The editorial Page: on H1-B visa issue, read between the lines of us put-down and Indian riposte 8 SaTURDaY, OCTOBER 17, 2026 JournalIsM of CouraGe AHMedAbAd, lATe cITy, 22 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 The DeNoTiFiCATioN of Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site, a challenge against which will be heard by the Supreme Court in the coming days,didnothappenovernight. Thedenotificationfollowed recommendations by a committee formed by the Ministry of home Affairs (MhA) on August20—exactlyamonthafter the Cockroach Janta Party’s march from Jantar Mantar towards Parliament on July 20 — to examine alternative venues for protests in the Capital. on october 12, Delhi Police denotified Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site and identified three alternative venues—RamlilaGround,Burari GroundandCBDGround—for protest gatherings in the Capital.Policeattributedthechange to recommendations made by the committee. The panel, headed by New Delhi Municipal Council chairperson Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, had senior officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhigovernment,DelhiPolice and the MhA as its members. »cOntInueD On PaGe 2 ‘Lehra do Tiranga’ march at connaught Place in new delhi, Friday. GAjeNdRA yAdAv reLaTed rePorTs, P 10 Cong, allies want regime change on lines of Bangladesh: Rajnath That is Opp’s job, part of democratic process, says Cong Lalmaniverma&Jatinanand Lucknow, New Delhi, Oct 16 The BJP Friday targeted the Congress and its allies over protests in Delhi, accusing them of seeking a “regime change” like defence minister rajnath singh in Lucknow, Friday. vISHAl SRIvASTAv in Bangladesh and using the energy of the youth to spread “anarchy”. Countering the rul- express special A real-time dashboard to watch local spikes in air pollution: inside the country’s biggest monitoring centre sophiya Mathew New Delhi, October 16 ARoUND 5.30 PM this past Wednesday, several red lights flashedonthedashboardatthe Delhi Pollution Control Committee’s (DPCC’s) new Ai‑enabled integrated Command and Control Centre (iCCC) at ShastriParkinNortheastDelhi. in Wazirpur, the Air Quality index (AQi) had spiked 60 pointsinjustanhour;inNarela, a monitoring station had gone offline; and a camera at a construction site had not transmitted for six hours. looking at a massive floor‑to‑ceilingmonitorinfront of him, a senior DPCC scientist said: “PM10 levels above the permissible limit at 44 [air quality] monitoring stations. PM2.5 exceeded the limit at 43 out of the 56 stations.” at the integrated command and control centre at shastri Park in northeast delhi. SopHIyA MATHeW The monitor showed a map of Delhi, with blipping wind vectors pointing downward, andautomatedwarningsflashingacrossthescreen.“Poordispersion.emissionsinsideDelhi will stay local,” said a warning. The iCCC monitors pollutionsourcesacrossDelhiinreal time, the scientist said. it is the country’slargestpollutioncontrolwarroom,andismonitored round the clock by teams that work a general shift from 10 am to 6 pm, plus three additional shifts from 7 am to 3 pm, 3 pm to 11 pm, and 11 pm to 7 am. »cOntInueD On PaGe 2 ing party, the Congress said former President Pranab Mukherjee used to say that the opposition’s job in a democracy is to“oppose,expose,anddepose”. At a press conference at the BJP headquarters in lucknow, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh criticised the protests by theCongressanditsalliesseeking the resignation of Chief election Commissioner (CeC) Gyanesh Kumar and a halt to »cOntInueD On PaGe 2 siddharth upasani AMiD RiSiNG global trade pressure on China, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Friday that india’s trade imbalance with the world’s second-largest economyis“growingexponentially” and requests for market access have been denied for a decade. She said that while tariffs andotherpunitiveactionshave business as Usual By EP UNNY children, and senior citizens. Aasundra has been on undercover duty at garba venues for the past two years, eVeRy eVeNiNG this Nav- along with several other ratri, inspector Chandrika Aa- womenpoliceofficers.“Wefeel sundra has been dressing up in like we are Mr india. We are a chaniya choli and reaching a around, but we cannot be garba venue. The seen,” she said, referpage 1 38-year-old policering to the 1987 Bollywoman joins the wood film in which revellers and the titular character, grooves to the music — but her played by Anil Kapoor, could eyes are always alert, closely become invisible. watching every corner. “When you are in uniform, inspector Aasundra heads people tend to behave well. But the Vadodara city police’s Anti when they cannot recognise us humanTraffickingUnit.Sheis (police), we can see them for also part of She, a specialised who they are,” Aasundra said. unit of the Gujarat Police foThe largest deployment of cused on the safety of women, personnel by Gujarat Police anchor a videograb of inspector nidhi kalsaria on duty at a garba event in ahmedabad. happens during Navratri. Thousands are put on duty, monitoringcontrolcentresand explained The widening gap Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said China uses non-tariff barriers unhesitatingly. India’s trade deficit with China in first 6 months of 2026-27 was $69 billion, 27% more than in the corresponding period of 2025-26. inside PAGEs 12, 14 30 0 SoURce: coMMeRce MINISTRy been the global approach to trade imbalances, india does not believe in them and prefers to “sit and talk”. »cOntInueD On PaGe 2 Happening today lPacer Bhuvneshwar JAishAnkAr To hosT UAE dy Pm, rUbio in mUmbAi nExT wEEk 2020Delhiriots accusednarwal cangotouK, mustnotseek asylum:hc sohini Ghosh New Delhi, October 16 The Delhi high Court Friday allowed student activist NatashaNarwal,anaccusedinthe larger conspiracy case relating to the 2020 Delhi riots, to travel to the United Kingdom for academicrequirementsasshepursues her PhD from the University of Warwick. Justice Amit Bansal, however,saidNarwalhastofurnish an undertaking that she will not seek asylum while in the UK. The Delhi Police had expressed apprehension that she may apply for asylum once in the UK, claiming “political persecution”. Released on bail in 2021 after spending 14 months in custody, Narwal sought to travel to the UK from November 2 to December 1. AdditionalSolicitorGeneral (ASG) S V Raju, appearing for »cOntInueD On PaGe 2 patrolling the streets. Gujarat Police has had 33 per cent reservation for women since 2014, so, a large chunk of these personnel is made up of women. Sub-inspector hetal Jadeja has been on duty at garbas since 2022. She said that rotational undercover duty has an advantage. “everyone gets the chance to do a bit of teen-taali while on the job, since policewomen rarely get leave during Navratri,” Jadeja said. Asked why police officers need to go undercover, Sub-inspectorJadejasaid:“Appearing atgarbavenuesinuniformmay be a deterrent (against crime) forashorttime,butthereareso »cOntInueD On PaGe 2 Ahmedabad Kumar has been added to the Indian squad for the fifth and final series-deciding T20I match against the West Indies. lus secretary of State Marco Rubio will begin his fiveday trip to Uzbekistan and India. Pm sET To visiT cAnAdA on dEc 11-12 »cOntInueD On PaGe 2 ‘We feel like Mr India’: Policewomen in Gujarat go undercover on garba nights Ahmedabad, Vadodara, October 16 90 60 New Delhi, October 16 l sPeciaLised ‘she’ uniT PersonneL on duTy To deTer miscreanTs, reassure women Brendan Dabhi & aditi raja Finance minister nirmala sitharaman in Bangkok. ANI lexports to china lImports from china lIndia’s trade deficit with china All figures in $ billion 120 H1 Fy27 PoliCeDeTAiNeDmorethan 100 people, including Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke and All india Students’ Association president Neha Bora, as protesters gathered in and around Connaught Place in the heart of the Capital Friday evening, responding to the CJP call for a ‘lehra Do Tiranga’marchtodemandtheresignationofChiefelectionCommissioner Gyanesh Kumar. An estimated 2,000 people, many of them carrying the Tricolour, showed up amid heavy police bandobast around Central Park, the site chosen by the CJP for the protest. Dipke was detained from Karol Bagh ahead of the march and Bora shortly after she tried to march from Mandi house. WiththeCJPandAiSAexpressing concern on their whereaboutslateatnight,theopposition—fromDMKtoSP,TMCto Congress — demanded their immediate release and criticised the government and the police action. A flash protest was also New Delhi, October 16 deficitwithchina Fy26 New Delhi, October 16 Mahender singh Manral lindia’srisingtrade Fy25 Pragynesh, Drishti Jain, sophiya Mathew, alok singh & sakshi chand Imbalance growing exponentially, but we believe in talks, not punitive action, says Sitharaman Fy24 MonthafterJuly protest,centre setuppanelfor sitesawayfrom JantarMantar Heavy police bandobast in heart of Capital, CJP founder detained ahead of march China’s trade barriers a big hurdle: FM; let’s work on it, says Beijing Fy23 Over 100 detained after protests against CEC, Opp demands release of Dipke, Bora ‘have Been DenIeD MarKet access FOr a DecaDe’ Fy22 crOwD Gathers In cOnnauGht PLace In resPOnse tO cJP caLL FOr trIcOLOur March Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com