BHUBANESWAR  MONDAY  JULY 28, 2025  `9.00  PAGES 12  JEYPORE EDITION ISRAEL TO HALT FIGHTING IN GAZA AS FOOD CRISIS LOOMS Israeli military’s pause is for 10 hours a day and meant to open secure routes for aid delivery to desperate Palestinians FLOUR, SUGAR AND CANNED FOOD AIRDROPPED GLOBAL CRITICISM OF ISRAEL BEHIND MOVE Israel said it would begin a ‘tactical pause’ in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Muwasi, three areas with a large populace, to ‘increase the scale of humanitarian aid’ entering the territory. The military also said Sunday that it carried out aid airdrops into Gaza, which included packages of aid with flour, sugar and canned food ■ ■ Experts have warned for months of the risk of a famine in Gaza, where Israel has restricted aid because it says Hamas siphons off goods to help bolster its rule, a claim that Hamas has denied Images from Gaza in recent days of emaciated children have fanned global criticism of Israel, including by close allies | P9 5 lakh PEOPLE IN GAZA ARE EXPERIENCING FAMINE LIKE CONDITIONS: U.N. 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 Parliament set Over 11,000 affected in floods across 6 dists: Govt for fiery debate on Op Sindoor EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bhubaneswar Congress issues whip to its members to be present in Lok Sabha for the next three days P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi Tuesday, party sources said. The Congress has been allotted WITH the Lok Sabha set to be- three hours to speak. gin a three-day debate on the Sources said Home Minister Pahalgam attack and Opera- Amit Shah and External Aftion Sindoor on Monday, the fairs Minister S Jaishankar ruling alliance and the Opposi- will speak, while Prime Ministion parties have lined up top ter Narendra Modi may interspeakers to put across their vene to explain his governpoints of view. ment’s track record on national The Cong ress on security . Sunday issued a whip The whip issued by to its MPs to be present Congress Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha. Kodikunnil Suresh After a week-long said” “Be present posistandoff between the tively in Lok Sabha Opposition and the from 11:00 AM onwards Treasury benches, the till adjournment of the Tharoor Monday session is exHouse on Monday, to speak? pected to be stormy as Tuesday & Wednesday While there is some Opposition parand support the Party no clarity if ties are expected to Stand. This may be Congress will raise the ongoing spetreated as three-line ask Shashi cial intensive revision whip”. Tharoor to (SIR) in Bihar as well. With 65 minutes alHowever, Union minis- speak, sources lotted for the Samajwater Kiran Rijiju has said Lok Sabha di Party, Akhilesh YaSpeaker can said that every issue dav and Rajeev Rai will invite him to cannot be taken up for speak on the issue. discussion in Parlia- speak since he Besides its battery led an ment at once. of leaders like Anurag important While Defence MinThakur, Sudhanshu delegation ister Rajnath Singh is Trivedi and Nishikant likely to open the disDubey the NDA is like, cussion from the ruling camp, ly to field members from the the Congress will field deputy multi-party delegations that leader of Lok Sabha Gaurav travelled to over 30 world capiGogoi to open the debate. The tals to present India’s case after Congress line-up includes gen- Operation Sindoor. They ineral secretaries Priyanka Gan- clude Shrikant Shinde of the dhi and K C Venugopal, who Shiv Sena, Sanjay Jha of JD(U), will speak on the opening day and Harish Balayogi of TDP . . Leader of Opposition Rahul The Rajya Sabha will take up Gandhi is likely to speak on the issue on Tuesday . Man attempts to rape FM univ asst prof’s wife, arrested EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Balasore A 21-year-old youth posing as a gas cylinder delivery agent, allegedly attempted to rape the wife of an assistant professor of Fakir Mohan (FM) University at their quarters on the campus at Remuna in Nuapadhi area here. Police arrested the accused Shankar Patra of Nilagiri’s Mardarajpur village on Sunday . As per sources, the incident occurred at around 1.15 pm on Saturday The assistant profes. sor’s wife was alone at home when the accused knocked the door of their quarters claiming he had come to deliver a gas cylinder. Subsequently, when the woman opened the door, Patra barged into their house and allegedly attempted to sexually assault her. The woman continued to fight the intruder for around 20 minutes after which she managed to escape his clutches, run to the adjacent room and lock the door from the inside. The woman then called up her husband and narrated the incident. When Patra realised that the woman had already informed her husband, he left the place immediately . The assistant professor along with the security guards and other staff were on way to the quarters when they found Patra trying to escape the university campus. They then caught hold of him and informed the vice-chancellor of the university Prof Santosh Kumar CONTINUED ON P5 Tripathy . OVER 11,000 people in six districts have been affected by floods due to heavy rains triggered by the depression over Jharkhand and north Chhattisgarh, the state government said on Sunday . The districts include Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Sundargarh and Keonjhar. Over 1,000 people have been shifted to safer places and relief camps in the majorly hit Mayurbhanj and Balasore districts, Revenue and Disaster Management minister Suresh Pujari told mediapersons. He, however, said with the system losing steam and moving away from Jharkhand, the rainfall activity in the upper catchment areas have ceased and the flood situation has be- EXPRESS READ Chola kings’ statues will be installed in TN: Modi Gangaikonda Cholapuram: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced that statues of emperors Raja Raja Chola and Rajendra Chola I will be installed in Tamil Nadu. Modi spoke at length about the contributions of the Chola emperors and the Shaivite tradition to the country | P5 Fake ambassador visited 30 countries New Delhi: Harshvardhan Jain, who posed as the ambassador of several micronations and ran a fake embassy out of a rented bungalow in Ghaziabad, visited 30 foreign nations nearly 200 times between 2005 and 2015, the STF probe revealed. The STF also found 25 shell companies registered under Jain’s name. Flood inundated houses in Dhamanagar area of Bhadrak district I EXPRESS gun to improve in the state. The water-level in Baitarani and Jalaka rivers has started receding. Damage assessment will be done after flood water recedes completely, he said. However, the Subarnarekha river continued to show an increasing trend at Rajghat in A day before the Supreme Court is set to hear a batch of petitions challenging the Election Commission of India’s decision to carry out a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, the poll panel on Sunday said it has successfully completed the first phase of the exercise to collect enumeration forms. The enumeration, which took place from June 24 to July 25, 2025, saw participation from over 7.24 crore electors of a total of 7.89 crore. In an official statement, the ECI said 65 lakh voters will be excluded from the upcoming draft electoral rolls to be published on August 1. These exclusions include 22 lakh deceased voters, 36 lakh who have either permanently relocated or were not traceable, and 7 lakh who were registered at multiple places. The revision drive aimed to ensure that no elector is left behind, with targeted outreach to first-time voters, urban residents, migrants, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities, the panel said. “The initiative also witnessed a strong political response, with all 12 major parties participating. Notably, the number of booth level agents (BLAs) surged by over 16 percent, with CPI(M) and Congress registering more than a 100 percent increase in BLA nominations. CPI(M) reported a dramatic 1083 rise, while the BJP led in absolute numbers with over 53,000 BLAs, followed by RJD and JD(U),” it said. The draft rolls, available both online and offline on August 1, will be open for claims and objections for 1 month. N A R E N D R A S E T H I @ Dehradun AN avoidable stampede on the path leading to the Mansa Devi Temple in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, claimed the lives of six devotees on Sunday while more , than 35 were injured, some with critical injuries. Rumours of a broken electric wire near the stairs to the temple triggered panic among people, leading to the stampede, Haridwar SSP Pramendra Singh Dobal said. The deceased were identified as Arush (12), Shakal Dev (18), Vicky (18), Vipin (18), Vakil and Shanti. What began as a routine spiritual journey for hundreds quickly turned into a nightmare. Devotees were making their way to offer prayers or returning after ‘darshan’ when the rumour caused panic, lead- An injured person being taken for treatment after a stampede broke out at Mansa Devi temple, in Haridwar, on Sunday | PTI ing to the tragedy . “It was sheer chaos. People started screaming about electrocution, and everyone just pushed forward,” recounted Pankaj Chaurasia, a devotee who managed to escape. “Those who fell on the narrow, crowded stairwell had no chance. People were trampled as the crowd surged forward.” The incident took place around 9 am. Being a Sunday a , large crowd of devotees had TCS to cut workforce by 2% amid shift towards AI U M A K A N N A N @ Bengaluru Congress workers in Kolkata protest against Bihar’s revision of electoral rolls on Sunday | PTI INDIA bloc asks ECI to discontinue SIR With over 65 lakh voters at the risk of exclusion after the first phase of Bihar’s SIR exercise, INDIA bloc parties on Sunday asked the Election Commission of India to stop the process immediately, alleging that the data is ‘flawed’. At a joint conference held by the bloc, leaders said SIR is based on ‘opacity’ and termed it ‘institutional arrogance’ | P7 THE AI storm is finally here, and as feared it is taking away jobs. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest IT services firm, plans to lay off 2% of its global workforce in line with the company’s broader strategy to become ‘future-ready’. In absolute terms, 12,260 employees in the middle and the senior grades will lose jobs this year. TCS’s workforce, as on June 30, stood at 6,13,069. In a statement, TCS said it is on a journey to become a future-ready organisation, and this includes strategic initiatives including investing in new-tech areas, entering new markets, deploying AI at scale for clients and for the company creating next-gen , infra, and realigning workforce model. “Towards this, a number of reskilling and redeployment initiatives have been under- way We will also be releasing ... associates from the organization whose deployment may not be feasible,” it added. HR experts directly link such layoffs to AI as it automates tasks. Though TCS has not spoken about AI displacing employees, in a recent post-earnings conference, company officials said they are focusing more on upskilling employees and making them AI-ready . A d i t ya N a r aya n Mishra, MD and CEO of CIEL HR, said AI has emerged as a major disruptor in the IT services industry. “As processes have become standardised, AI tools are handling them with speed and accuracy. This is also redefining the role of people managers, whose traditional responsibilities