BHUBANESWAR  TUESDAY  AUGUST 26, 2025  `9.00  PAGES 12  LATE CITY EDITION SC ASKS SAMAY RAINA, 4 OTHERS TO APOLOGISE FOR DISABILITY JOKES PENALTY TO BE CONSIDERED LATER, SAYS COURT A bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said the degree of repentance should be higher than the degree of offending and made it clear that the court would later consider imposing a penalty on the influencers—Samay Raina, Sonali Thakkar, Vipul Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, and Nishant Jagdish Tanwar—for offending disabled persons Supreme Court asked 5 social media influencers to display their apology in their shows for ridiculing persons with disabilities and rare genetic disorders COMMERCIAL CONTENT IS NOT FREE SPEECH ■ ■ The five influencers are accused of making fun of the disabled and those suffering from spinal muscular atrophy and visual impairment Justice Bagchi said the influencers should be more cautious while creating humour, adding that those who use social media platforms to earn money can’t label their commercial content as free speech PETITION AGAINST THE INFLUENCERS WAS FILED BY CURE SMA FOUNDATION OF INDIA 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 Amazon, Flipkart data to help govt assess inflation Speaking to this newspaper, MoSPI Secretary Saurabh Garg confirmed that the ministry will track prices from e-commerce platforms across 12 cities. He did not specify the criteria for selecting these cities but said they would be chosen on a random sampling basis. “Our effort is to collect data in a way that better represents the economy today,” he said. Earlier in the day, a Reuters report said the ministry plans to scrape prices from e-commerce sites in 12 cities with populations above 2.5 million. Ac- D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi IN a bid to make the official retail inflation data more updated and cognizant of the changes in household consumption patterns, the government is planning to effect major changes to the way the data is captured and measured. As part of the overhaul, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), which publishes inflation data, will source data directly from e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart. The ministry will also update the inflation basket and base year. HOW WILL IT WORK? SPENDING TRENDS Given the rise in household spending on e-commerce platforms, capturing the latest online prices can improve the quality of retail inflation data. Around 27 crore Indians shopped online in 2024. The number is projected to rise 22% every year A recent consumption survey showed that Indians were spending a lower share of their budget on food expenses. To capture the new trend in consumption, the revamped CPI index could include airfares and streaming-media prices, reports said cording to the report, ecommerce firms were told to share weekly average prices of goods with the government. These figures would be crosschecked against a broader dataset to guard against distortions. The objective is to build a more robust system for tracking retail inflation, given the rising share of e-commerce in household consumption. Estimates suggest that e-commerce sales touched $125 billion in FY24 and are projected to rise to $350 billion by FY30. The government will also revise the base years. CPI’s base year will shift to 2023-24, while the GDP’s will be updated to 2022-23. Currently both the GDP , and CPI are calculated using 2011-12 as the base year. The CPI product basket is also set for expansion and rebalancing. The weight of food in the new basket will decline, as household consumption surveys from 2022-23 and 2023-24 show a smaller share of food in monthly expenditure compared to 201112. The number of items tracked will rise from 300 to 400. New IT, electronics INDIA ALERTS PAK ON POSSIBLE FLASH FLOODS component policies get cabinet approval J I T E N D R A C H O U B E Y @ New Delhi EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bhubaneswar THE state cabinet on Monday approved the Information Technology Policy-2025 which aims to establish Odisha as a leading hub in technology and innovation. The cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi also approved the Odisha Electronics Component Manufacturing Policy-2025, a significant strategic push to position Odisha as a leader in electronics manufacturing sector. Chief secretary Manoj Ahuja told mediapersons that the IT policy has been designed to create direct and indirect employment opportunities for 10 lakh people in the IT/ITES sector. As an incentive package for attracting global businesses to the IT sector, the capital subsidy has been increased to 30 per cent from the existing IT Policy of 2022 without any upper limit on investment, he said. He said the policy also offers a wide range of incentives such as land and rental support and State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) reimbursement. Additional benefits include utility charge exemptions, marketing support, patent registration incentives and financial assistance for skill development and internships. The policy also supports development of a cable landing station, co-working space and recruitment. “By embracing cutting-edge technology such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing and data analytics, the policy aims to strengthen governance, improve public service delivery and promote a digitally inclusive society It re. flects the state’s commitment to create a robust digital ecosystem that supports innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainable development,” he said. The policy, Ahuja said, focuses on fostering technological innovation through research and development, integration of AI across sectors and collaboration with academia and startups to develop world class infrastructure such as IT parks, IT towers and special economic zones (SEZs). A