The Ideas Page: Caste census is dead. Don’t expect a formal announcement or funeral 9 WEDNESDAY, AUGUSt 12, 2026 JournaLIsm of CouraGe MuMbAI, lATe CITy, 20 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 CHUrCH, CIvIl sOCIetY grOUPs Fear Past INvestMeNts CaN Be PeNalIsed 94 122 150 Amid pushback from Opp, Govt ready to refer FCRA Bill to JPC 76 happening today lOver 400 delegatesfrom India and abroad will gather in Chhattisgarh for the Green Steel and Mining Summit hosted by CII. The two-day event will focus on innovative tech to support India's green transition in steel sector. The BIg PICTuRe counter-protests by Mps from the Opposition parties (left) and the ruling nda at Makar dwar of parliament, tuesday. ANI MOre repOrtS. paGe 12 Govt bid to break deadlock in Parliament, allay concerns over asset-vesting rules deeptiman tiwary The Indus Code Page 13 nation Page 7 nTa suBjeCT exPeRT held sPeCIal Class, gave 132 neeT-ug quesTIons:CBIPRoBe New Delhi, August 11 THE GOVERNMENT is ready to send the foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), sources told The Indian Express Tuesday. The Opposition has been demanding the withdrawal of Business as usual By EP UNNY Bills passed without debate; Opp and BJP face off outside asad rehman & Jatin anand the Bill and civil society and religious bodies, especially the Church, have expressed concern that asset-vesting rules in the Bill could be used to penalise past investments. Several Church bodies have voiced their fears in meetings with Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the last few days. A Union Minister said, New Delhi, August 11 AS THE impasse in Parliament continued on Tuesday, with Bills being passed without debate, the face-off between the ruling alliance and the Opposition shifted to the steps outside the Makar Dwar, with Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra exchanging words with National »CONtINUed ON Page 2 Democratic Alliance (NDA) MPs who were protesting. While BJP-led NDA MPs protested against the violence on students in Jharkhand, the Opposition held a demonstration nearby against the alleged theft of donation funds at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and demanded a statement from Union Home Minister »CONtINUed ON Page 2 ExprESS special Maharashtra uses its new anti-conversion question mark on rehab of families in adani law first time in Pune dharavi project, landfill cleanup faces delays Man booked for ‘attempt to convert minor’; UK national booked days later Mohamed thaver & sushant Kulkarni Mumbai, Pune, August 11 THE fIRST fIR under Maharashtra’s new freedom of Religion Act was registered by Pune city police within days of the law coming into force, against a 22-year-old man accused of asking his minor partner to convert from her religion. Days later, police registered another case under the new law against a UK national and Overseas CitizenofIndia(OCI)cardholder accused of trying to induce people to embrace Christianity at religious gatherings. “Twoseparateoffenceshave been registered with Pune city police under the Maharashtra freedom of Religion Act, 2026. first case was registered on August5andthesecondonAugust 9,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Branch) Prashant Amrutkar. The Maharashtra freedom of Religion Act, 2026, was notified on July 31 and came into force on August 1. »CONtINUed ON Page 2 Five of seven statutory clearances pending; NECL says was informed late about key approvals; BMC official says scrapping tender will create more delays Pratip acharya Mumbai, August 11 A SHOWPIECE Maharashtra government project to relocate asectionofresidentsofDharavi in Deonar, the site of the largest andoldestlandfillinMumbai,is stuckinamazeofredtape.Work is yet to begin on clearing a portion of the 99-year-old landfill — marking a delay of over six months from the original deadline, Right to Information (RTI) records obtained to be obtained and and investigated work to begin, five your right by The Indian of the seven statuExpress show. tory clearances are AN eXPreSS rtI The records pending. show that while This delay raises APPlICATION the Brihanmumfreshquestionsover bai Municipal Corporation the timeline for housing thou(BMC)awardedaRs2,537-crore sands of families on the Dhacontract to clean up the landfill ravi site. All residents are to be to Hyderabad-based Navayuga handed over houses within EngineeringCompanyLimited seven years of the masterplan (NECL),markingJanuary2026 approval in May 2025. asthedeadlineforallapprovals »CONtINUed ON Page 2 to know Relief to Adani: US court permanently dismisses criminal case against him Welcome decision, committed to nation-building: Gautam Adani Press trust of India New York, August 11 A US federal judge has permanently dismissed criminal charges against Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar, removing a major legal overhang that had doggedtheports-to-energyconglomerate for nearly two years. US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the Eastern District of New york approved the Justice Department’s request to dismiss the charges. Adani welcomed the decision, saying he accepted it with “humility” and “deep respect” for the judicial process. In a 47-page order issued on August10,Garaufisgrantedthe Justice Department’s Rule 48 (a) motion to dismiss Counts Two, Three and four of the indictment against Gautam Adani,SagarAdani,andformer Adani Green Energy CEO Vneet Jaain. The counts covered securities-fraud conspiracy, wirefraudconspiracyandsecurities fraud.Thedismissalswerewith prejudice,meaningthecharges cannot be refiled. Garaufisreservedjudgment on Count One, alleging foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations,andCountfive,alleging conspiracy to obstruct justice, both involving five non-appearing, India-based co-defendants: Ranjit Gupta, Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, Deepak Malhotra and Rupesh Agarwal. TheJusticeDepartmenthas until August 31 to satisfy the court’s requirements, while counsel for the non-appearing »CONtINUed ON Page 2 nation Page 6 In Tax dIsPuTe oveR judges’ BenefITs, delhI hIgh CouRT halTs PRoCessIng of TheIR ITRs Maharashtra govt earmarked 124 acres in deonar for rehabilitation housing under the project in October 2024. AMIT ChAkrAvArTy/ FIle Kashmiri Pandits who Deepening ties, NASA invites ISRO Pilot of Air India flight that dropped work in Valley told to to join its Moon Base programme 300 feet tests positive for marijuana stay home after threat E. ExplainEd Bashaarat Masood Srinagar, August 11 AfTER A threat letter was posted online warning KashmiriPanditsworkingintheValley to “change their ways”, and publishingthedetailsofsomeof them,theJammuandKashmir governmentislearnttohaveinstructed departments under it to send Kashmiri Pandit employees on leave. The governmentisalsolearnttohaveasked them to remain alert and move to safer places. This letter emerged around a week after two migrant workers were killed at a brick kilninsouthKashmir’sKulgam on July 31, putting the security establishment on high alert. Police sources say they are verifyingtheauthenticityofthe letter circulated online by a group called the United Liberation Council, which could be »CONtINUed ON Page 2 anjali Marar & amitabh sinha sukalp sharma New Delhi, August 11 New Delhi, August 11 MOVING TO strengthen their partnership, US space agency NASA has invited ISRO to join its Moon Base programme, the recently-launched effort to get humans back to the Moon with thelargerobjectiveofsettingup a permanent settlement there. The offer, disclosed Tuesday, was made at the ninth meeting of the India-US Civil Space Joint Working Group in The collaboration US envoy Sergio Gor spoke at the Bengaluru meeting last week. FIle Bengaluru on August 5 and 6 which US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor also addressed. »CONtINUed ON Page 2 NASA’s invitation to ISRO for the Moon Base programme reflects the growing ties between the two space agencies. It comes in the wake of Shubhanshu Shukla’s Axiom flight to the ISS last year and the launch of the dualfrequency radar satellite NISAR. In 2023, India signed the US-led Artemis Accords. THE CONfIRMATORy drug test of the Air India pilot-incommand of a Phuket-Delhi flight that fell 300 feet, leaving 24 people injured, has come in as positive for marijuana, according to sources. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) had said on Sunday that the preliminary drug screening gave a “nonnegative” result. The samples were sent for 24 people on the phuket-delhi flight on august 4 were injured confirmatorytesting,andtheresult has come as positive with thesubstanceidentifiedasmari- juana, it is learnt. Confirmatory testsarerequiredinthecaseofa non-negative preliminary screening as certain foods and medications can throw up false positives in initial screenings. EmailssenttoMoCA,Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Aircraft Accident InvestigationBureau(AAIB)regarding the confirmatory drug test did not elicit any response. Air India didn’t comment on the development. The Air India Airbus A320 »CONtINUed ON Page 2 l On Sticky wicket aS MUMBai indianS captain after teaM lOSt 10 Of 14 GaMeS in lateSt SeaSOn Hardik seeks return to Gujarat Titans, with captaincy rider; IPL franchise says no devendra Pandey moving back to Mumbai Indiansin2024,hadbeenopento bringing him back. They had MUMBAI INDIANS’ captain already discussed the prospect Hardik Pandya held talks with with current captain Shubman Gujarat Titans over a possible Gill, but Pandya's captaincy return to the franconditionwasadealchise but was rebreaker. pagE 1 jected after he made “The franchise it conditional on was fine with him being reinstated as making a return. captain,TheIndianExpresshas They had even discussed the learnt. samewithitscaptainShubman According to sources, Guja- Gill, and he, too, had agreed rat Titans, where Pandya won that the franchise could trade the Indian Premier League him back. But when his condi(IPL) as captain in their inaug- tion of captaincy was put up, ural campaign in 2022 before everyone said no to it,” said a Mumbai, August 11 anchor source. Gill is the India captain for both Tests and One-Day Internationals. When contacted, a Gujarat Titans representative refused to comment on the matter. “Hardik Pandya had no direct conversation with any franchise whatsoever regardingtransfertrade,orotherwise. If any approach has been made to him, that has been directed to the MI franchise,” Pandya's spokesperson said. The development follows weeks of uncertainty over Pandya's position at Mumbai In- Hardik pandya (left) was released by Mumbai indians in 2022, joined Gujarat titans and won the title as their captain, and then returned to Mi in 2024 to replace rohit Sharma. AMIT ChAkrAvArTy/ FIle dians. The Indian Express had reported earlier that MI’s team management was not keen to retain him as captain and was even evaluating his role in the squad, after a season in which the team lost 10 of their 14 games, finished ninth, and extended the franchise's title drought to six years. The unravelling was laid bare in a team talk by the coaching staff after MI’s final game of the season, against Rajasthan Royals. “The coaching staff was very clear in their message to the senior players that wherever they play, they need to be coachable. There weremanyinstanceswherethe coaching staff recommended something which was backed by data but players didn’t follow it,” a source had told The Indian Express. Mumbai Indians, with amongthebiggestnamesinthe IPL, have looked out of step with the T20 format of late. None of their players featured intheracefortheOrange(most runs) or Purple (most wickets) Caps; their best batsman, Ryan Rickelton,finished17thamong the season's run-getters, while leg-spinner Allah Ghazanfar was 14th among wicket-takers. Pandya’s relationship with the MI fanbase has also been complicated since he was released by the franchise in 2022, joined Gujarat Titans and won the title as their captain, then returned to MI in 2024 to replace Rohit Sharma, days after the latter had led India to the 2023 50-over World Cup final. fansbooedPandyathroughhis first season back, when MI finished bottom of the table. A partial recovery in 2025 had raised hopes of a reconciliation, but the 2026 season undid them.