bhubaneswar l saturday l november 07, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l jeypore EDITION Govt mandates rice, paddy stock declaration as prices surge The Centre on Friday directed all traders, retailers, wholesalers and millers to declare their rice and paddy stocks to prevent hoarding stocks of 6 rice categories to be declared 5 southern states to impose stock limits Stocks must be declared under six categories — Basmati rice, nonBasmati premium rice, non-Basmati rice, parboiled rice, broken rice and paddy. Every unit holding stocks will have to update details on the Food Stock Portal (foodstock.dfpd.gov.in) every Friday, the food ministry said. Units not registered on the portal or violating stock limits will face action ■ ■ The Centre has also allowed Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana to impose stock limits on paddy and rice through control orders to prevent hoarding till January 31 Trade and industry experts said deficient and uneven rainfall has contributed to rice inflation, particularly in premium varieties 8.25% year-on-year rise in Retail rice inflation in September 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 EC gives left-out `29 lakh crore bonanza as voters in 7 states festive cheer lifts D-Street Sensex another chance A RSH A D K H A N @ New Delhi Applies to those from whom panel didn’t get back enumeration forms handed to them s um i t kuma r s i n g h @ New Delhi FACING sharp questions in the Supreme Court over the rollout of the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the Election Commission on Friday said it is providing another shot to voters in seven states whose enumeration forms were issued but were not received by it, resulting in their exclusion from the voters’ list. In a letter, the EC asked chief electoral officers of Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana and Nagaland to facilitate inclusion of voters marked ‘ bA sent, Shifted, Dead or Duplicate’ (ASDD) in the final rolls. The relief covers those who were handed enumeration forms that EC didn’t get back. Booth-wise lists of deleted voters, with reasons for exclusion, will be displayed at polling stations and designated local government offices and also uploaded on websites of chief electoral officers. Booth Level Officers must give these voters fresh forms and try to reach them through house visits, WhatsApp, e-mail and SMS. In all, 4,51,76,997 voters were left out of the draft rolls in Maharashtra (2.06 crore), Telangana (73.39 lakh), Delhi (47.56 lakh), Andhra Pradesh (44.89 lakh), Jharkhand (43.61 lakh), Haryana (33.83 lakh) and Nagaland (1.57 lakh). Final rolls are yet to be published. Cong calls it a U-turn The Congress on Friday termed the poll panel’s move a “U-turn” and said this is a “belated admission that wrongful deletion and exclusion” has taken place. The Opposition also accused the EC of deleting crores of eligible voters from the electoral rolls. The EC is apparently trying to avoid adverse observations from the court on the controversial voter deletions. On October 5, the SC clarified it had not approved any modified Form 6, contradicting the EC’s September 26 press note. Chief Justice Surya Kant said the altered form was never placed before the bench in the Bihar SIR case and asked EC to show who authorised it. On October 28, the Supreme Court said it had not finally ruled on the EC’s use of “logical discrepancy” to delete voters. Justice Joymalya Bagchi said the category was allowed only for West Bengal elections and was not applicable to Bihar SIR exercise. 82,000 INDIAN stock markets on Friday rallied for the seventh consecutive session, defying the ongoing global market rout and bringing early Diwali bonanza for investors, with benchmark indices recording their sharpest weekly gains in recent years. The Sensex surged 1,718 points (2.17%) to close at 81,028 on Friday while the Nifty surged 493.75 , points (2.01%) to settle at 25,030. The massive pre-Diwali rally in Indian markets was buoyed by robust foreign institutional investor inflows, easing crude oil prices, and strong corporate earnings in the second quarter. The global rout was triggered by a sell-off in AI-linked stocks softening US bond yields. “Indian equities defied a global rout, extending their winning run as investors treated the home 81,028.02 81,000 80,000 79,000 9am Friday Closing 79,310.01 Previous close 11 am 1pm 3 pm 4 pm Diwali airfares soar Airfares have shot up due to the Diwali rush, with the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route commanding `23,000 against `3,800-`5,000 last year. Similarly, Delhi-Mumbai tickets have climbed to `26,500 market as a safe harbour amid turmoil abroad,” said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Investments. “A sharp weekly slide in crude, easing US Treasury yields and a firmer rupee further burnished India’s relative appeal.” In the past seven sessions, the Sensex has advanced 7,782 points, or 10.62%, while the Nifty added 2,331 points or 10.27%. This was Nifty’s biggest weekly percentage gain in about six years and the largest ever weekly advance in absolute terms. The rally added `29 lakh crore to investors’ wealth during the week as the combined market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies swelled from `475.34 lakh crore to over `504 lakh crore. The sharp recovery comes after the market witnessed brutal selling pressure during August, September and October amid tensions in West Asia and its impact on global energy prices. Crude oil prices have a direct influence on Indian financial markets because India imports 85% of its crude oil needs. bedding down NCP working president Praful Patel calling on NCP(SP) chief Sharad Pawar at a hospital in Mumbai fuelled speculation of a merger. NCP Maharashtra chief Sunil Tatkare confirmed the talks and said the merger would have happened had Ajit Pawar been alive | PTI | P8 Creamy layer order for 2025 babu picks, not past hires: SC S U C HITR A K A LYA N M O H A NTY @ New Delhi Affirming its March 11, 2026 order that the creamy layer among OBC candidates could not be determined solely from parental salary, the Supreme Court on Friday clarified that the judgment could not be grounds for reopening selections or appointments concluded before the verdict. A bench of justices P S Narasimha and R Mahadevan also clarified that the order should be implemented in recruitment of What was March judgment about? To determine creamy layer status, a 1993 Office Memorandum said for children of PSU, private company, bank workers, an income/wealth test (excluding salary & agricultural income) would be used till equivalency to govt posts was fixed. A 2004 letter made salaries a criteria. In UoI vs Rohith Nathan, SC said the ’04 letter was discriminatory candidates under the 2025 Civil Services Examination as allocations were not yet made. Possibly leaving the door open for further ligitation, the SC said cases of candidates pending before any court, tribunal or authority should be considered on their own merits and it judgment could be considered in deciding E x p r e s s Re a d CM launches projects worth over `1,292 crore Bhubaneswar/Keonjhar: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Friday inaugurated and laid foundation stones of 330 development projects worth over `1,292 crore with a focus on education, health, technology and infrastructure. This includes launching of 198 projects of `411 crore and foundation stone laying of 132 projects worth over `880 crore.In the third phase of the Godabarish Mishra Adarsha Prathamika Vidyalaya scheme, foundation stones were laid for 630 schools across the state, including 35 in Keonjhar district | P4 such cases. Rejecting the Centre’s plea to extend its deadline for implementation to two years, the court said the six-month timeframe was for the Centre to accommodate the parties before the SC, who were granted relief in the March 11 order and gave the government two more months to comply . The Centre had approached the SC under Article 142, seeking to restrict the March verdict to prospective application. It argued that applying it to previous and ongoing recruitments could trig- ger “complete administrative chaos”. The SC, however, said granting relief to the parties before the court would neither disturb seniority nor require reopening completed recruitments. It said the parties had qualified for OBC non-creamy layer benefits and were entitled to reservation, consequential placement, and allotment of posts, noting a DoPT letter stating that selections pursuant to CSE 2016 were subject to the outcome of appeals pending before the SC. Ex-BJD MP faces EOW raids over fund collection from truckers to pay Naxals A s i s h M e h ta / S i s i r Pa n i g r a h y @ Bhubaneswar/Berhampur The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch on Friday said it was investigating former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP N Bhaskar Rao for collecting funds running into crores of rupees from truck owners in Rayagada district towards payment of protection money to Left Wing Extremists (LWEs). The EOW conducted raids at 11 locations in Odisha linked to three persons, including Rao and his son, for alleged misappropriation of about `60 crore belonging to the Rayagada Truck Owners’ Association. All three accused have been office-bearers of the truck owners’ body since 2003. According to the agency the prime accused, in conniv, ance with other office-bearers, had been collecting money from truck owners since 2005 under different heads, including payments to Naxals to ensure the safe movement of transport trucks The EOW when the district was affected by LWE conducted raids at 11 locations linked activities. to three persons, The huge collections were made including Rao and without proper accounting or issuance of receipts. It is further alleged that the his son, for alleged misappropriation misappropriated funds were diverted of about `60 crore to various private business ventures, belonging to the including logistics, trading, mining Rayagada Truck and real estate companies, it said. Owners’ Association On Friday, multiple teams of the agency conducted simultaneous searchSources es at properties belonging to Rao, his son Krishna Chaitanya and their associate Manmadha Rao in Rayagada. Besides the truck owners’ association office in Rayagada, 10 private companies in Bhubaneswar and one in Rayagada also came under the scanner. Searches were carried out at Sri Aditya Industries Private Limited in the capital’s Forest Park area, Arun Power Project Limited in Baramunda, Ari Aditya Logistics Private Limited and Sri Aditya Trading & Marketing Private Limited in Bhimpur, Shree Balaji Real Estates & Agri Developers and Sri Aditya Real Estate & Agri Developers in Mancheswar Industrial Estate. Searches were also carried out at the office of Aditya HP Enterprises Gas Agency in Rayagada. Of the seven firms, four belong to the Rao family and the remaining three to their relatives, official CONTINUED ON P5 sources said. Juicy bites Sonia recalls first culinary encounter with India that ‘set her mouth on fire’ P r e e t h a Na i r @ New Delhi In fresh excerpts from her forthcoming memoir, Congress veteran Sonia Gandhi recalls one of her first culinary encounters with India, a bright red tandoori chicken that “set her mouth on fire”. In Belonging: A Journey of Love, the Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson recalls, among other things, how she grew familiar with Indian food, clothing and family life. One of the first Indian dishes she tasted with Rajiv was tandoori chicken, publisher Harper Collins wrote in a promotional post on social media, days before the book’s November 10 release. “It was bright red, slightly charred and set her mouth on fire,” it said. In time, she grew used to meals served on thalis with the family: rice, phulkas, a vegetable, and mutton, fish or chicken. Arhar dal was served every day Beyond food, the . memoir also touches on Sonia’s relationship with the traditional Indian sari. For her engagement, she recalls choosing a jade Struggles with sari Sonia Gandhi considered the sari as one of the world’s most elegant garments, but she found learning to wear it difficult, as per the fresh excerpts green and pale yellow sari, which needed several safety pins to hold the drape in place. At her wedding, she wore a sari woven from yarn spun by Jawaharlal Nehru in prison during the freedom struggle, according to the publisher. “How does a country become a part of you? It happens slowly, as the things that once felt unfamiliar become part of everyday life,” the publisher posted along with photographs of Sonia interacting with people. Earlier excerpts shared on social media recalled her meeting Rajiv at a small Greek restaurant in Cambridge. In her first post on X, she described him as good-looking and gentle. The memoir also traces her entry into public life after years of resisting politics. It recounts her travels across India to campaign, meet people, and listen to their concerns. The book also covers her marriage, her introduction to her mother-in-law and former prime minister Indira Gandhi, and her efforts to settle in India, including learning Hindi.