bhubaneswar l saturday l october 10, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l LATE CITY EDITION House panel recommends NTA’s accountability to Parliament A Parliamentary Standing Committee has called for a legislative mechanism to ensure NTA’s accountability to both Houses of Parliament Wants robust exam security apparatus The committee examining the National Testing Agency (NTA) in the wake of NEET-UG paper leak and re-test said the cancellation of the exam this year implies need for further improvement. “The NTA needs adequate staff, robust security, clear accountability mechanisms, and digitalization of operations and examinations” to prevent paper leak, it said ■ 16 ‘Seek help from renowned institutions’ ■ The panel recommended that NTA must only rely on bona fide experts from renowned educational institutions like IITs, AIIMS, IIMs to develop its question banks and for translation purposes It also suggested that students who arrive late at exam centres be allowed to sit for the test after recording an undertaking Of 39 sanctioned posts at nta are vacant, per the house panel 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 Russia fuel gets Prez sought vote theft proof, says INDIA bloc Total shutdown in Delhi for CJP march a new customer in Donald Trump P r ee t h a N a i r @ New Delhi India calls US vice president J D Vance’s remark on foreign workers ‘deeply offensive’ J ayan t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Under pressure from runaway fuel prices ahead of the midterms, US President Donald Trump on Friday did a surprising about turn: he said he will buy diesel from, of all places, Russia. He made the announcement after talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The stunning U-turn came against the backdrop of a US law seeking to impose steep tariffs against top purchasers of Russian oil and gas. “I have just concluded a highly successful discussion with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, wherein it was agreed that Russia will immediately supply over 300,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel to the American and Global Marketplace,” he said on social media. Earlier in the day India termed US , Vice-President J D Vance’s remarks on foreign workers “unwarranted” and “deeply offensive”, asserting that Indian professionals make significant contributions to the American economy innovation and job creation. , New Delhi also said the US decision to suspend Permanent Labour Certification (PERM) applications for certain companies does not advance the shared ambitions of the two nations. “Talent mobility is of tremendous mutual benefit for the two countries and our expectation is that all stakeholders in this process can appreciate this fact,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. “The steps announced by the US do not advance the shared ambitions of both countries,” the MEA added. The response came after the US suspended new PERM applications and halted the processing of pending applications for eight companies, including Microsoft, Adobe and Capgemini, as well as Indian IT firms Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro and HCL. The move is part of the wider US push to tighten employmentbased immigration, with officials arguing that companies should prioritise American workers. Vance accused Microsoft of using the programme to replace American employees with foreign workers. Rejecting the characterisation of foreign professionals as “foreign indentured servants”, the MEA said such descriptions ignored the contribution of Indian workers to the US economy . E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar A fresh low-pressure likely to form over the Bay of Bengal next week could pour cold water on Durga Puja festivities in the state. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the low-pressure area is likely to form over the south-east Bay of Bengal around October 13. The system is expected to become more marked and move west-northwestwards towards the north Tamil Nadusouth Andhra P r a d e s h coasts over the subsequent three to four days. However, its further intensification and likely track is yet to be predicted by the national weather agency . In fact, there is considerable divergence among various weather models over the timing and location of the formation of the upper-air cyclonic circulation and the subsequent low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal. Except for the National Centere for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), no model has indicated the development of a depression over the Bay of CONTINUED ON P7 Bengal. Donald Trump Curbs off till Apr 7 The US on Friday lifted sanctions on the sale of Russian diesel till April 7 next year. All transactions prohibited by the Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions Regulations that are related to the sale, delivery, offloading, or importation, including importation into the US are authorised till April 7, 2027, it said President Droupadi Murmu with Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, LoP Rahul Gandhi, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee and CPI’s D Raja on Friday | PTI Ahead of Saturday’s CJP march, Delhi Police and central agencies imposed a total clampdown on the capital with over 25,000 police and paramilitary personnel deployed. Additional CCTV cameras were installed at key locations and 57 Delhi Metro stations were closed. Northern Railway said 38 trains, scheduled to arrive at New Delhi and Hazrat Nizamuddin stations between 4 am