TUESDAY 02 SEPTEMBER, 2025 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard K E I R S TA R M E R PICKS SHAFIK AS TOP ECO ADVISER British PM Starmer on Monday appointed economist and former Columbia University president Minouche Shafik as his chief economic adviser. A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS PAGE 9 800 DEAD AND COUNTING AS MASSIVE QUAKE JOLTS AFGHANISTAN Kunar Province Jalalabad Kubul NEW DELHI   J8.00 2,500 INJURED Rescue operations are underway and medical teams from Kunar, Nangarhar and the capital Kabul have reached the affected area, a health ministry spokesman said. The casualties could go up as many are feared trapped under the rubble 8 27 The earthquake occurred at a depth of just 8 kilometres. Such shallow quakes tend to cause more intense surface shaking The quake’s epicentre was 27 kilometres east-northeast of Jalalabad. This placed it close to populated areas, including towns in Kunar province 11.47 PM On Sunday was when the earthquake struck, catching many people while they were sleeping. This led to the high death toll 3,00,000 PM raps double standards on terror at SCO summit PAGES 12 India assures aid India has started delivering relief materials for people in Afghanistan, with EAM S Jaishankar assuring his Afghan counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi of more supplies. “Spoke with Afghan Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi today. Expressed our condolences at the loss of lives in the earthquake.” Jaishankar said. The 6.0 earthquake that struck near Afghanistan’s Jalalabad on Sunday night has killed 800 people, a Taliban government spokesman said on Monday, adding most of the casualties were in Kunar province Badakhshan Afghanistan  Estimated population of the city of Jalalabad, according to municipal estimates. Its larger metropolitan area makes it a significant urban centre near the quake’s epicentre Poor construction Buildings in Afghanistan tend to be low-rise constructions, mostly of concrete and brick, with homes in rural and outlying areas made from mud bricks and wood. Many are poorly built | P9 Now, Rahul says expect ‘H-bomb on vote theft’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping | PTI Modi, Putin add to strategic bond J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi IN a strong display of personal rapport and strategic alignment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a bilateral meeting on Monday amid US pressure over India’s Russian oil imports and growing international calls for an end to the war in Ukraine, with Modi expressing support for recent peace efforts and urging all sides to move forward constructively . The meeting took place on the sidelines of the SCO summit, where Modi and Putin walked hand-in-hand toward Chinese President Xi Jinping in a striking image of diplomacy in an increasingly polarised and ready-to-realign global order. Calling each other “dear friend”, Modi and Putin held their one-on-one conversation inside the Russian leader’s arWe welcome moured Aurus limousine, a rare all recent gesture reserved for chosen efforts to friends and trusted allies. bring peace “Even in the most difficult situ(in Ukraine) and hope that ations, India and Russia have alall relevant ways walked shoulder to shoulsides will der,” Modi said, and added that move forward their close relations are significonstructively cant for global peace, stability and prosperity . Narendra Modi, Putin echoed the sentiment, Prime Minister highlighting a “friendly and trusting” foundation that would guide future cooperation. Addressing Modi, he said, “Dear Prime Minister, my dear friend, Russia and India have for decades maintained special relations of friendship and trust, which is the foundation for our future relationship.” Putin said the India-Russia relations are “politically non-partisan and have the support of the majority of people in both countries”. The personal warmth and intent to step up the ties came amid rising tensions in India-US relations, particularly over Washington’s tariff response to India’s purchases of discounted Russian crude. With the global power centres shifting, Modi’s meeting with Putin sent a calibrated message of India pursuing a multipolar strategy balancing , ties with Russia, engaging with the West, and calling for lasting peace in Ukraine. |P7 WITH his Pakistani counterpart Shehbaz Sharif in attendance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday used the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit to deliver a pointed warning against cross-border terror, calling the recent Pahalgam attack “an open challenge to every country that believes in humanity”. Without naming Pakistan, Modi condemned “open support for terrorism by some countries” and urged SCO member states to take an unambiguous stand. “No double standards on terrorism will be acceptable,” he said, warning that the menace must be opposed “in all its forms and colours”. The comments come amid renewed concerns in India over Pakistanbased terror networks and their transnational enablers. “For the past four decades, India has been bearing the grave scars of ruthless terrorism,” Modi said adding that the “ugly face of