Industrial PRODUCTION MODERATES TO 6.7% in July National Statistics Office data released on Friday showed that mining & quarrying shrank 0.9% in July against 1% growth in June and 10.7% a year ago MANGALURU l saturday l august 29, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l city EDITION Minister S Jaishankar with TN tourists who arrived in Delhi from Nepal; Right: Relatives look at photos of victims outside a morgue in Kathmandu | PTI Toll tops 580, 320 Indians missing, 1,900 untraceable Around 400 stranded but safe in Tibet; tunnel specialists being sent for rescue ops E x p re s s N e w s Servi c e @ New Delhi At least 320 Indian nationals remain uncontactable and around 400 others are stranded but safe on the Chinese side following devastating flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border as India stepped up efforts to trace its citizens and offered Kathmandu a range of rescue and relief assistance. The floods have killed at least 584 people, 579 in Nepal and five in Tibet, while Nepalese authorities put the number of missing around 1,900. The scale of destruction has complicated rescue operations, with fears of further flooding disrupting efforts in several areas. “The damage is just incredible,” Lila Pieters Yahia, the UN resident coordinator for Nepal, said on Friday adding that more than 40 , bridges had been destroyed or badly damaged and “over 40 km of road completely destroyed.” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said 400 Indians stranded on the Chinese side were in touch with their families. The Indian embassy in Beijing is coordinating with Chinese authorities Deal done for US Javelin anti-tank missile system J A V A R I A R A N A @ New Delhi indian Army has signed a formal contract with the US to procure the FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank guided missile system, a weapon it has been seeking since 2009. “BIG news! India plans to buy the battle-tested Javelin anti-tank system,” US envoy to India Sergio Gor wrote on X. He said the purchase could open the way to coproduction of the missile in India. Gor linked the development to remarks made by the US defence secretary Pete Hegseth at the Shangri-La Dialogue earlier this year, where Hegseth said India would acquire the system. The purchase is being processed under the Indian Army’s emergency procurement powers, which allow Service Headquarters to conclude urgent acquisitions within a delegated financial ceiling of `300 crore. The quantities involved are limited. In November last year, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible sale to India of 100 Javelin rounds, one fly-to-buy missile and 25 launch units at an estimated cost of $45.7 million, together with trainers, simulation rounds and spares. 35 from K’taka stranded in Tibet Bengaluru: As many as 35 people from Karnataka, part of a 70-member tourist group, are stranded at Nyalam in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). The State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC) has so far collated details of 28 people from the state. Out of them, 23 are from Bengaluru, two from Mysuru, one each from Dharwad, Udupi, and Vijayanagara. Most of them are reported to be in Timure, Rasuwa District, Nepal, while a few are in Darchen, TAR. Four have been confirmed safe, while efforts are underway to trace the remaining 24 | P7 on their evacuation, he added. By Friday evening, 153 Indian nationals had safely crossed from the Chinese side into Nepal by land, officials said. Jaiswal said 320 Indians remained uncontactable while around 100 additional people of Indian origin were also out of contact. Some of the latter may have been travelling for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra but hold other nationalities. Meanwhile, 21 from Tamil Nadu rescued from the Karnataka govt blinks, Nagendra quits as min D evaraj B H ireha l l i @Bengaluru In a major setback to the Congress government in Karnataka, Planning and Statistics Minister B Nagendra resigned from the state cabinet here on Thursday just 25 days after being , inducted as a minister. DK Shivakumar assumed charge as chief minister on June 3 and faced pressure to drop Nagendra ever since the latter was inducted as minister in the second phase of cabinet expansion on August 3. Nagendra said he is announcing his resignation to avoid embarrassment to the party and CM. He added that he will also resign from the As- An emotional B Nagendra announces his resignation as planning and statistics minister in Bengaluru on Friday | Vinod kumar T Why Penguin pressured Sonia to purge political portions of memoir E x p re s s N e w s Servi c e @ New Delhi The central point of contention between Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and