The editorial Page: The other g2, and three lessons for india 8 WEdNESdaY, OCTOBER 14, 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 ‘QUESTION OF TRUST CONFRONTS WORLD AMID UNCERTAINTY’ 113 141 175 77 inside Page 12 ladakh an integral Part of india: delhi rejects beijing’s objection the big Picture how they moved the money: inside a scam run out of goa villas Page 11 India global growth partner, reform our conviction, not compulsion: PM Flags tech, supply chains, energy, minerals as new tools of pressure and dominance Aanchal Magazine New Delhi, October 13 POSITIOnIng IndIa as a “steady pillar” carrying everyone along in a world roiled by conflicts and uncertainty, Prime Minister narendra Modi saidTuesdaythatthecountry’s confidence is at an “unpreced- Nation is watching Rahul trying to save infiltrators and his vote bank, says Shah Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi, Tuesday. Pti ented high” and reforms are being pursued with a clear policy direction born out of “con- viction” and not “compulsion”. Speaking at the Bloomberg new Economy Forum 2026 in New Delhi, Chennai, Oct 13 Vikas Pathak & Jatin Anand New Delhi, October 13 business as usual By EP UNNY He said the cleaning of electoralrollswastheresponsibility of the Election Commission of India, and those opposing it were trying to save those they think are their “vote bank”. also Tuesday, union Minister Piyush goyal targeted the IndIa bloc, saying if the Opposition had any evidence of “votechori”,whywasitnotproducing it before the Supreme Court. Shah said, “Our Constitution has given the ECI the »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Asad Rehman & Manoj C G New Delhi, October 13 a day after petitioning the Supreme Court, the Opposition, seeking the removal of Chief Election Commissioner gyanesh Kumar and the scrapping of the Special Intensive revisionofelectoralrolls,saidTuesday it would keep up its “resistance” in “the fight to restore democracy” irrespective of the role institutions play. The Oppositionalsoplanstochallenge the government’s decision to Page 10 work for the party in Tamil nadu, a state where the BJP is still struggling to emerge as a »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 TN CM writes to PM; Tripura, Karnataka, MP, Maharashtra too seek fund release Damini Nath New Delhi, October 13 aT LEaST five states cutting across party lines have written to the Centre warning that lack ofclarityoverfinancialsupport totheflagshipurbanlivelihood mission, which has benefited more than one crore women over the last decade, will adversely impact social protection of the urban poor. Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagamruled Tamil nadu, Congressgoverned Karnataka and BJPled Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Tripura have, »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 inside explained mission covers nearly 1 cr women NULM led to the creation of 10.02 lakh self-help groups, covering nearly 1 crore women across cities. The scheme provided the groups with a revolving fund of Rs 10,000 each, as well as training, interest subvention for bank loans and help in setting up micro enterprises. Page 2 cjP members take narrow lane, scale gates to enter jantar mantar delhi Police cites inPuts on cjP Plan, seeks central forces until oct 20 cancelJantarMantar’sstatusas a designated protest site. addressing the press after hosting Opposition leaders, student activists and civil society members for high tea at his residence, Leader of Opposition rahul gandhi said, “We have extreme respect for the Supreme Court, for the Chief Justice of India, for the judicial system. They have a role to play. We hope they will play that role. no matter what happens, no matter which »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Why question paper, why not bank of questions: Task force chief Nilekani New Delhi, October 13 Punjab anti-drug activist shot dead by store owner Union MoS L Murugan. mib.gov.in states seek urgent funds to sustain women livelihood mission, no word on nulm 2.0 yet INDIA bloc leaders at a press conference, Tuesday. Anil shArmA Dheeraj Mishra & Gayathri Mani inside »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Liz Mathew, Jatin Anand & Arun Janardhanan L Murugan, BJP MP and Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary affairs, resigned Tuesday from both the government and rajya Sabha, triggering