thrissur l tuesday l april 01, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION IMD predicts April-June may be hotter than usual India is likely to experience hotter-than-usual temperatures from April to June, with more heatwave days in central and western plains Photo: S Dinesh above-normal heatwave in these states States likely to see above-normal heatwave days include Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and the northern parts of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, IMD chief Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said in an online press conference on Monday ■ 536 normal monsoon forecast for india ■ IMD observed that the neutral trend of El Nino during the monsoon increases the chance of a normal monsoon this year for India April may witness up to 11 days of heatwaves, compared to the maximum normal of 7 days. Elevated temperatures during heatwave days risk lives of vulnerable populations like the elderly, children | P7 heatwave days recorded in india in 2024, the highest in 14 years 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 Succession speculation on Modi trashed by Fadnavis New Money Rules from TODAY With the new financial year starting on April 1, a series of financial changes will take effect Rubbishes Sanjay Raut’s claim, says the PM would lead India beyond 2029 S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i & RA J E SH KU M AR T HAKUR @ Mumbai/New Delhi New I-T slabs Under the new tax regime, no tax to be paid for salaried individual earning up to H12.75 lakh a year (Nil tax till H12 lakh + H75,000 standard deduction) Unified Pension Scheme Under this, Central government employees will get fixed pension equal to 50% of their average basic salary of last 12 months New UPI rules If your mobile number is inactive or unused for a long time, update it with your bank New before April MF rules 1, to avoid losing Fund houses access must deploy funds to UPI raised through payments new fund digiLocker offers within 30 business days Investors will be able to store their demat account holding statements and consolidated account statements directly in DigiLocker Goods and Services Tax Multi-factor authentication will be made mandatory for taxpayers for better security on the GST portal transcendental bliss Oracles circumambulating the ‘kozhikkallu’ at the Kodungallur Sreekurumba Bhagavathy temple as part of Aswathy Kavutheendal on Monday | T P Sooraj Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday rubbished speculation about Narendra Modi’s successor, a day after the latter visited the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters in Nagpur. He added that Modi would continue to lead the country beyond 2029, when the next Lok Sabha polls are due. Fadnavis was reacting to Uddhav Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s statement earlier in the day that Modi’s visit to the RSS HQ was to “announce his retirement” and discuss his succession plan. “In 2029, we will see Modi as the prime minister again,” Fadnavis told the media in Nagpur. “There is no need to search for his successor. He (Modi) is our leader and will continue,” he asserted. “In our culture, when the father is alive, it is inappropriate to talk about succession. That is Mughal culture. The E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi Expressing concern over the under-representation of the backward classes in institutes of higher learning, the Congress on Monday asked the Centre to bring a law to provide reservation for SCs, STs, and OBCs in private educational institutions. Congress general secretary in-charge of communication Jairam Ramesh said a Parliamentary panel has recommended a new legislation to implement Article 15(5). The article empowers the state to introduce reservation in admission into educational institutions, including private ones, to uplift the marginalised sections. Ramesh noted that the Congress is committed to bringing legislation to implement Article 15(5) in private, non-minor- Gang uses gas cutters to steal gold ity educational institutions in the country . Explaining the chronology of legislation to implement Article 15 (5), Ramesh said the Central Educational Institutions (Reservations in Admission) Act, 2006 was passed in Parliament and reservations for SC, ST and socially and educationally backward classes in central educational institutions introduced with effect from January 3, 2007. Hides the gold in a well in Madurai All 6 arrested after 5 months Inspired by ‘Money Heist’, gang robs bank, held IN a bizarre case of life imitating art, six men who watched Netflix’s Money Heist and YouTube videos have been arrested for stealing 17 kg of gold worth `13 crore from a bank in Davanagere, Karnataka. Police recovered the stolen gold from a well in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. The mastermind, Vijay Kumar, and his aides had planned the heist for six Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra CM Cong call for quota in pvt insts T’gana Vigilance Mastermind takes inspiration from ‘Money Heist’ @ Davangere In 2029, we will see Modi as the PM again... There is no need to search for his successor. He (Modi) is our leader and will continue srh complains Mandar Pardikar E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e time has not come to discuss it,” Fadnavis said. Raut had claimed that Modi’s successor would be from Maharashtra. Separately, former RSS general secretary Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi, too, said he was not aware of any talk of the prime minister’s replacement. “It appears that Modi’s successor will be decided by the RSS which is why Modi was called (to Nagpur) and discussions took place. Sangh’s discussions are held behind closed doors. The indications are very clear. The Sangh will decide the next leader, who could be from Maharashtra,” Raut claimed. As for choosing a successor for BJP’s national president J P Nadda, the party is reportedly in the process of shortlisting candidates. Among the frontrunners are Union ministers Manohar Lal Khattar, Dharmendra Pradhan and Bhupendra Yadav, along with three women - finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, BJP Parliamentary Board member Sudha Yadav, and Daggubati Purandeswari, party president of the Andhra Pradesh unit. The final decision is expected by mid-April, with the official announcement at the upcoming BJP National Council meeting in Bengaluru. months. The accused targeted the Nyamathi branch of the State Bank of India because it did not extend a loan to the heist mastermind who wanted to expand his bakery business. The theft was carried out on October 28, 2024. Six teams of police took five months before arresting Vijay Kumar, Ajay Kumar, Para- manand (all from TN), Abhishek, Manjunath and Chandru (all from Karnataka). The accused practiced for six months and sourced equipment like gas cutters from local stores in Shivamogga and Nyamathi. Soon after the crime, Vijay hid the gold in a trunk of a car in his house. Later, he hid it in a well in his an- It was a professionally executed crime. They entered bank through a window, cut the safe with a gas cutter and robbed gold jewellery. They did it without leaving evidence — Dr Ravikanthe Gowda, IGP (east range) cestral home near Madurai. When things cooled down, he deposited the gold in banks apart from selling some of it in gold shops. While slipping out of the crime scene, the gang removed CCTVs and took away the digital video recorder and threw it in a lake. They threw chilli powder on their escape route to mislead dog squads. The government has awarded the chief minister’s medal to 10 police personnel who successfully cracked the case. Probe over free ipl tickets issue E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Kannur A high-stakes controversy has engulfed the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) over allegations of blackmailing the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) IPL team management for free tickets. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has ordered a vigilance probe into the matter. The controversy erupted after the 2016 IPL champions’ general manager Srinath TB accused HCA president Jagan Mohan Rao of coercive tactics for complimentary tickets before Hyderabad’s IPL match with Lucknow at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Uppal on March 27. Allegations are that HCA office bearers harassed and blackmailed SRH for 20 free tickets forcing the SRH management to write a letter to HCA threatening that it will move out of Hyderabad. In response, the HCA announced that Jagan Mohan Rao will not participate in meetings with HCA officials during the IPL Season 2025. The controversy surrounds the allocation of complimentary tickets, with the HCA stating that they received only 3,880 tickets, not 3900. “Mr A Jagan Mohan Rao, president, HCA, did not make any personal request A celebration by CPM workers with flags featuring photographs of those convicted in the 2005 murder of BJP member Elambilayi Sooraj, during a temple festival recently has sparked a controversy The BJP . Kannur leadership has condemned the act. The flags displaying the pictures of all the convicts were used at the Kuttichathan Madom festival in Parambayi during the kalasha procession on Sunday night. The event, which included DJ performances and other programmes as part of the ‘kalasham varavu’ ritual, saw party workers waving the flags while dancing and chanting slogans. Visuals of the procession, later circulated on social media, signal a striking departure from the usual festival celebrations in Kannur featuring party flags and other party symbols. Meanwhile, BJP Kannur South district president Biju Elakkuzhi alleged that raising slogans while displaying images of murder convicts during the kalasha procession was done with the full knowledge of the CPM leadership. “Traditionally, temple processions feature devotional songs. However, in contrast, the CPM dominated areas are promoting slogans and songs that glorify murderers. This deliberate attempt by the CPM leadership aims to undermine temple customs,” he said. Biju accused the CPM of misusing Hindu temples for political motives. “Glorifying murderers on temple premises is an attack on religious traditions,” ● More on P4 he said.  A Revanth Reddy to block 3,900 tickets per match for his purchase,” the HCA’s response to SRH stated. “Please do not distort facts as 3,900 complimentary tickets were never handed over to HCA but only 3,880 tickets were handed over. A demand for issuing the shortly supplied balance 20 complimentary tickets cannot be stretched to state that the president, HCA, demanded 20 free tickets. Your claim that you were informed that the President, HCA has instructed for the return of 20 tickets for F-12 A Box is a baseless manipulation intended to malign him. HCA was given only 3880 complimentary tickets ... you are incorrectly projecting the request to supply the balance 20 tickets as threat, blackmail and coercion,” HCA’s mail to SRH’s Srinath read. Vigilance and enforcement Director General Kothakota Sreenivasa Reddy will conduct the investigation. pledges & campaigns Union mins welcome CBCI, KCBC move On Eid-ul-Fitr, faithful swear to fight drug menace E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Malappuram/Kozhikode ‘Say no to drugs’ was a refrain at functions organised by Muslim religious organisations to mark Eid-ul-Fitr across the state on Monday . The Samastha Kerala Sunni Students Federation (SKSSF), under the EK faction of Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama (Samastha), and the Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen (KNM) organised statewide initiatives against drug abuse. The Sunni Yuvajana Sangham (SYS) Malappuram East District Committee, under the Samastha AP faction, launched a campaign targeting the rising threat of alcohol and drug abuse at 652 unit centres across Malappuram. Hundreds took anti-drugs pledges in various mahalls across the state as part of the KNM state committee’s campaign. The state-level inauguration was held at the Eidgah ground of Chaliyam Umbichi Haji School in Kozhikode. Addressing the gathering, KNM state president T P Abdullakoya Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen president T P Abdulla Koya Madani leads the pledge against drugs at Eidgah ground at Chaliyam, Kozhikode, on Monday Madani emphasised the need for heightened vigilance against the growing drug menace. “Reports emerging from different CPM workers display murder convicts’ pics at fest procession @ Hyderabad E X PRESS READ Kochi: The statements by Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) and Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) urging political parties to back the proposed Waqf (Amendment) Bill, which regulates waqf property in the country, has found resonance with members of the Narendra Modi cabinet, including Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Both the CBCI and the KCBC said the Waqf Amendment Bill will help the people of Munambam to fully restore the rightful ownership of their land. P4 controversy parts of the state are alarming. Even children and women are falling victim to drug addiction. At the same time, there are attempts to falsely portray Muslims as the primary consumers of drugs. Such narratives are unacceptable, and those spreading this propaganda should desist from doing so,” he said. Former ISM state vice president Nisar Olavanna and Chaliyam Tanmiyyathul Islam Assoc i at i o n s e c re t a r y P B I Muhammad Ashraf led the event in Kozhikode. The SKSSF state committee organised a mass anti-drug pledge immediately after the Eid prayers at mahalls under its jurisdiction across the state. SKSSF branch committees, mahal officials, khateebs, and madrasa representatives led the initiative, aiming to involve the entire mahal community in the fight against drug abuse and to spearhead awareness efforts in their respective areas. Drug use, which disrupts social structures and cultural identity has severe consequenc, es, Samastha leaders said at a ● More on P4 press conference. A CPM worker holding a flag featuring images of Sooraj murder convicts, during temple festival procession