The editorial Page: net Zero transition brings opportunity to build, not just import, technology 8 MONDAy, NOvEMBER 9, 2026 JournAlism of CourAge ahMedabad, laTe CiTy, 14 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 modi CelebrateS diwali with CrPf PerSonnel in baStar 104 132 163 91 happening today lClimate aCtion will be in focus as world leaders, policymakers and experts gather in Turkey for the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP31. lSignifiCant reduCtion in the prices of 137 anti-cancer drugs from various brands will take effect following the government's decision to cap trade margins. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com after indeCiSive PollS laSt month Blow to Netanyahu Armed Naxals wiped out, must as rival Eisenkot identify, defeat dimagi Naxals: PM gets chance to form new govt in Israel Says ‘dimagi Naxals’ have infiltrated political parties, organisations, instigating people against Constitution, democracy express news Service New Delhi, November 8 PrIMe MInISTer narendra ModionSundaysaidthatwhile the country has won its decades-long battle against “Maoistterror”,the“dangerhas notcompletelydisappeared”as “intellectual (dimagi) naxalites” have “infiltrated” several political parties and organisationsandareinstigatingpeople against the Constitution and democracy. Addressingsecuritypersonnel while celebrating diwali at a Central reserve Police Force (CrPF) camp in Karanpur in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district, Modi said: “Armed naxalites havevanishedfromtheforests, but intellectual (dimagi) naxalites have captured many organisations. even today, they are provoking people against the Constitution and democracyofthecountry.Theseintellectualnaxaliteshavealsoinfiltrated several political parties and various organisations. We must identify them, defeat them, and secure the nation.” Modi said this was the first diwali “when every district of the country is free from naxalism”. he said previous governmentshad“acceptednaxalism as an incurable disease and simply left it unattended”. The political will to defeat Maoists »Continued on Page 2 Will do everything I can to ensure we are worthy, says ex-Army chief melanie lidman Tel Aviv, November 8 prime minister narendra modi celebrates diwali with the security forces in bastar on sunday. aNi Gujarat HC asks govt to give teacher recruitment timeline on plea of candidate Business as Usual By EP UNNy Hospitalisation and missed verification cost aspirant teaching assistant job: Plea aditi raja Vadodara, November 8 The GuJArAT highCourthas directed the state government to produce the entire timeline of recruitment for a category of teachers,fromApril2025,toascertain if a vacant post was available to accommodate a candidate who had missed the process because of emergency hospitalisation. Justice Aniruddha P Mayee was hearing a petition last month filed by Sushila Maheriya, through advocate Swapneshwar Goutam, stating that she missed the document verification process, between April 19 and April 25, 2025, in the recruitment drive for around 1,500 posts of Shikshan Sahayak (teaching assistant) because she was hospitalised following a seizure. The plea, filed in June this year, stated that Maheriya “had suffered severe seizure on account of past history of brain stroke”andwasadmittedtohospital on April 17, 2025. She was dischargedonApril19,2025,the day the verification window for the recruitment opened. The petitioner submitted that, owing to ongoing treatment, she could not approach the authorities during this window.Shelatermadearepresentation to the state's Commissioner of Schools, a respondent in the petition, to consider her case for document verification “since the recruitment process was not completed,” citing her medical reason for absence. That representation “has been rejected,” the advocate told the court. In the plea, the petitioner stated that she wrote to the authorities on June 16, June 18 and July 12, 2025, about her hospitalisation and missed verification. on July 16, 2025, the plea said, she was told that verification was over and her application could not be »Continued on Page 2 Kremlin hoPes U.s. election shaKe-UP Won’t alter trUmP’s UKraine talKs Page 12 Gadi eisenkot explained What next? Gadi Eisenkot will have