The Ideas Page: The Donroe Doctrine and a dangerous new world 11 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2026 JOURNALISm of COURAGE NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES ₹7.00 (₹8 RAIPUR, ₹15 SRINAGAR) 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 , LU 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 Happening today lMINISTRY OF STATISTICS and Programme Implementation will release the first advance estimate of GDP for 2025-26. The estimate will underpin the government’s calculations for the Union Budget 2026-27. lTHE SC will hear objections from animal rights activists and organisations to its Nov 7, 2025 order on relocation of stray dogs from Delhi’s public areas. lFOURTH EDITION of Kerala Legislative Assembly International Book Festival begins. Commonwealth Parliamentary Association chairperson Christopher K Kalila of Zambia will deliver the keynote address. TRACk THESE AND MORE ON www.INDIANEXPRESS.COm Business as Usual By EP UNNY UTTAR PRADESH DRAFT ROLL OUT SIR 2.0 draft rolls: 13% electors deleted in nine states, three uTs 2.89 cr electors deleted in UP draft roll, most found to have shifted/ absent ECpowertoverify citizenshipflows fromConstitution, Says students raised objectionable slogans against PM Modi, Shah pollpaneltellsSC Vidheesha Kuntamalla had gone on the rampage in lDeletionsin12statesandUnionTerritories Damini Nath New Delhi, January 6 A TOTAL of 6.56 crore electors, or nearly 13% of the registered electors,inninestatesandthree UnionTerritorieshavebeendeleted from the draft rolls in the second round of the Election Commission’sSpecialIntensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls — an increase from the 8.3% deletionsseeninthefirstround of SIR in Bihar last year. With the publication of the draft roll in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, data for all 12 states and UTs released by the respectiveChiefElectoralOfficers in December and January shows that the total number of electors fell from 50.97 crore on October 27, when the EC announcedtheSIR,to44.40crore. In UP, where the draft roll was published after three post- STATE/UT Uttar Pradesh West Bengal Tamil Nadu Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Gujarat Kerala Chhattisgarh Goa Puducherry Andaman & Nicobar Lakshadweep Total ELECTORS BEFORE SIR 15.44 crore 7.66 crore 6.41 crore 5.74 crore 5.46 crore 5.08 crore 2.78 crore 2.12 crore 11.85 lakh 10.21 lakh 3.10 lakh 57,813 50.90 crore ELECTORS IN DRAFT ROLL 12.55 crore 7.08 crore 5.43 crore 5.31 crore 5.04 crore 4.34 crore 2.54 crore 1.84 crore 10.84 lakh 9.18 lakh 2.46 lakh 56,384 44.40 crore % CHANGE -18.69 -7.60 -15.18 -7.44 -7.65 -14.50 -8.64 -12.88 -8.44 -10.12 -20.62 -2.47 -12.88 Ananthakrishnan G ponements,thetotalnumberof electors decreased by nearly 19%, from 15.44 crore to 12.55 crore, with 14.06% deletions on account of electors being declared absent or shifted, 1.65% enrolled at multiple places and 2.99% deceased. Of the 12.55 crore voters on thedraftlist,1.4crorewillreceive »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 People search for their names in the draft list in Mirzapur, UP. PTI New Delhi, January 6 THESUPREMECourtonTuesday pulled up the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM)for“failinginperforming its duty” and observed that it “appears to be in no hurry eitherinidentifyingthedefinite causes of worsening AQI (Air Quality Index in Delhi-NCR) or their long-term solution.” It also rapped the CAQM for seeking two more months to comeoutwithaplantoaddress theissueoftrafficcongestionat toll plazas on Delhi’s borders, which add to the pollution. POLITICS pAgES 8, 6 DHAmI SmELLS pLOT IN pROTESTS OvER ANkITA mURDER cASE TN: HIgH cOURT UpHOLDS LIgHTINg Of TEmpLE LAmp The bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice JoymalyaBagchisaidanexpert body like the CAQM should first identify the causes of pollution, determine how much eachcontributes,andthenplan long-term solutions to address them one by one. The biggest cause of pollution must be addressed on priority, it said. “First of all, an expert body like CAQM should identify the reasons, and approximate attribution to them. There can’t be a mathematical attribution. You bring those reasons into the public domain. All those »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 New Delhi, Ghaziabad, January 6 We're changing it. India ordered 68 Apaches,” he said. ENS adds: On Sunday, Trump said Modi “knew I was not happy” with India’s purchases of Russian oil and that Washington can raise tariffs on »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IIT Council for ‘adaptive’ JEE Advanced: Exam changes based on student’s ability Recommends that an optional adaptive test be held as a pilot ahead of the next JEE (Advanced) exam this year Abhinaya Harigovind New Delhi, January 6 INAmoveaimedatmakingthe JEE (Advanced) exam “a better and less stressful assessment”, the IIT Council has recommended that an expert committee evaluate the possibility of making the test adaptive, where questions are dynamically generatedand adjustedin real-time depending on the candidate’s ability. The Council, which is the apex coordination body of the premierinstitutes,hasalsorecommended that an optional adaptive test be held as a pilot ahead of the next JEE (Ad- vanced) exam this year for data tobecollectedonperformance. Based on the results, a phased roadmap with specific