TIRUNELVELI l wednesday l april 03, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l CITY EDITION DGCA seeks daily report as vistara cancels more flights Airline told to ease passenger woes The directive comes as the Tata group airline cancelled over 50 flights for the second straight day on Tuesday due to non-availability of pilots Pilots report sick to protest pay cuts The airline’s daily report to the DGCA will have details of flights being cancelled and delayed. The aviation regulator said it is monitoring the situation to ensure the airline follows the norms and passengers are not inconvenienced. Pilots of Vistara, which is in the process of getting merged with Air India, have been protesting cuts to their fixed pay | p14 ■ ■ Several commanders and first officers of the airline’s A320 fleet reported sick on Tuesday to protest the pay cuts. The cancellations come amid a surge in travel demand due to the onset of summer The new salary structure has been introduced to bring parity between pilots of Vistara and Air India as part of the merger 51.4% Vistara’s On-Time Performance on Apr 1, the lowest among scheduled airlines 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 AAP ka Sanjay gets bail after ED green light candidates chess secret service: players set for gruelling time (From left): R Praggnanandhaa, R Vaishali and D Gukesh avanan, also maintained silence when he was asked about the event (the 17-year-old will be helped by Grzegorz Gajweski during the meet). The IM explained further. “Gajewski is known to be an expert in openings (the first phase of the game).” Koneru Humpy one of two , Indian women in the field, flat out refused to answer questions about the event. Vidit Gujrathi (one of three Indian men in the field) did of his two members ahead of the tournament (Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Daniele Vocaturo) but said he preferred to hide the identities of the others in the team. Candidates is a gruelling three week event with 14 games of Classical Chess. 15 P Ramdev ‘apology’ State govt will move SC today to humbug, says SC, get flood relief from centre: CM seeks fresh reply Yoga guru Ramdev after appearing before Supreme Court in connection with the Patanjali ads case on Tuesday | pti SU C HITR A K A LYA N MOH A NTY @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on Patanjali Ayurved for putting out misleading advertisements to promote its products and running down modern medicine. A bench headed by Justice Hima Kohli also refused to accept the apology tendered by the firm’s founder Baba Ramdev and managing director Acharya Balkrishna but gave the company one last chance to file its response within a week and fixed the matter for further hearing on April 10. Both Ramdev and Balkrishna were present before the bench on Tuesday, in compliance with an order for their personal presence in court. Ramdev tendered unconditional apology before the bench, also comprising Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, for violating the order restraining the firm from issuing misleading advertisements, but the court was annoyed by the phraseology of the affidavit submitted by Balkrishna. “This is all humbug. You say ‘if the court feels, etc’... We cannot look into your heart! This is not how contempt cases are dealt with,” the bench said. The bench also warned the duo that it would take note of ‘perjury’ as certain documents, which were said to be attached with other papers, were created later on. “This is a clear case of perjury We are not . closing the doors on you but we are telling all that we have noted,” it said. Senior advocate Vipin Sanghi, appearing for Patanjali, said the firm’s media department was not aware of the court’s direction not to continue with advertisements. The bench asked how can the department be a standalone island within the company “We do not wish to . accept that the media department does not know what is happening in this court. This is more of a lip service,” said Justice Kohli. HC orders state govt to expedite 561 cases against MPs and MLAs Chennai: The Madras HC on Tuesday directed TN to expedite proceedings in 561 cases registered against MPs and MLAs in the state. The first bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice J Sathya Narayana Prasad issued the direction when a suo motu case on monitoring the progress of the cases registered against MPs and MLAs came up for hearing | P2 Biden, Xi discuss Taiwan, AI in a push to return to regular talks Washington: US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping discussed Taiwan, artificial intelligence and security issues on Tuesday in a call meant to demonstrate a return to leader-to-leader dialogue. White House described it as candid and constructive. Xi said both sides should adhere to the bottom line of ‘no clash, no confrontation’ as a principle Supreme Court The ED arrested Singh in October. It had said Singh received proceeds of crime to the tune of `2 crore. During Tuesday’s hearing, the bench told Raju no money has been recovered from Singh’s possession and the bribe allegations can be tested in the trial. “Maybe a lot of time has passed but all this can be examined in trial and tested in a witness box,” it said. Reacting to the bail order, Singh’s wife Anita Singh said her happiness is incomplete with three of her “brothers”, Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, still behind bars. Big day for democracy, Says AAP Reacting to the Supreme Court’s order granting