terrorism” was once again visible in the Pa h a l g a m at t a ck , wh i ch claimed the lives of 26 innocent tourists in April. The SCO summit’s joint declaration later echoed Modi’s tone, with member states condemning the Pahalgam attack and calling for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. It also mentioned two terror attacks in Pakistan. “We must state it clearly and in one voice: double standards on terrorism are unacceptable. Together, we must oppose terrorism in every form and manifestation. This is our responsibility towards humanity,” the prime minister said. While terrorism dominated Modi’s address, he also delivered a veiled message on sovereignty concerns in regional connectivity projects, a likely reference to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which runs through Pakistanoccupied Kashmir (PoK). Without naming any initiative, Modi said connectivity must be based on “respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all member states,” a long-standing Indian position that implicitly critiques China’s Belt and Road projects passing through disputed territory . “We believe that every effort towards connectivity must uphold the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity . This is also enshrined in the core principles of the SCO Charter. Connectivity, that bypasses sovereignty, ultimately loses both trust and meaning,” Modi said. Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed NATO expansion and what he called the 2014 “coup in Kiev” as root causes of the Ukraine conflict. Chinese President Xi Jinping, meanwhile, took aim at “bullying behaviour” in the global order, calling for a rejection of bloc politics and Cold War mentalities, a stance widely interpreted as criticism of US dominance. FRESH MELTDOWN: DON SAYS INDIA TRADE A DISASTER E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi US President Donald Trump, in his latest meltdown, coming just hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin, called the India-US trade relationship a “totally onesided” disaster for the US. He then claimed New Delhi offered to cut tariffs on US goods to ‘nothing, but it was getting late. “We do very little business with India, but they do a tremendous amount of business with us,” Trump posted on Truth Social. Trump said beacuse of India’s “high tariffs”, the trade relationship has been a “totally one-sided disaster” for Donald Trump the US . Trump claimed India has now offered to cut tariffs to nothing, adding, “they should have done so years ago”. It was not just Trump who had a meltdown. His top trade advisor Peter Navarro, who has consistently criticised Delhi, claimed Brahmins are profiteering from Russian oil purchase. “I would just simply say the Indian people, please understand , what’s going on here. You got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people,” he said in an interview. India slams US-Israel strikes on Iran India-US military exercise to take place in Alaska In a major diplomatic shift, India has joined fellow SCO member-states to strongly condemning the US and Israeli strikes on Iran in June 2025. The rare consensus—formalised in the Tianjin Declaration—described the attacks as a violation of international law and Iran’s sovereignty, and called for protection of nuclear infra and civilians. The ongoing tension between India and the US over American tariffs has not affected military ties, as the armies of the two countries have decided to continue with their scheduled joint exercise, Yudh Abhyas 2025. This series of exercises began in 2004 under the US Army Pacific partnership programme. The Indian Army said in a statement on Monday that over two weeks, troops will rehearse a spectrum of tactical drills like heliborne operations, rock craft, etc. TET must for school teachers to remain in service, says SC S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y Jt declaration condemns Pahalgam attack, calls for perpetrators to be brought to justice J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi An injured person is carried to a hospital in Mazar Dara, Kunar province | AP @ New Delhi Cong leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Rajesh Ram, and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav in Patna | PTI P R E E T H A N A I R @ Patna AS the two-week-long ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ wound up in the Bihar capital on Monday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi issued a stern warning to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that his party would soon drop a ‘hydrogen bomb’ of revelations on alleged vote theft, after which Prime Minister Modi would not be able to show his face to the nation. Addressing a mammoth rally here, Gandhi escalated his fusillade against the Election Commission saying votes were stolen in the Maharashtra assembly elections, and with evidence, his party showed how ‘vote theft’ was done in the Mahadevapura assembly segment in Karnataka’s Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat. “I want to tell the BJP people. Have you heard of anything bigger than an atom bomb? It is a hydrogen bomb. BJP supporters, be prepared, a hydrogen bomb is on the way . People are soon going to find out the reality of vote theft. I want to tell the youth of Bihar, vote theft means ‘snatching away rights, democracy, and employment. They will take away your ration card and other rights,” said Gandhi, as the crowd chanted “Vote thieves, leave the chair” — a slogan adopted during the march. Maintaining that vote theft was an attack on the Constitution, Gandhi said the same forces that killed Mahatma Gandhi are now trying to kill the Constitution. “But we will not allow that to happen at any cost,” he asserted. Braving the scorching heat, tens of thousands of supporters gathered at the ‘Gandhi se Ambedkar’ march, waving fla gs of RJD, Cong ress, CPI(ML), CPI(M), CPI, and VIP with a battle cry against the Modi government and the EC. The march, started on August 17 from Sasaram, was aimed at highlighting the alleged assault on people’s right to vote through the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar. |P8 BJP supporters, a hydrogen bomb is on the way. People are soon going to find out the reality of vote theft Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader INDIA BLOC LEADERS Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, RJD’s Tejashwi, VIP’s Mukesh Sahani, CPI(M)’s MA Baby, CPI’s Annie Raja, TMC’s Yusuf Pathan, and Sanjay Raut of SS (UBT) joined Rahul Heavy showers lash Delhi, more likely this week | P3 PRESS Aya Nagar drainage project fails to bring any respite | P4 INTAKE Battered by cloudbursts, HP declared disaster-hit | P8 THE Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) is a mandatory requirement for appointment as teachers and for teachers in service to seek promotions. A bench of justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih said in their verdict that teachers with more than five years to retire, must qualify for the TET within two years to remain in service. Else, they may quit or apply for compulsory retirement with terminal benefits, the bench stated. The SC offered relief to those who have less than five years to retire, saying they need not qualify the TET. But they will not be eligible for promotion. The bench delivered the verdict after hearing a batch of petitions, including those from Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, regarding whether the TET is must for teaching service. One of the appellants, Anjuman Ishaat-e-Taleem Trust (a recognised minority education society), had also moved SC against the State of Maharashtra in the case. The question of whether the state can mandate TET for minority institutions and how it would affect their rights was referred to a larger Bench by the top court. “We hold that the provisions of the RTE Act have to be complied with by all schools as defined in Section 2(n) , except the schools established and administered by the minority wheth, er religious or linguistic, till such time reference is decided and subject to answers to the questions formulated,” it said. Yamuna in full spate, flood alert sounded Water level at Old Rly Bridge Warning level 204.50 metres Level recorded at 8 pm on Monday 205.03 metres Danger level 205.33 metres Level exprected by Tuesday evening 206.50 metres Highest level recorded - 208.66 metres (in 2023) Despite a high discharge of over 3 lakh cusecs, the level is expected to go up to 207 metres or above. But I can assure people, Delhi is not in danger. We are fully prepared. Rekha Gupta, Delhi CM Relief camps in Mayur Vihar and other low-lying areas as the Yamuna River has crossed the danger mark. | PARVEEN NEGI P R A B H AT S H U K L A @ New Delhi DELHI is bracing for possible flooding as the Yamuna continued to swell on Monday fol, lowing a heavy discharge of water from upstream barrages. Officials said the river is expected to reach the evacuation mark of 206 metres by Tuesday evening. At noon on Monday the wa, ter level at the Old Railway Bridge—a key monitoring point—was recorded at 204.87 metres. This is already above the warning mark of 204.50 metres and just shy of the danger mark of 205.33 metres. Once the Yamuna crosses 206 metres, authorities will begin shifting people to safer areas. The surge in water levels is being driven by releases from Haryana’s Hathnikund barrage, where around 3.29 lakh cusecs of water were discharged at 9 am on Monday. The Wazirabad barrage released 38,900 cusecs of water, prompting flood alerts. Delhi Divisional Commissioner Neeraj Semwal said that over 3 lakh cusecs of water are expected to be released over the next couple of days. Water discharged from the barrage typically takes 48 to 50 hours to reach the capital, raising the likelihood of a steady rise in river levels through mid-week. Officials warned that continuous rainfall in the upper catchment areas of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh has added to the inflow, compounding the threat of inundation. A flood advisory issued on Monday evening stated that the water level at ORB may cross 206.50 metres by Tuesday evening. Around 5,000 people live directly on the Yamuna floodplain, while nearly 15,000 residents in six districts stay in low-lying zones most vulnerable to rising waters. Many of these areas fall in east and northeast districts. More reports on P3