mangaluru l tuesday l april 01, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION IMD predicts April-June may be hotter than usual Photo: S Dinesh above-normal heatwave in these states India is likely to experience hotter-than-usual temperatures from April to June, with more heatwave days in central and western plains normal monsoon forecast for india 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 ■ ■ 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 536 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 Rubbishes Raut’s claim, says the PM would lead India beyond 2029 With the new financial year starting on April 1, a series of financial changes will take effect S u d h i r S u r ya w an s h i & R A J E SH KU M A R TH A KUR @ Mumbai/New Delhi New I-T slabs Under the new tax regime, no tax to be paid for salaried individual earning up to B12.75 lakh a year (Nil tax till B12 lakh + B75,000 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 NDRF in Mandalay Personnel of the National Disaster Response Force at work at an earthquake-hit site in Myanmar. On Monday, they recovered seven bodies from quake-flattened buildings in the Mandalay region, where they were tasked with launching relief work | PTI Cong calls for quota in pvt insts 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-minority 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. Citing the case of Ashoka Kumar Thakur vs Union of India on April 10, 2008, he said Article 15(5) is constitutionally valid for state-run and stateaided institutions and reservations in private unaided institutions left open to be decided in the appropriate course. In the IMA Vs Union of India May 12, 2011, he said, by 2-0 margin, Article 15 (5) is upheld for private unaided non-minority educational institutions. Citing another case, Ramesh said, “Pramati Educational and Cultural Trust versus Union of India Jan 29, 2014. By 5-0 margin Article 15(5) is, for the first time, upheld as it is explicitly . This means reservation in private educational institutions is valid, he said. Money Heist inspires gang to steal gold worth `13cr E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Davanagere The Davanagere district police o n M o n d ay s u c c e s s f u l ly cracked one of the most infamous bank heists in the country and recovered 17 kg of gold worth Rs 13 crore after arresting six accused. The police investigation revealed that the accused had watched “Money Heist” and other crime series on Netflix and other OTT channels and took extensive notes by going through endless YouTube videos before committing the crime. Their preparation went on for six months and when they robbed the bank, they did not leave a clue, sending the local police on a wild goose chase. The six accused targeted Nyamathi branch of State Bank of India, only because the bank did not extend a loan to the heist mastermind who wanted to expand his bakery business. The theft took place on October 28, 2024. Six teams of police took five long months before arresting Vijay Kumar, the mastermind, Ajay Kumar, Abhishek, Manjunath, Chandru and Paramanand. The stolen 17 kg gold was recovered from a dilapidated well inside a deep jungle in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Vijay Ajay and Paramanand, , BENGALURU: HAL recorded a revenue of B30,400 cr (provisional and unaudited) for financial year ended on March 31, 2025 as against the revenue of B30,381 cr during the previous year 10 yrs on, B’luru’s urban poor yet to get houses BENGALURU: Under the CM’s one lakh housing scheme for urban poor in Bengaluru, announced in 2016, not a single house has been handed over to beneficiaries. Govt has been able to take up construction of 49,000 houses and of those, only 4,561 are ready p4 he asserted. “In our culture, when the father is alive, it is inappropriate to talk about succession. That is Mughal culture. The 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 Free IPL tickets: T’gana vigilance probe begins E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad A controversy has engulfed the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) over allegations of blackmailing the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) IPL team management for free tickets. CM 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 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. HCA announced that Rao will not participate in meet- ings 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 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 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’s mail to SRH’s Srinath read. costly affair express read HAL registers revenue of Rs 30,400 crore originally from Tamil Nadu, were running a bakery business in Nyamati for several years, while the o t h e r t h re e, M a n j u n at h , Abhishek, and Chandru, are local residents from Honnali and Nyamati. While running away from the scene of the crime, the gang removed CCTV cameras and took away the digital video recorder (DVR). They threw chilli powder on their escape route to mislead dog squads.  p5 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,” Milk prices, road toll, lifetime tax on vehicles to go up from today A k n i s r ee Ka r t h i k @ Bengaluru It is super whammy for consumers on Tuesday, as the increase in prices of milk, curds, electricity and others will come into effect in Karnataka. This will have a cascading effect with hotels increasing rates of milk-based products like coffee, tea and badam milk because of the Rs 4 hike in milk prices per litre. The revision of toll on highways across the state too will come into effect from April 1, which will in turn increase the cost of essentials like vegetables, fruits and flowers. The government will also start raking in the moolah with the additional cess on newly registered commercial vehicles -- taxis, buses and auto-rickshaws -and the introduction of a lifetime tax on evehicles costing above Rs 25 lakh. Commercial vehicle owners and operators have said the price hike will be passed on to consumers directly . The price hikes announced in the union and state budgets too will come into effect from April 1, which is the beginning of the new financial year. Bangalore Hotels Association honorary president PC Rao said, “Last month, several hotels revised the prices of coffee as the cost of coffee powder went up. While they may not increase the rates again, the remaining will hike the cost of milk-based beverages by Rs 2-3 or more, depending on the hotels, their customer base and location.” He said the price of coffee is the lowest in Karnataka, while it is steep in other states. Some hotels may wait for sometime before increasing prices as they fear losing customers. “Along with the milk price hike, the power tariff too is getting revised, and there is the user fee for garbage collection by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike. Hotels will have to consider all these factors before revising prices,” Rao said. “We were paying Rs 10 for a cup of coffee or tea. It got re- vised to Rs 12 and then Rs 14 and rounded off to Rs 15, all in a matter of a few weeks. Now with this milk price hike, the rate of coffee or tea even in a small hotel will not be less than Rs 20. I may have to cut down from 3-4 cups of coffee to just one or two per day as this will be a burden on m e, ” s a i d P u r u s h o t h a m Shiva. He lamented that the cost of every essential item has been sky-rocketing, while the income of the majority of the people has remained the same. 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 Ya d a v, a n d D a g g u b a t i 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. Mysuru records a big slide in foreign tourists Ka r t h i k K K @ Mysuru Call it the failure of the authorities to tap the potential of heritage sites and tourist spots in Mysuru to draw more international visitors or the lack of interest among the foreigners, the City of Palaces is witnessing a significant drop in the number of foreign visitors over the last couple of months. Despite a post-Covid-19 pandemic revival in tourism, recent trends indicate a sharp decline in international travellers, raising concerns among industry stakeholders. According to sources, 3 lakh to 3.25 lakh foreign tourists visit Mysuru district every financial year. However, the number did not even cross 2 lakh last year. Foreign tourists have traditionally flocked to Mysuru for its rich cultural heritage, educational opportunities, wellness retreats, and scenic attractions. However, a combination of factors, including inadequate infrastructure, and lack of promotional efforts are believed to be deterring visitors. If we take Mysuru Palace data, the number shows a huge decline. In 2016-17, the foreign tourists to Mysuru Palace was 64,614 which dropped to 34,604 in 2023-24 and in 2024 (till December 31), the number stood at 24,034. The pandemic had brought tourism to a near standstill in 2020, with only very few foreign visitors making it to Mysuru. The numbers plummeted further due to travel restrictions and lockdowns. A tourist guide at Mysuru Palace said that while a hike in ticket price is a reason, lack of promotion and planned tourist circuits for international travellers is another factor. “The absence of big events apart from Dasara, and no proper tourist circuit for them have further exacerbated the problem,” he said.