The editorial Page: India’s time will come. For now, it is a middle power in a bi-multipolar world 8 FRIDaY, NOvEmBER 6, 2026 JournalISm of Courage AhMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 26 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 Looking at forming committee to revisit UGC equity rules, Centre tells top court expreSS interview ‘Whatever policy we formulate, we must trust business, industry and taxpayer. That will remain our charter’ P 24 Opposed by general category groups, OBC and Dalit sections, regulations stayed in Jan Ananthakrishnan G New Delhi, November 5 happening today lDelhi hC is expected to hear a plea by lawyers seeking action against ACP Manasvi Vashishta. tHe centre told the supreme court thursday that it is planning to put in place a committee to reconsider the university grants commission (PromotionofequityinHigher education institutions) regulations, 2026, which were stayed by the court earlier this year after petitions questioned neutrality of the rules. “the government is contemplating appointing a committee,” solicitor general tushar mehta told a three-judge benchcomprisingchiefJustice of india surya kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V mohana. mehta said this after the benchaskedthegovernmentto consider taking a relook at the provisions. “why don’t you revisit these regulations so that the next generation is taken expLaineD ahead of UP, Punjab polls The Centre’s declaration that it may ask a committee to revisit the UGC equity rules is significant because the regulations impact voter bases in key states. In UP and Punjab, where Assembly polls are due early next year, there are significant SC and OBC populations alongside politically influential groups of the general category. care of? they should protect the interest of every student,” the cJi said. notified on January 13 this year, the ugc (Promotion of equity in Higher education institutions) regulations, 2026, snowballedintoapoliticalissue after drawing objections from both general category groups and sections of Dalit and oBc communities. in the eye of the storm is regulation3(1)(c)whichdefines caste-based discrimination as discrimination on the basis of caste or tribe against members of the scheduled castes, »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 viA lRS ROUTe Indians on track to invest record $4 bn in foreign stocks and debt in FY27 lon the riSe l equity/debt ($ mn) l Share in total LrS outflows 3,000 13.7% 15% 10% Mumbai, New Delhi, November 5 Last week, artificial intelligence giant anthropic filed documents with the us capital markets regulator, the securities and exchange commission (sec), for its initial Public offering (iPo). interest is skyhigh, with anthropic aiming for a valuation of up to $2 trillion. and while indians may finditdifficulttodirectlyinvest intheiPo,somewillsurelylook to snap up some shares once the company is listed, possibly as soon as in two weeks’ time. why? Because it might ‘pop’. »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 New data shows nearly 3-fold jump in serious adverse events caused by medical devices 6-year data disclosed first time by Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission on CIC order your right to know AN ExPrEss RTi APPLICATION Ritu Sarin New Delhi, November 5 tHe inDian Pharmacopoeia commission (iPc) has, for the firsttime,disclosedthenumber of serious adverse events (saes) caused by the use of medical devices in the country since 2020: 9,373, with a nearly three-foldjumpacrosssixyears, from 808 to 2,176 in 2025. saes are medical events thatmayresultinlife-threatening conditions or prolonged hospitalisation for patients. The Indian Express accessed the data on october 27 following a part-compliance order is- SC: 24-hour deadline for production before magistrate starts with detention, not arrest Amaal Sheikh New Delhi, November 5 HoLDing tHat any attempt to draw an artificial distinction between‘arrest’and‘detention’ would dilute or negate the fundamental protection guaranteed by the constitution under clause (2) of article 22, the supreme court thursday ruled that the 24-hour deadline for producing a person before a magistrate begins from the time of detention, and not formal arrest thebench,comprisingJustice ujjal Bhuyan and Justice atul s chandurkar, said, “the 24-hour timeline as mandated under clause (2) of article 22 of theconstitutionofindiawould commence from the date and time of detention of the person detained when his liberty stands curtailed and not from the time of his formal arrest.” l Seriousadverseevents l Received and reviewed 808 1,122 1,441 1,805 2,021 Election Commission reaffirms oversight of IT chief in new order Commission says DG (IT) will report to Senior Deputy EC; that it never implemented July 28 order removing oversight Damini Nath New Delhi, November 5 tHree montHs after a change in the work allocation of its officers led two election commissionerstoexpressconcern and raise the matter with cabinetsecretarytVsomanathan, as reported in TheIndian Express investigation published september 23, the electioncommissionofindiawednesday issued a new work allocation order which, among other changes, reaffirmed and underlined the layer of oversight over Director general (it) seema khanna. the oversight layer had been removed by a July 28 order which the ec said was never implemented following a decision on July 30. in the commission office order issued wednesday, senior Deputy election