WEDNESDAY INDIA’S 1ST INDIGENOUSLY-DEVELOPED SEMICONDUCTOR CHIP UNVEILED 03 Vikram-32-bit chip built by Isro was presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the inauguration of the Semicon India 2025 conference on Tuesday SEPTEMBER, 2025 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard 47 DEAD ISRAEL EXPANDS GAZA OFFENSIVE Israel began mobilising tens of thousands of reservists and repeated evacuation warnings on Tuesday as part of its plan to widen its offensive in Gaza City. PAGE 9 32-BIT PROCESSOR CAN HANDLE EXTREME HEAT A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS OLD RLY BRIDGE  NEW DELHI “There is no need to panic. Govt is working roundthe-clock to mitigate the impact. Citizens’ safety and wellbeing remain our top priority” Warning level: 204.50 metres Danger level: 205.33 metres Level recorded at 8 pm on Monday: 206.30 metres Level expected by Wednesday 7 am: 206.90 metres Highest level recorded: 208.66 metres (in 2023) Rekha Gupta Chief Minister “Reason for rising water level is mostly due to high volumes of water released from Wazirabad & Hathnikund barrages every other hour” Central Flood Control Room 1,000 mm rainfall “We are on a war footing with our flood preparedness officers, engineers and ground staff on 24-hour duty” The capital breached 1,000 mm rainfall for the season amid heavy showers. The city crossed its annual average rainfall mark of 774 mm last month. IMD forecast a cloudy sky with moderate rain on Wednesday Parvesh Verma I&FC Minister Low-lying area inundated at the Yamuna floodplain near Old Iron Bridge | YAMUNA AT PARVEEN NEGI DELHI DOORSTEPS Wet spell for next five days in city P R A B H AT S H U K L A @ New Delhi THE Yamuna in Delhi surged past the 206-metre mark on Tuesday, reviving fears of a repeat of the 2023 floods and prompting the government to swing into emergency mode. Officials warned that the water level could rise further by Wednesday, heightening the risk for thousands of families living along the riverbanks. According to the Irrigation and Flood Control Department, the river stood at 206.03 metres at Old Railway Bridge at 4 pm, and rose steadily to 206.30 metres by 8 pm. The danger level for the Yamuna in Delhi is 205.33 metres, while the evacuation mark is 206 metres. Officials said the river is expected to reach 206.90 metres by Wednesday . The rise followed heavy discharges from the Hathnikund Barrage in Haryana, which recorded a peak of 2.92 lakh cusecs per second. Substantial flows were also released from the Wazirabad (83,300 cusecs) and Okhla (1,02,444 cusecs) barrages, aggravating the flood threat in low-lying areas. Many localities along the floodplain began reporting water ingress by Tuesday . Irrigation and Flood Control Minister, Parvesh Verma, said the administration had moved into “war-footing” preparedness, with officials work- P R A B H AT S H U K L A @ New Delhi ing round the clock. “The people of Delhi can rest assured we are fully prepared to meet any flood situation,” he said. A review meeting with senior officials and district magistrates was held to oversee response measures and safeguard vulnerable areas, particularly the Najafgarh basin. The Delhi Jal Board has been roped in to assist with flood management. Constant monitoring of the barrages at Hathnikund, Wazirabad, and Okhla will continue roundthe-clock to anticipate any sudden surge. P3 & 4 CM Jan Sunwai resumes today, security tightened N I T I N R A W AT @ NEW DELHI DELHI Police has tightened the security at Chief Minister Rekha Gupta’s residence for the Jan Sunwai programme on Wednesday officials said. A facial recognition system (FRS) , van will be deployed to scan people entering the venue. The heightened security follows an attack on Gupta during a ‘Jan Sunwai’ programme at her official residence in Civil Lines on August 20. The accused, identified as Rajeshbhai Khimjibhai Sakriya (41), was nabbed from the spot. DCP (north) Raja Banthia said, “We have deployed cops, including women in plain clothes, in and around the venue. We will scan people entering the venue for ‘Jan Sunwai’. Senior officials will be present on the ground.” The programme will be held at the Mukhya Mantri Jan Sewa Sadan from 8 am to 10 am, during which the CM will interact with people, an official said. THE national capital experienced heavy rainfall on Tuesday as monsoon activity intensified, significantly lowering temperatures and leaving several areas waterlogged. The IMD has predicted active monsoon conditions to prevail over Delhi for the next five days. Safdarjung, the city’s base observatory, registered 53.8 mm of rainfall between Mond ay n i g h t a n d T u e s d ay evening, including 37.8 mm till 8:30 am. Palam recorded 66.3 mm and Aya Nagar 100.6 mm during this period. Ghaziabad saw the heaviest spell of rain at 127.5 mm until Tuesday evening. Several arterial roads in the capital were waterlogged, causing traffic to slow. A large tree toppled at the Ferozeshah Road–Janpath roundabout in the morning, triggering a major gridlock in Lutyens’ Delhi. From Wednesday, light to moderate rain may continue intermittently, though the intensity may reduce.  