up to six weeks to form a government. If he fails, the President can select another candidate, who will have four weeks to do so. Then the parliament could back a third lawmaker, who would have 14 days to make a last-ditch attempt. If nothing succeeds, a new election will be called within 90 days, with Netanyahu staying on as a caretaker PM. In Israel, people vote for parties, which form alliances. A coalition needs a majority of at least61seatsinthe120-member assembly,knownastheKnesset, to form a government. neither netanyahu nor eisenkotsecuredamajorityinthe »Continued on Page 2 during the muharat trading session at the nse in mumbai sunday. saNkhadeeP baNerjee First since 2017, Sensex & Nifty end in red on Diwali; snap 7-day winning run akash mandal Mumbai, November 8 The IndIAn stock market closed lower on diwali, ending its seven-session winning run asinvestorsbookedsomeprofit after the steep rally. despite the run ending, the benchmark indices ended 8-9% higher for the week. The Sensex shed 28.62 points to close broadly flat at 80,999.40 on Sunday, while the nifty closed 0.2% lower at 24,986.40. This is the first time since 2017 that the benchmark indiceshaveendedlowerondiwali.Theyhavetypicallymoved in a 1% range during these special sessions where trading lasts for just over an hour. Investors remain positive »Continued on Page 2 ‘The centralised governance model BJP implemented in Delhi is what AAP adopted in Punjab. We must demolish it’ Pargat Singh PUNjab CONgress Chief Page 11 Out on drug bust, Bihar constable cornered and assaulted; body found in river 2 days later: Police himanshu harsh the world ISrAel’S PreSIdenT hasdesignated Prime Minister Benjamin netanyahu’s main rival, Gadi eisenkot, as his choice to form the next government. President Isaac herzog announced his decision late Saturday after days of consultations with the parties elected to parliament on october 27. herzog’sdecisionisanother blow to netanyahu, who lost his parliamentary majority in the election. But it does not guarantee that eisenkot will be the next Prime Minister. After an official ceremony Sunday, eisenkot will launch complicated negotiations with potential coalition partners. he will have up to six weeks to form a government. (ENS adds: In a post on X, eisenkot said: “now is the time to form a national emergency government. I will do everything I can to ensure we are worthy.”) At the same time, netanyahuwilltrytopreventeisenkot from succeeding. Patna, November 8 Around 7.45 pm on november 5, Bihar Police constable dhaneshwar Kumar called up his colleagues in Jehanabad to inform them about a tip-off on a man allegedly involved in the purchase and sale of illegal arms and narcotics near the town’sSSCollege.dhaneshwar was associated with Tiger Mo- bile — a bike patrolling unit of the state’s police force. When two of his colleagues arrived, dhaneshwar proceeded towards the college with them to verify the information and take action. What followed was a run-in with a group of 10-15 people, an alleged assault on the police personnel, and the disappearance of dhaneshwar. After his two colleagues constable dhaneshwar kumar was part of a bike patrol unit filed a police complaint a day later, a search was launched for dhaneshwar. The constable’s body was recovered from the dardha river on Saturday — two days after his colleagues saw him last. Four people have been arrestedinthecaseandpoliceare now investigating the circumstances surrounding dhaneshwar’s death and why his two »Continued on Page 2 a vessel that the us central command said was hit as it tried to break the us blockade of iran, in the Gulf of oman, saturday. X/@CeNTCOM Saudi Aramco building in Riyadh damaged after Houthi attack timour azhari & Jana Choukeir Riyadh, November 8 An AdMInISTrATIve building belonging to state oil giant Saudi Aramco in riyadh was damaged by falling debris following an attempted attack on Sunday, with no injuries or fatalities reported, the kingdom's energy Ministry said. A Reuters witness saw blown-outwindowsacrossseveralfloorsoftheAramcoTower, one of the tallest buildings in the capital’s King Abdullah Financial district. The incident, which the ministry said caused limited damage, came after the Saudiled coalition said it had intercepted two missiles fired by Yemen's