Penguin Random House India (PRHI) was the publisher’s demand to retract passages containing her “frank” assessment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and references to mishandling of “Chinese incursion” during his tenure, a senior party functionary said. According to the functionary , the passages were not based on ‘hearsay’ but on Sonia’s ‘relevant interactions’ and assessment. The functionary described the remarks as “candid” saying Sonia had written about what she had observed and experienced in her dealings with the prime minister as “both as the leader of a political party and a person in public life”. The functionary said the issue was not about routine flood-hit areas arrived in New Delhi on Friday External Affairs Minister S . Jaishankar received them at the Delhi airport. The rescued group told Jaishankar about the sudden flooding and expressed gratitude to the Nepal Army for bringing them out. “We are still very much focused on contacting all the Indians there,” Jaishankar said. India has also intensified humanitarian assistance. A third military flight carrying 10 tonnes of relief supplies departed for Kathmandu on Friday taking In, dia’s emergency assistance since Wednesday night to 47.5 tonnes. The latest consignment includes portable generators, dignity kits, food packets and water-purification tablets. An 11-member team of doctors, paramedics and tunnel-rescue specialists was also sent. Jaishankar said tunnel specialists were being sent because people could potentially be trapped at a hydropower project. He also reviewed the crisis with senior officials, with India’s ambassadors in Kathmandu and Beijing joining virtually . fact-checking but with “substantive changes to the political content of the memoir”. The concern, according to the functionary, was that substantially “altering” or “removing” those passages would change the “character” of Sonia’s account and “assessment” of contemporary political events. PRHI, however, denied that it decided against publishing the memoir because Sonia refused editorial changes, and said it is “not the publisher of the book in India”. “ Any suggestion that Penguin Random House India decided not to publish Belonging because the author declined editorial changes does not accurately reflect the circumstances,” PRHI said on Friday. It maintained that fact-checking and making editorial recommendations are a normal part of its role.  P7 sembly and dared BJP leaders to contest against him. He categorically denied all allegations made against him in the Rs 187 crore Maharshi Valmiki ST Corporation scam. This is the second time that Nagendra is resigning as minister over the same issue. The first time was on June 6, 2024 when Siddaramaiah was chief minister. The resignation comes just days ahead of a massive padayatra planned by the opposition BJP from Raichur to Ballari on September 1, demanding Nagendra’s dismissal from the ministry BJP had demand. ed that Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot prevail upon the state government to sack Nagendra. The CBI, in the meantime, sought sanction from the governor to prosecute the minister in the ST Corporation scam. The governor has also written to Shivakumar seeking the government’s response on the request for sanction to prosecute Nagendra in the ST corporation scam. Shivakumar, addressing the media along with Nagendra at his home office Krishna on Friday evening, confirmed that the governor has written to him on the prosecution permission. MORE ON: P4 E x p r e s s Re a d Special campaign to enrol as fresh voters, correct details Bengaluru: The Office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Karnataka, announced a special campaign on August 29-30 and September 19-20 to help citizens enrol and make corrections in the draft electoral roll. Police inspector from B’luru dies in MP road accident Bengaluru: A police inspector attached to Bengaluru’s South-East CEN police station died and two policemen were injured when the driver of the sleeper bus they were travelling rammed the safety wall of the Bhopal bypass bridge | P7 Praggs becomes first Indian to win Grand Chess Tour title St Louis (USA): Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa became the first Indian to clinch the Grand Chess Tour title, beating Fabiano Caruana of the USA 15-13 with a stunning comeback win in the grand finale | P13 Index of Industrial Production for June was revised to 8.8%. According to NSO, the July headline of 6.7% was “supported by 7.3% growth in manufacturing and strong growth of 8.7% in electricity & gas supply”. Growth in manufacturing, which carries the largest weight in the index, moderated to 7.3% in July from 9.5% in June 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 ■ ■