BHUBANESWAR l wednesday l january 14, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l LATE CITY EDITION no more 10-minute delivery by quick commerce companies Eternal-owned quick-commerce firm Blinkit dropped its ‘10-minute’ delivery claim after a Union labour ministry fiat on Tuesday | P10 keeps in mind risks of quick delivery model Other aggregators, like Zepto and Swiggy-owned Instamart, are also expected to follow suit. The decision to do away with the ‘10-minute’ delivery model came after Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya persuaded delivery aggregators, keeping in mind growing concerns over welfare and safety of delivery workers galloping to close orders pic: P Ravikumar 2.3cr gig workers hail govt intervention ■ The promise of 10-minute delivery led to gig workers holding a nationwide strike on New Year’s Eve in 2025, drawing attention to workers’ health, safety vis-a-vis the model, and their income ■ In a statement, Gig and Platform Service Workers Union welcomed the govt’s decision to discontinue the instant delivery system is the projected strength of india’s gig workforce by 2030 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 Addl 25% Iran-linked tariff to have minimal impact on India: Govt With toll topping 2,000, Trump announces fresh levy to press Tehran to go easy on the protesters P u s h p i ta De y @ New Delhi Iran’s trade Major partners in total trade in 2024 India $3.6 bn Iraq Turkiye UAE China $12.3 bn $17.3 bn $32.4 bn $28.2 bn Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials.... HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!! Source: Trade Data Monitor via WTO, compiled by Bloomberg While US President Donald Trump delivered yet another blow by announcing 25% additional tariff on countries that do active trade with Iran, government sources said India is likely to have minimal impact. Their confidence stemmed from the fact that India’s total merchandise trade with Iran stood at only $1.6 billion (in 2024-25), which is 0.15% of the country’s total trade. “For India, Iran does not even figure in the top 50 global trading partners. India’s trade value with Iran is expected to further go down in the current fiscal year given external economic factors. (Therefore) 25% tariff announced by the US on trade partners of Iran is likely to have minimal impact on India,” said government sources. Iran’s total import in 2024 was worth about $68 billion, sourcing it goods mainly from the UAE ($21 billion - 30%), China ($17 billion - 26%), Turkiye ($11 billion - 16%) and the EU ($6 billion - 9%). India’s share was only $1.2 billion (2.3%). Top exports from India to Iran include cereals (rice), coffee, tea, spices, edible oil, etc. “There is still no clarity on whether humanitarian products like food and medicines will be exempted. India significantly exports such products. In any event, given the low overall trade volume, the macro impact will be low. If these products are exempted, the impact will be even lower,” said Anup Wadhawan, former commerce secretary . Trump announced the additional tariff to pressure Iran to step back from its violent crackdown on a wave of protests in the country that have left over 2,000 people dead. As per the data collated by Bloomberg citing WTO, India despite being one of the top 10 trading countries of Iran accounts for only 2.9% of the total share of trade. In 2024, the overall trade including both service and merchandise, between India and Iran stood at just $3.6 billion. Its merchandise trade with Iran dived by more than 20% in the last five years from $2.1 billion in 2020-21 to $1.6 billion in 2024-25, showed the data compiled by the commerce ministry . HC gives govt 6 weeks Split verdict on to revive Lokayukta prior nod clause in anti-graft law Different strokes E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Cuttack SUCHITRA KALYA N MOHA N TY @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Tuesday delivered a split verdict on the validity of a 2018 provision that was inserted into the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, which mandates prior government approval before investigating public officials in corruption cases. While Justice B V Nagarathna ruled that Section 17A be struck down, Justice K V Viswanathan partially read it down. The matter would now go to the Chief Justice of India to assign it to a larger bench. Justice Nagarathna observed that Section 17A was an attempt to “protect the corrupt”. “The requirement of prior sanction is contrary to the object of the Act, and it forecloses inquiry and Protecting protects the corrupt rathofficers er than seeking to protect “The singular the honest and those with object (of Section integrity who really do 17A) is to protect not require any protecbona fide tion,” she said. recommendations On the other hand, Jusand decisions tice Viswanathan held that taken by officials an independent agency and bureaucrats,” must decide the question Justice of prosecution sanction. Viswanathan He directed that the sancobserved tion be decided by the Lokpal/Lokayukta, reading down Section 17A to that extent. “Section 17A is constitutionally valid subject to the condition that the sanction must be decided by the Lokpal or the Lokayukta of the State,” Justice Viswanathan said. He added that striking down the provision will amount to “throwing the baby out with the bath water”, warning of policy paralysis from frivolous probes, and stressing the need to protect honest officers. He said a fine balance has to be maintained between the need to protect a public servant from mala fide cases and the importance of upholding probity in public office. EAM, Rubio talk trade, meet likely next mth J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi A day after Washington’s new ambassador to New Delhi Sergio Gor said India and the US would take up outstanding trade issues, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday and discussed the next steps in the trade negotiations, critical minerals and a possible meeting next month. Jaishankar said the conversation also PhD scholar dies in mishap on IIT campus E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar In a tragic accident, a research scholar of IIT-Bhubaneswar was killed and another seriously injured after their scooter crashed into a street kerb on the institute campus late on Monday night. The deceased has been identified as Shankhasubhra Chakraborty , a third-year PhD scholar. Sources said, the incident occurred at around 11.20 pm when Chakraborty and Shakti Sagar Srivastav, a first-year research scholar, both from the School of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences, were going on a scooter from their hostel towards the academic zone on the campus. However, Chakraborty, who was riding the two-wheeler with Srivastav on the pillion, reportedly lost control and dashed on to the road Continued on P5 kerb.  covered nuclear cooperation, defence and energy Gor, too, said that Rubio and Jais. hankar discussed “next steps regarding our bilateral trade negotiations, critical minerals and a possible meeting next month.” The diplomatic outreach signals an early effort to stabilise India–US relations. On Monday, Gor described the current frictions as part of a mature partnership capable of managing disagreements. The Orissa High Court on Tuesday granted the state government six weeks time to fill up the posts of chairperson and five members of the Odisha Lokayukta, which has been defunct for more than a year owing to the vacancies. A division bench of Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice MS Raman passed the direction while hearing three PILs filed by Prabir Kumar Das, Manoranjan Sahoo and Satish Kumar Biswal, raising concerns over the continued paralysis of the anti-corruption watchdog. During the hearing, advocate general Pitambar Acharya informed the court that more time was required to finalise the appointments as the Odisha Lokayukta Act, 2014 needs to be amended. He said the proposed amendment aims to remove discrepancies and anomalies relating to the selection committee responsible for appointing the chairperson and members. Taking note of the submission, the court fixed February 24 as the next date of hearing to review the progress made in filling up the posts, including those of two judicial members. The petitioners pointed out that the institution has remained without leadership since the retirement of the chairperson on March 19, 2024, followed by the remaining members by August 8, the same year. As a result, the Lokayukta has been unable to hear or dispose of complaints for more than a year. The PILs alleged that the government’s delay has effectively stalled the adjudication of corruption-related complaints. One of the petitioners referred to information obtained under the Right to Information Act, stating that while 444 cases were registered before the Lokayukta in 2024, only 149 were disposed of. In 2025, 83 complaints were filed up to May 31, but none could be taken up due to the absence of a functional bench. Pak-born US cricketer ‘denied’ T20 WC visa E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Chennai ALI Khan, a Pakistan-born and raised US international cricketer, has claimed on Instagram that his Indian visa has been ‘denied’. Khan, who put out a story on his personal handle without elaborating, has featured in 13 T20Is for the US. It’s understood that there are other Pakistan-oriVISA gin players in the US team who are in a similar situation but the International Cricket Council (ICC) is expected to find a quick resolution to the issue. With the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in India and Sri Lanka in under a month, the heightened tensions between India and Pakistan have once again brought this Continued on P5,11 issue to the foreground.