The Ideas Page: A new compact to reshape India’s cities 11 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2026 JOuRNALIsM of COuRAGE lUCkNOW, lATE CITY, 18 PAgES ₹6.00 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 ‘INDIA’S SECURITY INTERESTS DIRECTLY LINKED TO WEST ASIA’ ‘Extraordinarily productive’: India, Israel elevate their ties 17 pacts signed as Modi, Netanyahu hold talks; tech key to partnership Shubhajit Roy New Delhi, February 26 Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, in Jerusalem, Thursday. @MEAINDIA COMPANY DENIES ILLEGAL OCCUPATION, ENCROACHMENT Ramdev aide’s firm got land from Uttarakhand, UP claims ownership EXPrESS investigation Aiswarya Raj Dehradun, February 26 THE UTTARAKHAND Tourism Development Board (UTDB), which allocated land in June 2023 for a one-year pilot project in adventure tourism to a firm owned by Patan- Happening today lCANADIAN PM MARK Carney starts a four-day visit to India. business as Usual By EP UNNY Uttarakhand awaits return of land by Rajas 20 months after pilot project jali co-founder Acharya Balkrishna, has been unable to get it vacated despite it being overdue for almost 20 months, documentsaccessedbyTheIndianExpressundertheRightto Information Act reveal. EvenasUTDBsentmultiple reminders and even warnings of taking a legal recourse to the firm Rajas Aerosports and AdventurePvtLtd,itcametolight in September 2025 that the land allocated didn’t belong to the Uttarakhand government »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Days after adverse US court ruling, Lutnick in Delhi for trade talks Ravi Dutta Mishra New Delhi, February 26 SIXDAYSaftertheUSSupreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s sweeping globaltariffs,USSecretaryofCommerce Howard Lutnick and US AmbassadortoIndiaSergioGor met Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi Thursday to discuss trade ties. “Engaged in very fruitful discussionstoexpandourtrade »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Union Minister Piyush Goyal with US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and US envoy to India Sergio Gor in New Delhi, Thursday. ANI INDIA AND Israel elevated their ties to a “Special Strategic Partnership for Peace, InnovationandProsperity”andsigned 17pactsaftertalksThursdaybetween Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Benjamin Netanyahu, wrapping up what the Israeli Prime Minister called an “extraordinarily productive” and “extraordinarily moving” visit by the Indian Prime Minister. Beforeheadinghome,Modi said,“Ourrelationsarefounded on a strong foundation of deep trust, shared democratic values, and human sensibilities.Ourrelationshiphasstood the test of time. Today, we took the historic decision to elevate our time-tested partnership to ‘Special Strategic Partnership’. This decision reflects the aspirations of the people of both countries.” The two sides had framed their ties as a Strategic Partnership in 2017 during Modi’s first bilateral visit to Israel. Netanyahu said, “This is an amazing visit, an amazing conclusion to an amazing visit. It was short but extraordinarily productive and also extraordi- E. EXPlAINED focus on critical minerals and AI One of the key outcomes, Modi said, was the decision to establish a Critical and Emerging Technologies Partnership. This will boost cooperation in AI, quantum, and critical minerals. EDITOrIAl PAGE PARTNERSHIP SERVES NATIONAL INTEREST, gLObAL STAbILITY: PM TO ISRAEL PAgE 10 narilymoving…Themeetingof minds and hearts that we have had here will also continue in this remarkable G2G (government-to-government) that is longoverdue,andwillcreatean even greater boost to the enormous benefits that can bring to each other, and I think, to humanity at large.” The major outcomes of the »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SC BANS BOOK, ISSUES NOTICE TO TOP OFFICIALS Heads must roll: CJI on NCERT book; PM seeks accountability AtCabinetmeet, SC: Calculated move to undermine and Modiaskedwho demean judiciary, needs deeper probe ismonitoring schooltextbooks Ananthakrishnan G New Delhi, February 26 COMINGDOWNheavilyonthe National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) for introducing a section on “Corruption in the Judiciary” in its Class 