The Editorial Page: US Court constrains unilateral tariffs. Can trade multilateralism be far behind? 10 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2026 Journalism of Courage KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES ₹6.00 (₹12 in North East states, ₹20 in Andaman) 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 Happening today lFINANCE MINISTER Nirmala Sitharaman will address RBI’s Central Board of Directors in the customary post-Budget meeting in Delhi. Sitharaman and RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra will later address the media. lTHE INDORE BENCH OF Mad- hya Pradesh HC is scheduled to hear a clutch of petitions related to the Bhojshala TempleKamal Maula Mosque complex. lSINGAPORE WILL BEGIN easing some of its public health measures related to Nipah virus as no cases have been reported. TRACk THESE AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPrEss.cOm POlITIcs pAGE 5 LULA: INdIA doES Not hAvE thE mINdSEt of A coLoNISER Highest-ranking Maoist leader Devuji surrenders Headed CPI (Maoist) Central Military Commission for last two decades Nikhila Henry Hyderabad, February 22 THE HIGHEST-ranking member of the Communist Party of India(Maoist),ThippiriTirupathi alias Devuji, has surrendered in Telangana along with 20 other Maoist cadres, two highly-placed sources said. The surrender has come aheadofaMarch31deadlineset by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to bring the Maoist movement to an end in the country. SecurityforcessteppedupantiMaoist operations in 2024, particularlyinChhattisgarh,where at least 520 Maoists have been For party out of leaders, territory, firepower, key moment of unravelling Nikhila Henry & Deeptiman Tiwary Hyderabad, New Delhi, February 22 Devuji, 62, carried a bounty of Rs 1 crore MORE REPORTS, P 4 killed since then, including CPI (Maoist)generalsecretaryNambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraju. Several top leaders and »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE SURRENDER of Thippiri Tirupathi,aliasDevujior Devji, marks a decisive moment in the unravellingofthebannedCommunist Party of India (Maoist). With Devuji laying down arms, the party’s politburo has effectively been reduced to just one active member — Misir Besra, alias Sagar/Sunirmal — while the central committee is now estimated to have only five active members, down from its original strength of nearly 50. The attrition among cadres has been heavy too. Since 2024, more than 500 Maoists have been killed in security operations. In 2025 alone, around285Maoistswere killed, while around 22 have been neutralised so far in 2026. Security forces have also E. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Direct benefit transferred: How India trade deal talks rescheduled as US SC a network in Rajasthan diverted scraps Trump tariffs cash from govt schemes Ravi Dutta Mishra ExPrEss investigation PM-Kisan, state pension, crop loss schemes main target; 51 arrested Hamza Khan Jhalawar, February 22 l HAzARI LAL, 35, a resident of Rajpura in Rajasthan’s Manohar Thana, says he was approached by a 15-year-old abouttwoyearsago,askinghim for a photo of his Aadhaar card, in order to avail a government cash scheme, and promising him 50% of the amount in exchange.Eightdayslater,Lalgot the promised half: Rs 5,000. The man who allegedly gave him the money, Ram Babu, is now in police custody; Lal claims he still has no idea of the Business as Usual By EP UNNY IDFCFirstBank reportsRs590-cr fraudbyitsstaff inaccountsheld byHaryanagovt AHEAD OF AMIT SHAH’S MARCH 31 DEADLINE TO END MAOIST MOVEMENT New Delhi, February 22 THE THREE-DAY India-US trade talks, set to start Monday in Washington DC to finalise the legal text of the agreement struck earlier this month, have been rescheduled. This comes NATION after the US Supreme Court ruled that President Donald Trumpoversteppedhispowers by imposing sweeping tariffs under International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), The Indian Express has learnt. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Sukhbir Siwach Chandigarh, February 22 PM Narendra Modi with UP CM Yogi Adityanath while flagging off Meerut Metro and Namo Bharat train in Meerut, Sunday. ANI PAGE 6 Cong used AI Summit for shameless politics, its allies TMC, DMK, NC stood for truth: PM Modi cannot suppress our voices to protect himself: Cong Devansh Mittal New Delhi, February 22 TWO DAYS after Youth Congressworkersprotestedshirtless at the India AI Impact Summit here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday hit out at the Oppositionpartyforturningthe international event into an arena for its “gandi aur nangi (dirty and shameless)” politics. “The whole country was filled with pride (during the summit). But what did the Con- pAGE 7 Ravi Sen (left) and other investigators probing into the cases at the cyber control room in Jhalawar. EXPRESS scheme under which he received the money. l Dinesh Kumar, 38, a mobile shop owner in Jhalawar’s Battukherivillage,recallsfilling up a form and sharing his Aadhaar details around three-four »CONTINUED ON PAGE 7 3 Jem tERRoRIStS kILLEd IN J&k ENcoUNtER LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, DELHI Bhangartense afterattackon TMCMLA,2held n TMC MLA Saokat Molla had a narrow escape in Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district of WestBengallateSaturdaynight after crude bombs were allegedly hurled at his convoy while he was returning from a police station after registering an FIR over an attack on a TMC meeting that left four injured earlier in the evening. REpoRt, pAGE 3 st 31 Foundation Day on Monday, 23 February, 2026 rd Lt Gen R S Raman PVSM, AVSM, YSM Chief Guest Shri Anil Shastri Former Union Minister & Chairman-BOG, LBSIM will preside SALIENT FEATURES » Top 15 Private B-Schools of India 2025 by Times of India, Business Today, Outlook, The Week, Fortune India, Business World, and India Today. » Highly Qualified Faculty Members with Ph.D. » Consistent Strong Placements. » 12 Terminal Bloomberg Lab & Analytics Lab with SPSS, SAS & EViews. » State of the Art Infrastructure & highly Resourceful Library. » Separate Hostel facility for boys and girls. AICTE APPROVED PROGRAMMES ‘We now have a triple-engine government, with the same party ruling at all three levels. Our focus is solely on delivery’ PARVESH SAHIB SINGH BJP LEADER AND DELHI PWD MINISTER pAGE 14 PGDM Two Year Full-time Programmes offered: PGDM - General PGDM - Financial Management PGDM - Research and Business Analytics PGDM - Artificial Intelligence & Data Science Fellow Program in Management (FPM) Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, Delhi Plot No. 11/7, Sector 11, Dwarka, New Delhi-110075 Tel.: 011-25307700 | Email: director@Lbsim.ac.in Website : www.Lbsim.ac.in Follow us: Kolkata gress and its ecosystem do? The Congress turned India’s global event into an arena for its dirty and shameless politics. At the venue,infrontofforeignguests, Congress leaders arrived, stripping off their clothes. I ask the Congresspeople—everyonealready knows you are politically naked, then what was the need to remove your clothes? What the Congress leaders did there shows how ideologically bankrupt and impoverished the country’s oldest party has become,” the PM said in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, after inauguratingMeerutMetroandtheDelhiMeerut Namo Bharat corridor. ModisaidtheCongress'sallies werealsotakenbysurprisebythe incident at the Bharat Mandapam. “The shamelessness »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IDFC First Bank on Sunday disclosed a Rs 590-crore fraud committed by its employees and others in accounts held by the Haryana government. In a regulatory filing with the National Stock Exchange, IDFC First Bank said it has reported the matter to the bankingregulatorandalsofiledapolice complaint. “Prima facie, unauthorised and fraudulent activities were carried out by certain employeesataparticularbranchin Chandigarh in a specific set of Haryana state government accounts and potentially involvingotherindividuals/entities/ counterparties,” the bank’s filing said. Soon after this revelation, the Haryana government “deempanelled IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance for government business in the state of Haryana with immediate effect till further orders.” Asofnow,thebank’sNSEfilingestimatedthefraudvolume at Rs 590 crore and added that a “reconciliation exercise” will determine the final amount based on receipt of further information, validation of claims and recoveries of any nature. It said a Haryana government department had been banking with IDFC First Bank, and the lender received a request for a closure and balance »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2