SAMBALPUR l wednesday l august 26, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l CITY EDITION Appeal against hc order to be heard in sept Supreme cOURT directs Tejpal to surrender within THREE weeks SC directed journalist Tarun Tejpal to undergo his 10-year rigorous imprisonment in a 2013 rape case in which he was convicted by the Bombay High Court Hearing subject to Surrender certificate A bench of Justice Alok Aradhe dismissed Tejpal’s plea seeking exemption from surrendering. “The application seeking exemption from surrendering is rejected. However, the appellant is granted three weeks’ time to surrender and file surrender certificate before this court,” the bench said in its order. SC posted his appeal challenging his conviction and sentence on Sept 22 ■ ■ “In case the surrender certificate is filed on or before September 21, 2026, the registry shall list the criminal appeal for hearing on September 22, 2026 before the regular court,” the bench said The former editor of Tehelka magazine was convicted of raping a junior colleague inside a hotel elevator in 2013 in Goa | P7 August 6 When Bombay hc convicted Tejpal to 10 years rigorous imprisonment 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 Missile tech transfer to Kharge, Rahul demand scrapping of pvt sector gets approval Census questionnaire on caste details Covers air-defence, air-to-air missiles & battlefield-strike weapons 1 Several DcPP programmes have moved forward. At a salvo launch of NASM-SR from Sea King helicopter in April, two missiles were fired in quick succession 2 The DRDO conducted first flight trial of TARA from a Jaguar, converting a 500-kg bomb into a guided stand-off weapon. Gaurav has completed release trials from Su-30MKI 3 File photo of a Pralay test-fire, a quasi-ballistic missile | PTI Astra Mk-2, with a range of 200+ km, is also learnt to be among the first major systems to be offered to pvt firms. COMM, Adani, Bharat Forge, Tata and Mahindra are among contenders J a v a r i a R a n a @ New Delhi per applicable qualifications, certifications and regulatory The government on Tuesday requirements”, the ministry cleared the transfer of technol- said. The DRDO will retain reogy for all conventional missile sponsibility for design certifisystems developed by the De- cation and quality assurance. fence Research and DevelopIt marks a further shift away ment Organisation (DRDO) to from the traditional model unIndian industry for domestic der which a DRDO missile, afproduction, opening a wide ter completing development swathe of the country’s indig- and user trials, was assigned to enous guided-weapons portfo- a nominated production agenlio to private manufacturers. cy for series manufacture, a Defence minister Rajnath role state-run Bharat DynamSingh approved the transfer, in ics Ltd (BDL) has traditionally what his ministry described as held for much of the indigean “important milestone” in nous missile portfolio. expanding industry It also follows the participation in the government’s decision defence ecosystem. earlier this year to The ministry however, , open tactical missile did not specify the inproduction to the pridividual systems covvate industry under ered by the decision. the Development-cumOfficials in the deProduction Partner fence establishment (DcPP) model, which said the conventional brings companies into portfolio includes the The initiative aims a programme during to enhance Akash and Akash-NG development rather operational surface-to-air systems, capability, reduce than after it. DRDO VSHORADS, Astra import dependence has distributed around air-to-air missiles, the 10 to 12 tactical missile and increase domestic value Rudram anti-radiation programmes among addition family, anti-tank syspublic and private tems such as Nag, firms, with Adani DeDefence ministry SANT and the manfence and Aerospace, portable ATGM, the Bharat Forge, ICOMM NASM-SR anti-ship missile, in- Tele and Solar Defence and Aerdigenous land-attack cruise ospace as DcPPs. missiles and Pralay, the quasiAdani Defence is the DcPP ballistic weapon geared for con- for the Rudram anti-radiation ventional strikes. series, including the hyperson“Strategic missiles are a sepa- ic Rudram-II, which is to be rate category and will continue built at its Hyderabad facility, to be dealt with separately. and for NASM-SR. Bharat Hence, Agni and the K-series are Forge is a DcPP for the 1,000-kgnot part of this transfer. Simi- class Gaurav long-range glide larly BrahMos and MRSAM in- bomb and the TARA glide kit. , volve foreign partners and are It broke ground last month on governed by separate arrange- a `2,500-crore missile complex ments,” the official said. at Shivpuri in MP, with comCompanies will be able