BHUBANESWAR l friday l february 13, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late CITY EDITION seattle to pay $29 million to kin of indian student who died in ’23 had gone to u.s. on student exchange Jaahnavi, 23, was hit by a police car driven by officer Kevin Dave as she was crossing a street in Seattle on January 23, 2023.  Dave was driving at more than 119 kmh when he fatally hit Jaahnavi. The student hailed from Adoni in Andhra Pradesh, and was studying in a Bengaluru college from where she was sent to the US on a student exchange programme The family of Jaahnavi Kandula, killed in January 2023 when she was hit by a speeding police car in Seattle, will receive $29 million in settlement callous remarks drove lawsuit ■ ■ The lawsuit by Jaahnavi’s parents was in “reference to callous remarks” made by Seattle police officer Daniel Auderer, who said Kandula’s life had “limited value” and they should just write a cheque Dave was fired subsequently, while Seattle’s civilian watchdog found Auderer’s comments damaged the department’s reputation | P9 100 feet away jaahnavi was thrown after being hit by the car 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 Inflation cools to 2.75% Govt green light to procure 114 Rafales as govt overhauls index Ja v a r i a Rana @ New Delhi Veg prices tumble under new CPI series with 2023-2024 as base year P U S H PI TA D E Y @ New Delhi RETAIL inflation eased to 2.75% year-on-year in January , helped largely by a sharp fall in prices of key vegetables and pulses, even as jewellery and select food items registered price rise, government data released on Wednesday showed. The latest inflation print also marks the first release of the Consumer Price Index with a revised base year of 2023-2024, replacing the 2011-12 series. The revision, based on the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023–24, expands the basket to reflect current consumption patterns, especially the growing role of services and digital spending. The data, released by the Ministry of Statistics and Prog ramme Implementation, showed that inflation in rural areas stood at 2.7% while urban inflation was marginally higher at 2.77%. Food inflation, measured by the Consumer Food Price Index, was 2.13%. A steep fall in prices of essential kitchen staples played a major role in keeping headline inflation contained. Garlic World leaders gather in Delhi for AI summit Food sheds weight; housing gains Categories Food and beverages Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels Transport Clothing and footwear Health Personal care, social protection & miscellaneous goods and services Furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance Information and communication Education services Restaurants and accommodation services Paan, tobacco and intoxicants Recreation, sport and culture prices fell 53.05%, onion 29.27%, potato 28.98%, arhar (tur) dal 24.90% and peas slipped 15.56% on an annual basis. At the same time, some items witnessed extraordinary inflation. Silver jewellery soared 159.67%, tomato prices 64.80%, copra 47%, gold, diamond and platinum jewellery 46.77%, and coconut oil shot up 40.44%. The revised series expands the basket from 299 items to 358. Rural house rent has been CPI 2012 Weight (%) 42.617 16.888 6.394 6.527 5.9 CPI 2024 Weight (%) 36.753 17.665 8.796 6.383 6.1 4.006 5.038 3.656 4.469 3.323 3.513 3.246 2.38 1.547 3.609 3.333 3.348 2.989 1.516 included, as have modern consumption elements such as OTT subscriptions, online services, and CNG/PNG. Outdated items like VCRs and cassette players have been removed. The updated series also incorporates e-commerce prices in 12 major cities. “New items have been added to capture changes in the economy and consumer behaviour,” MoSPI secretary Saurabh Garg recently told this newspaper. Odisha secures `67K crore investment for clean energy j ayanth j a c o b @ New Delhi INDIA is set to host one of the most consequential technology gatherings of the decade as the AI Impact Summit kicks off at Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam on February 16. The first global AI summit to be held in the Global South, the five-day event brings together world leaders, policymakers, and the biggest names in artificial intelligence under one roof. Seven Presidents, two Vice Presid e n t s, a n d n i n e P r i m e Ministers have confirmed their presence, signalling that AI governance is at the centre of global diplomacy . Among the Presidents are Brazil’s Lula da Silva, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Estonia’s Alar Karis, Slovakia’s Peter Pellegrini, Sri Lanka’s Anura Dissanayake, Serbia’s Aleksandar Vucic, and Switzerland’s Guy Parmelin. The summit, which will conclude on February 20, will see PMs from nine countries— Armenia’s Nikol