HYDERABAD FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 38 LATE CITY EDITION LIGHT COMBAT AIRCRAFT TEJAS MK1A’S FIRST FLIGHT SUCCESSFUL The HAL said the first LA 5053 aircraft of the Tejas Mk1A series took to the skies successfully from its facility in Bengaluru on Thursday ‘SIGNIFICANT MILESTONE HAS BEEN ACHIEVED’ INDIAN AIR FORCE TO INDUCT THE AIRCRAFT “HAL achieved this significant production milestone with concurrent design & development amid major supply chain challenges in the global geopolitical environment subsequent to the contract signature in February 2021,” said C B Ananthakrishnan, chairman and managing director of the company. The aircraft was piloted by Group Captain K K Venugopal (Retd) ■ ■ The Tejas Mk1A will have an advanced electronic RADAR, warfare, communication systems and additional combat capability The country can look forward to an early induction of the Tejas Mk1A by the IAF and more numbers through the three lines of production established at HAL, it said in a statement 18 MINS WAS THE FLYING TIME OF TEJAS MK1A’S FIRST FLIGHT 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 DELHI COURT EXTENDS THE CHIEF MINISTER’S ED REMAND TILL THE ALL FOOLS’ DAY Kejri argues his case, sees plot to crush party former minister Satyendra Jain was also present. A Delhi court on Thursday saw Referring to this allegation, its arrested chief minister him- Kejriwal said because of his poself arguing his case in the liq- sition, several ministers come uor policy scam. “I was named to his residence and even exby four witnesses in the excise change documents. “Is this policy case. Are four statements statement sufficient to arrest a enough to arrest a sitting CM?” sitting CM?” he questioned. he asked. On the statement of another The court extended the cus- accused-turned-approver Ratody of Delhi Chief Minister ghav Magunta to the ED, the Arvind Kejriwal with the En- CM said Magunta’s father gave forcement Directorate (ED) by six statements to the probe four more days till agency but did not say April 1 in the scam. anything about KejriThe Rouse Avenue wal. Magunta is the Court saw heated arson of Buchi Babu, The actual excise guments between Kechartered accountant policy scam jriwal and ED lawyers of BRS leader K started after the during the hearing. Kavitha, who too is beginning of the “Where is the `100 under arrest in the ED investigation crore liquor scam same case. The AAP and not when the money the ED keeps chief argued that peopolicy was made harping on?” Kejriwal ple are being turned Arvind Kejriwal, asked, adding that the approver and forced Delhi chief minister entire liquor policy to change their statecase is a political conments. The ED invesspiracy to crush his Aam Aad- tigation began in August 2022. mi Party . The 2021-22 Delhi excise policy During the previous hearing, was later scrapped. the probe agency had sought to Not opposing the ED’s deestablish Kejriwal’s role in the mand for further custody Kejri, formulation of the excise poli- wal pointed out that approver cy by citing a statement of C Sarath Chandra Reddy donated Arvind, the then Secretary of `55 crore to the BJP just after former Deputy CM Manish his arrest. “I have the evidence. Sisodia. Arvind told the ED Money trail is established. He that he was handed a draft re- donated `55 crore to BJP after port of a Group of Ministers on being arrested,” Kejriwal said. the excise policy by Sisodia at The court noted his point and Kejriwal’s residence where assured it will be investigated. Comments by US State Dept unwarranted: foreign office Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi U J W A L J A L A L I @ New Delhi EXPRESS READ Spike in tax revenue in last three months Hyderabad: Tax collections surged in the last three months since the Congress took office. Sources said the total tax collections in February 2024 amounted to `13.7K crore. The average monthly tax collection in the last 11 months of the FY 2023-2024 was `11.2K crore. However, tax collection in February this year was `2.4K crore more than the aforementioned period | P4 Registration for new voters open till Apr 15 Hyderabad: D Ronald Rose, the District Electoral Officer of Hyderabad, on Thursday said that those above the age of 18, who have not registered as voters, can do so till April 15. As part of Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP), a meeting was held at the GHMC head office. Arvind Kejriwal comes out of a Delhi court after his production in the excise policy scam on Thursday | PTI CUSTODY EXTENSION “...there appears to be sufficient reasons to permit further custodial interrogation, particularly keeping in view the submissions that he (Kejriwal) is required to be confronted with the material collected and statements recorded so far,” special judge Kaveri Baweja said R A K E S H K U M A R @ New Delhi IN a first, rival billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani have joined hands for a business deal as Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) acquired a 26% stake in Mahan Energen Ltd (MEL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Adani Power Ltd. The deal will give RIL 500 MW of electricity f r o m M E L’s M a d hy a Pradesh-based power plants for captive use. “One unit of 600 MW capacity