The editorial Page: us wants to build a new world. india must ask if it is open, fair and just 10 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 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 STrING OF NOTICES ON PETITIONS rELATING TO S.I.r., PrOTESTS, POLICE ACTION 109 137 170 78 Happening today l VICE PrESIDENT c P radhak- rishnan will be the chief guest at the commissioning ceremony of naval warship INS Samarthak in Karwar, Karnataka. Track These and more on www.indianExprESS.com Supreme Court notice to CEC, 2 ECs; Jantar Mantar matter will be heard Commission response sought on Form 6 modification linked to SIR; bench says one Opp petitioner has to explain conduct Apurva Vishwanath New Delhi, October 15 tAKiNg UP a batch of 46 petitions arising from protests in theCapitalseekingtheresignation of Chief election Commissioner gyanesh Kumar, the Supreme Court thursday issued notice to the election Commissionofindia,CeCKumar,elec- tion Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and vivek Joshi, seeking their responses on a plea filed by the Opposition iNDiA bloc leaders. the bench of Chief Justice of india Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, during an hour-long hearing, also agreed to examine the Delhi Police’sdenotification of Jantar inSidE Page 2 ‘Turned delhi inTo india-Pak border’: CJP, aiSa Condemn PoliCe aCTion Mantar as a protest site. it directed police to preserve all CCtv footage of the protests, »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CJP gathering today, CP park shut for 2 days, police say taking steps Express News Service New Delhi, Mumbai, October 15 With the Cockroach Janta Party calling for a ‘Lehra Do tiranga’ gathering in the Capital Friday, the New Delhi Municipal Council thursday announced that the Central Park in Connaught Place will remain shut to the public on October 16 and 17 “due to administrative reasons”. the Delhi Police also informed the Delhi high Court thatactionwillbetakenagainst the CJP after a petition raised concerns that the group’s »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Goods exports jump 23% in Sept, services dip, trade deficit eases ravi Dutta Mishra New Delhi, October 15 DRiveN BY a 48% jump in goods exports to the US amid worries about fresh tariffs over oil imports from Russia, india’s goods exports in September jumped 23% to $44.40 billion while services exports registered a rare dip, data released bytheCommerceandindustry Ministry on thursday showed. While goods exports jumped from $36.08 billion in September last year, imports grew at a slower pace of 8% to $74.61 billion, compared to $69.08 billion last September. the slower pace of import growth helped the trade deficit marginally ease to $30.2 billion lServicesexports Month 2026 Sep Aug Jul Jun May Apr Mar Feb Jan 36.35 35.47 38.25 36.19 33.19 36.84 38.2 34.7 38.16 2025 36.67 31.19 33.74 32.11 32.41 32.85 35.62 31.64 34.74 Change (%) -0.87 13.72 13.37 12.71 2.41 12.15 7.24 9.67 9.84 FigureS in $ bn; Source: rbi last month, compared to $33 billion last September. the comparatively slower »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Days after joining anti-CEC protest, Maharashtra UCC panel Imran Khan ordered to leave India seeks views on 37 points, Actor is US citizen; to file plea in HC Apoorva Agashe & Omkar Gokhale Mumbai, October 15 ACtOR iMRAN Khan, a US citizen and Overseas Citizen of india (OCi) cardholder, has been issued a notice by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), asking him to leave india by October 28, days afterheparticipatedinaprotest against Chief election Com- inSidE Meeting Team India Prime minister narendra modi with the women cricket team’s harmanpreet kaur and smriti mandhana during an interaction in new delhi on Thursday with the Indian contingent that participated in the asian Games 2026 in Japan. Pti missioner (CeC) gyanesh Kumar in Mumbai. Khan is set tochallengetheFRROnoticein the Bombay high Court. Khan was among the protesters detained at Mumbai’s August Kranti Maidan on October 10. BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, who filed a police complaint, alleged that the actor’s participation in a political »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 govT’S SweePing PowerS over oCi CardholderS Page 13 business as usual By EP UNNY including live-in relations Sadaf Modak Mumbai, October 15 ShOULD Live-iN relationships be compulsorily