such as delegating, monitoring, and supporting teams are now being augmented or replaced by AI,” he said. INDIA IN ENGLAND Hundred reasons to smile for dramatic comeback TNIE in England FIROZ MIRZA @MANCHESTER Ravindra Jadeja celebrates his wellfought hundred against England at Old Trafford on Sunday | AFP RELIEF, joy and exuberance. Those were the emotions running through the Indian dressing room on Sunday evening. Not too long ago, nay hours one may say, they were staring down the barrel, staring at in- drinking water to the people in the flood zones. Cooked food will be provided to the people in the relief camps as per requirement till the situation becomes normal. Additional relief commissioner Manish Agrawal has been assigned the task of supervising the relief and restoration works in the flood-affected areas of Balasore, Bhadrak and Jajpur districts, he added. Singh said five ODRAF teams along with one NDRF, 26 fire and emergency services teams have been deployed in Balasore district, while one ODRAF team, 23 fire services team have been engaged in Mayurbhanj district. Besides one ODRAF, one NDRF and 13 fire services teams have been deployed in Bhadrak district while one ODRAF team and 14 fire services teams have been engaged in Jajpur CONTINUED ON P5 district. Six dead, 35 hurt in Haridwar stampede EC says 1st phase of Bihar electoral roll revision over M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi Balasore district and was flowing at 11.16 mtr against the danger mark of 10.36 mtr. Official sources said the flow is expected to touch 11.4 mtr later on Sunday night. But at Jamsholaghat, the river was flowing at 48.86 mtr, below the danger mark of 49.16 mtr. Baitarani was flowing below danger mark at Anandpur and Akhuapada and expected to decrease further. While at Anandpur the water level was 36.24 mtr as against 38.36 mtr, at Akhuapada the river was flowing at 17.66 mtr against the danger mark of 18.33 mtr. Similarly, Jalaka river was flowing at 5.52 mtr at Mathani against the danger mark of 6.5 mtr. Special relief commissioner (SRC) Deoranjan Kumar Singh reviewed the situation in the presence of the Revenue minister and asked districts collectors to provide relief in the flood-affected areas. The SRC said a high alert has been sounded in Balasore district in view of the flood situation. Night patrolling has been intensified in all affected areas, he added. The SRC said arrangements have been made to provide clean evitability with awe. England were toying with their bowlers and captain Shubman Gill seemed have no answer. A lead of 311 runs and India were pushed to the wall. Any chance of batting out three sessions on Sunday started looking even more grim when England captain Ben Stokes took the ball from the other end and sent back wellset overnight batter KL Rahul. Gill, however, completed his century before a lapse of concentration minutes before lunch cost his wicket. The job, however, was not over. Ravindra Jadeja picked from from Lord’s, and in the company of Washington Sundar, enacted one of India’s greatest comebacks. Draws in Test cricket do have dramas and ample was in store as the evening winded towards dull draw. With both the batters closing in on their hundreds England captain wanted to shake hands but India wanted to continue. Though England players livid everything was within the laws. Part-timer Harry Brook was pressed into action and he bowled some donkey drops as both batters got to their respective centuries. Now, India go into the last Test with head held high and chin up. They will try and give everything at The Oval and P11 draw the series 2-2. gathered at the temple atop the Shivalik hills at a height of more than 500 feet. Videos from the spot showed a massive rush of people, including children and women, near the temple. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, while announcing a financial assistance of `2 lakh to next of kin of the deceased and `50,000 to the injured, ordered a probe. President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among those who expressed grief over the loss of lives in the stampede. Modi, in a post on X, said: “Condolences to those who lost their loved ones. May the injured recover soon.” Mahant Ravindra Puri, President of the temple trust, said, “The stampede was caused by someone falling near the temple, not due to a broken wire.” BJD corporator held for raping minor girl EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bhubaneswar IN a major embarrassment for the BJD, police on Sunday arrested party’s Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) corporator Amaresh Jena for allegedly raping a minor girl. The corporator from ward no-43 in the capital city was arrested from Nilagiri in Balasore district. He had been absconding since Wednesday after the minor girl lodged a complaint at the Laxmisagar pol i c e s t at i o n here. She alleged that the corporator had raped her on the promise of marriage. On Saturday police arrested , five persons for helping him abscond. Meanwhile, immediately after his arrest, the BJD suspended Jena from the party with immediate effect. BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said that party president Naveen Patnaik has zero tolerance towards any form of crime against women. Jena was immediately suspended after his arrest, he said. The girl issued a video message on Saturday evening threatening that she would resort to self-immolation like the girl student of FM (Autonomous) College, Balasore, if the police did not take any action against him. “There is no one with me today . But people will have to take out a candle march tomorrow if my fate would become like that of the FM Colle ge student,” CONTINUED ON P5 she said.