NEW DELHI 02 AUGUST 2026 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 24  facebook/TheMorningStandard  X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in PLUS: 12 PAGES Slow Love Without a Deadline MAGAZINE The Cost of Female Dissent Devdutt Pattanaik Ravi Shankar Prabhu Chawla Anuja Chandramouli Shankkar Aiyar S Vaidhyasubramaniam Geetha Ravichandran The Race to Save a Nation EXCLUSIVE VOICES TAKE A SEAT No Longer Lost For Words Where Faith Takes Root Non-stop rain pummels Kerala, leaves 7 dead CM deputes team of ministers to camp in rain-hit districts to manage rescue and relief M A N O J V I S W A N AT H A N @ Kochi Six years on, border trade via Nathu La begins again P R A S A N TA M A Z U M D A R @ Guwahati BORDER trade via Nathu La Pass, which had remained suspended for six years due to Covid-19 pandemic and India-China border tensions, resumed on Saturday . A special inaugural ceremony was held, which was attended by Sikkim’s Commerce & Industries Minister Tshering T Bhutia among others. Calling it a historic day Bhutia said the resump, tion of border trade with China was made possible due to the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang. Border trade through Nathu La will operate from Monday to Thursday and continue until November. The reopening is expected to inject fresh momentum into the local economy by generating business for registered traders, transport operators and other stakeholders dependent on border trade. At present, there are around 35 tradable items between the two countries. Bhutia said the Sikkim government had already sent a proposal to the Director General of Foreign Trade, seeking the expansion of the list of tradable items. Under the Nathu La border trade arrangement, the approved cate gories of goods, including handicrafts, handloom products, traditional religious items, and ready-made garments, can now be imported and exported. This year, 38 registered traders have been issued passes to participate in the cross-border trade. AT least seven people were killed on Saturday after torrential rain battered Kerala, triggering flash floods and multiple landslides that revived painful memories of the 2018 deluge. Central Kerala districts of Pathanamthitta, Idukki and Kottayam bore the brunt. Rescue operations were on with the help of NDRF. Heavy rain began pounding eastern parts of southern Kerala around 11 pm on Friday causing , rivers to swell rapidly By 2.30 am, floodwaters en. tered homes along riverbanks, forcing residents to flee in panic. The Pampa river rose sharply in, undating Ranni and Vadasserikkara towns on the Sabarimala route. Landslides disrupted traffic on key highways including Kochi-Dhanushkodi, Kottarakara-Dindigul, and KuttikkanamKattappana. Floodgates of the Pambla, K a l l a rk u t t y, a n d Malankara dams were opened due to heavy inflow. I n K o t t ay a m ’ s Poonjar Thekkekara panchayat, Rejina and her 24-year-old son Josephine Johny perished when their house collapsed in a landslide. Sumathy 69, was killed at , Adurmala near Kudayathoor when her home got buried in slush. Prabhakaran Nair, 72, died in a landslide at Kolahalamedu in Vagamon. The children — three-year-old Abdul Muhaini, four-yearold Adam Aymen, and 11-year-old Milan K Shinu — drowned in separate waterlogging incidents in Malappuram and Kottayam districts. The relentless weather system wreaked havoc in northern Kerala as well. In Kannur, extensive search and rescue operations are underway for two missing individuals — a 40-year-old man who fell into the Kanjirapuzha river, and a swimming instructor at Pulingome. In Kozhikode, major rivers like Poonoor and Vilangad overflowed, submerging parts of the Kozhikode-Mysuru National Highway at Engapuzha. Around 50 stations in the state recorded more than 100 mm rainfall over the eight hours starting 11pm on Friday. Anakkampoyil in Kozhikode recorded 340 mm rainfall in 35 hours. Chief Minister V D Satheesan deputed a team of ministers to camp in the worst-hit districts: C P John in Thiruvananthapuram, P C Vishnunadh in Pathanamthitta, Mons Joseph in Kottayam, and Anoop Jacob in Idukki. Criticising the Supreme Court collegium for not giving proper reasons for judicial appointments, SC judge Ujjal Bhuyan on Saturday said a lack of transparency creates room for individuals who later make unconstitutional or derogatory remarks to enter the judiciary. He questioned the collegium’s recent departure from its earlier practice of recording reasons for recommending judges. P7 GLASGOW GOLD MINE EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NDRF, Fire and Rescue Services, police, the Coast Guard, the local administration, public representatives and locals are participating in the rescue efforts Statement from CM’s office WHEN the Commonwealth Games began in Glasgow on July 23, there was an expectation that India’s medals tally could suffer because of the absence of shooting, badminton and wrestling. In these three events, they are elite at this level. But this has still been a very creditable campaign thanks to other heroes, young and old. That they still have designs on finishing fourth — currently fifth with 10 gold — in the medals tally is notable. Those designs would not have been possible if it weren’t for the exploits of the para-athletes (three gold) and boxing (four gold at the time of writing with promise of more to come). There is the obvious caveat that boxing at the Games isn’t of the greatest standards, NHAI MOVE Toll monitoring system to get digital upgrade A rescue operation following a landslide in Kottayam on Saturday| EXPRESS Flood control Shutters of dams in Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Idukki, Ernakulam, Thrissur and Kannur districts were opened following rising water levels, to prevent floods Mountaineer dies in avalanche on Pak peak Nepal-born mountaineer Nirmal ‘Nims Dai’ Purja, who created history by climbing all 14 of the world’s 8,000-metre peaks in record time, has died after being caught in an avalanche during an expedition on Pakistan’s Broad Peak, his company Elite Exped