SAMBALPUR l friday l october 09, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l CITY EDITION Canadian poet Anne Carson awarded Literature Nobel Anne Carson won the Nobel Literature Prize on Thursday for her ‘bold and inventive’ works that fuse the classical and the modern Known for modern takes on Greek classics Her reaction: They are all crazy Carson brought a modern twist to ancient myths through her genreblending writings about love, desire and despair. In doing so, she has created new forms for contemporary literature, the Swedish Academy said. For example, her Autobiography of Red (1998) reimagines the myth of Hercules and the monster Geryon as a 20th-century coming-of-age story ■ ■ “Almost all her literary production has centred upon the intersection between the philologist’s obsession with words and the poet’s desire for new meaning,” the Academy said in a statement When asked about the Academy members’ decision to honour her, the 76-year-old told an Iceland broadcaster, “They’re all crazy” | P9 3rd canadian to win the honour after alice munro and saul bellow 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 bloc stages Taxman losing arrest power sit-in at Rajghat among GST Council reforms Threshold for prosecution now `10 crore; for issuing notice, it’s `10,000 U D AYA N K ISH O R E & A N U P K U M A R V E R M A @ New Delhi INDIA bloc leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, staged a peaceful protest on Thursday at the Mahatma Gandhi memorial at Rajghat against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged election malpractices. The leaders met briefly for lunch, hosted by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, at Connaught Place and then moved in buses towards the memorial, along with a group of supporters, where they paid floral tributes and sat in a peaceful protest. The INDIA bloc leaders said they were praying for “wisdom to the BJP government” as they alleged that the CEC in connivance with the Centre had “hijacked” the country through “a criminal conspiracy by indulging in vote theft”. The opposition leaders said they would continue their protest till CEC Gyanesh Kumar resigns. They are likely to meet again on Friday in Parliament for a protest. Samajwadi Party, Shiv Se- Pu s h p i ta D ey @ New Delhi Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi along with INDIA bloc leaders en route to Rajghat on Thursday | Parveen Negi na-UBT, and NCP-SCP also attended the lunch. Besides TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee and Menaka Guruswamy CPI, M leader John Brittas and CPI leader P Sandosh were present. Later in the day the INDIA , bloc request an appointment of the President to make a re presentation on ‘vote theft’. The GST Council on Thursday approved a series of process reforms aimed at easing compliance for businesses, including simplifying registration and refunds, scrapping arrest powers of GST officers and raising the monetary threshold for prosecution to `10 crore from `5 crore. The Council also approved a `10,000 threshold for issuing GST show-cause notices and allowed input tax credit (ITC) on several business expenses, including employee insurance. The decisions were taken at the 57th meeting of the GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and attended by finance ministers from several states. The meeting focused on process reforms to reduce compliance burdens and litigation risks for businesses. The Council also addressed a major pain point for businesses — denial of ITC because of noncompliance by vendors in the supply chain. It said genuine buyers should not lose credit because of supplier defaults. A standing committee of officers will examine the issue and submit its re- Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Karnataka CM D K Shivakumar (R), Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and others at the GST Council meet in Delhi on Thursday | PTI Input tax credit issues “In the spirit of cooperative federalism, it was decided to have an officers’ committee to examine ITC issues. Why should an honest taxpayer face issues in claiming ITC, if the person/business pays the input tax?” Sitharaman said port within three months, after which the matter will be placed before the next Council meeting. The Council also widened the scope of ITC to several business expenses, including outdoor catering, health and life insurance, telecommunication towers and pipelines laid outside factory premises. ITC will also be allowed on free samples and goods destroyed or written off after expiry where such destruction is required by law. It also brought input services within the scope of refunds under the inverted duty structure, where businesses are left with accumulated credit because their inputs are taxed at a higher rate than their output. The benefit will be available for credit availed on or after November 