The Ideas Page: PM is spot on but Macaulay’s children wear suits, ties — and the tilak too 11 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2025 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 , 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 WINTER SESSION BEGINS A TAlE Of TWO JUNE 24 ORDERS ANNOUNCING NATIONWIDE SpECIAl INTENSIVE REVISION BEGINNING WITH BIHAR In writing, Commissioner Sandhu cautioned against harassment of ‘genuine citizens’; final SIR order dropped mention of Citizenship Act PM targets Opp, says Parliament for delivery, not drama June 24 draft order approved on WhatsApp the same day; citizenship sentence ended abruptly with semicolon EXPrESS investigation Damini Nath New Delhi, December 1 ON JUNE 24, the day the Election Commission issued the order directing a nationwide SpecialIntensiveRevision(SIR) of electoral rolls starting with Bihar, Election Commissioner Sukhbir Singh Sandhu put on record a note of caution in the order’s draft version, The Indian Express has learnt. “Care should be taken that genuine voters/citizens, particularly old, sick, PwD (personswithdisabilities),poorand other vulnerable groups do not feel harassed and are facilitated,” Sandhu wrote in the file of the draft order. This was an apparent reference to the exercise that required all existing electors to fillenumerationformsandcertain categories to furnish additionaldocumentstoprovetheir eligibility. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar subsequently signed off on the file. Significantly,inasignofthe urgency with which the order Happening today lMAHARASHTRA WIll HOlD the first round of local body polls. This comes months after the BJP-led Mahayuti coalition’s landslide victory in Assembly elections last year. lTHE fOURTH KASHI Tamil Sangamam, a cultural event promoted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to strengthen national unity, commences in Varanasi. lTHE 14TH EDITION of the annual India-Maldives bilateral exercise EKUVERIN begins in Kerala. It aims to boost interoperability in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations. TRACK THESE AND MORE ON WWW.INDIANExpRESS.COM NATION pAGE 9 vIt bhopAL trIED to CovEr Up oUtbrEAk of jAUNDICE: probE Cong hits back: Modi biggest dramebaaz Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu (left) and Vivek Joshi. FILE POLITICS pAGE 5 DoUbtS oN S.I.r. UNfoUNDED, EC tELLS top CoUrt was issued, the draft order was approved on WhatsApp that very same day. When the final order was made public on the evening of June 24, it carried a telling amendment. In Paragraphs 2.5 and 2.6, the draft order, reviewed by The Indian Express, had explicitly linked the SIR to the Citizenship Act, using the changes in the Act to justify the process: “The Commission has a constitutional obligation to ensure that only persons who are citizens as per the Constitution of India and the CitizenshipAct,1955(‘CitizenshipAct’) are included in the electoral roll.TheCitizenshipActunderwent a significant amendment in 2004 and thereafter no intensive revision has been conducted across the country.” The final order, however, dropped the references to the Citizenship Act and the amendment passed in 2003 and applicable from 2004. In Paragraph 8 of the final order dated June 24, the EC wrote: “Whereas, one of the fundamental pre-conditions setoutinArticle326oftheConstitution is that a person is required to be an Indian »CONTINUED ON pAGE 2 Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Union Minister Kiren Rijiju at Parliament House on Monday. ANIL SHARMA business as Usual By EP UNNY Vikas pathak A long queue at the Kolkata Municipal Corporation office on Monday as people rush to get their birth certificates amid the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in the state. PARTHA PAUL Why EC note was an early warning, citizenship became key issue in SC Damini Nath New Delhi, December 1 THE REMOVAL of the CitizenshipActreferenceandElection Commissioner Sukhbir Singh Sandhu’s cautionary note are significant for two key reasons. First, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar triggered concerns among voters and the Opposition about disenfranchisement and a backdoor route to a National Register of Citizens (NRC), the creation of which was mandated by the 2003 amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955. As The Indian Express reported, there was widespread panic in the state as voters scrambled to get their papers in order. Even though the reference to the CitizenshipActwasdeletedand didnotreflectinthefinalorder, official records bear out the Commission’sinitialreasoning. Second, Sandhu’s warning was prescient: the first week of rollout in Bihar saw chaos on the ground, a scramble for documents, and confusion amongvoters,leadingtheECto tweak the process a few times. The EC hadgiven an indicative