DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2025, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES BY UNNY FROM JAPAN, MODI WILL HEAD TO CHINA FOR SCO SUMMIT Look forward to meeting Xi, Putin, says PM, flags shared challenges AI, semiconductors on PM Modi’s Tokyo table SHUBHAJIT ROY THE WORLD RUSSIA POUNDS KYIV IN FIERCEST ATTACK SINCE ALASKA MEET, HITS EU MISSION PAGE 12 Three lakh and counting: Notices in Bihar over ‘discrepancy’ in papers DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, AUGUST 28 AS PART of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) have so far found discrepancies in documents of about 3 lakh electors, and begun issuing notices asking that they appear before them within seven days, The Indian Express has learnt. This number is likely to increase as the EROs of Assembly constituencies are still scrutinising the documents, according to officials aware of the development. WHAT WILL NOT COUNTINBIHAR According to the Election Commission, 7.24 crore electors had made it to the draft electoral roll published on August 1. They have time until September 1 to submit eligibility documents from a list of 11 indicated by the EC. On Sunday, the EC, in a statement, said that 98.2% of electors’ documents had been received. Startingthisweek,EROshave beenissuingnoticestosuchelectorswhohaveeithernotsubmitted any document, or submitted incorrect documents or whose eligibility, including citizenship, is under doubt, according to four CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CANBERRA, AUGUST 28 SETTING OUT on a two-nation visit that is being keenly tracked, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday that he will be meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit which is beingheldinTianjinnearBeijing from August 31 to September 1. Modi, who left New Delhi for Tokyo Thursday night, will travel to China from Japan after a twodayvisit—thiswillbehisfirstvisit to China in seven years – and his meeting with Xi is likely Sunday. In a departure statement released by his office, the Prime Minister said, “India remains committed to working with the SCO members to address shared challenges and deepen regional cooperation. I also look forward to meeting President Xi Jinping, Talks with US on, but removal of 25% penalty holds key: Officials Govt working on measures to address liquidity crunch faced by exporters RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, AUGUST 28 PM Narendra Modi leaves for Tokyo on Thursday. PTI President Putin and other leaders on the sidelines of the Summit.” His meetings with Xi and Putin will be closely watched in capitals across the world given the strain in ties between New Delhi and Washington over the issue of tariffs, India’s purchase of Russian oil and a trade deal that has hit roadblocks. India and China have been taking steps to repair ties after a five-year military standoff along theLineof ActualControlineasternLadakhfollowingChineseincursions.ModiandXilastmeton October 23, 2024 on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in the Russiancityof Kazan.Thatmeetingresultedindisengagementof troops from two key friction points in eastern Ladakh, followed by talks leading to the resumption of the Kailash CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THENEGOTIATIONSoveratrade deal with the US may resume only after the additional 25 per cent oil penalty is addressed, according to a senior Commerce and Industry Ministry official. WashingtonDCwastosenda team to New Delhi to continue discussions on August 25, but the talks were ‘halted’ by the US after President Donald Trump projected New Delhi’s purchase of oil from Russia as a big deal breaker. Trump had on August 6 announcedtheadditional25per TMCP FOUNDATION DAY At rally, Mamata accuses BJP of using SIR to ‘omit voters from list’ ATRI MITRA cent tariffs over and above the reciprocal tariffs of 25 per cent. TheUS’s50percenttariffson exports from India became effective on Wednesday. The official said the government continues to engage with the US and that only the round of negotiations scheduled for August 25 has been deferred. “We may not be negotiating the trade deal right now but the engagement is still going on. Negotiating the agreement would entail that the additional 25 per cent will have to be first addressed. Because if we do a trade deal and the additional CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INSIDE PALGHAR BUILDING COLLAPSETOLL RISES TO 17 RAHUL’S ‘VOTER ADHIKAR YATRA’ TO END IN PATNA Modi’s war, says Trump advisor; House Dems slam ‘sabotaging’ of ties RAVI DUTTA MISHRA & DIVYA A NEW DELHI, AUGUST 28 A DAY after the US raised tariffs on Indian products to 50 per cent, Peter Navarro, trade advisor to President Donald Trump, described the Russia-Ukraine war as “Modi’s war”, and said “the road to peace runs, at least partly,rightthroughNewDelhi”. “Everybody in America loses because of what India is doing. Consumers, businesses and workers lose because India’s high tariffs cost us jobs, factories and income. And then the taxpayers lose because we have got to fund Modi’s war. The road to peace runs, at least partly, right through New Delhi,” Navarro told Bloomberg TV. He reiterated “Modi's war” after the interviewer said “you mean Putin’s war”. E EXPLAINED BUSINESS AS USUAL `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES, `20 IN ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Tightrope