BHUBANESWAR  WEDNESDAY  AUGUST 06, 2025  `9.00  PAGES 12  JEYPORE EDITION INDIA, PHILIPPINES ANNOUNCE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP EYE ON COUNTERING CHINA’S HEFT IN REGION The announcement follows high-level talks between PM Narendra Modi and visiting Philippine President Ferdinand R Marcos Jr. At the heart of the deal lies a shared commitment to deepen defence, economic, and digital cooperation set against a backdrop of rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific, particularly with China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea | P7 India and Philippines upgraded their bilateral relationship to a strategic partnership following high-level talks between the two on Tuesday ■ $3.53 bn WE ARE FRIENDS BY CHOICE, SAYS PM ■ The talks resulted in over a dozen key agreements and declarations, including enhanced naval, air, and army-to-army cooperation, and a landmark treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters “India and Philippines are friends by choice, partners by destiny. Ours isn’t just a friendship of past, it is a promise to the future,” Modi said WAS THE BILATERAL TRADE VALUE BETWEEN INDIA, PHILLIPINES IN 2023-24 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 Kalp Kedar Temple Gartang Gali THE DHARALI VILLAGE THAT GOT WASHED AWAY NEAR AN ARMY CAMP AT HARSHIL Bhaironghati Gangotri UTTARAKHAND Kedar Kund CUMULATIVE RAINFALL (IN CM) AS OF 8.30 AM IN UTTARKASHI DISTRICTS 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 A view of the Dharali market in Uttarkashi right after the flash floods triggered by cloudbursts at Kheer Gad area of Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand on Tuesday afternoon. On left is a topographical image of the same location to show the disaster site WIPED OUT Uttarkashi vulnerable to flash floods: IIT paper Jammu: The Indian Himalayas are vulnerable to extreme weather events, including cloudbursts, extreme precipitation, flash floods, and avalanches. Occurrence of extreme weather events is frequent for locations at elevation of 1,000-2,000 metres, according to a 2023 paper at IIT Jammu. Uttarkashi lies at an altitude of 1,160 metres N A R E N D R A S E T H I @ Dehradun 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 at least four persons and more than 50 others reportedly missing. Rapidly-flowing water and debris swept through the Himalayan village on way to Gangotri after the cloudbursts resulted in flashfloods that barrelled through homes, trees and cars, trapping scores of people. Part of Dharali village in Uttarkashi buried as cloudbursts result in flash floods; four killed, over 50 missing; Army, NDRF roped in 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 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 even as rescue personnel battled the elements in the ecologically fragile heights to contain the damage of the afternoon. Eyewitnesses de- scribed horrific 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 as the surging waters washed over them. “Everything is finished,” a voice is heard in a video of the cloudburst that went viral. The devastation was not confined to Dharali alone. A second cloudburst struck in the evening right in front of the Harsil Army camp, causing extensive damage. A third cloudburst occurred at Sukhi Top, leading to the forma- tion of a temporary lake near the Army camp. This new water body poses a significant threat to towns situated along the Bhagirathi river. The Sukhi Top incident resulted 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 from a person at 1.45 pm. Immediately, the Army, police, and SDRF were deployed for relief operations.” The flash floods came in the wake of cloudbursts somewhere in the catch- ment area of the Kheer Ganga river, an official said. District Magistrate Prashant Arya acknowledged a possibility of a rise in the toll. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who was in Andhra Pradesh and rushed to Dehradun, said he has directed officials to conduct rescue operations on a war footing. Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his condolences. Home minister Amit Shah said three ITBP teams and four NDRF teams have been dispatched to help the Army in rescue operations. P8 Beware of the new system, CM RS head cites Jakhar, warns forest staff on corruption rules out SIR debate EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bhubaneswar WITH the government launching a massive crackdown on corruption in the recent days, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Tuesday warned forest officers to steer clear from dishonest means and commit themselves to integrity and dedication in public service. In a stern message to the officials at the state-level conference of divisional forest officers (DFOs) in Lok Seva Convention Centre here, Majhi said, “Change your attitude and stay away from corruption, else the new system will strike hard. In my government, there is z ero tolerance to corruption.” The CM’s warning came in the backdrop of a series of Vigilance raids on government officials including two senior forest officers which unearthed startling wealth CM Mohan Charan Majhi and Forest minister Ganesh Ram Singkhuntia going round an exhibition at the DFO conference accumulated by them. A DFO posted in Keonjhar Kendu Leaf division, Nityananda Nayak, was even found to possess a whopping 115 land plots, the highest ever landholding of a government officer