8 social science textbook, the Supreme Court Thursday called it a “calculated move to undermine and demean dignity of judiciary”. It imposed a “complete blanket ban” on further publication, reprinting or digital dissemination of the book. Takingupasuomotucasein thematterafterTheIndianExpress first reported the content of the new section in the textbook,thebenchofChiefJustice ofIndiaSuryaKantandJustices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, also issued notices to theSecretary,SchoolEducation Department in the Ministry of Education, and the NCERT Director, asking them to show cause why action under the Contempt of Courts Act or any POlITICS PAgE 6 PM TO ROLL OUT HPV VACCINE CAMPAIgN fROM AjMER TOMORROw Will act against involved: Pradhan If allowed to go unchecked, will erode sanctity of the judicial office in the estimation of the public... ” CJI SURYA KANT EDITOrIAl PAGE A NEEDED TExTbOOk LESSON fOR NCERT PAgE 10 other provision of law should not be initiated against them. “Anyattempttocircumvent this order through electronic »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Liz Mathew & Abhinaya Harigovind New Delhi, February 26 PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi has taken strong exceptiontotheinclusionofasection on “Corruption in the Judiciary” in the NCERT Social Science textbook for Class 8, sources said Thursday. Expressing his anguish, Modi, at a Cabinet meeting held Tuesday, was said to have asked Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to find out who was responsible for this and who should be held accountable. Modi took up the issue at theCabinetmeeting,thefirstto be held at Seva Teerth, »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INSIDE pAGE 3 YOgI wRAPS UP jAPAN-SINgAPORE VISIT, INkS DEALS Of Rs 1.5 LAkH CR Maharashtra beginsworkon anti-conversion law,firstdraft sentforvetting Vallabh Ozarkar Mumbai, February 26 THEMAHARASHTRAgovernment is learnt to have prepared the first draft of a proposed anti-conversion law aimed at addressing cases of alleged forcedreligiousconversions,an issue that leaders of the ruling Mahayuti coalition have often described as “love jihad”. Sources said the “preliminary” draft has been referred to the LawandJudiciaryDepartment for feedback as part of the procedural process. A source told The Indian Express that drafting is still underwayandthattherewillbe further discussions between the Home and Law and Judiciary departments before the Bill is finalised. “As is the case with any law, there will be several rounds before it is finalised,” the source said. The government,thesourcesaid,isaiming tobringtheBilltotheHousefor passage this year. The development comes daysafterGujarat,anotherBJPruledstate,tabledamendments to its marriage registration law making parental consent mandatory.IntheGujaratAssembly lastweek,DeputyChiefMinister HarshSanghavisaidthat“under »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 l JUDOKA FROM GIR IS FIRST SIDDI ATHLETE TO qUALIFY FOR CWG, ASIAD ‘There will be a day when people will want to take a photograph with me’ Mihir Vasavda says his cousin and former judoka Afarudin Chovat, “a few people started calling him AfriINDIA’S TRAILBLAZER ju- can” and other racist slurs. doka, Rohit Majgul, has a grievItwasn’tthefirsttimeMajgul ance. “People think I am Afri- was subjected to such comcan,” he says. ments. “I have been PAGE 1 One episode called names — from his teenage sometimes as abuse, years still lingers. At sometimes teasingly a national-level U-17 cham- — all my life because of my pionship in Gujarat’s Nadiad in looks, the curly hair,” he says. 2019, Majgul had reached the But that day, he got overfinal.“Whilehewaspreparing,” whelmed. “I was disturbed and Mumbai, February 26 anchor All my life I have been called names because of my looks, the curly hair: Rohit Majgul felt very bad. However, I have surrounded myself with good people, good friends. They told metoignorethenoiseandfocus on my game.” Majgulwentontobenamed thechampionship’sbestjudoka. Hemadehimselfapromise.“He told us, ‘There will be a day when people will want to take a photo with me’,” says Chovat. Seven years later, the 21year-oldbecamethefirstathlete »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow