SATURDAY 10 DAYS 06 BSF HAS NABBED DRUG SMUGGLERS ON THE BORDER SEPTEMBER, 2025 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard THAILAND RAIN IN PUNJAB, J&K DAMAGES FENCE ALONG 110 KM OF INDO-PAK BORDER RIGHT-WING LEADER NEXT PM 65 BSF POSTS IN PUNJAB GET INUNDATED Right-wing Thai tycoon Anutin Charnvirakul was confirmed on Friday by parliament as the nation’s next Prime Minister. A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS PAGE 9  NEW DELHI  J8.00  Of the 110 km of damaged fencing, around 80 km is in Punjab and 30 km is in Jammu sector. The fence in these areas has been submerged, uprooted, or tilted. Additionally, around 65 BSF posts in Punjab have been inundated across Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Pathankot, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, and Fazilka districts along the international border, with 20 posts affected in Jammu | P8 PAGES 12 MESSAGING ACROSS GEOGRAPHIES Don’s drivel: China biggest Lost Russia & challenge to India to China security: CDS J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi TECH TALK President Donald Trump hosts a dinner for tech titans in the presence of first lady Melania Trump in the White House late on Thursday in Washington, hours before the Labour Department said that hiring in the US decelerated in July | AP | P9 Tata Motors 1st off the blocks to pass GST cut to customers A R S H A D K H A N @ New Delhi TATA Motors on Friday said it would pass on full benefit of GST rate cut to customers buying its cars and SUVs from September 22, when the revised rates come into effect. With this, prices of Tata Motors’ most affordable model Tiago will be cheaper by up to `75,000 and prices of sub-4 metre SUV Nexon up to `1.55 lakh. Among other top-selling models, Altroz will be cheaper by up to `1.10 lakh. Punch will see a cut of up to `85,000, Harrier price will come down by up to `1.40 lakh, and Safari will see a reduction of up to `1.45 lakh. “The reduction in GST on passenger vehicles is a progressive and timely decision that will make personal mobility more accessible for mil- Pilot arrested for recording women with spy camera N I T I N R A W AT @ New Delhi A pilot has been arrested for allegedly attempting to film a woman without her consent in Kishangarh of southwest Delhi, police said on Friday . Thirty-one-year-old Mohit Priyadarshi, a resident of Civil Lines in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra, is employed as a pilot with a private airline. He is unmarried and has confessed to making such videos to satisfy “his personal gratification”. The woman raised an alarm when she saw the man recording her videos. She lodged a police complaint alleging that on August 30 at around 10.20 pm, when she was at Shani Bazar, Kishangarh village, she noticed that an unknown man was attempting to record an objectionable video of her by using a lighter-shaped device fitted with a hidden camera, a senior police officer said. A case under Sections 77 (voyeurism) and 78 (stalking) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) was registered at the Kishangarh police station and investigation was taken up. During investigation, the CCTV footage of the surrounding area was examined, and the suspected person’s picture was circulated. Later, the accused was arrested. He confessed to his involvement, DCP (Southwest) Amit Goel said. A lightershaped hidden spy camera has been recovered from the accused. Further investigation is under progress, Goel added. Advantage buyers MODEL PRICE DROP Nexon Up to `1,55,000 Safari Up to `1,45,000 Harrier Up to `1,40,000 Altroz Up to `1,10,000 Punch Up to `85,000 Tigor Up to `80,000 Tiago Up to `75,000 Curvv Up to `65,000 lions across India,” said Shailesh Chandra, managing director, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles & Tata Passenger Electric Mobility . Tata Motors is the first automaker to pass on the GST benefit to consumers. This is expected to put pressure on other carmakers to follow suit. The GST Council on Wednesday reduced levies on small cars and mass-market motorcycles (engine size below 350cc) from 28% to 18%. However, premium cars will now attract a 40% GST. The Council made no changes to the GST rate for electric vehicles (EVs) across segments. At present, small cars are taxed at 28% plus cess, while large cars (above 4 metres in length and 1200CC engine capacity) face a combined rate (GST plus cess) of 43-50%. Under the new regime, large cars will be taxed at flat 40% with no cess. Ever since the GST refor ms were announced on August 15, buyers have been delaying purchase in anticipation of price cuts, impacting automobile sales. N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow US President