timelines for the transition to adaptive testing can be outlined,accordingtotheminutes of the meeting held on August 25 last year and released on Monday. TheCouncilhasalsorecommended that sanctioned posts be created for mental health professionals at IITs. TheIITCouncilmeetingwas held last August after a gap of two years. The Council is led by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan as the chairpersonandincludesDirectors of all IITs and chairpersons of their Board of Governors. According to the minutesof the meeting, IIT Kanpur »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WELL-KNOWN CLIMATE activist Harjeet Singh was arrested by UP Police under the state'sexciselawsinGhaziabad on Tuesday, a day after searches by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at premises linked to him allegedly led to the recovery of a cache of Indian and foreign-made liquor “beyond permissible limits”, the central agency said. The ED said it is also probing Singh’s visits to Pakistan, including one in February last year, and Bangladesh, with the agency tracking a visit last monthamidtheanti-Indiaprotests there. According to the ED, its probeandMonday'ssearchesat three premises in Delhi and Ghaziabad linked to Singh and the climate advocacy group he co-founded,SatatSampadaPvt Ltd, are part of a wider investigationintosuspectedmisuseof foreign funds to allegedly influence Government policies and undermine the country's energy security. According to police, Singh was arrested under sections of the UP Excise Act after a complaint was filed by the state's Excise department in the early hours of Tuesday based on information shared by the ED that a large quantity of liquor was found at his residence in Ghaziabad. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 JNU, beating up students and teachers.Thenunionpresident Aishe Ghosh was seriously injured in the attack. A purported video of Monday night’s event on campus appeared to show students raising slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. In the complaint submitted to the Station House Officer of Vasant Kunj (North) police station Tuesday, the chief security officerofJNUsaidthegathering, at which some 30-35 students werepresent,initially“appeared tobelimitedtocommemorating the said anniversary”. “However, during the course of the programme, subsequent to the judicial verdict” on Umar and Sharjeel, “the nature and tone of the gathering changedsignificantly”,andthe alleged slogans were raised, according to the complaint. This, the complaint said, was “direct contempt of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India”. Senior Delhi Police officers said Tuesday evening that they hadreceivedthecomplaint,and »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE BIg PICTuRE Express News Service US President Donald Trump addresses the House Republicans at an event in Washington on Tuesday. REUTERS Trump has imposed 50 per cent tariffs on India, including 25 per cent for its purchases of Russian oil. Trump also said that India told him it has been waiting for five years for the Apache helicopters. “We're changing it. JAWAHARLAL NEHRU University (JNU) has asked police to register an FIR after “highly objectionable,provocative,and inflammatoryslogans”wereallegedly raised during an event organised by “students associated with” the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) on Monday evening. The university has identifiedninestudentsbyname,including the four office bearers of JNUSU, who it has said were present during the event that was organised “ostensibly to observe the sixth anniversary of the violence that occurred in JNU on 5 January 2020”, but at which slogans relating to the “bail pleas of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam” were raised. The Supreme Court on Monday refused bail to Umar and Sharjeel, former students at JNU, in the ‘larger conspiracy’ case relating to the communal riots in Delhi in 2020. Weeksbeforetheriotsbroke out in February of that year, dozens of masked individuals Climateactivist inEDprobe arrestedunder UPexciselaws Washington, January 6 Ananthakrishnan G ASSERTING ITS right to verify citizenship status for the purpose of inclusion or exclusion from the electoral rolls, the Election Commission of India told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the power flows “directly from the Constitution” and “The Citizenship Act, 1955, and the Foreigners Act, 1946, do not detract from the power of the ECI with respect to assessment of citizenship”. The bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the SpecialIntensiveRevision(SIR) of electoral rolls. “Itisevidentthatfromitsinception,theConstituentAssembly intended that authorities New Delhi, January 6 »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SC pulls up CAQM: Modi not that happy with me Failing duty... identify because of US tariff: Trump pollution causes, plan Press Trust of India long-term solutions USPRESIDENTDonaldTrump on Tuesday said that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is “not thathappywithme”becauseof thetariffsimposedbyWashingtononDelhiforitspurchasesof Russian oil. Trump, delivering remarks at the House GOP Member Retreat, also claimed that “Prime Minister Modi came to see me, ‘Sir, may I see you please’. Yes.” “I have a very good relationship with him. He’s not that happy with me because you know they're paying a lot of tariffs now because they’re not doing the oil, but they are, they've now reduced it very substantially, as you know, from Russia,” Trump said. & Alok Singh New Delhi, January 6 SOURCE: PRESS RELEASES BY CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICERS OF THE 12 STATES/ UTs; FIGURES ROUNDED OFF mORE REpORTS, p 3, 5 JNU asks for FIR after ‘provocative’ slogans raised at JNUSU event Indore water deaths: What lies beneath pAgE 12 FORMER MP DIES AT 81 Kalmadi’s complex legacy: Cong’s Pune heavyweight, sports czar, undone by CWG Manoj More & Asad Rehman Pune, New Delhi, January 6 A FORMER Indian Air Force pilot who made his mark in Pune politics and rose through the Congress ranks after coming to Sanjay Gandhi’s notice, Suresh Kalmadi was frozen out by the party after he was arrested in 2011 in connection with the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The former Union Minister and seven-term MP, including threeastheLokSabhaMPfrom Pune, died in a city hospital in the early hours of Tuesday at the age of 81. Kalmadi — who is survived by his wife, a son, daughter-in-law, two daughters, sons-in-law, and Suresh kalmadi was a former Union Minister and 7-term MP grandchildren—wascremated at 4 pm in the presence of a largenumberofsupportersand Congress workers. Kalmadi was arrested on April 24, 2011, in a corruption case linked to the Games in whichtheCBIaccusedhimofirregularities in awarding a contracttoaSwissfirm,allegedly »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 l CONCERTED ACTION AGAINST ILLEGAL ABORTIONS, SPECIAL IDs TO PREGNANT WOMEN, RAIDS HELP STATE REACH 923 How Haryana turned around sex ratio at birth, now close to national average PAGE 1 anchor Varinder Bhatia Chandigarh, January 6 BEHIND HARYANA’S best sex ratio in five years lies a decadelong campaign, involving lawenforcement measures, interstate raids and roping in of medical officers to monitor ultrasound centres. In the 2011 Census, the state ranked among the worst performers in terms of sex ratio at birth,at834girlsper1,000boys. In 2025, this stood at 923, close tothenationalaverageof933(as per a reply in Parliament by the government in 2023), and a big jump from 910 in 2024. The 2024 numbers, which marked aneight-yeardip,hadsetalarm bells ringing. More than 65,000 girls have been “saved” on account of the push to improve sex ratio since 2015, officials say (an estimation of the number of girls who may have been killed due to foeticide otherwise). Says Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Sudhir Rajpal: “It wasaconcertedandfocusedapproach, with strategies refined asneeded.Wemonitoredthein- itiatives weekly, and involved departments across the board, includingpolice,shiftingourapproachfromjusttheimplementationofthePNDTandMTPAct. We had full support of the government, from the Chief Minister to the Health Minister and everybody else.” One measure of the efforts made by the state, which was chosen by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to launch his ‘Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao’ campaign in 2015, are the number of FIRs filed under the PNDT (Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques) and MTP (Medical Termination of Preg- E. l State’sbestsexratioinfiveyears 871 876 900 914 914 923 922 914 917 916 910 923 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Births 2024 2025 2.70 lakh 2.71 lakh l Males l Females l Total 2.46 lakh 2.49 lakh 5.16 lakh 5.20 lakh SOURCE: HARYANA GOVERNMENT nancy) Acts. Between2015and2025,Haryana registered 1,375 FIRs, against medical practitioners and ultrasound centre owners, under the two laws, with records showing a sustained campaign even during the Covid- hit year of 2020. If around 100 FIRs were registered in that period,thenumberstoodat142 in2021.Therewasadipin202324, but in 2025, Haryana officials filed 154 cases. Action has been spread across districts, including urbanised districts such as Faridabad (126 FIRs over the decade, the highest in the state), followed closely by Sonipat with 115 and Gurugram with 112, and Tier II ones such as Ambala, Hisar, Rohtak, Sirsa, Karnal and Kurukshetra. Faridabad,Sonipatand Gurugram, incidentally, continue to have sex ratios below the state average, at 916, 894 and 901, re- spectively. The top three districts as regards sex ratio at birth are Panchkula (971), Fatehabad (961) and Panipat (951). With Haryana residents who want sex determination tests visiting centres in bordering states, raids were also conducted by the Haryana administration in these areas. Haryana shares borders with four states: Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, and Rajasthan. In 2025, 218 inter-state PNDT raids were conducted in Uttar Pradesh, the highest, followed by89 inDelhi, 83in Punjab and 26 in Rajasthan. “There were times when New Delhi raidingteamsfacedchallenges, including leaks about the action and logistics issues. But ourcounterpartsinotherstates have been very receptive and cooperative,” a senior officer told The Indian Express. Explaining the coordination within the state at the ground level, Dr Arun, a nodal officer for the PNDT in Panchkula,says,“Therearearound57 ultrasound centres in Panchkula. All are part of our WhatsApp group. We hold regular inspections, quarterly meetings. Last year, we also introduced ‘RCHID’ or ‘Reproductive and Child Health Identity’, a »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2