DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2025, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 22 PAGES `7.00 (`8 RAIPUR, `15 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 XI CALLS FOR ‘GLOBAL GOVERNANCE INITIATIVE’, TARGETS ‘HEGEMONISM, POWER POLITICS’ Tianjin troika, Hello Trump Double standards on terror unacceptable... sovereignty, territorial integrity are key: PM The shift: SCO skips Pahalgam 2 months ago, now ‘strongly condemns’ SHUBHAJIT ROY TIANJIN, SEPTEMBER 1 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY EXPRESSATSCO E SHUBHAJIT ROY EXPLAINED TIANJIN, SEPTEMBER 1 OUTLINING INDIA’S vision and policy regarding the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) as built on three key pillars — Security, Connectivity and Opportunity — Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the Pahalgam terror attack was “not only an assault on the conscience of India, but also an open challengetoeverynation”andunderlined that “double standards on terrorism are unacceptable”. Modi made these remarks at the opening session of the SCO leaders’ summit here. While the session was chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was among those present. Earlier in the day, Modi met Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin briefly — the three leaders had an informal chat as they gathered for photographs, surrounded by in- THE EDITORIAL PAGE TUTORIALFROM TIANJIN India-China-Russia warmth masks gaps, contradictions. Delhi-Washington chill overshadows reality of shared interests PAGE 10 THE IDEAS PAGE FULL TEXTOFPM’S STATEMENT P11 terpreters. Coming in the backdrop of the deepening trust deficit between India CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the venue of the SCO Summit in Tianjin, China, on Monday. ANI India, Russia shoulder-to-shoulder, says Modi as he and Putin flag trade TIANJIN, SEPTEMBER 1 MANOJ C G NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 1 INDIA OFFERED TO CUT TARIFF TO NOTHING... BUT IT’S GETTING LATE, SAYS TRUMP PM Modi in President Putin’s armoured limousine. ANI EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 1 FLOOD WARNING IN DELHI AS YAMUNA DISCHARGE HITS SEASON HIGH IN FIRST, BUILDINGS TO BE GEO-TAGGED IN CENSUS 2027 PAGES 4, 8 PAGE 1 ANCHOR FULL COVERAGE P 9 WHILE CONGRESS’S communication head Jairam Ramesh accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “cowardly kowtowing” to Beijing and being silent on whathecalledwasthePakistanChina “jugalbandi,” party leader Shashi Tharoor struck a more nuanced note saying Modi’s engagement with Chinese President Xi Jinping was a “necessary step” towards “restoring the balance” and he was confidenttheGovernmentwill“stand our ground.” His party colleagues, former ExternalAffairsminister Salman Khurshid and Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari, cautioned the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Bihar SIR: Claims even Rahul wraps up yatra, says ‘vote after Sept 1, says EC; chori hydrogen bomb’ coming SC flags ‘trust issues’ SANTOSH SINGH INSIDE WITHTHEElectionCommission statingthatclaimsandobjections regarding the draft voters list for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR)inBiharcanbefiledevenaftertheSeptember1deadline,the SupremeCourtMondaydeclined topassanyspecificdirectionona plea that sought more time for the process. The apex court also addressed what it termed as “trust issues” with regard to the submission or acceptance of claims and objections, and directed the state authorities to depute paralegal volunteers who will assist voters and political parties, and submit confidential reports about their assignment to district judges. Respondingtoanapplication from the RJD, which sought two CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 HIGHEST AVERAGE ANNUAL INCIDENCE MEN Registry Aizawl KhasiHills PapumPare KamrupUrban Mizoram Incidence rate* 260 240 215 215 200 WOMEN Registry Aizawl Mizoram KamrupUrban PapumPare Hyderabad Incidence rate* 215 180 175 160 155 *Per 100,000 population (approx) ■ Estimated 15.6 lakh cases, 8.74 lakh deaths in 2024 ■ Lifetime risk of cancer 11% ■ Breast cancerhighestinsouthernmetrocities WHATINDIA’SCANCERMAPSHOWS,PAGE16 ANONNA DUTT NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 1 ■ Women accounted for a higher proportion of cancer cases in the country (51.1%) but a lower proportion of cancer deaths (45%) ■Oralcancerhasovertakenlung cancer as the most common type of the disease among men. ■Canceroccurrencewasamong the highest in the northeastern states. THESEAREsomeof thekeyfindingsof ananalysisbyresearchers frompremierinstitutionsof data collected from 43 cancer registries across the country be- THE WORLD tween 2015and2019(see box)— a period when 7.08 lakh cancer cases and 2.06 lakh deaths were recorded. Based on the analysis, the researchers also estimated that a total of 15.6 lakh cancer cases and 8.74 lakh deaths occurred across the country in 2024. Population-basedcancerregistriescollectdataonnewcancer cases, deaths and trends in selectedgeographicalareas.India's registrycurrentlycovers23states andUnionTerritories,eitherpartiallyorfully,andmonitorstrends in 10% to 18% of the population, with newer registries in regions such as Kashmir, Prayagraj and Thiruvananthapuram. CONTINUED ON PAGE 13 PAGE14 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Tharoorcallsengagement‘rightstep,’says can’tbe‘victims’of bothUSandChina SHUBHAJIT ROY CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 First data out: More women get cancer than men, but lower share in deaths Opp urges caution, cites Pak-China ‘jugalbandi’ MODI CALLS FOR END TO UKRAINE CONFLICT MEETING FOR the first time after the United States imposed 25%additionaltariffsonIndiafor Russian oil purchase, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RussianPresidentVladimirPutin onMondayunderlined“bilateral cooperation, including in the economic, financial and energy sectors”. WHAT A difference circumstances make. Barely two months ago, Defence Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, meeting in Qingdao in China, had failed to issue a joint statementafterDefenceMinister Rajnath Singh declined to sign it because it had omitted a reference to ● the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in J&K. Singh is said to have flagged the absence of a common standard for terrorism. In sharp contrast, the SCO declaration Monday took a “strongstanceagainstterrorism” andmembercountries—including Pakistan and China — condemned the terrorist attack in Pahalgam. The Tianjin declaration, adopted by the SCO leaders, expressed “their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the dead and the wounded. They further stated thatperpetrators,organizersand sponsorsof suchattacksmustbe brought to justice.” 