bhubaneswar l Wednesday l November 04, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late CITY EDITION IISc Bengaluru, 5 IITs among Asia’s top 100 universities India continued to remain Asia’s second most represented higher education system, with 325 ranked universities, as per QS rankings All 6 institutes drop in y-o-y rankings India leads in research output per faculty According to the London-based Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), IIT Delhi was ranked 59th last year and slipped to 66th this year, followed by IISc Bengaluru, which was 64th last year and is 79th now. IIT Bombay fell from 71st to 83rd, IIT Madras fell from 70th to 85th, IIT Kharagpur fell from 77th to 90th, and IIT Kanpur fell from 77th to 97th | P7 ■ ■ India leads Asia for universities excelling in research output per faculty, with 27 universities in the top 50 for papers per faculty and five in the top 10, more than any other higher education system India also increased its representation among the top 200, with 21, up from 20 last year and 17 in 2018 in the QS rankings 7th Rank obtained by iit-b in employer reputation category 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 SC: No one can Odisha signs 18 MoUs for `1.17L cr clean energy projects occupy a protest site indefinitely E x p ress N e w s S er v ice @ Bhubaneswar Says protests must be time-bound, directs traders to implead INDIA bloc in their plea mained in Jantar Mantar for 17 days. In their plea, the trades arTHE Supreme Court on Tues- gued that the Opposition parday said everyone has the ties’ protests against the Speright to protest but no individ- cial Intensive Revision have ual or organisation can occu- led to traffic diversions, police py a protest site indefinitely as barricading and restricted acit will deny the right of others cess to shops, causing huge to use the venue. financial losses to “You cannot occupy small shops and busia site for all times. n e s s e s. T h e p l e a Where will farmers, sought directions to journalists, etc go? shift the protest to an The designated sites alternative site or limmust be given for a it the duration of the designated period,” demonstration. ‘Implead said a bench of Chief Senior advocate Justice Surya Kant organisers’ Mukul Rohtagi, apand justices Joymalya SC directed the pearing for Kirana Bagchi a n d traders’ body to Committee Delhi, V Mohana, while emsaid: “We have lost implead the phasising that the thousands of crores. organisers of right to protest must Nobody is able to do protests at be balanced against bu s i n e s s i n C o n Ramlila the rights of others, naught Place. ThouMaidan, be it including traders and political parties sands of auxiliary daily-wage workers. workers connected to or social T h e b e n c h w a s organisations, these businesses are hearing a litany of pewithout jobs as sales as parties to titions including one are down in the midthe petition filed by Kirana Comdle of the festive mittee Delhi, which season.” alleged that traders suffered Rohtagi said businesses huge loss of business due to have suffered losses running the protests. into thousands of crores and Solicitor General Tushar sought a two-month restricMehta, appearing for the Cen- tion on protests, especially tre and Delhi Police, said the during the festive season. Cockroach Janta Party’s proThe court asked him to imtest in July was permitted plead the organisers of the only for one day but they re- protests as parties to the plea. S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi Odisha on Tuesday secured investment proposals of `1.17 lakh crore through 18 MoUs for clean energy projects with a proposed capacity addition of 11,742 MW at the Bharat Renewable Energy Summit and Exhibition 2026 in New Delhi. The projects cover pumped storage, solar, wind , hybrid renewable energy, battery storage, green hydrogen and green data centres, among other emerging technologies. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi along with Union MNRE minister Pralhad Joshi and Dy CM KV Singh Deo at Bharat Renewable Energy Summit in New Delhi India votes against Pak’s UNGA arms resolution J ayanth J aco b @ New Delhi INDIA and Israel were the only two countries to vote against a United Nations General Assembly First Committee resolution on conventional arms control at regional and subregional levels, with New Delhi arguing that security concerns cannot be confined by geographical boundaries. The draft resolution, moved by Pakistan and Belarus, was adopted with 180 votes in favour, two against and no abstentions in the 193-member world organistation. Explaining India’s vote, Anmol Sher Bedi, First Secretary at India’s Permanent Mission to Regional security India opposed a draft resolution paragraph on arms control in South Asia, which noted regional initiatives like consultation among Latin American nations, and its use for regional security the UN, said conventional arms control was a global issue and should not be addressed primarily through regional and subregional frameworks. “We read this request with a certain degree of curiosity,” Bedi said, questioning the need for further deliberations on a subject that had already been extensively discussed within the Face-off between Odisha & Andhra police, officials along Kotia border Tension prevailed along the Neredivalasa border in Kotia group of villages on Tuesday after police personnel from Odisha and Andhra Pradesh faced off over the latter’s alleged attempt to enter the panchayat in connection with election-related activities | P4 HC raps netas over Dia Mirza’s awareness video S u d hir S urya w anshi @ Mumbai Rescue workers inspect the mangled wreckage of a helicopter after two choppers collided while attempting to land at Pheriche in Nepal on Tuesday | pti Tamil Nadu man killed as 2 choppers collide near Mt Everest base camp in Nepal G autham S elv arajan @ Chennai Two helicopters collided on Tuesday while trying to land just below Mount Everest’s base camp, killing Vasanth Kumar Balaramaramadu (47) of Chennai and injuring three others