USS Abraham Lincoln hyderabad l SUNday l AUGUST 16, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l late 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 PM seeks help on women’s quota in I-Day address Bharat’. “Therefore, we must @ New Delhi 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, he . a Naxalite mindset. said, would train one crore Highlighting women’s grow- young people in AI skills over ing participation in public life the next year and establish a in his Independence free online coachDay address from ing network for Red Fort, the prime competitive exminister said, “Let The time is ours, ams. He also highus step forward to a `1 lakh the resolve is ours, lightedInnovation e n s u re t h at o u r crore mothers and sisters let us convert our Fund to suppor t dreams into secure 33% repreyoung innovators sentation in the Legresolve, resolve and entrepreneurs. islative Assemblies into strength and The PM also urged and the Lok Sabha the youth to particistrength into soon.” pate actively in the success On Naxalism, he ongoing Census by said armed Naxals helping their famiNarendra Modi, PM had 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. Row over full Vande Mataram rendition at Congress HQ P r ee t h a N a i r @ New Delhi 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 Insult president Mallikarjun Kharge now an gesturing to workers to stop the offence rendition beyond the first two stanzas. Last month, While the BJP latching on to , Parliament it, accused Sonia of objecting passed a bill that made any to singing the full version of the song, the Congress said insult to the national song there was no attempt to do so. Sonia was only asking for a a punishable offence, giving chair for Kharge, as he had it the status of been standing for a while, said the national Congress general secretary anthem, Jana Jairam Ramesh. Gana Mana The national song has been at the centre of a debate, with 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 of ficial functions. RA J E SH K U M AR THAK U R Narendra Modi hoists the Tricolour at Red Fort during the 80th Independence Day event in New Delhi on Saturday | PTI Harish tried to hurt people with occult rituals, God saved us: CM E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e Sonia Gandhi during an I-Day event at the Congress HQ in Delhi | Parveen negi Small window to disclose foreign assets opens today @ Hyderabad D i pa k M o nd a l @ New Delhi Alleging that former minister T Harish Rao had performed “occult rituals” against the people of Telangana to create a crisis in the state, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said that it was the Almighty’s mercy that there have been rains despite forecasts of a Super El Nino. Claiming that Harish Rao had visited Shivamogga in Karnataka to perform such rituals, Revanth referred to him as “Aghora Rao”. “Who performs occult rituals against the people? When we speak the truth, notices were issued to TPCC chief B Mahesh Kumar Goud. Why did the BRS MLA secretly visit temples in Tamil Nadu? However, God’s blessings are upon us, and that is why the Yellampalli reservoir filled up even during El Nino,” he said. Describing BRS leaders as conspirators, Revanth appealed to people not to fall into the “trap” of the pink party . He also challenged former ch i e f m i n i s t e r K C h a n drasekhar Rao to come to the Assembly for a debate on the welfare of farmers during the 10 years of BRS rule and under the present Congress government. “I am challenging KCR to come to the Assembly and discuss what the previous government did for farmers and what our government is doing,” he said, claiming that his government had spent `1.70 lakh crore on farmers in just two-and-ahalf years. Revanth was speaking at Sangareddy after launching the 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 . The scheme, announced 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 val, ue 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. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy shows a smart ration card while addressing a public meeting the Ambedkar Stadium in Sangareddy on Saturday Who performs occult rituals aga-inst the people? God’s blessings are upon us, and that is why Yella-mpalli filled up A Revanth Reddy, Chief Minister Smart Ration Cards distribution programme. Ministers N Uttam Kumar Reddy, C Damodar Rajanarasimha and G Vivek Venkatswamy were present. Addressing the gathering, the chief minister alleged that the BRS and BJP were “two sides of the same coin”. Listing the welfare measures for the farming community he , said the Rythu Bharosa assistance had been increased to `12,000 and `36,000 crore had so far been deposited into farmers’ accounts under the scheme. He said the government had waived farm loans of up to `2 lakh at a cost of `21,000 crore, describing it as unmatched elsewhere in the country . Revanth advised BJP leaders to study Union government reports on debt-free farmers in Telangana. “In just 32 months, we transferred `90,000 crore to farmers’ accounts for the purchase of paddy he said. ,” Stating that ration cards were not merely pieces of paper but represented the dignity of poor people, Revanth asked whether the BJP and BRS had ever distributed fine-quality rice to the poor.  continued on p4 Earthquake in Indonesia kills 47 7.7-magnitude temblor damages homes and infrastructure in Flores Landslides blocking roads have hampered efforts to find victims | P9 S H A N ti A C T Draft rules on pvt N-plant liability out J aya n t h j a c o b @ New Delhi 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 India sets up panel on Teesta amid China role New Delhi: India has set up a high-powered committee to examine the restoration and future management of the Teesta Barrage Project in West Bengal, a move that comes amid growing Chinese involvement in Bangladesh’s plans for the Teesta River. The panel will assess current water utilisation, future demand and management of the river basin, including the impact of climate change, while also examining measures to strengthen the barrage, sources said | P7