Pashinyan, Bhutan’s Tshering Tobgay, Croatia’s Andrej Plenkovic, Finland’s Petteri Orpo, Spain’s Pedro Sánche z, Greece’s Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the N e t h e rl a n d s ’ D i ck Schoof, Kazakhstan’s Oljas Bektenov, and Mauritius’ Navinchandra Ramgoolam. Industry leaders include Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. The summit will serve as a platform for discussions on the impact and future of AI. Today’s Matches 11am: Australia vs Zimbabwe (Colombo), 3pm: Canada vs UAE (New Delhi), 7pm: USA vs Netherlands (Chennai) Dy CM KV Singh Deo presides over the MoU signing ceremony at the conclave E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar In a major push to Odisha’s clean energy sector, the state government on Thursday received investment commitments worth `67,000 crore for generation of 6.8 gigawatt ene r g y t h ro u g h re n ew abl e sources. The proposals were received in the 3rd edition of Odisha Renewable Energy Investor Conclave-2026 inaugurated by deputy chief minister and Energy minister KV Singh Deo here. The Gridco signed MoUs with the ABC Cleantech Private Limited (Evren) and Axis Energy Ventures India Private Limited for development of RE projects of 5,000 megawatt (MW) capacity at an investment of `47,750 crore. The investment will span across wind, agro-voltaic, solar power, wind, hybrid solar with BESS, and g reen hydro gen and derivatives. It also signed MoUs with National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) Limited for development of Masintha pumped storage project (PSP) of 1,000 MW capacity at an investment of `6,036 crore and North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO) for development of Dandadhar PSP project of 800 MW capacity at an investment of `4,000 crore. The Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) also inked a pact with Gridco to develop RE projects of 500 MW capacity at an investment of `3,000 crore. Officials said the state on the first day of the conclave also received additional investment intents of over `6,000 crore in the RE sector from the private Continued on P5 sector.  AHEAD of French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to India next week, the defence ministry on Thursday accorded acceptance of necessity (AoN) for capital acquisition proposals worth around `3.6 lakh crore, including the much awaited gover nment-to-gover nment deal for 114 Rafale multi-role fighter aircraft estimated at about `3.25 lakh crore. The final contract for the jets is unlikely to be signed before early 2027, sources said. The AoN marks the first formal step in the procurement process, after which commercial negotiations and contract finalisation follow. The time- line for conclusion varies depending on the negotiations. Under the proposal, the Indian Air Force is expected to receive 88 single-seat and 26 twin-seat Rafale fighters. Around 18 aircraft are likely to be delivered in fly-away condition, while the remaining 96 will be manufactured in India with up to 60 per cent indigenous content. Sources said the overall Rafale package includes an estimated `2.5 lakh crore for the aircraft and associated systems, with weapons and support elements taking the total value to around `3.25 lakh crore. This includes procurement of 100-120 SCALP airlaunched cruise missiles, for The Orissa High Court has directed the state government to place the Justice Raghubir Dash Commission report on the missing keys of the inner chamber of the Ratna Bhandar of Lord Jagannath Temple at Puri before the Odisha Legislative Assembly in its ensuing Budget session. The court also ordered completion of the exercise to tally the latest inventory of the temple’s ornaments and valuables with the 1978 inven- New Delhi: The DAC also approved the acquisition of six more P-8I long-range reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft for the Indian Navy, for `28,000 crore, to strengthen surveillance `2,700 crore. The missile was used during Operation Sindoor to strike targets in Bahawalpur and Muridke in the early hours of May 7. The contract will incorporate provisions for upgrading Counting begins after peaceful B’desh polls C ounting of votes began in Bangladesh on Thursday evening after peaceful polling earlier in the day for the crucial general elections to elect Parliament members and decide on a referendum on constitutional reforms. While the interim government and the election commission hailed the process, deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina called the polls “a wellplanned farce” and demand- Polling officials begin the counting of votes cast in Bangladesh’s national ed a “free, fair and inclusive parliamentary election, in Dhaka, on Thursday | AP elections under a neutral caretaker government”. tween the Bangladesh