SAMBALPUR l monday l july 06, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l CITY EDITION Legendary Pandavani folk singer Teejan Bai dies at 70 Took Chhattisgarh’s folk art to world stage Legendary Pandavani folk singer Teejan Bai, who took Chhattisgarh’s traditional storytelling art to global audiences, died on Sunday at the age of 70 Known for her powerful voice, commanding stage presence and expressive style, she transformed Pandavani from a regional folk tradition into an internationally acclaimed art form, performing extensively in India and abroad. She was honoured with the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan for her contributions to Indian folk arts 1956 Irreparable loss to art and culture: PM ■ She breathed her last at 3.15 am at AIIMS, Raipur, where she had been undergoing treatment since May 27, hospital sources said ■ “She gave Chhattisgarh’s folk art a unique global identity through her magnificent performances. Her passing is an irreparable loss to the world of art and culture,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X she was born in Ganiyari village in Durg district of Chhattisgarh 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 plans seabed sensors to hunt Chinese, Pak subs DRDO floats Expression of Interest to identify industry partner J AVARIA RA N A @ New Delhi INDIA plans to have eyes and ears on the Indian Ocean seabed. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is on the lookout for an industry partner to develop and deploy an Underwater Fiber Optic Sensing System (UFOSS), a network of sensors that will keep round-the-clock watch on submarines prowling India’s waters. Kochi-based Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), the DRDO’s underwater warfare lab, has floated an Expression of Interest (EOI) for the development, deployment and commissioning of the system. The network will comprise seabed sensor nodes linked by subsea fibre-optic cables to a shore station where the data will be received, monitored and analysed. According to the EOI, the UFOSS will comprise sensor array nodes, subsea cables, junction boxes, and branching units linked through a beach manhole to a shore station. Based on the response to EOI, NPOL will float a Request for Proposal to solicit detailed proposals from shortlisted firms. The selected bidder will be responsible for the entire project, from integration and deployment to commissioning, and lifecycle support for the system’s planned 20-year service life. Execution has been tentatively pegged at 48 months. Unlike ships and aircraft that patrol an area periodically , WHAT IS UFOSS? Underwater Fiber Optic Sensing System (UFOSS) will have a network of seabed sensor nodes that are linked by subsea fibre-optic cables, to keep track of submarines prowling Indian waters It will be a fixed network for 24x7 underwater surveillance It will have a service life of 20 years Sensor Network on seabed Subsea fiBer-optic cables: High-speed data transfer from sensors to onshore station Global Parallels US: SOSUS tracked Soviet submarines during the Cold War Multiple sensor nodes detect underwater disturbance like sound, vibration, pressure or movement US-Japan: ‘Fish Hook’ undersea surveillance architecture in the western Pacific seabed sensor networks keep watch round-the-clock, silently monitoring underwater activity and cueing anti-submarine warfare assets towards potential contacts. The move comes amid thick action in the undersea battlespace. Chinese nuclear and conventional submarines periodically prowl the Indian Ocean region, while Chinese “research” vessels systematically map the region’s waters, collecting invaluable data for future submarine operations. Meanwhile, Pakistan has begun inducting eight Chineseorigin Hangor-class diesel-electric subs with air-independent WHY INDIA NEEDS IT Chinese nuclear and conventional subs are increasingly operating in the Indian Ocean Pakistan is inducting 8 Hangorclass AIP subs India currently has no operational SSN (nuclearpowered attack submarines) Indigenous SSN programme a decade away; Project-75I yet to get approval China: ‘Underwater Great Wall’ of seabed acoustic sensors propulsion. In contrast, India’s underwater modernisation is years away from bridging the gap. The Navy does not currently operate a nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN), with the lease of the Russian Akula-class Chakra III delayed by more than three years. The indigenous programme to build two SSNs, cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in October 2024 at a cost of `40,000 crore, is expected to take a decade before the first boat enters service. The Project-75I programme for six advanced conventional submarines is also yet to receive the CCS’s final approval. France survive heated affair Physical battle Mbappe laughed and smiled — and scored, of course — when Paraguay players tried to bait him and his French teammates into fouls and provoke fights. After the final whistle, Mbappe refused the goalkeeper’s extended hands as he kept walking past it. In retaliation, Gill threw the ball at the France captain. It was one of several flashpoints during the contest Kylian Mbappe & Co edge past Paraguay in a tough battle to set up quarterfinal clash against Morocco. Talking points... Iberian derby for spot in last 8 Last laugh for star forward Powerhouses Spain and Portugal will lock horns