Blue Origin launches all-female celebrity crew Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin launched his fiancee Lauren Sanchez into space Monday with an all-female celebrity crew that included Katy Perry and Gayle King. The New Shepard rocket blasted off from West Texas. The trip comes only two months before Sanchez and Bezos are scheduled to tie the knot in Venice | P9 villupuram l tuesday l april 15, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION 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 goes all out for Choksi’s extradition equality day ‘Politics of love stronger than politics of hate’ Indian team to visit Belgium where he was arrested E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Chennai Chief Minister MK Stalin on Monday said that it is his firm belief that politics of love is stronger and effective than politics of hate. Addressing the Equality Day event organised by the government to commemorate the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, the CM said that though he could proudly say that the rule under the “Dravidian model” gover nment is the “golden era” in implementation of schemes for the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, his duty and journey won’t end with that. Hitting out at those who question whether TN is truly the land of Periyar and Ambedkar by pointing to “isolated regressive incidents”, Stalin said such people are not really worried about the continuation of such incidents, but their words are just the manifestation of their arrogant gloating that “our regressive ideas, conservatism, and oppression still persist in the soil where you take pride about sowing the seeds of change”.  P5 j aya n t h j a c o b @ New Delhi Civility at babasaheb anniv President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Sonia Gandhi at a ceremony to pay tribute to B R Ambedkar in New Delhi | PTI | P7 Telangana first off the blocks on SC sub-quota E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad Telangana on Monday became the first state to implement SC categorisation, with the government issuing GOs notifying the Telangana Scheduled Caste (Rationalisation of Reservation) Act, 2025, guidelines and roster points. “On the auspicious day of the birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar, the Telangana state government paid the best tributes by bringing into force a great Act of social justice addressing a long overdue demand of classification of SC sub-castes,” Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said in a post on social media. In its August 1, 2024 verdict, the Supreme Court had upheld the power of states to legislate separate quotas within the SC category. The same day, the chief minister declared in the state assembly that Telangana would lead the nation in legislating subcategorisation. The Telangana Scheduled Caste (Rationalisation of Reservation) Act creates three distinct bunches within the existing 15% SC quota based on population and socio-economic indicators. (see box) This restructuring follows long-standing demands for equitable distribution of reservation benefits among all SC sub-castes, particularly from the Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi. Break-up of 15% SC quota Group-1 1% reservation for 15 castes (3.2% of SC population) Group-2 9% reservation for 18 castes (62.74% of SC population) Group-3 5% reservation for 26 castes (33.96% of SC population) Smuggling of Chinese drones Man electrocuted at fest; soars, 200 seized in one year wife & grandma also die in attempt to save him Siddharth Prabhakar @ Chennai Gold, wildlife, and narcotics have been the usual contrabands seized by Chennai Customs, but, of late, smuggling of Chinese drones into Tamil Nadu from Southeast Asian nations and Gulf countries through airports and seaports is on the rise. This is due to the soaring demand for the equipment in the grey market, sources said. According to a 2022 February notification of the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, import of drones is completely banned in fully assembled Completely Built-up (CBU) form, fully disassembled Completely Knocked Down E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Virudhunagar File photo (CKD) form, or partially assembled Semi Knocked Down (SKD) form, barring exceptions provided for Research and Development, Defence and security purposes. Sources say that in the last financial year, Chennai Air Customs has seized at least 200 Chinese-made drones worth more than `2 crore from passengers who arrived by air from Singapore, Malaysia and UAE.  P5 Three of a family, including a seven-month pregnant woman, were electrocuted to death as the woman’s husband collapsed after touching a high-tension power line and his wife and grandmother died in bid to save him at Kariseri village near Virudhunagar on Monday . According to sources, the deceased were identified as Tirupathi (28), an electrician who rented out audio equipment for functions and events, his wife Lalitha (25), and Pakkiyam (65). The accident happened when Tirupathi was installing decorative lamps for a local temple festival. “A wire accidentally came into contact with a high-voltage power line and Tirupathi was electrocuted. On seeing Tirupathi falling unconscious, Lalitha, Pakkiyam, and three others rushed to help him. In the process, Lalitha and Pakkiyam, too, touched the live wire and died on the spot,” sources said. P5 T r a d iti o n a l t o u c h LSG invokes the divine before every match FIRO Z M IR Z A @ Lucknow There are different rituals teams perform before a series or a season. And sometimes before every match. Lucknow Super Giants is one such team this IPL to follow more traditional and pious path. Unlike other franchises, Lucknow perform a Puja at the South Corridor, South Block here at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow followed by Ganesh Aarti before every match. The soothing voice of famous singer Anuradha Paudwal fills the air with devotional songs spreading positivity when they were facing Chennai Super Kings on Tuesday. “Yes, we perform Puja before every home match here at the venue,” Vinay Chopra, LSG’s chief executive officer, told this daily The practice is an . attempt to inculcate Indian tradition in the league. The puja is performed in the presence of whosoever is av a i l a b l e i n t e a m management. It’s not that other teams do not perform Puja or follow religious rituals. But most of them perform it at the beginning of the season. Take for instance, Punjab Kings, whose home games are being hosted in relatively newer venue Mullanpur, Chandigarh. They organised a Havan (a sacred fire ritual) at the venue with head coach Ricky Ponting, players and other support staff attending the customary practice. “Yes, we hold religious rituals ahead of the tournament seeking blessings of God. A prayer will also be organised before PBKS’s first game in Dharamsala,” a PBKS spokesperson told this daily . Given the importance of Monday’s game, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan has also accompanied the team to Lucknow. When asked about any customary practice the team follows at Chepauk, he said, “I am a devotee of Ganesha so I offer prayer everyday There are individuals . who like to pray before matches and they do so but collectively as a team we do not offer prayers.” CSK finally on course On the ground, though, things did not go the way they would have wanted. The visiting team restricted them to just 166 runs against CSK in 20 overs. The Lucknow team is fourth on the IPL points table. LSG skpper Rishabh Pant was among runs scoring 63 off 49 balls. THE Indian government has intensified efforts to extradite fugitive diamond trader Mehul Choksi following his April 12 arrest in Antwerp, Belgium. Sources said a multi-agency Indian team is likely to travel to Belgium to push for Choksi’s extradition in connection with the `13,000 crore PNB loan fraud case. The process will need to pass through Belgium’s domestic legal system. Earlier this year, India submitted an extradition request under a 2020 bilateral treaty after learning that Choksi was residing in Antwerp. Belgian authorities executed an Indian arrest warrant after the Antwerp Public Prosecutor’s Office deemed the foreign warrant enforceable, which source said shows the “progress on how two sides are working together.” The arrest was carried out as Choksi was allegedly preparing to move to Switzerland. Choksi seemed to have submitted “forged documents” to obtain residency, concealing his Indian and Antiguan citizenship. “He is being detained and further judicial proceedings are awaited and as per the local law, access to his legal counsel has been assured,” sources said. “The India and Belgium treaty covers fraud, money ... laundering, cheating and economic crimes related to taxation and revenue — many of them relevant in case of Mehul Choksi’. We are working on the extradition process and we have already shard all the necessary documents with the Belgium authorities,” sources said. File photo of Mehul Choksi | PTI Wanted by PNB Both Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted for defrauding PNB of over `13,500 crore in 2018 Waqf protests spread to South Bengal S u l a g n a Sen g u p ta @Kolkata CLASHES erupted between police and Indian Secular Front (ISF) members protesting against the Waqf (Amendment) Act at Bhangor in South 24-Parganas district of West Bengal on Monday when police put up a barricade to stop the protesters from marching towards Kolkata. A large police force was deployed to bring the situation under control. “What started as a demonstration escalated and took a communal colour,” said an eyewitness. The situation in violence-hit Murshidabad was tense, yet under control after three days of protests. In Zafrabad, a large number of houses and shops belonging to Hindus were reportedly set ablaze, forcing many to flee. Temples were vandalised during the unrest. The Calcutta High Court had to instruct that Central forces be deployed in Murshidabad along with the state police.