Na- Yunus call to uphold At the time of going to the tionalist Party (BNP) led by democratic decency press, there was no Tarique Rahman, 60, official word on the and an 11-party alli- “I call upon political parties polling percentage, ance led by the Bang- and candidates to uphold though the poll rolls ladesh Jamaat e Is- democratic decency, tolerance had nearly 13 crore lami and the nascent and mutual respect even after voters. What was National Citiz en the final results are visible though was Party (NCP). As per announced. Differences of a good turnout in initial trends, BNP opinion will exist, but in the the morning, but no candidates appeared national interest, we must subsequent voter Bayezid Milky to be leading the race remain united,” Chief Adviser r u s h a t p o l l i n g Senior journalist based with Jamaat strug- Muhammad Yunus said in Dhaka booths for the rest gling to put up a deof the day. People cent show. In the just came in ones e a rly ro u n d s o f and twos to cast their counting for the referendum, The first significant results may ballots. negative votes were more be available overnight... Voting Without going into the than the ‘yes’ votes. Top BNP was peaceful though there numbers, the election com- and Jamaat and NCP leaders were a few minor disruptions mission claimed the turnout said they would accept the in some districts was satisfactory . verdict if the process is not -Bangladesh Election Commission Continued on P9 This is a straight fight be- rigged.  10 tiger deaths in 27 days, MP HC seeks report Taking a serious note of rising tiger deaths in “Tiger State” Madhya Pradesh, especially in the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR), the Madhya Pradesh High Court has directed the Reserve’s field director to file a status report on the deaths of big cats. The BTR, located in Umaria and Katni districts, reportedly has the maximum tiger density in the state | P8 HC directs state to table Justice Dash Commission report in Assly session E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Cuttack More anti-submarine P-81s for Navy cleared tory within three months. The directions came while the court was hearing a PIL filed by Dillip Kumar Baral, raising concerns over the inventory of ornaments and valuables of Lord Jagannath and the repair and conservation of the Ratna Bhandars. Advocate Anup Kumar Mohapatra appeared on behalf of the petitioner. The order issued on January 27 was uploaded on February 12. During the hearing, advocate general Pitambar Acharya submitted that the Commission’s report would be placed before the cabinet and subsequently in the Assembly. He further informed the court that verifying the inventory is a detailed process. Recording it, the division bench of Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice MS Raman observed that the jewellery and valuables inventory of Lord Jagannath conducted in 1978 will serve as the benchmark to verify whether all the items listed at that time match the inventory prepared by the present committee formed by the state Continued on P5 government.  Indian Rafales to the future F5 standard once available, while the existing fleet would be brought up to the F4 configuration, which includes enhanced sensor fusion, improved connectivity and expanded weapons capability . The DAC also approved procurement of additional longrange surface-to-air missiles for Project Sudarshan Chakra. The proposal pertains to replenishment of missile stocks for the S-400 air defence system, with around 280 missiles estimated to be worth approximately `3,000 crore. Among other approvals, the DAC cleared buy of Air-Ship Based High Altitude Pseudo Satellites for Air Force. express read State to issue Smart RoRs to curb land fraud Bhubaneswar: In a major push towards digitisation of land records and prevention of property fraud, the state government will introduce an upgraded version of the record of rights (RoR) embedded with a QR code and an electronic security chip, Revenue and Disaster Management minister Suresh Pujari said on Thursday. The Smart RoR will allow instant verification of land ownership details | P3 Fire at Naval Dockyard in south Mumbai Mumbai: A fire broke out in the Naval Dockyard in south Mumbai on Thursday night. As per preliminary information, the blaze erupted at the Survey Yard building located inside the Naval Dockyard at 10.15 pm. An official said the spot where the fire erupted was diagonally opposite the Gateway of India Goyal: Textile sector to get Dhaka-like benefit New Delhi: India, like Bangladesh, will receive the benefit of zero-duty access to the US market for garments made using US-origin cotton and manmade fibres under the proposed India-US trade agreement, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday, amid widespread concerns | P12