saturdAY 17 october, 2026 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard elon Musk unveils Tesla’s ‘flying’ car adept at barrel roll X.com/TheMornStandard Energy demand US to revive 3 nuclear plants The United States is making an attempt to revive three shuttered nuclear plants to meet rising energy demand, including from big data centres Page 9 production won’t begin till 2028 ■ ■ A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS l New Delhi l J8.00 l PAGES 12 PUSHPITA DEY @ New Delhi Rajesh Kumar Thakur @ New Delhi Student groups and CJP supporters with a large tricolour as security forces look on in Connaught Place on Friday | Parveen negi Flags of dissent amidst detention of Dipke, Bora Both were on their way to Lehra Do Tiranga rally in Connaught Place UDAYAN K ISHORE & ANUP VER M A @ New Delhi It appears Congress & its political allies... are trying to use the energy of the youth to fuel political confrontation Rajnath Singh, Defence minister CJP’s Abhijeet Dipke (top) and AISA’s Neha Bora being detained on the way to the rally on Friday | PTI ‘Where are Abhijeet and Neha?’ CJP and AISA late Friday questioned the whereabouts of their leaders Abhijeet Dipke and Neha Bora, alleging the two were being denied access to lawyers after their detention In Independent India, our youth are being detained for peacefully asserting their democratic rights Mamata Banerjee, TMC Union Govt must... stop suppressing peaceful protests. Every attempt to crush the movement will only make it stronger M K Stalin, DMK chief Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke and AISA’s Neha Bora were detained on Friday even as thousands of people, holding Tricolours, banners and raising slogans, held a march to Connaught Place circling around the Central Park amid a thick security blanket. The was the latest in a series of protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral irregularities. Dipke and Bora were detained while on their way to join the Lehra Do Tiranga (unfurl the Tricolour) gathering called by the CJP Dipke was de. tained from NCP (SP) spokesperson Anish Gawande’s house in Jhandewalan while Bora was at Mandi House. Dipke was taken to Jafarpur Kalan police station after being detained. Hundreds of CJP supporters and members of student organisations, including those from AISA, AISF (All India Students’ Federation), and SFI (Students’ Federation of India), held a series of flash protests in CP and Mandi House in the evening. At one such march at around 6 pm, the protesters walked through the inner circle of CP, around the Central Park — which remained closed and protected by paramilitary forces. While the rally held a large Tricolour, several of its members carried smaller national flags, banners and placards as they raised slogans against Kumar. Security personnel cordoned off the park, forming a human chain along its metal railings. Just before the CJP protest at 5 pm, people gathered between Palika Market and the Central Park, as over 6,000 Delhi Police personnel, 220 companies of Central Armed Police Forces conducted flag marches and manned Metro station gates. Security ar rang ements around CP, Rajiv Chowk, Central Park, Jantar Mantar, Palika Bazaar, nearby Metro stations and other sensitive locations in Lutyens’ Delhi were tight, with additional personnel being mobilised from other districts to prevent any law and order situation. The forces also monitored the crowd through an expanded CCTV network. Teargas and a Vajra vehicles were stationed outside the park, while Rapid Action Force personnel did the rounds. Traffic police were deployed to regulate movement along the inner and outer circles of CP p3 & p7 . THE US is unlikely to penalise India under the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, which authorises President Donald Trump to impose tariffs of up to 100% on countries buying Russian oil and gas, official sources said on Thursday . Asserting that the government is confident that India will remain protected from US sanctions, sources pointed out that New Delhi has clearly communicated to Washington India’s position. “From what we sense, the US government will not put sanctions on India. We have been in touch with the US team and India’s standpoint has already been conveyed regarding the challenges that could arise because of that,” a government official said. The clarification came a day after US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said Trump would soon decide on the sanctions EXPRESS NEWS SERVI C E @ Chennai festive spectacle Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus heritage building illuminated in green on Friday during the Navratri festival | pti Reverification of voters removed from draft rolls Poll officials have begun reverifying more than 47 lakh voters whose names were deleted from the draft electoral rolls to ensure that no eligible voter is left out of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ashok Kumar said on Friday . T he move comes amid complaints that the names of several voters, including those residing at their registered addresses, were removed from the draft rolls published on August 31. Kumar said that around 25 lakh of the 33.12 lakh cases involving notices for unmapped voters or logical discrepancies