The editorial Page: Two wounded strongmen and the trouble with being invincible 8 FRIDaY, aUgUST 28, 2026 JouRnalism of CouRaGe lUCKNoW, lATe CITy, 16 PAGeS ₹6.00 l www.indianexpress.com dA I ly F R o M : A h M e dA B A d , C h A N d I GA R h , d e l h I , j A I P U R , Ko l K ATA , l U C K N o W , M U M B A I , N AG P U R , PAT N A , P U N e , vA d o dA R A inDia aiRLiFTS MoRe aiD, LooKS aT BaiLey BRiDGeS To heLP ReLieF eFFoRTS Nepal races against time to look for survivors, 290 Indians still missing Hanging glacier collapse in focus, NDMA to look at reducing risks yubaraj Ghimire, Divya a & Shubhajit Roy »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 Happy raksHa bandHan We are closed today. There will be no edition of the paper on Saturday, August 29, 2026 Pratyush Deep WitHtHespotlightnowonthe collapse of a hanging glacier as the likely trigger for the devastatingflashflood in nepal, the incident is being closely monitored by the disaster management establishment in india where similar disasters have happened in the recent past. the national Disaster Management Authority (nDMA) said thursday it was planning to initiate a comprehensive study on the nepal event.“Many areas in india are vulnerable to the kind of E. A HyDroPoWer plant that supplieselectricitytoindiawas among the power plants hit by Wednesday’s flash flood in nepal. Authorities were assessing the extent of damage to scores of power plants which catertothebulkofnepal’selectricity needs. Aseniorindiangovernment official told TheIndianExpress thursdaythatnepalslashedits power supply to india by half, from around 800 megawatts (MW) to at least 400 MW. the 14-MW Devighat hydropower plant that supplies power to india was among the plants affected by the floods, the offi- the editorial page Himalaya needs sHared system for early warning p 10 cialsaid.indiaimportselectricity from multiple hydroelectric power plants in nepal. Accordingtodatafromgrid india, india imported 963.4 MW from nepal at the day’s peak on August 26 when the flash flood struck. two other hydroelectric plants, Chilime and trisuli, whichsupplyelectricitytoBangladesh, have also been affected. nepal’s energy Ministry, in astatement,saidthataround13 hydroelectricpowerplantsand »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 Business as Usual By EP UNNY happening today lUnion Finance Minister Nir- mala Sitharaman will visit the US where she will lead an Indian delegation at the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meet under the US Presidency of the G20 and participate in an Investor Roundtable. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 schoolchildren at a rescue camp in nepal’s nuwakot, Thursday. PTI related reports, p 3, 6 Relief for some, anxious wait for many: ‘Tell us how they are, where they are…’ arun Janardhanan & Sujit Bisoyi The INdIAN exPReSS WISheS ITS ReAdeRS New Delhi, August 27 New Delhi, August 27 Kathmandu, New Delhi, August 27 WitH HUnDreDs still missing in nepal a day after a flash flood ravaged several districts inthecountry’snorth,rescuers searched mud-filled valleys and hills for survivors as the official death count climbed to 392 thursday night. in new Delhi, the Ministry of external Affairs said at least 290 indians were still missing and around 200 others were stranded on the Chinese side of the sino-nepal border. it said india was in contact with authorities in nepal and China to coordinate their rescue. As the nepal Army and security personnel stepped up search and rescue operations, thefloodforecastingdivisionof the Meteorology Department, quoting Chinese officials, warned about the formation of “a significant barrier lake” on Hydel plant in Nepal feeding power to India among several units hit nikhil Ghanekar & amitabh Sinha Death toll now 392, hundreds missing; China alerts Nepal about threat from new barrier lake Chennai, Bhubaneswar, August 27 tHree PilgriMs from tamil nadu’s Hosur, an Australiabased couple from odisha, and the wife of a former MlA from Bengal were among scores of tourists from india who are still missing in the aftermath of the devastating flash flood that missing: sandeep mohapatra, wife siddharthi kumari sahu struck nepal on Wednesday. Anxious family members, dealing with unreachable networks and mobile phones switched off, are knocking at every possible door to get word on the whereabouts of their loved ones. AccordingtotheMinistryof external Affairs (MeA), 290 indian nationals are still out of contact in nepal. »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 Nadda meets anti-quota Penguin India won’t publish protesters: ‘Talks cordial’ Sonia’s book, had asked for Lalmani Verma, Liz Mathew & Jatin anand Lucknow,NewDelhi,August27 Union Minister J P nadda on thursday met members of the “reservation Hatao Andolan(rHA)”,daysafterhundreds gathered at Jantar Mantar demanding that affirmative action be based on economic criteria rather than caste. in a post on X, nadda said “cordialdiscussions”tookplace with the rHA’s Harsh Dubey, ran Bahadur singh Chauhan, and Mrityunjay Pathak. the meeting came days after a del- egation led by Dubey met Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, who assured themhewouldtakeuptheirdemands with the BJP brass and arrange their meeting with a UnionMinister.Pathakandthe delegation also addressed a press conference. “Following the movement that took place at Jantar Mantar on21August,cordialdiscussions were held, as per the pre-determined schedule, with Harsh Dubey, ran Bahadur singh Chauhan, and Mrityunjay Pathak, members of the team. in »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 ‘changes’ which she rejected Ritu Sarin New Delhi, August 27 PengUin rAnDoM House india (PrHi), expected to publish ‘Belonging: A Journey of love,’ the much-anticipated memoirs of Congress leader sonia gandhi, in india, will not do so, The Indian Express has learnt. sources said this was precipitated by certain “editorial changes and deletions” that Penguin random House india wanted in “a part of the manu- script” which was turned downbythe author. W i t h Penguin india out, several indian pub‘Belonging: a Journey of Love’ lishers are by sonia Gandhi. now in the fray and AlFRed A. KNoPF Harper Collins is reported to be close to »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 l ‘have To make IndIa an aTTracTIve case on ITs own merIT and noT JusT Because IT’s chIna pLus one’ Goyal: Ready to act on feedback, expect Japanese investments to pick up pace page 1 anchor Sandeep Singh Osaka, August 27 neWDelHiisnotonlyseeking higherinvestmentsfromJapan but is keen to deepen its economic partnership with tokyo. in an interview to The Indian Express,Commerceandindus- try Minister Piyush goyal said afterhisfour-dayvisittotokyo, nagoya and osaka, he hoped thatthepaceofinvestmentwill pick up further. to increase its presenceinJapan,hesaidindia muststrivetobecomeitsglobal sourcingpartner,andthatbusinesses need to be more outward-looking. edited excerpts: How far do you think review of trade deals express interview PiyUSh GoyaL UNIoN CoMMeRCe ANd INdUSTRy MINISTeR signed with Japan will yield benefits for India? it took us so many years to get them to the table to talk. As of now, even terms of reference have not been discussed. We have just done a macro level opening. But we will enter the Japanese market for our goods and bring them more and more to india so that they naturally »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 Lucknow