Legendary Pandavani folk singer Teejan Bai dies at 70 Legendary Pandavani folk singer Teejan Bai, who took Chhattisgarh’s traditional storytelling art to global audiences, died on Sunday at the age of 70. Known for her powerful voice, commanding stage presence and expressive style, she transformed Pandavani from a regional folk tradition into an internationally acclaimed art form. She was honoured with the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan for her contributions to Indian folk arts | p8 hubballi l monday l july 06, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION 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 India plans seabed sensors SIR: 20 lakh excluded from to hunt Chinese, Pak subs Odisha’s draft electoral roll J A V ARIA RANA @ New Delhi INDIA plans to have eyes and ears on the Indian Ocean seabed. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is on the lookout for an industry partner to develop and deploy an Underwater Fiber Optic Sensing System (UFOSS), a network of sensors that will keep round-the-clock watch on submarines prowling India’s waters. Kochi-based Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), the DRDO’s underwater warfare lab, has floated an Expression of Interest (EOI) for the development, deployment and commissioning of the system. The network will comprise seabed sensor nodes linked by subsea fibre-optic cables to a shore station where the data will be received, monitored and analysed. The UFOSS will comprise sensor array nodes, subsea cables, junction boxes and branching units linked through a beach manhole to a shore station. Based on the response to EOI, NPOL will float a Request for Proposal to solicit detailed proposals from shortlisted firms. The selected bidder will be responsible for the entire project, from integration and deployment to commissioning, and lifecycle support for the system’s planned 20-year service life. Execution has been tentatively pegged at 48 months. Unlike ships and aircraft that patrol an area periodically , Sudarsan Maharana WHAT IS UFOSS? Underwater Fiber Optic Sensing System (UFOSS) will have a network of seabed sensor nodes that are linked by subsea fibre-optic cables, to keep track of submarines prowling Indian waters It will be a fixed network for 24x7 underwater surveillance It will have a service life of 20 years Sensor Network on seabed Subsea fiBer-optic cables: High-speed data transfer from sensors to onshore station Global Parallels US: SOSUS tracked Soviet submarines during the Cold War Multiple sensor nodes detect underwater disturbance like sound, vibration, pressure or movement US-Japan: ‘Fish Hook’ undersea surveillance architecture in the western Pacific seabed sensor networks keep watch round-the-clock, silently monitoring underwater activity and cueing anti-submarine warfare assets towards potential contacts. The move comes amid thick action in the undersea battlespace. Chinese nuclear and conventional submarines prowl the Indian Ocean region, while Chinese “research” vessels systematically map the region’s waters, collecting data for future operations. Meanwhile, Pakistan has begun inducting eight Chineseorigin Hangor-class diesel-electric subs with air-independent WHY INDIA NEEDS IT Chinese nuclear and conventional subs are increasingly operating in the Indian Ocean Pakistan is inducting 8 Hangorclass AIP subs India currently has no operational SSN (nuclearpowered attack submarines) Indigenous SSN programme a decade away; Project-75I yet to get approval @ Bhubaneswar OVER 20 lakh voters have been dropped from Odisha’s draft electoral roll, released on Sunday in the first phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The electorate has come down from 3,33,99,591 in the pre-revision list to 3,13,87,034, a reduction of over 20.12 lakh voters. The draft roll now comprises 1,60,19,176 male voters, 1,53,65,083 female voters and 2,775 third-gender electors, Chief Electoral Officer R S Gopalan said on Sunday . Enumeration forms were collected from nearly 3.13 crore ing from the draft electoral roll can still apply for inclusion during the claims and objections period from July 5 to August 4. Similarly, names found enrolled at multiple places will be retained only at one location after due verification. The exercise involved 31 district election officers, 147 electoral registration officers, 994 assistant registration officers and 4,540 booth-level officers across 45,250 polling stations, with 84,594 booth-level agents representing all seven recognised political parties. Verification of claims will continue until September 2, with the final electoral roll to be published on September 6. SI arrested for sexually assaulting minor girl China: ‘Underwater Great Wall’ of seabed acoustic sensors propulsion. In contrast, India’s underwater modernisation is years away from bridging the gap. The Navy does not operate a nuclear-powered attack sub (SSN), with the lease of the Russian Akula-class Chakra III delayed by over three years. The indigenous programme to build two SSNs, cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in October 2024 at a cost of `40,000 crore, is expected to take a decade before the first boat enters service. The Project-75I programme for six advanced conventional submarines is also yet to receive the CCS’s final approval. electors, or 93.97 per cent of the total electorate, he said. Of those excluded, 8.32 lakh were identified as dead, while 10.07 lakh had either shifted residence or were untraceable. A further 1.58 lakh were found to have enrolled at more than one location, while 14,000 were dropped for failing to submit their forms before the June 28 deadline. Gopalan said boothlevel officers were unable to trace these electors because they had registered in other states, could not be located, missed the deadline, or declined to enrol for personal reasons. He clarified that genuine electors whose names are miss- Subhash Chandra NS @ Bhatkal (Uttara Kannada) 125th BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF DR SYAMA PRASAD MOOKERJEE Few leaders in modern India embody the confluence of intellect, public service and moral conviction as profoundly as Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, writes Prime Minister Narendra Modi | P7 In a shocking incident, a police sub-inspector (PSI) from the Manki police station in Honnavar taluk of Uttara Kannada district has been arrested for sexually assaulting a minor girl. He has been arrested by the Bhatkal Police. The incident occurred when the police were deployed to enforce law and order at Murinakatte after a communal disturbance. The PSI, Abhinandan Gowda, has been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and other applicable sections. Gowda, who was the PSI at Manki, was deputed to Bhatkal on bandobast duty along with other officers where he allegedly forced the 16-year-old girl to accompany him and sexually assaulted her at a private hotel. The girl, in her complaint filed on July 4, 2026, stated that the incident occurred on May 31. She said the officer, despite knowing that she was a minor, repeatedly contacted her on her mobile phone. p5 Child abuse ads Meta gets govt notice D i pa k M o n d a l @ New Delhi The government has issued a stern notice to Meta over paid advertisements on Instagram that allegedly promote Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM). The company has been directed to immediately disable such ads and related content, two government sources confirmed on Sunday . In the notice, the government asked the company to submit a detailed explanation within seven days on how such ads were approved and displayed on the platform despite its content moderation systems. The order, issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Saturday instructed Instagram , to remove all advertisements and content that promote or facilitate access to CSEAM. The latest action comes a day after Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw directed officials to summon Meta over Instagram advertisements allegedly promoting child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in India. The government acted following a BBC investigation that found questionable advertisements on Instagram with terms such as “rape video” and “child video”. According to the report, the advertisements redirected users to Telegram channels where child sexual abuse material was allegedly being sold for as little as `99.