list of 11 documentsthatelectors could submit; importantly the list did not includeAadhaar,VoterIDandration card, which are widely held. E. »CONTINUED ON pAGE 2 New Delhi, December 1 BEGINNING THE Winter Session of Parliament with an all-out attack on the Opposition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday accused it of using Parliament either as a “warm-up arena” for elections or “as an outlet to vent frustration after defeat”. He said Parliament should be a place for “delivery”, not drama; neeti (policy), not naare (slogans). His remarks drew angry responses from Opposition parties,withtheCongressalleging that Modi was the “biggest dramebaaz” and that his statement was “nothing but hypocrisy”. Modi’s remarks came in the backdrop of indications from theOppositionthatitwouldnot let Parliament function unless the government agreed to its IN PArLIAmENT bE ImpArtIAL, opp UrGES v-p rADhAkrIShNAN fULL CovErAGE, p 6 demand for a discussion on the Special Intensive Revision of electoralrolls,oronthebroader topic of electoral reforms. With the government yet to come out with a decision, the »CONTINUED ON pAGE 2 Amid complaints over ENSURE SANCHAR SAATHI App CAN’T BE DElETED: GOVT Opp, Govt dial down ‘behaviour’, women’s Centre asks smartphone makers to rhetoric, may pave pre-install its app, triggers concerns way for SIR debate hockey coach quits Soumyarendra Barik New Delhi, December 1 Resigned citing personal reasons: Hockey India Mihir Vasavda Mumbai, December 1 HOCKEY INDIA parted ways with its women’s team chief coachHarendraSinghonMonday following complaints from players to the Union Sports Ministryabouthis“behaviour” and a string of poor results. In a statement, Hockey India said Harendra, who had taken charge of the team in April last year, has “resigned” citing“personalreasons”.However, The Indian Express has learnt that senior players in the team,whowerepartoftheParis Olympics Qualifiers and Asian Gamescampaigns,complained to the ministry “three or four days ago” about what they alleged was Harendra’s “high- Harendra Singh had taken over as the coach in April last year handedness”, and conveyed their unwillingness to play for the national team under him. Sourcessaidthiswasthesecond time that players had complained to the ministry about Harendra.Accordingtoasenior player,whorequestedanonymity, the Target Olympic Podium divisionoftheministrywasfirst apprised of their concerns at a nationalcamp“aroundthreeor four months ago”. Following the latest complaint, the ministry ordered Hockey India to investigate the issue. On Monday, the governing body’s top brass, including »CONTINUED ON pAGE 2 THE DEPARTMENT of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked smartphone companies in India to pre-install a Statedeveloped cybersecurity application that allows users to report fraudulent calls and messages, as well as track and block stolen cellphones. It has specified that users should not be able to delete the app. The DoT has said that all new devices should come preinstalled with the ‘Sanchar Saathi’ app, and a software updateshouldbeissuedtophones that have already been sold to make the app available. The companies have been given three months to adhere to the directive—industryexecutives said the firms are expected to push back. The directive has raised red flags among smartphone makers, who are arguing that it »CONTINUED ON pAGE 2 Police cite Instagram post on Hidma, Marxism to oppose students’ bail Nirbhay Thakur New Delhi, December 1 OPPOSING THE bail pleas of college students who were arrested during a protest in the Capital in which several police personnel were allegedly attacked with pepper spray, the DelhiPolicehascitedInstagram posts to allege “Naxal links”. While the protest at India Gate on November 23 was re- portedly called over poor air quality, police had told the court that they were probing “Naxal links” as the protesters had “raised slogans in support of Naxalites”. Twenty-three protesters — mostly Delhi University students reportedly associated with the Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch (BSCEM) and Himkhand, an environmental research and action collective — have been arrested. On Monday, police told a Delhi court that an Instagram post by the BSCEM “glorified” Maoist commander Madvi Hidma, who was killed in an encounter in Andhra Pradesh last month. “Duringinvestigation,apost has been found on the Instagram page of BSCEM mentioning ‘statement against the fake »CONTINUED ON pAGE 2 liz Mathew New Delhi, December 1 PROCEEDINGS IN the Lok Sabha were washed out on the first day of the Winter Session on Monday, with the Oppositionstickingtoitsdemandfora discussionontheSpecialIntensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. But with both the government and the Opposition dialling down their rhetoric, there is a possibility of discussions taking place in both Houses of Parliament in the coming days. As the Opposition pushed foradebateontheSIRexercise, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju reiterated that the government was not aversetodiscussingSIRorelectoral reforms, but said the Opposition should not insist on setting a timeline. During the day, senior Cabinet ministers held multiple rounds of discussions, including one in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's room in Parliament Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi during the Opp floor leaders’ meeting, Monday. ANI House, to finalise the format of the debate, sources said. “Thematterrelatedtowhatever you call it, Special Intensive Revision or electoral reforms, I stated before the beginning of the Winter Session that the government is not averse to taking up discussion on anything. Please give us some time while there are other businesses listed that can be taken up. The demand »CONTINUED ON pAGE 2 l BORN WITH DWARFISM, HE HAS FOUGHT LEGAL BATTLES EVERY STEP OF THE WAY TO APPOINTMENT AS MEDICAL OFFICER AT BHAVNAGAR GENERAL HOSPITAL Ganesh Baraiya, ‘Gani’ to friends, doctor to patients, 3-ft inspiration to many Aditi Raja Returning to a chamber for medicalofficers,whichisoccupied by two batchmates and AT 3 feet, he barely reaches the two interns who are on duty height of an average hospital with him, Baraiya says the stretcher.Thatishardlyadeter- change in his fortunes has rent for Dr Ganesh Baraiya, barely sunk in. who has vaulted over many to And it all started with his become arguably the first per- father — an illiterate farmer, son with a 72% disability to be- from Gorkhi village of Bhavnacome a medical practitioner. gar. The eighth of nine siblings, At noon, as a and the first son of PAGE 1 woman is brought his parents, Baraiya into the Trauma wasbornwithdwarfCentre at Sir T Genism, with 72% locoeral Hospital in motor disability due to a Bhavnagar, the 25-year-old is growth hormone deficiency. among the first responders, a Among his siblings, he is the stethoscope around his neck, only one with the condition. supervising the interns who atWhen he was 10, a circus tend to the patient. troupeofferedto“buy”Baraiya Vadodara, December 1 anchor for Rs 5 lakh, telling his father he was good enough to “only work in a circus”. The father chased them away, and as per the family, fiercely protected Baraiya from then on, afraid he might be “abducted”. “My elder sisters would carry me everywhere. My father would carry me on his shoulder to school,” Baraiya recalls. “Even as a child, I accepted my condition.” As he grew up, Baraiya would require other shoulders —andhecreditsmany,leading uptotheletteronNovember26 announcing his formal appointment as ‘Bonded Medical Officer Class-2’ at Bhavnagar General Hospital. Dr Ganesh Baraiya and Dr Deepak Vadher have been roommates since the first year of MBBS. BHUPENDRA RANA It was seven years after Baraiya had cleared the NEET exam for medical entrance in 2018 under the disabled quota. Just as Baraiya was preparing to take admission, the Medical Council of India (MCI) denied him entry saying he could not pursue MBBS as his disability would be an impediment as a doctor. When the Gujarat High Court upheld this, a despondent Baraiya decided to drop his medical dreams and enrol in B.Sc. But Dr Dalpat Katariya, whomBaraiyacallshismentor, “pursued the case in the Supreme Court without informing me”. Dr Katariya is the DirectorofNeelkanthVidyapeeth High School in Talaja, where Baraiya studied in Class 11 and 12, after his father reluctantly agreed to send him away from home, assured that he would stay in a hostel on the campus. By the time the Supreme Court ruled in his favour, a year had passed. Baraiya finally enrolled for MBBS at Bhavnagar GovernmentMedicalCollegein 2019.Butthenhefacedanother setback: he could not clear his written exams in the first semester,ashewasnotabletofinish answeringthequestionpapers. “I was unable to cope with the speed and the length of the answer sheet... It left me crushed. But Dr Katariya approached one of my seniors, Dr Yash Dave, to help as the latter had also helped draft my legal petitions before courts. I was not only granted a writer but also an hour extra for exams. I managed to clear my remain- New Delhi ing MBBS semesters in my first attempt,” Baraiya smiles, noting that it was the first time a writer had ever been provided to an MBBS student. Besides Katariya, Baraiya credits Neelkanth Vidyapith Principal Raivarsinh Sarvaiyya for encouraging him to pursue medicine. Throughout his MBBS course too, every time he needed a hand, people were there,headds.“Myjourneyhas been possible because of the people with me, most importantly Dr Katariya and Sarvaiyya Sir… Then, there is Dr Dave,whonotonlyhelpedduring my legal battle but, after »CONTINUED ON pAGE 2