chennai l tuesday l december 16, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l late city EDITION Big pay day awaits stars at IPL 2026 mini auction Ten franchises will be looking to fill the available 77 spots during the auction at the Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi on Tuesday 2026 David Miller Liam Livingstone Chennai, Kolkata look to reboot Eyes on All-rounders and finishers After a forgettable season in 2025, Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders will be looking to form a core group of players in the mini auction. It, however, will not be easy with the available pool of players. Both teams will need at least six-seven international stars, Indian and overseas, to fulfil various roles before signing back-ups ■ ■ Australian all-rounder Cameron Green and India international Venkatesh Iyer are expected to go for big money for their dynamic skills and proven credentials at the highest level Liam Livingstone and David Miller are the kind of explosive finishers teams will not hesitate to spend significant money on | P13 `64.3 Cr KKR have the highest purse going into the auction 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 revamped bill to be tabled in LS today Oppn raps 60:40 funding plan for rural job scheme Delhi’s Dil Beats for its Devis P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Presents Devis all DEVI AWARDS Powered by Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, The New Indian Express group CMD Manoj Kumar Sonthalia, CEO Lakshmi Menon, Editorial Director Prabhu Chawla, Editor Santwana Bhattacharya and Dinamani Editor K Vaidiyanathan with Devi Award winners Anita Kundu, Archana Jahagirdar, Dr Meenakshi Jain, Dr Radhika Batra, Rina Dhaka, Shradha Sharma, Simran Sharma, Smita Prakash, Sudha Bhattacharya and Sonia Mathur in New Delhi on Monday | Parveen Negi | P9 Lamp pillar on hill belongs to Jains and not Hindus: Govt J EGADEESWARI PANDIAN @ Madurai The state government told the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday that the ancient stone pillar or ‘deepathoon’ located atop the Thiruparankundram hill belongs to Jains and not Hindus. The state also told a bench of Justices G Jayachandran and KK Ramakrishnan that the relief sought in the petitioner’s plea is in the nature of a Public Interest Litigation but was styled as a private petition in an attempt to do ‘forum shopping’. The averments were made by senior counsel N Jothi, representing the joint commissioner of HR&CE, while arguing before the judges in a batch of appeals filed against Justice GR Swaminathan’s order dated December 1, which directed the lighting of Karthigai Deepam on the pillar. It could be noted that in the previous hearing on December 12, Advocate General PS Raman, representing the collector, had argued that the petitioners had not submitted any proof before the single judge to show that the pillar was indeed a ‘deepathoon’. During the hearing on Monday, Jothi claimed that stone pillars similar in structure to the Thiruparankundram ‘deepathoon’ have been found erected by Jain sages in several hills, including ‘Samanar hills’ in Madurai and Shravanabelagola in Karnataka. The sages, belonging to Digambara sect of Jainism, had used these pillars to light lamps when they congregated on these hills for discussions at night times, the counsel said and submitted several books containing references on the matter.  P7 sir draft roll 15.2% TN voters may be out, 1/3rd drop in Chennai T M u ruga n a n d h a m & P o n Vasa n t h B A @ Chennai The draft electoral roll to be released on Friday as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of poll rolls in Tamil Nadu is likely to have 5.44 crore voters, a 15.2% reduction from the 6.41 crore voters in the 2025 roll taken as the base count for SIR. Chennai may see the biggest drop, with 35.6% voter names likely to be removed. As per a report generated on Monday for officials to monitor the exercise, seen by TNIE, 97.4 lakh names may be dropped as their enumeration forms have been marked as “uncollectable” due to various reasons. Of the 97.4 lakh names, 52.6 lakh (54.2%) have been marked as permanently shifted, 26.9 lakh (27.7%) as dead, 13.6 lakh (13.9%) as untraceable, 3.98 lakh (4.1%) as duplicate, and about 16,400 (0.2%) as “uncollectable” due to “other” reasons. With the last leg of work for publishing the SIR draft still under way the , final figures may slightly vary . Chennai’s electorate may shrink by 35.6% in the draft roll from its present size of 40.05 lakh to 25.8 lakh. Of the 14.26 lakh “missing” names in the draft rolls, which is more than one third of its present size, 12.23 lakh (85.8%) have been marked as permanently shifted.  