chennai l sunday l november 15, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 28 l late city EDITION Aviation chaos AFTER U.S. GROUND STOP for hours, flights resume wire UPGRADE with fibre GROUNDED FLIGHTS Maintenance work to replace copper wires with fibre in the US air traffic control system triggered an issue that overloaded equipment and disrupted communications with aircraft. The failure raised concerns over ageing infrastructure, while officials ruled out a cyberattack. The FAA warned that similar disruptions could recur without further upgrades US flights began operating on Saturday after a nationwide ground stop lasting more than four hours that brought air travel to a standstill international ROUTES too affected ■ ■ Several Indians flying to and from the US were affected, with some stranded at airports and others uncertain about their travel plans Flights in other countries were also affected, with several US-bound and US-origin flights delayed or cancelled at London’s Heathrow Airport, including services to New York, Dallas and Los Angeles | P13 20,000+ flights were affected by the nationwide stoppage CBC 19149/13/0001/2627 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 Brigadier rank set to get marching orders Meant for parity with civil services; Army to send it to 8th pay panel J a v a r i a R a n a @ New Delhi Wheels within wheels Driver found dead in police station in TN VI G N E SH V @ Madurai A 42-year-old truck driver, who appeared at the Checkanurani police station on Friday in connection with a goods vehicle fire case, was found dead inside the station restroom around 6 am on Saturday . Following the incident, Inspector Muthu and two constables attached to the police station, which falls under the Madurai rural limits, were suspended and the CBCID has been entrusted with the case. While the family members of the deceased driver — R Balakrishnan, hailing from T Alagarnaickanpatti in Theni district — alleged that he was killed by the police, sources in the department said it was a case of suicide. The police said the driver was not in custody and he was at the station to assist them in reviewing CCTV camera footage related to the fire accident. P9 SIT digs Veeramani’s house in search of girl’s body | P3 Bird flu confirmed in Cuddalore district; 35K poultry dead | P9 Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi flanked by Telangana CM A Revanth Reddy participate in a bike rally from Shilparamam to Jayabheri Grounds in Hyderabad on Saturday in support of gig workers. Rahul dedicated the gig workers’ welfare law enacted by Telangana to the workers, calling them the economy’s basis and partners in progress | vinay madapu First time after Op Sindoor, Pak to send minister to Delhi WITH THIS ISSUE Room For More PLUS 12 P AGES J a v a r i a R a n a @ New Delhi The Army will recommend scrapping the rank of Brigadier and promoting Colonels directly to Major General, this newspaper has learnt. The recommendation will go to the 8th Central Pay Commission through the defence ministry. The move is meant to unclog the force’s promotion pipeline and bridging the parity gap with civilian counterparts. If accepted, the proposal would also have implications for the Navy and the Air Force, where Commodores and Air Commodores hold equivalent ranks. “Scrapping the Brigadier rank has come up before. But this time, the Army is formally recommending it,” sources in the defence and security establishment said. The recommendations are likely to be finalised and sent within this month or the next, they said. The Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai-led 8th Pay Commission, constituted in November last year, is required to submit its re- j e w e l l e r y h e ist Pakistan on Saturday named Climate Change Minister Musadik Masood Malik to represent it at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Civilisational Dialogue Forum in New Delhi from November 20 to 22, making him the first Pakistani minister to visit India since Operation Sindoor and in over three years. “The Government of Pakistan remains committed to promoting dialogue among civilisations and fostering people-to-people contacts within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation framework in a spirit of mutual respect,” Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. India had invited Pakistan’s Minister for National Heritage and Culture, Aurangzeb Khan Khichi, to the forum. The invitation was the first New Delhi extended to a Pakistani minister since Operation Sindoor. The Pakistani participation comes amid sharply deteriorated relations following the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 26 people, Key suspect’s Insta influencer pal held SCO dialogue forum VI G N E SH V @ Madurai The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Civilisational Dialogue Forum was proposed by Narendra Modi at the SCO summit in Tianjin last year, and is expected to draw participants from more than 25 countries Two days after several kilograms of gold and diamond jewellery were looted from a Tata Tanishq showroom in Madurai, the city police arrested the father of the prime suspect and a social media influencer — the suspect’s girlfriend, who allegedly played a major role in planning the heist — on Saturday and recovered around 5 kg of the stolen jewellery . Cops say Meenakshi played key Special porole in planning heist | express lice teams have intensified the search to arrest the prime suspect, S Nishanth, who is still at large. DCP (South) A G Inigo Divyan, who heads the investigation under the supervision of Madurai Commissioner N Rajendiran, told TNIE that exact details of the heist would come to light only after Nishanth’s arrest. P9 and India’s subsequent launch of Operation Sindoor on May 7. The four-day military confrontation ended on May 10. The SCO remains one of the few platforms for India-Pakistan engagement. Pakistan holds its 2026-27 chairmanship and will host the leaders’ summit in Islamabad in August 2027. India’s SCO National Coordinator Alok Dimri travelled to Islamabad in Pakistan in September for the first meeting of national coordinators under Pakistan’s chairmanship. relaxed mode Surfing, Rajini movie & more: Gukesh before title bout s w a r o o p s w a m i n at h a n @ Budapest D Gukesh during his recent visit to Tirumala Temple IN just over a week, the attention of the chess world will turn to Geneva, the unlikely host of the next World Championship, where D Gukesh will aim to defend his world title against Javokhir Sindarov. While most of the chess world believes that the Uzbek will be the favourite based on form, the Indian world champion has made a conscious effort to ‘relax a bit more’. In a very revealing interview to select Indian media earlier this year, he had spoken about how he had struggled for motivation for vast parts of 2025. He also spoke about how hard it was to manage expectations. That kind of strain was visible on the face of the 20-year-old. The results weren’t coming, and he was also losing rating points. However, over the last few months, beginning with the Olympiad in Samarkand in September, there has been a noticeable change. “He has deliberately made a conscious effort to relax a bit more,” team captain Srinath Narayanan told this daily “Taking . things a bit light, he was a little bit more goofy and making more jokes in team meetings. I think he also started surfing a month or so ago.” Physical activities like surfing have just been one part of the equation. Before R Vaishali and R Praggnanandhaa travelled to Budapest for an event, Gukesh sent both of them a message asking if they would be interested in watching Jailer 2, the new Rajinikanth movie. That’s how the trio watched the movie in a theatre in Chennai. Full story: newindianexpress.com 2018 idea The idea of scrapping the Brigadier rank first came up in 2018 in a cadre study ordered by then Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat. The Army had then described it as “just a proposal”, while some veterans questioned the rationale for abolishing a rank that commands brigades port to the Centre by May next year. Its recommendations could be implemented as early as November next year, sources said. An Army officer takes 32 to 33 years to reach Pay Level 14, the pay level associated with a Major General, while counterparts in the IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service reach the same level in 16 to 18 years, according to a cadre restructuring proposal for the Army seen by this newspaper. The disparity is rooted in the Army’s steep pyramidal rank structure, which narrows sharply above Lieutenant Colonel. As much as 86% of officer posts were at Lieutenant Colonel or below, while Colonels accounted for 10.5%, Brigadiers 2.5% and Major Generals just 0.8%, the proposal read. Over 26% of IPS officers, by comparison, were in the Senior Administrative Grade and above, against around 1% in the Army . The proposal argued that the Army’s nine ranks, compared with six designations in the civil services, warranted the removal of one rank. It identified Brigadier rather than Lt Colonel for abolition, with Major Generals to command both brigades and divisions. Major General would also become the minimum retirement rank for regular officers. The proposal comes as the Army restructures its field formations. In July it activated its , first five Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) and a Fire Support Group, with six Major Generals in command. Each IBG, comprising around 5,000 troops, is larger than a brigade but leaner than a division.