BHUBANESWAR l wednesday l december 03, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l JEYPORE EDITION In U-turn, govt says Sanchar Saathi app is not mandatory not for snooping, says union minister Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday in a volte-face said the fraud reporting app can be deleted if users so wish phone makers not chuffed with order Many opposition leaders and critics viewed the Sanchar Saathi app as a snooping attempt, as they felt it could listen to calls and monitor messages. Scindia stepped in to defuse the crisis and denied allegations that it was an app for snooping. “If you want to delete it, then delete it... it will remain inactive till users register,” Scindia said outside Parliament | P7, 10 ■ ■ Some phone makers, such as Apple, were reportedly opposed to the mandate. Apple is keen to discuss the issue with the government for a middle path, as the ‘order cannot be implemented in its current form’ The move mimics a similar mandate by Russia in August, requiring a state-backed messaging app MAX to be pre-installed on all phones 1.5 crore people have already downloaded the sanchar saathi application 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 Assly passes Jan Vishwas Bill to decriminalise minor offences E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e The reforms support Odisha’s vision of creating a governance framework that is responsive, balanced and aligned with the broader goals of ease of living and erase of doing business @ Bhubaneswar The Assembly on Tuesday passed the Odisha Jan Vishwas Bill, 2025, marking a major step towards enhancing governance and improving regulatory framework for ease of doing business and living in the state. Introducing the Bill in the House, Industries minister Sampad Chandra Swain said the primary aim of the legislation is to promote trust-based governance by decriminalising minor, technical or procedural offences across various state laws in agriculture, health, labour, trade and urban governance sectors. “The other objectives are to promote trust in businesses and citizens, streamline legal processes and ease the burden on the judiciary The decrimi. nalisation effort ensures that penalties are proportionate to the severity of offences while maintaining stringent punishment for serious violations,” the minister said. Sampad Chandra Swain, Minister He said the proposed reforms in 16 existing legislations put forward four important changes - removal of criminal penalties like imprisonment for minor offences with imposition of civil penalties, introduction of administrative adjudication mechanisms for minor violations to reduce pressure on the justice delivery system, conversion of fines to civil penalties and rationalisation of monetary penalties. The minister said that numerous existing regulations not only enforced excessively punitive measures but also imposed an undue compliance burden that stifle business growth and creates unneces- sary obstacles for citizens to access government services. “The Bill does not extend to decriminalise offences that have an adverse impact on human health, public administration or the environment. It does not propose any amendments to the general criminal laws such as the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita, 2023 or other enactments,” Swain clarified. “The reforms support Odisha’s vision of creating a governance framework that is responsive, balanced and aligned with the broader goals of ease of living and erase of doing business,” he added. Inspired by the central government’s Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023, Odisha has become the 10th state to implement similar reforms. The states which have done such reforms are Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Tripura and Meghalaya.  Continued on P5 Putin visit to spur trade, mobility and defence relations A key economic deliverable is the India-Eurasian EconomRussian President Vladimir ic Union Free Trade AgreePutin’s visit to India on Decem- ment, for which the first round ber 4-5, his first in four years, of negotiations took place last will anchor a renewed push to year. Officials in the Ministry accelerate India-Russia eco- of External Affairs said the innomic cooperation with a se- tent is to “have the agreement ries of deals spanning trade, soon,” with the FTA expected health care, mobility, media to significantly boost market and economic cooperaaccess on both sides. tion set to be signed. Another developAlong with the ongoment is the finalisation ing dialogue on deof a pact on mobility fence, security space of skilled and semiand nuclear cooperaskilled workers. This is tion, the visit is expectexpected to ease labour ed to place emphasis movement. We are looking on narrowing the trade Coinciding with Pugap. Bilateral trade be- at the possibility tin’s visit, a two-day of increasing tween India and Russia India-Russia Business imports surged to a record $68.7 Forum will be held in from India billion in FY25, driven Delhi, focusing on exby a sharp rise in enpanding Indian engiDmitry Peskov, ergy imports. Of this, Kremlin spokesman neering exports to RusIndia exported goods sia, scaling up Russian worth $4.9 billion, impor ts of Indian while imports from Russia pharma and food products, and stood at $63.8 billion. enhancing collaboration in digFertiliser imports remain a ital services. These discussions central pillar of India’s engage- align with the ambitious bilatment with Russia. New Delhi eral goal of achieving $100 bilcurrently sources 3-4 million lion in trade by 2030. tonnes of fertilisers annually Putin will be accompanied from Moscow, and both sides by Defence Minister Andrei are looking to further deepen Belousov and a high-level delthis supply partnership to en- egation representing business sure agricultural security . and industry . J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi Vande J&K A Vande Bharat Express train runs along the elevated Katra-Jammu track on a foggy morning on the outskirts of Jammu on Tuesday | PTI INSIDE PMEGP: State ranks 5th for faster loan approvals I P2 Majhi moots endowment fund for dists with over `10 cr DMF funds I P3 Flights delayed at Kempegowda International Airport Around 58 departures from Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru were delayed on Tuesday. IndiGo reported 29 flight delays (by 