BHUBANESWAR l tuesday l february 17, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late CITY EDITION In a first, U.S. transports small nuclear reactor on a plane A microreactor was flown on a cargo plane from California to Utah showing nuclear power can be deployed quickly for military and civilian use can help U.S. Military in far-flung locations push by trump to promote microreactors The US departments of energy and defence partnered with private firm Valar Atomics to fly one of the company’s microreactors on a C-17 aircraft. “This gets us closer to deploying nuclear power when and where needed to give our warfighters the tools to win,” a US official said. Critics have highlighted the challenge of handling the radioactive waste generated ■ ■ The microreactor used in Sunday’s Operation Windlord can generate up to 5 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 5,000 homes The experiment comes amid plans by Trump administration to promote the manufacturing of small reactors to meet the growing power demand sparked by artificial intelligence and data centres 19% of electricity generated in the U.S. in 2024 came from nuclear power 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 Shaping solutions for the world 9-judge SC bench sabarimala case Modi opens India AI Impact Summit; Vaishnaw seeks global consensus on copyrights issue Being here among innovators, researchers and tech enthusiasts gives a glimpse of the extraordinary potential of AI, Indian talent and innovation @ New Delhi Global platforms like yours (Motion Picture Association) and Netflix should be aware of the cultural context of the country in which they are operating Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Sarvam AI stall at the India AI Impact Expo in New Delhi, as Sarvam’s co-founder Pratyush Kumar looks on | PTI Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister The opening day witnessed long queues and packed sessions across the venue. Heavy traffic congestion and confusion at the entry gates left many participants, dignitaries, exhibitors, and speakers stranded outside for extended periods. Several attendees took to social media to express their frustration. While some complained about long waiting times, others flagged the lack of UPI payment facilities at food counters, poor mobile connectivity, and inadequate signage and instructions. VIP security arrangements further compounded the inconvenience, with several areas of the venue cordoned off from 2 pm. The rush was especially visible at the food courts spread across the venue, all of which remained heavily crowded throughout the day ship to a larger bench. However, the order was silent on any stay of the September THE Supreme Court on Mon- 28, 2018 judgment which alday said a nine-judge bench lowed entry of women of all will from April 7 begin the age groups to the hilltop final hearing on petitions re- shrine in Kerala. lating to discrimination Besides the Sabarimala against women at religious case, the verdict also replaces, including ferred to issues of Sabarimala Temple, entry of Muslim and on the ambit of women into religious freedom. mosques and of A three-judge Parsi women into bench of Chief Justhe holy fire place tice Surya Kant and of an Agiary, to justices Joymalya the larger bench. Nodal Bagchi and Vipul M More than 50 recounsel for Pancholi, said, view petitions had both parties been filed urging “The nine judge bench shall begin the Supreme Court The benchhearing the review appointed lawyer not to interfere case on April 7, 2026 with religious Krishna Kumar at 10.30 am.” practices. Singh as nodal I n S e p t e m b e r counsel for parties The bench said 2018, a five-judge it will look at sevsupporting the Constitution bench, en related quesreview. It also by a 4:1 majority tions during the appointed verdict, had lifted Shashwati Pari as hearings, such the the ban that pre- nodal counsel for scope of the right vented females beto freedom of relithose opposing tween 10 and 50 from gion, the interplay the review entering the Ayyapbetween rights of pa shrine at Sabarimala in persons under Article 25 and Kerala and held that the Hin- rights of religious denomidu religious practice was “il- nations under Article 26, the legal and unconstitutional.” scope and extent of the word On November 14, 2019, an- “morality” under Articles 25 other five-judge bench head- and 26, and whether it ined by then Chief Justice cludes constitutional moralRanjan Gogoi, by a majority ity and scope and extent of of 3:2, referred the issue of judicial review with regard discrimination against wom- to a religious practice under en at various places of wor- Article 25. S U CHITR A K A LYA N M OH A N TY Narendra Modi, Prime Minister Long queues, packed sessions on Day One to hear pleas on religious bias Ra k e s h Kuma r @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated the India AI Impact Summit, the largest congregation of AI experts, bringing together heads of state and government, ministers, global technology leaders, researchers, multilateral institutions, and industry stakeholders in Delhi. The five-day summit from February 16 to 20, will deliberate on the role of AI in advancing inclusive growth, strengthening public systems, and enabling sustainable development. “Inaugurated the India AI Impact Expo 2026 at Bharat Mandapam. Being here among innovators, researchers and tech enthusiasts gives a glimpse of the extraordinary potential of AI, Indian talent and innovation. Together, we will shape solutions not just for India but for the world,” said Modi. In a separate social media post, Modi said the event, which will be attended by OpenAI founder Sam Altman, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and others, is themed “Sarvajana Hitaya” (happiness for all), reflecting a shared commitment to harnessing Artificial Intelligence for humancentric progress. He welcomed the dignitaries — over 100 government representatives, including more than 20 heads of state and government and 60 ministers and vice ministers — along with more than 500 global AI leaders comprising CEOs, founders, academicians, researchers, CTOs, and representatives of philanthropic organisations. Minister of Electronics and IT (MeitY) Ashwini Vaishnaw said India is engaging with industry stakeholders to identify appropriate technical and legal frameworks to ensure that AI does not infringe upon the copyrights of content creators. During a conversation with US media mo gul Charles Rivkin, the minister said India is also seeking global consensus on the copyright issue. V Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor, said AI adoption cannot happen by drift.It requires commitment to aligning tech progress with mass employability . Indian team to visit US to fix legal text of the trade deal D i pa k m o n d a l @ New Delhi CHIEF