at Pheriche village, which is located at an altitude of 4,200 metres (13,780 feet) in Nepal’s Solukhumbu district. Vasanth’s fellow passenger Shailesh Krishna Patel from New Zealand and Nepalese pilots Rabindra Prajapati (Fishtail Air) and Prajwal KC (Dynasty Air), who were injured in the incident, were taken to Kathmandu for treatment. According to the Nepal police, Vasanth’s mortal remains were sent to Kathmandu for a postmortem. The two helicopters collided around 8.11 am (local time) while landing at Pheriche in Solukhumbu, according to Ne- pal police. Vasanth’s chopper took off from Lukla Airport, the gateway to Mt Everest. The base camp trek lasts up to two weeks and goes from the only airstrip in the area at Lukla to base camp located at 5,300 metres (17,380 feet). Anxiety gripped Vasanth’s house on Peramballu Street in Old Washermenpet as shocking visuals of the chopper crash flashed across news channels. The family had been tense ever since they saw the news, as they knew Vasanth was in Nepal for a trek. A visit from revenue department officials confirmed what they had been dreading. The cries of Vasanth’s elderly parents Balaramanadu (80), mother Parameshwari (74) and maternal grandparents from their first-floor house could be heard on the street as the family struggled to come to terms with the news of the death.  The MoUs were exchanged in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and deputy chief minister KV Singh Deo following the inauguration of Odisha Pavilion at Bharat Mandapam. GRIDCO managing director Satya Priya Rath exchanged the agreements with industry representatives. Fenice Hydrogen has proposed to set up a green hydrogen project with an investment of `23,750 crore. Shivalaya Construction Ltd has evinced interest in a 2,500 MW pump storage project worth `22,000 crore and The Bombay High Court on Tuesday slammed BJP leaders for their remarks against actor Dia Mirza and her video message for a peaceful and pollution-free Diwali posted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on the HC’s orders. Stating that India is a secular country, the HC said politicians should not give a religious colour to awareness campaigns. A division bench of justices Girish Kulkarni and Dr Neela Gokhale, taking suo motu cognisance of the issue, said it was “disturbed by the stray comments made by some politicians” against Mirza, who had participated in the campaign in accordance with its directions. The court directed the BMC, which had taken down the video after the remarks by BJP leaders, to reupload the video on its social media handles. The bench asked why the actor’s participation in an awareness campaign should become a matter of religious controversy and stressed that the campaign was intended to create awareness on the harmful effects of firecrackers and need to follow the restrictions imposed by the court. Referring to the Supreme Court’s observation Dia Mirza that Diwali is celebrated by people irrespective of their caste or religion, the HC questioned the logic behind objecting to Mirza’s participation on religious grounds. The HC said Mirza delivered a “really good message” and warned leaders against spinning any other angle. Mirza made the video at the BMC’s request as part of its effort to spread awareness about HC’s directions prohibiting bursting of crackers on streets. The BMC had also posted videos by actor Madhuri Dixit and former cricketer Ajinkya Rahane on its social media handles. However, BJP’s Mumbai unit chief Amit Satam and Mayor Ritu Tawde objected to Mirza’s participation, labelling her “anti-Hindu”. On Tuesday, Satam claimed he had not opposed Mirza on the basis of caste and religion, but he had the right to “speak against the people who speak against India”. UN Disarmament Commission. The resolution argues that conventional ar ms control should primarily be pursued at regional and subregional levels, noting that most threats to peace and security in the post-Cold War era arise among countries within the same geographical regions. It also calls for agreements aimed at strengthening regional peace and security while maintaining armaments and military forces at the lowest possible levels. Bedi pointed out that the Commission had adopted three consensus outcomes on the subject: guidelines and recommendations on regional disarma- ment in 1993, guidelines on conventional arms control and disarmament in 1999, and recommendations on practical confidence-building measures involving conventional weapons in 2017. “We fail to understand why a subject already deliberated at length needs another round of deliberation unless the aim is to keep the UN disarmament machinery busy Bedi said. ,” India also objected to the resolution’s emphasis on maintaining a balance in defence capabilities within specific regions, arguing national security concerns often extend beyond geographical limits. MACLEC Technical Project Laboratory Pvt Ltd for 1,540 MW hydro power project at a cost of `19,444 crore. Hinduja Renewables Energy Pvt Ltd has expressed intent for setting up a 2,400 MW pump storage project with an investment of `12,500 crore while MeghaMani Renew Energy Pvt Ltd has proposed to invest `10,000 crore on solar/wind/hybrid projects of 1,000 MW capacity. ReNew will set up a 1,500 MW pumped hydro storage project, with an e s t i m at e d i nve s t m e n t o f CONTINUED ON P5 `9,000 crore. e x p r e ss r e a d Jaundice scare in Utkal univ as 12 students test positive for Hepatitis A Bhubaneswar: The Utkal University is in the grip of a jaundice outbreak with at least 12 students testing positive for Hepatitis A. Health officials said out of 19 samples collected by Urban Metropolitan Surveillance Unit in last two days, 12 have tested positive for the infection. “The infection could have occurred due to consumption of contaminated food or water. Water samples have been collected from the university for testing. However, we suspect that some students may have contracted it from campus feasts organised during the recent polls,” said ADUPHO Dr Nilamani Senapati | P2