to posite-propellant and TNT promanufacture the systems “as duction planned at the site. Patna erupts in chaos as job aspirants march to CM’s house, clash with cops RA M ASHA N K AR @ Patna Patna witnessed dramatic scenes on Tuesday as thousands of students and job aspirants clashed with police after they were stopped from marching towards the chief minister’s residence to press for their key demands, which included a single-stage exam for teacher recruitment instead of holding separate Prelims and Mains. The protesters were also seeking the cancellation of Combined Competitive Exams held by Bihar Public Service Commission earlier this year, alleging irregularities. The march, which started from the historic Gandhi Maidan that has witnessed many up- Police personnel use water cannons to disperse protesters in Patna on Tuesday | PTI heavals in the past, saw participation by a number of Left-wing activists affiliated with AISF and DYFI. Members of NSUI were also present. The protesters pulled down the metal barricades and tried to break the security cordon. Some protesters pelted stones on security personnel. Police personnel first used water cannons to disperse the crowd but later resorted to baton charge as the protesters refused to relent. In the melee that followed, several protesters and security personnel were injured. A female demonstrator was seen lying unconscious. Several protesters were also detained. Later, an eight-member delegation of job aspirants met Bihar Chief Secretary Pratyaya Amrit in his office with a memorandum containing 15point charter of demands. The chief secretary told the delegation that he would discuss with Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and promised the matter would be settled in the next couple of days. P r ee t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Reiterating the party’s demand for a drop-down list of castes, Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding the scrapping of the existing questionnaire for it in the ongoing Census exercise and formulate a new one after consulting political parties, exper ts and the general public. Both leaders said they do not accept the caste census being conducted in the current manner and urged the government to take its cue from the caste surveys done in Telan- The conundrum The same caste is known by different names, sub-castes, and linguistic variations across regions. If members of the same caste are recorded under different names, the caste could be fragmented into thousands of distinct names gana and Bihar. Briefing reporters on the letter, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the government’s current efforts towards a caste census are just a “whitewash”. Ramesh said this is the third letter written US sanctions four India-based entities over Iran imports eXPR E SS n E WS s E RVIC E @ New Delhi HOURS after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced ‘Operation Economic Outcast’, the US on Tuesday sanctioned four India-based entities for importing petroleum and petrochemical products from Iran. Among those facing action is customs broker Portease Partners, along with its partners Indrismiya Ashrafmiya Sheikh and Harish Ramachandra Rangi. They facilitated the import of Iranian petrochemical products, according to the US State Department. The other India-based entities are Sadashiva Overseas, PP Softtech and Prakrutees Infra Impex. PP Softtech director Prashant Garg has also been sanctioned. Sheikh, Rangi and Garg are Indian nationals. Sadashiva Overseas imported Iranianorigin petroleum products worth $69 million from multiple companies, while PP Softtech and Prakrutees Infra each imported products worth $25 million, the US said. The companies were designated for “knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petroleum or petroleum products from Iran”. The sanctions are part of ‘Operation Economic Outcast’, announced by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday The fresh measures are aimed at . cutting off potential sources of revenue for Iran. The US has also warned countries to reduce economic ties with Tehran or face action. Bessent termed the move an unprecedented campaign to sever Iran’s financial lifelines. Entities that continue to do business with Tehran may attract secondary sanctions. CIA chief in Moscow for rare in-person talks FlightRadar24 spotted C-17’s arrival in Moscow’s Vnukovo international airport. CIA boss John Ratcliffe was its pax | P9 Boy vs Wild 14-yr-old wrestles wild boar in canal, survives 90 min ordeal A r a b i n d a Pa n d a @ Cuttack Showing exceptional bravery and presence of mind, a 14-year-old boy fought an adult wild boar, all while standing in knee-deep water of a