The Ideas Page: The anti-sIr and anti-CeC agitation is now set to become a pro-democracy movement 9 TUESDAY, NOvEmBER 3, 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 at iNaugural FiNaNcial exPress leadershiP awards 108 136 168 88 Happening today lPM NareNdra Modi will inaugurate Pune Metro’s Line 3 and lay the foundation stone of four new metro corridors under Phase-II, involving investment of around Rs 21,800 crore. laMericaNs will vote in the midterm elections to decide which party will control the Congress, and shape the country’s laws, for the rest of President Donald Trump’s tenure. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com business as usual By EP UNNY FM open to investor concerns, weighs case for foreign capital Says Tata Group a ‘critical component of economy’, conflict a ‘delicate matter’, expect it not to spill in public domain Prasanta sahu Mumbai, November 2 UniOn FinanCE Minister nirmala Sitharaman on Monday acknowledged growing anxiety among retail investors and equity market participants over stretched indian stock valuationsandthecapitalgains tax regime, and said their concerns would be considered. She, however, cautioned against viewing tax concessions as the principal driver of capital market performance. her remarks come amid renewedcallsforareviewoflongterm capital gains (LtCg) tax on equities against the backdrop of sustained foreign portfolio investor (FPi) outflows and concerns over the relative attractiveness of indian stocks. Sitharaman, who was the chief guest at the inaugural Financial Express Leadership awards in Mumbai, made the remarks at a ‘fireside chat’ with Financial Express Editor Shyamal Majumdar. ahead of her 10th consecutive Union Budget, likely to be presented on February 1, Sitharaman said the government wouldhearstakeholdersbefore deciding on any possible action, indicating that their representations would be taken into account. “i realise the sensitivity and anxietyprevailingamongretail investors,especiallyequityparticipants, while not being biased either way,” she said. Pointing out that india witnessed strong FPi inflows with thesamecapitalgainstaxstructure in 2023-24, she said capital markets thrive on strong fun- Union Finance minister nirmala sitharaman at the Financial express Leadership awards in mumbai, monday. aMIT ChaKRaVaRTy damentals, not necessarily on tax sops. She, however, acknowledged that circumstances had since changed and challenges had grown, and referred to the net FPi outflows overthepastfewquarters,even as flows may have turned around only recently. “the stakeholders are voicing their concerns louder. i will consider all this,” she said. Sustaining economic growth at 7% or above remained paramount, Sitharaman said, underlining that “for that, we need capital”. While policy attention in recent years had focused on deepening india's underdeveloped corporate bond market, she acknowledged the need to address concerns in the equity market as well. “Equity market also needs support, i recognise that voice,” she reiterated. askedwhetherforeigncapital needed a red carpet to attract inflows, Sitharaman cautioned against a policy approach that could be seen as favouringoneclassofinvestors over another. “if you pitch for dollar (investors), what about rupee (domestic) investors?” she asked. “hear all the stakeholders, what the government can really do, and we'll do that. First, hear them, and then see what we can act on,” she said. »coNtiNued oN Page 2 pay and play: sai pulled fund support while sindhu, sen won badminton titles Shocked... not faced this before: Sindhu New Delhi, November 2 »coNtiNued oN Page 2 inside pages 7, 11 3 crore voters dropped in s.i.r infiltrators, says shah 8 labourers electrocuted in rajasthan Convene meeting of legislators on Tuesday: NCP top body to Sunetra liz Mathew & alok deshpande New Delhi, Mumbai, November 2 explained bjp cautious The BJP is guarded and treading cautiously on the NCP issue as it does not want to upset its own cadre and old-timers in Maharashtra. In the past, the BJP leadership has received complaints about the party’s ‘organic leaders’ being sidelined because of the power-sharing agreement in place in the state. netra Pawar was urged to convene a meeting of the party’s legislators tuesday to discuss the matter. nCPinsiderssaidthelackof “collective leadership” in the party was one of the issues discussed with Shah in the meetingathisofficialresidence.the homeMinisterislearnttohave »coNtiNued oN Page 2 show big heart: court