BHUBANESWAR  SATURDAY  JUNE 28, 2025  `9.00  PAGES 12  LATE CITY EDITION GOVT WON’T ENFORCE 20-28°C AC TEMPERATURE NORM IN A HURRY Union minister Bhupender Yadav on Friday said the government is unlikely to implement the new AC temperature range anytime soon ‘CLIMATE TARGETS MUST BE MET UNDER RULES’ DEVELOPED NATIONS HAVE MORE TO DO Asked at the India Climate Summit when the new AC temperature range would be implemented, Yadav said any such situation “may arise only after 2050”. “I do not think it will happen immediately; capacities will be gradually built for it over time,” he said. Achieving climate targets must be done in line with national circumstances and the CBDR-RC principles ■ ■ The principle of CBDR-RC (Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities) means all countries must fight climate change, but developed nations should do more Earlier this month, Union minister Manohar Lal Khattar said ACs will soon be required to operate between 20-28 degrees Celsius 6% OF ELECTRICITY CAN BE SAVED JUST BY RAISING AC TEMPERATURES BY 1°C 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 After US-China trade agreement, Trump hints at ‘big one’ with India EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi US President Donald Trump on Thursday said India and the US would soon sign a major trade agreement. He did not divulge more information. Trump also disclosed that he had signed a new trade agreement with China the previous day. The White House later clarified that the US has reached an agreement with China for exports of rare earth elements, a key raw material for auto and electronics manufacturing. Trump’s remarks on a deal with India came as an Indian delegation led by chief negotiator Rajesh Agarwal arrived in Washington for the Servitors bring Lord Jagannath in the ceremonial ‘pahandi bije’ to his chariot during Rath Yatra, in Puri on Friday | DEBADATTA MALLICK Lord! Stuck on Grand Road Thanks to choas, uncontrollable crowd and gross mismanagement, the holy Trinity is still far from reaching Gundhicha temple. Lord Jagannath stops barely 10 metres from Singhadwara R A J K U M A R M O H A N T Y/ D I A N A S A H U @ Puri INEXPLICABLE delay marked the Rath Yatra as none of the three chariots could even be pulled half the distance from Shree Jagannath Temple en route to Gundicha Temple and chaos reigned supreme at the annual festival of the holy Trinity on Friday . Erratic movement of Lord Balabhadra’s Taladhwaja and an uncontrollable crowd triggered a chain of events in which Nandighosha, Lord Jagannath’s chariot which is the last to be pulled, could barely move a few metres and had to halt for the night along Badadanda (Grand Road) at around 7.45 pm. By the end of the day, which was well into the evening, Taladhwaja was stationed at Balgandi Chhak, while Devi Subhadra’s Darpadalana had to be stopped at Marichikot. Lord Jagannath’s chariot was pulled for just about 10 metres in a ritualistic manner and halted close to Singhadwara (Lions’ Gate) of Shree Jagannath temple. Temple chief administrator Arabinda Padhee informed that pulling of the three chariots will resume at 9.30 am on Saturday . Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan said despite some delay in the beginning, rituals were completed on time. “Everything happens as per the Lord’s wish. It is the Lord’s blessing that this year’s Rath Yatra was incident-free,” the minister said. As per the schedule, ‘pahandi’ or ushering in of the deities was to start by 9.30 am and end at 11.30 am. However, the ‘dhadi pahandi’ of the Trinity began nearly two hours late and after Shankaracharya Swami Nish- Nandighosa, chariot of Lord Jagannath, stands amidst a teeming crowd of devotees a few metres from Srimandir after pulling was stopped on Friday evening | SJTA CHAIN OF DISRUPTION Lord Balabhadra’s chariot moved erratically Gap between chariots reduced, surge in crowd impacted progress It led to a stop-and-start movement for an hour Lord Jagannath’s chariot made a ritualistic move for a few metres Devi Subhadra’s chariot pulling was delayed chalananda Saraswati offered his prayers to the deities atop their chariots, ‘Chhera Pahanra’ ritual by Puri King Dibyasingha Deb started at around 2.30 pm. By 3.30 pm, the ‘charamala’ of the three chariots were removed one by one and wooden horses were fixed. While temple administration was at loss to clarify on what led to the delay in pulling of Taladhwaja, overcrowding and uncontrolled pulling of the chariot was witnessed right from the beginning. Pulling of Taladhwaja began at 4.17 pm (17 minutes late) but it started swerving to its left