Sons of Sehwag, Dravid to play together for India U19 Anvay Dravid BENGALURU l Friday l august 28, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 42 l late city EDITION Aaryavir Sehwag Legendary batters Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag’s sons, Anvay and Aaryavir respectively, are set to play for India U19 in the Australia series. It is a maiden India call-up for 18-year-old Aaryavir. He will be joining Anvay in the one-day squad where India U19 will play three matches from September 18. The junior cricket committee picked separate squads for the three one-day matches and two multi-day games vs Australia P 17 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 Emergency contact numbers of Embassy of India in Kathmandu: +977 985 131 6807, +977 970 910 7500, +977 981 032 6117 State pilgrim recounts flash flood scare E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bengaluru A 5 0 - ye a r- o l d m a n f ro m Kalaburagi, who was travelling to Mansarovar with a group of pilgrims, recounted how they narrowly escaped the flash flood in Nepal after their bus driver quickly moved the vehicle to higher ground. Mallinath, speaking to TNIE on Thursday, said the group had left for Kathmandu at around 6 am on Wednesday and was travelling towards Mansarovar when they witnessed the flashing flood near a place called Battar. “We were travelling from Kathmandu to Mansarovar by bus. After around three hours, near a place called Battar, we suddenly witnessed a flood. There was a bridge and the Trishuli river was flowing nearby. And suddenly, we heard a sound similar to that of an explosion, followed by gushing water,” he said.  P6 Mallinath (R), a resident of Kalaburagi who survived the Nepal tragedy, with a friend at Pashupatinath Temple at Kathmandu Toll up, 290 Indians uncontactable so far E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi At least 290 Indian nationals remain uncontactable in Nepal’s flood-hit Rasuwa district even as rescue teams have brought more people to safety and authorities race to establish the whereabouts of those stranded in the disaster zone. The External Affairs Ministry (MEA) said on Thursday that 54 Indians had been rescued so far. The number of workers rescued from the Trishuli-1 hydropower project has also risen sharply with 63 , workers now safe, compared with 33 reported earlier. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said Indian authorities were coordinating with Nepalese officials, state governments, tour operators and project authorities to trace those out of contact. Among those still uncontactable are two large Tamil Nadu groups of 37 and 49 people, who were travelling for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through separate travel operators, Samrat Travels and Fly Everest Travels. Another group of 32 Indians from West Bengal, travelling through Samrat Travels, was reportedly in Timure, one of the areas affected by the disaster. Authorities are also trying to contact 61 Indians travelling through Richa Tours and 33 people from Kerala whose An area covered in mud and silt washed along the flash flood, near Trishuli Dam in Nepal on Thursday | PTI Pilgrimage activity With Raksha Bandhan and Shravan Purnima approaching, pilgrimage activity in highaltitude areas is particularly heavy. The absence of a comprehensive record of travellers moving through the remote region is making it harder for authorities to determine the full number of people affected whereabouts remain unconfirmed. T h e g ove r n m e n t h a s stressed that “uncontactable” does not mean that a person is necessarily missing, injured or dead. It indicates that officials have so far been unable to establish communication. The scale of the disaster is growing. The official death toll rose to 362, including three in Tibet, while Nepal authorities reported 910 people missing.A newly formed lake at the flood site is also reportedly rising after a river blockage, prompting Nepal’s disaster authorities to warn residents and rescuers to stay away from riverbanks amid fears of a possible outburst.  more on: P11, 14 101 taluks in K’taka declared drought-hit E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ B e n g a l u r u The state government has declared 101 taluks as drought-affected for Kharif 2026, following an assessment based on parameters prescribed under the Manual for Drought Management, 2020. The declaration will remain in force for six months unless revoked earlier by the state government. Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara said the government will submit a memorandum to the Centre seeking drought relief assistance by the end of August, based on the estimated losses. He said the state will continue to review the evolving drought situation. He said of the 101 taluks, 89 have been categorised as severely affected, while 12 have been classified as moderately affected. The government order issued on Thursday by Manoj Kumar Meena, Relief Commissioner and Secretary to Gover nment, Revenue Department (Disaster Management), stated that Deputy Commissioners and District Disaster Management Authorities have been authorised to undertake necessary drought relief and response measures in accordance with prevailing SDRF norms.  P4 WITH THIS ISSUE BEST WEEKEND GUIDE 42 PAGES, INCLUDING 24 OF INDULGE (TABLOID) express read DKS talks to Rahul on Nagendra’s future Bengaluru: Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Thursday spoke to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi over the future of Planning and Statistics Minister B Nagendra, who is facing corruption charges. After the meeting, the CM said that Nagendra is ready to make any sacrifice in the interest of the party but ruled out the minister’s resignation as of yet. The CM’s discussions with Gandhi lasted for over one hour with AICC general secretary (Karnataka in-charge) Randeep Singh Surjewala joining them, according to sources. Later Shivakumar and Surjewala held talks with Nagendra. | P4 NLSIU calls off 2026 batch convocation E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bengaluru National Law School of India University (NLSIU) on Thursday cancelled its 34th annual convocation, initially scheduled to be held on September 12. The development comes amid a pushback from students against the attendance of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, who was slated to attend the convocation meant for the 2026 graduating batch of the university A . circular was issued by the NLSIU administration on Thursday morning to the graduating students, in which it cited “unavoidable circumstances” as the reason behind the cancellation. “On August 3, 2026, the academic administration team had emailed the graduating students with advance notice of September 12, 2026, as the proposed date for the convocation. Despite our collective best efforts, due to unavoidable circumstances, we are unable to hold the 34th annual convocation,” the circular read. This is the first time after the Covid-19 pandemic that the university has cancelled a convocation ceremony  . P5