said. Purja, 43, was part of a 10-member climbing team that went missing after an avalanche struck the mountain at altitude of around 7,000 metres. P9 AS the Centre prepares for a nationwide shift to barrier-less toll collection on national highways, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is set to overhaul its central toll monitoring system to support the next generation of tolling. The Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL), the NHAI arm responsible for electronic toll collection, is upgrading its existing Toll Monitoring and Control Centre (TMCC) into TMCC 2.0, a centralised digital command platform that will oversee the current FASTag-based system and the upcoming Multi-Lane Free Flow Pilot plan (MLFF) tolling regime. MLFF is The move comes as the currently government accelerates operational on the MLFF rollout, which a pilot basis at eliminates physical toll 17 locations in plazas, allowing vehicles the country. In to be charged while travel- the first phase, ling at highway speeds the barrierthrough overhead gan- less system is tries equipped with RFID proposed to be readers and Automatic introduced at Number Plate Recogni- 105 locations tion (ANPR) cameras. across states. Officials said the upgraded platform will provide real-time monitoring of toll transactions, revenue collection, equipment performance, enforcement, financial reconciliation and service-level compliance across more than 1,200 toll plazas, while supporting phased MLFF implementation across the NH network across states. A key feature of the upgraded command centre will be an automated financial reconciliation system aimed at plugging revenue leakages. The platform will compare toll transaction records with payment data across toll plazas received from acquiring banks and the National Payments Corporation of India, flagging discrepancies in real time. MYSURU CALL Youth must turn Vivekananda’s vision into reality: PM K A R T H I K K K @ Mysuru AMID growing protests by youngsters and Gen-Z demanding greater government accountability, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called upon the youth to transform Swami Vivekananda’s vision of India into reality, saying that the country’s future rests on the strength, aspirations and character of its young generation. Addressing a large gathering after inaugurating the Swami PM Narendra Modi inaugurates ‘Viveka Smaraka’ in Mysuru Saturday | UDAYASHANKAR S Vivekananda Cultural Youth Centre — Viveka Smaraka — in Mysuru, PM Modi said Swami Vivekananda embodied the spirit of India and the newly inaugurated memorial would serve as a centre for inspiring generations of young Indians towards nation-building, service and patriotism. “I am confident that the Viveka Smaraka will become a pilgrimage centre for spiritual upliftment for seekers and devotees. Through this memorial, we must mould young people who place the interests of society the nation, and suffering of , the poor above their own joys and sorrows. Youth for whom ‘Nation First’ is the supreme guiding principle and whose life’s mission is the service of Mother India,” he said. P4 Onus on quality infra Stressing on educational infrastructure, PM said youth potential translates into national strength only when supported by quality education but this is a quiet win for the high-performance programme and the federation’s talent ID at the highest level. Another combat sport that deserves its two minutes in the limelight is judo. Even before the campaign had begun, it had become a bad word after another dope-related news item. However, on Friday, judokas won two gold medals in less than an hour after going AMMA SPEAKS Don’t Let One Bad Thought Multiply without one since the sport’s inception 40 years ago. That is how you change history and create new narratives.Finish fourth and that’s basically the best of the rest outside the big three of Canada, England and Australia (New Zealand are great at the Olympics but some of their biggest athletes skip the Commonwealth Games). Tejaswin Shankar’s bronze in the decathlon is a similar narrative-creating medal. In a loaded field, the Indian pioneer in this event showed what was possible. Another pioneer, Neeraj Chopra, found some form with a season’s best of 85.83m for silver. He won’t be happy with the result but will be quietly satisfied with the performance. Both of them will eye the jump to gold at the Asian Games. For the next four years, as Ahmedabad gets ready to welcome the 70-plus nations and territories for what’s likely to be one of the biggest Games in history, the expectation will continue to rise. P11 NEET-PG aspirants can choose 3 exam centres K AV I TA BA J E L I - DAT T @ New Delhi PA R V E Z S U LTA N @ New Delhi EXPRESS READ SC judge questions collegium decisions Boxers Sakshi Chaudhary (L) & Priya Ghanghas (R) finished on top with gold medals on Saturday | PTI/AP ‘I Want to Create a Space For Young Vikrants’ Student-centric reforms have been introduced to ensure the secure and technology-enabled conduct of the exam J P Nadda, Union health minister THIS year, NEET-PG aspirants will be able to choose three preferred examination centres, with the allotted test location to be communicated nearly three weeks before the exam as the Union Health Ministry on Saturday unveiled a series of student-centric reforms for the postgraduate medical entrance examination. The NEET-PG, scheduled for August 30, will be conducted under a multi-layered security framework, including advance sealing and verification of exam centres, CCTV surveil- lance, biometric authentication, candidate frisking, deployment of signal jammers, live monitoring and real-time supervision by independent observers. Union health minister JP Nadda urged aspirants not to fall prey to rumours related to NEET-PG, reiterating that comprehensive security arrangements have been put in place to ensure its smooth conduct. Among the key reforms, candidates will be allowed to indicate three state preferences for examination centre, with correspondence state being the mandatory first preference.