India’s first fully-digital census to start on April 1 The process starts with selfenumeration in Delhi, Goa, Karnataka, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Odisha, Sikkim and Andaman & Nicobar Islands from April 1. The Census 2027 will be done in two phases—house listing or house census and population enumeration. After a 15-day self-enumeration period, the 30-day house-listing phase will begin on April 16. Across the country, the first phase will be wrapped up by October | P9 BENGALURU  TUESDAY  MARCH 31, 2026  `9.00  PAGES 18  LATE 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 TRUMP THREATENS OBLITERATION Draft IT rules give Centre powers to Open Hormuz or face destruction of power plants, oil wells, desalination plants: Don to Iran Man from TN killed in strike on Kuwait plant Port city hit Site of a Oil building and refinery a fuel tanker afire at Haifa HAIFA oil refinery after missile debris impact EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Ramanathapuram/ New Delhi Gaza Strip Jordan US President Donald Trump on Monday warned that Iran faces mass destruction of its energy resources unless a deal to end the war is reached “shortly”. Trump ranted on social media that “great progress is being made” in talks with Iran, adding if a deal is not reached and if the strategic Hormuz Strait is not immediately reopened, the US would broaden its offensive by “completely obliterating all of their electric generating plants, oil wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!).” Destroying civilian infrastructure such as power and water facilities would be illegal under international humanitarian law and could constitute a war crime, experts say. A scrubby island in the Gulf that is roughly one third the size of Manhattan, Kharg Island is the nerve centre of the Iranian oil industry Later, Trump revealed . he was negotiating with Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, as per The Times of Israel. In a significant development, the Israeli military indicated it has been ordered by the political leadership to shift to hitting economic targets in Iran, The Times of Israel revealed. Israel’s defence establishment added that it had entered the “completion phase” of the war. It meant that it has largely achieved the objectives of degrading Iran’s military capabilities and creating conditions for the regime to fall. Syria A G E N C I E S @ Washington, Tel Aviv Egypt Iran has previously threatened to retaliate by targeting energy infrastructure and desalination plants in its Arab neighbours in the Gulf who host US military bases. Market experts warned that any US ground operation or wider Iranian retaliation could send oil prices to levels not seen since the July 2008 commodity boom, when the cost of world benchmark crude Brent hit close to $150 per barrel. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi appealed directly to Trump on Monday to find an off-ramp. “Please, help us to stop the war, you are capable of A blaze at the site of a missile strike at the Haifa oil refinery in Israel after it was hit by debris from the interception of a projectile on Monday | X DAY 31 it,” Sisi said in Cairo. On the ground on Monday, there was no let-up in hostilities. Israel said its air defence batteries responded to “missiles launched from Iran” after earlier announcing it was striking “terror regime military infrastructure across Tehran”. Israel’s fire and rescue services also reported a blaze at an oil refinery in the northern port city of Haifa. Israel’s military said it had struck the Imam Hossein University in Tehran run by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Iran confir med Revolutionary Guards commander Alireza Tangsiri had been killed. P11 A DAY after Santhana Selvam, a Tamil working in a Kuwait firm, was killed in Iranian attack on a power and water desalination facility in the Gulf country his family on Monday , sought the state government’s help to bring the body back to India. With the death of the 36-year-old from Raman ath apuram, the total number of Indian fatalities in the West Asia conflict has gone up to eight since the hostilities began on February 28. Santhana Selvam had been working in Kuwait for more than a decade at Al Dhow Engineering General Trading & Contracting Company He was the sole . breadwinner and is survived by his wife and two children. RUPEE BREACHES 95/$ LEVEL The rupee breached the 95/USDmark in intra-day trade on Monday before settling at 94.70. The BSE Sensex tumbled 1,635.67 points, or 2.22 per cent, to settle at 71,947.55. This month alone, the benchmark has crashed 11.48 per cent, ever since the West Asia conflict began | P12 censor user-generated news content R A K E S H K U M A R @ New Delhi THE Ministry of Electronics and IT has proposed to make sweeping changes to the digital media oversight framework to monitor and regulate user-generated news and current affairs content on social media. The proposed amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 give the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting statutory powers to order removal of news-related content from YouTube, Facebook, In- stagram, X, and other influential social media platforms. Currently, the digital media oversight framework applies to publishers of news content and curated content platforms. The amendments would extend it to individual users, professional content creators, and social media influencers with millions of followers. According to the government, the move is to strengthen social media platforms’ accountability and stop malicious content from going viral. Under the proposed rules, all social media platforms must After delay of 2 decades, tenders invited for PRR EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru THE Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) invited tenders on Monday for the muchawaited Bangalore Business Corridor (BBC), also called the Peripheral Ring Road, at an estimated cost of Rs 3,348 crore. The tenders have been invited for the first package of the project covering nearly 20 km, which has to be completed within 36 months. With this, it looks like the project, delayed for nearly two decades, is finally moving. If the work gets completed as planned, the 20 km ring road would be completed by mid-2029, easing traffic in the city . The EPC (Engineering, Pro- curement and Construction) tender Package-1 is from Tumakuru Road to Ballari Road for 19.80 km. The tender includes 10 years of operation and maintenance on design, build, operate and transfer (DBOT) mode. As per the timeline mentioned in the tender document, the last date for tender enquiries is April 15, and the last date to submit the tender is May 4. The technical bids would be opened on May 6 and the financial bid on May 11. The tender also had a note which read, “The implementation of the project on lands that are subject matter of various writ petitions pending in the High Court of Karnataka is subject to the outcome of such writ petitions.” P2 comply with government advisories and directions, including orders to remove content deemed harmful or misleading. Non-compliance may cost safe harbour protection (legal provisions that shield platforms from liability for content posted by users). The contentious move comes amid allegations of arbitrary ban and restriction of Facebook pages, YouTube videos, and Insta reels of influencers who are critical of the government. Digitial rights activists say the proposed amendments would heighten censorship risks. EXPRESS READ Retd brigadier dies in road rage crossfire Dehradun: A retired Army brigadier, who was on his morning walk, was killed in a crossfire when occupants of two cars opened fire following a dispute over giving way on the road. The incident happened in Johri village of Rajpur in Dehradun early on Monday | P10 Cong did nothing to end Naxal violence: Shah New Delhi: Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday blamed the Congress for the long spell of Naxal violence, saying it did “nothing” during its rule to end the menace. During a debate in the Lok Sabha, he said Maoists are almost eradicated from their den Bastar in Chhattisgarh | P10