in a competitive fixture, a year after Portugal beat La Roja in the UEFA Nations Cup final. Notably, the last time these two nations met at the World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo scored a delightful hat-trick in 3-3 draw | P11 Mbappe got the last laugh as he scored his 19th career World Cup goal, and France survived stifling heat to win the tie, sending Les Bleus into the quarterfinals for the fourth straight time I had never played a match like this, with so many hits. I mean, cheap shots, shoves in the back. So, yes, it was complicated. — Manu Kone, France midfielder Portugal vs Spain | 12:30 AM*; USA vs Belgium | 5:30 AM* (*IST Tuesday) Today’s matches (Round of 16): SIR in Odisha: Over 20 lakh voters removed from draft electoral roll Sudarsan Maharana Draft electoral roll @ Bhubaneswar Around 20.13 lakh voters have been excluded from Odisha’s draft electoral roll, following the month-long house-to-house survey in the first phase of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state. As per the draft published on Sunday, the number of voters has come down from 3,33,99,591 in the pre-revision electoral roll to 3,13,87,034. The draft roll comprises 1,60,19,176 male voters, 1,53,65,083 female voters and 2,775 third-gender electors. Chief electoral officer (CEO) RS Gopalan said the enumeration forms were collected from around 3.13 crore electors, accounting for 93.97 per cent (pc) of the total electorate. The revision exercise identified 8.32 lakh electors (2.49 pc) as deceased, while 10.07 lakh vot-  Draft electorate: 3,13,87,034  Male: 1,60,19,176; Female: 1,53,65,083; Third gender: 2,775 Chief electoral officer of Odisha RS Gopalan addressing mediapersons in Bhubaneswar | Shamim Qureshy Genuine electors whose names are missing from the draft roll can still apply for inclusion during the claims and objections period from July 5-Aug 4 RS Gopalan, CEO ers (3.02 pc), had either shifted residence or were found absent. Another 1.58 lakh electors (0.47 pc) were found to be enrolled at multiple places. Besides, 14,000 electors have been excluded after they failed to submit their enumeration forms by the June  Pre-revision electorate: 3,33,99,591  Excluded voters: 20,12,557  Deceased: 8.32 lakh; Shifted/ Absent: 10.07 lakh; Multiple enrolment: 1.58 lakh; No form submitted: 14,000  Claims & objections: July 5-August 4  Verification till: September 2  Final roll: September 6 28 deadline. Gopalan said BLOs could not trace these electors or get back their enumeration forms because they had become voters in other states or Union Territories, were not found in existence, failed to submit the enumera- Child abuse ads: Meta gets govt notice D i pa k M o n d a l @ New Delhi 125th BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF DR SYAMA PRASAD MOOKERJEE Few leaders in modern India embody the confluence of intellect, public service and moral conviction as profoundly as Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, writes Prime Minister Narendra Modi | P7 The government has issued a stern notice to Meta over paid advertisements on Instagram, that allegedly promote Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM). The company has been directed to immediately disable such advertisements and related content, two government sources confirmed on Sunday . In the notice, the government asked the company to submit a detailed explanation within seven days on how such advertisements were approved and displayed on the platform despite its content moderation systems. The order, issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Report sought The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has demanded a detailed explanation from Meta within 7 days Saturday instructed Instagram , to remove all advertisements and content that promote or facilitate access to CSEAM. The latest action comes a day after Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw directed officials to summon Meta over Instagram adver- tisements allegedly promoting child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in India. The government acted following a BBC investigation that found questionable advertisements on Instagram with terms such as “rape video” and “child video”. According to the report, the advertisements redirected users to Telegram channels where child sexual abuse material was allegedly being sold for as little as `99. The BBC investigation found that the advertisements had passed Instagram’s moderation process before publication, raising serious concerns about the effectiveness of Meta’s content review mechanisms and safeguards against illegal content. @ Chennai Filmmaker Sasi, in a recent interview, was unable to wrap his head around the possibility of critics crying while watching a film, even if it was his own. He wasn’t buying it. He felt it was an exaggeration. Maybe critics aren't supposed to admit such things. We spend our lives pulling films apart—writing about performances, intent and craft. Somewhere along the way comes the unspoken belief that you should never completely surrender to what is unfolding on screen. You’re expected to keep a safe distance. But that isn’t how most of us fell in love with cinema. Long before previews, dead- lines and ratings, films were simply magic. You walked into a theatre hoping to be transported. Every now and then, despite yourself, that still happens. Main Vaapas Aaunga did that to me, largely because of Naseeruddin Shah. As Ishar Singh Grewal—Keenu to the woman he has spent a lifetime remembering—he barely raises his voice. He doesn’t need to. A pause, a glance, a sentence left unfinished; somehow they carry the weight of decades. Partition memoir Directed by Imtiaz Ali, the movie is a slow burn of love, memory, and unresolved grief rooted in the Partition Films on Partition have often been about violence and migration. This one is about something quieter: an old man’s promise. History is still there, but it reaches us through memory longing and all the conver, s at i o n s t h at we re n eve r finished. I watched the film in Chennai, thousands of kilometres from where Partition unfolded. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Cuttack Jamuna’s body being carried on motorcycle in Jharsuguda’s Laikera block Hearse not available, woman’s body carried home on motorcycle their village. Family members claimed the CHC staff cited unavailaThe glaring deficiencies in ru- bility of a hearse or an ambural healthcare infrastructure lance. Left with no alternative were laid bare in after waiting for asJharsuguda’s Laikera s i s t a n c e, N a r e s h block after the family placed his wife’s body o f a wo m a n w a s on a motorcycle and forced to transport returned to Udiapali I will personally her body home on a village. visit the health motorcycle due to ab“I did not get an amcentre to sence of a hearse at bulance or a hearse. investigate the Mundrajore commuThough I tried to armatter. If any negligence is nity health centre range an auto-rickfound, strict (CHC) on Sunday . shaw, the driver of the action will be The incident took three-wheeler detaken place in Udiapali vilmanded `5,000. Since lage under Bhatlaida I didn’t have the monDr Shakti Prakash panchayat. Jamuna ey, I decided to take Padhi, CDMO Chhatria (48), who my wife’s body home was not keeping well on a bike,” for the past few weeks, was Naresh said. The incident triggered public rushed to Mundrajore CHC in the wee hours of Sunday after outrage with villagers alleging her condition deteriorated absence of basic transport fasuddenly She was pronounced cilities at the CHC. They said the . dead on arrival. Following her district administration should death, her husband Naresh immediately provide a hearse at Kisan reportedly approached Mundrajore CHC to prevent the CHC authorities seeking a such incidents from happening Continued on P5 hearse to transport her body to again.  @ Sambalpur/Jharsuguda When cinema lowers our defences Av i n as h Ra m ac h a n d ra n Youth taking selfie feared drowned in Mahanadi E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e Main Vaapas Aaunga When the lights came on, there were the usual attempts to hide it. People suddenly became very interested in their phones. Conversations began a minute later than they normally would. Most of us had never known Partition. That didn't seem to matter. By the time Keenu unfolds an old, crumpled poem, with A R Rahman’s music gently rising beneath Irshad Kamil’s words, you aren’t confusing fiction with reality The film has qui. etly prepared you for that moment. So, do critics cry? Sometimes, yes. Not because they stop being critics. But because, every once in a while, a film reminds them of the person who first walked into a darkened theatre simply hoping to be moved. tion forms within the stipulated time or were unwilling to register as electors for different reasons. He clarified that genuine electors whose names are missing from the draft electoral roll can still apply for inclusion during the claims and objections period from July 5 to August 4. Similarly, names found enrolled at multiple places will be retained only at one location after due verification. The CEO said the first phase of SIR was completed with coordinated efforts of 31 district election officers (DEOs), including the newly-added Bhubaneswar district, 147 electoral registration officers (EROs), 994 assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs), 4,540 booth-level officers (BLOs) and BLO supervisors deployed at 45,250 polling Continued on P5 booths.  A 22-year-old youth went missing after being swept away in the Mahanadi river while bathing along with his friends and taking selfies at Old Naraj Anicut on Sunday evening. The missing youth has been identified as 22-year-old Akash Behera of Machhua Bazar in the city . Sources said Akash and his two friends Soumya Ranjan Mallik and Manoj Majhi had gone to take bath at Old Naraj Anicut (Budha Bandha) at around 5.15 pm in the evening. While bathing, the trio also reportedly got together for taking selfie when the powerful current suddenly intensified and dragged them into deeper waters. Local fishermen present nearby managed to rescue Soumya and Manoj. However, Akash went missing in the river. On being informed, fire services personnel from Barang rushed to the spot and launched search operation. Till reports last came in, Akash was yet to be found. E x p r e ss R e a d New Iran leader absent at father’s funeral Tehran: Three of late Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s sons made a rare public appearance at his funeral on Sunday but there was still no sign of his successor and other son, Mojtaba Khamenei. A funeral procession is planned for Monday in Tehran, followed by similar events in Qom on Tuesday | p9