bail to its Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday called it a “big day for democracy” and hoped the “mountain of lies” created by the BJP will collapse in the coming days. “This is a big day for democracy in the country and a moment of happiness and hope,” senior party leader and Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said in a press conference. Failure to appear before ED: SC slams TN collectors S u c h i t r a Ka lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed strong disapproval at the conduct of five district collectors of Tamil Nadu who failed to appear before the Enforcement Directorate in connection with an ongoing money laundering probe related to alleged illegal sand mining, despite the court’s order. A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal directed the collectors of Vellore, Tiruchy Karur, Thanjavur, and , Ariyalur to appear before the ED on April 25, saying failure to do so will have serious consequences. The officials adopted a “cavalier approach” and their action shows they have no respect for the court, law and the Constitution, the judges said. “In our opinion, such a cavalier approach will land them in a difficult situation. When the court had passed the order directing them to appear in response to the summons issued by the ED, they were expected to obey the order and remain present before the ED,” the SC said. Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Amit Anand Tiwari, appearing for the Tamil Nadu government, said the officials were busy in maintaining public order and implementation of social security schemes. They said the Lok Sabha elections are scheduled in Tamil Nadu for April 19 and the officials have been looking after poll-related works. The bench said the officials should have appeared before the probe agency and explained the reasons. It said one last opportunity is being given to the officials to appear before the ED. Sibal said a review petition has been filed against the February 27 order of the apex court. P5 10 Maoists killed in C’garh encounter e j a z k a i s e r @ Raipur AT least 10 members of the outlawed CPI (Maoist), including a female cadre, were on Tuesday killed in an exchange of fire with the security forces in Bijapur district, about 350 km south of Raipur. So far, 10 bodies have been recovered. Several other Maoists are suspected to have sustained injuries, said Sundarraj P Bas, tar range inspector general of police. Intensive search operation by the security forces continues in the region. One light machine gun, a Barrel Grenade Launcher (BGL), a .303 bore rifle, huge quantities of BGL shells and other ammunition were recov- Confrontation in numbers Here’s a look at Data on Gun fights with maoists since the last five years Encounters with Maoists Maoists killed Legend 2019 167 express read No money has been recovered from his possession and the `2 crore bribe allegations can be tested in the trial. There is no trace of it. Maybe a lot of time has passed but all this can be examined in trial 2022 2020 2023 2021 2024 (Till 2 April) 21 36 46 10 25 6 46 47 33 36 41 17 Taking a leaf out of Kerala’s book, the Tamil Nadu government will move the Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking funds for flood relief from the union government, Chief Minister MK Stalin said. Addressing a campaign rally at Vellore Fort Ground on Tuesday Stalin pointed out that the , Kerala government had approached the SC on Monday seeking `10,000 crore from the centre for flood relief. “Karnataka has also made a similar plea. As TN has requested funds for flood relief but received no response, the state will petition the SC on Wednesday seeking release of the funds,” he said. Responding to the Katchatheevu issue raked up by the BJP, the CM posed four questions on the matter to the BJP. Questioning Modi’s sudden concern for Katchatheevu, he highlighted the reported increase in arrests and shootings of fishermen by the Sri Lankan government during his regime and he demanded an explanation from the PM for failing to criticise Sri Lanka. “China asserts claims over many parts of Arunachal Pradesh, has named over 30 in Chinese. What is his response to this? There appears to be a lack of courage to condemn Lanka and a reluctance to oppose China. Can he address the Katchatheevu issue in this manner?” the CM asked. Continued on p5 Sanjay Singh 494 291 428 “China asserts claims over many parts of Arunachal Pradesh, has named over 30 in Chinese. What is his response to this? There appears to be a lack of courage to condemn Sri Lanka and a reluctance to oppose China. Can he address the Katchatheevu issue in this manner?” the CM asked. R A J A L A KSHMI S A MPATH @ Vellore The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case linked to Delhi excise policy scam. During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General S V Raju appearing for the ED told the court that the probe agency has no objections if Singh is released on bail. “I am making the statement without going into the merits of the case and keeping all the rights and contentions open,” Raju said. The bench had asked Raju to take instructions on whether the ED needed further custody of Singh. “We allow the present appeal and direct that Sanjay Singh be released on bail during pendency of trial on terms and conditions set by the trial court,” a two-judge bench of the court, headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna said. The court directed Singh not to