a major expansion at previous role Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said that after completing the initial phase of stabilisation, integration, and fleet commitments under Wilson, the airline is now entering a critical era of execution and expansion. Air India cited Gebremariam’s experience spearheading a major expansion that transformed Ethiopian Airlines into Africa’s largest and most profitable carrier | P12 ■ 5-10 yr Change of guard amid multiple headwinds ■ The change of guard also comes amid multiple headwinds, including the 2025 Ahmedabad crash, soaring fuel costs and mounting losses Air India had been searching for a replacement for Wilson for months amid the scrutiny that followed last year’s crash. Multiple candidates from India and abroad were considered, the airline said timeline set for air India’s comprehensive turnaround 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 Shah may speak on FCRA bill in LS, Rijiju meets Rahul Meta apologises to govt for removing PM’s video It received ‘a lot of money’ to boost certain content, say govt sources RA K E SH K U M AR @ New Delhi US tech giant Meta on Wednesday apologised for promoting ‘biased’ and anti-government posts on Instagram and Facebook and admitted to being paid “a lot of money” to boost certain types of content, government sources said. The firm also expressed regret for briefly removing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video posted on Facebook, which it claimed was due to an error by automated content filters. Earlier in the day, Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan and members of his team met Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Secretary S Krishnan for about 45 minutes. The delegation later met Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. In a statement, Kaplan said: “I apologised to the minister on behalf of Meta for the error restricting PM Modi’s post.” However, Meity sources Kharif sowing at a glance (In lakh acres) Indicator Normal Kharif area Area sown by July 29 Share of normal area 2025 98.13 24.66 25.1% 2026 98.13 32.93 33.6% Kharif sowing up sharply as monsoon recovers in TG M e g h n a N at h @ Hyderabad Telangana has recorded a 33.5% increase in Kharif crop sowing compared to the corresponding period last year, offering relief to farmers amid improved monsoon conditions, according to the latest satellitebased assessment by the Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University (PJTAU). The report, prepared by the university’s Centre for Digital Agriculture and Technology using remote sensing and GIS technologies, was released on Wednesday by PJTAU ViceChancellor Prof Aldas Janaiah. The assessment shows that 32.93 lakh acres had been brought under cultivation across Telangana as of July 29, 2026, covering 33.6% of the state’s normal Kharif cropped area of 98.13 lakh acres. During the corresponding period last year, 24.66 lakh acres had been sown, accounting for 25.1% of the normal area. The state has recorded an increase of 8.27 lakh acres under cultivation, with the share of the normal Kharif area covered rising by nearly 10 percentage points, indicating faster sowing this season. Releasing the report, Prof Aldas Janaiah said, “The favourable rainfall received during the early phase of the southwest monsoon had enabled farmers to take up cultivation on time.” He added that the anticipated El Nino conditions had so far had only a limited impact on the ongoing Kharif season. District-wise analysis showed that Yadadri Bhuvanagiri led with 57.3% of its normal Kharif area sown, followed by MedchalMalkajgiri (54.6%) and Jangaon (51.5%).  continued on p4 Another meeting likely today Government sources said Meta’s global officials have been asked to stay back for another round of questioning on Thursday, when IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will meet the firm’s executives once again claimed the apology came from the Meta CEO. “Mark Zuckerberg sent his apologies for the CSAM (child sexual abuse material) content, deepfake content and errors in operating the platform. They admitted that a lot of money was paid for boosting certain types of content. They apologised and regretted the mistake.” Sources said Meta officials will be summoned again. Meta-owned platforms Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp have been under the government’s radar over allegations of algorithmic bias. Sources said the platforms promoted one-sided content during the recent student protests. Another major issue flagged was the presence of CSAM on Instagram. The move followed a BBC report which found that Instagram displayed paid ads containing terms such as “rape video” and “child video”. Meta officials were summoned after Facebook briefly removed a video posted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the youth during the student protest. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and IT, headed by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, asked Zuckerberg to apologise within three days. The panel also warned that Meta could lose the safe harbour protection, which shields platforms from liability for user-generated content, if it uses algorithms to curate content instead of merely hosting third-party material. Mark Zuckerberg must apologise within three days. If he does not apologise, we will withdraw the safe harbour protection that has been given to these social media platforms which they misuse Nishikant Dubey, IT panel chief Bi g money to boost con t ent Government sources said Vaishnaw asked Meta whether it accepted payments to promote content that could trigger public disorder. After the meeting, Meta executives admitted to failures involving child sexual abuse content and deepfakes