had been resolved. “Our efforts are to ensure that no genuine voter’s name is omitted from the final lists to be published on December 4,” Kumar added. Booth-level officers (BLOs), who are visiting households across 70 Assembly constituencies to address notices issued to voters named in the draft rolls, are also rechecking the cases of those whose names were deleted. Voters left out of the draft rolls can fill out Form 6 to seek inclusion in the final lists. Kumar said that BLOs had been specifically told not to summarily reject cases involving minor errors in personal details. Kolkata-based lottery firm Tiger Associates has doubled its donations to the DMK and AIADMK to a combined `260 crore in 2025–26, becoming the single largest donor to both parties, according to disclosures filed with the Election Commission of India. The firm’s donations accounted for nearly 74% of the `352.55 crore which were reported as contributions by the two parties combined. Tiger Associate’s combined donations to the two parties rose from `110 crore in 2024–25 90.5% of AIADMK funds In 2024–25, Tiger Associates donated `60 crore to AIADMK, accounting for 90.5% of its total contributions of `66.31 crore. The firm’s `50 crore donation to DMK is 13.7% of contributions of `365.82 crore that year. to `260 crore in 2025–26, taking its total contributions over the two years to `370 crore. Of the `260 crore donated in 2025–26, `135 crore went to the AIADMK and `125 crore to the DMK. Tiger Associate’s `135 crore donation made up 83.7% of the AIADMK’s total contributions of `161.36 crore in 2025–26. Express read Kharge wants expansive talks on delimitation Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to call an all-party meeting to discuss any new delimitation proposals. P7 Former Kerala CM moves apex court in Cmrl case Former Kerala CM and CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter Veena and her husband M Riyas have challenged the state high court’s order directing registration of an FIR against them in the CMRL case. P7 Talks with Rubio on Oct 20 External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar will hold talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on October 20 during the latter’s visit to Mumbai, MEA said. Jaishankar will also attend the celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the Independence of the US as a Guest of Honour under the new law. He also indicated the Trump administration was likely to adopt a pragmatic approach towards India rather than demand an immediate halt to its purchases of Russian energy . Indian officials pointed out that the country had previously avoided US sanctions despite purchasing the S-400 Triumf missile defence system from Russia under a deal worth more than $5 billion. “Even previously, there was a threat of US sanctions when India bought Russian weapons a few years ago, but we didn’t get sanctions for buying the S-400 Triumf missile system. The Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) doesn’t say that just because it has been signed by the President, the US government needs to apply it,” another official said. CAATSA is a US federal law that provides for sanctions against Iran, Russia and North Korea. Although India has longstanding commercial and defence ties with Russia, the application of sanctions depends on the relevant legal provisions and decisions by the US administration. The US House of Representatives passed the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 in September, giving Trump broad powers to impose sanctions on Russia and tariffs of up to 100% on countries purchasing Russian oil. checking bad air industries in ncr told to install cameras by Nov 30 Test Squad announced for two-match New Zealand tour Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant is back in the Test team for the New Zealand series. Bhumrah has also been included in team, but left out of ODI squad | P11 Kolkata-based lottery firm gave `260 cr to DMK, AIADMK in ’25-’26: EC filings e x p r e ss n e ws s e r v i c e @ New Delhi Musk said production for consumers won’t begin until 2028. Tesla also didn’t immediately set a price tag on its latest electric vehicle There are ample regulatory hurdles for flying vehicles across the globe. The fine print of the Roadster’s “rocket” feature on Tesla’s website notes: “Not approved for public road use” US unlikely to slap punitive tariff on India’s Russian buy Pvt teachers can be roped in as Census enumerators THE Centre on Friday amended the Census Rules, 1990, permitting state governments and Union Territory administrators to appoint teachers from aided and unaided private institutions as enumerators. A gazette notification issued by Registrar General of India Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan said eligible personnel include teachers of government, local authority , and aided or unaided private institutions, as well as clerks and officials of central and state governments, public sector undertakings, banks, companies and trusts. The amendment follows a petition by the Haryana Progressive Schools Conference in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, challenging the state’s move to requisition teachers from private unaided schools. On October 8, Justice Harpreet