HYDERABAD  MONDAY  NOVEMBER 18, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 12  LATE CITY EDITION BLACKOUTS IN UKRAINE AS RUSSIA LAUNCHES FIERCEST ATTACK IN MONTHS Russia on Sunday launched a massive drone and missile attack targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, killing two civilians and injuring six ‘200 MISSILES AND DRONES FIRED AT UKRAINE’ NATO MEMBER POLAND MOBILISES FORCES Russia launched 120 missiles and 90 drones, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Explosions were heard across the country, including in capital Kyiv, the key southern port of Odesa, as well as the country’s west and central regions, according to local reports. It was the biggest missile and drone attack on Ukraine since August ■ ■ The scale of the attack prompted neighbouring Poland, a NATO member, to scramble fighter jets and mobilise all available forces The strikes caused massive power cuts across the country. The attack came as fears are mounting about Moscow’s intentions to devastate Ukraine’s power generation capacity ahead of the cold winter 1,000 days WILL HAVE PASSED ON TUESDAY SINCE RUSSIA INVADED UKRAINE ON FEB 22, 2022 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 India in elite club after successful long-range hypersonic missile test Shah holds key meet as Manipur simmers H E M A N T K U M A R R O U T & M AYA N K S I N G H @ Bhubaneswar/New Delhi UNION home minister Amit Shah on Sunday cancelled his campaign in poll-bound Maharashtra and rushed to Delhi to hold a high-level review meeting on the fresh violence in Manipur. Sources said Shah sat down with senior officials to take stock of the situation, and directed them to take all possible measures to bring back normalcy in the strife-torn state. It is learnt that Shah has called another meeting on Monday for a detailed discussion on the state’s law and order situation in the northeastern state. Meanwhile, the director-general of the Central Reserve Police Force, Anish Dayal, was sent to Imphal to assess the security situation in the state, which has been witnessing intermittent violent incidents since May 2023 following the ethnic clashes between Meitei and Kuki communities. Tensions escalated in Manipur on Saturday following the recovery of the bodies of six individuals, who were reportedly abducted and killed by militants in Jiribam. On Saturday, irate mobs attacked the residences of state IN a significant demonstration of India’s growing military prowess, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Saturday successfully flight-tested the country’s first long-range hypersonic missile from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island, off Odisha coast. The test missile was launched from a ground-based mobile launcher positioned at the launching complex-IV of the Integrated Test Range at Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island around 6.55 pm on Saturday . The missile, developed by the laboratories of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex, Hyderabad along with other DRDO laboratories and industry partners, can carry various payloads for ranges greater than 1,500 km, an official readout said. At present, only a few countries like the US, Russia and China, have hypersonic missiles. These missiles can travel at speeds exceeding Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound or roughly around 6,200 kmph). With such extreme speed, manoeuvrability, and the ability to fly at lower altitudes than traditional ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles are harder to detect and intercept. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh described the missile test on Saturday under the country’s first longrange hypersonic mission as a “stupendous” achievement and a “historic moment”. “The flight data obtained from down range ship stations confir med the successful ter minal maneuvers and impact with high degree of accuracy” the Ministry of Defence said in a statement. Sources told this newspaper that the test was “a stupendous success as the test missile covered around 1,400 km in its first attempt validating all its subsystems and exhibiting excellent terminal manoeuvres”. Also, it was the first time the DRDO conducted the experimental trial of an indigenously-designed and developed missile after sunset. Test missile being fired from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island, off the Odisha coast | PTI Arms race  Russia and China have made significant progress in developing their own hypersonic missiles The US is in the process of developing a range of hypersonic weapons Other countries, including France, Germany, Japan, Iran, and Israel, are also pursuing projects to build hypersonic missiles EXPRESS READ ST commission team to visit Lagcherla today Hyderabad: A team from the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST), comprising member Jatothu Hussain and director PK Reddy, will visit Lagcherla village in Vikarabad district and also meet the arrested villagers on Monday. This follows complaints from villagers alleging that police personnel, in a drunken state, manhandled women. Cancels Maharashtra poll rallies, rushes to Delhi to hold high-level meeting in view of rising tension in the state M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi Amit Shah ministers and MLAs. The protesters also attempted to storm Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s house, prompting security forces to respond with tear gas to disperse the crowds. The fresh incidents of violence took place on Saturday night even as an