and 2 pm on Saturday, had been cancelled. Commercial establishments at Connaught Place, near Jantar Mantar, have been advised closure on Saturday | P9 tion Commissioners. Other demands included immediate suspension of the SIR and restoration of all 13.30 crore voters “illegally” deleted from electoral rolls. The memorandum urged the repeal of all Assembly polls over the last two years, in which conclusive evidence of “vote chori” has been presented. “Assembly President to say ‘India has free and fair elections’. I was shocked and stunned that the President accepted what we said,” he said, adding the Opposition will provide the evidence when the President is ready to accept it. He said the INDIA bloc would approach the Supreme Court on Monday to meet the elections in Haryana, Maharashtra, MP, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Delhi and West Bengal have been stolen,” it read. Speaking to reporters after the hour-long meeting with Murmu, Rahul Gandhi termed it an “unbelievable meeting”. “I expected the President of India to deny that ‘vote chori’ is taking place. I expected the agen c i e s @ Oslo NAVI Pillay, a South Africanborn jurist and former UN human rights chief whose career has spanned from defending the rights of an imprisoned Nelson Mandela to leading a panel that found that Israel committed g enocide in Gaza, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for her efforts to promote international law as it comes under attack. Her win is a high-profile rebuke to US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who have both rejected the findings of the UN commission she led on Gaza. The lead- ers also have been highly critical of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. Pillay, 85, has worked at both. Hours after the award was announced in Norway, the Trump administration imposed sweeping new sanctions on the ICC as part of a campaign to dismantle the tribunal that the US believes has become politicised and attempted to unfairly and illegally prosecute Americans and Israelis on charges of war crimes. On the 125th anniversary of the prize’s inception, the Norwegian Nobel Committee sought “to remind the world that the rule of law, national and international, underpins the system we have set up to ensure peace and resolve conflicts nonviolently. Peace requires justice,” committee Chair man Jørgen Watne Frydnes said. Pillay received the news while attending a forum in Nuremberg, Germany . She chaired the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, which was created by the UN-backed Human Rights Council. Following a hearing, the commission a year ago concluded Israel was responsible for genocide in Gaza. Gaza was among Pillay’s first comments after hearing she had won. “What’s happening there is genocide,” she said in Germany . @ Bhubaneswar Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Friday announced that the state government would soon formulate a social media policy to meet the needs of the digital era and strengthen the information system. Addressing information service officers at a function on “Emerging Trends in Social Media” at Lok Seva Bhavan here, the chief minister said a seamless information and communication mechanism would be established in the Information and Public Relations department. A strict fact-checking system would also be implemented to counter misinformation and rumours on the digital media, he added. Observing that young people were ahead of traditional media in their extensive use of social media and artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, Majhi said the government would also have to adopt these emerging trends in its communication strategy . “This is not just the era of traditional print or electronic media but also of social media. The mobile phone in every citizen’s hand today is simultaneously a newspaper, television, radio and a medium of multiple forms of communication,” he said. The Chief Minister said information officers should go beyond merely issuing press releases and discharge their duties as skilled communication professionals. He stressed the need to monitor social media to quickly identify public opinion and grievances. Stating that official communi- CM Mohan Charan Majhi addressing the information and public relations officers cation should be based on three key principles of accuracy, speed and simplicity, Majhi said errors in government data or statistics were unacceptable. “In the digital age, delays in providing information create an information vacuum, which is often exploited by some to spread wrong and misleading information. Therefore, correct information must be delivered quickly and in simple language that ordinary people can understand,” he said. The CM said communicating the human stories of how government schemes were transforming the lives of ordinary citizens, rather than merely presenting statistics or data, could be more effective in reaching the public. Warning about challenges such as deepfakes, cloned voices and AI-generated videos, Majhi said fake news often spread rapidly before the truth emerged. It was, therefore, crucial to verify the authenticity of information before sharing it, he added. Chief secretary Anu Garg said that in the changing digital environment, officers should not limit themselves to dissemi- Chief Justice and hand over a memorandum. Kharge told reporters the President said she would probe the matter thoroughly and decide on the next steps. However, according to sources, Rahul’s claims suggesting President Murmu has accepted assertions of ‘vote theft’ are incorrect. IFR A H MUFTI @ New Delhi Navi Pillay Tamil roots Born in Durban on September 23, 1941, to a family of Indian origin with Tamil roots, Navanethem “Navi” Pillay grew up under apartheid. She later pursued postgraduate studies at Harvard Law School. In 1995, she was elected to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where she served as a judge until 2003. Odisha govt to formulate social media policy soon: CM Majhi E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e Police personnel on duty near Jantar Mantar in Delhi on Friday | Parveen Negi JNU sacks Cong MP as prof over sex harassment Peace Nobel for jurist who found Israel guilty of Gaza genocide nating information but convey the government’s welfare initiatives to the public with honesty and commitment. Promoting accurate information would further strengthen trust between the government and the public, she added. Additional chief secretary of the Information and Public Relations department Hemant Sharma said information and public relations officers were the government’s public face. Their role was crucial in communicating the government’s development initiatives and policies to the people. On the occasion, the Chief Minister launched the ‘e-Sanchar App’, developed to make advertisement management more transparent, and unveiled Lokasamparka, the annual magazine of the Information Service Association. THE Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Friday dismissed Professor Angomcha Bimol Akoijam, a Congress Lok Sabha MP from Inner Manipur, after an internal inquiry found him guilty of sexually harassing female students. Prof Akoijam was associated with the Centre for the Study of Social Systems in the School of Social Sciences. The dismissal order, issued on October 9 and signed by Vice-Chancellor Santishree D Pandit, was based on the findings of the university’s Internal Committee, which recommended a ‘major punishment’. The order said the dismissal is with immediate effect. “Upon following the due process and considering all available facts and as per the Prof Angomcha report of the InBimol Akoijam ternal Committee, the punishment of dismissal from the services of the University is hereby imposed on Professor Angomcha Bimol Akoijam, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, School of Social Sciences of the University .” Akoijam was elected to the Lok Sabha from Inner Manipur in 2024 as a candidate of the Indian National Congress. The termination comes after the Delhi Commission for Women sought a report from JNU. DCW Chairperson Lata Gupta took suo motu cognisance of a video shared on social media in which students said they submitted a complaint against the professor in May 2026 but the university did not take appropriate action. Messi affair Kochi stadium revamp claim `70 crore, actual cost `8.44 crore G O PI K A V A RRI E R @ Kochi AN inter nal report of the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) has found that the cost of renovating the city’s Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium for the failed Lionel Messi friendly was inflated by over `60 crore. The GCDA owns the stadium. The report, accessed by TNIE, put the preliminary cost of the renovation at `8.44 crore, against the `70 crore sponsor Reporter Broadcasting Corporation claimed to have spent. According to the internal report, a panel headed by the GCDA secretary conducted a preliminary assessment of the stadium renovation, calculating costs based on the market rates of materials and individual works. The report pegged the cost of boundary wall work at `1.19 crore, parking ground development at `1.66 crore and press clusive gallery chair installation at `2.22 crore. Painting, entrance lobby revamp, toilet renovation and electrical work cost `1.36 crore, while another `2 crore was spent under other heads. Even if a 10% margin is allowed, the actual cost wouldn’t have touched `10 crore, GCDA Lionel Messi Low pressure over bay next week, no clarity on build-up Russia would supply another 500,000 tonnes of diesel in November, followed by 1 million tonnes thereafter After a meeting with President Droupadi Mur mu at Rashtrapati Bhavan, INDIA bloc leaders on Friday said the President neither denied the Opposition’s allegations nor questioned them, but asked the delegation to provide evidence of “vote theft”. A 10-member delegation, including Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee and CPM general secretary M A Baby met the President in the , evening and submitted a memorandum. The demands in the memorandum included the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, a return to ballot papers for elections and the repeal of the 2023 law that provides life-long immunity to the CEC and Elec- sources said. The report also said 15,000 fixed seats were left untouched during the renovation and needed replacement when the sponsor handed the stadium back to the GCDA. Contrary to former GCDA chairperson K Chandran Pillai’s claim that the renovation cost the authority nothing, the report said GCDA carried out electrical and fencing works and maintained the floodlights, spending `50 lakh. Pillai was unavailable for comment. The report said Sports Kerala Foundation (SKF) prescribed the specifications for the materials used to meet FIFA approval requirements. It noted that GCDA engineers did not supervise the work, with SKF officials overseeing it instead. The stadium was handed over to the RBC through the SKF on September 26, 2025. The sponsor claimed to have spent `70 crore on the renovation.