USS Abraham Lincoln tadepalligudem l sunday l august 16, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l city EDITION U.S. pulls last aircraft carrier in Asia to support Iran ops The new warship is expected to relieve USS Abraham Lincoln in West Asia amid growing concerns about the mental health of its sailors Deteriorating conditions aboard U.S. ship No U.S. Aircraft carrier to tackle China The announcement of USS George Washington’s departure from the western Pacific comes a day after President Donald Trump downplayed the concerns about the situation aboard USS Abraham Lincoln. There have been reports of sailors attempting to jump off the ship amid food shortages, lack of hygiene supplies, and exhaustion due to long duty hours ■ ■ Lincoln departed California in November 2025 for duty in the South China Sea and was rerouted to West Asia before the start of the Iran war. It has been on a record-breaking deployment of nine months Meanwhile, the departure of Washington from the western Pacific cuts the US presence there amid aggressive manoeuvres by China 5,000 Sailors are aboard USS Abraham lincoln 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 Raps Naxal mindset, announces plan to train 1 cr youth in AI skills within a year, free online coaching network for competitive exams PM seeks help on women’s quota in I-Day address Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu addressing the Independence Day Parade at Rayapudi | Prasant Madugula @ New Delhi First I-Day fete in Capital Amaravati P h a n i n d r a Pa pa s a n i @ Vijayawada Narendra Modi hoists the Tricolour at Red Fort during the 80th Independence Day event in New Delhi on Saturday | PTI The State government organised the Independence Day celebrations in Capital Amaravati for the first time on Saturday . Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu hoisted the national flag at the Parade Ground in Rayapudi. “Swarna Andhra2047” was the theme of the 80th Independence Day celebrations. Addressing a gathering afBest ter receiving the guard of hontableau our from police, the Chief Minister described the TricolThe School our a symbol of freedom, selfEducation Department’s respect and national unity. India achieved Independence Samagra through decades of struggle Shiksha and the sacrifices of several tableau, generations of freedom fightcarrying the ers and martyrs, he said. message Naidu recalled the contribu“Educational Revolution for tion of the Telugu-speaking Viksit Bharat”, region to the freedom movewon the first ment, and said Andhra prize in parade Pradesh had faced several challenges in its history . He referred to the sacrifice of Potti Sriramulu, the formation of Andhra State with Kurnool as its capital in 1953, the creation of Andhra Pradesh in 1956 and the bifurcation of State in 2014. He said the people of Andhra Pradesh had overcome every crisis with determination. Naidu said the NDA government had taken the responsibility of rebuilding the State after what he described as five years of “destruction” under the previous regime.  P4 Row over full Vande Mataram rendition at Cong HQ P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Sonia Gandhi during an I-Day event at the Congress HQ in Delhi | Parveen negi The national song, Vande Mataram, was sung in full during the Congress’s Independence Day celebrations at its Indira Bhavan headquarters in the capital on Saturday marking a , departure from its stated position that only the first two stanzas should be rendered. The event sparked a row after a video on social media appeared to show Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge gesturing to workers to stop the rendition beyond the first two stanzas. While the BJP latching on to , it, accused Sonia of objecting to singing the full version of the song, the Congress said there was no attempt to do so. Sonia was only asking for a chair for Kharge, as he had been standing for a while, said Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh. The national song has been at the centre of a debate, with Insult now an offence Last month, Parliament passed a bill that made any insult to the national song a punishable offence, giving it the status of the national anthem, Jana Gana Mana Prime Minister Narendra Modi repeatedly targeting the Congress for truncating the song. The Congress has traditionally supported the rendition of its first two stanzas, with objections historically being raised to the religious imagery contained in the remaining stanzas. The party has always maintained that the CWC had in 1937 decided, on Tagore’s advice, that only the first two stanzas would be sung in official functions. Small window to disclose Errupalem–Amaravati–Namburu line foreign assets opens today `2,047-cr railway project to take centrestage in State D i pa k M o n d a l @ New Delhi The Foreign Assets of Small Taxpayers – Disclosure Scheme, 2026, which gives eligible taxpayers a one-time window to voluntarily disclose certain undisclosed foreign assets and income by paying tax or a prescribed fee, will come into effect on Sunday . T h e s c h e m e, a n nounced in this year’s budget, will remain open until December 31, 2026. The valuation date for assets declared under the scheme is March 31, 2026. The entire declaration process will be carried out online. The scheme covers two broad categories. The first includes undisclosed foreign assets or foreign income that was not offered to tax. The second covers foreign assets that were already offered to tax or acquired when the taxpayer was a non-resident, but were not reported in the income-tax return. For the first category, the aggregate value of the undisclosed foreign asset and foreign income must not exceed `1 crore. Taxpayers will have to pay tax at 30% of the value of the asset or income, along with an additional amount equal to the tax payable, effectively taking the total payment to 60%. For the second category where assets were , either already offered to tax or acquired when the taxpayer was a non-resident but were not disclosed, the aggregate value of the foreign assets cannot exceed `5 crore. A flat fee of `1 lakh will be payable. SHANti ACT Draft rules on pvt N-plant liability out J aya n t h j a c o b @ New Delhi RA J ESH KU M AR THAKUR Bharat’. “Therefore, we must take forward the goal of ‘Viksit Bharat’ by connecting it with Prime Minister Narendra the aspirations and participaModi on Saturday reiterated t i o n o f o u r yo u t h , ” h e his call to all political parties to asserted. support reservation for women Modi spoke about various in legislatures, called for initiatives to empower the stronger youth participation in youth, including Skill India, nation building, announced a opening the space sector, the clutch of skilling schemes, and National Drone Policy, Khelo lit into what he called were the India and the National Educa“dimagi Naxals” or people with tion Policy. The government, a Naxalite mindset. he said, would train one crore Highlighting women’s grow- young people in AI skills over ing participation in the next year and public life in his Inestablish a free ondependence Day adline coaching netdress from Red Fort, work for competithe prime minister The time is ours, tive exams. He also said, “Let us step the resolve is ours, highlighted a `1 lakh forward to ensure let us convert our crore Innovation that our mothers Fund to suppor t dreams into and sisters secure young innovators resolve, resolve and entrepreneurs. 33% representation in the Legislative into strength and The PM also urged Assemblies and the the youth to particistrength into Lok Sabha soon.” pate actively in the success On Naxalism, he ongoing Census by Narendra Modi, PM said armed Naxals helping their famihad been eliminated lies understand the but “dimagi Naxals” continue forms and ensure that informato seek opportunities to create tion submitted is accurate. anarchy and violence. “We Calling for a collective namust identify those with a Nax- tional effort, he said Indians al mindset, isolate them, and must place national interest steer the nation’s youth toward above personal considerations the mainstream effort of trans- and make duty a defining part forming India into a developed of their identity . nation,” the PM asserted. The PM also outlined a sevThe prime focus of his 75- en-point ‘Saptadhara’ roadmap minute address was the youth; for development covering manhe referred to them more than ufacturing, power, agriculture 50 times. The PM described the and food processing, technoloyouth as the driving force and gy and innovation, Gati Shakti, the greatest beneficiaries of a defence, the green and blue developed nation or ‘Viksit economies, and soft power. Naidu urges people to realise Modi’s Viksit Bharat Vision S G u r u S r i k a n t h @ Vijayawada The `2,047-crore Errupalem– Amaravati–Namburu new railway line project (57 km) has taken centrestage as the flagship anchor of Indian Railways’ broad-gauge expansion in central Andhra Pradesh. Designed to integrate the State’s greenfield capital directly into the national railway network, the strategic line will also function as an essential bypass corridor, relieving heavy traffic congestion at the saturated Vijayawada junction. Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw tabled the official figures during the monsoon session of Parliament, outlining a massive statewide infrastructure drive. AP gets 42 major projects As of April 2026, the Railway Ministry has sanctioned 42 major projects in Andhra Pradesh— comprising 12 new lines and 30 doubling or multi-tracking works— covering a total length of 4,768 km with an aggregate sanctioned cost of `77,855 crore As of April 2026, the Railway Ministry has sanctioned 42 major projects in Andhra Pradesh—comprising 12 new lines and 30 doubling or multitracking works—covering a total length of 4,768 km with an aggregate sanctioned cost of `77,855 crore. The total expenditure on these projects reached `27,851 crore by March 2026, with 1,465 km of track already commissioned. Significant progress has been made across key passenger and freight corridors running through Guntur and Prakasam districts. A key section of the Vijayawada–Gudur 3rd line project spanning 280 km between Gudur and Peddavadlapudi has already been comP4 missioned.  As the government moves to operationalise the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy (SHANTI) Act, 2025, which opens the strategically critical nuclear power sector to greater private-sector participation, its draft rules seek to establish a clearer framework for operator liability financial protection and the deployment of , foreign reactors while retaining long-term regulatory oversight. The draft rules, released by the Department of Atomic Energy require nuclear plant operators to , maintain an insurance policy, financial security or a combination of both to cover nuclear damage. The draft rules also provide for a periodic review of operator liability and prescribe conditions for foreign reactor technology. The Centre will constitute, once in every five years, a group of experts to review the maximum limits of an operator’s civil liability for nuclear damage. For a nuclear power plant or reactor based on a foreign design, the design must be certified or approved by the regulatory authority in the country of origin. The rules define the “country of origin” as a country that is self-reliant in nuclear reactor design and the supply-chain ecosystem and whose regulatory approvals are trusted globally. Such a plant or reactor must also be operational either in the country of origin or in another foreign country The financial . security required from operators will have to remain in place until all spent fuel is removed from the relevant storage pool. The provision extends the operator’s financial protection obligations beyond the operational phase of the nuclear facility . The draft rules also introduce an “in-principle approval” mechanism that could allow prospective developers to move ahead with key preparations before the project site or reactor technology has been finalised. WITH THIS ISSUE Thirst Aid PLUS 12 P AGES express read Agastya to set up solar plant in Kurnool Kurnool: In a major boost to AP’s clean energy sector, Agastya Green Energy Limited has announced an investment of `7,800 crore to set up an integrated solar plant at Orvakal in Kurnool district | P4 AP to test emergency outbreak response Vijayawada: In a first-of-itskind initiative to tackle public health emergencies, the Health Department is launching series of simulation exercises in select districts to test AP’s outbreak response mechanisms | P3