BHUBANESWAR l wednesday l december 10, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l JEYPORE EDITION Australia bans under-16s from social media in novel crackdown A raft of the world’s most popular apps and websites face US$33 million in fines if they fail to purge Australia-based users younger than 16 onus on internet firms to check user age The Australian government said unprecedented measures are needed to protect children from “predatory algorithms” filling phone screens with bullying, sex and violence. The laws came into effect on Wednesday across Australia. Social media companies bear the sole responsibility for checking users are 16 or older, with some saying they’ll use AI to detect a user’s age ■ 3.5 lakh new zealand, malaysia may follow suit ■ YouTube has attacked the laws as “rushed” and said they would only push children into deeper, darker corners of the internet Australia’s efforts will be closely watched by all those worried about the dangers of social media. Already, New Zealand and Malaysia are mulling similar restrictions on teenagers as per news reports | P9 users between age of 13 and 15 in australia, says instagram 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 Vote theft anti-nat’l Tribals-Bengalis agree to peace in MV-26 act: Rahul attacks BJP D e b a P r a s a d D a s h @ Malkangiri Alleges ECI undermining electoral process; suggests electoral reforms P REE T HA NAIR @ New Delhi Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday launched a sharp attack against the ruling party accusing it of committing the “biggest anti-national act” by orchestrating ‘vote theft’ in collusion with the Election Commission and undermining the idea of India. Participating in a discussion on election reforms, Gandhi also outlined a slew of electoral reforms to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process. Making suggestions, he called for providing machine-readable voter lists to all parties one month before elections, taking back the law that allows destruction of CCTV footage after 45 days, giving access to EVMs, and changing the law that allows the election commissioners “to get away with whatever they want to do”. In his 30-minute speech, he posed three questions which he claimed show the BJP is “directing and using” EC to damage India’s democracy . “The biggest anti-national act you can do is vote ‘chori’. Because when you destroy the vote, you destroy the fabric of this country you destroy modern India, , you destroy the idea of India. Those across the aisle are doing an anti-national act,” Gandhi said, gesturing towards the treasury benches. He cautioned the election commissioners that law can be changed retroactively to hold them accountable. “Let me remind them: don’t worry , we are going to change the law, and that too retroactively. And we are going to come and find you,” he said. Demanding an answer from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the Congress leader asked why the Chief Justice of India was removed from the selection panel for appointing the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners. Why are the prime minister and home minister so keen on choosing who the election commissioner is going to be, he asked. Lashing out at the government for altering the law with regard to CCTV footage to enable vote theft, he said, “Why was a law put in place that allows the EC to destroy CCTV footage 45 days after the election? It is not a question of data. It is a question of stealing the election.” Rahul Gandhi speaks during a discussion on poll reforms in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday | PTI The biggest anti-national act you can do is vote ‘chori’. Because when you destroy the vote, you destroy the fabric of this country — Rahul Gandhi, LoP in Lok Sabha ‘Opposition looking for excuses for their defeat’ Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said the SIR has been held multiple times since 1952 to clean up electoral rolls. He said the Opposition, including the Congress, blames electronic voting machines and the SIR for their repeated defeats, but refuses to introspect | P7 SC warns states on SIR, asks ECI to protect BLOs S U CHI T RA K A LYAN M O HAN T Y @ New Delhi Expressing concern over reports of Booth Level Officers (BLO) being threatened in West Bengal and other states, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Election Commission of India to take action to protect BLOs. While issuing directions on the security of ground-level electoral staff, a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi also warned states against non-cooperation in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. “Bring to our notice instances of lack of cooperation, hindrances to work of BLOs and we will pass appropriate orders,” the bench told senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the Election Commission. “Deal with the situation or it will cause anarchy,” CJI Kant told Dwivedi. The directions came during the hearing of a batch of pleas by various states including West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and others over challenges to voter roll revision. e xpr e s s r e a d Netas get huge pay raise, `3.74 lakh for CM, mins `3.62 lakh and MLAs `3.45 lakh Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed a bill approving nearly three-fold hike in the salary and allowances of the Speaker, the chief minister, deputy speaker, ministers and MLAs. The CM will now get `3.74 lakh per month. Similarly, the DCMs will get `3.68 lakh, ministers `3.62 lakh and MLAs `3.45 lakh per month | P3 How Air India could manage to evade crisis S L a l i t h a @ New Delhi PLANNING in advance helped Tata-owned Air India Group to ensure that both Air India and Air India Express sailed through smoothly after DGCA’s revised crew roster came into effect from November 1. This is in stark contrast to the shoddy management by IndiGo, which resulted