and right which presumably happened due to improper handling of Too much crowding in inner cordon areas Over 700 admitted to hospitals, 4 in ICU Bhubaneswar: As many as 724 people were admitted to different health facilities during Rath Yatra in Puri. Sources said, 485 were discharged after preliminary treatment while four were shifted to ICU after their condition deteriorated. The DHH also reported two deaths, but officials said those were not related to Rath Yatra the four ropes of the chariot by both devotees and security personnel. As a result, the chariot could not take a straight direc- EXPRESS READ Modi on 5-nation tour from July 2 New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a five-nation tour beginning July 2 for attending the BRICS Summit in Brazil and engaging with key partners to step up the bilateral cooperation. The summit, scheduled in Rio de Janeiro, will see Modi engage with leaders of major Global South economies to push India’s priorities on counterterrorism, economic cooperation, and reform of global governance institutions | P7 tion, a senior servitor said, requesting anonymity . Despite multiple directions from the temple authorities for devotees to move away from the inner cordon area, a large number of pilgrims stayed put and pulled the ropes. This led the chariot to veer off and had to be frequently stopped to straighten the ropes time and again. Due to the delay, pulling of Devi Subhadra’s chariot could only begin at 6.10 pm under flood-lights. The number of devotees had swelled at the Badadanda since early in the mor ning and the teeming crowd which kept waiting outside the outer cordon area till 4 pm despite rainfall, rushed towards Singhadwara once the cordon was removed for pulling the chariots. A significant number of devotees gathered around Taladhwaja to pull it. Owing to the delay, Nandighosha’s pulling began at around 7.45 pm for the sake of Rath Yatra ritual. Such was the overcrowding at Singhadwara that even Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi could not come down to pull Nandighosha and had to remain on the stage designated for him and other VVIPs. Law Minister Harichandan said though certain morning rituals were delayed by 15 to 20 minutes, every ritual atop the three chariots was completed before 4 pm as per schedule. “However, pulling of Lord Balabhadra’s chariot was delayed because the chariot kept taking turns and the place was overcrowded with devotees,” he said. Due to favourable weather conditions, the crowd was 1.5 times more than the previous years, the minister said. latest round of trade talks. Agarwal, special secretary in Department of Commerce, is leading discussions to finalise an interim pact ahead of Trump’s July 9 deadline to slap reciprocal tariffs. The Trump administration had on April 2 announced plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on several countries, including India. However, those tariffs have been suspended until July 9 to allow room for negotiations. The US is seeking tariff concessions from India on a range of products, including industrial goods, automobiles, electric vehicles, wines, petrochemical products, dairy items, and agricultural products such as apples, tree nuts, and genetically modified crops. In return, India is pushing for duty reductions on its labour-intensive exports such as textiles, gems and jewellery, leather goods, g ar ments, plastics, chemicals, shrimp, oil seeds, grapes, and bananas. Earlier this month, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said that a deal between India and the US could be finalised soon, with both countries finding common ground that suits their interests. We are having some great deals. We have one coming up, maybe with India, a very big one, where we’re going to open up India —Donald Trump, US President LET’S AVOID NEW COMPLEXITIES, INDIA TO CHINA M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi bourly conditions to foster cooperation. INDIA and China should build A defence ministry readout on the fresh momentum in the highlighted Singh’s concern bilateral relations and avoid about trust deficit remaining a new complexities, Defence major barrier to progress. Minister Rajnath Singh said Singh reiterated India’s posion Friday, a day after he met tion that the Chinese People’s his Chinese counterpart Admi- Liberation Army must return ral Dong Jun on the sidelines to its deployment positions as of the Shanghai Cooperation they stood in April 2020, prior to Organisation Defence Minis- violent clashes at multiple fricters’ conclave in Qingdao, tion points such as Finger 4 on the north bank of Pangong Tso, China. “It is incumbent on both Hot Springs, Gogra, Galwan, sides to maintain this positive and Depsang. The 2020 standoff breached momentum and avoid adding new complexities in the bilat- several agreements and confidence-building eral relationmeasures, undership,” Singh mining decades of posted on X, peace and stability adding that he efforts. exchanged Although disen“constructive gagement from all and forwardstandof f points looking views” was completed in with Dong on October 2024, over Thursday . On border issues 1,00,000 troops with During the h e av y m i l i t a r y t a l k s, S i n g h Rajnath Singh told equipment still reemphasised the China’s Admiral Dong Jun m a i n d e p l o ye d need for a structhe border issues may be near the LAC, inditured and peraddressed through a cating that chalmanent ap“structured roadmap of lenges persist. proach to permanent engagement Beyond border de-escalation and de-escalation” issues, Singh also and peace along briefed the Chithe Line of Actual Control. He outlined a nese defence minister about the roadmap for effective border April 22 Pahalgam terrorist atmanagement, achieving a per- tack and India’s Operation Sinmanent solution to border de- door aimed at dismantling Pamarcation through established kistan’s terror infrastructure. mechanisms, bridging the He underlined India’s right to trust deficit stemming from self-defence and urged shared the 2020 Eastern Ladakh stand- responsibility in combating off, and creating good neigh- terrorism. BOGUS ‘AWARD’ India categorically rejected a “supplemental award” issued by what it described as an “illegal” Court of Arbitration purportedly set up under the Indus Waters Treaty | P7 Accused being produced in court | PTI 3 held for WB law student’s gang-rape K A U S H I K P R A D H A N @ Kolkata DAYS after the horrific gangrape a law student inside a college campus at Kasba in South Kolkata, the city police arrested three suspects, including a former student of the institution. Alumnus Manojit Mishra (31) is allegedly a local leader of the students’ union of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC). The other two are third semester law students of the college and are allegedly associated with the TMCP . According to the survivor’s complaint, the incident took place between 7.30 pm and 10.50 pm on Wednesday at the South Calcutta Law College. On his Facebook profile, Mishra claimed he was the organisational secretary of TMCP’s South Kolkata district. He is also a practicing lawyer in Alipore court. The other two accused were identified as Zaib Ahmed (19) and Pramit Mukhopadhyay (20). All three accused were produced before the Alipore court and remanded in police custody till July 1. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee cut short her stay at Digha and returned to Kolkata after participating in the Rath Yatra there. She was originally scheduled to come back on Saturday . MAN GETS BAIL Live-in relationships are against settled law in middle-class society: HC N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow OBSERVING that live-in relationships disproportionately harm a woman in case of a breakup as the man can always move on and get settled after getting married, and that women find it difficult to get a life partner after breakup, the Allahabad High Court said “livein relationships are against the settled law in middle-class societies.” A single judge bench of Justice Siddharth expressed displeasure at the growing number of live-in cases reaching the court. “The concept of livein relationship goes against the interest of women since a man can marry even after live-in relationship but it is difficult for the women to find a life partner after a breakup,” Justice Siddharth ruled. “This court finds that after live-in-relationships were legalized by the Supreme Court, these cases are coming to the courts because the concept of live-in-relationship is against the settled law in the Indian middle-class society .” The court’s remarks came while hearing a bail plea of an accused named Shane Alam who had been booked under various provisions of BNS and POCSO Act on charges of getting involved in a physical relationship with a woman after giving false assurance of marriage. While arguing for the in- formant, her counsel Madhu Yadav said the act of the accused had ruined the life of the woman. Taking note, the bench said that while the concept of live-in relationship had found favour with the young generation, its after-effects were seen in the present case. The bench, however, granted bail to the accused on June 24 this year.