J8.00 Vikram-32, officially known as VIKRAM3201, is India’s first fully indigenous 32-bit processor chip designed to operate in the harsh environmental conditions of launch vehicles. Built on a 32-bit architecture, it can efficiently handle large volumes of data. Beyond aerospace, it holds significant potential in the defence, automotive, and energy sectors | P10 PAGES 12  Modi: Bihar won’t forgive RJD, Cong for abusing mom NDA gets opportunity to play the women card, announces five-hour Bihar bandh on Thursday BJP playing emotional card: Cong RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR AND RAMASHANKAR @ New Delhi/Patna IN his first response to the recent abuse of his late mother from an Opposition platform in Bihar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said people will never forgive the RJD and the Congress for the slur. Expletives were hurled at the prime minister’s mother during the Voter Adhikar Yatra spearheaded by Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav in Darbhanga. Speaking to women of the poll-bound state via video conference from Delhi during the launch of a new cooperative, ‘Bihar Rajya Jeevika Saakh Sahkari Sangh’, Modi described the abuse as an insult to all mothers, sisters and daughters of the country especially Bihar. , He accused the RJD-Congress alliance in the state of dragging his late mother into politics though she had nothing to do with it. “I may forgive RJD-Congress, but people of Bihar will never pardon them. Hurling abuses at my mother is nothing for those who insult ‘Mother India’; such people must be punished,” he said. Modi went on allege that the RJD was seeking revenge, as its previous government was ousted because women voted against it. Shortly after Modi response, the ruing NDA gave a five-hour bandh call in Bihar on Thursday to protest against abusive remarks. Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal said the bandh on September 4 will be from 7 am to 12 noon, adding railways and emergency services will be out of its ambit. JD(U) state president Umesh Singh Kushwaha said such abuse from a public platfor m was against democratic norms. “One may differ on political ideologies, but it does mean that family should be dragged into it,” he said. He expressed surprise over the silence of senior Congress-RJD leaders on the matter. P7 Bihar Congress president Rajesh Kumar said the BJP was trying to divert people’s attention by playing the emotional card before the assembly polls. “They did a similar thing in Karnataka. Now they are trying an encore in Bihar,” he said at a press conference People who hurl abuses at mothers have the mindset that women are weak. Abusing my mother was an insult to the daughters and sisters of Bihar EXPRESS READ PM to visit Manipur for 1st time since violence broke out Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit ethnic violence-hit Manipur on September 13 or 14. This will be PM Modi’s first visit to the state since an ethnic conflict between Meiteis and Kuki-Zo tribals, and resultant violence left more than 250 people dead and around 60,000 others displaced. It has been months that the violence has subsided, but the state has remained ethnically partitioned even after more than two years since the violence broke out. The PM is also expected to visit Assam and Mizoram. | P8 2020 DELHI RIOTS No HC bail to Umar, Sharjeel, 7 others I F R A H M U F T I @ New Delhi THE Delhi High Court Tuesday dismissed the bail pleas of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, and seven others in the 2020 riots case, which left 53 dead and over 700 injured. Pronouncing the verdict, a bench of justices Naveen Chawla and Shalinder Kaur rejected challenges to earlier trial court orders denying bail to the accused — Khalid, Imam, Athar Khan, Khalid Saifi, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa ur Rehman, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima and Shadab Ahmed. All of them were booked under the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Arrested in 2020, the accused have been jail for over five years now. The bail plea of another accused, Tasleem Ahmed, was rejected by a different bench of justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar. Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam During an earlier hearing, the bench had expressed concern over the prolonged incarceration of the accused. Khalid’s partner Banojyotsna Lahiri said this was the sixth time bail being denied, adding his legal team would now move the Supreme Court as a last resort. Sharjeel Imam’s advocate Ahmad Ibrahim told this newspaper that his client would also move the SC. In its order, the bench said the right to protest is subject to reasonable restrictions. “Any conspiratorial violence under the garb of protests or demonstrations by the citizens cannot be permitted,” the order read. During the hearing, defence lawyers argued that mere participation in WhatsApp groups or making speeches could not be construed as part of a conspiracy . Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the accused intended to “globally defame the nation” by planning violence on specific days. KCR nod to Kavitha suspension from BRS MANDA RAVINDER REDDY @ Hyderabad BHARAT Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday cleared the suspension of his daughter and MLC K Kavitha from the party for “anti-party activities”. BRS general secretaries Soma Bharat Kumar and T Ravinder Rao issued a statement confirming the decision. “Recent activities of Kavitha are caus- ing damage to the party The . leadership of the party has taken serious note of those activities. With this, party president KCR has decided to suspend Kavitha from the party with immediate effect,” the statement said. BRS sources said that Kavitha has called a press conference on Wednesday where she is likely to announce her resignation from both the Legislative Council and the primary membership of the party . Kavitha has been at odds with the BRS leadership for several months. Following the state government’s decision to order a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme, Kavitha accused former minister T Harish Rao and former MP J Santosh Kumar of indulging in massive corruption which she claimed damaged KCR’s image. RAPE ACCUSED MLA FLEES POLICE CUSTODY Punjab AAP MLA Harmeet Singh Dhillon escaped police custody on Tuesday after he had been arrested on charges of rape. The MLA on Sunday had slammed his own govt’s handling of floods. | P8 Quota stir ends, govt accepts most demands S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai MARATHA quota activist Manoj Jarange ended his fast on Tuesday evening, the fifth day of his hunger strike, saying the Maharashtra government has accepted most of his demands, including implementation of the Hyderabad gazetteer as documentary proof to issue Kunbi caste certificates to Maratha community members, making them eligible for reservation benefits currently available to OBCs. The government accepted six out of the eight demands put forth by Jarange and formed a cabinet sub-committee headed Maratha community members stop a train during their protest at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai, on Monday | PTI Protest leader Manoj Jarange 1 Kunbi caste certificates to be issued to Marathas to get them OBC benefits 2 Govt forms panel, seeks two months to issue the relevant caste certificates 3 Jarange threatens to resume protest if demands not implemented by BJP leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil. The panel sought two-month time to accept Maratha and Kunbi as the same caste and close relatives as demanded by the protesters. “If any Maratha who does not have a land and revenue record to establish himself as Kunbi, and one of the persons in his clan and blood relation has the Kunbi certificate, then the self-affidavit by that clan person will help a Maratha get a Kunbi certificate. The records and self-affidavit claim will be verified by the local village committee that includes the local revenue officer, Gram panchayat secretary and the agri, c u l t u re o f f i c e r, ” re a d a government resolution (GR) issued late in the evening. The GR stated that a dedicated scrutiny process would be conducted to verify documents and establish eligibility of persons from the Maratha community for Kunbi caste certificates. “The committee shall ensure that every claim is assessed in a time-bound and transparent manner,” it said. The government also issued another GR withdrawing all cases filed against protesters demanding Maratha quota and extending financial aid and jobs to the relatives of the deceased protesters.