MANGALURU l sunday l september 27, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l CITY EDITION U.s., China decide on $30 billion reciprocal tariff cut; ai talks China said on Saturday that it had agreed with the US on a $30 billion reciprocal tariff-cut arrangement and on launching a dialogue on AI discussing investment opportunities next round of dialogue in november The two countries reached consensus on recommendations for a more favourable tariff treatment for $30 billion of non-sensitive goods in each direction, the White House said. The two countries established the Board of Investment to discuss investment opportunities and impediments, and to provide a channel to address investment-related issues ■ ■ On artificial intelligence, the leaders agreed to establish a China-US AI dialogue to exchange views on AI-related risks and benefits, with the next round to be held in November, the White House said The two leaders agreed to use the term “super intelligence” rather than “artificial intelligence” to describe emerging technologies | P9 $495 bn is the bilateral trade between U.S. and China annually, as per ustr 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 EC announces doorstep verification for voters facing notice, greater use of online hearings SIR eased, experts to review ECINET system m uke s h r a n j a n @ New Delhi WITH THIS ISSUE The New OTT Stars Binge Brigade PLUS 12 P AGES WHILE seeking to address issues at the centre of a row over decision-making in the Election Commission and concerns of voters who have been issued notices or are left out from the poll rolls, the EC on Saturday asserted that all SIR orders received unanimous consent from all three Commissioners and that the updates to Form 6 for voter enrolment were upheld by the Supreme Court. After a meeting attended by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar along with Election Commissioners Dr S S Sandhu and Dr Vivek Joshi, the EC announced a number of measures including additional time for filing claims, home visit by election officials and help desks for those facing notices for removal from the rolls. Announcing a complete review of its ECINET system, the poll panel said a committee headed by a Senior Deputy Election Commissioner and including an independent expert from an IIT or IIIT will review the system. On the legal framework governing SIR, the Commission said the declaration attached to Form 6 for the exer- cise has been upheld by the Supreme Court. “For periods outside SIR, applications will continue to be processed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960,” it said. The EC also sought to clarify concerns surrounding a letter sent to the Cabinet Secretary, saying it was not related to any policy matter concerning either the Commission or its IT division. According to the EC, the communication “concerned the functioning of an officer on deputation to the Commission”. “The work-reallocation orders issued by the officer were not implemented after directions from two Commissioners and that oversight of the IT division by the Deputy Election Commissioner was never withdrawn,” EC said. “The order for the SIR issued on 24.6.2025 for all States/ UTs, starting with Bihar, and 30 other States/UTs was issued with the unanimous approval of the Commission,” EC said. It added Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will visit homes to upload documents for unmapped persons or those with logical discrepancies. Authorised family members can also attend on the elector’s behalf, the EC said. In most parts of Bengaluru, Cauvery water undrinkable B o s k y K h a n n a @Bengaluru AI camera footage of Souvik Dutta riding with his guitar Guitar gets challan for not wearing helmet E x p re s s Ne w s Ser v i c e @Bengaluru This is definitely not in tune. An AI-powered traffic camera in Bengaluru has reportedly mistaken a guitar strapped to a scooter rider’s back for a pillion rider and issued a challan of Rs 500 for the guitar not wearing a helmet. This could be just one of many errors that the automated traffic enforcement, which the Bengaluru City Police implemented a few months ago, has committed. Souvik Dutta, a resident of Hebbal, was riding towards Tin Factory with the guitar on his back when an AI camera on the route allegedly identified the instrument as a pillion rider. The system subsequently detected a helmet violation and generated an online challan against the scooterist. An amused Dutta posted a photograph of the alleged error on social media that has gone viral. It also triggered an intense discussion on the accuracy of AI-based traffic surveillance systems.  P5 Cauvery river, one of the prime sources of water for southern parts of Karnataka, is extremely polluted. Also called Dakshina Pinakini, the river water was ranked under E category indi, cating high levels of pollution, in most parts of Bengaluru. As per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), E category refers to the quality of water which can be used only for irrigation, industrial cooling and controlled waste disposal. The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) Water Quality Classification of Polluted River Stretches in Karnataka for August 2026 stated that Cauvery water fell under E category in Sarjapur and Mahadevapura. In Chamarajanagar, Mandya and Ramanagara, it is under C and D cate gories, respectively . As per CPCB, if the water quality is C, it can be used for drinking with conventional treatment followed by disinfection and if listed under D, it can be used for propagation of wildlife and fisheries. The KSPCB report for April-July 2026 too showed water quality of Cauvery to be poor. The river samples at five locations in Kodagu showed it to be in the B Category, which is fit for outdoor bathing (organised). P5 CEC Gyanesh Kumar with Election Commissioners Dr S S Sandhu and Dr Vivek Joshi at a meeting on Saturday | PTI The order for SIR starting with Bihar, followed by West Bengal and 30 States/UTs was issued with unanimous approval of EC Election Commission of India Extends deadline The EC extended deadlines for filing claims in two states. In Delhi, claims and objections can be filed till Oct 30, while all claims have to be disposed by Nov 30. In Maharashtra, Oct 12 and Nov10 are the 2 deadlines, respectively Sept 30 INDIA bloc meeting to intensify stir against CEC Pa r v e z Su lta n & Sub h e n d u M a i t i @ New Delhi/ Kolkata THE INDIA bloc is expected to go into a huddle on September 30 at the Constitution Club in Delhi to deliberate and strategise a joint programme