SATURDAY 3-MEMBER PANEL FORMED TO PROBE LANDSLIDE ON VAISHNO DEVI ROUTE 30 AUGUST, 2025 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard INDONESIA Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Friday constituted a three-member panel to inquire into the reasons behind the landslide DEATH OF DELIVERY RIDER SPARKS STIR Protests erupted in multiple cities and tensions soared on Friday, a day after a delivery rider was allegedly run over by a police armored vehicle. A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS PAGE 9 Robust govt spending boosts Q1 growth  NEW DELHI  J8.00 India, Japan unveil 10-yr economic roadmap GDP grows 7.8%, beats estimates D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi AMID unprecedented global uncertainties precipitated by US President Donald Trump’s tariff war, India’s GDP grew to a 5-month high of 7.8% in the April-June quarter, beating all estimates and surprising many . Most analysts had expected India’s growth to come in below 7% during the period. Even the RBI projection for the first quarter was a moderate 6.5%, which showed the spectacular resilience of the Indian economy . The strong performance was driven by a buoyant services sector, which registered a substantial real GVA (gross value added) g rowth of 9.3%, and the manufacturing sector, which grew 7.7% during the quarter. Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran said the growth was broad-based. “Agriculture GVA rose 3.7%, which is usually expected to be modest in this quarter. Manufacturing expanded by 7.7%, while services also recorded strong growth, consistent with robust PMI services readings in recent months,” he said. Both manufacturing and construction sectors demonstrated robust growth, with 15 6 3 6.9% 6% 9.7% 9.3% 9.5% 4.8% 5.6% 8.4% Q2 V Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor Q3 Q4 Q1 2022-2023 Q2 Q3 Q4 2023-2024 7.8% 7.4% 6.4% 6.5% Q1 After seeing the resilience of Q1 growth, we are retaining the growth rate projections for current fiscal at 6.3-6.8% CRESTS AND TROUGHS 13.5% 12 9 In absolute terms, the real GDP for Q1 of 2025-26 is estimated at `47.89 lakh crore, up from `44.42 lakh crore in the same quarter last year. The nominal GDP for the quarter stands at `86.05 lakh crore, up 8.8% Q1 Q2 Q3 2024-2025 Q4 Q1 FY26 Prime ministers Narendra Modi and Shigeru Ishiba | PTI WORLD COUNTING ON INDIA, SAYS MODI IN JAPAN J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi AMID a shifting global trade landscape, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday used his first foreign visit since the US imposed sweeping 50% tariffs on key Indian imports to deliver a clear message from Tokyo: the world is counting on India. “The world is not just watching India. It is counting on India,” Modi said, addressing top business leaders at the India-Japan Economic Forum alongside his Japanese counterpart China ties to stabilise Shigeru Ishiba. India and Japan unveiled a economic 10-year economic roadmap order: PM aimed at long-term stability, Given the strategic cooperation, and mu- volatility in the tual resilience. Its centerpiece world economy, is to secure critical supply it is important chains, expand AI and digital for India and cooperation, and deepening China to work private sector investment. together to Japan committed to mobils- bring stability ing 10 trillion yen (approxi- to the world mately $68 billion) in private economic order, investment in India over the Modi said | P7 next decade — a move widely seen as a vote of confidence in India’s economic trajectory at a time of global realignment. “We have laid a strong foundation for a new and golden chapter in our Special Strategic and Global Partnership,” Modi said. “This roadmap aligns with the priorities of both nations and meets the challenges of a changing world.” The summit launched the India-Japan Economic Security Cooperation Initiative, aimed at a “whole-of-nation” approach to bolster strategic sectors like semiconductors, rare earths, P7 clean energy AI, telecom, and biotech. , Seafood containers from TN to US stranded at sea S G O D S O N W I S E LY D A S S @ Thoothukudi SEAFOOD expor ters in Thoothukudi are literally caught between the devil and the deep blue sea as American importers have started cancelling the ordered consignments that are in transit, citing the new 50% tariff, leaving crores of rupees worth of seafood stranded at sea. Over 1,000 tonnes of seafood consignments (refrigerated containers or reefers), worth nearly `100 crore, sent to the US are currently in transit. After the US President Donald Trump’s 50% tariff on Indian goods kicked in on August 27, the buyers are urging the exporters to either bear the difference in tariff hike or take back the consignments, Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) - TN Region president Selwin Prabhu told 34 PAGES 12 TNIE. Thoothukudi exports frozen seafood like vannamei (Whiteleg shrimp), squid and octopus in large quantities to the US market. Shrimp alone accounts for 85% of the export. Prabhu said though most exporters had gradually reduced the quantum of export to the US due to the tariff uncertainty over