registered?Areexistinglawsgoverning marital disputes so cumbersome that couples are choosing live-in relationships overmarriage?Shouldmenand women have equal inheritance rights across all communities? these are among the 37 questionstheMaharashtragov- ernment-appointedcommittee on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) has put to the public, seeking feedback on a proposed common framework for personal laws governing marriage, divorce, inheritance and other civil matters. thecommitteelaunchedits website on thursday, inviting citizens to submit feedback by November 15. the questionnairecoversissuesrangingfrom theminimummarriageageand »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Page 9 ‘growing raCiST hoSTiliTy’: india on u.S. TemPle ShooTing PloT Keen on Make-in-India Defence PSU chief held in defence, aerospace: by CBI on graft charge, Outgoing UK envoy all contracts under lens Shubhajit roy New Delhi, October 15 CALLiNg iNDiA’S proposal for a ceasefire in the Black Sea region a “symbol” of a “big global player”, Lindy Cameron, the outgoingBritishhighCommissioner to india, said thursday that the UK has identified “defence,securityandtechnology” asthepillarsofbilateraltiesand wantstoparticipateinMake-inindia programmes in the defence and aerospace sector. in an exclusive interview with The Indian Express, Cameron, who is set to become Permanent Under-Secretary of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the UnitedKingdom(equivalentto india’s Foreign Secretary), described the UK-india “trade deal” as the high point of her Delhi stint, the effort of “turning it into a wider and deeper ExprESS interview LINDy CAMErON outgoing britiSh high coMMiSSioner to indiA Page 8 relationship between the two countries, and really importantly seeing that as a futurefacing relationship”. On india’s proposal on the Russia-Ukraine war, she said, “For me, this symbolises that move by india to be a player in »CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Sushant Kulkarni & Mahender Singh Manral Pune, New Delhi, October 15 the CBi has sought documents on all the contracts handled by Anil Kumar, the executive Director of Puneheadquartered defence PSU MunitionsindiaLimited(MiL), a day after he was arrested on bribery charges, along with his brother and the CeO of a private company. the CBi, which claims to have seized over Rs 2.2 crore in cash, is also probing if Kumar disclosedsensitiveinformation concerning defence production, procurement and other strategically important activities. in a press statement, the CBi said Kumar “indulged in the demand and acceptance of illegalgratificationinexchange for extending official favours”. Sources said that a tip-off cash seized from premises linked to mIL’s anil kumar. exPreSS received on October 12 regarding a Rs 500 crore contract awarded to M/S SMPP Ltd led the CBi to Kumar. SMPP CeO and Director Ashish Kansal is now under arrest, along with Kumar’s brother B harshvardhan, with the CBi also looking into the role of Kumar’s wife Chetnashri and SMPP employee Ravit Kumar tewatia, who are named in the FiR. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 l BJP Leaders caLL The shoTs In durGa PuJa commITTees In koLkaTa New patrons, old politics: Bengal’s Puja pandals navigate power shift Atri Mitra & Adrija roychowdhury Kolkata, New Delhi, October 15 At LAKe town, in the northern suburbs of Kolkata, the lights are on and festive anticipation fills the air. On the eve of Mahalaya last weekend, which marked the beginning of the countdown to Durga Puja, workers rushed to put the final touches on this year’s pandal: an 80-foot-tall replica of Jaipur’s hawa Mahal, rendered in shades of pink. Prabir Dhar, the working The 80-foot-tall replica of Jaipur’s hawa mahal at kolkata’s sreebhumi sporting club being built last week. AdriJA roychowdhury president of the Sreebhumi SportingClubDurgaPujaCommittee, expects this year’s celebrations to be grander than ever, attracting more visitors than the 1.5 crore estimated to havevisitedthepandallastyear. Yet, beneath the spectacle, theneighbourhoodisanticipating a different kind of change. Until last year, Sreebhumi was closely associated with trinamool Congress (tMC) leader Sujit Bose, who was the public face and chief patron of the puja. Under his supervision, it became a two-week carnival, »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Mumbai
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