in 1,232 cancellations last month that cascaded into a full-blown crisis from December 1. Back in October, when the Union civil aviation ministry finalised the winter schedule (October 26, 2025 to March 28, 2026) for all domestic airlines, IndiGo was permitted to operate 15,014 departures per week, the maximum permitted for any airline. Air India and Air India Express were allotted 4,277 and 3,171 flights, respectively, per week. IndiGo will face action for Sources in Air India mass disruption of flights said the the new Flight triggered by crew Duty Time Limitations rostering failures (FDTL) were a huge chalRam Mohan Naidu, Minister lenge as literally everything had to be changed. Also, Air India was trying to rebuild its image after the Ahmedabad disaster. Air India began recruitment of Captains and Flying Officers quite early, said a source. “We went all out to recruit pilots ...we understood the new roster would require a massive increase in operational crew,” sources said. IndiGo on Monday told DGCA that a software glitch was also a contributory reason for the crisis. Air India had figured this two months ago. “When it was made known clearly to all of us that the new rules will fully come into effect by November 1, we began work on it by October. The software involved in it is a very complicated one. It took us two months to ready it,” an AI source said. After two days of violence, the MV-26 area of Malkangiri district moved towards peace with successful talks between the tribals and the Bengali community . After much persuasion by the district administration, both communities agreed to come to the table on Tuesday A . peace committee meeting was convened involving the revenue divisional commissioner, collector, DIG, SP, Malkangiri MLA Narasingha Madkami and representatives of both the communities. “The talks were successful. Both the groups resolved to maintain peace and not escalate the matter any further,” collector Somesh Upadhyay told TNIE. Meanwhile, under the cover of curfew and internet shutdown, the violence-hit MV-26 remained calm throughout the day. With heavy security arrangements, no further violence was reported from the region. However, curfew is still in force and internet services will remain suspended till Wednesday noon as a precautionary measure, Upadhyay said. The unrest began on Sunday when thousands from nearby tribal areas entered MV-26 and set houses on fire and de- Microsoft to invest $17.5 bn in India over next four yrs RA K ESH K U M AR @ New Delhi US tech giant Microsoft has announced $17.5 billion (`1.58 lakh crore) investment in India over the next four years to help build the infrastructure, skills, and capabilities needed for the country’s AI future. The firm’s CEO Satya Nadella, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, called it “the largest investment ever in Asia”. Modi and Nadella discussed India’s AI roadmap and growth priorities, Microsoft said. The US firm’s investPrime Minister Narendra Modi ment in India focuses on with Microsoft CEO Satya three pillars—scale, Nadella in New Delhi | pti skills, and sovereignty— aligned with the Prime Minister’s vision of building a comprehensive ecosystem that drives AI innovation and access at a national scale. Puneet Chandok, president of Microsoft India and South Asia, said the new investment will be used to continue scaling the company’s cloud and AI infrastructure, skilling initiatives, and ongoing operations across India. The body of Lake Podami being brought to her village after postmortem for conduct of last rites | Express stroyed property of the Bengali settlers, following the alleged murder of Lake Podami of Rakhelguda village. The headless body of Podami was recovered from the Potteru river fuelling anger among the tribals against Bengalis as she was involved in a land dispute with a member of the latter community. While police arrested the accused Subharanjan Mondal in connection with Podami’s death, the unrelenting tribals launched a fierce attack on the MV-26, forcing most of the residents to flee. Upadhyay said on the basis of preliminary reports, of the 188 houses in the MV-26 village, 163 have been damaged. Assessment teams are preparing a detailed damage report after which relief will be provided to the affected as per the guidelines of the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC), he Continued on P5 said.  107 MPs submit notice to impeach Madras HC judge express news service @ New Delhi/Chennai AS many as 107 INDIA bloc MPs, led by DMK, submitted a notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday, seeking impeachment of Madras High Court judge G R Swaminathan for his order of December 1 and 3 directing Subramaniya Swamy temple authorities at Thirupparankundram to allow lighting lamps on a pillar (deepathoon) near a dargah on the hill. The impeachment notice accused Justice G R Swaminathan — of the Madurai bench of Madras HC — of conduct that “raises serious questions regarding impartiality, transparency, and the secular functioning of the judiciary.” It alleged “undue favouritism” towards senior advocate M Sricharan Ranganathan and lawyers from a “particular community,” besides deciding cases on “particular political ideology” against the constitutional principle of secularism. Copies of INDIA bloc leaders led by DMK’s Kanimozhi & Priyanka Gandhi of Congress submit the notice to Om Birla, LS Speaker | X the notice were also sent to President Droupadi Murmu and CJI Sanjiv Khanna. The delegation included Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Akhilesh Yadav, T R Baalu, Kanimozhi, Supriya Sule and others. On December 3, Justice Swaminathan had allowed a group of petitioners to light the lamp on the pillar near the dargah, and directed CISF protection to them. Police stopped the group from lighting the lamp, leading to a furore, prompting the Tamil Nadu government to move the Supreme Court, which admitted TN’s plea.