kottayam l Sunday l march 16, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l city edition SpaceX Launches Crew to Rescue two Astronauts stuck in space SpaceX launches a crew to replace NASA’s stranded astronauts — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — paving way for their return after nine long months Crew to Overlap for smoother Handover The relief craft is expected to dock into the ISS by Saturday night (US time) NASA wants an overlap so they Suni and Butch can brief the newcomers on station operations. Their departure along with two others is planned for next week, with a splashdown off Florida, finally bringing an end to their unexpected nine-month mission in space 9 4 astronauts to spend six months in space ■ Four astronauts, including two military pilots, will spend six months aboard the ISS after freeing the stranded duo ■ SpaceX’s new capsule needed battery repairs, delaying the launch. To save time, it switched to a used capsule, moving Wilmore and Williams’ return to mid-March spacewalks made Williams the women’s record-holder 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 GOD’S OWN COUNTRY HONOURS ITS DEVIS Presents March 20 2025 5.30 pm Silver Partner High-level CEC Visa revoked for pro-Palestine protest, Indian meet on linking student at Columbia Univ self-deports from US Aadhaar, voter ID J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi It’s at variance with EC’s line in SC in 2023 P r ee t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Amid a row over voter lists, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has called a high-level meeting on Tuesday to discuss the linking of the voter identity card with the Aadhaar card. According to sources, the CEC will discuss the matter with the Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, Legislative Department Secretary Rajiv Mani and UIDAI CEO Bhuvnesh Kumar on March 18. This is at variance with the EC’s earlier position. In September 2023, the EC told the Supreme Court that the submission of Aadhaar number is not mandatory under Rule 26-B of the Registration of Electors (Amendment) Rules 2022. The EC further said that it is not mandatory to provide Aadhaar numbers for linking with the electoral roll, and it is considering issuing ‘appropriate clarificatory changes’ in enrolment forms to reflect this. In 2022, the then Union law minister Kiren Rijiju told the Lok Sabha that linking Aadhaar with the Voter ID is voluntary adding electors without an , Aadhaar number could ‘provide other optional documents as provided in the Form 6B’. EC s t a n c e On March 2, EC said identical EPIC numbers or series were allotted to some electors from different states and UTs due to a “decentralised and manual mechanism” before shifting of the electoral roll database of all states to ERONET platform. In another statement, the EC said that since the allotment of the EPIC series in 2000, some Electoral Registration Officers did not use the correct series Allotment of duplicate numbers due to incorrect series could not have been detected as the states/ UTs were independently managing the electoral roll databases, EC said According to him, the Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021, allows Electoral Registration Officers to require the voter to provide their Aadhaar number for identification. However, this is voluntary he said. , The Tuesday meeting comes amid allegations of voter ID number duplication and fudging of electoral roll data levelled by the Opposition, including the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Congress. An Indian student at Columbia University Ranjani Srinivasan, , has self-deported from the US after her student visa was revoked for taking part in proPalestine protests. The US Department of Homeland Security confirmed that Ranjani’s visa was revoked on March 5 due to her involvement in supporting Hamas, which is a “designated terrorist organisation” in the US. It went on to furnish video evidence of her using the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) app to selfdeport on March 11. Self-deporting allows individuals to leave voluntarily before facing formal deportation, thereby avoiding the possibility Videograb of Indian student Ranjani Srinivasan leaving the US on her own after her visa was revoked | PTI of being forcibly removed, as has been the case with other deportees recently sent back to Revolutionary songs at temple fest trigger row, TDB orders probe E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kollam/T’Puram The rendering of revolutionary songs at a music event during the festival at Kadakkal Devi temple in Kollam has kicked up a controversy with criti, cism coming from various quarters. The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has sought an explanation from the temple advisory committee on the music programme. The board also directed its vigilance wing to probe the events leading to the rendering of songs glorifying CPM and alleged display of DYFI flags in the background screen. TDB president P S Prasanth said a probe has been ordered and action will be taken based on the report. “The High Court had banned the display of symbols or flags of political, religious and caste organisations at temples. The TDB is responsible to ensure it. The board takes a strict stand against such incidents,” TDB said in a statement. The controversy stems from a music event by singer Aloshi Adam organised by the Vyapari Vyavasayi Samiti (Madathara unit) and Kadakkal CPM Area Committee as part of the Thiruvathira festival at the temple on March 10. Aloshi sang revolutionary songs like ‘Pushpane Ariyamo’ and ‘Nuru Pookkale’, while CPM and DYFI flags and symbols were reportedly displayed on an LED ● More on P5 screen on stage.  mumbai champs Mumbai Indians players celebrate the wicket of Delhi Capitals’ Annabel Sutherland during the WPL final in Mumbai on Saturday. Mumbai Indians emerged champions after beating Delhi by eight runs I PTI The New World Order PLUS 12 PAGES WITH THIS ISSUE inside edge Will continue to play as long as I enjoy it: Kohli S w a r o o p S w a m i n at h a n @ Bengaluru DURING Virat Kohli’s fireside chat with Isa Guha, the former India captain raised his index and middle-fingers to form a ‘V’ sign — the universal peace symbol — before sporting a wide grin. “I’m pretty happy where I’m right now,” he said during an RCB event. More than that he spoke about retirement, the one topic everyone is interesting with right now. Twenty minutes either side of that moment, Kohli spoke on a wide variety of subjects ranging from retirement, leadership, family social media , and being in the present. On the subject of retirement and what motivates him these days, Kohli Former India captain Virat Kohli spoke during an event in Bengaluru on Saturday said: “I’m (very peaceful and calm),” he said. “Me playing is not for achievement. It’s for the joy, enjoyment and love for the game. As long as that is intact, I will continue to play I have . to be honest about that with myself... at this point of time in my life, I feel pretty happy. I still love playing the game.” He was also effusive in his praise for how women’s sport has developed in India. “In two seasons of the Women’s Premier League, you see a completely different women’s game today he said. “And it’s going to keep ,” growing, it’s so very important because you can’t just cater to looking at men. It has to be collective, sports culture influences everyone and women’s sport is a massive part of it. We have so much talent in women’s sports and not just cricket. We have great individual athletes in tennis, badminton, wrestling, boxing... it’s been amazing.” India who had come to the US as illegal immigrants. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem shared a video of Ranjani at the airport, stating that anyone “advocating for violence and terrorism should not be in the country”. “It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America. When you advocate for violence and terrorism, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country I . am glad to see one of the Columbia University terrorist sympathizers use the CBP Home app to self-deport,” she said in a post on X. Columbia University has become a focal point for student protests in support of Palestine amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. Last week, Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia student of Palestinian descent who had been at the forefront of pro-Palestinian protests on campus last year, was arrested by US authorities. While his green card was revoked, a federal judge temporarily halted his deportation. Another Columbia University student, Leqaa Kordia, was also arrested by US authorities. Rajani holds a Bachelor’s Degree from CEPT University in Ahmedabad and a Master’s Degree from Harvard, where she was awarded the Fulbright Nehru and Inlaks Scholarships. She has also worked for an environmental advocacy nonprofit in Washington. Infra Partner Knowledge Partner The Honourable Governor of Kerala will be presenting the awards KOCHI Banking Partner Associate Partner Taj Vivanta, Marine Drive, Kochi Shri Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, DEVI AWARDS Presenting Partner Celebration Partner