and that “a lot of money was paid for boosting certain content” CWC will facilitate talks between TG & Maha on Tummidihatti: Patil to CM E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday urged Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil to convene a meeting between the Telangana and Maharashtra governments to resolve the long-pending issue of increasing the height of the proposed Tummidihatti barrage on the Pranahita river. During his visit to Delhi, Revanth also met Union Minister for Environment and Forest Bhupender Yadav and sought early environmental clearances for the Palamuru-Rangareddy, Dindi, Seethamma Sagar and Gouravelli ir rigation projects. Responding to Telangana’s request, Patil said a meeting would first be organised under the leadership of the Central Water Commission (CWC) to initiate discussions between officials of Telangana and Maharashtra. He also assured that a meeting between the Irrigation ministers of the two states would be arranged subsequently Patil acknowledged that the . Ministry had received the communication from the Prime Minister’s Office on the Tummidihatti barrage. Accompanied by Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Revanth explained the importance of increasing the height of the barrage without causing significant submergence in Maharashtra. He also its old format. We will oppose it very strongly We are not going . Even as the deadlock in Par- to allow them to pass such a liament persists, the Centre is draconian bill,” he said. likely to introduce the contenThough the bill was introtious bill to amend the Foreign duced in the Lok Sabha on Contribution (Regulation) Act March 25 this year, the Centre in the Lok Sabha during the on- deferred its passage after facgoing session, sources privy to ing fierce objections from the the development said. Opposition parties and various Union home miniscivil society ter Amit Shah is exorganisations. pected to intervene in While several prothe debate and reply visions of the bill to the discussion on have been opposed by the proposed legislap o l i t i c a l p a r t i e s, tion, sources said. church heads and The proposed taNGOs, it was learnt bling comes amid rethat the government peated disruptions in m ay b r i n g s o m e Kiren Rijiju both Houses, with the amendments to the Opposition insisting proposed legislation. that Shah make a A key point of constatement in Parliatention is the proposment on the alleged al empowering the police action against Centre to appoint a protesting students. ‘designated authoriIn a bid to break ty’ who would control the logjam, Parliathe funds and assets mentary Affairs Minin case the FCRA cerister Kiren Rijiju met tificate is cancelled, Rahul Gandhi Leader of Opposition surrendered or in the Lok Sabha Raceased. The concern hul Gandhi and sought his co- is that it could lead to excessive operation in passing crucial government control and arbibills, said sources. trary action against NGOs. Speaking to reporters after Speaking to this paper, DMK the meeting, Congress MP K C MP P Wilson said, “The proviVenugopal said the Opposition sions in this FCRA amendment will not allow the bill to pass in bill are so draconian that they its current form. “The Leader resemble the Enemy Property of the Opposition has strongly Act, 1968, which allowed the expressed his concerns, and government control over assets the party and Opposition’s left behind by people who stand is also very clear. They moved to enemy countries like cannot bring the FCRA bill in Pakistan or China.” P r ee t h a N a i r @ New Delhi No proposal on special session of Parliament: Govt Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy meets Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil along with Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy and others, in New Delhi on Wednesday Govt has every right to shift officers: CM Hyderabad: Responding to Union Minister G Kishan Reddy’s allegations over the transfer of a DCP, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy asserted that the state government had every right to transfer its officers. Kishan had alleged that the state government transferred DCP Aravind Babu after he registered a case against Meta over objectionable posts targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During an informal interaction with reporters in Delhi, Revanth said: “It was our government that registered a case over objectionable posts targeting the Prime Minister. Has any BJP-ruled state registered even a single case?” He also alleged that BJP leaders themselves had used abusive language against others, referring to their remarks against the Cockroach Janata Party and students. referred to his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking approvals and the subsequent communication from the PMO forwarding the matter to the Jal Shakti Ministry . The chief minister informed Patil that the two states had earlier agreed to construct the barrage at a height of 148 metres. He said the Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS), Pune, had also stud- ied the feasibility of constructing the barrage at heights ranging from 148 to 152 metres. Quoting the study, the chief minister said: “The study report said that there will be no significant difference in the extent of submergence whether the barrage was built at a height of 148 metres or 152 metres. Further, 50% of the submerged area would lie within the riverbed itself.”  