of MEL’s Mahan thermal power plant, out of its aggregate operating and upcoming capacity of 2,800 MW, will be designated as the Captive Unit for this purpose,” Adani Power said in an exchange filing. It added that RIL will pick up 5 crore shares with a face value of `10 (`50 crore). “The proposed investment by the Company is in compliance with the provisions of the Electricity Rules, 2005, in terms of which the Company as a , captive user, is required to own 26% proportionate ownership in one unit of MEL of 600 MW capacity with , RIL being the captive user of 500 MW generation capacity,” said RIL in its exchange filing. Ambani’s interests span oil and gas to retail and telecom while Adani’s focus is on infrastructure spanning sea ports to airports, coal and mining. Though considered business rivals, the two Gujarat industrialists have rarely crossed each other’s path except in the clean energy business, where the two have announced multibillion investments. Adani aspires to be the world’s largest renewable energy producer by 2030, while Reliance is building four gigafactories in Jamnagar — one each for solar panels, batteries, green hydrogen, and fuel cells. Adani is also building three gigafactories for manufacturing solar modules, wind turbines, and hydrogen electrolysers. P H O N E -TA P P I N G C A S E Two more cops arrested Radha Kishan Rao Gattu Mallu EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad THE police on Thursday made two more arrests in the phonetapping case, taking into custody former Task Force OSD Radha Kishan Rao and CI Gattu Mallu. The two cops were interrogated by the Special Investigation Team officials at the Banjara Hills police station. The probe team is looking into their alleged involvement in the phone-tapping case and their relationship with former Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) chief Prabhakar Rao and D Praneeth Rao. It is said that Radha Kishan Rao appeared before the probe team following lookout notices issued against him. Earlier, while a case was registered against Praneeth Rao, Radha Kishan Rao was reported as absconding. Cops had issued lookout notices against him and the prime accused, Prabhakar Rao. While Prabhakar Rao reportedly reached out to the probe team saying he was in the US for medical treatment and would be in touch with the investigating officer, Radha Kishan Rao returned to Hy- derabad and appeared before the cops for interrogation on Thursday . Radha Kishan Rao is suspected to have been involved in illegally recording phone conversations and using the audio clips to extort money from businessmen. Gattu Malu was allegedly arrested based on the statements of the accused officers. Cops have also arrested Praneeth Rao’s driver, sources said. Meanwhile, the Nampally court granted the police a fiveday custody of the two additional SPs, Bhujanga Rao and Thirupathanna. However, it dismissed a petition seeking custody of Praneeth Rao. KK leaves BRS floundering, to join Cong I R E D DY S R I N I VAS R E D DY @ Hyderabad IN what should come as a rude jolt to the beleaguered BRS, its Parliamentary Party leader and secretary general K Keshava Rao on Thursday confirmed that he is getting ready to do a prodigal son. He will be dumping the BRS along with his mayor-daughter Gadwal Vijayalaxmi and returning to Congress, his alma mater. They will join the grand old party on March 30 at Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s residence. Keshava Rao’s departure from the BRS comes at a time when the pink party is fighting a losing battle to retain its leaders. At the end of an eventful day , Keshava Rao, in a chit chat with reporters, confirmed his deci- What I spoke with KCR is an internal party matter which I would not reveal in public, suffice to say that I put my points across K Keshava Rao, BRS secretary general Warangal LS candidate quits pink party BRS Warangal LS candidate Kadiyam Kavya quit the party on Thursday, alleging it was facing allegations, including land grabbing and phone tapping. There is speculation that she might join the Congress | P6 sion to rejoin the Congress. “I will rejoin the Congress on March 30,” he said. Keshava Rao said that he was 84 years old now and wanted to Skyroot test-fires stage-2 of Vikram-1 A A R T I K A S H YA P @ Hyderabad CITY-based startup Skyroot Aerospace successfully testfired the second stage of the Vikram-1 space launch vehicle, named Kalam-250, at the propulsion testbed of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota on Wednesday Vikram-1 will be . India’s first launch vehicle developed by the private sector. It has been designed and manufactured entirely in India. The second stage of Vikram-1 will play a crucial role in the ascent of the launch vehicle, propelling it from the atmosphere to the deep vacuum of outer space. The test, lasting 85 seconds, recorded a peak sea-level INDIA on Thursday described the US State Department’s recent comments on the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as unwarranted - its second riposte in response to two statements. Apart from weighing in on Kejriwal, the State Department also commented on the freezing of Congress funds. “ you are aware, on WednesAs day India had lodged its strong , objection and protest with the senior