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 ■ ■ BHUBANESWAR z WEDNESDAY z SEPTEMBER 30, 2026 z `9.00 z PAGES 14 z JEYPORE EDITION Kiran Pahal, Prachi Choudhary, MR Poovamma & Vithya Ramraj celebrate after winning the women’s 4x400 relay final; (R) An ecstatic Neeru Dhanda after capturing a historic gold medal in the women’s trap event on Tuesday | PTI Jaishankar’s big `6 cr from DMF funds given for message to US foreign edu of 5 students: CAG on Pak policy EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bhubaneswar J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi INDIA’s relationship with the US cannot move forward steadily if Washington does not fully appreciate New Delhi’s concerns over cross-border terrorism, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said amid renewed US engagement with Pakistan. Taking part at a session hosted by the Asia Society in New York, Jaishankar said terrorism remained one of India’s most consequential concerns and that a lack of understanding from a key partner could have a direct bearing on the relationship. “What for us in India is particularly important is the issue of terrorism,” Jaishankar said, adding that India had faced terrorism from a neighbouring country as part of what he described as a “deliberate, conscious policy” over several decades. “If something which matters so deeply to us, there isn’t enough understanding or appreciation or empathy of that, I think that creates a problem too,” he said. “If one of my primary concerns is not fully appreciated by my partner, then clearly there is an impact of that on the relationship.” The foreign ministger’s comments come against the backdrop of a complicated phase in India-US ties, marked by disagreements over tariffs and trade, India’s purchases of Russian energy and US’s renewed outreach to Pakistan. “We would certainly hope for and expect the (India-US) relationship to move on an upward trajectory,” Jaishankar said. “But I have to be real about the issues that we confront, and to the extent we are able to move ahead on some of these issues, I think we’ll have a better relationship.” Jaishankar also described India-China relations as significantly improved compared with the period immediately following the 2020 border standoff. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar addresses an event in New York | PTI Chinese air corridor India is exploring an alternative air corridor through China’s Xinjiang region to reduce the additional flying time and costs faced by Indian airlines due to the restrictions on Pak airspace Essar to build $15 bn plant Essar Group will invest $15 bn to build a steel plant in Iowa. US President Donald Trump said Essarbacked Mesabi Metallics will build “the largest steel plant in American history” THE government sanctioned `6.06 crore from District Mineral Foundation (DMF) funds for foreign education of five students, in blatant violation of the norms, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has found. The CAG has also flagged `14.83 crore spent on free textbooks and uniforms and `4.30 crore on medical coaching programmes through private organisations. Interestingly just , six of the 437 students who were provided medical coaching between 2018-19 and 2023-24 cracked the entrance examinations. It was also noticed that no one from the directly affected (Sukinda) and indirectly affected (Danagadi) blocks of Jajpur district were selected for medical coaching during 2018-19 – CAG In its performance audit on implementation of Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY) and functioning of DMFs in Odisha, the CAG said in Keonjhar district, the DMF sanctioned `6.06 crore in August 2023 to fund five students selected for a Master of Professional Engineering (Mining) course at Curtin University, Australia. The amount covered course fees, health insurance and living expenses. The audit noted that the sanction was made without approval of the DMF Board of Trustees or Executive Committee. Of the sanctioned amount, `2.57 crore had been spent by December 2024 while `3.49 crore remained unspent. The balance was transferred to four term-deposit accounts of the Government College of Engineering, Keonjhar, in December 2024. The audit said sponsoring higher studies abroad for a select group of students was not among the permissible educational activities under PMKKKY guidelines or the Odisha DMF Rules. CONTINUED ON P7 SC raps NSA detention of Sambhal accused S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Tuesday lit into the Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh for the illegal NSA detention of Sambhal violence accused Mulla Afroz and imposed a cost of `10 lakh on it. Extra-judicial confession cannot be the sole basis for preventive detention, it ruled. A two-judge bench of justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu said: “Preventive detention cannot be based on inadmissible custodial confession. Custodial confession can’t be the basis for NSA (National Security Act).” It termed the government action “unsustainable in law”. While setting aside the Alla- habad High Court order which upheld the detention of Afroz under the NSA, the top court held that preventive detention cannot be founded on a confession allegedly made by Afroz while in police custody . The bench had on September 8 reserved its judgment on Afroz’s appeal against the Allahabad High Court order denying him relief. The HC had initially granted him bail, but after the UP administration arrested him again, this time under the NSA on October 13, 2025, the HC refused to interfere with it. Afroz is alleged to be the mastermind behind the 2024 Sambhal violence that broke out soon after a court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid. CONTINUED ON P7 At CWC meet, Cong seeks Gyanesh’s head, SIR halt M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi DEMANDING the immediate removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, suspension of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and restoration of 13.3 crore names allegedly deleted from the voter lists, the Congress on Tuesday stepped up its broadside and sought the resignation of PM Narendra Modi too, stating the CEC could not have done the “matchfixing” of polls sans his nod. The demands were made at a EC removal: AAP, DMK on same page Several leaders of the INDIA bloc will skip Wednesday’s meet. AAP and DMK have said they won’t take part, while SP’s Akhilesh Yadav has said he will send a senior leader to the meeting to be held in Delhi’s Constitution Club SC to hear plea against CEC next week The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear next week a fresh plea questioning whether Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar could take decisions unilaterally on behalf of the EC without concurrence of the other Election Commissioners t wo - a n d - a - h a l f - h o u r meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), chaired by party president Mallikarjun Kharge and attended by former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, along with senior leaders including Jairam Ramesh, K C Venugopal and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The INDIA bloc meets on Wednesday to deliberate on the CEC and SIR row. “So, there are two forms of match-fixing: EVM match-fixing and voter list match-fixing, both are happening,” Rahul said. Briefing the media after the meeting, Ramesh said, “Rahul has been raising these issues related to polls in Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra and some did not believe him. He has been proven right,” Ramesh said, while alleging “elections in India were neither fair nor transparent since 2014.” INSIDE 19 PROJECTS WORTH `3.3K CR OKAYED, TO CREATE 10K JOBS I P2 INDIA BLOC CALLS ODISHA BANDH ON OCT 8 OVER MMDR ACT, SIR I P5