the last few months, Seafood shipments executed before August 6 attracted 10% tariff, and 25% tariff until August 26. From August 27, the tariff was hiked by another 25% as penalty — Industry sources more than 1,000 tonnes of seafood consignments are currently in transit as it takes nearly 45 days to reach the port of New York or Los Angeles. Voicing concern about buyers mailing exporters to cancel goods in transit, Prabhu said, “Buyers want exporters to bear the 50% tariff cost to accept the consignments or they are threatening to return them. We entered into agreements with buyers when the tariff on Indian goods was 10%. The steep tariff of 50% has upended everything.” UNVEILING its mega plans for the artificial intelligence space, India’s largest conglomerate Reliance Industries on Friday announced a wholly owned subsidiary, Reliance Intelligence, to bring AI solutions for users in India and select international markets. RIL will also join hands with global tech giants Meta and Google to bring cutting-edge AI tools to India. Reliance Intelligence will build gigawatt-scale, AIready data centres, powered by green energy and engineered for training and inference at a national scale. Also on the cards is a Jio listing next year Jio Platforms, the entity that houses Reliance Industries’ telecom and digital businesses, is gearing up for an initial public offering and stock market listing in the first half of 2026 | P10 joint venture with US firm Meta to build and scale enterprise AI solutions for businesses, with an initial joint investment of `860 crore ($100 million), with Reliance holding a 70% stake and Meta holding 30%. Announcing the details on Friday, RIL’s RJD seeks extension of Sept 1 deadline for claim filing in SIR, moves SC S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Friday decided to hear on September 8 the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) plea seeking one more week for filing claims and objections on voter registration as part of the special intensive revision (SIR) in Bihar. Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the RJD, mentioned the matter before a threejudge bench of justices Surya Kant, Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, seeking a week’s extension to the September 1 deadline. He said the RJD and a few other parties have filed applications seeking the extension of the September 1 deadline. The SC in its order agreed to bunch it with other matters on September 8. Bhushan said over 1,75,000 claims and objections were made before and after the August 22 court order. The August 22 order directed the Election Commission of India (EC) to allow the 65 lakh excluded voters to submit their claims online besides physical submissions in poll-bound Bihar. Complying with this order, the EC had also filed an affidavit saying the list of names and details of 65 lakh electors in Bihar who were not included in the draft roll published on August 1 had been posted on the websites of all 38 District Electoral Officers in the state. The number of claims doubled from 84,305 on August 22 to 1,78,948 on August 27 in just five days, the RJD said. When the bench asked the petitioners why they hadn’t approached ECI for relief, Bhushan claimed the poll panel had not considered their request. “Unless extended, genuine electors whose names have been erroneously deleted by the EC will not be able to submit their claims and consequently will be barred from exercising their right to vote in the coming elections.” EXPRESS READ 8 killed, many missing in U’khand cloudbursts S-I candidates say will approach court in Raj A series of cloudbursts rocked Uttarakhand between Thursday night and Friday morning, claiming at least eight lives and leaving more than a dozen people missing across Garhwal and Kumaon regions. Several roads were also damaged. | P8 The Rajasthan High Court order cancelling the state’s 2021 SubInspector (S-I) recruitment exam has left the candidates who had cleared the test in limbo. Staring at an uncertain future, they have decided to approach the double bench in this regard. WETTEST AUG IN 15 YRS AS CAPITAL LOGS 400MM RAIN SO FAR P R A B H AT S H U K L A @ New Delhi DELHI is on track for one of its wettest monsoon seasons in recent memory, with August alone recording rainfall levels unmatched in the past 15 years. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the capital has so far logged 399.8 mm of rain this month, already surpassing last year’s August total and inching closer to breaking older records. The figure makes August 2025 the rainiest since 2010, when the city witnessed 455.8 mm. With two more days left for the month to end, officials expect the tally of rainy days, already 14, to increase further. In contrast, rainfall in August over the last three years was markedly lower: 91.8 mm in 2023, 41.6 mm in 2022, and 237 mm in 2021. The city’s heavy spell this month has already exceeded the annual rainfall average set for Delhi. Bet we e n Ju n e a n d Au g u s t , precipitation has been consistently high. June saw three times its normal rainfall, at 243.3 mm, while July was closer to average at 203.7 mm. Combined, these