bhubaneswar l wednesday l october 07, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l LATE CITY EDITION belgian hedaing wins physics hedaingscientisthedaing he da nobel for work on neutrinos hedaing ing hedaing hedaing tracking the omnipresent ghost particles hedaing hedaing hedaing he da hedaing ing Neutrinos are tiny particles with no electric charge, making them tough The National Statistical Office’s Time Use Survey revealed that 24.1% to detect. Scientists in activities related to learning, own, only 2.4% take people participatecan’t see these zooming on their while so they track what happens when other unpaid work. with matter. Neutrinos bump into part in volunteer andthe particles collide The survey also said that 20.7% other particles rarely, so scientists build large detectors to catch collisions. people said they do unpaid care giving services for household members. Halzen’s idea include child care and care for dependent adults Such services was to turn the Antarctic ice into such a large detector Only 38.2% people takeNobel for his efforts Francis Halzen won the part in job-related to demystify a 91% spend neutrinos, cosmic activities whilerare group oftheir time in particles offering survey has found dfdx ghg hvjh socialising, a newclues on how universe evolved 400 scientists from 14 countries edaing hedaing he da hedaing ing head ■ ■ ■ The primary objective of the Time Use Surveyundermeasure ice has Halzen’s idea to create the neutrino detector is to a mile of participation of men and women in paid and unpaid activities a led to a remarkable multinational scientific collaboration and fundamental shiftsource of information on the the universein P9 It is an important in how humans think about time spent | unpaid The IceCube Neutrino Observatory operated domestic service care-giving activities, volunteer work, unpaidby Wisconsin-Madison varsity in activities of the household members, etc | 14 producingthe US involves more than 400 scientists inP7 countries 00000 11th Householdsis the 11th by The survey hallzen covered belgian to conducted during Jan-Dec 2019 win the nobel prize 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 Puri airport project gets environment, CRZ clearance Express News Service @ Bhubaneswar In a major push to the state government’s proposed Shree Jagannath International Airport in Puri, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has accorded the final environmental clearance to the project, removing a major hurdle in its implementation. The green field airport will be developed over 471.348 hectare area at Sipasarubali in the district. Puri collector Dibya Jyoti Parida on Tuesday told mediapersons that the proposed airport project has received both EC and Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance from the ministry . He said forest-related issues pertaining to the project have been cleared and they are now waiting for the final approval from the ministry to go ahead with the project. Sources said the state government now awaits an NOC from the ministry while it will , also move the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for its approval to prepare the detailed project report (DPR) to take up construction work of the airport. Steps for commencement of construction work for the project will be taken in coordination with the AAI and the Transport department authorities, the collector said. The MoEFCC had earlier granted Stage-I (in-principle) approval under the provisions of the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980 for diversion of around 27.887 ha of forest land in the Puri Wildlife Division for construction of the airport. The approval had been given on the basis of the proposal submitted by the ministry’s Advisory Committee (AC). The committee, in its meeting on February 27, 2026, had said the approval has been granted on condition that the state government will ensure the user agency implements mitigation measures and other important recommendations derived from the impact assessment studies and site specific wildlife management plan developed as per the recommendations of Wildlife Institute of India and Zoological Survey of India. The state had been asked to comply with 33 different conditions, including compensatory afforestation in 29.939 ha of non-forest land for grant of the stage-II (final) clearance. Rahul, other INDIA bloc leaders hit the streets, briefly detained High drama as protest march to Election Commission of India ends in nine-hour standoff BJP slams Rahul p r e e t h a n a i r & u d aya n k i s h o r e @ New Delhi A nine-hour sit-in by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other Opposition leaders at the ‘ ll InA dia Radio’ premises ended in forcible detention by Delhi Police on Tuesday night, after the INDIA bloc’s march to the Election Commission headquarters turned into a prolonged standoff in the heart of the capital. The Gandhis and several other protesters were brought to the Kingsway Camp police lines after being taken into custody and were released around 10.15 pm. “To save the traitors of democracy, the remnants of democracy have been dragged through the mud. There will be a reckoning — not a single traitor will be spared,” said Rahul Gandhi. Gandhi had earlier said the protesters were prepared for a long haul until Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar meets them. In the evening, the ECI said it did not receive any request from any political party seeking a meeting with its officials. Delhi police moved in to detain the protesters as