6090 mins) till 9 pm. The delay was due to ‘operational reasons’ from the airlines ‘Just & Fair plea’ SC asks EC to try and extend SIR deadline for Kerala S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi Opposition leaders K Kanimozhi, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and others during a protest against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, at Parliament complex in New Delhi on Tuesday | PTI Two-day SIR debate in LS from Tuesday To be preceded by Vande Mataram discussion on Mon P r eetha N a i r @ New Delhi Breaking the deadlock in Parliament, the Union government on Tuesday announced that the Lok Sabha will hold a debate on the 150th anniversary of the national song Vande Mataram on December 8 (Monday), followed by a discussion on electoral reforms, including the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls underway in nine states and three Union Territories, on December 9 and 10. Both discussions have been allocated 10 hours each. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi will initiate the debate on Vande Mataram, Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will reply to the debate on electoral reforms on December 10. The decision was taken after an allparty meeting and a Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting chaired by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in the afternoon as both Houses of Parliament had not been functioning over the Opposition’s demand for a SIR debate. Speaking to reporters, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said, the special discussion on the 150th anniver- express read New Delhi 3rd indigenous N-sub to be commissioned soon India is preparing to strengthen the naval arm of its nuclear triad, with Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi announcing on Tuesday that the third indigenous nuclearpowered submarine, INS Aridaman, is in “final stages of trials” and “will be commissioned soon”. The Admiral confirmed that India’s underwater deterrent is set for a fresh boost with the submarine | P7 Srinagar Court sets free accused in Rubaiya kidnapping case A special TADA court in Jammu dealt a major setback to the CBI after it rejected the agency’s remand plea and ordered the release of Shafat Ahmad Shangloo, who had been arrested in Srinagar for his alleged involvement in the 1989 abduction of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed | P8 two phases House census from Apr ’26, population count in ’27 E XPR E SS N E WS S E RVIC E @ New Delhi THE long-delayed national population census, which will include caste enumeration for the first time, will be conducted in two phases starting April 2026, the Centre informed Parliament on Tuesday . Responding to a question from Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said Phase I (House Listing and Housing Census) will take place between April and September 2026, while Phase II (Population Enumeration) is scheduled for February 2027, with March 1, 2027, as the reference date. Snow-bound areas of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Ladakh will be covered in SeptemberOctober 2026. In his written response to to another question from Rahul on whether the government plans to publish the draft questions and seek inputs from public or people’s representa- tives, Rai said the Office of the Registrar General and Census commissioner was in the process of finalising the questionnaire. Around 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors will be deployed for the exercise. The timeline has been fixed to avoid clashing with board examinations, Rai said. The last population census was held in 2011. Census 2027 will also be done through digital means Nityanand Rai sary of Vande Mataram will start at 12 noon and go on for the full day On Tues. day there will be discussion on election , reforms. “When we discuss poll reforms, you can raise many issues related to it and its process. For Parliamentary democracy the election process is , extremely important. So, finally every, body agreed.” He reiterated that the SIR is an administrative exercise carried out by the Election Commission and should not be isolated from the larger debate on electoral reforms. Speaking to this paper, an opposition MP informed that the opposition and the government reached a consensus on the smooth functioning of the Lok Sabha this week. Floor leaders of the INDIA bloc will meet at 9.45 am on Wednesday in Parliament to finalise their strategy for the ongoing Winter Session, Opposition leaders claimed victory as they said, a consensus was reached during the BAC meeting and the all-party meeting on holding an exhaustive discussion on electoral reforms, the SIR exercise and the suicide of booth-level officers (BLOs). The discussion can be initiated in either House. We have decided that it will be taken up in the Lok Sabha first Kiran Rijiju, minister Oppn strategy meet today Floor leaders from various INDIA bloc parties will meet at 9.45 am on Wednesday in the chamber of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, to discuss their joint strategy in Parliament THE Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Election Commission to consider extending the December 11 deadline for submitting enumeration forms in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Kerala by one more week, in view of the ongoing process for local body elections. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi made the recommendation after taking note of submissions that the local body elections in the state will take place on December 9 and 11, and counting of votes on December 13. “It seems to us that the request is just and fair, and it warrants due consideration by the Election Commission of India,” the order said. The court allowed the petitioners to submit a formal representation to the Election Commission by Wednesday 5 pm seeking SIR extension. It asked the EC to consider the request sympathetically and take a decision within two days. Senior advocates Rakesh Dwivedi and Maninder Singh, appearing for the Election Commission of India, said the Kerala State Election Commission has already exempted SIR staff from election duties, adding that the SIR deadline had earlier been extended from December 4 to 11. Terming it a peculiar situation, the CJI said the state government staff should not be overburdened.