The editorial Page: india’s time will come. For now, it is a middle power in a bi-multipolar world 16 FrIDAY, NOvEMBEr 6, 2026 JouRnALisM of CouRAge kOLkATA, LATE CITY, 24 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 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 9 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% 2,000 10% 1,725 6.8% 5% fY27 fY26 fY25 fY24 fY23 fY22 fY21 fY20 fY19 fY18 0% fY17 fY16 0 318 1,000 note: DATA fOR fY27 IS fOR APRIL-AuguST. source: RBI 7% surge over last week, Nifty still down 6% in 2026 Akash Mandal & Siddharth Upasani 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’. 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. »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari flanked by Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta and Industries Minister Tapas Roy during the unveiling of Investment Promotion Policy, on Thursday. EXPRESS TwO eCs hAD exPreSSeD CONCerN, wriTTeN TO CAb SeCy 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 slams Left, TMC for land policy Amaal Sheikh New Delhi, November 5 Unveils Investment Promotion Policy: ‘Talks on with Ashok Leyland for Singur’ Atri Mitra Kolkata, November 5 aSSERting tHat his government has a “plan for Singur”, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu adhikari on thursday said “preliminary talks” have started with ashok leyland for setting up a heavy vehicle manufacturing unit at the site of the tata nano factory that was mired in land acquisition protests two decades ago. Unveiling the new investment Promotion Policy along with Finance Minister Swapan dasgupta and industries Minister tapas Roy in new town nearKolkata,thechiefminister said his government would neither follow the left Front More inside page 4 poliCy prioritises Jobs above all government’s“forcible”landacquisition nor the tMC’s policy of staying away from making land available to the industries. “Wewillneitherhaveaforcible land acquisition policy like the left Front, nor will we have a flawed land policy like the tMC, asking industries to buy their own land without any supportfromthegovernment," adhikari said. “our government will not do what the previous government did. it did not acquire a single piece of land and told in- dustrialiststhattheyhavetoacquire land if they want to set up industryinthestate,”headded. instead, the chief minister said, “We are making arrangements to buy land for creating a land bank for industries.” asserting that his government was committed to industrialisation and creating an industry-friendly atmosphere in thestate,heaccusedtheCPi(M) of destroying West Bengal's industrial base through aggressive trade union politics, while allegingthatthetMC's"flawed" land policy contributed to the failure of its industrialisation efforts over the last 15 years. “We will certainly do something in Singur,” he said. “We have held preliminary talks with a reputed commercial heavy vehicle manufacturer, ashok leyland. But i will not add a single word to it since it is 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 »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 world page 22 ritu Sarin New Delhi, November 5 to know AN EXPRESS rTi APPLICATION tHE indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (iPC) has, for the first time, disclosed the number of Serious adverse Events (SaEs) caused by the 6-year data disclosed first time by Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission on CIC order use of medical devices in the country since 2020: 9,373, with a nearly three-fold jump across six years, from 808 to 2,176 in 2025. »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 republiCans Call for trump to CHange Course fast l ReLATIveS IN ThRISSuR ARe eCSTATIC AS She IS SeT To BeCoMe LoS ANgeLeS’S FIRST MAyoR oF SouTh ASIAN DeSCeNT From working in Delhi slums to Mayor office in LA: Keralam-born Raman’s long journey West Shaju Philip “i’mhopeful.i’mveryhopeful,” Raman told a raucous crowd fuelled by tequila and chickentenders.“i’malsoreally on tUESday, as counting in superstitious. So we’re all just los angeles’s high-profile goingtobecool,oK?Verycool.” By Wednesday, as vote mayoralracegotunderway,the LATimescapturedthemoodof counting continued, the 45year-old thrissur-born quietoptimismin page 1 Raman had widened the speech of inher lead over Bass, sedian-american curing 51.67 per cent of nithya Raman. a democrat,Ramanwascontest- the votes counted against the ingthehigh-stakesraceagainst incumbent’s 48.33 per cent. incumbent Karen Bass, also a However, with about 67 per democrat, and the newspaper cent of the expected vote described her as jubilant. »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 inside page 8 HC: put baCk names of six of goa family struCk off in s.i.r speCial summary revision in anotHer six states, uts 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 »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 24-hr deadline for production before ‘Have a plan for Singur’: Suvendu magistrate starts with detention: SC New data shows nearly 3-fold jump in serious adverse events caused by medical devices your right The Indian Express investigation published on September 23 business as usual Thiruvananthapuram, November 5 By EP UNNY anchor Nithya Raman with her family after voting in Los Angeles. AP Kolkata 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.” 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. the top court’s judgment came during the hearing of appeals filed by accused booked »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2