official from the US Embassy with regard to the comments made by the US State Department. The recent remarks by the State Department are unwarranted. Any such external imputation on our electoral and legal processes is completely unacceptable,” said Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Randhir Jaiswal. The MEA said in India, legal processes are driven only by the rule of law. “Anyone who has similar ethos, especially fellow democracies, should have no difficulty in appreciating this fact. India is proud of its independent and robust democratic institutions. We are committed to protect them from any form of undue external influences,” Jaiswal added. India also reiterated that mutual respect and understanding form the foundation of international relations and states are expected to be respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of others. In first tango, RIL picks up 26% stake in an Adani arm Static test of Kalam-250 at Satish Dhawan Space Centre thrust of 186 kilonewtons (kN), which will translate to a fully expanded vacuum thrust of 235 kN during flight. The stage-2 test follows the startup’s suborbital space launch in November 2022. The third stage of Vikram-1, Ka- lam-100, was successfully testfired in June 2021. Speaking to TNIE, Pawan Chandana, co-founder and CEO of Skyroot Aerospace, said, “We have been working on this stage for the past three years. A team of 40 individuals, comprising both experienced professionals and freshers, has been involved in the project. We are progressing towards full flight this year, and this achievement marks a significant success, featuring three prime stages and one orbit adjustment module. Work on the first stage is currently underway. ISRO and IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre) have been incredibly supportive of our CONTINUED ON P5 project.” spend his remaining years of public life in his parent party, the Congress. However, sources close to him said that the BRS Parliamentary Party leader reportedly had a flaming row with party boss K Chandrasekhar Rao at the latter’s farmhouse where he remained unconvinced as the latter kept asking him to stay on at this hour of crisis for the party . The BRS chief is said to have asked him why he wanted to leave when the party had treat- ed him well, giving him a very high position, sending him to Rajya Sabha twice, and making him the parliamentary party leader. But Keshava Rao appears to have remained unmoved. KCR recalled the lift he had given to his daughter Gadwal Vijayalaxmi’s career, by making her mayor of a big city like Hyderabad. However, Keshava Rao said that he spoke at length with KCR about the problems plaguing the BRS and remedial steps to strengthen the party “What I . spoke with KCR is an internal party matter which I would not reveal in public,” the veteran leader said. The “encounter” between KK and KCR had reportedly generated heat as the BRS chief probably had thought KK’s decision to move on was an act of CONTINUED ON P5 betrayal. LAW & ORDER Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy meets Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud at Taj Falaknuma in Hyderabad on Thursday RURAL JOBS SCHEME Peanuts as wage hike draw barbs in poll season J I T E N D R A C H O U B E Y @ New Delhi A paltry annual hike in daily wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) for unskilled workers was jeered at by the Opposition, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi promising to jack it up to `400 a day . Each state has a different daily wage rate under the scheme. Haryana was at the top of the pecking order at `374 after the revision this year while in Uttar Pradesh it was just `237. In gross terms, states like UP and Assam witnessed an increase of just `7 as compared to last year while the wage rise in MGNREGA WAGES FOR UNSKILLED MANUAL WORKERS REVISED WAGES IN 2024 WAGES IN 2023 Andhra Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Gujarat Goa Haryana J&K Jharkhand Karnataka 272 238 228 221 256 322 357 244 228 316 300 249 245 243 280 356 374 259 245 349 CHANGE IN % 10.2% 2.9% 7.4% 9.9% 9.3% 10.5% 4.7% 6.1% 7.4% 10.4% Goa was `28. The annual revision by the Centre is meant to mitigate inflation. A govern- Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Odisha Punjab Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Telangana Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal 333 221 273 237 303 255 294 272 230 230 237 346 243 297 254 322 266 319 300 237 237 250 3.9% 9.9% 8.7% 7.1% 6.2% 4.3% 8.5% 10.2% 3% 3% 5.4% Wages in rupees, States ment official termed the revision a routine exercise. Taking a dig, Rahul sarcasti- cally said, “Congratulations to MNREGA workers! The PM has increased your salary by `7. Now he might ask you, ‘What will you do with such a huge amount of money?’” Trinamool leader Saket Gokhale sharply criticised the inadequate increase of wages, especially in West Bengal. “Shameful & shocking that in today’s wage revision announced for MGNREGA, Modi Govt has increased wages for workers in Bengal by only 5%,” Gokhale posted on X. Goa topped the chart with a hike of 10.56%, while in Karnataka it was 10.4%, MP and Chhattisgarh 9.9%, Gujarat 9.3% and Bihar 7.4%.
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