FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms Vol. 15 No. 50 | BHOPAL | MONDAY | AUGUST 4, 2025 | Pages 12 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 FREE www.freepressjournal.in fp Briefs NEW DELHI Smartphone exports @$7.72 bn India’s smartphone export momentum has hit a record high in the April–June quarter (Q1FY26), with shipments reaching $7.72 billion, up 58 per cent from $4.9 billion in the same period last year, according to reports. During the quarter, Apple Inc. exported $6 billion worth of iPhones through its contract manufacturers, representing an 82 per cent increase from the previous year, the reports stated.This quarter was not only Apple's top period, but it also saw the highest quarterly export total of smartphones from India. NEW DELHI AI flight faces tech snag Air India cancelled its flight from Singapore to Chennai on Sunday as the Airbus A321 plane operating on the route developed a technical snag. Air India said in a statement that the flight AI349 scheduled to operate from Singapore to Chennai has been cancelled due to a maintenance task identified prior to departure, which required additional time for rectification."Arrangements are being made to fly the passengers to Chennai at the earliest. BALLIKURAVA 6 workers die in rock collapse Six migrant workers from Odisha were killed and at least three others injured after a massive granite rock fell on them at a quarry in Andhra Pradesh's Bapatla district on Sunday. According to the police, the accident occurred around 10.30 am when 10 to 15 workers were engaged in mining works. MOSCOW Massive fire at Russian oil depot An overnight Ukrainian drone attack on an oil depot near Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi sparked a major fire, Russian officials said Sunday, as the two countries traded strikes. More than 120 firefighters attempted to extinguish the blaze, sparked after debris from a downed drone struck a fuel tank, Krasnodar regional Gov Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram. iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: BHOPAL WORLD Money TRUMP’S TARIFF TANTRUMS:PAINTS A SOBERING PICTURE ESTD-1983 P.11 UJJAIN PRESS PUNE INDORE NASHIK Brand Sutra Baggage, Reclaimed P.12 MAJOR RELIEF | Retail rate cut includes anti-inflammatory, cardiovascular, antibiotic, anti-diabetic, psychiatric medicines Centre cuts prices of 35 essential medicines IANS In a move to make medicines more affordable for patients, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has reduced the retail prices of 35 essential drugs sold by leading pharmaceutical companies. The formulations, which will now cost less, span a wide range of medicines including anti-inflammatory, cardiovascular, antibiotic, anti-diabetic and psychiatric medicines. The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers notified the order based on price regulation by the NPPA. The price reductions, which apply across drugs, are expected to bring relief to consumers, particularly those managing chronic conditions. The key formulations covered by the price control order include fixed-dose combinations of Aceclofenac, Failure to comply may attract penal provisions under DPCO, 2013, and Essential Commodities Act, 1955 Medicine Price Aceclofenac-ParacetamolTrypsin Chymotrypsin (Akums) Rs 13 Aceclofenac-ParacetamolTrypsin Chymotrypsin (Cadila) Rs 15.01 Diclofenac Injection Rs 31.77 per ml Atorvastatin 40 mg and Clopidogrel 75 mg Rs 25.61 Other medicines include Cefixime and Paracetamol combinations, Cholecalciferol drops for Vitamin D supplementation Paracetamol and Trypsin Chymotrypsin, Amoxycillin and Potassium Clavulanate, Atorvastatin combinations and newer oral anti-diabetic combinations like Empagliflozin, Sitagliptin, and Metformin. The price of one Aceclo- fenac-Paracetamol-Trypsin Chymotrypsin tablet manufactured by Akums Drugs & Pharmaceuticals and marketed by Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has now been fixed at Rs 13, while the same formulation marketed by Cadila Pharmaceuti- 4 Indian-origin persons dead in US car crash PTI NEW YORK tiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) deals with the offence of voluntarily causing hurt to another person. Lt Colonel Singh, who is currently posted at the Army's High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) at Gulmarg in Baramulla district, was to board a SpiceJet flight to Delhi when the incident took place. Asked about the incident, Army officials said they are awaiting the conclusion of the pending investigation and the Army is fully committed to maintaining discipline and mutual respect in all civil spaces across the country. In a tragic incident, four senior Indian-origin persons were killed in a car crash in West Virginia, authorities said on Sunday. Kishore Divan, Asha Divan, Shailesh Divan, and Gita Divan were found dead following a vehicle crash, Marshal County Sheriff Mike Dougherty said in a statement. The four individuals were reported missing from Buffalo, New York. Their vehicle was located on August 2 at approximately 9:30 PM off a steep embankment along a road in Marshal County, West Virginia. First responders were on the scene for more than five hours. Dougherty extended condolences to the families of the victims. Sibu Nair, Director of Asian American and Pacific Islander Affairs at Office of New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, had posted an 'Missing Persons - Please Help' alert on Facebook Saturday, asking for help to locate the four senior individuals who had gone missing. 