walk for ● New Delhi INDIA WAS one of the first countries to begin talks with the US. It was proceeding very well, but suddenly went off track with non-trade issues such as India’s oil purchases from Russia taking centrestage. It will be a tightrope walk for India as it stands up to Trump, while also keen to get the US on its side. There was no immediate response from New Delhi on Navarro’s remarks. Text messages and calls to the Ministry of KOLKATA, AUGUST 28 PAGES 6, 4 THE TRINAMOOL Congress won’t give an inch when it comes to the Special Intensive Revision(SIR),WestBengalChief Minister Mamata Banerjee said Wednesday as she accused the rival Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to “omit names” from voter lists. Speaking at the Trinamool CongressChhatraParishadfoundation day, both Mamata and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee said they would stridently oppose the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, which they claim is meant to “deprive citizens” of their rights. The rally comes months ahead of Assembly polls. The TMC has been claiming that the electoral roll revision is a variation of the National Registerof Citizens–aclaimthat both leaders repeated at Thursday’s rally. “The BJP has brought over 500 teams to Bengal from other states to conduct surveys for omitting the names of voters. Don’t give any information to RSS workers free to join agitations for Kashi and Mathura, says Bhagwat Never said I’d retire, or someone else should at 75: Bhagwat DEEPTIMAN TIWARY & VIKAS PATHAK NEW DELHI, AUGUST 28 West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) Foundation Day event, in Kolkata on Thursday. Partha Paul unknown persons who come to your doorstep and ask anything. They may try to do NRC in the name of SIR. But as long as I live, I will not allow them to delete a single voter in Bengal,” Mamata saidattherally,alsoaccusingthe Election Commission of India of partisanship. Mamata also brought up the attacks on migrant workers in other states, attributing them to the BJP – which she called a “loadedvirus”.Referringtoanallegedattackonamigrantworker inMumbaiearlierthisweek,she said she would not tolerate “any humiliation of the Bangla language and the people of Bengal”. Atthesametime,shealsoaccused the rival Left — especially the Communist Party of India (Marxist) — of conniving with CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EC sets stage for Bengal roll revision ATRI MITRA KOLKATA, AUGUST 28 SETTINGTHEstageforrevisionof electoralrollsinpoll-boundWest Bengal,theElectionCommission (EC)hasaskedtheChiefSecretary and the District Election Officers (DEOs) in the state to step up preparations, including making necessary appointments, for CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 the impending exercise. Bengal’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal has sent a letter on August 27 to all the state DEOs in this regard. He has sent a separate letter on August 26 to Chief Secretary Manoj Pant, asking that the government should fill up all vacant posts of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant EROs (AEROs) imme- diately so that that the EC could carry out the electoral roll revision when it is announced, sources said. Bengal is slated for the Assembly polls in MarchApril 2026. OnAugust29,CEOAgarwalis alsogoingtoholdameetingwith all parties over the proposed electoralrevisionexercise.AnEC official said, “We don’t know whether it would be called SIR (Special Intensive Revision) or not, but like in earlier polls the roll revision will be done. So we aretryingtocompleteourpreparations in August so that, if required, we can start the revision process from September first week itself.” In his letter to all District Magistrates (DMs), who are the DEOs as well, the CEO said, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ON THE third and final day of his three-day lecture series in Delhi, RSS Sarasanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat indicated that the Sangh supported the demand that the sites of the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi and the Eidgah at Mathura be given to Hindus. Sangh swayamsevaks were free to associate themselves with any movement for these sites, and the other side could respond by giving up their claims as it was a “matter of just three”, said Bhagwat. Thursday marked the end of the Sangh’s lecture series ‘100 Years of the Sangh’s Journey – New Horizons’, and Bhagwat tookup218questionsforwarded by those who had attended the event. On a question regarding the Kashi-Mathura issue, Bhagwat said, “Andolan mein Sangh jaata nahin. Ek maatra andolan Ram Mandir tha jisase hum jude aur aakhir tak le gaye. Ab baaki andolan mein Sangh jayega nahin. Lekin Hindu maanas mein Kashi, Mathura,Ayodhya,teenonkamahatwahai.Dojanmabhoomihain, ek niwas sthan hai. Hindu samaj iska aagrah karega. Sangh iss andolan mein nahin jayega, lekin Sangh ke swayamsevak ja sakte RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in New Delhi Thursday. Express hain. Lekin in teen ko chhod kar, maine kaha hai, har jagah mandir mat dhoondo, har jagah Shivling mat dhoondho (The Sangh does not associate itself with movements. It got associated with onlytheRamtemplemovement, and took it to the end. Now the Sangh will not associate itself with other movements. But in the Hindu heart, Kashi, Mathura and Ayodhya, all hold importance. Two are birthplaces, and one