spells have pushed the total monsoon rainfall past 750 mm, almost equalling the city’s yearly mean of 774.4 mm. The IMD classifies rainfall up to 15.5 mm as “light,” 15.6 mm to 64.4 mm as “moderate,” 64.5 mm to 115.5 mm as “heavy and any,” thing beyond that in a 24-hour window as “very heavy .” On Friday, showers swept across Delhi, with Safdarjung, the main observatory recording 63.7 mm between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm. Lodhi Road got 36.6 mm and Aya Nagar 11.8 mm during the same period. Despite the heavy rain, the Met department has issued no warning so far, though it has predicted more showers in the coming days. The downpours caused waterlogging and traffic snarls. This year’s rainfall follows a contrasting pattern from last year, when August logged 390.3 mm spread over 17 days—67% above the long-period average but still below the current month’s mark. P3 The probe panel will be headed by additional chief secretary, Department of Jal Shakti. Jammu Divisional Commissioner Ramesh Kumar and Inspector General of Police B S Tuti are the two other members. The three-member committee will submit its report within two weeks to Sinha, who is also the chairman of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board | P8 Reliance to partner with Meta, Google to bring affordable AI R A K E S H K U M A R @ New Delhi Real GDP at `47.89 lakh crore GVA rates of 7.7% and 7.6%, respectively The agriculture . and allied sector also showed healthy improvement, rising to 3.7% from 1.5%. Private consumption grew 7%, lower than 8.3% a year ago but still strong. The CEA said rural consumption had held up well. “We would even argue that urban consumption hasn’t been as weak as some indicators suggest. Rural consumption has been supported by sharply rising real wages in agriculture,” he said. Gover nment spending provided a boost, with final consumption expenditure rising 7.4% during the quarter. Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF)— spending on infrastructure and asset creation—rose 7.8%, higher than 6.7% in Q1 FY25. Economists attribute the Q1 growth to front-loaded government spending and a surge in exports to the US, which grew 22% during the three-month period. The Q1 GDP numbers were for the period before Trump imposed tariffs on Indian goods. Analysts fear GDP data for the second quarter may take a hit with the impact of the US tariffs on Indian goods factored in.  PILGRIMS WERE KILLED AND 20 OTHERS INJURED IN THE LANDSLIDE ON AUGUST 26 COMMITTEE TO SUBMIT REPORT WITHIN 2 WEEKS Vehicles stuck on a waterlogged road at NH24 on Friday | PARVEEN NEGI chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani said partnering with Meta fulfils the firm’s vision of providing AI to every Indian and enterprise by combining Meta’s most widely adopted open source Llama models with our deep expertise across multiple industries. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals. RIL also announced expansion of its partnership with Google Cloud. Reliance will build a modern cloud data centre in Jamnagar, along with associated network infrastructure. The facility will meet Google Cloud’s global technical specifications and standards, making it capable of handling advanced AI workloads. THAI CONSTITUTIONAL COURT SACKS PM Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was dismissed on Friday for violating ethics rules in a phone call with a Cambodian official. The decision ends the term of the nation’s youngest PM in a blow to the Shinawatra political dynasty. | P9 NEXT 21 DAYS Zoo shut after Painted Storks detected with H5N1 Bird Flu E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi THE National Zoological Park will remain closed to visitors after authorities confirmed an avian influenza outbreak following the deaths of painted storks and black-necked ibises. Routine samples from the dead birds were sent to the ICARNational Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal, on August 27; the institute confirmed H5N1 in both samples on August 28. The closure, effective from August 30, is being enforced as a precaution to protect public health and to allow strengthening of bio-safety protocols. The Zoo management and Central Zoo Authority have implemented immediate containment actions under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying’s action plan. Intensive surveillance, strict segregation and testing of captive and migratory birds, collection of environmental samples, disinfection and restricted visitor entry are underway Of. ficials said that the next 21 days would be critical for containment and monitoring. The CZA noted control actions for confirmed H5 or H7 avian influenza mirror those for domestic poultry, although wild, endangered or precious captive birds that test negative may be spared culling. It advised repeat sampling every 15 days for at least four rounds; only after two consecutive negative samplings following the last positive result may reopening be considered by competent authorities. All animals, including tiger and lion cubs, are under heightened observation after past instances of big cats succumbing in large zoos.