commissioner, Pawan kumar sharma, wasgivenchargeof“it/ict”.in the case of khanna, the order said: “she would put up files of above-mentioned functional divisions through sr. Dec(Pks).” in the July 28 work allocation order, the subjects of it and ict were removed from the work allocation of thenDec sanjay kumar and mentioned only against khanna’s name, thereby making it clear that she would have reported directly to the commission, instead of a Dec. the it division of the ec handles the ecinet, a digital platformfacilitatingcitizenengagement and participation in the electoral process, and eronet that helps ec officials maintain the electoral system. »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 2,176 2025 Akash Mandal & Siddharth Upasani starved of returns in the domestic stock market — nifty is still down 6% in 2026 despite a 7% surge over the last week — indiansareincreasinglyinvesting abroad to the tune of billions of dollars. in fact, 2026-27 may see these investments in foreignequityanddebtcross$4 billion for the first time. according to data from the reserveBankofindia(rBi),investment in equity and debt under the Liberalised remittancescheme(Lrs)wasat$1.73 billion in april-august 2026, averaging just under $350 million per month. more importantly, the $1.73 billion invested abroad in the first five months ofthefiscalismorethandouble the $823 million in the same period last year. For 2025-26 as awhole,thefigurewas$2.65billion — these numbers are much smaller than what individuals invest domestically. 2024 7% surge over last week, Nifty still down 6% in 2026 Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with the Indian contingent of the Asian Para Games 2026, in New Delhi, Thursday. PTI 2023 fY27 fY26 fY25 fY24 fY23 fY22 fY21 fY20 fY19 fY18 note: DATA fOr fY27 Is fOr APrIL-AugusT. Source: rBI With the champions 2022 318 0% fY17 fY16 0 5% 2021 1,725 6.8% 1,000 2020 2,000 TwO eCs hAD exPReSSeD CONCeRN, wRiTTeN TO CAb SeCy sued under the rti act by a bench of the central information commission (cic) on september 10. the data (see chart) »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 Business as Usual By EP UNNY article 22 guarantees protection against arrest and detention and requires that such a person be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours. it bars detention beyond that period without a magistrate’s approval. »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 l AFTER 3-4-YEAR SLUMP, DIAMOND TRADE IS BEGINNING TO SHINE. BUT TEXTILES ARE STILL IN THE DUMPS, HIT BY HIGH PRODUCTION COSTS In the length of their annual Diwali breaks, a tale of ups and downs in Surat’s two mega industries Kamal Saiyed workers will be away can be seen as a proxy for how well — or badly — surat’s diamonds DiamonD cutters and and textiles trades are doing polishers in surat will have a currently. shorter-than-usual Diwali on november 5, the day bebreak this year. But those en- foreDhanteras,manufacturing gaged in the city’s other mega units in the historic Hira Batrade, textiles, will zaar, through which page 1 stay away from work more than 90% forlongerthanusual. of the world’s uncut Blame the up and diamonds pass, down in the two inwent on vacation for dustries on the vicissitudes of 15 days. two global wars and President their annual holiday Donald trump’s tariffs policy. usually lasts 25 days, but the the time for which their workers are coming back Surat, November 5 anchor Powerlooms being cleaned in Surat before India’s synthetic textiles hub shuts for the annual Diwali vacation. There are over 4.5 lakh powerlooms in the city, employing nearly six lakh workers. ExPrEss sooner because the gems-andjewellerymarket,batteredover thepastseveralyearsbyarange of factors including the war in ukraineandthetariffsimposed bytheunitedstates,hasbegun to pick up at last. By contrast, units in surat’s synthetic textiles industry started downing their shutters for the holidays on november 1, and will not open until the month-end, taking a much longer break than in other years. the reason, industry »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 Ahmedabad The Indian Express investigation published on September 23 Put back names of six of Goa family deleted from rolls during SIR, Bombay HC directs poll panel Pavneet Singh Chadha Panaji, November 5 tHe HigH court of Bombay at goa on thursday directed the election commission of india (eci)torestorethenamesofsix members of a family in goa, who had been deleted from the electoralrollsaftertheirForm8 applications for a change of address were rejected during the special intensive revision (sir), within 10 days. observingthatthe“system” did not permit the electoral registration officer (ero) to process Form 8 applications and pass orders since eronet was “freezed [sic]” during the enumeration period, a division Bench of Justices amit s JamsandekarandValmikimenezes said this would amount to a inSiDe Page 23 sPecial sUmmary revision in 6 more sTaTes, UTs, says ec “suspension” of provisions of the representation of the People act, 1950, and was “impermissible”. the petitioners — Paresh salgaoncar and five members of his family — had moved to a new house in the same santa cruzassemblyconstituencyin north goa at least eight years ago and were instructed by the booth-level officer (BLo) to submit Form 8 for a change of address. in the petition, the petitioners submitted that the assistantelectoralregistration »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2