to Frro Nikhil ghanekar thE 19-MOnth-OLD male cheetahthatdiedlastweekwas shot by two brothers who had gone hunting in a forest in SheopurdistrictofMadhyaPradesh, the Special task Force (StF) investigating the matter said on Monday. the two men, identified as Bhagwan Singh and Pritam Singh,havesincebeenarrested and a traditional bharmar, a double-barrel muzzle-loading firearm, has been recovered, the StF said in a press note. it said the investigation so far does not indicate the involvement of any illegal wildlife Union home minister amit shah with ncP leaders (from left) sameer Bhujbal, dilip Walse-Patil, dhananjay munde, hasan mushrif, chhagan Bhujbal, Praful Patel and sunil Tatkare in delhi, monday. anI a gROUP of senior nationalist Congress Party (nCP) leaders met Union home Minister amitShahinDelhilateSunday night to discuss the possibility of a merger with the rival nCP led by Sharad Pawar. the nCP old guard that met Shah in Delhi is in favour of the merger and wants the possibility to be explored even if Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar and her son, Parth Pawar, a Rajya Sabha MP, are not on board, the indian Express has learnt. at a meeting of the nCP core committee in Mumbai on Monday, Su- express special twobrothers behindcheetah shooting;held andweapon recovered:stF NCP explores merger option with Sharad Pawar party, meets Amit Shah in Delhi GRAP-II in Delhi-NCR a hazy monday in new delhi. The commission for air Quality management imposed stage-II measures in delhi-ncr under the Graded response action Plan as the air quality slipped into the ‘very poor’ category. The caQm said the air Quality Index had exhibited a sharp rise to 324. PRaVeen Khanna PV sindhu in action at the hylo open in Germany. BWF Mihir vasavda Mumbai, November 2 P V SinDhU and Lakshya Sen gave indian badminton two reasonstocelebrateonSunday, winning the singles titles at the hylo Open in Saarbrucken, germany.Butweeksearlier,the country's shuttlers had been left to finance their European campaign themselves after funding support was withdrawn at the last minute over an administrative tussle. The Indian Express has learnt that the Sports authority of india (Sai) declined to fund the indian contingent’s European swing, comprising four consecutive tournaments in Finland, Denmark, France and germany. Sources said the players were informed of the decision just days before the arcticOpenbeganonOctober6 in Vantaa, Finland. “When i got to know, i was a bitshockedandwonderedhow the funding hadn’t gone through. i hadn't faced something like that before,” Sindhu told The Indian Express from Saarbrucken. “But at that point, i couldn't really decide that if there was nofunding,iwouldn'tplay.For me, the priority was to participate and focus on what i needed to do, how i needed to play my matches and keep on improving. Obviously, it was surprising that we couldn't get »coNtiNued oN Page 2 Maharashtra govt says workiNg to resolve issue Suicides ‘linked’ to unpaid bills of contractors, association seeks action chandan haygunde Jarud(Amravati),November2 SUniLWagaDRE(52)inamravati district on October 8, 2026; gajanan Devkatte (36) in navi Mumbaionaugust25,2026;PV Verma (63) in nagpur on September1,2025;harshalPatil(35) in Sangli on July 23, 2025. all four died by suicide, and their families say the common thread was severe financial stress over pending bills for work done for the Maharashtra government: Rs 2.5 crore for Wagadre, Rs 40 crore for Varsha Wagadre with husband sunil’s photo at their home in amravatidistrict. ChanDan haygunDe Verma, Rs 60 lakh for Patil and Rs 2.5 crore for Devkatte. the four families are left with one question: will they get justice? On Monday, a group of agitatedcivilcontractorsinMaharashtra performed a symbolic “Tervi” — the 13th-day ritual after death — of the state government outside the Public Works Department (PWD) officeinamravatitoregistertheir distress over unpaid dues. the Maharashtra State »coNtiNued oN Page 2 relatedreport, page6 OCIs don’t have right to protest, says HC; Imran Khan says sorry omkar gokhale Mumbai, November 2 Saying that Overseas Citizen of india (OCi) cardholders don’t have “any right to criticise the country” and such actions “cannot be tolerated”, the Bombay high Court on Monday asked actor imran Khan,aUScitizen,tosubmitan “unconditional apology” and “categorical undertaking” that he would not participate in future protests. the court said it could then ask the authorities to adopt a “lenient