policy advocacy and vision group (PAVG) comprising experts from academia, industry and research will guide policy execution. The Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC) will act as the nodal agency while the E& IT department will conduct regular reviews and make mid-course correction as needed, he added. The Odisha Electronics Component Manufacturing Policy-2025, offers a comprehensive incentive framework which fully matches the central scheme. Investors will be eligible for a 50 per cent capital subsidy on the first 10 largescale projects. They may also choose a matching subsidy with turnover-linked incentives and additional capital support, he added. The policy offers several other benefits, including land allocation, rental assistance, a 10year exemption from electricity duty, and power tariff reimbursements, Ahuja said and added that special provisions and tailored concessions will also be extended to me ga projects involving investments above `500 crore or those generating over 1,000 jobs. A damaged bridge following heavy rainfall in Jammu on Monday | PTI WITH the weather office issuing a red alert on Sunday predicting extreme rainfall over the next two days in J&K, India formally notified Pakistan about the potential risk of flash floods in the Tawi and Sutlej rivers as a gesture of good neighbourliness. The alert was sent through diplomatic channels rather than the Indus Waters Treaty framework, since India placed the Treaty in abeyance shortly after the Pahalgam terror at- Delhi HC chucks CIC’s 2016 fiat to disclose PM’s degree E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi THE Delhi High Court on Monday set aside a 2016 order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) that had directed the University of Delhi (DU) to disclose and allow inspection of records relating to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bachelor’s degree. ‘Not to provide Ju s t i c e S a ch i n fodder for sensationalism’ Datta had reserved the judgment on Feb“The RTI Act was ruary 27, pronounced enacted to the verdict on DU’s promote plea challenging the transparency in CIC directive. The government dispute goes back to functioning and December 21, 2016, not to provide when the CIC perfodder for mitted inspection of sensationalism,” the records of all Justice Datta said students who cleared in his order the BA examination in 1978, the year the prime minister passed on applications filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by applicants, including RTI activist Neeraj Kumar and Mohd Irshad. CONTINUED ON P5 DREAM TURNS NIGHTMARE BCCI faces `1,000 cr shortfall as smaller leagues suffer most GOMESH S & SWAROOP S W A M I N AT H A N @ Chennai THE corridors of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are no stranger to their sponsors facing significant headwinds. But they find themselves in the curious position of having to bring on board a sponsor for one of the most visible slots — title sponsor for all Indian teams embossed on the T-shirts — within a two-week period. With the men’s team set to feature in the Asia Cup and the women’s team featuring in a home 50over World Cup within the next two months, they will not be short on offers (they are expected float a tender soon). What, though, remains to be seen is if they will be able to make up for the shortfall on an immediate basis. The loss, brought about because of a policy change at the Centre related to real money gaming, could run into `1,000 crore. But the real loss will be known once the board ropes in new sponsors. On Monday, board secretary Devajit Saikia confirmed to this mast that they have ceased associations with Dream11 or ‘any other gaming agencies’. “BCCI cannot go with Dream11 or any other gaming agencies,” he said. “They will not be part of the BCCI under the current legal system. We are deliberating what can be done to substitute Devajit Saikia their sponsorship slots. We will take a call soon.” Saikia was fairly intimate when asked if a communique has been sent out to all contracted players about the change in law, vis-a-vis endorsing real money gaming firms. “Everybody should be aware of the existing laws. Do I have to tell any player that they can’t go and commit any murder? It is the same situation.” While the top level of Indian cricket may cope with the headwind, all state-level T20 leagues are in a perilous situation. Several real money gaming firms sponsors these events at some level and they are struggling to find alternatives. It’s in BCCI’s interest to keep these leagues, which have unearthed several gems over the past P11 few years, afloat. Heavy rainfall warning The IMD forecast extremely heavy rainfall across all regions of India for the next five days, following the monsoon trough’s shift to its normal position tack on April 22. For its part, the Pakistan Foreign Office confir med India’s two alerts: on Sunday about the Tawi flooding, and on Monday on possible flash floods in the Sutlej. Sources said that the alert was directly communicated to the Pakistani gover nment through the Indian High Commission (IHC) there. The IHC reached out to the Pakistani Foreign Office, instead of routi n g t h e i n fo r m at i o n through the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi. The Jammu region experienced record rainfall on Sunday sig, nificantly increasing water levels in the Tawi, which could lead to a flood disaster in Pakistan. The Tawi in Jammu is a tributary of the Chenab, flowing through Jammu city before joining the Chenab, which eventually flows into Pakistan. The Sutlej, on the other hand, flows entirely within India and joins the Indus in Pakistan. On Sunday, Jammu experienced the second-highest rainfall in 99 years — about 191 mm of rainfall in 24 hours. The previous record was 228.6 m m o n Au g u s t 5 , 1 9 2 6 , while the previous secondhighest was 189.6 mm on August 11, 2022.