chennai l Wednesday l march 04, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l vellore EDITION Nitish kumar agrees to let son Nishant enter politics jubilation at jd(u) headquarters in patna Eschewing aversion for “dynasty politics”, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday agreed to launch his only son Nishant in politics an engineer keen about public affairs The announcement came from state Rural Development Minister and senior party leader Shrawon Kumar, who has been a close aide of the JD(U) supremo since the Samata Party days, in the 1990s. Party workers distributed sweets, smeared each other’s faces with ‘gulaal’ and raised slogans to express delight over the political entry of their supremo’s son ■ ■ Five Rajya Sabha seats from Bihar are going to polls and the BJP and JD(U) hold two seats apiece. Nishant, known to be reticent but with a good grasp of public affairs, may replace Harivansh Narayan Singh Former state BJP president Dilip Jaiswal said, “If Nitish Kumar’s son enters politics, it’s great... time for a new generation to emerge” 48-yr-old nishant is single and has a degree in engineering 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 787 The latest war toll in Iran, according to the Iranian Red Crescent 153 Countries affected in some way or the other by the war 1,039 Attacks by US, Israel across Iran. Qatar joined the pounding Thoughts on education, public service, dissent and AI enliven TNIE’s conclave E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Chennai Presents An explosion in UAE’s Fujairah after drone debris fell on a part of the oil industrial zone | AP/PTI Wboth sides go full blast Asia burns as a g e n c i e s @ Tehran, Tel Aviv THE West Asia war is showing no signs of abatement. Iran stepped up its attacks on economic targets and US missions across West Asia on Tuesday as President Donald Trump warned it was “too late” for the Islamic republic to seek talks. As drones and missiles crashed into oil facilities and US embassies in the Gulf, Israel bombarded targets in Iran and pushed troops deeper into Lebanon to battle the Tehranbacked militia Hezbollah. “They want to talk. I said: ‘Too late!’,” Trump said on Truth Social. Later, he said “someone from within Iranian regime might be the best choice to take power once US-Israel campaign is finished.” As if to underline Trump’s new stance, loud blasts echoed around downtown Tehran. According to Iranian media, US-Israeli strikes targeted the ‘Assembly of Experts’ building in Qom, housing the panel electing Iran’s new supreme leader. Israel’s military said its air force struck industrial sites “throughout Iran” used to produce ballistic missiles, to pre-empt their use. Iran soon struck the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh and in Kuwait City with a drone early Tuesday. The strike in Riyadh caused part of its roof to collapse, although there were no deaths or injuries. In Kuwait City the vicinity of the em, bassy was hit by two drone strikes from Iran, with no casualties. With Iran bombing Gulf monarchies on whim, the US ambassador in Israel asked Americans to move out on their own. “The US Embassy is not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel,” Mike Huckabee wrote on X. Earlier Tuesday IAEA said Iran’s , Natanz site sustained “some recent damage”, but “no radiological consequence was expected.” Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar urged foreign capitals to cut all ties with Tehran. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned Saar that Beijing opposes the strikes. Govt sets up inter-ministerial group to monitor, manage crisis itoring and follow-up to ensure continuity in trade flows. THE Ministry of Commerce held a Some of the measures include consultation meeting on Tuesday flexibility in export-related authoriwith key ministries, logissation and steps to prevent tics operators, and trade cargo bottlenecks. AI operates facilitation bodies to asWith the ongoing Iranrelief flights sess potential risks to exIsrael conflict, exporters Air India on Tuesday ports and imports due to deployed a wide-body fear severe disruptions in the ongoing geopolitical aircraft with 350 seats logistics, spike in freight turmoil. An Inter-Ministe- to Jeddah and another cost and longer transit rial Group for Supply plane with 300 seats time. As a big share of InChain Resilience has also to Dubai to bring back dia’s crude oil passes been created to aid Indian through the Strait of Horstranded passengers exporters amid the growmuz, fuel prices can rise. ing geopolitical crisis. However, government sources The group comprises members said India has crude oil reserves and from the ministries of finance, ex- refined petroleum products that ternal affairs, shipping, and petro- could weather disruptions for up to leum, to facilitate coordination mon- eight weeks. PU S HPITA DE Y @ New Delhi West Bengal Governor Dr C V Ananda Bose on Tuesday recalled a quote from the Kothari Commission Report, “destiny of India is being shaped in her classrooms”, to underscore the relationship between education, public service, and nation-building at the ThinkEdu Conclave 2026 held in Chennai on Tuesday . Speaking on the second day of the event presented by the Tata Group and Tata ConsulTHINKEDU t a n cy S e r v i c e s TNIE Editorial Director Prabhu Chawla and Editor Santwana Bhattacharya presenting a memento to West Bengal Governor CONCLAVE (TCS) with RaDr CV Ananda Bose at ThinkEdu Conclave; (right) Bihar Governor Arif Mohammed Khan | P jawahar, Ashwin Prasath jalakshmi Group of Institutions as title sponsor, V-C, MGR Medical University, brought the discussion closer eignty Prof Pawan Goyal of IIT . Dr Bose said that Viksit Bharat also highlighted the need for home, highlighting the power, Kharagpur, and author Sairam 2047 mission can be achieved value-driven education. pains, and representation of Surenderasan explained how only through the path of Dr Santishree Dhulipudi Pan- youth in TN’s charged political AI is already disrupting education. dit, Vice-Chancellor of JNU, Dr landscape. education. Bihar Governor Arif Mo- Sunaina Singh, former V-C of Advocating for the ‘DravidiSenior BJP leader K Anhammed Khan reflected on the Nalanda University, and Dr an Model’, Tamil Nadu School namalai called for a major overcontroversial Shah Bano case, Thangam Meganathan, Chair- Education Minister Dr Anbil haul in the civil services, while and spoke on what it means to person, Rajalakshmi Group of Mahesh highlighted the state’s former TN chief secretary V be a “Liberal Muslim” in India Institution, stressed on the im- strides in inclusive education, Irai Anbu batted for purposetoday . p o r t a n c e o f re s p o n s i bl e while IT Minister Dr Palanivel driven public servants. Swami Suddhidananda, pres- dissent. Thiyaga Rajan outlined its ecoThinkEdu 2026, with over 30 ident of Advaita Ashrama, iniSachin Pilot, senior Congress nomic success story . riveting sessions and 45 speaktiated the day’s discussions with leader, commented on the fleetDriving the importance of ers across two days, representa reminder that education must ing nature of political ideolo- self-reliance in emerging tech- ed the continuation of a 14-year also enrich the spiritual and gies in India. Senior BJP leader nologies, Prof V Kamakoti, Di- legacy of championing the exmoral centres within students. Dr Tamilisai Soundarajan and rector of IIT Madras, explored cellence of Indian thought. Dr Sudha Seshayyan, former DMK MP Dr Kanimozhi Somu India’s roadmap to AI soverFULL COVERAGE: P4,P5 saudi arabia US embassy hit by drones An attack from two drones on the US Embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire”. The embassy urged Americans to avoid the compound israel Tel Aviv hit injures 7 At least seven people were seriously wounded after a salvo of missiles fired from Iran hit the capital city Tel Aviv qatar Loud blasts heard in Doha AFP journalists in the Qatari capital of Doha heard more explosions on Tuesday, as Iran carried out a fourth day of attacks in Gulf countries uae Amazon data centres hit Tech giant Amazon said two of its data centres in UAE had been “directly struck” by drones, disrupting cloud services in the region iran Urges UNSC to stop the war Iran urged the United Nations Security Council to take action to stop the war. “ If UNSC wishes, it can certainly act to stop the war” CM continues cash blitzkrieg, gives `2,000 each to 40 lakh beneficiaries E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Chennai Nearly three weeks after crediting `6,550 crore to 1.31 crore women beneficiaries under the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thittam (KMUT), the DMK government on Tuesday extended similar assistance amounting to `1,387 crore to 39.57 lakh beneficiaries. Responding to requests for additional aid for the elderly, widows, aged transgenders, and persons with disabilities, the state has provided `2,000 over and above their existing monthly pensions, Stalin said on X. “As part of the state’s development journey, the DMK government will not allow anyone to be left behind. We shall win together,” he said, adding that the special grant of `2,000 had been credited along with the March pension. According to official data, 29.29 lakh beneficiaries, including senior citizens and widows under various social security 1,387 cr Govt extended `1,387 crore to 39.57 lakh by crediting `2,000 over and above the quantum of fund credited for March pension `3,200 for elderly, widows; `3,500 for disabled persons According to official data, 29.29 lakh beneficiaries, including senior citizens and widows under various social security schemes, were provided `3,200 each. As many as 5.92 lakh persons with disabilities received `3,500 each, while 2.58 lakh families of persons with disabilities receiving maintenance assistance of `4,000 each schemes, were provided `3,200 each. As many as 5.92 lakh persons with disabilities received `3,500 each, while 2.58 lakh families of persons with disabilities received maintenance aid of `4,000 each. In addition, 1.62 lakh fishermen families were provided `8,000 per family as fishing ban period assistance for April to June. In Nilgiris, 14,870 tea growers were extended assistance totalling `8.53 crore as a support price of `2 per kilogram for green tea leaves procured through 15 co- operative tea factories. Criticising the move, former minister and AIADMK women’s wing secretary B Valarmathi alleged on X that the ruling party’s “sudden display of compassion” was driven by electoral considerations. She claimed that representations from the elderly, widows and persons with disabilities had allegedly gone unanswered for years, and that the present disbursal reflected “fear of defeat” rather than genuine welfare intent. Meanwhile, CPI state secretary M Veerapandiyan welcomed the initiative. 7pm: South Africa vs New Zealand (1st Semi-Final)(Kolkata) SA vs NZ: First semis in Kolkata On Wednesday, South Africa face New Zealand in the first semifinal of the T20 World Cup. The African side has an advantage over their opponents after remaining unbeaten until now. To add to that, they even got the better of Kiwis in the group stage. More importantly they seem to be a well-rounded unit and the conditions here suit them better. P13 Seven youth arrested in Tirunelveli gang attack Tirunelveli: Nanguneri police on Tuesday arrested seven youth, including two allegedly involved in 2024 caste attack, in connection with the sickle attack on Monday night that left two dead and six others injured at Perumpathu village in Tirunelveli. Villagers suspected that the attack could be the result of a long-standing caste rivalry between Backward Caste and MBC communities. Residents continued their protest for the second day on Tuesday | P6 Four killed as car falls into well near Gingee Villupuram: Four persons from Chennai, including a lawyer, were killed after the car they were travelling in fell into a roadside well following a tyre burst near Gingee in Villupuram around 8.30 am on Tuesday. They were returning to Chennai from Tiruvannamalai after participating in girivalam held on the full moon day of the Tamil month of Maasi at the Arunachaleswarar temple. The bodies were sent to the Gingee GH for post-mortem. ENS 29 seats, 2 RS berths to Cong after Nod to plan for 60 transport aircraft PC meets Stalin to break stalemate J a v a r i a R a n a @ New Delhi Today’s Match express read P r a b h a k a r Ta m i l a r a s u @ Chennai Amid a deadlock in seat-sharing talks between the DMK and the Congress, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram and TNCC president K Selvaperunthagai met Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin at his residence on Tuesday afternoon in an attempt to end the impasse. DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi was also present at the meeting. Sources told TNIE that while the DMK leadership was not inclined to accept the Congress’s demand for 34 Assembly seats, it had expressed will- 1 RS seat for DMDK The DMK on Tuesday evening allotted one Rajya Sabha seat for DMDK. According to sources, the number of Assembly seats that DMDK will contest as part of the alliance in the Assembly elections will be finalised at a later date | P6 ingness to offer up to 29 seats, in addition to two Rajya Sabha seats. “One Rajya Sabha seat will be allocated in the forthcoming biennial election, and another will be offered in 2028,” a source said. The DMK is also understood to have conveyed its preference that the Rajya Sabha seat be allotted to a Congress leader from Tamil Nadu. A Congress leader confirmed that the DMK had raised its offer from 25 and can go up to 29 seats and said the party was “working out the numbers” and awaiting approval from the high command. Downplaying the significance of the meeting, Selvaperunthagai described it as a “courtesy call”. “The meeting was a courtesy call and the alliance negotiations have been progressing smoothly,” the TNCC chief said.  P7 The Defence Procurement Board (DPB) has cleared the acquisition of 60 medium transport aircraft for the IAF, setting in motion a long-pending plan to renew its tactical airlift fleet. Sources said the DPB, chaired by Defence Secretary R K Singh, met on Monday and cleared the proposal. The board vets capital acquisition proposals before they move to the Defence Acquisition Council for Acceptance of Necessity, following which the process moves to tendering, trials, negotiations and contract award. The acquisition, estimated at around `1 lakh crore, will be pursued under the ‘Buy and File pix of C-390 Millennium Make’ route, with 12 aircraft to be acquired in flyaway condition and the remaining 48 to be manufactured in India in partnership with the domestic industry sources said. , The requirement centres on replacing the An-32 fleet. The new aircraft are also expected to take on some roles of the ageing Il-76. The aircraft being sought must be capable of operating in high-altitude environments and from short, semi-prepared or unpaved surfaces, including Advanced Landing Grounds in Ladakh and the Northeast. A three-way contest is taking shape, with each contender offering a different mix of capability and industrial alignment. Sources said the contest is expected to be closely fought between Brazil’s Embraer, which has partnered with Mahindra Defence for this bid and US-based Lockheed Martin, which has a long-standing manufacturing partnership with Tata Advanced Systems. Embraer has offered the C-390 Millennium, a jet-powered aircraft with a payload of around 26 tonnes, placing it at the upper end of the IAF’s requirement. Lockheed’s C-130J Super Hercules (20 tonnes) and Airbus’ A400M Atlas (30+ tonnes) are also in the race.