make any comments about the case while on bail. The bench further said the bail granted to Singh should not be treated as “precedent” and it will not be of much help to other jailed AAP leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal. 499 CM questions PM on China S u c h i t r a m o h a n t y @ New Delhi 438 Challenger for the world title match) has hired Peter Svidler, a former World No. 4. V Saravanan, an IM who works at chess.com, takes this daily through why secrecy is important. “It’s existed for a long time because you do not want to give your opponents the smallest of clues,” he tells this daily . “Let’s take Svidler’s case. He’s a legend for his Gruenfeld Defense with black pieces. He’s known for his dynamism. Those are the kind of clues you don’t want your opponents to know.” The aspect of secrecy — almost akin to an espionage operation — isn’t just unique to Ramesh. Gukesh’s coach, Vishnu Sar- SC says it shouldn’t be treated as precedent, gags lawmaker from speaking about case 65 40 51 30 20 42 JUST before the 2013 World Chess Championship, Viswanathan Anand caused quite the stir by naming his seconds in the pre-event meet. “K Sasikiran, Sandipan (Chanda), (Radoslav) Wojtaszek and (Peter) Leko are my first seconds,” the then defending champion had said. The ball, then, was in Magnus Carlsen’s court. Would the Norwegian return the favour by publically revealing his seconds? “I appreciate Mr Anand’s openness about his team,” he had said. “And I’m not going to return his favour.” Normalcy was quickly restored for elite chess players seldom reveal the identity of their seconds before an important event. For seconds are the army of backroom staffers working to bring home the title. Complete secrecy is the only name of the game. During an interaction with this daily, R B Ramesh, coach of R Vaishali and R Praggnanadhaa (the siblings will be in action at the Candidates from Thursday in Toronto), plead the Fifth whenever he felt it would be in danger of revealing details of the multiple camps they had in the lead up. He refused to even reveal the dates of the camp. “Don’t want to go too much into the dates; I will just say we have done our bit,” he said. “We have prepared professionally. Everyone will have done the same.” It has since been reported that Praggnanandhaa, who qualified for the Candidates (an elite eight-player event which will identify the 107 109 82 69 69 28 S w a r o o p S w a m i n at h a n @ Chennai sand mining Maoists arrested ered from the spot. The exchange of fire took place around 6 am following a tip-off about the presence of Security personnel killed Civilians killed senior left-wing extremist leaders near Lendra-Korcholi forested terrain at Gangaloor police station limit of Bijapur. The operation was carried out by a joint team of the Bijapur District Reserve Guard, CRPF and its elite CoBRA unit, and Special Task Force. Most of those killed were likely from Platoon No. 2 of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army of the Maoists, he added. Bijapur is part of the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency which , will go to polls on April 19. Around 80,000 security forces have been deployed for the upcoming polls in Bastar. Most attacks by Left wing extremists happen in MarchJune, when they carry out their ‘Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign’ to regain strength, recruit cadre and mount pressure on the security forces. band of brothers TN party goes ‘balle balle’, fields seven Tamil Sikhs in LS polls S G o d s o n W i s e ly D a s s @ Thoothukudi The Bahujan Dravida Party (BDP) candidates along with their party founder president Jeevan Singh in Thoothukudi | Express One of the defining aspects of Sikhism is universal brotherhood and the faith that has its roots in Punjab seems to have found a band of brothers and sisters espousing its cause in Tamil Nadu. Taking inspiration from the Delhi farmers’ agitation of 2021 that made the mighty union government scrap the three farm laws, the Bahujan Dravida Party (BDP), a party found- ed by a Tamil but registered in New Delhi, has fielded seven candidates in Tamil Nadu for the Lok Sabha polls to usher in social change through political action. Interestingly, all these candidates, originally belonging to different faiths, have embraced Sikhism after participating in the farmers protest. The seven candidates are Selvakumar alias Selva Singh (27), who is contesting from Tirunelveli constituency Korkai Palan, isamy Singh (36) from Virudhunagar, Rajan Singh (60) from Kanniyakumari, Seetha Kaur (52) from Tenkasi, Manivasagam (46) from Ramanathapuram, Asiriyar Shanmugasundaram Singh (37) from Thoothukudi, and Naga Vamsa Pandian Singh (30) from Madurai constituency While the Tirunelveli . candidate has been given the ‘pen nib with seven rays’ symbol, the other candidates will contest on ‘diamond’ symbol. BDP founder Jeevan Singh, who belongs to Thoothukudi, told TNIE that his aim is to bring social change at the grassroots level by establishing a cultural identity through Sikhism. Only Sikhism can create a casteless society, said Jeevan Singh, who was earlier a follower of Buddhism. The primary principle of the party is to establish Begampura Kalsha Raj, which in Punjabi means a discrimination-free liberated kingdom. “Our party works for the empowerment of SC/STs, OBCs, and religious minorities who form 95% of the population in India,” he said. Continued on p5
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