SAMBALPUR l saturday l october 31, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l CITY EDITION The glacial lake outburst at Sintaphu in Bhutan early on Friday triggered downstream alerts in low-lying areas of West Bengal and Assam CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Ready for special session on ‘vote theft’, but Oppn won’t agree: Shah ‘Impeachment’ today at Kharge’s residence Union home minister Amit Shah said on Friday that the BJP is ready for a special Parliament session to discuss the alleged “vote theft” but the Opposition parties are not interested in discussion. “I challenge Rahul and Akhilesh. The BJP is ready to discuss every allegation inside Parliament ... But they will not discuss,” Shah said, dismissing the allegations against the poll panel as baseless | P10 INDIA bloc’s symbolic ‘public impeachment’ of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was postponed to Saturday due to rains, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said. The event will be held at Mallikarjun Kharge’s official residence | P9 Will serve people of India till my last breath: Modi Says farmers got benefits worth `50 lakh cr through govt schemes D I L IP SI N G H K S H AT RI YA @ Ahmedabad PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that he would serve the people of India till his last breath, in an indirect response to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s recent controversial remark that “even Modi’s father will have to go”. “Jeevan ke antim kshan tak janta ki seva main hi juta rahunga (I will continue to serve the people until my last breath),” Modi said while addressing farmers after inaugurating the Bharat Bovine Breeding and Research Centre at Bhildi town in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district. During the roadshow, Modi’s supporters were seen carrying placards that read Modi kahin nahi jayega (Modi is not going anywhere) as a direct counterresponse to Kharge’s comment made a public rally in Bihar last week, which kicked up a political storm. In his address, Modi accused the Opposition parties Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks at an event in Banaskantha, Gujarat | pti of rejoicing whenever the country faces a crisis. He alleged they tried to spread panic over the availability of fertilisers and cooking gas amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia. Without taking names, he said: “They sowed fear among farmers, claiming fertilisers would become unavailable. They created artificial queues and created a sense of panic.” After laying the foundation stones for development projects worth `14,000 crore, he claimed farmers across the country have received or saved more than `50 lakh crore through major government schemes, adding that his government transformed agricultural support through direct transfers, fertiliser subsidies, MSP payments and crop insurance. Modi said his government has placed farmers, particularly small cultivators, at the centre of its policies. He also took a swipe at previous governments, accusing them of neglecting small farmers. “Since independence, the needs of these small-scale farmers were never understood, and they were never even consulted,” Modi said, adding that farmers cultivating small landholdings account for more than 85% of the country’s farming population. Highlighting the financial assistance extended to farmers, the PM said the agricultural budget has increased fivefold and around `4.5 lak hcrore has been transferred directly to farmers’ accounts under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. On Friday, `18,000 crore was released to nearly 10 crore farmers, including over 50 lakh benP3 eficiaries in Gujarat.  Govt starts airdropping food in Ganjam E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar With roads communication cut-off and scores of villages under water, the state government on Friday started airdropping food packets at 21 inaccessible locations in Ganjam, the worst-affected district in rains and floods triggered by cyclone Arnab. Landslides have also snapped road links across Ganjam, Gajapati and Kandhamal districts. Three members of a family, including a ninemonth-old baby were killed in , a landslide at Dangesi village express read Pilot among six killed in chopper crash Dehradun: Six persons, including a pilot and five pilgrims, were killed when a chartered helicopter flying from Badrinath to Dehradun crashed near Chai village in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli on Friday, officials said. The passengers were residents of Bengaluru, while the pilot, Captain Himanshu, was from Delhi | P5 Bombay HC holds Arun Ferreira’s 2011 arrest illegal Mumbai: The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court Nagpur has held the September 2011 arrest of activist Arun Ferreira “illegal” and ordered the Maharashtra government to pay him a compensation of `2 lakh. It came down heavily on the state police for branding Ferreira as absconding even though he was in jail since 2007 | P5 CM Mohan Charan Majhi making aerial survey of flood-hit Ganjam district in Kandhamal district. The victims were identified as Achyuta Pradhan (30) and his wife Anisha Pradhan (25) and their infant child. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, accompanied by Revenue and Disaster Management minister Suresh Pujari, conducted an aerial survey of Ganjam and Gajapati districts and directed officials to speed up relief and rescue work. President Droupadi Murmu also spoke to the chief minister over phone and enquired about the situation and the well-being of displaced and affected people. Pujari said four Indian Navy and Coast Guard helicopters are being used to reach people stranded in areas where rescue teams cannot get through by road. Ground personnel have been stationed at drop points to collect the packets and distribute them to marooned families. Cooked food is also being supplied by boat at 40 identified locations. Food packets were dropped at Purushottampur, Hinjili, Sheragada, Dharakote, Aska, Belaguntha, Bhanjanagar and Chikiti in Ganjam district, he said. “Ganjam, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Koraput and Rayagada districts have been significantly affected. Ganjam has been the worst-hit, followed by Gajapati and Kandhamal. CONTINUED ON P5 India’s poverty decline among fastest globally, says new World Bank report P U S H PI TA D E Y @ New Delhi India has recorded one of the fastest declines in poverty globally with the share of its population living below poverty line falling from 57.7% in 2011 to 16.1% in 2023, a World Bank report said. The report titled India Poverty and Equity Brief: October 2026, released on Friday, said India lifted 496 million people out of poverty during this period. It, however, flagged wage disparities, noting that median ear nings among the top 10% of workers were 13 times that Note of caution The World Bank report also cautioned that as poverty declines, it becomes increasingly concentrated among households with lower levels of education, fewer assets and limited access to stable employment of the bottom 10% in 2023. According to the report, India made remarkable progress in reducing poverty across monetary and non-monetary dimensions. Extreme poverty, measured against the $3-aday threshold, also fell sharply from 27.1% to 2.6%, it noted. The World Bank expects poverty to decline further, with the rate at the $4.20-a-day threshold projected to fall from 14.2% in 2026 to 12.1% by 2028. The improvement is expected to be driven by strong consumption growth, rising employment, particularly among women, and expanded social transfers, including food subsidies. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government’s sustained policy efforts were yielding tangible results, strengthening the foundations for inclusive growth and greater economic opportunities. “This is the reason why NDA government wins people’s trust and mandate of our citizens,” she said.