DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2025, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES A TRIBUTE TO BHUPEN DA PM NARENDRA MODI PAGE 5 TARGET IS TO SEAL DEAL BEFORE SUMMIT EARLY 2026 European Union negotiators coming to Delhi this week to step up FTA talks Dairy, sugar, rice kept out of farm trade talks; India to seek CBAM concessions SHUBHAJIT ROY & RAVI DUTTA MISHRA ‘In Lok Sabha, did we say they stole the votes? They got more seats, didn’t they? EKNATH SHINDE MAHARASHTRA DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER PAGE 14 out for in run-up to deal, summit SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 DAYS AFTER Prime Minister Narendra Modi and European Union leaders discussed an “early conclusion” of the IndiaEU FTA, two top negotiators of the EU, in-charge of trade and agriculture, are coming to India thisweektoholdtalksonresolving knotty issues of the deal. European Commissioner for Trade Maros Sefcovic and Commissioner for Agriculture Christophe Hansen will be in Delhithisweektoleadthenegotiations, their first visit since February this year when the College of Commissioners travelled to India. These two Commissioners, who are equivalent to Cabinet Ministers, will be leading a 30member negotiating team from Brussels and will meet their counterparts in Delhi, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 ChristopheHansenand MarosSefcovic BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY AMID THE strain in ties between Delhi and Washington over the 50 per cent tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, India and the EU are embarking on an “intensive” roadmap over the next five months — with 10 meetings in the next 5-6 months, leading to the India-EU NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 THE FAULT lines in the new Washington under President DonaldTrumpbecamevisibleas WhiteHousetradeadvisorPeter Navarro lashed out at Elon Musk afterthebillionaire’sXsocialmedia platform fact-checked ‘Foundation is cricket’: Steve Waugh takes guard for India-Australia ties HARIKISHAN SHARMA SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 NEARLY 34 LAKH enumerators conducting the upcoming Census, the country’s first fully digitalCensus,willusetheirown smartphonesanddedicatedmobileapplicationsfortheexercise, The Indian Express has learned. According to sources, the enumerators and supervisors deployed by the Registrar General of India (RGI) will use their own devices to collect the data and transfer it to the central serverthroughthemobileapplications, which will be available in English as well as in regional languages for both Android and iOS operating systems. Theappsweredevelopedinitiallyforthe2021Censusbutare now being redeveloped and recalibrated to match the technological enhancements in mobile phones and operating systems, said a source. Accordingtothesource,if,for somereason,anenumeratorcollects data on paper, they will have to then enter it on a dedicated web portal so that no subsequent scanning or data entry is required. This means that the Census data will, for the first time,bedigitisedattheenumerator level itself, ensuring timely availability of the information, the source added. Sources said the mobile applications will be used in both phases of Census 2027 — the houselisting operation that will be conducted from April to September 2026, and the population enumeration that is CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WEST BENGAL SYDNEY, NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 FORMER AUSTRALIA captain SteveWaughbookendedhisTest career with Team India, making his debut at Melbourne in December 1985 and winding up at Sydney in January 2004. Having played against several greats, from Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar to Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, he has been to India “about 40-50 times” in the last 40 years. So,itwasnaturalthatWaugh Obviously, you’d love to see India and Pakistan play cricket regularly but that doesn’t happen, which is a huge shame because the cricket world wants to see that. STEVE WAUGH, EX-AUSTRALIA CRICKET CAPTAIN PAGE 3 SPORT PAGE 16 signed up when the Australian Foreignministryaskedhimafew months ago to join the board of theirgovernment-backedCentre for Australia India Relations (CAIR),establishedin2023.Now, he is planning to come to India nextmonthinhisnewrole—and for his philanthropic and business engagements. SpeakingtoTheIndianExpress in Sydney recently, not very far from the ground where he played some of his most memorable matches, the legendary cricketersaid:“Iamlikethe12th man on the (CAIR) team at the White House trade advisor Peter Navarro; X owner Elon Musk Navarro’s latest diatribe against India for buying Russian oil as “hypocritical”. Navarro and Musk have had an acrimonious relationship in the past, with Musk having called him a “moron” in the past. Musk is no longer with the Trump administration — he quit as head of Department of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD RUSSIA HITS KYIV WITH BIGGEST AIR ATTACK OF WAR PAGE 12 NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 WITH PAKISTAN managing to breach Indian airspace with swarms of drones, including camouflaged surveillance and attack UAVs, during the hostilities that followed Operation Sindoor, the Indian Army is preparing to plug gaps in its air surveillance network along the northern and western borders withadvancedradars,TheIndian Express has learned. The new radar systems that theArmyplanstoprocurearedesignedtodetect,trackandengage aerial objects with a low radar cross-section(RCS),whichmakes themhardertospot.Accordingto sources,thesesystemswillbeintegrated into the Army’s Akashteer air defence network, giving battlefield commanders sharpereyesintheskyandfaster responses against hostile drones and other aerial threats. In two separate Request for Information (RFI) — the formal process for gathering inputs from potential suppliers — the Army has sought to procure up to 45 Low Level Light Weight Radars (Enhanced) (LLLR-E) and up to 48 Air Defence Fire Control Radar-Drone Detectors (ADFCRDD). In a separate Request for CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PASSENGERS TARGETED AT LUGGAGE CHECK Railway cops extorting passengers in Mumbai, 13 suspended in 5 months MOHAMED THAVER MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 7 OVER THE past five months, 13 Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel, including a Senior Inspector, have been suspended on charges of extorting money from passengers at railway stations across Mumbai in what officers say is an “unprecedented” crackdown against an “organised racket”. Sources told The Indian Expressthattheracketwasfound to be operating at railway stations in and around Mumbai,especially those that cater to longdistance trains, such as Mumbai Central, Dadar, Kurla, Bandra Terminus, Borivali, Thane, Kalyan and Panvel. “The targets are mostly long-distance passengers carrying valuables who prefertoavoidregisteringacomplaint,” an officer said. 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