indefinite curfew was clamped after people, agitated by the killing of three women and children each by militants in Jiribam district, attacked the residences of three state ministers and six MLAs earlier in the day . The angry mobs torched the houses of PWD Minister Govindas Konthoujam at Ningthoukhong, Hiyanglam’s BJP MLA Y Radheshyam at Langmeidong Bazar, Wangjing Tentha’s BJP MLA Paonam Brojen in Thoubal district and Khundrakpam’s Congress MLA Thokchom Lokeshwar in Imphal East district, according to officials. On Sunday morning, there was a tense calm in all five districts of the Imphal Valley, where the curfew was imposed and internet services were suspended following violent protests after the discovery of the bodies of six people who were allegedly abducted and killed by militants in Jiribam. Last week, Manipur police said it shot dead 10 militants. Mob vandalises BJP MLA’s house in Imphal Imphal: A mob vandalised the ancestral house of BJP MLA Kongkham Robindro in Manipur’s Imphal West district on Sunday evening, police said. The incident occurred a day after a house built by the legislator himself in the same district was attacked. Miscreants also reportedly attacked the BJP, Congress offices in Manipur’s Jiribam district on Sunday NPP withdraws support to Biren Singh-led govt P R A S A N TA M A Z U M D A R @ Guwahati THE National People’s Party (NPP) on Sunday withdrew its support to the BJP-led government in Manipur saying it has “completely failed” to resolve the crisis and restore normalcy . In a letter addressed to BJP president J P Nadda, NPP chief and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma expressed deep concern over the prevailing law and order situation in Manipur, where innocent lives have been lost and people are going through immense suffering. “…we strongly feel that the Manipur government under the leadership of Shri Biren Singh has completely failed to resolve the crisis and restore normalcy Keeping the current . situation in mind, the NPP has decided to withdraw its support to the Biren Singh-led government with immediate effect,” the letter read. 100% road tax exemption for EVs in TG till ’26 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad IN a bid to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and control air pollution, the state gover nment has announced a 100% exemption from road tax and registration fees for EVs purchased and registered in the state for an initial period of two years, until December 31, 2026. The new policy, which will not have an upper limit on the number of vehicles registered, will take effect immediately . Addressing a press conference at the Secretariat here on Sunday, Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, along with Special Chief Secretary (Transport) Vikas Raj and Transport Commissioner Surendra Mohan, said an order to this effect was issued on Saturday . NEW POLICY TO COVER Two-wheelers Four-wheelers (both commercial passenger vehicles and private cars) Three-seater auto-rickshaws Tractors Light goods carriers, including three-wheeled goods vehicles Buses Buses operated by TGSRTC will receive 100% exemption on road tax and registration fees for their entire lifespan. Buses owned by industries for transporting their employees will also be exempted, provided they are not used for commercial purposes Earlier, the policy offered tax exemptions for only 5,000 EVs. However, the cap has now been lifted. So far, 1.70 lakh EVs have been registered in the state. Currently about 5% of all vehi, cles registered in Telangana are electric. The transport minister also highlighted that the Telangana Electric Vehicle and Energy Storage Policy 2020–2030 had al- and free from encumbrances, to the AAI for runway expansion and other works. TELANGANA is set to get its second airport as the state government on Sunday sanctioned `205 crore for acquiring 280.3 acres of land for the construction of Mamnoor Airport in Warangal. The government has also accepted the Airports Authority of India’s (AAI) proposal to develop the airport for A-320 type aircraft operations under the instrument flight rules (IFR). The AAI will bear the costs of infrastructure development, operation and maintenance of Journey so far the airport. The Warangal collector has been authorised to acquire the land and expedite the process. The government has permitted the handover of an additional 253 acres of land, free of cost In 2018, the state government proposed developing six regional airports, with Mamnoor being one of them. The AAI was appointed to prepare Techno-Economic Feasibility Reports (TEFRs) for these projects. By June 2021, the AAI declared Mamnoor Airport feasible for development, subject to certain clearances. In July 2022, the AAI chairman announced that the body was pre pared to develop Warangal Airport to accommodate A-320-type aircraft for IFR operations. The AAI also agreed to bear the airport’s infrastructure, operational, and maintenance costs. As part of this initiative, a master plan was prepared. The AAI requested the state government to provide an additional 253 acres of land for the airport’s expansion. The AAI also required the state government to obtain an NOC from Hyderabad International Airport Limited (HIAL) for the operationalisation of Mamnoor CONTINUED ON P4 Airport. Inquiry ordered after prof gets 1st year student’s head tonsured Anti-pollution push EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE With no cap on the number of EV registrations, the government aims to make Hyderabad a pollution-free city and avoid the severe air