4Continued on | P8 4Continued on | P8 Army officer assaults 4 airline staffers over extra baggage charges PTI SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI Police have registered a case against a senior army officer for allegedly assaulting and injuring four employees of a private airline at Srinagar International Airport last week, causing a spinal fracture to one of them, officials said here on Sunday. A case under Section 115 of BNS has been registered against Lieutenant Colonel R K Singh for assaulting employees of SpiceJet airline following a disagreement over payment of extra baggage charges by the army officer on July 26, they said. Section 115 of the Bhara- IANS Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday said that 172 hydrocarbon discoveries have been made over the past decade under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, including 62 in offshore areas. Taking to social media platform X, the minister highlighted that exploration efforts are now being expanded into regions previously designated as "No-Go" zones—an initiative made possible by what he described as PM Modi’s bold and transformative policy decisions." Under the guidance of PM @narendramodi ji, 172 hydrocarbon discoveries have been Of 172 hydrocarbon discoveries, 62 are in offshore areas, says Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri made in the last decade, of which 62 are in marine areas. Now this figure will increase even faster because now we Seeds of seabuckthorn and buckwheat grown in the cold desert of Ladakh are part of the experiments on board the International Space Station flown by NASA's Crew-11 mission. Seeds procured from 11 nations across five continents are part of the study spearheaded by US-based bioastronautics firm Jaguar Space, which plans to expose the seeds to microgravity conditions for a week. The seeds are part of the "Emerging Space Nation's Space for Agriculture & Agriculture for Space" payload that flew to the ISS along with NASA's Crew-11, which lifted off from Florida on Friday and docked onto the orbital lab on Saturday. The seeds will be brought back by the Crew-10, which is expected to return to Earth later this month. The seeds grown in La- dakh were sourced by Bengaluru-based space start-up Protoplanet. "We will study how the seeds react to micro-gravity conditions and their potential use as a food source for long-duration space missions," Siddharth Pandey, Director, Protoplanet, told PTI. Pandey stated that Protoplanet has contributed sea buckthorn and Himalayan tartary, nutrient-rich plants native to high-altitude regions. The Himalayan tartary is a variety of buckwheat that is nutrientrich and gluten-free. On return from space, the seeds will be studied by Indian researchers. According to Jaguar Space, the World Seeds PTI 4Continued on | P8 4Continued on | P8 PATNA The Election Commission on Sunday asked RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav to "hand over for investigation" a voter ID card that he claimed to be in possession of despite having been "not issued officially". The leader of the opposition in the Bihar assembly had on Saturday demonstrated an online search, with the EPIC number, to claim that his name was missing in the draft electoral rolls published as part of special intensive revision (SIR) and, upon rebuttal from the authorities concerned, alleged that his voter ID card number was "changed". In a letter addressed to the former deputy CM, the Sub Divisional Magistrate of Patna Sadar-cum-Electoral Registration Officer for Digha assembly constituency said, "Our preliminary investigation suggests that the EPIC number Committed crime: BJP The BJP alleged on Sunday that RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has committed a crime by keeping two voter IDs, noting that his Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number he cited at a presser was different from the one he officially carries you mentioned at the press conference on August 2 was not issued officially. You are therefore requested to hand over the EPIC card in original for detailed investigation". 4Continued on | P8 Hindu can never be terrorist: Sadhvi Pragya Says Malegaon verdict a slap on faces of those who coined ‘saffron terror’ narrative A woman applying tilak on forehead of ex-MP Pragya Thakur at her residence on Sunday Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL Recently acquitted by Mumbai’s NIA court in Malegaon blast case, former BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur returned to her residence in Bhopal on Sunday. Speaking to media, she launched a scathing attack on Congress, accusing it of fabricating the idea of ‘saffron terrorism’, and de- clared: “A Hindu can never be a terrorist. He is tolerant by nature.” She said the court verdict is 11 killed as SUV plunges into canal Biswajeet Banerjee LUCKNOW a slap in the face of those who labelled her and others as part of a Hindu terror plot. "Congress tried to establish the narrative of Hindu terrorism, but failed. They tortured people like us to break our spirit. But truth has finally prevailed—Satyamev Jayate,” she said. Thakur alleged that the entire ‘saffron terror’ narrative was politically scripted. “The script was weak, and it collapsed,” she said, adding that Hindus had been targeted for years. 