2015-19 CANCER REGISTRY DATA STUDY PATNA, SEPTEMBER 1 AS RAHUL Gandhi and Tejashwi Prasad Yadav’s Voter Adhikar YatradrewtoacloseMonday,after covering 25 Bihar districts over a fortnight, the Congress had reasons to be pleased. Aftermorethantwodecades, Congress flags dominated at a Biharevent,alongwiththeRJD’s, even as other INDIA bloc allies turneduptoshowtheir support. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 (From right) Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav and Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren in Patna. Rahul Sharma 812 KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN QUAKE, TALIBAN ASK WORLD FOR HELP FORMER V-P VACATES OFFICIAL RESIDENCE Dhankhar’s day out: First to dentist, then to farmhouse owned by Abhay Chautala MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL & VARINDER BHATIA NEW DELHI, CHANDIGARH, SEPTEMBER 1 OVER A month after he stepped downasVice-President,Jagdeep Dhankharventuredoutof hisofficial residence to visit the dentist. Hours later, he moved into a farmhouse owned by Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief Abhay Chautala in Delhi’s Chattarpur Enclave, a stop-gap arrangementtillhegetsanalternative official accommodation. The choice of the farmhouse byDhankhar,whosesuddenresignation on July 21 on the first The house at Chattarpur Enclave in Delhi. Abhinav Saha day of the Monsoon Session remains as much a matter of speculation as what he has been doing since, is not a surprise. The ties between Dhankhar and the Chautalas go back nearly 40 CONTINUED ON PAGE 13 Why remote Kutch village could end up as a test bed for Mars mission ANJALI MARAR BENGALURU, SEPTEMBER 1 LIFE IN Matanomadh, a thinly populated village nearly 100 km west of Bhuj town in Gujarat's Kutch district, has never been easy. Surrounded by thorny shrubs, the terrain is harsh and unforgiving, unfit for cultivation or large human settlements. Yet, thisvillagemightendupasapotential test bed for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) ahead of its Mangalyaan2 mission to Mars. A team of researchers from the Space Applications Centre (SAC) in Ahmedabad, the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) and the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences in Lucknowrecentlyconfirmedthe age of jarosite — a mineral discovered inMatanomadhin2016 — to be around 55 million years old, corresponding with the Paleocene period in the geological timeline. The dating of this mineral, found in a few rock structures in Matanomadh,suggeststhatthere was a similar geological occurrenceonboththeplanetsmillions of yearsago.This,theresearchers said,suggeststhattheconditions intheKutchvillageresembledthe environmental and chemical conditions thought to exist on Mars,andcouldofferanexcellent test bed for the study of the red planet’s surface, mineralogy and biochemistry. The Matanomadh site could thus offer field-analogue missions for Mars, where rovermotion,instrumenttesting, drilling,andgeochemistryexperiments could be performed. The findings were published in the Journal of the Geological Society of India last month. “Our findings not only connect Earth’s geological past with Mars, but also provide a terrestrial ‘blueprint’ for astrobiology (study of life, its origins and evo- MINERAL MAY HOLD CLUE Matanomadh GUJARAT Bhuj Dwarka ■ According to researchers, jarosite discovered in the village in 2016 is around 55 million years old Jamnagar ■ This suggests a similar geological occurrence on both Earth and Mars millions of years ago lution in planets and stars), mineralexplorationandfuturespace missions,”leadresearcherAditya Dharaiya, who was at Savitribai Phule Pune University’s Geology Department at the time of the study, told The Indian Express. Incidentally, this is not the only site in India where researchersaretryingtoexperience Mars-like conditions. ISRO has beentryingtosimulatetheliving conditions and environment of Mars and Moon in a desolate high-altitude village in Ladakh through its HOPE (Himalayan Outpost for Planetary Exploration) mission. In August, twocrewmembersspent10days in a compact replica of a Mars habitat at Tso Kar Valley in Ladakh, about 4,500 metres abovesealevel,wheretheoxygen andairpressurearethinandtemperaturesaresub-zero.Whilethe Ladakh site could offer a test bed for experiments on the environmental conditions of Mars, the Kutch village is expected to offer insights into the geology and mineral composition of Mars. It was in 2016 that a team led bytheSpaceApplicationsCentre first reported the presence of jarosite in Kutch. Around the sametime,itspresencewasconfirmed along Kerala’s Varkala cliffs. But what makes Matanomadh better suited for Martian studies is its relative remoteness. In contrast, the site in Kerala, near theVarkala beach, is among the state’s most visited tourist locations. Similarjarositedepositshave been found in Mexico, Canada, Japan, Spain, and in Utah and California in the US. On Earth, jarosite is formed whensomemineralsrichinoxygen,iron,sulphurandpotassium react in the presence of water. Thediscoveryof jarositeonMars was one of the strongest pieces of evidence of the presence of water on the planet at some CONTINUED ON PAGE 13