Donald Trump has sounded a stark warning about shifting geopolitical allegiances, claiming the United States has “lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest China,” just days after the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit where images of camaraderie between President Vladimir Putin, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi made global headlines. In a post on Truth Social, Trump shared an image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying: “Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!” India deal The SCO summit has soon: US sparked concerns in WashTerming India ington about the trilateral as the ‘vowel’ alignment between Asia’s in BRICS, US largest powers, all of whom commerce currently have strained relasecretary tions with the West. Howard When pressed on Trump’s Lutnick said comments, MEA spokesperIndia will be at son Randhir Jaiswal said, the talks table “We share a comprehensive with US soon global strategic partnership anchored in shared interests, democratic values, and people-to-people ties... We remain focused on our substantive agenda with the US.” The MEA also dismissed recent comments made by White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, calling them “inaccurate and misleading.” However, Trump’s rhetoric reflects mounting trade tensions. Earlier, he slammed the US-India economic relationship as a “onesided disaster,” citing trade imbalances and India’s continued oil imports from Russia. CHIEF of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan on Friday identified India’s unresolved boundary dispute with China as its main security challenge, closely followed by Pakistan’s ongoing proxy war. Coming as it did amid New Delhi’s efforts to improve ties with Beijing, and US President Donald Trump’s meltdown following the recent bonding of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the Chinese and Russian presidents at the SCO summit in Tianjin, China, the CDS’ statement appeared intriguing. Speaking at two events in Gorakhpur, he stressed the inseparable link between geopolitics and conflict, noting that war is a medium to achieve political ambitions. “The boundary dispute Regional with China is India’s biggest instability challenge and will continue Regional to remain so,” General Chauinstability is han told a gathering. another “The second major chalchallenge, lenge is Pakistan’s proxy war, especially the with a strategy of ‘bleed Insocial, political dia by a thousand cuts.’” and economic The CDS underlined that unrest in the the nature of warfare has exneighbourpanded into new domains, hood, CDS said making it more complex for nations like India. “It now includes cyber and space. Both of our opponents are nuclear powers, and it will always remain a challenge to decide what kind of operations we want to undertake against them,” he said. He also noted that after the 2020 Galwan clash in Ladakh with China and India’s Balakot strikes in Pakistan, the government permitted all three services to undertake emergency procurements. “India focused on long-range precision strikes while Pakistan likely focused on air defence,” he remarked. Water recedes, but Yamuna still above danger mark; East Delhi worst affected Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi will inaugurate the Odisha Literary Festival, eastern India’s flagship annual literary event organised by this newspaper today | P5 Modi may visit states P R A B H AT S H U K L A @ New Delhi WITH the Yamuna flowing above the danger mark for the fourth consecutive day the Del, hi government on Friday said the water level is now gradually receding and relief measures are being stepped up across the affected districts. According to the Central Water Commission (CWC), the water level at the old railway bridge stood at 207.35 metres in the morning. This is down from the season’s peak of 207.48 recorded a day earlier, but still significantly above the danger level of 205.33 metres and the evacuation mark of 206 metres. By 8 pm, it had dipped to 207.05 metres. The CWC has projected the level to decline to 206.40 me- OLFTODAY 2025 BEGINS Vasudev Ghat completely submerged by raging Yamuna River water | PARVEEN NEGI tres by 8 am on Saturday . Officials said water from Haryana’s Hathnikund barrage, which takes nearly 36 hours to reach Delhi, continues to flow into the river. The discharge from the barrage has come down to 58,000 cusecs, compared to several lakh cusecs released earlier. Five districts remain affected, with East Delhi being the worst-hit, where 7,200 people have been displaced. The Delhi Jal Board has cut production at Wazirabad water treatment plant by 20% due to high turbidity and silt in the river, affecting water supply in parts of the city P3 . PM Narendra Modi is likely to visit floodaffected states soon, according to government sources. A plan in this regard is being made, where the PM will review the situation. Floods have recently caused major destruction in J&K, Punjab, HP, Assam & Uttarakhand. EXPRESS READ `1 cr for kin of principal who died on Covid duty, HC orders The Delhi HC has ordered the government to pay `1 crore as ex gratia to the family of a school principal who died while discharging Covid-19 duties. The HC allowed an appeal filed by his widow challenging a single judge’s decision. Shivnath Prasad joined as an assistant teacher in 1993 and was the principal of MCD Primary Boys School in Nithari at the time when he died. P4 Holiday row erupts in J&K, Omar slams L-G’s decision FAYA Z WA N I @ Srinagar A row has erupted in Jammu and Kashmir after the Lieutenant-Governor administration declared a public holiday for Eid-e-Milad un Nabi (birthday of Prophet Muhammad) a day earlier and failed to reschedule it, prompting sharp criticism from Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who said the decision by the “unelected government” is “inconsiderate and designed to hurt sentiments of people”. The Eid-e-Milad un Nabi is being celebrated by Muslims across the world on 12th of Rabi Al Awwal, the third month of the Islamic lunar calendar. According to the sighting of the crescent moon, the 12th of Rabi-Al-Awwal in J&K falls on September 6, but the holiday on account of the fest was declared on Friday as per the calendar issued by the General Administration Department. The GAD mentions that all Muslim holidays are “subject to the appearance of the moon”. However, the GAD did not change the date of the Eid-eMilad holiday despite requests from different quarters. The GAD falls under the Chief Minister’s Office, but is headed by an IAS officer. All IAS officers in J&K directly report to L-G Manoj Sinha. Abdullah took to ‘X’ and wrote: “The calendar printed by the government press is very clear—‘Subject to the appearance of the moon’. It means that the holiday is subject to change depending upon the moon being sighted.” “The deliberate decision by the unelected government to not shift the holiday is inconsiderate & designed to hurt the sentiments of the people. #EidMiladUnNabi #eidmiladunnabi2025,” he stated. Education Minister Sakina Ittoo called the decision “unjust”, adding, “This is playing with the emotions of the people.” J&K Grand Mufti Nasir-ulIslam said, “This is a total mismatch and reflects a negative approach.” PDP leader Iltija Mufti ter med the incident “unfortunate”. ZEN AND THE ART OF RELAXING Modest Asia Cup done, Japan team finds spiritual solace in Rajgir tour S W A R O O P S W A M I N AT H A N @ Rajgir RAJGIR is steeped in history It . was one of the early Magadhan capitals and a spiritual place associated with Buddhism and is close to two of the behemoths of Buddhist centres — Bodh Gaya and Nalanda University . And it has a very close Japan connect too. When the venue for the Asia Cup hockey was announced, some of the Japanese players turned to the internet to find out about ‘Rajgir’. To be fair to them, the city a 150-minute drive on a , good day from Patna airport, doesn’t lend itself automatically to be a sporting destination (though it is changing of late). The place does have historical importance — it’s cultural, spiritual and educational significance goes back more than 2,500 years ago. But when Japan’s players first tried to read up about Rajgir on the internet, they were intrigued about what they found. They were a bit taken aback when Ippei Fujimoto, who had been here earlier with the women’s team, conveyed the message that they couldn’t drink alcohol (Bihar is a dry state). Transforming spirit to spiritualism was easy . Soon enough, though, the absence of alcohol didn’t deter them because ‘this is a place rooted in Buddhism’ and there is a distinct Japanese connect. Raiki Fujishima & Co wanted to experience that first hand, so they undertook a spiritual journey to the Vishwa Shanti Stupa, a pagoda representative of world peace. The Japanese team in front of the Vishwa Shanti Stupa in Rajgir I SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT monument was built by the Japanese (in 1969). The plan was to be guided by a Japanese priest who has called Rajgir home for the last 50 years. “The priest (Buddhist monk T Okonogi) came and visited the team in the ground a few days ago,” Fujimoto, the assistant coach as well as the official translator, said. “He spent some time and passed on a few messages.” The team has also bonded with some Japanese tourists ‘because it’s easy to get close to Japanese people because of Buddhism’.