FRIDAY S&P 15 UPGRADES INDIA RATING BBB AUGUST, 2025 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard S&P commended India’s robust economic growth, political commitment for fiscal consolidation, and conducive monetary policy to check inflation The Morning Standard wishes its readers a A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS J&K  NEW DELHI 400 Flood plains guidelines In view of frequent flash floods, Centre has issued new guidelines on floodplain zoning. States told to adopt non-structural measures to reduce impact of floodrelated disasters | P8 Muted I-Day celebration J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah cancelled the At Home tea party and cultural programmes on Friday J8.00  PAGES 12 The impact of US tariffs on India is “manageable” and won’t drag economy, the rating firm said BBB rating will cut India’s borrowing costs in int’l markets S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi Sources said 300-400 people were in the area People have been rescued, according to officials  S&P said India is among “the best performing economies in the world” Upload list of 65L poll roll deletions, with reasons: SC Kishtwar 167 S&P upgraded India’s sovereign credit rating to ‘BBB’ (investment-grade) with a ‘stable’ outlook People move through the debris after a massive cloudburst at Chositi village, Kishtwar district, J&K | PTI Massive cloudburst in J&K’s Kishtwar FLASH FLOODS KILL 46 F AYA Z W A N I @ Jammu AT least 46 people, mostly pilgrims, were killed after a massive cloudburst struck the remote Chositi village in the mountainous Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday between 12 noon and 1 pm, triggering flash flood and mudslide along the route of the ongoing Machail Mata Yatra. The toll is likely to rise as many are still trapped under debris. The authorities suspended the yatra and rescue operation is going on. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have assured all possible central assistance to J&K while Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has cancelled the ‘ t Home’ tea party and culA tural events during the Independence Day parade in Srinagar on Friday . Chositi is the last motorable village en route to Machail Mata temple in Kishtwar district. When the cloudburst struck, the village was abuzz with activity as people in large numbers have been visiting the area since the start of Machail Mata yatra on July 25. Pilgrims have to travel 8.5 km from the road to 9,500-feet-high temple from Chositi village. The temple lies two villages ahead of Chositi and the devotees pass through the village. Sources said over 300-400 people were present in the area when the cloudburst struck. Deputy Commissioner of Kishtwar Pankaj Sharma told this newspaper that relief and rescue operation was on to find the missing persons. The flash floods damaged over a dozen houses, four temples, four government buildings, and a bridge that was crowded with pilgrims. NDRF, SDRF, police, and civilian administration personnel have launched rescue operation and the locals are helping in the operation. “There was a parking lot and langar (community kitchen) in the area. Besides, there was a paramilitary camp in the area. Locals had also set up shops in view of the yatra,” Kishtwar District Developoment Council Chairperson Pooja Thakur told this newspaper. She said a large number of people, mostly pilgrims, present at the area were trapped in the flash flood and rescue operation was going on in full swing to locate them. The langar, packed with devotees, was washed away while vehicles in the parking lot were carried out by flash flood and mudslide to some distance. Army pressed over five columns of 60 personnel each and medical detachments of Jammu-based White Corps into service to assist NDRF, SDRF, police and civilian agencies in the rescue operation to save lives and assist those in need. Officials said over 160 were rescued and some of them had suffered serious injuries. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said the Air Force has been alerted for evacuation. “Every possible assistance will be provided to those in need,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X. Court raps local bodies, reserves order on strays S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi Work on to remove an uprooted tree after rainfall in southeast Delhi’s Kalkaji area on Thursday | PARVEEN NEGI Man dies, daughter injured as tree falls on bike amid rain E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi A 50-year-old man died and his 22-year-old daughter was injured on Thursday morning when a tree fell on them while they were riding a motorcycle in the national capital’s Kalkaji area amid heavy rainfall. CCTV footage of the incident showed that the road was waterlogged and traffic was moving slowly When the bike carrying the . two neared the tree, it suddenly fell on them, also damaging a vehicle nearby . The victim’s daughter was seen trapped under it below her waist and asking for help from the passersby However, the tree was big . and people could not remove her from underneath it. They had to wait for the authorities to start the rescue operation. According to a senior police officer, around 9:50 a.m., an old roadside neem tree fell in front of HDFC Bank near Paras Chowk, Kalkaji. The victims were identified as Sudhir Kumar and his daughter Priya. Local police rushed to the spot, arranged a JCB and extricated both, shifting them to Safdarjung Trauma Centre. Sudhir died during treatment, while Priya suffered a pelvic fracture and is stable, said DCP (Southeast) Hemant Tiwari. The police quickly secured the area and regulated traffic to avoid further disruption. P4 THE Supreme Court on Thursday castigated the local authorities for doing nothing to address the stray dog problem, while reserving its order on a batch of petitions seeking stay on the directions by a twojudge bench to round up and shift all strays in Delhi-NCR to shelter homes. A three-judge special bench of justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria said, “The whole problem is because of inaction of the local authorities. You frame rules in Parliament. The government acts, rules are framed but no implementation is carried out creating problem which is standing today... On the one hand, humans are suffering and on the other hand, the animal lovers want the animals also to be treated with dignity .” It faulted the Animal Welfare Board of India, local authorities and the government for doing nothing to address the issue. “NGOs make a lot of noise but they don’t know what they should actually be doing. They should have been here earlier for implementation of those rules. Nothing is happening,” the bench rued. Everyone who came before the court and filed intervention would have to own responsibility the bench added. , Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Delhi Bhagwat bats for dog population control Amidst the raging controversy over the SC order, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday said the stray dog crisis can be resolved by regulating the canine population and not by sending the animals to shelter homes. | P5 Punjab seeing 900 canine bite cases daily There are over 3,00,000 stray dogs in Punjab out of a total dog population of about 6,50,000. On average, about 882 dog bite cases are reported each day, showing a rise over the past five years. Over 1.88 lakh cases surfaced till July this year alone | P8 government, said around 37 lakh dog bites happen every year, which works out to an average of 10,000 every day As . per WHO, 20,000 rabies deaths happen every year in India, he said. “Please bear in mind a vocal minority view as against a silent suffering majority view,” Mehta added. Aside from Kapil Sibal, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi also sought stay on some of the directions passed by the apex court in its August 11 order. The bench asked another counsel appearing for the Delhi government about its stand. THE Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to publish the list of about 65 lakh proposed deletion of voters in Bihar, with reasons, by Tuesday The orders came during a . hearing on the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive of poll rolls ahead of state elections. The court also directed the ECI to add Aadhaar card as an acceptable document for establishing identity, going beyond its earlier suggestion to do so. The order drew widespread cheer from the petitioners. A bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said, “Transparency is needed about the 65 lakh deleted voters to enable people to seek clarification or correction.” It directed the Bihar poll body to publish the detailed list of proposed deletions on the websites of the District Electoral Officers and the Chief Electoral Officer. “It must specify the reasons for deletion such as death, migration, or double registration and be searchable by EPIC numbers.” The bench also directed the ECI to put out public notices stating that individuals excluded from the rolls may submit their Aadhaar cards when filing claims for inclusion in the final list. The ECI must ensure wide publicity of this information in national newspapers (print), television, and social media, the court said and asked the Commission to ensure compliance of all the booth level and district level officers and file a compliance report by Tuesday The court fixed the matter for . further hearing on August 22. For its part, the ECI told the court that it was operating in an atmosphere of sharp political hostility where hardly any of its decisions are not contested. P8 Nigerian kingpin held in multi-crore parcel scam N A R E N D R A S E T H I @ Dehradun THE Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) arrested a Nigerian national in Delhi on Thursday exposing an , international syndicate involved in a multi-crore parcel fraud. The accused, Colinus Ugochukwu Nwaemuka, was apprehended following a swift operation by the STF Cyber Crime Police team. The arrest stems from a complaint by a Dehradun resident defrauded of nearly `29 lakh. The accused befriended a woman on Facebook, claiming to be a senior manager at an Amsterdam pharmaceutical company . The fraudster orchestrated a fake parcel delivery via ‘Flota Logistics’, demanding online payments for various expenses. The victim transferred `24,88,400 in instalments and later was duped of an additional `4,10,250.