express illustration BENGALURU l Thursday l September 03, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 22 l late city EDITION Banks mobilise $127.23 billion in deposits from Indian diaspora: RBI India attracted $127.23 billion in Foreign Currency Non-Resident deposits under RBI’s special USD-INR forex swap facility till August 31, the closing date Total forex inflows touch $136.38 billion Scheme a big hit, closed one month early RBI’s special USD-INR forex swap facility for FCNR (B) deposits, Overseas Foreign Currency Borrowings and External Commercial Borrowings was launched on June 8 as part of efforts to strengthen India’s external sector position and support forex liquidity amid global uncertainties. The measures led to a surge in forex inflows totalling $136.38 billion as on August 31 ■ ■ Under the RBI’s FCNR (B) scheme, Indian banks offered attractive interest rates to mobilise foreign currency deposits The response has been strong enough for the RBI to advance the closure of the FCNR(B) window from September 30 to August 31, having already achieved its objective ahead of schedule FCNR(B) Deposits are foreign-currencydenominated fixed deposits 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 Retd Air Marshal BrahMos board shake-up on cards Mishra 1st CEO of Ram temple trust J a v a r i a R a n a @ New Delhi Govind Dev Giri is the new general secretary; Mahesh Bhagchandka to be the treasurer relative of the late VHP international president, he has also THE Shri Ram Janmabhoomi authored a book on Singhal. Teerth Kshetra Nyas, the trust Madan Mohan Pandey had that manages the Ayodhya tem- been associated with the Ram ple, appointed former Air Mar- Janmabhoomi case in local shal Jeetendra Mishra as its courts and is also associated first chief executive officer at a with the VHP . meeting held on Wednesday . Nirmala Yadav has been asA native of Deoria in Uttar sociated with the RSS. Pradesh, Air Marshal Mishra Air Marshal Mishra is exled the Western Air Command pected to bring in discipline during Operation Sindoor. and management expertise in The Ram temple trust also running the affairs of the Ram appointed for mer temple, search comtreasurer Govind Dev mittee member Giri as general secreSuresh Haware said. tary to fill the post vaHaware is a retired cated by Champat nuclear scientist and Rai, who chose to reformer chief of Shri sign following the doSaibaba Sansthan nation theft scandal. Trust in Shirdi. Among other deciThe other members sions, the trust anof the three-member Jeetendra Mishra nounced three new selection panel are retrustees, including a tired Supreme Court woman. The new trustees are judge Pramod Kohli and retired Delhi-based businessman Ma- L t G e n e r a l Vi s h n u k a n t hesh Bhagchandka, Ayodhya- Chaturvedi. based advocate Madan Mohan The selection panel reviewed Pandey and Nirmala Yadav of , 5,585 applications and held disShikohabad. cussions with 16 candidates. VHP leader Sharad Sharma The final shortlist had three has been appointed the spokes- names, from which the trust man of the trust. picked Air Marshal Mishra. Mahesh Bhagchandka is The other two shortlisted likely to be named treasurer of candidates, according to rethe trust. He is the chairman of ports, were retired Major GenM2K Group and a trustee of the eral Sanjay Pratap Singh Bisht Ashok Singhal Foundation. A and Shruti Hardwari. N A M ITA B A J PAI @ Lucknow back to campus Modi to visit Delhi’s SRCC in Gen Z pitch I f r a h M u f t i @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address students at Delhi’s Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC)—a campus that once marked his national rise—on September 5 on the occasion of Teachers’ Day . The proposed visit to the college, which is celebrating its centenary year, comes amid the BJP’s ongoing outreach efforts to draw young voters to the party In the wake of the . recent students’ protests and growing discontent among youngsters over education reforms to employment, party leaders have turned their focus to wooing first-time voters through campus interactions and digital platforms. Just three weeks ago, Modi had addressed the convocation ceremony at IIT Delhi, where he interacted with graduating students and positioned Narendra Modi youth as central to India’s future. The upcoming interaction at SRCC is expected to carry a similar tone, but in a more conversational campus setting. Modi last visited SRCC in 2013 as Gujarat chief minister. His speech then drew a packed audience and marked one of his early high-profile engagements with students in Delhi. Over a decade later, his return to SRCC comes at a time when campuses are more politically aware and digitally active, with student engagement often spilling into social media. The official confirmation of PM’s SRCC visit is awaited. Sixteen months after BrahMos missiles were battle-tested during Operation Sindoor, the Indian side is examining a proposal to restructure the Indo-Russian joint venture (JV) behind the supersonic cruise missile, including changes to its board and a plan to bring more engineering and R&D work in-house, sources familiar with the matter said. The proposal, discussed at a meeting on Monday looks at drop, ping DRDO’s Director General (Missiles and Strategic Systems) from the Indian side of the BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd board and setting up a dedicated engineering team within the company Sources . said it also envisages splitting the Chairman of BrahMos Aerospace and Director General (BrahMos) roles into two separate posts. The Russian side’s representation is proposed to remain unchanged. The proposed restructuring comes as BrahMos scales up to meet a sharp rise in domestic orders and exports. The Philippines, BrahMos’s first overseas customer, began receiving the missiles in 2024, while Indonesia and Vietnam have emerged as new buyers. Negotiations with the UAE are also gaining momentum. Production has been ramped up. The BrahMos integration and testing facility in Lucknow has added around 20% to the programme’s overall production capacity, supplementing existing lines in Hyderabad, Pilani and Thiruvananthapuram. Indigenous content has risen to around 70%, against a target of 85%. Sources said BrahMos Aerospace had outgrown the governance structure created in 1998, when the programme was still under development. “BrahMos Aerospace is now running four plants, supplying all three services and working against fixed export delivery schedules,” one source said. “It needs a structure suited to a production company rather than one designed around a development programme.” The proposal has also triggered concerns. Sources said the DRDO labs had provided much of the design base, testing infrastructure and specialist manpower behind the indigenisation. Removing the DG (MSS) from the board, they argued, could weaken BrahMos’ formal link with those labs. They also questioned whether a relatively small in-house engineering team could quickly replace capabilities built up across the DRDO missile complex over decades. express read Guv challenges HC relief to KPSC chief Bengaluru: Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot has moved the Karnataka High Court, challenging an order passed by a single judge quashing the suspension of Shivashankarappa S Sahukar as KPSC chairman, post-facto approval of the Council of Ministers. | P3 Tankers drawing mountain water as the water pipeline network was washed away in the recent flash floods across Nuwakot and Rasuwa districts of Nepal | S V Krishna Chaitanya Health crisis looms as water grid collapses monitoring, E. coli tests,” a WHO official said. The government is using portable With thousands feared dead or miss- water-testing kits, with support from ing and large parts of Nuwakot and WHO and UNICEF, as WASH (Water, Rasuwa buried under mud and de- Sanitation and Hygiene) intervenbris, Nepal is confronting tions are expanded across a second emergency in the affected areas. form of a health crisis. The water crisis is parKeeping survivors safe is ticularly serious in Nuwabecoming a challenge as Ground Zero kot and Rasuwa because drinking-water systems settlements depend on a Nepal seeks have completely collapsed, network of mountain rivglobal climate sanitation infrastructure ers and streams. The reparation is destroyed and access to Bhote Koshi and Trishuli healthcare is disrupted. are the principal river Nepal’s PM Te a m s f ro m Wo rl d system through the disBalendra Shah on H e a l t h O r g a n i z at i o n tricts, fed by tributaries Wednesday (WHO) Nepal and Minisincluding the Salankhu blamed the flash try of Health and Family and Falakhu. Further floods on climate Welfare are visiting temdownstream, the Trishuli change. “There is a porary holding and sheljoins the Narayani system global contribution ter centres to check survibefore entering India as behind climate vors for signs of disease the Gandak. change. And the spread. Authorities have Here, the drinking waresponsibility to also begun regular testing ter pipelines feeding thoumanage and of drinking-water sources sands of people are comminimise its for E. coli, an indicator of pletely destroyed. effects also rests faecal contamination. In Bidur Municipality, on the global Tsering Gurung, Comthe biggest local body in community” | P14 munication Officer at Nuwakot, the main drinkWHO Nepal, said WHO is ing-water system serving working closely with the Ministry of nearly 6,000 households has been Health and Food Safety, “to assess damaged. Around 7-8 km of pipelines emerging health needs and coordi- have been destroyed, while about 20 nate the health sector response to this smaller water-lifting schemes serving emergency”. scattered settlements have also been “Basically, we are doing regular affected.  Continued on: P14 S V KRISH N A CHAITA N YA @ Rasuwa (Nepal) Six children injured as classroom ceiling crumbles E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ B a g a l k o t Six children were injured after a portion of the ceiling plaster of a classroom collapsed on them while classes were being conducted at the government school in Mugaloli Thanda of Bagalkot taluk on Wednesday The in. jured students were shifted to Bagalkot District Hospital, and their condition is reported to be safe as the injuries are minor in nature. Parents of the injured children criticised the school authorities for the delay in informing them about the incident and the failure of some The broken ceiling and an injured student officials and teachers in immediately shifting the children to the hospital. They also demanded proper repairs to the dilapidated school building, and adequate safety measures. Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Gajanan Bale said all six children were out of danger and receiving appropriate medical treatment. The Panchayat Raj Engineering Department has been directed to immediately repair the damaged portion of the school building, he said. Deputy Director of School Education Sheetaramu visited the district hospital and inquired about the condi- tion of the injured children. He told reporters that he received information about the incident when he was in a meeting with the district in-charge minister. He said he immediately alerted education department officials and asked them to visit the school. “I will visit the school and collect details about the incident. There were clear instructions that children must be taught only in safe premises. Action will be taken against those who allowed classes to be conducted in a dilapidated room,” Sheetaramu, said adding that responsibility would be fixed in case any negligence is found. K’taka ups focus on solar power projects Chikkaballapur: State government has intensified its efforts to increase solar power generation under Kusum-B and Kusum-C schemes. The government is sourcing farmers’/private lands for the Kusum-C scheme due to dearth of government land. | P6 Tunnel road project Now, CM seeks women entrepreneurs’ support E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Bengaluru Amid growing opposition to Bengaluru’s proposed tunnel road project, Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Wednesday urged entrepreneurs to raise their voice in support of the project. Addressing women entrepreneurs at the fifth edition of Ubuntu’s International Women Entrepreneurs Day programme, ‘Together We Grow’, Shivakumar said the tunnel project would save commuters both time and money and claimed that the opposition to the project was politically motivated and that the infrastructure would help reduce traffic congestion. “Bengaluru is growing rapidly and has 1.4 crore vehicles. The government is spending Rs 1.5 lakh crore on infrastructure to strengthen the city’s transport system. As entrepreneurs, you should raise your voice in support of the tunnel project,” he said. Turning to women’s empowerment, the chief minister said women entrepreneurs who had overcome all challenges to build businesses were role models for society . Referring to the Ramayana, Shivakumar said Sita’s personality was greater than that of Rama because of her sacrifice and struggles.  CONTINUED ON PAGE 7