Iran-aligned houthis towards riyadh. Aramco was not immediately available for comment,andtherewasnoimmediate statement from the houthis. Multiple loud booms were heard in riyadh earlier on Sunday, a reuters witness said, shortlyafterSaudiCivildefense issuedanearly-warningalertof a potential threat in the region. Authorities later announced that the danger had passed. TheSaudi-ledcoalitionthat has been fighting the houthis »Continued on Page 2 l darshan maGdum performed wiTh The band — boy Throb — in ocTober, now on ‘The GreaT american road Trip’ From Kolhapur village to American boy band: A 22-year-old’s incredible journey Sunanda mehta thoserandomdotshavestarted to connect. darshangrewupindundage “rAndoM” SeeMS to be dar- village and pursued a Bachelor shanMagdum’sfavouriteword. of Computer Applications deThe 22-year-old says he “ran- gree in Belagavi, Karnataka. his domly decided to sing in eng- parents are both teachers in the lish” while growing up in a vil- village:hisfather,BMMagdum, lageinMaharashtra’sKolhapur, atahighschool,andhismother, “randomly” began uploading rajeshree, for Classes 1 to 4. his his songs on social media, and elderbrother,omkar(27),works got a “random call” for a private firm. page 1 last year from an allno one in the American boy band family pursued BoyThrobinlosAnmusicprofessionally, geles to join them. now, he is in darshan says, but singing was a theuS,evengettingachanceto shared hobby. “everyone loves chat with new York Mayor singing, and I also loved listenZohranMamdaniwithinweeks ing to songs, music from my of arriving. childhood. So my parents enAs darshan would say, all rolled me for classical singing Kolhapur, November 8 anchor for four years when I was about 10,afterwhichIcontinuedpractising myself,” says darshan, speaking to The Indian Express from los Angeles. Around 2018-19, he began posting samples of his singing on Instagram. “It wasn’t something I thought would be a career. It was just a hobby,” he says. While most young singers around him covered hindi songs, “I thought let’s just start with english songs”, he says. After a few years, one video wentviral,andothersfollowed. Today,hehasmorethan200videos on Instagram. Most peoplenowknowhim,though, for his cover of “Blinding lights”, originally sung by the darshan magdum, 22, (centre) with members of the band boy Throb in new Jersey. Canadian singer-songwriter Abel Tesfaye, popularly known byhisstagenameTheWeeknd. Backinthevillage,alltheattentionwasbaffling.“Theyhad no idea what I was doing. It was verynewforthem,”hesays.his father admits the family took timetounderstandit.“Wecome fromaverysimplebackground, soittookussometimetounderstand the kind of opportunities that content creation could offer. even when darshan startedearningthroughhiscontent,weweren’tparticularlyimpressed by the income. We would still encourage him to pursue his master’s degree and findastablejob,”sayshisfather. AroundSeptemberlastyear came the message from the founders of Boy Throb, who were thinking of starting a boy band. “I was like, ‘okay, man, is this real or are these just random texts from someone’? So I Ahmedabad said, ‘let’s get on a call and check if it’s real or just fun’.” on the call, the band members, Anthony Key, evan Papier, Zachary Sobania and darshan, discussed how it would work. An obstacle came up almost immediately: darshan had never been to the uS andhadnovisa.“Theysaid,'we got you'. We will do something for you,” he says. So he signed up, jamming with the others overvideocalls.Theyneverleft him out, he says — at performances, they carried a cutout of him or put him on a screen. Why did they choose him? “It’s the love I get from the people. I think the band members saw the fun people had listening to me and they thoughttheyneededtotakemy singingglobal.Whenweposted our first video saying I’m a member, we got amazing love on that,” he says. Finally, an o-1 visa application — a temporary non-immigration work visa for those with “extraordinary abilities” — was submitted around december, with the uS authorities asking for further evidence of his eligibility. The band performed more and gathered media coverage.Astheircampaignfor thevisawentviral,theyrewrote lyricsandretitledcoversto“darshan is the man we need” or “darshan coming to America”. »Continued on Page 2