DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2025, AHMEDABAD, CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 SPECIAL INTENSIVE REVISION FROM JAPAN, MODI WILL HEAD TO CHINA FOR SCO SUMMIT DAMINI NATH AI, semiconductors on his Tokyo table 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 appearbeforethemwithinseven days,TheIndianExpresshaslearnt. This number is likely to increase as the EROs of Assembly constituencies are still scrutinising the documents, according to officials aware of the development. 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,accordingto four sources aware of the matter. The printed notice, issued by EROs, does not mention any rule or provision of law, but says it is a notice for “verification of entries in the draft roll”. It says that the name of the elector concerned was included in the draft roll based on the enumeration form and declaration. LookforwardtomeetingXi,Putin, saysPM,flagssharedchallenges WHAT WILL NOT Govt working on measures to address liquidity crunch faced by exporters COUNTINBIHAR BENGAL REVISION: EC SETS STAGE PAGE 12 “Lekin aapke dwara prastut dastavezo ke satyapan ke dauraan, aisa pratit hota hai ki aapke dwara prastut dastavezo mein visangatiya hai, jisse es vidhan sabha shetra mein matdata ke roopmein panjikrit hone keaapke aadhikarparyathochitsandehutpan hota hai (However, during the verification of the documents submitted by you, discrepancies were found that create reasonable doubt as to your right to be enrolled as an elector of this Assembly constituency),” the notice states. It asks the elector concerned to appear before the ERO at the designated time and place along with the original copies of the documents. Electors are being given seven days notice, the sources said. One official said no names would be deleted without a hearing and a speaking order passed by the ERO concerned. RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, AUGUST 28 PM Narendra Modi leaves for Tokyo on Thursday. PTI SHUBHAJIT ROY 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 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY 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 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 Modi’s war, says Trump advisor; House Dems slam ‘sabotaging’ of ties RAVI DUTTA MISHRA & DIVYA A White House trade advisor Peter Navarro NEW DELHI, AUGUST 28 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 India and Canada hit reset on ties, name new envoys DIVYA A NEW DELHI, AUGUST 28 ALMOST TEN months after India and Canada expelled each other's high commissioners in a tit-for-tat move, both countries announced their new envoys on Thursday. The development comes two months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney agreed on the “early return of high commissioners” as part of the “constructive steps to restore stability”. While New Delhi named Dinesh K Patnaik, a 1990-batch Indian Foreign Service officer who is currently serving as India's ambassador to Spain, as its high commissioner to Canada, Ottawa named Christopher Cooter as its high commissioner to India. Relations between the two countries plummeted in September 2023 after Justin Trudeau, the then Canadian Prime Minister, alleged “potential” involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of Canada-based Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023 -- a charge that India rejected as “absurd” and “motivated”.Thistensionledtodowngrading of diplomatic ties, with both sides expelling the high commissionersandothersenior diplomats. The Trudeau administration Talks with US on, but removal of 25% penalty holds key: Officials 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. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 projected New Delhi’s purchase of oil from Russia as a big deal breaker. Trump had on August 6 announcedtheadditional25per 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. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E E X P L A I NE D 3 lakh and counting: Notices in Bihar over ‘discrepancy’ in papers 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. sume senior-level dialogues on trade, people-to-people contact and connectivity. “The appointments are an important step towards restoring necessary diplomatic services to citizens and businesses in both countries,” Canada said in a statement on Thursday. “The appointment of a new high commissioner reflects Canada’s step-by-step approach to deepening diplomatic engagement and advancing bilateral cooperation with India. This appointmentisanimportantdevelopment toward restoring services for Canadians while strengthening the bilateral relationship to support Canada’s economy,” Anita Anand, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, said. With over three decades of experience in the foreign service, Patnaik has served in key roles across continents, with early postings in Geneva and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DEEPTIMAN TIWARY & VIKAS PATHAK NEW DELHI, AUGUST 28 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 – RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in New Delhi Thursday. Express RELATED REPORT PAGE 12 New Horizons’, and Bhagwat tookup218questionsforwarded by those who had attended the event. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 lawyers abstain from work The SC collegium is considering the transfer of 14 HC judges, including Justice Sandeep Bhatt of the HC NEW DELHI, AUGUST 28 had identified India's then high commissioner, Sanjay Kumar Verma, and other diplomats as “persons of interest” in its investigationinto Nijjar'skilling.India had hit back at the “preposterous imputations” and said it was “withdrawing”itstop envoyand other diplomats, citing “no faith in the current Canadian government's commitment to ensure their security”. India has repeatedly expressed concern about Khalistani activists and antiIndia activities in Canada. The thaw took place in Canada's Kananaskis on June 17 this year, as Modi and Carney held a “positive” meeting on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Kananaskis,wherethetwosides “agreed to take calibrated and constructive steps to restore stability”intheirrelationship,startingwiththe“earlyreturnof High Commissioners to each other’s capitals”. The two sides agreed to re- ‘Only a matter of three (sites)... other side should offer for brotherhood sake’ TO PROTEST JUDGE’S PROPOSED TRANSFER Shot down by SC panel, bypass in fragile Uttarkashi zone gets state nod Gujarat HC work hit as NIKHIL GHANEKAR India’s Dinesh K Patnaik and Canada’s Christopher Cooter are the new envoys RSS workers free to join agitations for Kashi and Mathura, says Bhagwat A BYPASS in a fragile zone in Uttarakhand, opposed by a Supreme Court panel in 2020, hasgotin-principleclearanceafter the Centre directed the state to process the proposal under a legal exemption that lets roads of strategic importance be appraised locally. The Uttarakhand Forest Department’s in-principle approval for the Netala bypass, under the Chardham project’s Uttarkashi-Gangotriroute,came over two weeks before the Dharali flash flood in Uttarkashi district. It invoked an exemption clause under the Van (SanrakshanEvamSamvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980, which exempts “strategic linear projects of national importance” from Union government scrutiny. Suchprojectsareinsteadcleared by a state-level screening committee, with final approval conditional on compensatory afforestation and settlement of forest rights. The bypass, proposed between Hina and Tekhla on NH34 in Uttarkashi district, falls in the fragile Bhagirathi EcoSensitive Zone (BESZ), a 4,157 sq km expanse between Gangotri EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE VADODARA, AUGUST 28 Restoration work underway around the submerged part of the Gangotri NH, in Uttarkashi, Thursday. PTI FRAGILE ZONE Uttarkashi Dehradun Tekhla Netala Hina NH 34 Uttarkashi BhagirathiRiver and Uttarkashi town. The BESZ was notified in 2012 to protect River Ganga’s ecology and watershed near its origin. The project involves diverting 17.5 hectares of forest land on Dharasu–Gangotriroute,requiring the felling of about 2,750 trees in untouched forests. In 2020, the top court’s highpowered committee, headed by ecologist Ravi Chopra, had recommended dropping the same bypass on ecological and social CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE FUNCTIONING of the Gujarat High Court was impacted on Thursday after the Gujarat High Court Advocates Association (GHCAA) continued to abstain from judicial work in protest of the proposed transfer of sitting judge, Justice Sandeep Bhatt. The GHCAA had on Tuesday passed a resolution to abstain from work after the news of the proposed transfer was considered by the Supreme Court Collegium. On Thursday, as the courtrooms of the Gujarat High Court remained deserted, most sitting judges adjourned the hearings for the day in the absence of the advocates. Advocate Virat Popat, VicePresident of GHCAA, told The Indian Express that a delegation of the association is meeting Chief Justice of India B R Gavai in New Delhi on Thursday afternoon, following which, the associationislikelytopassanewres- olution about attending to work on Friday morning. “The general body has decided to continue with the earlier resolution (passed Tuesday) to abstain from work. A delegation of GHCAA is meeting the Chief Justice of India to discuss the issue (of the transfer of JusticeSandeepBhatt)thisafternoon. Based on the outcome of their meeting with the CJI, we will decide about Friday’s court work,” Popat said. While a few courtroomssawparty-in-person hearings,most matters listed for the day were adjourned “in absence of advocates”. Among the listed matters on Thursday was the bail plea of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA fromDediapadainNarmadadistrict, Chaitar Vasava, who has been lodged in jail since his arrest on July 5 in an alleged case of attempt to murder lodged by a BJP leader of his constituency. Vasava, whose matter has been listed and adjourned thrice in the past, has moved the high court for regular bail before the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 School enrolment drops for third year in a row; ‘falling birth rates’ cited PAGE 1 ANCHOR ABHINAYAHARIGOVIND NEWDELHI,AUGUST28 SCHOOL ENROLMENT has droppedforthethirdconsecutive year,withthegovernment’slatest data showing a dip of 11 lakh in enrolment over 202324. The drop in enrolment is led bygovernmentandgovernmentaidedschoolswhileenrolmentin privateschoolswentupinthisperiod. The Education Ministry’s UDISE+ data — which tracks and monitors school education pa- rametersfromthepre-primaryto the higher secondary levels — shows that total enrolment in 2024-25 dropped to 24.69 crore from 24.80 crore in 2023-24 and 25.18 crore in 2022-23. ThefirstyearthatUDISE+data showedafallinenrolmentwasin 2022-23—whenschoolsopened afterthepandemicinducedlockdown. Ministryofficialshadthen attributed the drop — of over a crore compared to the average of the previous four years — to a change in the data collection method.From2022-23onwards, UDISE+ data is being collected as records of individualstudentsinsteadofaggregate numbers at the school level.Thischangeinmethodology mayhaveresultedintheweeding out of duplicate entries, officials hadsaid.ReleasingthelatestUDISE+dataonThursday,aseniorofficialintheEducationMinistryattributed the drop in enrolment dataforthethirdconsecutiveyear to “demographic shifts with falling birth rates”. The official, however, said only data from a fresh Census can confirm if a demographic shift was behind the dropintheprimaryschool-going population. Total enrolment in 2024-25 dropped by a marginal figure of around 0.5%(11.13lakhstudents) compared to 2023-24. Whilegovernmentschoolenrolmenthassteadilydroppedover thepastthreeyears,privateschool 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 enrolment has seen a rise. Government school enrolment dropped from 13.62 crore in 2022-23 to 12.75 crore in 202324 and 12.16 crore in 2024-25. Private school enrolment, meanwhile, rose 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 from33-37%.Thenumberofgovernmentschoolsfellto10.13lakh in 2024-25, from 10.18 lakh in 2023-24. Private schools, however,sawarise(3.79lakhin202425 vs 3.31 lakh in 2023-24). The drop in enrolment in 2024-25 compared to the previous year is in the primary classes (classes1to5).Atallotherlevels— 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 pointedtoadeclineinthedropout 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. The Gross EnrolmentRatio(GER)—whichis theenrolmentatalevelofeducation compared to the population of the age-group appropriate for thatlevel—showsthatGERatthe foundational stage (pre-primary toclass2)hasremainednearlythe same in 2024-25 (41.4%) over the previousyear2023-24(41.5%).At the preparatory level (classes 35), the GER saw a marginal fall in 2024-25 (95.4%) vs 2023-24 (96.5%). At the middle (classes 68), and secondary (classes 9-12), the GER has increased compared to 2023-24. On GER, the official pointed out that the figure is based on the 'projected population'estimatedfromthe2011census,andaddedthatafreshcensus could provide more accurate figures. Enrolment among boys fell in 2024-25 — 12.76 crore when comparedto12.87crorein202324. In contrast, the figure rose marginally among girls —from 11,93,01,237 in 2023-24 to 11,93,34,162 in 2024-25. Ahmedabad