speculation of a possible reshuffle in the union Council of Ministers. Expressing the desire to Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi, Tuesday. @AmitshAh/X tivity”. Last week, the reserve Bank of India (rBI) also raised its projection for India’s gdP growth to 7.1%. Modi said the world is confronted with the fundamental question of “trust” in these times, and that India is extending its hand in support and recognising its responsibility. “Twelve to thirteen years ago, India’s current account deficit was more than four per cent of gdP. Last year, it declined to approximately half a per cent, standing at 0.61 per cent. Today, our foreign exchangereservesexceed700billion dollars. Our banking Be ready to mobilise, MoS Murugan resigns LoP to Opp parties as from Govt, Rajya Sabha, they plan to ‘reclaim’ triggers reshuffle talk Jantar Mantar site If Opp had ‘vote chori’ evidence, why didn’t it give it to SC, says Goyal In FIrST remarks on the Opposition protests seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner gyanesh Kumar and scrapping of the SpecialIntensiverevision(SIr) of electoral rolls, union Home Minister amit Shah Tuesday accused Leader of Opposition and Congress MP rahul gandhi, who has been leading the protests, of shielding “infiltrators” for “vote bank politics”. “I want to tell rahul gandhi jithatthenationiswellawareof yourplantosaveghuspaithiyas (infiltrators)andnowthepeople ofBharatarenotgoingtofallfor your ploy,” he told reporters. new delhi, Modi said, “We do not grow at anyone’s cost. We growwiththeworld,andforthe world.” He said India offers the “assuranceofreliabilityandstability”inaworldfilledwithuncertainty. The country’s growth, recorded at 7.8% in april-June, “rests on a strong foundation,” he said. His remarks came a day after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised its gdP growth forecast for India to 7% for 2026-27, up from 6.4% in July, on the back of “strongerthan-expected momentum, supportedbyresilientdomestic demandandrobustservicesac- expRess special HEadIng THE high-powered task force on examination reforms, constituted in the wake ofthenEET-ugpaperleakrow, Infosys co-founder nandan nilekani said Tuesday that one of the solutions is to create a bank of question papers and generate the question paper at the last minute for that day. “Why do we need to have something called “a” question paper? Because the moment Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani on Tuesday. @infosys/X you have “a” question paper, then that creates an economic incentive for that to be sold or whatever. So the way to do that is to have a massive bank of questionpapers,andonlyatthe last minute generate the questionpaperforthatday.Thenthe question paper does not go away and there is no economic incentive for that,” nilekani saidduringaninteractionatthe Bloomberg new Economy Forum 2026 in new delhi. The six-member highpowered task force was »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 lMALLojULA VENUgoPAL IS rELEArNINg ForEST AcTS HE oNcE oPPoSED, TrAINS VILLAgErS 10-to-5 job, desk and a laptop: Once a feared Maoist, now university official Ankita Deshkar Nagpur, October 13 HIS SPECTaCLES broke on the way to work. Sitting in his small cabin at gondwana university, Mallojula Venugopal chuckles as he reaches for them: “now I will have to get a new pair made.” as the 70-year-old fusses over the glasses and his laptop, sitting behind a desk bare except for some newspapers, his crisp shirt firmly tucked in, his darkhaircombeddown,thedifference from his previous life couldn’t be starker. It was almost exactly a year Mallojula Venugopal is a coordinator with gondwana University’s Ekal (gramsabha) Project and centre. AnkitA DeshkAr ago,onOctober15,2025,thatVenugopal—a.k.aSonuorBhupathi, carrying a bounty of rs 6 crore on his head — left the Maoisttopranksandwalkedout of the jungle to surrender. The MaharashtraChiefMinisterwas present for his surrender, and thatof60othercadreswiththeir weapons. Venugopal is now a coordinator with gondwana university’s Ekal (gramsabha) Project and Centre. The university has 60,000studentsacrossitscampus and affiliated colleges, and the Ekal Centre works in coordination with the district administration as an outreach to gram sabhas. Two men with the gadchirolipolicepostedoutsideVenugopal’s cabin are the only hint of his past. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Mumbai