aimed at cornering the Centre on the issue of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, amid concerns over special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The decision to hold the meeting was taken after the top leadership of INDIA bloc parties touched base on Saturday Leader of the dis. puted Trinamool Mamata Banerjee spoke at length over the phone to Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and CPM general secretary MA Baby to discuss the course of action against the BJP and CEC, sources said. Besides Rahul, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Mamata, her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav NDA allies Thackeray and Baby are clear the air , expected to attend the Hours after EC’s meeting. Sources said INDIA clarification on bloc leaders are likely to SIR, NDA allies chalk out a roadmap for TDP, LJP (RV) pan-India protests seek- and Shiv Sena ing removal of Kumar (Shinde) came and an independent in- out in support of quiry into the EC’s deci- the poll panel. sions. Discussion will Andhra Pradesh focus on three core agen- CM N Chandda items, including im- rababu Naidu p e a c h m e n t m o t i o n said EC’s against Kumar, nation- statement “puts wide stir in poll-bound to rest all states including UP Pun- misconceptions.” , jab and Uttarakhand. Speaking in Sreerampur in West Bengal’s Hooghly Mamata on Saturday said, “I sent , a message to Rahul Gandhi, and told him we must sit together.” CPI (Marxist-Lenin) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya termed the controversy as “major national crisis”, and called all Opposition parties to come together. Engineer missing for 2 weeks as govt fails to clear contractors’ dues R a g h o t ta m K o p pa r @Gadag An engineer from Gadag has gone missing after leaving behind a letter, stating that he was being harassed by subcontractors who had not been paid for the work carried out as the state government was yet to release funds. Though he has stated in the letter that he was ending his life by suicide, there is no proof that he has taken the extreme step, as the police are yet to conclude their investigation. Parvez Dharwad, an assistant executive engineer (AEE) with the Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Ltd (KRIDL) from Gadag, has been missing for the last two weeks and his family has filed a complaint at the Betageri Extension police station in Gadag city . In his letter, Parvez stated that he was deeply distressed because funds worth crores of rupees have not been released to the subdivision contractors. P5 golden ticket out of poverty Indraneel Das v Express @ asian games Nagoya ADA Pav! No, that’s not Aslam Inamdar’s favourite food. At 14, that was literally the only item on the menu he could afford, the food that kept him alive. When developing athletes his age were building their physique with protein shakes and health food, all Inamdar had — could have — was vada pav, rotis or anything he could lay his hands on. This was a time when he slept without a roof over his head; his full-time job was washing uten- sils in a tea shop or in a nearby juice shop. But now, after India’s kabaddi team defended their gold medal against Iran on Saturday he’s a two-time Asian gold , medallist. There is nothing quite like sport when it comes to throwing up gripping, inspirational stories. “Kya kya nehi kiya maine (What all did I not do),” he says. He lost his father when he was young and the focus quickly turned on survival. Washing utensils, cleaning toilets, working in juice bars, tea shops — name any menial job and he has done it. That was when he was a child. “I worked at tea stalls, juice bars, cleaned washrooms and utensils. I even used to work in farm fields too,” he says. “I even gathered scrap bottles to sell to dealers’ just to buy food.” Kabaddi found him around this time and gave him an extra source of food — leftovers from tournaments. “I survived on vada pav or free food, and food saved from tournaments.” He was around 14 then and was playing in age group competitions. P11 Aslam Inamdar (third from bottom left) & the men’s kabaddi team | pti For Rahman visit, Dhaka wants new water-share treaty J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Bangladesh is seeking a new agreement on sharing the Ganga’s waters rather than merely renewing the 1996 treaty as Dhaka presses India for what it describes as its “dues” as a lower-riparian state and seeks assurances against political activities by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from Indian soil. These two issues are emerging as important elements as both sides look at a possible November visit to India by Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. A high-level meeting in Dhaka on September 17 discussed various aspects of the ties, diplomatic sources said. India and Bangladesh have since “remained engaged” at senior levels as they work towards finalising the visit, which is being looked at for the latter half of November. Foreign Secretary Asad Alam Siam who Dhaka is sending as its next High Commissioner to India is expected to arrive in the first week of November, sources said. Dhaka’s new water demand comes in the wake of the expiry of the 30-year Ganga Water Sharing Treaty on December 12. It now wants a fresh treaty Tarique Rahman Joint Rivers Commission dealing with the matter The water issues are now being handled within the broader framework of the IndiaBangladesh Joint Rivers Commission, which deals with the two countries’ shared rivers. India and Bangladesh share 54 rivers rather than a “straightforward extension” of the existing arrangement, arguing that a new framework should better reflect its requirements as the downstream country . Bangladesh minister Forhad Hossain Azad had said Dhaka will seek a higher share of the Ganga, including a stronger guarantee for flows during the dry season. For India, however, the question is not merely a bilateral renewal. Consultations have been held with Indian stakeholders, including West Bengal, on water requirements. E x p r ess Re a d HC orders new list for recruitment of teachers for HK Bengaluru: Quashing the circular dated February 1, 2023, issued by the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, the Karnataka High Court directed the Selection and Recruitment Authority cum Deputy Director of Public Instructions (ADM), Kalaburagi and Bidar districts, to prepare a fresh list of candidates for the recruitment of graduate primary teachers for classes 6-8 in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region | P5