P7 With the government all set to introduce a bill to repeal the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and replace it with a new rural employment law on Tuesday, the Opposition launched a blistering attack for diluting the scheme and burdening the exchequer of all states. Though the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025, was listed in the Lok Sabha in the supplementary list of business for Monday, the government held it back after Opposition protests. According to sources, the government has assured the Opposition in the Business Council Meeting that the proposed legislation will be sent to the standing committee. One of the key criticisms is that the bill proposes the Centre and states/Union territo- express read CM slams centre’s move to rename MGNREGA Chennai: Condemning the plan to rename the MGNREGA scheme, CM MK Stalin on Monday accused the BJP-led centre of trying to scrap the scheme, and said as TN is considered a poverty-free state, it will get the least benefits under the scheme now | P4 Navodaya schools: SC asks TN to talk to centre New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed Tamil Nadu government to consult with the union government regarding the setting up of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas across the state | P5 S’pore, Canada, UK issue Delhi air quality alert J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Singapore, the UK and Canada have issued advisories cautioning their citizens about hazardous air quality in Delhi as pollution levels in the national capital worsened sharply, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) nearing 500 and remaining in the “severe” category . The latest advisory came from the Singapore High Commission in New Delhi, which on Monday issued an air quality warning for its nationals in the Delhi-NCR region following the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) invocation of Stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). This marks the first known instance of a foreign mission in Delhi issuing a pollution-specific advisory . Singapore urged its nationals to follow guidelines issued by India, including staying indoors as much as possible, wearing masks when outdoors, and taking additional precautions. T he UK warned travelers about the health risks posed by air pollution in north India. Canada issued similar guidance to its nationals. Under GRAP Stage 4, authorities have imposed the strictest control measures. travel disruptions The Singapore advisory also flagged possible travel disruptions. “We also note that given the low visibility, flights to and from the Delhi -NCR are likely to be affected… Travellers should check with the respective airlines for updates.” battle tourism Cho La, Dok La passes opened for public P r a s a n ta M a z u m d a r @Guwahati INDIA on Monday formally opened the historic Cho La and Dok La passes in Sikkim, launching regulated battlefield tourism along the sensitive border with China. Dok La pass is in Doklam m plateau, which shot into limelight in 2017 during a prolonged standoff between Indian and Chinese troops, while Cho La witnessed fierce clashes in 1967. The Northeast hosts numerous such historic sites, especially in Arunachal Pradesh. Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang flagged off 25 motorbikes and vehicles, inaugurating access to the passes under the ‘Bharat Ranbhoomi Darshan’ initiative. A collabo- rative effort between the Army and Ministry of Tourism, Bharat Ranbhoomi Darshan enables citizens to explore iconic war zones and sites of military valour. “To boost accessibility and public awareness, the Ministry of Tourism and Army collaborated to transform these sites into sustainable tourism destinations,” the Ministry stated. The scheme opens vital border zones to regulated tourism, highlighting their significance — Sikkim CM Expected to go to a standing committee We will not allow the rights of millions of people to be snatched away by this govt — Mallikarjun Kharge “125 days” is the headline. 60:40 is the fine print... Cost-shifting by stealth, not reform — John Brittas 125 Days Of employment promised as against the current 100 days ries to share its cost in a 60:40 ratio. However, for North-Eastern and Himalayan states, including Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and J&K, the existing funding pattern of 90:10 between the Centre and the states will stay . Under the MGNREGA framework, the Centre bears the full cost of wages for unskilled manual work, up to threefourths of material costs, and three-fourths of wages for skilled and semi-skilled workers. While the new bill alters the funding structure, it retains the existing wage rates as notified under Section 6 of the MGNREGA. Criticising the proposed bill, CPI (M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas alleged that that the government removed the soul of a rights-based guarantee law and replaced it with a conditional, Centrally controlled scheme stacked against states and workers. The bill seeks to establish a “rural development framework aligned with the national vision of Viksit Bharat 2047”, by providing a statutory guarantee of 125 days of employment in every financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work. Single higher edu regulator bill to be sent to JPC PREETHA NAIR @ New Delhi AMID fierce protests and objections by the Opposition members, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill in the Lok Sabha. Pradhan introduced the bill, which seeks to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education, amid din over alleged threatening slogans raised against Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a Congress rally on Sunday . As soon as the bill was introduced, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju rose to say since it is a comprehensive Bill, the government would like to send it to the joint committee of both Houses for perusal. The bill proposes to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions. With a single regulator, it also seeks to tackle the challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to multiplicity of regulators. The higher education commission, which will be led by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, and institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.