negotiator Darpan Jain will lead a delegation to Washington next week to finalise the legal text of the proposed India–US trade agreement, the Commerce Ministry said on Monday . Following the joint statement agreed earlier this month, the framework deal is now being converted into a formal legal agreement, said Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal. “The effort is to see that we can finalise and sign the legal agreement in March 2026,” he told reporters when asked about the timeline. On the proposed reduction in the reciprocal tariff from 25% to 18%, Agrawal said the US is processing the matter and that India expects it to be completed soon. “Our expectation is that it should be done this week. If not, the team will be there next week and we can pursue the matter and understand why it is taking time,” he said. The US has already removed the 25% additional tariff imposed after India agreed not to buy crude from Russia. However, the 25% reciprocal tariff has not yet been reduced to 18%, as agreed by both sides. Overall, the US imposed an additional 50% tariff on Indian goods -- 25% as a reciprocal tariff and another 25% linked to India’s oil purchase from Russia. Agrawal said most favoured nation (MFN) tariffs remain unchanged,meaning the effective tariff on Indian goods will be 18% plus MFN rates. Controversial `80,000 crore Great Ratna Bhandar inventory to begin soon, says govt Nicobar Project gets NGT green light Express News Service @ Bhubaneswar R A J ESH K U M A R TH A K U R @ New Delhi After a prolonged wait, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday cleared the controversial Great Nicobar Project worth `80,000 crore, after disposing of the challenges against it. A six-member special bench of NGT found no substantial grounds to interfere with the mega infrastructure project, observing that adequate safeguards had been incorporated into its environmental clearance. Conservationists had opposed it, saying it will cause massive ecological damage and threaten tribal communities. The Congress called the NGT clearance “deeply disappointing”. Party leader Sonia Gandhi had warned last year that it poses an existential danger to the island’s indigenous communities and is being insensitively pushed through by the government. During the hearing, the special bench recorded that all emerging concerns had been examined and addressed by a h i g h - p owe re d c o m m i t t e e tasked with revisiting the project’s environmental clear- ance granted in 2022. “Considering the strategic importance of the project and taking into account the other relevant considerations, we don’t find any good ground to interfere,” NGT chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava said. The project is expected to boost India’s presence in the Indian Ocean Region amid increasing pressures from foreign powers. The project spans 166 sq km and requires the diversion of 130 sq km of forest land. A transshipment port, along with several associated projects such as a dual-use civil and military airport will be built in the Great Nicobar Island. After the nudge by the Orissa High Court, the state government is set to begin the longpending inventory and verification of ornaments and precious stones stored in the Ratna Bhandar, the treasury of the Jagannath temple, Puri, soon. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi at Lok Seva Bhawan here on Monday . The meeting reviewed the standard operating procedure (SOP) prepared for the counting and verification process prepared by the Shree Jagannath Temple Management Committee and discussed security, documentation and trans- Today’s Matches 11am: New Zealand vs Canada (Chennai) 3pm: Ireland vs Zimbabwe (Pallekele) 7pm: Scotland vs Nepal (Mumbai) Yeh Akashvani hai Surrender! Odisha police sends radio message to Naxals A s i s h M e h ta @ Bhubaneswar As the March 31 deadline to eliminate Naxalism draws near, Odisha Police is making a final push to draw out underground operatives and persuade them to lay down arms. And it’s doing it the traditional way by sending out messages on All India Radio. Amid a massive crackdown against Left-wing extremism (LWE), Maoists’ overground presence has dropped. Just about 40 red ultras are currently in hiding and state police has started to run appeals for surrender through radio. Since most of the operatives are from neighbouring Chhattisgarh and may not be able to receive Odisha government’s message to surrender, the police have reverted to the trusted old radio. As part of the drill, every day at least six messages are broadcast in three languages - Odia, Hindi and Koya. The appeals are aired in the mor ning, after noon and evening. To make it more convincing, the messages of surrendered Naxals like former state committee member of CPI (Maoist) Niranjan Rout alias Nikhil are being broadcast on Akashvani. In the messages broadcast during news hours, Nikhil can be heard addressing the red ultras and appealing them to surrender: “Dear comrades, I, Ankita and 13 others surrendered before Odisha Police. Our advice is to lay down the arms without any further delay and join the mainstream.” Nikhil, his wife Ankita (alias Rashmita Lenka) had surrendered along with 13 others before Rayagada police on February 6. In the message, Nikhil also shares a mobile phone number (9437643839) and asks the Maoists to contact the number after which arrangements would be made to facilitate their retur n to the mainstream. Police are also broadcasting the message of Neetu, a former senior special zonal committee (SZC) level woman Maoist leader who had surrendered in Jagdalpur in January 2026. Since she is from Chhattisgarh, police hope her appeals would find takers from her state mates. “Besides messages on radio, appeals to surrender are also being made through posters put up in the remote pockets where Naxal presence still persists. The phone numbers of surrendered Naxals are being mentioned on the posters to make sure the Maoists are not reluctant to establish contact,” said ADG Anti-Naxal Operation Sanjeeb Panda. Apart from appealing the members of banned CPI (Maoist) to surrender, Odisha Police and other security forces have intensified operations in the bordering areas of Kandhamal, Rayagada and Kalahandi districts along with Gandhamardan Hill in Balangir, said police sources. CM Mohan Charan Majhi chairing a meeting on Ratna Bhandar inventory in Lok Seva Bhawan | express parency measures. Chief administrator of the temple Arabinda Padhee made a detailed presentation before the chief minister outlining the preparedness for the inventory . He informed that all preliminary processes have been completed. The repair and conservation of both the outer and inner Ratna Bhandar have been completed by the Archaeological Survey of India over a period of 95 days involving 333 hours of Continued on P5 work.