several Opposition leaders including TMC, the Left parties, SP MPs and others joined the protest late evening. The dramatic standoff began with the march being stopped soon after it started from Parliament House around 10 am, fol- The BJP, which held as many as three press conferences within a matter of a few hours, slammed the march and claimed that it was another attempt by the Congress to create anarchy and relaunch Gandhi. BJP said Rahul should work on the ground . All I want to do is meet the Chief Election Commissioner and tell him that he has done ‘vote chori’ Rahul Gandhi, LoP Rahul Gandhi waves the tricolour as he climbs atop barricades in Delhi | Sayantan ghosh lowing which the opposition MPs sat in front of Akashwani Bhavan just about 200 metres from the EC office. At the AIR reception entrance, staff tried to prevent Gandhi from entering, leading to the long standoff. He eventually pushed his way inside. While most of the leaders including SP chief Akhilesh GST Council meet expected to halve time taken for refund DIPAK M ONDAL @ New Delhi WITH GST Council meeting on October 8 set to take up major process reforms, businesses would be able to get refunds within a maximum of 17 days. Refund claims are proposed to be acknowledged within 10 d ay s, a n d p ay m e n t s would be made in seven days, government sources said. At present, refunds take 21-35 days. “If a refund claim is not acknowledged in 10 days, it will be deemed to have been acknowledged,” a source said. According to the finance ministry , from now on, any tax changes will happen once a year and they will come into effect from 1 April. This is to ensure tax Accounting for biz costs The proposals also seek to bring ordinary business costs currently kept outside the credit chain back into it, while preventing a service from being taxed twice when it is resold in the same line of business. Refund eligibility will be widened to tax paid on services and plant & machinery certainty . The GST Council meeting is set to consider a broad package of process and structural reforms, with the focus shifting from rate changes to easing compliance, improving input tax credit, simplifying refunds and widening the scope of services and e-commerce under the indirect tax regime. Another key reform is getting businesses registered without delays. According to sources, 61% taxpayers are granted registrations within three days without an officer, the efforts are to cover 100% of taxpayers. “A GST registration suspended for a procedural lapse would be restored automatically once the lapse is rectified,” said the source. Closing a business is also proposed to be made as simple as starting one. A key structural reform relates to input tax credit. The proposal says a buyer who possesses a valid invoice, has received the goods and has paid the supplier, including the tax, should retain the credit even if someone further up the supply chain has failed to pay the tax. Yadav, TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O’Brien, and CPI(M) MP John Brittas, were detained and taken away in buses, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi pulled off a surprise move by alighting from the bus and entering the All India Radio premises. Gandhis and other leaders sat under a tree as police personnel asked them to vacate the premises. Besides the Gandhis, the Congress leaders who joined them inside the AIR premises included Deepender Hooda, Charanjit Singh Channi, Praniti Shinde, K C Venugopal and Pawan Khera. MPs from Biju Janata Dal, which has not been part of the INDIA bloc, also joined the march. However, erstwhile INDIA bloc members DMK and AAP leaders kept away from the protest. Addressing reporters at the protest site, Gandhi questioned why the poll panel was not meeting the nearly 300 Opposition MPs who had marched from Parliament to its office. “Why is the CEC not meeting us? Why are they stopping us? We represent the people,” Gandhi said, questioning the police action against the protesters. He also alleged that “Kumar had helped Modi, Shah and Bhagwat hijack elections and accused them of having destroyed democracy. “What has been done to the country is treason,” Gandhi said. e x p r e s s r e ad BJD joins Oppn rally, BJP sees bid to court INDIA bloc Bhubaneswar: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Tuesday joined the Opposition parties’ protest march in New Delhi demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, drawing sharp criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) | P3 3-day spl drive to include left-out SIR voters in state Bhubaneswar: The CEO on Tuesday announced a three-day special drive from October 7 to 9 for the inclusion of eligible left-out electors in the latest voter roll. Officials said the main objective of the state-wide drive is to include eligible voters who were left out of the roll during the SIR process and register newly eligible young citizens | P2 HAL Koraput gets second production line for Shakti engines Express News Service @ Bhubaneswar Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday announced a second production line for Shakti helicopter engines at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s (HAL) Koraput division which marked the delivery of its 2,000th aero-engine. Speaking on the occasion, Singh said the `218 crore facility, scheduled to be fully operational by 2028-29, will produce up to 100 Shakti engines annually for indigenous helicopters, including the Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter and Prachand Light Combat