The New Indian Express Wishes its readers a happy vinayaka chavithi Our offices and press will remain closed on Monday & there will be no issue of the newspaper on Tuesday hyderabad l monday l september 14, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Ladakh groups open to dropping statehood demand, with rider The Kargil Democratic Alliance and Leh Apex Body are closely looking at MHA’s UT-level elected body to meet aspirations of the people Elected body with legislative powers The proposed UT-level body would be elected and will have legislative powers with respect to land, culture and language, forest, environment, natural resources, and any other subject reserved under Article 240. “We have agreed to discuss in principle this model of governance. If it is satisfactory, we will accept it,” said Sajjad Kargili, co-chairman of KDA ■ `15 lakh new arrangement only for ladakh ■ The UT-level elected body under Article 371 was conceptualised in a meeting in Delhi on September 9, and will only apply to Ladakh The two groups — KDA and LAB — have now climbed down from their earlier demands and have dropped their Sixth Schedule demand for constitutional safeguards under Article 371 | P8 Each being given by l-g to THE kin of 4 PERSONS DIED in 2025 violence 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 Don’t weaponise minerals, tech: PM PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on the concluding day of the BRICS summit warned that the “weaponisation of technology and critical minerals” could hinder shared global progress, while calling for greater inclusivity in the adoption of new technologies and stronger cooperation with the Global South. Addressing the BRICS session on Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability Modi said on Sunday India’s , presidency had focused on translating these four pillars into practical cooperation, particularly as conflicts, pandemics, climate disasters and supply-chain disruptions increasingly affect economies and ordinary people across borders. “The weaponisation of technology and critical minerals can hinder our shared progress. Therefore, we have emphasised inclusivity in the adoption of technology Modi said. ,” His remarks come as critical minerals assume growing strategic importance for clean-energy systems, advanced manufacturing and emerging technologies, making access to reliable and diversified supplies an increasingly important element of economic and geopolitical resilience. He said the interconnected nature of the world requires BRICS members to strengthen on p7 their ability to anticipate and respond to crises, pointing to initiatives including an integrated early-warning system for infectious diseases, disaster-management data guidelines and a logistics supplychain cooperation framework. On innovation, he highlighted the BRICS Incubator Network, the proposed BRICS Startup Innovation Fund and the BRICS Network on Digital Agriculture, which aims to connect artificial intelligence, geospatial technology and digital public infrastructure with the needs of farmers. Modi stressed that BRICS cooperation should extend beyond governments and involve entrepreneurs, farmers, researchers, women, youth and ordinary citizens. “Our endeavour has been to ensure that BRICS cooperation does not remain limited to governments alone,” he said, citing initiatives aimed at skills development, women’s workforce participation, social security capacity building and sup, port for small businesses. On the subject of sustainability Modi said development and , environmental protection should not be viewed as competing priorities. “In Indian civilisation, nature has been accorded the status of a mother,” he said, adding that India had long believed that development and the environment were “not alternatives to each other, but are complementary .” INDIA’S BILATERAL OUTREACH ACROSS GLOBAL SOUTH Another first National song sung before int’l match express news service @ Bengaluru IN a first, both the national song and the national anthem were played before the start of an international cricket match. After Vande Mataram and Jana Gana Mana reverberated around Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium, Afghanistan’s national anthem was played. Curiously enough, even though the national song was played, for the purposes of record-keeping, Afghanistan will be the home team for the entirety of the three-match T20I series (the other two matches will also be held in the national capital). This is in line with a new directive issued by the Union Home Ministry from earlier this year to celebrate the 150th year of the song. “It is not possible to give an exhaustive list of occasions on which the singing (as distinct from playing) of official version of the national song can be permitted,” the order had said. “But there is no objection to the singing of the national song accompanied by mass singing so long as it done with due respect as a salutation to the motherland and proper decorum is maintained.” Interestingly, this is not the first time the national song preceeding the national anthem at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. It’s understood that Delh i a n d D i s t r i c t C r i c ke t Association officials had this arrangement in place for all Delhi Premier League games this year. ‘Might makes right’ logic does not hold, says Xi J aya n t h J acob @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at the Bharat Mandapam during the BRICS Summit on Sunday; Chinese President Xi Jinping waves before boarding his aircraft upon concluding his India visit | PTI Pandemics, climate disasters, and supply-chain disruptions have shown that in today’s interconnected world, no crisis remains confined to a single region — Narendra Modi, Prime Minister A world without rules is like a crossroads without traffic lights... Fairness and justice is a universal aspiration, and international rules must be written by all countries — Xi Jinping, Chinese President Malaysian prime minister sings at brics gala dinner India, Vietnam step up defence, industrial ties Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Sunday that “the logic of ‘might makes right’ does not hold, and should have been discarded long ago,” urging the BRICS countries to defend a rules-based international order and strengthen the voice of the Global South. Addressing the concluding session of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi, Xi said the world was undergoing “changes unseen in a century” as the collective rise of the Global South accelerated the shift towards a multipolar order. He urged BRICS to “seize the historical initiative” and become “an active, stabilising and positive force in international affairs”. He called on developing countries to uphold sovereign equality, non-interference in internal affairs and the peaceful settlement of disputes, while strengthening the authority of the United Nations and pushing for reforms that ensure greater participation of developing countries in global institutions. Xi called for reform of the international financial architecture to increase the representation and voice of developing economies, and urged BRICS to support reform of the World Trade Organization and the continued development of the New Development Bank. The Chinese president said BRICS should use its ties with emerging markets and developing countries to safeguard industrial and supply chains and build a large integrated market. He proposed a five-point agenda covering artificial intelligence, trade and investment, digital industries, intelligent manufacturing, and science and technology talent. BJP to make summit success a political asset for state polls Trump hits back at AI critics as US leaders debate curbs A F P @ Doonbeg, Ireland US President Donald Trump on Sunday hit out at critics of artificial intelligence (AI) who have warned that companies need to slow development of the powerful technology, calling them “negative” forces. “I think you have a lot of negative” forces “that are bringing it up that shouldn’t be bringing it up, and they’re bringing up things that won’t happen,” Trump told reporters during a visit to Ireland. His comments came amid growing concern among AI executives and researchers over the risks posed by increasingly capable systems. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Saturday called for companies to slow the pace of AI development, saying he had become convinced that addressing the risks required “even more prudence”. “We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models. Progress will still seem fast, and we must make wise use of the time we gain,” Amodei wrote. OpenAI boss Sam Altman and Elon Musk, who owns xAI, backed Amodei’s assessment. “We need to pace the frontier,” Altman said, while Musk wrote: “Dario is right.” The warnings followed the decision by AI researcher Jacob Coxon to leave the industry after working at OpenAI and Anthropic. He accused the companies of “racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives”. “The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade,” Coxon wrote on X. Amodei also cited an incident in which AI models broke out of a confined testing environment, connected to the internet and infiltrated Hugging Face, a platform used by developers to store and share code. He warned that AI agents could become capable of causing far greater disruption as their capabilities improve. Home Minister Amit Shah at a press conference in Mumbai on Sunday | PTI Shah sure UCC will be rolled out in all NDA states by 2029 s u d h i r s u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai UNION Home Minister Amit Shah said on Sunday that he was confident the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) would be implemented in all 21 NDA-ruled states and Union territors before the next Lok Sabha elections in 2029. Shah was in Mumbai to launch the 30-day Seva Sankalp Abhiyan, aimed at encouraging public participation in the government’s vision of a developed India by 2047. He said the Centre had already introduced UCC in several states and expressed confidence that all NDA-led states would follow suit before 2029. Uttarakhand became the first state to pass a UCC law, in February 2024, and has fully enforced it since January 2025. Gujarat followed last year, and Assam became the first northeastern state to pass the UCC Bill, in May 2026. Madhya Pradesh is the latest to come on board, with its cabinet unanimously approving the code at a special meeting in July . The UCC laws in Gujarat, Assam and Madhya Pradesh are awaiting Presidential assent. Maharashtra, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, meanwhile, have set up drafting committees. Asked whether 1951 would be used as the baseline year for implementing the National Register of Citizens in Manipur, Shah said the matter was still under discussion. “We are discussing these issues with our allies and also with the political parties of Manipur. Whatever decision is taken, we will inform you,” he said. On the BJP government’s achievements, Shah pointed to the abolition of triple talaq, which he said had given Muslim women equal rights. PLUS 12 P AGES W ITH THIS ISS U E trophy snub yet again Like what their male counterparts did last year, Harmanpreet Kaur and Co refused to accept Asia Cup trophy from Asian Cricket Council chairman and Pakistan’s interior minister Mohsin Naqvi in Dubai on Sunday. Earlier, India women defeated holders Sri Lanka by 72 runs to win a record-extending eighth continental title | bcci vinayaka chavithi J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi Xi urges member countries to defend rules-based international order, proposes five-point agenda for greater BRICS cooperation Vratha Kalpam Modi says BRICS must strengthen the ability to anticipate and deal with crises; calls for inclusivity in new tech adoption 32 PAGES, INCLUDING 12 OF vinayaka chavithi vratha kalpam (special) Guv to perform 1st puja to 69-ft Bada Ganesh today C h e e r a m K a n i s h ka Ya d a v @ Hyderabad The 69-foot Panchamukha Sankatahara Maha Ganapati ‘Khairatabad Bada Ganesh’ made with clay and hay is unveiled in Hyderabad on Sunday | SRI LOGANATHAN VELMURUGAN All arrangements were in place by Sunday evening for the 72nd Vinayaka Chavithi celebrations at Khairatabad, which are set to begin on Monday . With the wooden scaffolding around the idol removed, this year’s 69-foot Panchamukha Sankatahara Maha Ganapati was revealed, with its five distinct faces. A 15-foot Somnath Jyothirlinga idol and a Kaalika Matha idol have been placed on either side of the main idol. The entire structure has been made without Plaster of Paris (PoP), using natural clay and hay. The frame was made of steel, while water-based and eco-friendly colours were used for the idols. Sculptor Chinnaswamy Rajendran, who has been creating the Khairatabad Ganesh idol for the past 40 years, designed and sculpted this year’s idol too. Around 150 workers took nearly three months to complete the structure. The Khairatabad Ganesh Utsav Samithi has invited Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla to perform the first puja, scheduled to be held between 11.20 am and CM Prays for removal of obstacles, greets people Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy extended greetings to the people of Telangana on the occasion of Vinayaka Chaturthi. The chief minister prayed to Lord Vigneshwara to remove obstacles from people’s lives and bless them with happiness, prosperity and good health. He urged people to celebrate the festival with devotion at Ganesh pandals set up across neighbourhoods. Revanth directed the police to make arrangements for smooth traffic movement in Hyderabad and all district headquarters during the festive season. Officials were also instructed to take precautions at pandals to manage large crowds. The chief minister also recalled that the state government is providing free electricity to Ganesh pandals this year as well. 1.48 pm on Monday. Regular darshan for the public will begin at 6 am on Tuesday and continue until 11 pm. Temporary stalls have also come up around the pandal, with vendors selling puja items, miniature Ganesh idols and food. With darshan set to begin on Monday police and organis, ers expect more than 30 lakh devotees to visit Khairatabad during the festival, from September 14 until the immersion day . Parking facilities will be available at IMAX Ground, HMDA Lake View Parking, E-Racing Ground, Maktha Parking on Necklace Road and Visvesvaraya Bhavan.  continued on p5