1. The Council also scrapped the power of GST officers to arrest taxpayers. To curb litigation, it proposed that no show-cause notice be issued where the amount involved is up to `10,000. A common standard will govern the issuance and service of notices in cases involving alleged fraud. Cancer drugs all set to become cheaper Cancer drugs will soon become cheaper as the centre is all set to announce capping trade margins at 30% over the cost to distributors. According to official sources, the move will mean that cancer drugs will see a 70% slash in retail prices | P7 Odisha bandh gets mixed US giants response, passes off peacefully fromsuspends ITprocess green card TCs, Infosys, Cognizant hit A s i s h M e h ta @ Bhubaneswar The 12-hour Odisha bandh observed by the INDIA bloc on Thursday received a mixed response across the state and passed off peacefully . While transport services were badly hit and mining operations disrupted, government offices remained functional. Commercial establishments remained closed in many places during the morning hours before resuming business in the afternoon. Banking operations were also affected in some places. The bandh was called to oppose the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2026, demand the removal of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and School and Mass Education minister Nityananda Gond. In the capital, public transport was crippled as protesters stopped vehicular movement at key locations, even as police personnel remained largely passive. In Bhubaneswar, police took more than 100 protesters into preventive custody . Lawyers of the Orissa High Court and lower courts in Cuttack stayed away from proceedings, citing inconvenience and Agitators block the Jayadev Vihar-Nandankana road during the 12-hour Odisha Bandh, in Bhubaneswar on Thursday | DEBADATTA MALLICK The 12-hour Odisha bandh was successful and its impact was felt across several districts and block headquarters in the state - Bhakta Charan Das, OPCC president safety concerns arising out of the bandh. In the industrial districts of Angul and Dhenkanal, coal production was badly hit. Transportation of coal by road and rail was obstructed by Congress workers. Coal mining operations resumed normally after lunch. PSUs such as NALCO and NTPC power plants operated smoothly. The operations of Tata Steel, Jindal Steel, GMR, Bhubaneswar: Professional education is all set to get costlier in the state from this academic year, with the Odisha government hiking the fee structure for around 63 engineering, pharmacy and management colleges and institutions. The fee hike ranges from 21 per cent to 100 per cent across BTech, MTech, diploma, BPharm, MBA, MCA and other courses | P3 E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bengaluru Industry responds Indian IT trade association NASSCOM downplayed the action, saying Indian firms had built a strong US workforce. But immigration and skilled talent mobility are distinct issues and must not be viewed via the same lens, it said The message to Microsoft is that you’ve got to hire American workers JD Vance, US Vice-President AHEAD of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s expected visit to India this month, the US government has suspended several Indian IT giants, including TCS and Infosys, from the Permanent Labour Certification (PERM) programme, a key step in the employmentbased green card process, amid allegations of abuse and fraud in US visa programmes. US Vice-President J D Vance announced the action on Thursday Labour Secretary Keith . Sonderling said Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro, HCL and Capgemini were among the companies affected. Microsoft and Adobe were also suspended, with the Labour Department citing multiple federal investigations. Vance accused the companies of using H-1B workers to replace American employees and said the programme had become “rife with fraud”. He alleged that Microsoft had laid off about 6,000 American workers while receiving thousands of H-1B approvals and filing PERM applications. The PERM programme is administered by the US Department of Labour. It generally requires an employer sponsoring a foreign worker for permanent residence to show that there are not enough qualified US workers available for the job and that employing the foreign worker will not adversely affect wages and working conditions. PERM is one of the main stages before an employer can proceed with an employment-based green card application. Indian technology firms are particularly affected because Indians account for a large share of H-1B workers. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bengaluru cjp founder Abhijeet Dipke on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Election Commission of India of “murdering democracy” and “vote theft”, at a massive protest in Bengaluru. Taking part in a ‘People’s Tribunal’ organised by civil society groups and CJP at Freedom Park against the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Dipke said the g roups would continue their agitation until CEC Gyanesh Kumar resigns. The agitators demanded that SIR exercise be scrapped and pre-SIR electoral rolls be restored. Thousands of protesters had gathered at the venue. Voters from Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka shared their experiences of alleged exclusion from the electoral rolls. Video testimonials from people claiming to have been affected by the SIR process were also played. Dipke alleged voter deletions under SIR were aimed at disenfranchising those opposed to the BJP. “We will hit the streets, reclaim democracy and continue the agitation till the CEC resigns,” he added. He alleged that the Election Commission of India had deleted votes at the behest of the Central government. YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, present at the site, alleged “zero transparency and zero accountability” in the SIR exercise, while actoractivist Prakash Raj demanded that SIR be scrapped, claiming it was a frontal attack on the rights and dignity of citizens. I c o n ic d i a l o g u e d e l i v e r y E x p r e s s Re a d Professional education gets costlier, fees hiked by up to 100% JITPL power plant and Rugta Steel remained normal. Mining and transportation operations in the Koida mining circle in Bonai sub-division of Sundargarh district were stopped as the CPM led the protest, with NH-520 and NH-143 blocked. The impact of the bandh extended beyond the capital, with normal life affected in Cuttack, Bhadrak, Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Malkangiri and other parts of the state. In Bhadrak, there was a scuffle between police and protesters. Despite the disruption, Opposition leaders claimed the bandh received widespread support and was observed peacefully in most places. Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) chief Bhakta Charan Das claimed that the 12-hour Odisha bandh was successful and its impact was felt across several districts and block headquarters in the state. He said the Congress would intensify its agitation in the coming days, including protests and demonstrations, and would gherao ministers over its demands. Das also criticised the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) for not participating in the bandh. Won’t stop till CEC quits, says Dipke at B’luru rally Nana Patekar 1 Jan 1951 — 8 Oct 2026 Man of contradictions and fiery, mesmerising monologues N am r ata J o s h i N ana Patekar was a star sans glamour. If one phrase could capture him succinctly it’d be “son of , the soil”. It didn’t just reflect in his favourite attire of the kurta and the gamcha but also in his rootedness in his Marathi identity and culture, his simple one BHK (bedroom-hallkitchen) life in Mumbai, and his love for farming and all things rural, towards which he fo- cused most of his philanthropic efforts through the Naam Foundation that he jointly set up in 2015 along with actor Makarand Anaspure. His rough-around-the-edges, mercurial, far-from-glitzy personality found an answering reflection in the volatile, capricious, crusty characters he came to be identified with on screen; most of them, like him, driven by fierceness, fervour, outspokenness, and a righteous rage. He first caught the audience’s eye with the grounded way he captured the angst of Intensity, individuality Nana Patekar passed away at his Goa residence on Thursday after suffering a heart attack. He was 75. “Few actors possessed the intensity, individuality and unmistakable presence that Shri Nana Patekar Ji had,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on X an unemployed wastrel in N Chandra’s Ankush (1986). His popularity among the masses peaked in the zealous patriotism of films Tirangaa (1993) and Krantiveer (1994). His distinctive voice and unmistakable dialogue delivery added to the appeal. In that aspect, he was a true inheritor of the legacy of legendary Hindi film star Raaj Kumar, also known for his declamatory style. Nana’s iconic monologues were certainly not about mincing words; in fact, they whipped up the crowd and were repeated with the same gusto by his fans. Like the famous line on communal harmony in Krantiveer, which underscores that one can’t distinguish between the blood of a Hindu and a Muslim, and if the creator has treated them equally, humans have no right to drive wedges between the two: “Yeh Musalman ka khoon, yeh Hindu ka khoon. Bata ismein Musalman ka kaunsa hai, Hindu ka kaunsa? Banane wale ne ismein fark nahi kiya, tu kaun hota hai fark karne wala?” Or the sharp barb, in the same film, on how the politicians continue to enjoy power while common people perish: “Ek ek karke sab marenge! Aur yeh neta log kursi par baithkar maza lenge!” Continued on: P8