continued on p4 Amid speculation on a special session of Parliament from August 16 to 18 to take up the women’s reservation and delimitation bills, Rijiju dismissed the reports, saying there was no such proposal @ New Delhi A political party retains control over its MPs and MLAs and the party’s official directives prevail over the will of the elected members, the Supreme Court observed on Wednesday . The oral remark came from a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana during the hearing of a plea against the Maharashtra Speaker’s decision not to disqualify Shinde faction MLAs under the antidefection law. “The control of the political party subsists over the legislature party Any decision of the . political party, validly demonstrated, must prevail over any will, even if of the majority of the legislature party said Jus,” tice Bagchi. The top court was also hearing Uddhav Thackeray’s plea challenging the ECI order t h at re c o g n i s e d t h e Eknath Shinde group a s t h e re a l S h iv Sena. Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Udd h av f a c t i o n , argued that the ECI was wrong in refusing to accept the 2018 party constitution. He added that both sides were appointed under the 2018 constitution and that the 10th Schedule does not recognise ‘split’ anymore—the only defence is merger, which has not happened. He argued that the ECI lacked jurisdiction to determine the validity of a political party’s constitution. “The poll panel’s decision refusing to recognise the 2018 party constitution on the ground that it Hasina sticks to Dec return, seeks ban on her party lifted J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday reiterated that she would return to her country in December despite facing criminal convictions and the prospect of imprisonment or worse, while demanding that the ban on her Awami League be lifted. In her first interaction with the media since being ousted from power in August 2024, Hasina addressed journalists remotely at an event hosted by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia in New Delhi. Although she was expected to appear on video, she delivered only an audio message. “I will return to my people,” Hasina said, Sheikh Hasina adding that she would announce the exact date “when the time is right”. “They may try to implicate me with fabricated cases, but fear cannot decide my duty to the people, my life or beyond,” she said. The remarks come two years after the mass protests that forced her from office and months after Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal sentenced her to death in absentia for allegedly ordering a deadly crackdown on protesters during the 2024 uprising. Making it clear that she intended to return despite the risks, Hasina said, “I know they may put me in jail or kill me. I will go back home to be with my people.” TG Police launch 30% faster AI-driven emergency response system ‘Dial 112’ E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e TG-ERSS AT A GLANCE @ Hyderabad The Telangana Police on Wednesday launched the nextgeneration Telangana Emergency Response Support System (TG-ERSS), integrating police, fire, ambulance, women safety, child protection, disaster response and other emergency services under the single number ‘112’ to provide a unified emergency response platform across the state. Powered by Artificial Intelligence and advanced location technologies, the platform prioritises emergency calls based on severity, filters duplicate and non-emergency calls, identifies callers’ locations, auto Daily operations n  lakh IVR calls 14 was not on record was erroneo u s, ” t h e s e n i o r l aw ye r contended. Sibal further argued that Article 11A of the constitution had already been brought to the ECI’s notice in 2013. CJI Kant asked if there are clear parameters in ECI rules or the party constitution to define “majority of the political party”, calling it a grey area. To this, Sibal cited the Sadiq Ali judgment as laying down the law. Avg response time Urban: 6 min n  18,000 emergency Rural: 15 min calls answered n  Police State avg: 10 min 30 sec n  7,500 incidents n  Services Fire Nat’l avg: 18 min dispatched Call processing n  Ambulance n  personnel 164 n  Women Safety Earlier: 190 sec n  SIP 900 Now: 133 sec n  Child Protection communication channels n  Disaster Response Nearly 30% faster One number for emergencies matically dispatches the nearest available response unit and supports voice-to-text transcription, real-time monitoring and performance analytics. According to the police, the upgrade has reduced overall call- Political party prevails over legislature party: SC S U CHITRA K ALYAN M OHANTY home bound On the point of 10th Schedule, Sibal argued that the concept of ‘split’ stands abolished—merger alone is recognised, and no such merger has occurred. In that light, it was contended that a splinter legislative group cannot lay claim to being the real party . The SC is examining the interplay between party constitution, ECI powers, and the 10th Schedule. The hearing on Wednesday was inconclusive and would continue on Thursday . Control of the political party subsists over the legislature party. Any decision of the political party, validly demonstrated, must prevail over any will, even if of the majority of the legislature party – Justice J Bagchi centre processing time by nearly 30%. DGP CV Anand, launching the platform, said Dial 112 would serve as the first point of contact for citizens during emergencies.  continued on p4 express read Sathupalli emerges cyber crime hotspot Khammam: Sathupalli is emerging as a major cyber crime hotspot, with police estimating that victims have lost over `1,000 crore. Police say foreign nationals are targeted through sophisticated online scams | P2 Premature to talk about UPI charges: RBI Mumbai: RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Wednesday termed speculation over charges for UPI transactions as “premature”, saying the laws governing payments ecosystem are in the process of being amended. “Let us wait and watch,” he said | P12