HYDERABAD l friday l august 07, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 38 l LATE CITY EDITION Indian-origin astronaut Anil Menon conducts spacewalk Duo performs ISS power system upgrades The spacewalkers spent hours in the vacuum of space, carrying out necessary modifications for future installation of Roll-Out Solar Arrays on the International Space Station. The arrays are expected to provide additional power to support critical station operations, NASA said. This was the 281st spacewalk in support of ISS maintenance and upgrades NASA astronauts Anil Menon and Jessica Meir began a spacewalk on Thursday to carry out modifications for a future power upgrade at ISS menon’s first spacewalk, Meir’s sixth ■ ■ Menon was born in Minnesota in 1976 to Indian and Ukrainian immigrants. This will be his first and Meir’s sixth spacewalk Menon was SpaceX’s first flight surgeon, helping to launch its first humans to space during the Demo-2 mission. He joined NASA in 2014 as a space surgeon and began a two-year astronaut training in 2022 6 pm IST When the two astronauts stepped outside THE iss to carry out tasks 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 HC hands 10-yr RI to Tejpal in 2013 rape case The case dates back to 2013, when Tejpal was accused of sexfive years after a trial court ually assaulting a junior colacquitted journalist Tarun Te- league in an elevator of a highjpal in a 2013 sexual assault end hotel in Goa during an event case, the Bombay High Court on organised by the magazine. The Thursday set aside the decision Goa Police registered an FIR and sentenced the former editor against Tejpal for various ofto 10 years of rigorous impris- fences, including rape. He was onment. The HC also imposed a arrested in November 2013 and fine of `10.21 lakh on the former released on bail in July 2014. editor of Tehelka magazine and The trial commenced in 2017. said the money would The judgment was go the survivor. pronounced in May A division bench of 2021 by Additional justices Neela GokhaSessions Judge Kshale and Amit Jamsandma Joshi, who acquitekar pronounced the ted Tejpal. verdict on the appeal During the hearing filed by state of Goa in in HC, Solicitor Gen2022 against the trial eral Tushar Mehta, court verdict. “We appearing for the state Tejpal to have set aside the of Goa, argued that move SC judgment and order the trial court wrongand convicted Tejpal. ly focused on the comTarun Tejpal We have convicted plainant’s character called himself a him under Sections instead of the conduct “political victim” 376(2)(f) and (k), 354A, of the accused. He and pleaded for 354B of Indian Penal said the trial court inleniency, saying Code (IPC),” it said. correctly relied on the he was 62 years While handing complainant’s lifeold and the down the minimum style, WhatsApp chats, father of two sentence of 10 years’ and ‘normative’ begirls. He said he rigorous imprisonh av i o u r t o i n f e r would approach ment, the bench noted consent. SC to challenge that the incident took Senior advocate Aahis conviction place 13 years ago and bad Ponda, representTejpal had not committed any ing Tejpal, argued that the acother criminal offence. The quittal was correct because the maximum punishment for rape complainant’s account was inis life imprisonment. consistent with objective eviThe court gave Tejpal four dence including the lift mechanweeks to surrender. ics and CCTV footage. He During the hearing, the bench further argued that the victim’s termed the trial court’s judg- behaviour and conversation on ment “perverse” and coloured text messages did not suggest by prejudice ag ainst the deliberate concealment or survivor. coaching. S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai FCRA bill with prospective effect: Shah to Mizoram CM to several contentious provisions of the bill, which seeks to tighten oversight of foreignfunded organisations. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Lalduhoma said: “We raised six issues. He assured us that this bill will not have retrospective effect. On the remaining concerns, he said he wo u l d r e s p o n d i n writing.” A t a s e p a r at e meeting with Shah, a delegation of church M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi The controversial Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, will be taken up for discussion and passage in Parliament on August 12, but its provisions will not apply retrospectively Mizo, ram Chief Minister Lalduhoma said on Thursday after meeting Union home minister Amit Shah. Lalduhoma, accompanied by a delegation of church leaders from Mizoram, met Shah in Parliament to press for changes TG to distribute 1.05 crore laminated ration cards from Independence Day E x p ress N e w s S ervi c e at a glance @ Hyderabad  Distribution of new ration cards to begin on Aug 15 The state government will begin distributing 1.05 crore newly sanctioned and laminated ration cards across Telangana on Independence Day, with Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy launching the programme in Sangareddy . According to an office memorandum issued by Food and Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, ration card distribution programmes will be held simultaneously in all 119 constituencies, with the Revenue Divisional Officer coordinating the exercise in each segment with support from the district administration and the Civil Supplies department. The programme is scheduled between 2 pm and 4 pm on August 15, keeping in view the Independence Day flag-hoisting celebrations in the morning  Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy will launch the programme in Sangareddy  The distribution will take place from 2 pm to 4 pm and the chief minister’s participation in the At Home function at Raj Bhavan in the evening. The memorandum directed officials