approach”. Khan,representedbySenior advocate Venkatesh Dhond, submittedtheundertakingand unconditional apology. “i am volunteeringtogivethepresent undertaking that there will be no participation by me in any protests in the future,” he said, adding that he would “not join orindirectlyinfluenceothersto protest in future”. the under- actor Imran khan taking,filedthroughadvocates Zulfiquar Memon, Parvez Memon and Chirag naik of MZM Legal, noted that he has lived in india for the past 42 years, has “utmost love” for the country, and his “life, profession and affiliation are all confined to this great nation”. the hC was hearing Khan's plea against the Leave india noticeissuedbytheForeigners Regional Registration Office »coNtiNued oN Page 2 l endUrance race InVoLVes 1.9-km sWIm, 90-km cycLInG rIde, and a 21.1-km rUn At 57, Kerala HC judge completes Ironman: ‘Cut down on my sleep, not work’ Pavneet singh chadha involvesa1.9-kmswim,a90-km cycling ride, and a 21.1-km run. Justice thomas first heard “iF yOU want to attain your of the race two years ago, when goal, you will have to overcome hissoncompetedinitingoa.“i and embrace the pain, and not saw him train. i can say he was fight it.” my inspiration to do ironman,” as he crossed the finishing he told The Indian Express. line of the ironman 70.3 held in “i have always been intergoa on Sunday, Kerala high ested in sports. But after beCourt judge Justice Bechu Ku- comingajudge,ilostoutonthe rian thomas rehealth front. Sitting page 1 membered these 16-18hoursadaywas words vividly. actually taking a toll Justice thomas, on my health,” he 57,competedintheMales55-59 said. “Occasionally, we have a age category, completing the cricket tournament for judges. race in eight hours, 46 minutes We had a shuttle tournament and 44 seconds. recently,whereiwasthechamthe ironman 70.3 goa is a pion in the singles and doubles triathlon endurance race that category. that probably gave Panaji, November 2 anchor me a feeling that i can compete (in ironman). and so, i thought it’s time to get back in shape,” he said. For the judge, time management was a primary concern. “i washandlingoneoftheheaviest jurisdictions in the court – Writ PetitionMiscellaneous.Finding time for the training was difficult.icutdownonmysleep...to gain time for training,” he said. “i do not have any single backlog. not a single case.” “i always say it’s all in the mind. We are all busy. and it's an excuse that we can always come up with — to say we don’t have the time. But life begins when fear ends.” Justice thomas started kerala high court judge Justice Bechu kurian Thomas during the Ironman 70.3 in Goa on sunday training for the endurance race on april 21, a few days after his son got married. “three days after my son’s wedding, i went formyfirstswim.thecourtwas on vacation, so i thought, 'Why not give it a try?’” On the first day, he barely managed to swim 50 metres. But he continued to train for 34weeks,swimmingeveryalternate day. “after the court resumed, it was tough to find the time to train. But, either late in the day orearlyinthemorning,iwould train,” he said. herefusedinvitationstosocialengagementstoaccommodate his training schedule. “i cut down on all social functions, did not attend any speeches or inaugurations... and focused solely on training. On the weekends, i devoted extra hours to running, swimming and cycling. i got one cycle for training inside the house,” he said. Justice thomas said the path has not been easy, given his history of injuries. “i had surgeryonmykneeforameniscus tear a decade ago; i have a varicose vein. i had two meniscustearslastyear,andihavenot done anything about it. i have got an achilles tendon rupture. One is wary about injuries, and one has doubts,” he said. During training, Justice thomas suffered a muscle tear on his calf, and doctors asked him to stop training and to rest. “i consulted another doctor, who advised knee surgery, say- ingitcouldworsen.Butialways feltthatthebodywouldadapt.” three weeks later, Justice thomas went on a small run and did not feel any pain. “Slowly, i learnt to manage the pain. i embraced the pain and kept telling myself that unless i overcome the pain, i will succumb to it. if you want to attain your goals, you need to overcome pain and embrace it. Don't fight it,” he said. after a three-week break to recover, Justice thomas started training again. “i went for my first swim and felt a slight niggle. the next day, i swam for the first time in the ocean for 1.8 km in 49 minutes. »coNtiNued oN Page 2