DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY SINCE 1932 IN JAGDEEP DHANKHAR’S SHADOW Justice Varma’s removal: Process to begin, Speaker to name probe panel EC sets ball rolling for V-P election, says schedule to be released soon Birla,officiatingRSChairmanHarivansh meet;bothwilldiscusspanelcomposition EC asks Bengal govt to create separate Election Department: ‘CEO lacks autonomy’ EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, JULY 23 CITING A “lack of administrative and financial autonomy” available to the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), the Election Commission has asked the West Bengal government to create a separate Election Department, completely delinked from any other state department. In a letter dated July 17 and addressed to the West Bengal Chief Secretary, the Election Commission wrote: “The Commissionhasnotedlackof financial and administrative autonomy available to CEO, West Bengal, in the existing arrangement,whereinCEO'sofficefunctionswithlimitedfinancialpowers relying on a minor permanent advance from the FinanceDepartment.Further,the CEO'sofficehasbeencategorized as a subordinate branch of the Home&HillAffairsDepartment, which is led by a principal secretary-level officer, whereas the CEO himself is of ACS rank.” The EC was referring to the West Bengal government’s April 3 notification, appointing IAS officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal as the state CEO. He was also made ex-officio Additional Chief Secretary of the Home and Hill Affairs Department. Directing the state governmenttocreateaseparateElection CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SPORT LIZ MATHEW NEW DELHI, JULY 23 THE PROCESS of removal of Justice Yashwant Varma will be set in motion in the Lok Sabha soon with Speaker Om Birla expected to announce the constitution of a statutory committee to investigate the grounds on whichtheremovalof thejudgeis sought, The Indian Express has learned. BirlaandRajyaSabhaDeputy Chairman Harivansh met Wednesday with Secretaries General of both the Houses and theofficialsdiscussedthemodalities to finalise the procedure. UnionHomeMinisterAmitShah also joined the meeting later. Thediscussionstookplaceon a day the Supreme Court said it willsetupabenchtohearJustice Varma’s plea challenging the legal validity of the in-house inquiry committee which confirmed charges of recovery of Justice Yashwant Varma unaccounted cash from his official residence in Delhi. This comes in the shadow of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar’s surprise resignation Monday evening and, as The Indian Express reported Tuesday, hoursafterhisdecisiontoaccept the Opposition’s notice on Justice Varma had rubbed the government the wrong way. Thishadcreated“confusion,” government sources said, becauseBirlahadreceivedasimilar notice from Lok Sabha MPs with 145 signatures around 12.30 pm Monday,hoursbeforeDhankhar made the reference to the Opposition notice in the Rajya Sabha. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, JULY 23 Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge during a ceremony to pay tribute to Bal Gangadhar Tilak on his birth anniversary, at the Old Parliament Building on Wednesday. PTI At RS council meet, Cong rubs it in, wants Dhankhar farewell No other Opp member backs proposal, Govt not in favour MANOJ C G NEW DELHI, JULY 23 TWO DAYS after raising questions on the sudden resignation of JagdeepDhankharastheVicePresident and saying that there was something more to it than meets the eye, the Congress on Wednesday went a step ahead, proposing at a meeting of the Rajya Sabha’s Business Advisory Council (BAC) that Dhankhar, who was also the ex-officio Chairman of the Upper House, be given a farewell. Sources said Jairam Ramesh, the Congress’s chief whip in the Rajya Sabha, made this proposal at the BAC meeting, but the government was learnt to be not in its favour. The Upper House is set to give a farewell to seven retiring members Thursday, which CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INSIDE OPP SEEKS DEBATE ON BIHAR SPECIAL REVISION, HOUSE DISRUPTED PAGE 3 SC TO SET UP BENCH TO HEAR JUSTICE VARMA PLEA PAGE 4 THE ELECTION Commission on Wednesday announced that it had started the process for holding the election for the post of Vice-President, two days after Jagdeep Dhankhar’s sudden mid-term resignation on Monday evening. Inastatement,theECsaidthe Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) hadnotifiedDhankhar’sresignation on Tuesday. “The Election Commission of India, under Article 324, is mandated to conduct the election to the office of the Vice President of India. The election to the office of the Vice President of India is governed by the Presidential and VicePresidential Elections Act, 1952, and the rules made thereunder, namely the Presidential and Vice-PresidentialElectionsRules, 1974. Accordingly, the Election Commissionof Indiahasalready startedthepreparationsrelating totheVice-PresidentialElections, 2025,” the EC said. Itsaidthatoncepreparations arecomplete,theelectionschedulewouldbeannouncedassoon as possible. Among the activities that have commenced are the preparation of the electoral college,finalisationof theReturning Officer/ Assistant Returning Officer(s), and preparation and dissemination of background material on all previous CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘Westarctica’: Ghaziabad conman held for running fake embassy GHAZIABAD, JULY 23 PAGE 14 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE 16-HOUR DEBATE ON SINDOOR NEXT TUESDAY SAMAN HUSAIN DIVYA DESHMUKH ENTERS 2025 FIDE WOMEN’S WORLD CUP FINAL `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES, `20 IN ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM UTTARPRADESHPolice'sSpecial Task Force (STF) has busted a fake embassy operating in Ghaziabad, and arrested a 45year-old man who claimed to be the “Ambassador of Westarctica”. Operatingfromarenteddouble-storey bungalow in Kavi Harsh Vardhan Jain Nagar neighbourhood, Harsh Vardhan Jain allegedly ran an NEW DELHI, JULY 23 JD(U) MP from Bihar's Banka, Giridhari Yadav, is known to speak his mind. On Wednesday, he broke ranks with his party and its ally BJP to criticise the Election Commission’s (EC) ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar just ahead of the Assembly elections,referringtoitasa“Tughlaqi farman (ill-conceived diktat)”. In an interview with The Indian Express, Yadav speaks on the issues with the SIR and its potential outcome. Excerpts: The Opposition is protesting against the SIR in Bihar. How do you see it? My first point is there is very little time given by the EC for suchahumongousexercise.This is a time for farming in Bihar, peoplearebusywithagricultural THE EXPRESS INTERVIEW GIRIDHARI YADAV JD(U) MP FROM BANKA, BIHAR CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Expressed satisfaction with peace, tranquility in border areas, says MEA DIVYA A NEW DELHI, JULY 23 INDIA AND China on Wednesday reviewed the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and prepared the ground for the next round of Special Representatives' talks to be held in India later this year. In a related development, as part of the ongoing efforts to repair bilateral ties, India said it wouldresumeissuanceof tourist visas to Chinese nationals from Thursday,afteragapof fiveyears. Thiscomesalmostamonthafter resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra on June 30. The two sides reviewed the situation at the 34th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination (WMCC) on India-China border affairsinNewDelhi,fourmonths after the last such meeting was held in Beijing. “The two sides reviewed the situation in the India-China border areas. They expressed satis- E Towards normal ● ties THE LATEST move is part of a series of confidencebuilding measures that the two countries have been taking in recent months. Besides resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, the two sides have also said that direct flights will restart soon. The de-escalation of troops on the LAC remains on the agenda. faction with the general prevalence of peace and tranquility in theborderareas,leadingtogradual normalisation of bilateral relations,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said, adding that India and China agreed to maintain regular exchanges and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD 15 PALESTINIANS STARVE TO DEATH IN GAZA ICJ: INACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE VIOLATION OF LAWS PAGE 8 CBDT CHIEF INTERVIEW To nudge taxpayers, I-T dept tracks online visits and filters PANs AANCHAL MAGAZINE NEW DELHI, JULY 23 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 work. But you are making them run around for documents. This is also a time when parts of the state face floods. Villages get washed away. These people struggle to get their lives together. It is a bad time to do such an exercise. TheECissayingthereisonline provision (for filling the forms). But many of the people in Bihar are unlettered. They migrate out ofthestatetoearnalivingandare After 5-yr gap, India resumes tourist visas for Chinese; border meeting held too How many times taxpayer accessed statements, high-value transactions elaborate con built on forged documents, a fake embassy, and claims of global influence, police said. Around 11.30 pm Tuesday, the Noida unit of the STF raided the bungalow and arrested Jain. The bungalow, just a few buildings away from Jain's ancestral home, had been converted into what he called the "Embassy of Westarctica" — its name possibly inspired by a ‘Took me 10 days to get papers for EC drive... a year since LS polls, what was poll panel doing?’ DEEPTIMAN TIWARY SETS STAGE FOR SR TALKS EXPLAINED JOURNALISM OF COURAGE THURSDAY, JULY 24, 2025, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES ON 2-NATION VISIT Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves on a four-day visit to the UK and the Maldives, Wednesday. India and the UK are likely to sign the Free Trade Agreement during his visit. PTI P4 FROM TRACKING the number of online visitsof users on its portal to flagging high-value transactions and filtering out PANs involved in wrongful claims, the Income Tax Department is now leveraging artificial intelligence to identify patterns in taxpayer behaviour. For instance, repeated online access to Annual Information Statement, which is a detailed summary of a pre-filled Income Tax Return, could point to a tax return that needs to be filed, but isnotbeingfiled.Or,itisjustpossible that the taxpayer is unable to file returns correctly despite multiple attempts. The I-T Department can use this informationtointerveneandhelpthe taxpayer. The idea is to progressively create a 360-degree profile of taxpayers’transactionsandidentify patterns and nuances in the filing of tax returns, said Central CBDT Chairman Ravi Agrawal Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Ravi Agrawal in an interview to The Indian Express. The department is a repository of rich data — as many as 40 crore AIS were generated from an estimated 650 crore financial transactions in the last financial year. Based on AI-linked data analysis, the Department is of the view there is scope for improvement in the total number of returns being filed. Whileninecrorereturnswere filed by taxpayers last year, about 7.42croretaxpayersarerecorded ashavingviewedtheirAIS,returningasmanyas3.5timesonanaverage to see their statements. AI is also helping raise “red flags”inhigh-valuetransactions, but where returns are not being CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Theatre doyen whose searing plays put Manipur on the world stage DIPANITA NATH PUNE, JULY 23 MORE THAN a month after ethnic violence erupted in Manipur in 2023, the Ministry of Home Affairs announced a peace committee with Chief Minister N Biren Singh and 50 others, including Padma Shri-awardee and theatre director Ratan Thiyam,asmembers.Thiyamrejected the invitation to join the committee,saying,“Astrongpolitical will is needed to solve the problem. If it is not done, where will the people go?” One of the most outspoken proponents of freedom and personal identity, Thiyyam’s presence transcended theatre. With his passing in Imphal on Wednesday, India's theatre movement has lost its master — an artiste who reinvented the stage every time he worked on a play. He was 76. Anuradha Kapur, theatremaker and former Director of the National School of Drama (NSD)inDelhi,saysthatuntilthe 1970s, storytelling on stage usually involved dialogues and long monologues. Then came Thiyam’s Chakravyuh, one of his most important plays, in 1984. Chakravyuh, which revolves around an episode from the Mahabharata in which the Pandava prince Abhimanyu is trappedduringthewar,isapolitical commentary on Manipur and its children who are born into violence. “He made his spectators understand the magic of the visual in theatre. He made us aware of a composite theatre image, which uses costume, light, music, vocalisation and percussion to create absolute magic. To me, this sort of image-making is the heart of theatre,” says Kapur. Thiyam, who founded the Chorus Repertory Theatre in 1976, created productions that RATAN THIYAM 1948 - 2025 were infused with spectacular, dramatic energy — from Uttar Priyadarshi, where a play of lights, sounds and other theatrical elements recreates the grandeur of Ashoka returning victorious after the Kalinga war astride an elephant, to Chakravyuh, where the movement of performers and red lights create the effect of violence and war. “Hisuseof lightisunmatched — sometimes illuminating just the hands and the raised arms of amovinggroup,sometimeslowering the intensity so much that onlytheglintsincostumearevisible. Sometimes, the starling white of a ceremonial cloth umbrella appears to float past us. Thiyam’sworkcreatedpoetryon stage,” says Kapur. Thiyam was one of the leading figures of Theatre of Roots, a post-Independence movement of decolonisation in which artistes returned to their culture and traditions. Thiyam, who spoke six languages, made plays only in Manipuri and presented these without subtitles all over the world. Kapur remembers watching plays in which the actors glided acrossthestagewithmovements drawn from Manipuri traditions such as Thang-Ta. “He played with very fluid movements and redefined movement in drama. The plays had choreography and music but were not musicals. Thiyam broke the bounds and was able to make us look at the proscenium as a framed space of magical images,” she says. HewasthefirstIndiantowin the prestigious Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh International Theatre Festival in 1987 for Chakravyuh. The director brought to his playsanintuitiveunderstanding of the elements of performance, a skill that can perhaps be traced to his childhood. When Thiyam CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata