The editorial Page: In trade deal with us, India needs to secure terms harder to reverse 10 MoNDaY, oCtoBER 5, 2026 JournALIsm of CourAge koLkAtA, LAte City, 18 PAgeS ₹6.00 (₹12 in north east states, ₹20 in Andaman) 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 happening today lTaking cognizance of a September 30 report in The Indian Express, the Supreme Court will hear Monday the matter relating to the relocation of the 135-year-old Central Secretariat Library (CSL) in Shastri Bhavan which is set to be torn down as part of the Central Vista revamp plan. Page 2 Business as Usual By EP UNNY says inDia’s age-olD Ties WiTH RUssia ReFResHeD A little more involved: Jaishankar on ending Russia-Ukraine war E. ‘We have now gone beyond advocacy, in conversations with both countries’ shubhajit Roy New Delhi, October 4 DISCLOSInG thAt India has gone “beyond advocacy” to be a“littlemoreinvolved”intheefforts to end the Russia-Ukraine warragingsinceFebruary2022, external Affairs Minister S JaishankarsaidSundaythatDelhi has been in conversations with both Moscow and Kyiv, trying to be “helpful” on the safety of shippingintheBlackSea,grain and energy exports and on eXPlAined autonomy over ties S Jaishankar with uS Indo-pacific command commander, Admiral Samuel J paparo, and uS envoy Sergio Gor in delhi, Sunday. Pti “non-attack possibilities”. his remarks, at the Munich Leaders’MeetinginnewDelhi, came days after Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said India had put forward a “comprehensive” and “broad” proposal to end the war for the first time. Jaishankar said, “we are Jaishankar’s remarks on the age-old India-Russia ties underline Delhi’s resolve to maintain strategic autonomy despite Western scrutiny and US tariff threats over Indian purchase of Russian energy. seeing today an unfortunate conflict. Our position on that conflict has been very clear, which is that we would like to see an end to this conflict, and we believe that this will require dialogue and diplomacy. there hastobenegotiationsinthisregard. we have been advocating »conTinUeD on Page 2 Disenfranchisement of millions arbitrary, no whataboutery can Russia drones hit pharma justify it, says SC judge warehouse owned by Indians, 1 killed: Ukraine shubhajit Roy New Delhi, October 4 UKRAIne’S PReSIDent VolodymyrZelenskyysaidSunday that Russia attacked a pharmaceutical warehouse in Sumy with drones. the Ukrainian embassy in Delhi identified it as belonging to Indian owners. A report in Ukrainian news outlet, Kyiv Independent, said, “In Sumy Oblast, at least three peoplewerekilledand16others injuredinaseriesofRussianattacks, according to local auth- orities. On October 4, a Russian drone attack on a warehouse storing medical supplies in Sumy killed a 52-year-old employee and injured three others, local authorities said.” Zelenskyy condemned the “Russian attack” and offered condolencestothefamilyofthe person who was killed. “this morning, the Russians once again struck the Pivnichnyi »conTinUeD on Page 2 The World Page 12 l offIcIAlS SAy ASIAN GAmeS performANce ‘eNcourAGING’ Team depth to individual gaps: India’s report card for LA 2028 eXPreSS AT AsiAn GAmes Mihir Vasavda Nagoya, October 4 lBetween the 2022 Asian Games in China’s hangzhou and the latest edition that wound up Sunday in Japan’s nagoya,theGovernmentspent Rs 97.84 crore under the target Olympic Podium Scheme (tOPS). Only two per cent of it, approximately, translated to gold medals this time. lteenager Kumkum Mohod won arguably India’s biggest individual gold despite notbeingintheflagshipscheme; Suruchi Singh, the shooter, was added only recently, while her mixed team partner, Kamaljeet The Indian contingent during the Asian Games closing ceremony in Nagoya, Japan, Sunday. AP relATed reporTS, Page 17 aDDRess aT nalsaR, HyDeRabaD Singh, isn’t on the list; neeru Dhanda, who won a trap gold in shooting, remains outside the tOPS core group, too. lthirteenofIndia’s21golds came in team events, some of which aren’t in the Olympics, while 19 of its 27 silvers came in individual events. these numbers present different stories from nagoya: the first about talent identification, the second on allocation of considerable investment in elite sport, and the third offering encouragement and a warning — there is growing depth in team eventsbutathletesarestruggling inindividualeventstomakethat finalpushfromsilvertogold. India finished fourth at the Asian Games with 21 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze medals, 85 in all. It fell short of the 100medal target and finished 21 medals behind its record haul in hangzhou. »conTinUeD on Page 2 nikhila Henry Hyderabad, October 4 AMID the row over the SIR of electoral rolls against which petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, a judge of the top court, said Sunday that any process that leads to wholesale disenfranchisement of Indian citizens, making them citizens withoutvotingrights,wouldbe violative of the Constitution. no amount of whataboutery can justify it, he said. JusticeBhuyansaiddetaching an Indian citizen from the right to vote would be akin to “taking out the soul from the body.” Speaking at the valedictory ceremony of Justice Bodh Raj SawhneyMemorialMootCourt competition at nalsar UniversityofLaw,hyderabad,hesaid, “If any process results in disenfranchising millions and millionsofIndiancitizens,making them second-class citizens in their own country, in the sense ofbeingcitizenswithoutvoting Justice ujjal Bhuyan rights, such a process is intrinsically arbitrary. no amount of whataboutery can justify it.” “It strikes at the very heart of the Constitution and I would go to the extent of saying that it is a negation of the constitutional order, which we have adopted under the Constitution of India,” he said. Speakingonthesignificance of universal adult suffrage, especially in the context of India, Justice Bhuyan said, “From the personaofanIndiancitizen,the right to vote or right to be included in the voters' list cannot bedetached.Itwillbeliketaking out the soul from the body.” he said the earliest articulation of adult franchise in India »conTinUeD on Page 2 ‘Maybe it’s a new generation that will find their own Gandhi, which will be different from mine and yours’ RaMacHanDRa gUHa, HiStoriAn, Page 16 ICA/D1522(23)/2026 Kolkata