DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 2025, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `7.00 (`8 RAIPUR, `15 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 KICKS IN AUGUST 27 SUBMISSIONS CLOSE SEPTEMBER 1 Oilpenaltyon Indiaaggressive leveragetoforce Russia:Vance Documents of 98% voters received in Phase-2 of Bihar SIR, says poll panel EC does not detail which of 11 listed documents submitted by electors NEW DELHI, AUGUST 24 WITH EIGHT days left for the deadline of September 1, the Election Commission said Sundaythatdocumentsof 98.2% of theelectorsinBihar’sdraftroll had been received so far in the second phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The EC, in a statement, said the work of collecting documents from electors would be completed before time, like the collection of enumeration forms in the first phase (June 25 to July 25). The EC said 3,28,847 new electors have turned 18 and aboveasonJuly1andthosewho will be 18 years by October 1 have also submitted Form 6, which is the form for enrolment. “The SIR of Bihar is on schedule,” the EC said, adding that the Electoral Registration Officers (ERO) and Assistant EROs of Assembly constituencies would take decisions on all claims and objections and verify eligibility BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Says Trump made clear Russia can be back in world economy if killings stop INSIDE DIVYA A NEW DELHI, AUGUST 24 IN MAKHANA FIELDS, RAHUL CROPS UP WITH A MOVE TO BLUNT BJP’S EDGE PAK WOMAN’S NAME ON DRAFT LIST PAGE 6 documents by September 25. Out of the 7.89 crore registered electors in Bihar as on June 24, when the EC ordered the SIR, enumeration forms of 7.24 crore were received until July 25 and these electors made it to the draft roll published on August 1. The remaining about 65 lakh electors were marked as dead, shifted, enrolled at multiple places or untraceable by the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DRDO conducts the maiden flight tests of the Integrated Air Defence Weapon System off the coast of Odisha, Sunday. PTI Multi-layered shield: Maiden flight tests of integrated air defence weapon system done AMRITA NAYAK DUTTA NEW DELHI, AUGUST 24 THE DEFENCE Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully conducted maiden flight tests of the Integrated Air Defence Weapon System (IADWS), off the Odisha coast around 12.30 pm Sunday. This marks another step towardsdevelopingahomegrown HUSBAND SHOT AT IN ‘ENCOUNTER’ Behind ‘dowry death’: 2 sisters, their dreams, thriving beauty parlour NEETIKA JHA NOIDA, AUGUST 24 CENTRE MADE LIST As states ‘verify’ ration card holders, farm unit directors plan to quit HARIKISHAN SHARMA NEW DELHI, AUGUST 24 THE CENTRE’s directive to states to verify ration card holders — using a list it has prepared by matchingdetailsof beneficiaries with databases of taxpayers, car owners and company directors — has sparked concern among Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) directors/members, prompting some to consider resigning from their positions. FPOs are collectives of farmers registered as companies, with the managing board of directorsselected fromamong the members. These were formed under a Central Sector Scheme launched in February 2020 to helpsmallfarmersaccessinputs, financeandmarketscollectively, thus increasing their income. According to sources, FPO CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 TWO SISTERS married to two brothers; alleged dowry demands and torture; the women dreamingof financialindependence and opening a beauty parlour;morecomplaintsof torture; the sisters’ parents left helpless. Two days after this story from Greater Noida on Delhi’s outskirts came to a tragic end with the younger sister succumbing to severe burn injuries, her 30-year-old husband, who has been accused of setting her on fire, was shot at by UP police in an alleged encounter Sunday. UP Police said the accused CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Vipin Bhati, an accused in the case, was shot in the leg by police on Sunday. Express RELATED REPORTS PAGE 5 nationwide security shield from multidomainenemyattacksunder Mission Sudarshan Chakra by 2035. In a statement, the Ministry of Defence said the IADWS is a multi-layeredairdefencesystem comprising all indigenous Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missiles (QRSAM), Advanced Very Short Range Air Defence System (VSHORADS)missilesandahighpower laser-based Directed Energy Weapon (DEW). The development comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing the nation on Independence Day, announced the launch of Mission Sudarshan Chakra, a comprehensive, multi-layered, networkedsystemaimedatprotecting India and its vital installationsfromarangeof enemyattacks across domains. Theshieldisexpectedtooffer DEVENDRA PANDEY MUMBAI, AUGUST 24 DAYS AFTER Parliament passed a law that made real moneybased online games illegal, a key player in this sector, Dream11, hasinformedtheBCCIthatitwill no longer be able to sponsor the national team, leaving Indian cricket on the lookout for a new partner with just a fortnight left for the Asia Cup in Dubai. “(Representatives of) Dream11 visited the BCCI office and informed CEO Hemang Amin that they won’t be able to continue...Asaresult,theywon’t be the team’s sponsors for the Asia Cup. The BCCI will float a new tender soon,” a BCCI official told The Indian Express. According to another top official, the pullout will not attract E ● SPORT Not just cricket THE DREAM11 pullout is expected to impact the country’s sporting ecosystem with nearly half a dozen mainstream sports and leagues associated with it. Top cricketers, retired and current, have also endorsed real-money fantasy gaming platforms as brand ambassadors. anypenaltysincethecontractincludes a clause, which stipulates that if the sponsor’s core business is impacted by any law brought by the Government, NEW DELHI, AUGUST 24 UNLIKEINtheNorth,archaeologicalexcavationsintheSouthhave largelyfocusedonmegalithicsites andburials,withlittleattentionto evidence of habitation, says archaeologist K Amarnath Ramakrishna,whose2014-16excavations in Keeladi have served todisruptthelong-heldbeliefthat India’s urban civilisation flowed from the North to the South. Over two years after he submitted his report on the Keeladi excavations, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had asked Ramakrishnatorevisehisreport, but he refused, saying he stands by his report. On June 17, THREE DAYS before the Trump administration’s additional 25 per cent tariff penalty on India over its purchase of Russian oil kicks in, US Vice President J D Vance said Sunday that PresidentDonaldTrumpapplied “aggressive economic leverage”, including “secondary tariffs on India” to force Russia to stop bombing Ukraine. He made this remark during an interview to NBC News on its ‘Meet the Press’ programme while responding to a question onhow was theUSputting pressure on Russia to get to the table on the Ukraine war. Trump has applied “aggressive economic leverage,” for example “secondary tariffs on India, to try to make it harder for the Russians to get rich from their oil economy,” Vance said. This comes a day after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar reiterated that the US PAGE 17 they “won’t be liable to pay anything” to the board. Pooja Sabharwal, vice president (communications), Dream Sports, declined to comment. Dream11 was started 18 years ago and became the biggestfantasygamingplatform CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 tariffwas“unjustifiedandunfair”, and said it was being wrongly “presented as an oil issue”. The Trump administration has been highly critical of India for its procurement of discounted crude oil from Russia. Incidentally,Washingtonhasnot criticised China, the largest importer of Russian crude oil. Trump and his senior officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and White House Trade Advisor PeterNavarro,havebeencriticising India for buying Russian oil CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WILL BE A FIRST IF DONE Ministry to RGI: Count particularly vulnerable tribal groups in Census NIKHIL GHANEKAR PUJARA RETIRES FROM ALL FORMS OF INDIAN CRICKET US V-P made remark during interview to NBC News. AP NEW DELHI, AUGUST 24 INAsignificantstep,theMinistry of TribalAffairs(MoTA)hasasked theRegistrarGeneralandCensus Commissioner of India (RGI) to consider inclusion of the most marginalised Particularly VulnerableTribalGroups(PVTGs) intheupcomingCensusexercise. The precise enumeration of PVTGswillhelpimplementation of targeted welfare schemes, the Ministry is learnt to have said. Iffinalised,itwouldbethefirst time that PVTGs would be enu- meratedseparatelyintheCensus. There are 75 PVTGs in India across 18 states and one Union Territory(AndamanandNicobar Islands). They were identified on thebasisoflowliteracylevels,geographicalremoteness,pre-agricultural level of technology and economic backwardness. About 40 PVTGs have been scheduled as ‘single entry’ and get counted under the broader Scheduled Tribes (STs) category intheCensus.Forinstance,inthe previous 2011 census, these 40 groups got counted as they were part of notified STs. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 8,000 MOBILES RECOVERED BETWEEN JUNE 18 AND AUGUST 21 Why ‘stolen phones’ are making a beeline to Mumbai police stations ‘ASI work focused on North, need to find more proof of habitats in South’ K Amarnath Ramakrishna led 2 seasons of Keeladi excavations CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Move after new law banning real-money online gaming ARCHAEOLOGIST AT CENTRE OF KEELADI ROW UMA VISHNU multiple layers of protection by combining surveillance, cybersecurity,andairdefencesystems to detect and destroy threats, including long-range missiles, aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles, along the borders and at critical installations. Defence research organisations and the private sector are expected to collaborate on the project.Itislikelytobeintegrated Dream11 pulls out, BCCI left with no team sponsor for Asia Cup E X P L A I NE D EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE Ramakrishna, who has already facedastringof transfersoverthe last decade, was transferred to Greater Noida as Director of the NationalMissiononMonuments and Antiquities (NMMA). “ExceptforArikameduin1945 or Kaveri Poompattinum or Poompuhar in 1965, which focused on habitats, most other big explorationsintheSouth,includingtheexcavationscarriedoutby Alexander Rea at Adichanallur at thestartofthe20thCentury,have CONTINUED ON PAGE 9 MOHAMED THAVER MUMBAI, AUGUST 24 ‘For so-called secular parties, we are only good for iftar parties, Ajmer chadar... (today) anyone can marginalise the Muslim community’ ASADUDDIN OWAISI AIMIM PARTY CHIEF AND MP PAGE 15 THERE WERE three courier packets on the table in front of Constable Santosh Gidh at the Pant Nagar police station in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar (East), each containing a mobile phone reported “stolen”. While Gidh waitedfortheirownerstoarrive, two others walked in over the next hour, each with a mobile phone they had “picked up by CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 A ‘mobile returning function’ held at Pant Nagar police station in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar (East). Express North Block will now go back in time, gallery to showcase 100 artefacts PAGE 1 ANCHOR DIVYA A NEW DELHI, AUGUST 24 WITH THE power corridors of North Block at the heart of the National Capital having been mostly vacated, as part of a master plan to redevelop the Central Vista area, the heritage building isnowallsettorewindtheclock. The Indian Express has learnt that the ground floor will now housea1,500sqmgallery,called “Time andTimelessness”, which will showcase around 100 landmarkartefactsheldbymuseums and collections across the country — a space that explores “Bharat’s civilisational relationship with time”, spanning “centuries of cultural, philosophical, and scientific evolution”. Thegalleryispartof theYuge Yugeen Bharat Museum complex at the North and South Blocks. And accordingly, it will have artefacts spanning thousands of years, covering all regions — starting with an Indus Valley terracotta hourglass created in Kalibangan between 2500-1700 BC; Chola bronzes createdinthe10thand11thcen- turies in Tamil Nadu; an astrolabe created in Lahore in 1567; and Gupta-period sculptures created in the 5th century. The Indian Express had reported in May that the overarching theme of Yuge Yugeen Museum is 5,000 years of Indian civilisation,withthenamesignifyingits“perennial”nature.Divided into thematic zones spread over the North and South Blocks, the museumwillshowcasehistorical events, personalities, ideas and achievements related to India’s past that have contributed to the making of its present. In this context, “Time and Timelessness” is the first gallery ON DISPLAY Indus Valley 2500-1750 BC terracotta hourglass Konark Sun wheel 13th century The North Block has been mostly vacated, as part of the Central Vista plan. File National Museum Delhi ASI Konark Museum Chola-period 10th century Tanjore Temple Ghatika Yantra museum Yantraraja 14th century Digital archives of manuscript Asiatic Society, Mumbai Calendar Panchanga 18th Century Bhandarkar Manuscript Oriental Research Institute, Pune Chola-period 10-11th century National Museum Nataraja bronze Delhi for which the concept note has beenfinalised.“Thisgalleryisnot a conventional chronicle of historical milestones. It is mooted as an experiential narrative that invites visitors to engage with ‘Kaal’ (time) as a cosmic principle,aphilosophicalinquiryanda lived reality,” said sources. Through a curated mix of artefacts, narratives and immersive design, the “aim is to highlight how India’s indigenous conceptionsof timehaveshaped and sustained one of the world’s oldest continuous civilisations, while also remaining relevant in thecontemporaryimagination”, the sources said. The gallery will be divided into two sections: KaalAvadharana, signifying time as a philosophical concept and KaalGanana, the “measured science of time”. Accordingly, there will be instruments such as sundials, water clocks and astronomical manuscripts in the science and mathematics section, while the philosophical section will draw on landmark artworks such as Nataraja bronzes, and the depictions of Surya, Vishnu and mythic time cycles. Besides,therewillbedisplays ofkeymanuscriptsandtexts,such asexcerptsfrom“Aryabhatiya”by CONTINUED ON PAGE 2