detected by the anti-corruption agency in the state. Addressing the DFOs, Majhi said a few dishonest officers have brought the entire forest department into disrepute and urged them work with honesty and integrity . He also emphasised the importance of creating a harmonious coexistence ensuring the security of the tribal communities who reside in and around the forest areas. One-fourth of the state’s population belongs to tribal communities and most of them largely depend on forest for their livelihood. “Since forest officials primarily interact with the poor, tribal and marginalised communities in their line of duty, they should be sensitive and empathetic towards them while enforcing forest protection laws. The field staff of the department must ensure that these poor tribals are not harassed for small violation of forest rules and regulations,” he instructed. Majhi advised the forest department to look for innovative mechanisms to reduce elephant transgression into human habitations and destruction of CONTINUED ON P5 crops. 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. “Regrettably some members are using Rule 267 in an apparently casual manner. When the notices are disallowed, the House is disrupted. 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,” Harivansh said. Under Rule 267, not a single notice was admitted between 2000 and 2004, only four between 2004 and 2009, one out of 491 during 2009–14, and just six out of 3,152 notices from 2014 to the Budget Session of 2025. DON DOUBLES DOWN Substantially high tariff in 24 hrs: Trump D I PA K M O N D A L @ 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 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 They (India) will give said in an interview on Tuesday . us zero tariffs... But Trump also said that he will that’s not good introduce a small tariff on pharenough, because of ma products and gradually raise what they’re doing it to 250%. Currently pharma has , with oil, not good been kept out of the purview of Donald Trump Trump’s 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. The Indian government has not officially reacted to Trump’s latest remarks. On Monday, soon after Trump’s announcement, the Ministry of External Affairs put out a strongly worded statement calling out the double standards of the US, which imports goods worth billions of dollars from Russia. Clearly India is in no mood to spoil its strategic rela, tions 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 and review new defence procurements. SATYA PAL MALIK A CHEQUERED CAREER OF CONVICTION, CONTRADICTION & CONTROVERSY Satya Pal Malik, a seasoned politician who traversed India’s political spectrum from the Lok Dal to Congress to the BJP, and later emerged as a fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, passed away on Tuesday | P7 Shovana new OSCW chief, Babita to head OSCPCR SC set to hear J&K statehood plea on Friday EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bhubaneswar THE state government on Tuesday appointed senior BJP leader Shovana Mohanty as the chairperson of Odisha State Commission for Women (OSCW). The government also appointed four other members of the commission. They include Prativa Satpathy from Cuttack, Urmila Mohapatra from Bhubaneswar, Kalpana Mallick from Kendrapara and Mukta Sahu from Bargarh. The post of OSCW chairper- son was lying vacant since the last 10 months after the BJP government removed Namita Behera, a BJD appointee, from the chair in November last year. A notification issued by the Women and Child Development department said Mohanty, who hails from Karanjia in Balasore district, will be in office for a period of three years from the date of her appointment on August 5. Mohanty thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and state BJP president Manmohan Samal for placing their Shovana Mohanty Babita Patra faith in her. “I will put in all my efforts to ensure that the neglected and oppressed women of the state get speedy justice,” she said. The government has also appointed Babita Patra as the chairperson of Odisha State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (OSCPCR). Patra, who belongs to Berhampur, will also be in office for a period of three years. The OSCPCR has also got six new members in Sukeshi Oram from Keonjhar, Kalpana Lenka from Rourkela, Chandana Das, Kasturi Mishra and Sujata Nayak from Bhubaneswar, and Manasmita Khuntia from Bhadrak. In March this year, the government had removed Mandakini Kar from the post of chairperson along with five members of the commission. S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T 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. The plea sought restora- tion of statehood within two months. 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 the matter is shown as listed on August 8 and requested the bench that it not be deleted from the day’s cause list. The CJI accepted the request. On December 11, 2023, the Supreme Court had unani- mously upheld the revocation of Article 370, even as it ordered that assembly elections be held in Jammu and Kashmir by September 2024 and its statehood be restored “at the earliest”. The petitioners submitted that despite the court’s directions, no steps were taken by the Centre to provide a timeline for restoring statehood. Remaining a Union Territory is causing grave losses to the development of J&K and affecting the democratic rights of people, it added.