canal for over one-and-a-half hours after the animal attacked him, at Gopalpur village in Cuttack’s Dampada block. The teenager Suman Behera had gone to Nadikunda canal near his village to attend nature’s call in the morning when the incident took place. The boy was relieving himself near the canal embankment when the boar emerged from the bushes and charged towards him. In a bid to escape, Suman jumped into the canal assuming that the wild animal would fear entering the water and go away. Instead, it pounced on him. Suman then fought the animal in a frantic measure to survive. The youngster wrestled with the boar, which had grown tusks, in the knee-deep canal water and managed to overpower the animal. He clenched the animal at its neck tightly to prevent it from escaping or attacking him. He then shouted for help following which locals rushed to the spot Suman clutching the wild boar ine the canal and informed the Banki fire station, which is located 200 metres from the spot. “When we arrived, the boy had already been holding the wild boar for over an hour, preventing it from escaping or harm- ing him. As we tried to rescue them, the animal doubled its strength and efforts to escape. However, the boy showed immense bravery and did not let go of it,” said the fire services personnel. The firemen first rescued the boar using an animal catcher and then helped Suman come out of the canal. Suman had sustained injuries in the tussle. He was taken to the Banki sub-divisional hospital for treatment where his condition is stated to be stable. Meanwhile, the 14-year-old’s extraordinary courage has drawn high praise from all around. by the Congress leadership to Modi over the issue but have not received any reply . “Your government has opted for an open-ended question format to record caste details in the census, which is misleading. Under this method, whatever name an individual provides for their caste will be recorded as it is,” the leaders said in their letter. In India, the same caste is known by different names across different regions, they pointed out. Record- ing them as is would result in a list of hundreds of thousands of caste names, rendering the entire dataset useless. “An easy solution already exists: a drop-down list of castes should be created. This is the method adopted for the enumeration of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Such a list can be easily compiled based on existing government lists such as those for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes and the list from the Anthropological Survey of India,” they said. Assembly monsoon session likely from Sept 22; MMDR, textbook errors to dominate Bill, 2026, will be a major flashpoint during the session. The BJD and ConThe monsoon session of the Odisha gress have voiced strong opposition to Assembly is likely to begin on Septem- the legislation, alleging that the ber 22 and continue till October 3. The amendments will severely hurt Odissession will have nine sitting days of h a ’s i n t e re s t s a n d a f f e c t t h e which, eight days will be earstate’s mining revenue. The marked for government busiOpposition had earlier sought a ness and one for private memspecial session of the Assembers’ bills. bly on the Bill, which was Odisha Assembly secretary passed by the Parliament Satyabrata Sahu has written recently . to Parliamentary Affairs deThe large-scale errors in partment principal secretary school textbooks will be anSK Vashishth, proposing a other issue where the govprovisional calendar for the ernment will find itself corsession. nered. The BJD and Congress “In case, the commencing have already been up in arms The MMDR Act date as proposed in the proviand demanded the resignaamendment will sional calendar of sittings is tion of School and Mass Edube a major ag reed upon by the cation minister Nityananda flashpoint. The government, steps may be BJD and Congress Gond for the lapses that have taken to move the Governor have alleged that hurt the learning of thouit will severely for commencing the sands of school students this hurt Odisha’s session,” Sahu said in his academic year. interests and letter. The Opposition will also affect mining The session, however, is raise the issue of mismanrevenue poised be a tough one for the agement of floods that have Sources BJP government as an aggripped several districts. The gressive Opposition armed state’s law and order situawith a clutch of issues is ready to put tion, agrarian distress and issues reit on the back foot. lating to local administration are also The Mines and Minerals (Develop- expected to dominate proceedings ment and Regulation) Amendment during the session. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar