The Ideas Page: Through Raghu Rai’s lens — there is always drama in Bengal 11 SAtURDAY, MAY 2, 2026 JournalIsm of Courage new DeLhi, LATe ciTy, 20 PAgeS ₹7.00 (₹8 rAiPur, ₹15 SrinAgAr) 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 PeTrol, Diesel Prices haVe remaineD UnchanGeD for oVer foUr years now Polls over, energy prices soaring due to West Asia crisis, fuel rate hike on table Jet fuel price raised for international flights, domestic untouched Incurring heavy losses, public sector oil marketing firms push for increase sukalp sharma & anil sasi New Delhi, May 1 wITH INTeRNaTIoNal oil and fuel prices persisting at supernormallevelsintheinternationalmarketduetothewest asia crisis and polling in state electionsover,ahikeinpricesof fuels like petrol, diesel and domestic lPG could be in the offinginthecomingdaysorweeks, according to highly placed sources in the government. Public sector oil marketing companies (oMCs) are incurring heavy losses on the sale of thesefuelsandhavebeenpushing for price hikes. Petrol and diesel prices have been frozen foroverfouryearsnowinIndia. Moreover,thetimingofthecurrent global surge in prices, which clashed with assembly elections in four states and a Union Territory, made it politically fraught for the prices to be hiked. Throughout March and april,theMinistryofPetroleum »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 Commercial LPG up Rs 993 a cylinder sukalp sharma New Delhi, May 1 Union Petroleum minister hardeep singh Puri with Gujarat cm Bhupendra Patel in surat, Friday. Puri said commercial LPG was back to 70% of the pre-crisis level. on fuel price hike, he said if the time comes, the government will take a decision. exPreSS PaGe 9 PUBlICseCToRoilmarketing companies (oMCs) Friday kept the price of aviation turbine fuel (aTF), or jet fuel, unchanged for scheduled do- Dhaka, Delhi move to resume full-scale visa operations lThe PiPrahwa relics of Lord Buddha will be opened for public veneration at Jivetsal in Leh. lUnion home minisTer Amit Shah will launch mobilebased disaster communication systems developed to ensure timely dissemination of critical information. lVisasforindianstoBangladesh E. Kolkata 72,265 2025 Delhi 63,380 Kolkata 43,048 Kolkata 3,557 Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com Agartala 27,946 2026 Delhi 5,197 Agartala 9,462 Agartala 99,941 New Delhi, May 1 MoVING To normalise ties after months of turmoil in the recent past, delhi and dhaka are taking the first step forward with full-scale resumption of visaservices.whileBangladesh has resumed visas for Indian citizens across all categories, India is aiming at gradual resumption of visa operations over the next few weeks, The alok Deshpande Mumbai, May 1 as MaHaRasHTRa struggles to complete the pre-special IntensiveRevision(sIR)mapping exercise — a time-consuming process that requires Booth levelofficersorBlostomatch every current voter’s name against a 24-year-old electoral roll—thestate’sChiefelectoral officer (Ceo) has written to the election Commission of India (eCI) seeking permission to allowvoterstomapthemselves online, on the lines of the selfenumeration option introduced for the national Census. Yes, I have sent a letter, says state’s ceo s chockalingam at present, the pre-sIR activityinvolvesBloscomparing the 2002 electoral roll with the current one. every voter’s name must be traceable to the 2002listtopassscrutiny.young »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 Two days after the Mumbai Press Club suspended three members over an event attended by accused persons out on bail in the Bhima Koregaon case, officials of the National Investigation agency (NIa) visited the club seeking documents related to the gathering, accordingtoastatementissued by the club Friday. Thedevelopmentpertainsto a January 19 event at the MumbaiPressClubthatwasattended by several accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case — these included Varavara Rao, Vernon »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 Fadnavis govt wants to make Marathi a must for auto & taxi drivers, Bihar and UP caution Row in Punjab: Cong claims CM came to House drunk, he hits back Speaker rejects Opposition demand for alcohol, dope tests for CM, MLAs Chandigarh, May 1 a day-loNG specialsessionof the Punjab assembly witnessed unruly scenes Friday as the Congress walked out of the Housetwice,allegingthatChief Minister Bhagwant Mann was in an inebriated state. The opposition party demanded that all Mlas present intheHouseundergoanalcohol and a doping test, but speaker Kultar singh sandhwan turned »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 Bhopal, May 1 anchor rescue personnel attempt to recover the capsized cruise boat from Bargi dam near Jabalpur in madhya Pradesh, Friday. PTi »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 Chairman and Members of the Board of Governors cordially invite you to the th 29 CONVOCATION Saturday May 02, 2026 LBSIM Auditorium 05:00 PM Chief Guest Punjab cm Bhagwant mann in the assembly in chandigarh on Friday. PTi Dr. Alok Kumar Rai Director, IIM Calcutta In Jabalpur boat wreckage, woman and her child found in death embrace, sharing a single life jacket anand mohan J language and Maharashtra’s identity is important, but India’s spirit also dictates that INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, DELHI security personnel guard a strong room ahead of the may 4 counting of votes for the West Bengal polls, in kolkata, Friday. meanwhile, the election commission said repolling will be held saturday in 15 polling stations where voting was held on april 29 in the second phase of the elections in the state. PTi PaGe 6 man aman singh chhina cm devendra Fadnavis with deputy cm eknath shinde on the mumbai-Pune expressway, Friday. DeePAK JoShi PaGe 8 LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI Guarding the strong room l ToLL rIses To 9 In BoaT caPsIze aT BarGI dam, sIx Persons sTILL mIssInG desh Pwd Minister Rakesh singh broke down upon seeing the bodies of the mother and THe BodIes were found child. Pradeep Kumar, the locked together, mother and grieving husband of 39-yearchild still in an unbroken em- old Marina and their four-yearbrace,sharingalifejacket.They old son, said, “we barely had were recovered from inside the enough time to wear life submerged hull of a jackets, which were page 1 cruise boat that capkept in an inaccesssized in the Bargi ible area. I was disdam near Jabalpur, tributing the jackets Madhya Pradesh, on Thursday and as soon as I put mine on, evening.ByFriday,ninebodies the ship capsized. we came had been found. a total of 28 here from delhi for my people were rescued. brother’s housewarming ceron the shore, Madhya Pra- emony. what happened is to- Gonsalves, arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha, anand Teltumbde, Hany Babu, Rona wilsonandsudhirdhawale—allof whom are currently out on bail. The Press Club said the gathering had taken place in the presence of former officebearers, including former president Gurbir singh. The club stated that while granting bail,thesupremeCourtandthe special NIa court had imposed conditions restricting some of the accused from meeting one another while out on bail. accordingtotheclub,theJanuary 19 gathering raised questions about a possible violation of Mumbai, May 1 THe RUle to make Marathi mandatory for auto drivers in Maharashtra, which has now been deferred, has evoked sharp reactions across the political spectrum in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. In Bihar, the BJP’s national spokesperson, Guru Prakash Paswan, told The Indian Express,“TheBJPbelievesinboth national unity and cultural diversity. Respecting the Marathi »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 Maharashtra CEO wants self-mapping option for pre-SIR work, seeks EC nod Vallabh ozarkar Patna, Lucknow, May 1 By EP UNNY Indian Express has learnt. when Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman was in India last month, visa normalisation was among the key points raised by dhaka. while all Bangladesh visa centres in India,includingtheHighCommission in New delhi and consulardivisionsinKolkata,agartala, Mumbai and Chennai, are now functional, dhaka has sought early reciprocation by Club suspends three members, they deny wrongdoing; agency sought documents related to January meet santosh singh & maulshree seth Business as Usual Source: BAngLADeSh high commiSSion Divya a »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 Happening today Efforts for India-Bangladesh political engagements currently underway 2024 Delhi 69,684 mestic flights by airlines, while hiking the price for international flights and other nonscheduled operations. according to the country’s largest oMC Indian oil Corporation (IoC), the move is part of NIA visits Mumbai Press Club over gathering of Bhima Koregaon accused tally a result of negligence.” The nine people confirmed to have died in the tragedy included eight women and the four-year-old boy. The tourism department has ordered an inquiry and initiated action against several personnel. The immediate trigger for thetragedythattookplaceduring the Thursday evening cruise in the Bargi dam reservoir area on the Narmada was a sudden, violent storm, Jabalpur Collector Raghvendra singh told The Indian Express. »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 will deliver the Convocation Address https://Ytube.Lbsim.ac.in Watch Live R.S.V.P. Tel : 011-25307700 Mob. : +91-9958137595, +91-9811320320 Dr. Praveen Gupta Director, LBSIM Delhi NATIONAL BOARD (3 PGDM PROGRAMMES) RANKING 2025 RANK BAND 101-125 OF ACCREDITATION (3 PGDM PROGRAMMES)