BHUBANESWAR l Monday l september 21, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l JEYPORE EDITION Need community participation to tackle climate change: President health, livelihood facing risks: Murmu President Murmu said climate change is having serious repercussions on food security, health, and livelihoods. She said the framework to tackle climate change must ensure the participation of communities most affected by it, with special sensitivity towards needs of rural and forestdwelling communities, small farmers, women, and vulnerable sections A well-structured framework of policies and actions is needed to address the challenge of climate change, President Droupadi Murmu said puts Emphasise on traditional knowledge ■ ■ Addressing the valedictory session of the international conference on ‘The Future of Environment and Climate Dynamics’, Murmu highlighted the importance of traditional knowledge systems She called for people-centric and community-based climate adaptation approaches rooted in traditional knowledge 17 countries sent representatives to the Conference held in Delhi 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 Tata boardroom Shooting stars shine bright in Nagoya tussle headed for courtroom Indraneel Das Tata Trusts hires Abhishek Manu Singhvi as counsel; Harish Salve to advise Tata Sons IIT bombay Prof booked for abetment of suicide over student’s death S u d h i r s u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai An IIT Bombay professor was on Sunday booked for abetment of suicide over the death of a second-year engineering student on the campus. Sahil Ravindra Wakode was found dead at the Powai campus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay on Friday evening, hours after he was allegedly caught using a mobile phone and ChatGPT during a midsemester examination. Professor Suryanarayan Dulla and two other unnamed persons were booked on Sunday . Sahil’s father alleged that the professor was responsible for driving his son to take his own life. He alleged Sahil faced caste-based abuse, threats and harassment at the campus for three months before his death. A case of abetment of suicide and joint liability has been registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. A case has also been registered under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 for intentionally insulting or intimidating a person with intent to humiliate a member of a SC/ST community . The case was registered based on a complaint filed by Sahil’s father. Meanwhile, a video of IIT Bombay Director Shireesh B Kedare has gone viral on social media, in which he is seen announcing his resignation, effective Monday . B E N N KOCHUV E E DA N @ Mumbai Noel Tata-led Tata Trusts on Sunday doubled down on its challenge to N Chandrasekaran’s reappointment as executive chairman of Tata Sons, reiterating that the resolution passed at the company’s September 17 board meeting violated the firm’s rules and bylaws. The matter now appears headed for a legal showdown as Tata Trusts, which owns 66.6% in Tata Sons, roped in noted Supreme Court lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi to represent it in the corporate dispute. According to reports, senior advocate Harish Salve is advising Tata Sons. In a detailed statement issued on Sunday, Tata Trusts said that under Tata Sons’ Articles of Association (AoA), the board meeting requires affirmative support from a majority of Trust-nominated directors to pass a resolution. But this condition was not met in the case of Chandrasekaran’s reappointment, rendering it void ab initio (legally void from the outset). In the crucial board meeting held last week, Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata voted against Chandrasekaran’s reappointment while Venu Srinivasan, the other Tata Trusts nominee, supported the resolution. “Whether the result of the vote was 4:1, or any other figure, is irrelevant. A condition is either met, or it is not. In this case the condition was not met,” the Trusts said. The Trusts questioned the argument that Noel Tata’s opposition created a deadlock that needed to be removed through a casting vote. “It is now being suggested that a refusal of support amounts to a deadlock which would paralyse the Company and that the Chairman of the meeting was therefore entitled to resolve the position by a casting vote. There was no paralysis and there was no deadlock. The Board put a question, and the AoA answered it in the negative,” it said. In its latest statement, the Trusts also pointed out that Tata Sons had defended the same AoA during the litigation surrounding the removal of former chairman Cyrus Mistry . Noel Tata There are two Tata Trusts nominees on the Board of Tata Sons. Majority amongst two is two and not one Tata Trusts ‘Entering fray with sadness’ Sr advocate Abhishek Singhvi said he is entering the fray with “sadness and regret” adding the dispute should have been amicably solved. Calling for protecting the fundamental rights of shareholderowners, he said such “rights cannot be nullified” T Express @ asian games Nagoya he bus journey to the Toyota highlands itself is quite fascinating as the road winds up the hills through lush green coniferous forest and gushing streams all along. For Indian athletes and coaches, these are the ‘ghat roads’. It had been quite an ordeal for the shooters right after they landed in Nagoya for the Asian Games. They were made to wait at the airport, then at the hotel and finally when they came to the venue, they realised it was not 70 minutes as the Games organising committee had indicated. It was almost two hours. Not ideal for the shooters. No screen time or games on mobile phone, neck pillow for support during journey and light food before leaving. These were some of the logistical decisions the coaches and support staff took. On Sunday, three shooters managed to win India their first shooting medal in the team event and later, Elavenil Valarivan won her second in the individual silver. Two medals in a day. She will compete in the mixed team events next. Among the three, Elavenil was the most experienced and that was visible during the competition. The shooter with roots in Tamil Nadu was in pristine form throughout and managed to exorcise the ghosts of Paris Olympics. For the other two members, Advani, Jaishankar, Kejriwal, CBI chief get notices for SIR discrepancy An u p Ve r m a @ New Delhi BJP veteran L K Advani, Union Minister S Jaishankar and his wife Kyoko S Jaishankar, CPM MP John Brittas’ wife, former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, and BJP MLA Kailash Gahlot are among a list of 33 lakh people being issued notices for “discrepancies” in their details under SIR. The list includes CBI Director Praveen Sood and his family former Army Chief General , Upendra Dwivedi and his wife, and former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Desai and members of her family Foreign Sec. retary Vikram Misri, Securities and Exchange Board of India Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Principal Scientific Lal Krishna S Advani Jaishankar Praveen Sood Adviser to the Prime Minister Ajay Kumar Sood and Health Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava are among those listed as “unmapped with last SIR”. Former economist and Padma awardee Bibek Debroy who , passed away in November 2024, figures in Delhi’s draft electoral roll and has been flagged for “no mapping” with the previous SIR roll. The list includes several prominent political and public figures. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, for mer CM Arvind Kejriwal and his family , former Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar and wife Sudesh Dhankhar, former Supreme Court judge Justice Madan B Lokur, former Union Minister Kapil Sibal and wife Promila Sibal, former Union Minister Subramanian Swamy and historian Romila Thapar figure in the list. Cong ress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi is also on the list, though the column against his name specifying the reason for the discrepancy is blank. The Delhi CEO office said “issue of notices does not mean that their names will be deleted from the electoral rolls.” Iran conveys conditions on opening St of Hormuz Iran’s top negotiator parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Sunday in an interview that Tehran had laid down three conditions to US for ending its Hormuz blockade. “Our conditions are an end to the war, release of our frozen funds and an end to the naval blockade.” | P9 Mahanadi water dispute no longer major issue, to be resolved soon: Sai E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar E x p r e s s Read After `17L lost to dream of a house, man ends life in capital Bhubaneswar: A man allegedly died by suicide after setting himself on fire, distressed that the `17 lakh he had given an acquaintance for arranging a house in the capital was not returned. Chandrasekharpur police on Sunday arrested one person in connection with the case. Ashish Kumar Das, prime accused in the case, is absconding | P2 (From left) Vidarsa K Vinod, Sonam Maskar & Elavenil Valarivan rejoice after winning the women’s 10m air rifle team silver | PTI this is their first Asian Games. If Vidarsa K Vinod became the first from Kerala to win a shooting medal, Sonam Maskar repaid the sacrifices made by her father — he had to sell land for her to pursue the sport. Vidarsa is another fascinating story She . did not have a personal rifle until about recently According to . her coach Manoj Kumar, she bought it just a few months ago. Being part of the Asiad has been a surreal experience for her. “Let alone winning a medal, that I am part of the Asian Games team is a dream,” she told this daily after the win. For Elavenil, it was cathartic. On the day she ensured that the , process she trusted bore fruit. “I’m grateful that I was selected in the first place and this medal means a lot to me,” she said. Mixed Martial Arts gave India its first medal but it’s shooting that India would be banking on for a rich medal haul. idol situation People collect bamboo and wooden logs accumulated at a temporary pond after idol immersion on Kuakhai river bed, in Bhubaneswar on Sunday | DEBADATTA MALLICK Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai on Sunday said the Mahanadi water-sharing dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh was no longer a major issue and expressed confidence that it would be resolved soon. Sai, who arrived in Odisha on a two-day private visit with his family, said discussions on the issue had already been held in Delhi and that both states had agreed to accept whatever decision the Central Water Commission (CWC) took in the interest of Odisha and Chhattisgarh. “There is no longer any major dispute over Mahanadi water between Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Both states have BJP governments and there is a BJP-led NDA government at the Centre. The issue is expected to CM Mohan Charan Majhi with his Chhattisgarh counterpart Vishnu Deo Sai | Express be resolved soon,” Sai told reporters after arriving at Biju Patnaik International Airport here. He said the two states had held discussions on the issue in Delhi and agreed that any decision taken by the CWC in the interest of both states would be acceptable to them. The two chief min- isters have held several rounds of discussions on the water dispute over the past two years. Sai later met Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi at the latter’s official residence. Majhi said the two leaders had a “fruitful interaction” on bolstering cooperation between Odisha and Chhattisgarh.  Continued on P5 Pitabas Panda murder: Govt suspends jail doc Deep depression to cross AP-Odisha coast on Wednesday Berhampur: The Health and Family Welfare department on Saturday suspended the doctor deployed at Berhampur circle jail over his alleged role in facilitating phone calls through which a witness in the Pitabas Panda murder case was allegedly threatened and offered inducements. The suspended doctor is Susanta Kumar Panigrahi, a Group-A (junior branch) medical officer of Berhampur City Hospital | P4 E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar Dismissing speculation of a tropical storm formation, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday said the low-pressure area over the east-central Bay of Bengal is expected to intensify into a depression and further into a deep depression before reaching the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh coast next week. The Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre said the system was lying over the east-central Bay of Bengal and adjoining north Andaman Sea around 8.30 am on Sunday . “It is likely to move westnorthwestwards and intensify into a depression over the eastcentral Bay of Bengal on September 21 and concentrate into a deep depression over the west-central Bay of Bengal the next day a bulletin said. ,” The system will, however, continue to move westnorthwestwards and reach the north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coasts around the morning of September 23. The SOA Centre of Environme nta l a nd Cli mat e (CEC) echoed the IMD forecast in its preliminary assessment. The low-pressure area is likely to gradually intensify into a deep de- Since the weather system is associated with the monsoon current, it may not intensify further. It is likely to cross the Odisha coast between Ganjam and Puri districts SOA Centre of Environmental and Climate pression by September 23 and cross the Odisha coast between Ganjam and Puri districts during the night of September 23 or the forenoon of September 24. “Since the weather system is associated with the monsoon current, it may not intensify further,” the CEC said. The IMD predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall in parts of the state on Wednesday and Thursday. Very heavy show- ers are likely in parts of Kandhamal, Gajapati, Ganjam and Puri on Wednesday while Ka, lahandi, Kandhamal and Rayagada are likely to witness heavy to very heavy rain on Thursday . Under the influence of the system, heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely in several coastal, southern and western districts of Odisha between September 22 and 26, the CEC bulletin said.