BHUBANESWAR l wednesday l may 27, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l JEYPORE EDITION Pradhan discusses CBSE payment gateway overhaul with psu banks Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan held detailed discussions with senior officials of SBI, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank and Indian Bank Banks told to help set up robust system Real-time monitoring to fix glitches fast The meeting was held in the backdrop of concerns over the recent payment and technical issues faced by students during the CBSE post-result and re-evaluation processes. During the interaction, Pradhan asked the banks to assist the CBSE to establish a robust, reliable and student-friendly digital payment ecosystem, particularly for post-examination services ■ ■ The banks were asked to work closely with CBSE to strengthen the payment gateway infrastructure through advanced technical safeguards, real-time monitoring, and faster grievance redressal Pradhan urged officials to accord the highest priority to this initiative to ensure that students do not face technical glitches in future Experts From iit-Madras and IIT-Kanpur have begun testing CBSE portal for glitches 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 OCS-2024 exam results declared, Bubun Sahoo emerges topper E x p ress N e w s S er v i ce @ Bhubaneswar As many as 200 candidates, including 78 women, have qualified the Odisha Civil Services (OCS) examination 2024, final results of which were announced by the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) on Tuesday . Bubun Sahoo has emerged as the topper, followed by Sovna Mohanty and Jitamitra Sahu securing second and third ranks respectively Others who . figured in the top 10 included Kanak Jain, Sangram Pradhan, Aman Goyal, Santanu Kumar Satapathy, Nitesh Kumar Barik, Seetal Patra and Itishree Jena. For the first time, the OPSC completed the entire recruitment process, from publication of advertisement to declaration of final results, within 17 months, compared to the 2122 months in previous years. The commission said the faster completion of the examination I did not expect process this to secure rank 1 year has helped in the OPSC s y n ch ro n i s e examination. I thought I would the OCS examination calensecure only a rank. I am really dar with the surprised to find U P S C C iv i l that I topped Services Exthe exam amination Bubun Sahoo, OCS schedule, allowing aspirexam 2024 topper ants to prepare for both examinations simultaneously and more effectively . Exam topper Bubun expressed surprise on his achievement saying he had not expected to secure rank 1 in the examination. “I thought I would secure only a rank. I am really surprised to find that I topped the exam,” he said. A graduate of Ravenshaw University, Bubun completed his MSc Tech in Geology from Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad. He worked as a geologist from 2018 onwards before cracking the civil services exam. This was his second attempt at the examination. In his first attempt, Bubun had been selected for the Odisha Police Service (OPS). After clearing the civil services examination in his first attempt, he was undergoing training at Biju Patnaik State Police Academy from last year. Continued on P5 Siddu agrees to quit Siddaramaiah seeks Governor’s appointment at 2 pm on Thursday, calls CLP meeting the following day; no clarity yet on successor though Deputy CM Shivakumar is the front-runner If not DKS: Who’s in race Preetha N a i r , B a l a C hauhan , N ausha d B i ja p ur & De v araj B H i reha l l i @ New Delhi/Bengaluru Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah late on Tuesday night agreed to step down, confirmed sources privy to the marathon meetings held earlier in the day in New Delhi. Although Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar is the front-runner for the CM’s post, no decision has been taken on who would succeed him nor on when Siddaramaiah would tender his resignation as chief minister. But sources said Siddaramaiah has sought time to meet Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot at Lok Bhavan on May 28 at 2 pm, and called for the Congress Legislature Party the following day . AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal and AICC General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala, are scheduled to arrive in Bengaluru on Wednesday . Sources informed this newspaper that senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asked Siddaramaiah to step down to resolve the prolonged tussle between him and Shivakumar. They said the CM agreed after a late evening huddle with MLAs supporting him. Shivakumar had been insisting that the high command hand over the CM’s post to him, based “The Congress high command could go in for a complete makeover of the party in the state and appoint a young, dynamic leader with a clean image to lead the party in the 2028 assembly elections,” sources said Byre Gowda: Chart topper Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah (C) and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar (L) with AICC general secretary K C Venugopal after a meeting with the high command in Delhi | Parveen Negi The name of Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda is on the top, besides Minister for Large & Medium Industries and Infrastructure Development MB Patil. Both have a clean image and are known for their good work on an agreement of sharing twoand-a-half years that he is said to have struck with Siddaramaiah after the party came to power in the 2023 Assembly polls. The half-way mark arrived in November last year, but Siddaramaiah refused to yield. Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar were summoned to Delhi on Monday where Rahul is said to , have told the CM that the party wanted the transition to take place smoothly. However, Siddaramaiah sought time to respond to the high command’s suggestion that he move to the Rajya Sabha to play a “larger role” at the national level, according to sources. After marathon meetings — from 11.35 am to 6 pm — a visibly Venugopal and Surjewala. Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar were consulted separately at the party headquarters. Following the discussions, Rahul and Venugopal are said to have briefed senior leader Sonia Gandhi on the meetings, before having a closed-door meeting with Siddaramaiah where he offered the latter a larger role at the national level, while asking him to step down as CM. For the record, Venugopal dismissed all talk on change in leadership as mere speculation. Asked if there was any discussion on leadership change, Siddaramaiah, too, said “No”. On a possible cabinet reshuffle, the CM said, “It did not come up for discussion.” upset Siddaramaiah huddled with his coterie of cabinet colleagues at Karnataka Energy Minister K J George’s New Delhi residence and conveyed the message of the high command to them. He agreed to step down after this meeting, sources said. No wonder, Shivakumar and his supporters looked upbeat. Siddaramaiah was carrying a letter of support by 100 party MLAs (Congress has 134 of 224 seats in the assembly) to convince the high command about his support. Sources said he will hold a meeting with all these MLAs at George’s Bengaluru residence on Wednesday . The day saw a series of meetings attended by Rahul, AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, Quad sharpens Indo-Pacific focus, unveils new initiatives J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi Secretary of State Marco Rubio with foreign minister S Jaishankar | ap Critical mineral pact India and the US signed a framework agreement on critical minerals and rare earths, to reduce dependence on China-dominated global supply chains. Separately, Quad partners India, US, Japan, and Australia announced plans to mobilise up to $20 bn to strengthen critical mineral supply chains THE Quad grouping sharpened its strategic focus on the Indo-Pacific on Tuesday as the foreign ministers of India, the US, Japan and Australia unveiled a set of initiatives aimed at strengthening regional energy resilience, maritime security, critical mineral supply chains and port infrastructure. The Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, held amid rising geopolitical competition and growing concerns over economic and energy vulnerabilities, signalled a broader push to institutionalise cooperation in major sectors while ensuring the bloc doesn’t get the label of a security alliance. At the heart of the announcements was the launch of the Quad Initiative on Indo-Pacific Energy Security, a framework to deepen cooperation in energy technology , policy coordination, and emergency response. A joint statement said the initiative would seek to “recognize and leverage the unique resources and capabilities of each country’s energy sector”. Exter nal Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar described the discussions as “substantive and productive,” stressing the strategic importance of maritime collaboration among the four democracies. “Because we are four maritime democracies located at different ends of the Indo-Pacific, the exchange of perspectives was an exercise of considerable value,” Jaishankar said after the meeting. The broad package of initiatives reflects the Quad’s evolving role into a platform for strategic economic coordination, resiliencebuilding and infrastructure development across the Indo-Pacific. high-level panel Unnatural demographic change under the lens M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi The government on Tuesday constituted a high-level committee to study how illegal infiltration and other factors lead to unnatural demographic changes across the country . Chaired by Justice (Retd) Prakash Prabhakar Nawlekar, the panel’s members include Census Commissioner Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, former IAS officer Durga Shankar Mishra, retired IPS officer Balaji Shrivastava and educationist Shamika Ravi. Union home minister Amit Shah said, illegal infiltration and other reasons leading to unnatural demographic change is a very big challenge. The new panel is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement on August 15, 2025 to constitute a highpowered demography mission, he said. Describing the issue as one that goes beyond population data, Shah said demographic change has direct implications for sovereignty law and , order, social structure and the preservation of tribal communities. He said the initiative reflects a proactive effort to protect the country’s integrity and social fabric through “ we l l - i n fo r m e d a n d d e c i s ive action”. The committee has been tasked with submitting its report within a year. It will consult all stakeholders and propose comprehensive policy measu r e s t o a d d r e s s emerging concerns. Terms of reference Comprehensively deliberate upon the challenges arising from demographic changes, including illegal immigration Study possible causes, such as cross-border activities, economic opportunities, and other socioenvironmental factors Identify underlying factors like illegal immigration, abnormal settlement patterns and orchestrated migration Analyse structural population changes at the level of religious or social communities, particularly where they deviate from broader trends Recommend a streamlined and permanent operational mechanism for the legal, fair, and time-bound identification, detention, and deportation of illegal immigrants residing in the country Recommend appropriate institutional mechanism to strengthen border management, population stabilisation, and identification systems for the continuous monitoring of such trends Iran fumes at US strikes, warns of consequences Iran on Tuesday denounced US strikes a day earlier as a sign of “bad faith and unreliability” as negotiations continue toward a possible deal to end the war. The US military termed Monday’s strikes in southern Iran as defensive | P9 Six asphyxiated to death in septic tank in Kalahandi district Police and fire services personnel recovering the bodies from the septic tank E x p ress N e w s S er v i ce @ Bhawanipatna Six persons, including a father and son, died of suffocation after entering an under-construction septic tank at Gauda Karlakhunta village under M Rampur police limits in Kalahandi district on Tuesday morning. Another person was critically injured in the incident. The mishap occurred when the centring of the septic tank was being removed after completion of masonry work. The tank, measuring around 8 ft by 8 ft with a depth of 10 ft, was being constructed at the house of Nimai Pal (48). The deceased have been identified as Nimai and his son Akash Pal (28); Adal Majhi (55) and Manoranjan Hati (27) of Matoganda village, and masons Chhanda Jal (32) and Bipul Jal (30), both residents of Duta village. According to preliminary, a worker first entered the tank during the work. He was trapped inside and collapsed. In an attempt to rescue him, Nimai and Akas along with four other workers entered the tank one after another. However, all of them were asphyxiated inside the tank. Another worker Pankaj Yani was rescued by villagers in a critical condition. He was first admitted to M Rampur community health centre and later shifted to Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR), Continued on P5 Burla .