4Continued on | P8 Man held over bomb threat to Gadkari’s house NAGPUR In a tragic incident in Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda district, 11 people, most of them from the same family, lost their lives after a Bolero vehicle carrying 15 passengers veered off the road and fell into the Saryu canal on Sunday morning. The accident took place around 10 AM in the Motiganj police station area when the group was on their way to offer prayers at the Prithvinath temple. The vehicle reportedly lost control and skidded into the canal, trapping those inside. Eyewitnesses said villagers rushed to the spot after hear- are going for exploration in those areas also, where exploration has never been done before. Which once came under 'No Go' areas," he said in a post in Hindi. "Modi ji's bold decision on these no-go areas is giving a new height to exploration & production," Puri added. ing screams for help. Within ten minutes, more locals and police personnel reached the site and began rescue operations. However, the doors of the vehicle were jammed shut, making it extremely difficult to rescue the passengers. "People inside were struggling and gasping for air as the car began to sink," a local resi- dent said. Eventually, rescuers broke the windows and pulled everyone out. CPR was administered to all victims on the spot, but eight were declared dead immediately. Four others were rushed to the hospital in a critical condition. One person survived without serious injuries. Police on Sunday arrested a man for issuing a bomb threat to Union minister Nitin Gadkari's residence in Nagpur, which later turned out to be a hoax, officials said. The man called up the city police control room on the emergency number 112 in the morning to issue the threat, sending the authorities into a tizzy. During their investigation, the police traced the mobile number from which the call was made. 4Continued on | P8 4Continued on | P8 Tiger poached in Balaghat, 2 forest officials suspended Ohio’s Indian-origin Solicitor General faces backlash over ‘bindi’ Our Staff Reporter BHOPALUBANES study examines how seeds react to the unique stresses of the space environment before they begin to grow, focusing on fundamental processes such as the activation of genes and metabolic pathways essential for germination. This experiment explores the potential of previously unexamined species to contribute to future space agriculture initiatives. 4Continued on | P8 4Continued on | P8 4Continued on | P8 IANS WASHINGTON Two forest officials have been suspended following suspected poaching of a tiger in the Lalbarra range of Balaghat district. The incident came to light after wildlife activist Ajay Dubey alerted the Head of Forest Force (HoFF) about an alleged cover-up by local forest staff. According to sources, Dubey informed the HoFF that, based on inputs from his network, a tiger had been illegally killed by poachers in the area, and some forest officials were allegedly trying to suppress the matter. Acting on the complaint, the HoFF ordered an internal probe, which led to suspension of two officials. When contacted, District Forest Officer (DFO), Balaghat, said that DNA samples from the site have been sent to a forensic lab for confirmation and further investigation. Ladakh-grown seeds join ISS experiment PTI Agencies EC asks Tejashwi to hand over EPIC card for investigation CHENNAI cals is now priced at Rs 15.01. Similarly, a tablet containing Atorvastatin 40 mg and Clopidogrel 75 mg, widely used for cardiovascular conditions, is priced at Rs 25.61.Oral suspensions for paediatric use - Cefixime and Paracetamol combinations - have also been included, along with critical medications like Cholecalciferol drops for Vitamin D supplementation and Diclofenac Injection, which has been priced at Rs 31.77 per ml. The official order states that retailers and dealers must display these updated price lists prominently in their premises. Failure to comply with the notified prices may attract penal provisions under the DPCO, 2013, and the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, including recovery of overcharged amounts with interest. offgrid NEW DELHI Chidambaram slams ECI over reported addition of 6.5L voters in TN Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday strongly criticised the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the addition of approximately 6.5 lakh migrant workers to the electoral roll in Tamil Nadu under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, calling it "alarming" and "patently illegal." In a post on X, Chidambaram wrote," The SIR exercise is getting curiouser and curiouser While 65 lakh voters are in danger of being disenfranchised in Bihar, reports of "adding" 6.5 lakh persons as voters in Tamil Nadu is alarming and patently illegal Calling them "permanently migrated" is an insult to the migrant workers and a gross interference in the right of the electorate of Tamil Nadu to elect a government of its choice Why should the migrant worker 172 hydrocarbon discoveries in 10 years: Puri NEW DELHI E-paper Edit BJP, DMK vie for Chola legacy P.6 Drone attack sparks huge fire at Russian oil depot NEW DELHI MUMBAI Indian-origin Mathura Sridharan has been appointed Ohio's 12th Solicitor General, the Attorney General's office announced in a statement on X. However, her appointment faced backlash with trolls questioning why a 'non-US citizen' was selected for the position, with some even pointing to her bindi, saying "This one has a perma-dot, huh." In a post on X, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost's office stated: "AG Yost today named Mathura Sridharan as his pick for Ohio’s 12th solicitor general, the state’s top attorney for appeals in state and federal courts." In response to the announcement made on X, some of the online users criticised her appointment. One user said, "Couldn’t find a citizen and native of the United States for the job?" Another user wrote, "Native Ohioans can’t even get jobs with the state. Who is this foreigner? Did Ohio run out of Americans?" Another social media user wrote, "Nothing says 'Ohioan' like a dot right on the forehead", while another wrote: "This one has a permadot, huh." Another online user commented, "What's the dot on her forehead?" Another user questioned her appointment, saying, "No Americans were available?"In response to the trolls, AG Yost defended Sridharan's appointment and praised her legal abilities, calling her "brilliant." 4Continued on | P8