to finalise and verify constituency-wise beneficiary lists, coordinate with the local MLA or public representative, the district collector and other officials, and make necessary arrangements for registration, verification and the orderly distribution of ration cards. Calling it one of the state’s biggest welfare initiatives, the Hyderabad has emerged as one of the world’s fastest-growing data centre markets, ranking 27th globally in operational capacity and 19th in future development pipeline, according to the Knight Frank Global Data Centre Atlas 2026. The report, which assessed 36 leading data centre markets across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, paints Hyderabad as a city in the midst of a major buildout. It currently has 151 MW of operational IT capacity backed by a develop, ment pipeline exceeding 2.2 GW, reflecting investor confidence and growth prospects. That momentum is expected to gather pace over the next few years. Hyderabad’s operational capacity is projected to  Continued on p3 Data centre markets based on operational IT capacity n  Current capacity (in MW) n  Rank US Ashburn 5,636 1 US Columbus 1,958 2 US Dallas 1,936 3 US Phoenix 1,865 4 US Atlanta 1,724 5 1,473 6 UK London 1,467 7 Ireland Dublin 1,254 8 US Chicago 1,123 9 Japan Tokyo Singapore Singapore 1,118 10 Malaysia Johor 1,110 11 Germany Frankfurt 980 12 Netherlands Amsterdam 829 13 US Silicon Valley 825 14 India Mumbai 774 15 India Hyderabad 151 27 Data Centre markets based on Pipeline IT capacity Pipeline IT Country Region capacity (in MW) Rank @ Hyderabad reach nearly 380 MW by 2027, while committed and earlystage projects total about 1.9 GW, second only to Mumbai in India. Mumbai, with 774 MW of operational capacity, ranks 15th globally and 11th in future development pipeline with 4.9 GW . The next phase of data centre boom is taking shape on the city’s outskirts. CtrlS is developing a 612 MW data centre park at Chandanvelly Industrial Park, with 250 MW of power already secured for the first phase. NTT Data, Neysa Networks and the state government are developing a 400 MW AI-focused cluster capable of supporting up to 25,000 GPUs. Nxtra by Airtel is also building its largest Hyderabad facility , a 200 MW campus spread across 40 acres. memorandum said the programme aims to strengthen food security and extend Public Distribution System benefits to all newly eligible families. It directed officials to ensure its smooth and efficient rollout across the state. The rollout comes at a time when Telangana has the highest per capita income in the country, highlighting the contrast between its economic indicators and the scale of families covered under the Public Distribution System. According to the Socio-Economic, Educational, Employment, Political and Caste Survey conducted by the state government, Telangana has 1.17 crore families. Of these, 1.05 crore families have ration cards, most of them white ration cards that are generally meant for Below Poverty Line (BPL) households. Telangana leads india in tackling cybercrime | p2 Hyderabad enters top 30 global data centre markets E x p ress N e w s S ervi c e functionaries led by DMK MP P Wilson submitted a memorandum seeking withdrawal of the FCRA Amendment Bill 2026 in its entirety . Alternatively, the memorandum demanded “the reference of the FCRA Amendment Bill 2026, together with a comprehensive review of the working of the Principal Act, to a Joint Parliamentary Committee and the re- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 US US US US Malaysia Australia Finland US US UK India Thailand Indonesia Japan France Italy Germany Atlanta Ashburn Chicago Dallas Johor Melbourne Finland Phoenix Columbus London Mumbai Bangkok Jakarta Tokyo Paris Milan Frankfurt Saudi Arabia Riyadh India Hyderabad UAE UAE 27,028 15,981 9,074 8,901 8,542 7,802T 7,498 7,024 6,550 5,694 4,993 4,981 3,739 3,368 2,837 2,833 2,572 2,348 2,265 1,958 Microsoft opens its largest India data centre in Hyd E x p ress N e w s S ervi c e @ Bengaluru Microsoft on Thursday launched its largest data centre region in India in Hyderabad, expanding its cloud infrastructure to meet the growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) services. Adani Group, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank and PB Pay are among the early customers using the new facility . The launch of the India South Central region expands Microsoft’s cloud footprint in the country to four regions, alongside Pune, Chennai and Mumbai. The company said the addition gives it the largest hyperscale cloud presence in India, offering customers more options to run cloud services and AI workloads within the country  . Continued on p3 Squadron Leader Bhawana Kanth has become the first woman to clear the Fighter Combat Leader (FCL) course, the toughest for fighter pilots in the Indian Air Force. She successfully completed FCL at the Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) in Gwalior last week. FCL is among the most prestigious badges for fighter pilots. Only a small fraction of IAF’s aircrew, about 1%, get picked TACDE is a crucial unit of the IAF that trains top-tier fighter pilots to push their limits. Beyond running the FCL, the unit develops the tactical procedures and standard operating manuals used across the force, and puts newly inducted aircraft, radars and weapons through rigorous evaluation for the five-month rigorous programme, which trains the selected pilots in advanced air combat tactics and turns them into the specialists who set the template for how frontline squadrons fight. Graduates return to their units as in-house authorities on weapons employment and combat manoeuvring. Reaching that level closes a loop Sqn Ldr Kanth peal of the existing Section 15 of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, so that no provision