the editorial Page: to combat pollution, we need to cast a wider net, go beyond the city 8 FRiDAY, OCtOBER 9, 2026 JourNalism of Courage mumbai, late city, 18 pages ₹5.00 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 reG.no. MCS/067/2018 - 20 rni reGn. no. 1543/57 123 151 188 77 govttoput30% capontrade marginof110 non-scheduled cancerdrugs anonna Dutt New Delhi, October 8 in A move to address excessive markupsoncancerdrugprices, the Centre has decided to cap the trade margin at 30 per cent for 110 non-scheduled cancer drugs, including 35 patented medicines. While the list is still being finalised, it will cover branded and generic, domestic and imported, patented and non-patented medicines. trade margin is the differencebetweenthepriceatwhich a distributor procures a drug from a pharmaceutical manufacturer, and the final MaximumRetailPrice(MRP)paidby the patient. Sources in the Department of Pharmaceuticals said the move, likely to come intoeffectinabout10days,isexpected to see a fall in prices by up to 70 per cent in some cases. Officials said an analysis of market data by the national Pharmaceutical Pricing »ContinUED on PagE 2 Central forces called, entry points under watch: Delhi braces for protests over weekend nEED gst ProCEssEs whErE BUsinEssEs arE ‘trUstED’: FM sakshi Chand & Pragynesh aanchal Magazine & siddharth Upasani New Delhi, October 8 insidE page 11 Taxman’s pre-prosecution arrest powers taken away Conditions tightened to intercept goods moving across states New Delhi, October 8 With the Opposition declaring thursday that its protests will continue until Chief election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resigns, and the CockroachJantaPartyaskingpeople to gather for another sit-in Saturday, Delhi braced for the weekend as authorities and police took a string of security measures — 23,000 Central forces personnel have been called to assist the city police, five all-women paramilitary companies will be on duty, liquor vends will be closed for two days and Central Delhi ho- daY 3: opposition goes to rajgHat tels have been asked to restrict room bookings. the CJP and All india Students’ Association have jointly »ContinUED on PagE 2 inAbidtoboostbusinesssentiment, the Goods and Services tax(GSt)Councilonthursday approved sweeping process reforms, ranging from the removalofarrestpowersfromtax officers at the pre-prosecution stage to a minimum threshold of Rs 10,000 being put in place for issuance of show-cause notices effective retrospectively. UnionFinanceMinisternirmala Sitharaman said the processes must be such that businesses are “trusted”, and that these are not “too intrusive”. insidE { NaNa Patekar • 1951-2026 } pages 10, 14 He redefined the tough cop, psychotic villain — and Hindi cinema shubhra gupta “ApNe kO sochne ka allowed nahinhai,apnekosirfunglihai, ghodakheechneka”.thatsingle dialogue, in a 2004 film filled with snappy one-liners, cemented the image of the “encounter cop” in hindi cinema. Scenery-chewingtough-talking »ContinUED on PagE 2 suvajit dey related reports p 6 ‘99% issues’ resolved, door still open Union Finance Minister nirmala Sitharaman at the GST Council Meeting in Delhi Thursday. aNi in another big move, the Council has ruled that vehicles carrying goods can only be stopped by tax officers from either the state of the supplier »ContinUED on PagE 2 Thursday’s GST process reforms follow September 2025’s sweeping cuts in indirect tax rates on goods and services. And while Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that they address “99% of issues” related to GST, the “door” for further changes “isn’t closed”. starlink vs govt pak jets used in strikes against HoutHis in Yemen: report soumyarendra Barik New Delhi, October 8 even AS theCentrecountered US billionaire elon Musk’s allegation on the launch of his satellite communications company, Starlink, being delayed in india due to “certain oligarchs...tomaintaintheirmonopolistic chokehold”, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Ussuspends indianitmajors fromgreencard programme Business as usual By EP UNNY soumyarendra Barik Rahul to Musk after ‘boss Ambani’ remark: ‘Wait till you discover other guy’ india condemns saudi airport attacks, issues advisorY New Delhi, October 8 ExplainEd Rahul Gandhi waded into the row on thursday. in a statement, the Centre said the country’s regulatory framework for satcom services is fair and non-discriminatory. “Licenseesarerequiredtodemonstratecompliancewithsecurity conditions,” it said, without namingMusk.“Securityassessment as part of this process is »ContinUED on PagE 2 New Delhi, October 8 theUSgovernmentonthursdaysuspendedseverallargeindian it firms from a key programme that allows skilled foreign workers to gain permanent residency. the administration cited alleged fraud, and claimed that foreign workers got jobs in the US at the cost of American workers. “i am hereby suspending fromthePermanentLaborCertification Program some of the largest it outsourcing firms in the world — Cognizant, infosys, tata, Wipro, hCL and Capgemini,” US Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling said. »ContinUED on PagE 2 2026 nobel prize litEraturE annE Carson a provocateur who blurs boundaries between genres page 13 Ratan N. Tata A LIFE THAT INSPIRED MILLIONS