‘Wangchuk wanted Nepal-like protest’ Sonam Wangchuk tried to incite youth to create agitations like the ones seen in Nepal and Bangladesh, the Centre told SC BHUBANESWAR l tuesday l february 03, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l LATE CITY EDITION India-US trade deal done Tariff cut to 18% Trump says Modi agreed to stop buying Russian oil after telephonic conversation 18% or 43%? J aya nt h J a c o b @ New Delhi US President Donald Trump on Monday announced a trade deal between India and the United States under which Washington will lower tariffs on Indian goods from 25% to 18%. Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the announcement, saying it would benefit Indian exports. Whether or not the effective tariff goes down from 59% to 18% was left unsaid by both the leaders. However, a US embassy spokesperson in New Delhi said, “I can confirm the final tariff will be 18%.” A White House official quoted by Reuters made the same point, saying the US was rescinding the punitive 25% levy on all imports from India over its purchases of Russian oil. Modi in his post on X said, “Wonderful to speak with my dear friend President Trump today. Delighted that Made in India products will now have a reduced tariff of 18%.” The inference was the final tariff was down to 18%. “Big thanks to President It was a bit of a guessing game as both Trump and Modi left it unsaid Trump announced drop in reciprocal tariff from 25% to 18% Trump on behalf of the 1.4 billion people of India for this wonderful announcement.” Trump claimed that India had agreed to stop buying Russian oil and would instead buy more energy from the US and potentially Venezuela, while also reducing tariff and nontariff barriers against Washington to zero. There was no immediate comment from the Indian side on Trump’s claim on Russian oil. “Out of friendship and respect for Prime Minister Modi and, as per his request, effec- Chaos in LS after Rahul rakes up unpublished book minutes, Speaker Om Birla invoked Rule 349, which bars THE Lok Sabha on Monday members from quoting from erupted in chaos and witnessed books or newspaper reports multiple adjournments after not directly connected to the Leader of the Opposition Ra- proceedings before the House. hul Gandhi attempted to cite an Gandhi insisted the docuunpublished memoir ment he was referring of former Army chief to was authenticated, Manoj Mukund Naraadding: “Which rule vane on the 2020 Indiasays I can’t speak China border standoff about India-China reand the Centre’s hanlations during a disdling of the crisis. The cussion on the Presiconfrontation erupted dent’s Address?” soon after Gandhi beHe said he was comgan his speech on the I understand this is pelled to raise the isMotion of Thanks to uncomfortable for sue in the House after the defence the President’s AdBJP MP Tejasvi Surya minister and the dress and sought to questioned Congress’s PM. If it were not quote from General patriotism. uncomfortable, Naravane’s memoir. Singh pointed out they would have The move drew objecthat the book had not allowed me to tions from Defence been published. Ganspeak Minister Rajnath dhi then said he was Rahul Gandhi Singh, Home Minister quoting from a magaAmit Shah, and Parzine article, but the liamentary Affairs Minister Speaker disallowed it. Kiren Rijiju, who accused the Birla adjourned proceedings Congress leader of referring to till 3 pm. When it reconvened, an unpublished book and vio- Gandhi raised the issue again, lating House rules. triggering fresh protests. The As chaos prevailed for 50 House was adjourned again. PR E E T HA N AIR @ New Delhi Dreamliner with faulty fuel switch reminds of AI171 Air India pilot reported fuel control switch defect on Dreamliner Boeing 787-8 during a London-Bengaluru journey with 200 passengers Fleet Size Air India operates 33 Boeing 787s total (26 legacy 787-8s and 7 787-9s including former Vistara aircraft) tive immediately, we agreed to a Trade Deal between the United States and India, whereby the United States will charge a reduced Reciprocal Tariff, lowering it from 25% to 18%,” Trump said. “They will likewise move forward to reduce their Tariffs and Non Tariff Barriers against the United States, to ZERO.” Modi said closer bilateral cooperation would unlock new opportunities. The US president said he had spoken with Modi earlier in the day calling , the conversation “an honour”. But Modi said Made in India products will draw a reduced tariff of 18%, the inference being it was the final figure on levy A US embassy spokesperson in New Delhi said likewise. “I can confirm the final tariff will be 18%” 18% is 1% less than Pakistan’s 19% Electoral Roll revision Mamata storms out of meet with CEC P r eet h a N a i r & M u k e s h R a n j a n @ New Delhi The standoff between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Election Commission over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls intensified on Monday with Mamata and her delegation storming out of a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of being arrogant and humiliating them. Mamata, accompanied by party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, MP Kalyan Banerjee and 12 members of “SIR affected families” from West Bengal, went to meet the CEC here to discuss concerns over the SIR. Speaking to the media afMamata Banerjee ter walking out of the addresses media in Delhi meeting, she said her deleon Monday | Parveen Negi gation felt humiliated by the CEC’s conduct. “I have never seen such an Election Commissioner. He is arrogant and deliberately misbehaved with us. I told him I was sorry that I had come to you for justice. Forget justice, he is a great liar,” Mamata said. Sources in the Election Commission said the CEC and the two Election Commissioners maintained a courteous tone throughout. They said it was Mamata who levelled false accusations, thumped the table in anger and walked out. They said the CEC responded to her queries and stated that the rule of law would prevail. Immediate action: Aircraft immediately grounded for inspection; Original Equipment Manufacturer (Boeing) February 2, 2026 involved for priority Technical issue: Fuel checks control switch failed to stay in ‘RUN’ position and moved Response: Incident towards ‘CUT OFF’ position reported to DGCA; Air during engine start. Failed India had previously checked all Boeing 787 on two attempts fuel switches after DGCA directive but found no issues Past connection: Issue mirrors June 12, 2025 Air India crash that killed 260 people when fuel supply to both engines cut off after takeoff from Ahmedabad Odisha gets record `10,928 cr in Rly Budget E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar Odisha has received an allocation of `10,928 crore in the Railway Budget for 2026-27, `329 crore more than last year. The budgetary provision for railways development in the state in 2025-26 was `10,599 crore. Addressing mediapersons, Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the allocation for Odisha this year is nearly 13 times higher than the average outlay of `838 crore during 2009-14 period. Vaishnaw said the East-West Freight Corridor, announced by Union Finance minister Nirmala Sith- araman in the budget on Sunday, frastructure in the state. will pass through Odisha and extend “The double-engine government to Chhattisgarh, Madhya has set a target to develop Pradesh, Maharashtra and railway infrastr ucture Gujarat. This dedicated worth `1 lakh crore over freight corridor will cover five-year period from 2024-25 major parts of Odisha and to 2028-29. Odisha has also play a major role in the inachieved 100 per cent raildustrial development of the way electrification, with state, he asserted. 1,559 km electrified during The minister said railway Ashwini Vaishnaw the same period,” he said. Vaishnaw highlighted rapworks worth `90,659 crore are currently under progress across id network expansion, noting that the districts, covering new track cre- around 2,200 km of new railway tracks ation, station redevelopment and have been constructed in Odisha since major safety upgrades which will 2014, which is more than the entire rail comprehensively transform rail in- network of Malaysia. Continued on P7 Us vs them Solicitor General Tushar Mehta alleged that Wangchuk portrayed the central government as “them” and the people of Ladakh as “us”, and raised calls for a plebiscite and referendum | P9 Sept 26, 2025 Wangchuck was arrested after violence erupted in Leh during statehood agitation. He was charged under the National Security Act He carefully crafted his speech to instigate Gen Z and asked for agitations like in Nepal and Bangladesh — Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General 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 ■ ■