for the vesting of foreign contribution or of as- helped open a decade ago. In June 2016, Kanth, Avani Chaturvedi and Mohana Singh were commissioned as the IAF’s first women fighter pilots, after the government opened the combat stream to women on an experimental basis. I n M ay 2 0 1 9 , Kanth became the first Indian woman cleared to fly fighter combat missions by day then on the , MiG-21 Bison, before converting to the Su-30 MKI. She has since featured in a Republic Day parade tableau and was conferred the Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2020. Sqn Ldr Kanth, who hails from Darbhanga in Bihar and has trained as an engineer before joining IAF, is part of a cohort that keeps posting firsts. Sqn Ldr Mohana Singh, commissioned alongside her, went on to become the first woman to fly the indigenous Tejas in a frontline squadron. sets survives in any form”. Introduced in the Lok Sabha on March 25, the bill proposes sweeping changes to the FCRA, which governs the receipt and utilisation of foreign donations by individuals, associations and companies. The most contentious provision of the bill empowers a government-designated authority to take custody of foreign funds and assets created through such contributions if the FCRA registration of an organisation is cancelled, surrendered or ceases to exist. Gen Z outreach Protests lawful form of dialogue to build consensus: RSS head S udhir S urya w anshi @ Mumbai Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday described protests as a form of dialogue that should be used to evolve consensus rather than create divisions in society. Addressing a gathering of about 2,000 students here, he said Gen Z and Gen Alpha are the most honest of generations. He said people of his generation, when they were young, followed the directions of elders, but today’s generation has strong opinions and needs logical answers. Addressing a wide array of questions, Bhagwat said if people’s voice is not heard in a democracy they could use protest as a , medium to talk to power. “Protest is a way of dialogue. In a democracy there are many , ways to arrive at a consensus. It is true that there is a need to do a lot of reform in Indian education. If there is no dialogue, then protests happen. I will not say Gen Z should not protest, but there are ways to protest. If Gen Z is upset, then we need to pay attention. The recent agitation took place because of lack of attention. Their issues can be sorted out through dialogue,” Bhagwat said. He also emphasised that Gen Z is not antinational; instead they are the future of the country “I have not called anyone anti-na. tional. In fact, today’s generation is the most honest. We can trust them blindly Children . are the gift of God,” Bhagwat said. Why, then, were they caned and fired at with pellet guns at Jantar Mantar during a protest march? Bhagwat said he was not aware about the cause of the violence. Responding to another question on the government’s ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ pitch though there was no proper infrastructure in schools and high teacher vacancies, Bhagwat said that the government needs to pay attention to these issues by increasing the education budget. He said that the education department’s allocation can go up to 6% of the GDP as recom, mended by various expert committees. “Education is everyone’s responsibility If . anyone is not discharging his duty, then there is a problem in the system. But at the same time, people also have to extend support. Besides, education should not be treated as a commercial venture,” he said. Bhagwat speak On protest: legitimate form of dialogue. Purpose is to build consensus, not create divisions Edu sector spending: support demand to raise it to 6% of GDP Gen Z: seeks logical answers to queries with warmth and respect Social media ban: not the solution to its harmful effects Tech misuse: Don’t trust social media content without verification Leadership: not about just delivering speeches or winning elections, but about working from behind, sharing success and fame LGBTQIA+: part of society but institution of marriage should not be tampered with Conflicts with Pak, China: should not permanently disrupt dialogue or people-topeople ties Gig workers in TG announce indefinite strike from Aug 8 @ Hyderabad Indian Air Force gets its first woman fighter combat leader TACDE: Training the best to become better Lalduhoma said Shah informed the delegation that the bill would be debated in Parliament on August 12. The government is expected to seek its passage before the Monsoon session concludes on August 13 E x p ress N e w s S ervi c e Top gun J A V A R I A R A N A @ New Delhi Passage by Aug 13 Warning of disruptions to app-based transport and delivery services, gig and platform workers’ unions have announced an indefinite statewide strike from August 8 unless the state government acts on their long-pending demands. The protest call, led by the Telangana App Based Drivers Forum (TADF) and the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union (TGPWU), comes after what the unions described as months of discussions with the state government and platform companies without any concrete action. TGPWU founder president Shaik Salauddin demanded that the state government notify a minimum base fare, along with fair per-kilometre and per-minute rates for appbased transport services, to ensure sustainable earnings for drivers and delivery workers. He sought immediate notification of the Telangana Gig and Platfor m Workers Rules, constitution of a Welfare Board, and implementation of the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines, 2025, including minimum fares, stricter regulation and a ban on private vehicles operating commercially unless converted into commercial vehicles. RELATED REPORT: P2