India, Philippines are strategic partners External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Philippines Tess Lazaro exchange documents during a joint press conference after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Philippines’ President Ferdinand R Marcos Jr, at Hyderabad House, in New Delhi, on Tuesday | PTI | P9 Chennai l wednesday l august 06, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 20 l late city EDITION 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 Substantial hike in levy in 24 hours, says Trump More than 50 people missing Four dead in Uttarkashi cloudburst n a r e n d r a s e t h i @ Dehradun DI PA K M O NDAL @ New Delhi A day after India launched a blistering counterattack on the repeated targeting by Washington for its trade ties with Moscow, US President Trump on Tuesday doubled down on his threat to raise tariffs on Indian goods “very substantially” in the next 24 hours. Last week, Trump had announced a 25% tariff on Indian goods plus an unspecified penalty tied to India’s trade with Russia. This, he said, would go up because India was not listening to his advice to stop buying oil from Russia. India has categorically clarified that it will, like any major economy, take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security . “India has not been a good Donald Trump trading partner... so we settled on 25%, but I think I’m going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they’re buying Russian oil, they’re fuelling the war machine,” Trump said in an interview on Tuesday . Trump also said that he will introduce a small tariff on pharma products and gradually raise it to 250%. Currently, pharma has been kept out of the purview of reciprocal tariff. The US is the largest buyer of Indian pharma goods with $13 billion exports to the country, accounting for 54% of India’s total pharma exports. Meanwhile, India is in no mood to spoil its strategic relations with Russia. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is set to travel to Russia this week to press for faster delivery of the remaining S-400 air defence systems. Home minister Amit Shah says Army, NDRF teams dispatched A screengrab of a video showing flash floods after a cloudburst in Uttarkashi | PTI e x p r e ss r e a d Man hacks 3 daughters to death, kills self Namakkal: A man allegedly hacked his three young daughters to death before dying by suicide in Namakkal on Tuesday. Police said that the man, Govindharaj (36), may have taken the extreme step due to a debt of `14 lakh | P2 TN Guv refers university bill to President CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi has reserved the Kalaignar University Bill, passed by the state Assembly to form a university in Kumbakonam, for the President’s consideration | P4 RS head cites Jakhar, rules out SIR debate Pa r v e z S u lta n @ New Delhi Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh on Tuesday cited a 1988 ruling of the then Lok Sabha Speaker Balram Jakhar to rule out a debate on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, in the House. “You know that I cannot comment upon the actions and decisions of the EC, which is an autonomous body Never before I have done it nor I will do it . now. Until and unless you change the Constitution and bring the EC under your purview, we cannot comment on EC actions. I am only concerned that the EC is an autonomous body and its decision cannot be discussed here,” Harivansh quoted Jakhar as having said in the Lok Sabha. He went on to reject 34 notices submitted by Opposition MPs, most of them seeking suspension of business under Rule 267 to immediately take up SIR. Harivansh cited procedural lapses in the notices, including incorrect formatting, sub judice status of the matter, and lack of precedence. “Our previous chairmen were of the considered opinion that Rule 267 was applicable for raising rarest of rare cases and never on matters of routine nature,” he said. SC set to hear J&K statehood plea on Fri SU C HITRA K ALYAN M O HANT Y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear on August 8 a plea seeking directions to the Centre for restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir in a time-bound manner. The petition was filed last year by college teacher Zahoor Ahmed Bhat and activist Khurshaid Ahmad Malik, arguing that the failure to restore the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir violates the idea of federalism. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the petitioners, mentioned the matter before a bench of Chief Justice of India B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran saying it is shown as listed on August 8. He requested the bench that it not be deleted from the day’s cause list. Chief Justice of India Gavai accepted the request. THREE devastating cloudbursts within a span of three hours on Tuesday unleashed unprecedented havoc in Uttarakhand’s Dharali village in Uttarkashi district, leading to the deaths of four people and more than 50 reported ly missing. Rapidly flowing water and debris swept through the Himalayan village on way to Gangotri after the cloudbursts resulted in flashfloods that bar relled through homes, trees and cars, trapping scores of people. Officials said flash floods in the Kheerganga river led to the village being literally washed away Local villagers fear the ac. tual number of fatalities could be significantly higher. Dharali is the main stopover Cumulative rainfall (in cm) as of 8.30 am in UttarKashi dists Station Aug 4 Aug 5 Barot Bhatwari Dunda Mori Purola 0.5 3 1.3 0.2 1.5 1.8 1 0 1.8 1.2 Uttarkashi 0.8 2.7 on way to Gangotri, the origin of the Ganges, and home to many hotels, restaurants and home stays. At least half the village was buried under slush, rubble and water, officials said. Eyewitnesses described horror scenes as a deluge of water and mud surged towards the village around 1 PM. Contiguous buildings, including three and four-storey houses, fell like a pack of cards. “Everything is finished,” a voice is heard in a video of the cloudburst. The devastation was not confined to Dharali alone. A second cloudburst struck right in front of the Harsil Army camp, causing extensive damage. A third cloudburst occurred at Sukhi Top, resulting in closure of the road to Harsil. Jai Prakash Singh Pawar, district disaster management officer for Uttarkashi, told this paper, “We received information about extreme rainfall at 1.45 PM. Army police, and SDRF , were deployed.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his condolences while Home Minister Amit Shah said additional teams of NDRF and ITBP have been dispatched. 11.19% TN growth hits 2-digit Tamil Nadu records double-digit economic growth rate in real terms during 2024-25, as per the revised estimates of union statistics ministry | P4