Singh Brar stayed two Haryana government communications seeking details of available teachers. The case will be heard on April 29, 2027. The petitioner argued that neither the Census Act, 1948, nor its rules authorise such requisition, and that Section 4A covers only local authority staff, a category excluding private unaided schools. Census 2027, with an outlay of `11,718 crore, will be held in two phases: houselisting, then population enumeration. Enumeration in Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and non-snow-bound Uttarakhand will run from December 1, 2026, to January 4, 2027, ahead of Assembly elections in those states. House-listing in Manipur has been deferred. For the rest of the country it begins , in February . During a livestreamed event at SpaceX facility, Musk revealed his new Roadster car with cold gas thrusters and a multi-mode suction system Its `125 crore contribution accounted for 65.4% of the DMK’s reported total of `191.19 crore. The firm’s designated partner, Subbayan Nagarajan, is a long-time associate of lottery businessman Santiago Martin. Corporate records also list the two as partners in another firm. Tiger Associates itself, however, has no business operations in Tamil Nadu. Martin’s firm, Future Gaming and Hotel Services, donated `509 crore to the DMK through electoral bonds before the Supreme Court struck down the scheme in February 2024. Future Gaming and Tiger Associates are separate entities. J i t e n d r a C h o u b e y @ New Delhi The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has tightened its monitoring of highly polluting industries in the National Capital Region (NCR), directing them to install pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras at key operational points and transmit live video feeds to pollution control authorities by November 30, 2026. In an order superseding its October 5, 2026, directive, the commission said the requirement would cover all 17 categories of highly polluting industries identified by the Central Po l l u t i o n C o n t ro l B o a rd (CPCB), medium and large redcategory air-polluting industries, food and food-processing units, textile industries with boilers or thermic fluid heaters, and metal industries with furnaces. The CAQM has also fixed an emission limit of 50 mg/Nm3 for the selected polluting industries, based on a technical study by IIT-Kanpur and recommendations of a technical committee constituted by the CPCB. Cameras must be installed at fuel-feeding and charging points of boilers, thermic fluid heaters, furnaces, kilns and other fuel-fired equipment, allowing authorities to monitor fuel use during operations. Industries using gaseous fuels must position cameras to capture gas meters, gauges and associated metering arrange- Pan, tilt, zoom on pollution CAQM asks industries to Install pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras at all fuel-feeding points of Boilers Thermic fluid heaters Furnaces Kilns Enable real-time video transmission to pollution boards Ensure uninterrupted power backup, maintenance of PTZ cameras and complete the installation by November 30 ments. Cameras must also cover industrial stacks, online continuous emission monitoring system (OCEMS) sampling points, port-hole locations and fume-extraction areas, wherever applicable. The directive includes avoiding blind spots in video coverage and install additional cameras wherever a single device cannot capture all prescribed locations. Live video feeds must be transmitted continuously through the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) to designated CPCB servers and portals, as well as those of the respective state pollution control boards or Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC). Rare ruling Court tells woman to return gold and gift to ex SHYA M P V @ Palakkad IN a rare ruling on khula, a form of divorce initiated by a woman under the Muslim Personal Law, a family court in Kerala has ordered a woman to return 11 sovereigns (88 gm) of gold ornaments to her former husband, including the mahr and gifts received by her at the time of their marriage in 2008. The Ottapalam family court directed the woman to return five sovereigns of gold received as wedding gifts and six sovereigns of jewellery (mahr) given by her husband, within 30 days of the judgment. It also ordered that the amount could be recovered from her property in the event of noncompliance. “This is a rare instance where a man approached the court to get back the mahr and other valuables gifted by him at Difference between talaq vs khula in Islamic law While talaq is a divorce initiated by the husband and takes effect by pronouncing the word ‘talaq’ to his wife in the presence of witnesses, khula is a divorce initiated by the wife upon the return of mahr the time of marriage. The court has passed the verdict in the man’s favour,” said advocate Shahul Hameed P T, who appeared for the petitioner. The case began in 2021 after the woman, following a breakdown of the marital relationship in 2019, invoked her right to seek separation through khula and issued a notice dissolving the marriage with her husband. Though the husband accepted divorce through khula, the woman did not retur n the mahr. He subsequently approached the family court.