is a residence (of God). The Hindu society will ask for them. The Sangh will not associate with this movement, but Sangh swayamsevaks can. But barring these three, as I have said, don’t look for a temple or a Shivling in every place).” Bhagwat suggested that Muslims should willingly hand over the sites. “Main agar ye keh sakta hoon, Hindu sangathan ka pramukh, jisko swayamsewak bhi prashna poochte rehte hain, toh thoda itna bhi hona chaahiye ki, chalo bhai, teen ki baat hai, le lo. Bhaichare ke liye ek bohot bada kadam hoga (If I am saying this, beingthechief of aHinduorganisation, who can be questioned by his own swayamsevaks, then there can be a little effort from that side also that, okay, it is a matter of just three, take it. This will be a big step towards brotherhood).” In 2019, following the Ayodhya judgement awarding the site of the demolished Babri Masjid to the Hindu side for a temple, Bhagwat had indicated that the RSS would not be taking up any agitations as regards the Kashi and Mathura disputes. “TheSanghdoesnotgetinvolved in any andolan (movement). We work towards character building. In the past, circumstances were different, resulting in the Sangh getting involved in the movement (for Ayodhya). We will once again work for character building,” the RSS chief had said. This was interpreted as the Sangh distancing itself from – or, at least, going slow on – the Kashi and Mathura demands. What Bhagwat said Thursday was more in line with the Sangh’s push for Kashi and Mathura along with Ayodhya as CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 School enrolment drops for third year in a row; ‘falling birth rates’ cited PAGE 1 ANCHOR ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND NEW DELHI, AUGUST 28 ENROLMENT IN government and government-aided schools has dropped for the third consecutive year, while private school enrolment has goneupin this period. TheEducationMinistry’sUDISE+ data for 2024-2025, released on Thursday, shows that total enrolment too dropped, from 25.18 crore in 2022-23 to 24.80 crore in 2023-24, and 24.69 crore in 2024-25. UDISE+ is the Ministry’s database on schooleducation,andtracksand monitors school education parameters from the pre-primary to the higher secondary levels. ThefirstyearthatUDISE+data showedafallinenrolmentwasin 2022-23—whenschoolsopened afterthepandemicinducedlockdown.Ministryofficialshadthen attributed the drop — of over a crorecomparedtotheaverageof the previous four years — to a change in the data collection method.From2022-23onwards, UDISE+ data is being collected as recordsof individualstudentsinsteadofaggregatenumbersatthe school level. This change in methodology may have resulted in the weeding out of duplicate entries, officials had said. Releasing the latest data on Thursday, a senior official in the Education Ministry attributed the drop in enrolment data for the third time in as many years to “demographic shifts with falling birth rates”. The official pointed out that only data from a fresh Census can confirm if a demographic shift had possibly resulted in a drop in the primary school-going population. Total enrolment in 2024-25 dropped by a marginal figure of around0.5%(11.13lakhstudents) compared to 2023-24, and around 2% (48.59 lakh students) OVERALL DIP IN ENROLMENT ENROLMENT Year Total Govt schools Private schools Govt-aided schools 2024-25 24.69 cr 12.16 cr 9.59 cr 2.48 cr 2023-24 24.80 cr 12.75 cr 9 cr 2.55 cr 2022-23 25.18 cr 13.62 cr 8.42 cr 2.62 cr 2021-22 26.52 cr 14.32 cr 8.83 cr 2.70 cr 2020-21 26.44 cr 13.49 cr 9.52 cr 2.68 cr 2019-20 26.45 cr 13.09 cr 9.82 cr 2.75 cr 2018-19 26.03 cr 13.11 cr 9.22 cr 2.80 cr UDISE+ data: Ministry of Education compared to 2022-23. However,governmentschool enrolment has steadily dropped over the past three years, while private school enrolment has seen a rise. Government school enrolment dropped from 13.62 crorein2022-23and12.75crore in2023-24to12.16crorein202425.Privateschoolenrolmentrose from 8.42 crore in 2022-23 to 9 crore in 2023-24, and 9.59 crore in 2024-25. Enrolment in private schools accountedfor39%of thetotalenrolment in 2024-25, the highest that this figure has been from 2018-19onwards,whenitranged from 33-37%. Similarly,thenumber of government schools fell to 10.13 lakh in 2024-25, from 10.18 lakh in 2023-24. Private schools sawarise(3.79lakhin2024-25vs 3.31 lakh in 2023-24). The drop in enrolment in 2024-25 compared to the previousyearisintheprimaryclasses (classes 1 to 5). At all other levels – pre-primary, upper primary (classes 6-8), secondary (classes 9-10), and higher secondary (classes 11-12) – enrolment has seen marginal increases. Officials in the Ministry also pointed to a decline in the dropout rate in 2024-25 compared to 2022-23. For the secondary level – where dropouts have been a concern – the dropout rate has fallen from 13.8% in 2022-23 to 8.2% in 2024-25. At the middle stage of school,thisfigurehasfallenfrom 8.1% to 3.5% over this period. The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) – which is the enrolment at a level of education compared to the population of the agegroup appropriate for that level – shows that GER at the foundationalstage(pre-primarytoclass 2)hasremainednearlythesame in 2024-25 (41.4%) over the previous year 2023-24 (41.5%). On GER, the official pointed outthatthefigureisbasedonthe 'projectedpopulation'estimated fromthe2011census,andadded thatafreshcensuscouldprovide more accurate figures. Kolkata