Helicopter. Congratulating the engineers, technicians, scientists and skilled workforce of HAL, Singh described the 2,000-engine milestone as a significant The `218 crore facility, scheduled to be fully operational by 2028-29, will produce up to 100 Shakti engines annually for indigenous helicopters Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister achievement in India’s aerospace journey and called for transforming Koraput into a broader aerospace propulsion ecosystem rather than limiting it to engine production. The Koraput division, established in 1964, has powered frontline aircraft including the MiG-21, MiG-27, MiG-29 and Su-30MKI. It has also overhauled more than 9,000 engines, helping extend the service life of critical defence platforms, Singh added. The Defence minister said HAL was raising annual pro- Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi greets Defence Minister Rajnath Singh by presenting him local products of Koraput at HAL Sunabeda | Express duction capacity of AL-31FP engines for the Su-30MKI from 30 to 50, with an investment of `335 crore. Against an order for 240 engines placed in 2024, the HAL has delivered 63, exceeding its target of 60 by the end of the second year despite supply-chain and raw-material challenges. Describing the aero-engine as the ‘heart’ of an aircraft, Singh said mastery of propulsion technology was indispensable to fully exploit advanced airframes, weapons, radars and avionics. Singh stressed the importance of indigenous capabilities in superalloys, advanced materials, precision manufacturing, cooling technologies and testing. He also linked propulsion self-reliance to the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft programme, citing a proposed investment of around `5,000 crore, indigenous rawmaterial development with MIDHANI and establishment of India’s first indigenous high-thrust engine testing CONTINUED ON P5 facility. MEA shares concern as 11 Indian seafarers hurt in Hormuz hit J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi THE Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday condemned the targeting of commercial shipping and seafarers after two separate attacks on merchant vessels in the Black Sea and Strait of Hormuz. Eleven Indian seafarers were injured in the latest incident when the Panama-flagged MT On Peace was struck by a projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman. Of its 19-member crew, 17 are Indian nationals. Among the 12 injured in the attack, 11 are Indians. The injured were evacuated with the assistance of Omani authorities and are receiving treatment in Khasab. Condemning the attack, the MEA, in a statement, said: “The targeting of commercial shipping, seafarers and civilian infrastructure in the region must end, and navigation and commerce through international waterways must be restored at the earliest.” Representative pic In the Black Sea, the MV Royad Mammadov Oman rescued injured came under attack on , After the Panama flag-bearing Monday with two foreign seafarers dying and some MT On Peace was struck off crew members sustaining Oman while moving through injuries. The three Indian the Strait of Hormuz, Omani nationals on the crew are authorities evacuated the 12 safe. The injured were injured crew members — 11 of rescued by Romanian authem Indian — who are thorities and are receivreceiving treatment in Khasab ing medical treatment. “India views these attacks on commercial shipping and seafarers with grave concern. The targeting of traffic in international waterways is severely undermining global commerce and welfare of people across the world. We continue to call for dialogue and diplomacy to bring an end to the ongoing conflicts,” the MEA said. New Delhi recalled that India and Liberia had launched a 25-nation Group of Friends on Safety and Security of Shipping and Seafarers at the UN General Assembly in September 2026, aimed at strengthening the protection of merchant crews and commercial shipping from targeted attacks. Indian seafarers account for 12.16% of the global workforce, behind only the Philippines and ahead of China, Russia and Indonesia. India’s presence is particularly strong among officers, with 140,718 Indian officers accounting for 13.41% of the global officer workforce. CM Majhi says Odisha ready for next defence manufacturing unit Express News Service @ Bhubaneswar Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Tuesday made a strong pitch for setting up another modern defence manufacturing unit in Odisha, citing the rapid expansion of the state’s metal downstream, semiconductor and IT sectors and their potential to support the defence industry . Speaking at the foundation-laying ceremony for the second manufacturing line for Shakti engines at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s (HAL) Koraput division in Sunabeda, the CM said the state government is committed to developing Odisha as a major industrial and defence hub and stressed the im- portance of indigenous technology and self-reliance in the sector. Majhi said the HAL division had made an exceptional contribution to the country’s security over the past six decades. The inauguration of the second Shakti engine production line and the symbolic handover of the 2,000th engine to the Indian Air Force marked India’s growing defence capabilities, he said. He highlighted the proposed 870-acre Odisha Silicon Valley at Naraj and semiconductor projects such as SiCSem and 3DGS, saying these initiatives would strengthen the state’s capabilities in advanced manufacturing and technology .