quality issues faced by cities like New Delhi. The current Air Quality Index (AQI) in Hyderabad is 83, with Patancheru at 82 and Sangareddy at 79. Additionally Prabhakar stat, ed that the government was also planning to replace 3,000 RTC buses with electric buses in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) CONTINUED ON P4 limits. GRAND COMMANDER Prime Minister Narendra Modi holds the certificate of Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger received from Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu (R), in Abuja | AFP Avg max temperature to rise 1.50C as early as 2047 if fossil fuel use not cut INDIA’S average annual maximum temperature could rise by 1.5 degrees Celsius as soon as 2047, a new report said. As per Climate Change Projections for India (2021-2040) report of Azim Premji University, released on Sunday, the average annual maximum temperature will increase by 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2057,under the ‘Middle of the Road’ emission scenario where society is assumed to take moderate steps to cut emissions. The more extreme ‘Fossil Fuel Development’ (society relying heavily on fossil fuels for energy) emission scenario predicts that the temperature will rise a decade earlier, by 2047. States like Karnataka, Gujarat, parts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, and parts of Ladakh will experience an increase in precipitation by 20% to 60%, according to the report. The new climate data offers critical insights into how climate change will impact the country over the next two decades, revealing key information about India’s climate, detailing how extreme weather events Summer wet bulb temp to hit 310C in 25 districts Twenty-five districts across the coastal states and eastern Himalayas will experience over 31 degrees Celsius summer wet bulb temperature, posing serious threats to human health, the report said @ Khammam/ Hyderabad DAYS after a faculty member of the Khammam Government Medical College took a firstyear student to a barbershop and got his head tonsured, Health Minister Damodar Rajanarsimha on Sunday took cognisance of the issue and ordered a probe into the matter. Additionally, he ordered authorities to initiate action against those involved in the incident. Taking note of ragging cases, including the one recently reported at the Nalgonda Government Medical College, the minister said such behaviour would not be tolerated in the state. He added that more awareness programmes should be conducted in colleges to prevent ragging and urged students not to get involved in any activities that could ruin their future. Removed from hostel duties NEW PROJECTION A K N I S R E E K A R T H I K @ Bengaluru KHAMMAM CASE ready been introduced to encourage EV adoption in the state. The policy offers various incentives, including exemptions from road tax, registration fees and retro-fitment incentives. Govt clears `205 cr for Mamnoor Airport revival E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad The NPP has seven MLAs. The BJP-led government’s survival will not be threatened by this development as the NDA still has 46 members in the 60-member House. The party’s withdrawal of support comes a day after irate mobs vandalised the houses and properties of over a dozen legislators. As there is an apprehension of further attacks, security has been beefed up outside the legislators’s houses. The protestors are demanding their resignation for failing to check violence. Meanwhile, the Congress said Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh should seek an appointment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, so the MLAs of ruling and opposition parties can go and meet him to discuss the situation. “What is the point of being a member of the Assembly if we cannot save Manipur?” Congress leader and former chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh said. could affect communities, agriculture and natural resources. The western part of India will experience a significant increase in precipitation, compared to most of the eastern and northeastern parts, said Prof. Santonu Goswami, Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability, Azim Premji University . Changes in precipitation patterns can have a significant im- pact on Indian agriculture, the report said. The projections examine two Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change scenarios—SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 (high emissions with heavy fossil fuel reliance). Under the high emissions scenario, 249 districts in India will experience an annual maximum temperature change of one degree Celsius or more. Meanwhile, in the incident at the Khammam Government Medical College, the aggrieved, a first-year MBBS student from Mulugu district, reportedly arrived at the college hostel sporting a “Chinese-style” haircut. According to reports, some seniors at the hostel deemed the hairstyle inappropriate for a medical student and insisted he trim it. Following their advice, the student got his hair trimmed. However, an assistant professor, who also serves as the incharge medical officer of the anti-ragging committee and resides in the hostel, commented that the haircut still “looked odd”. The professor then reportedly took the student to a barber and had his head shaved. Feeling humiliated, the student lodged a complaint with the colle ge principal, Dr Rajeswara Rao. In response, the principal removed the assistant professor from hostel duties on Saturday and formed a committee to investigate the inCONTINUED ON P2 cident.