The Editorial Page: Taking sides in conflict — Delhi’s past record tells a complicated story 8 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2026 JOURNALISM of COURAGE JAiPUR, 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 , lU 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 PosTal regn. no. JaiPur ciTy/001/2024-26 GoVT Takes UrGeNT MeasUres aMid crisis iN wesT asia UNioN cabiNeT decisioN LNG imports hit, essential commodities Act invoked, gas allocation prioritised Govt eases curbs to allow limited FDI from China, others sharing land border Business as usual Household piped gas, CNG, LPG production will get precedence By EP UNNY 60-day deadline for proposal clearance sukalp sharma soumyarendra barik, ravi dutta Mishra & aanchal Magazine New Delhi, March 10 New Delhi, March 10 WITH LIQUEFIED natural gas (LNG) supplies to India hit by the halt of shipments through the Strait of Hormuz amid the conflict in West Asia, the government has invoked the Essential Commodities Act to divert natural gas to “priority sectors” that are dependent on the fuel. According to the order issued by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), segments that directly impact millions of common consumers — piped natural gas (PNG) for households, compressed natural gas (CNG) for vehicles, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) production — will have precedence over other natural gas-consuming sectors. Government sources said the order has been issued for supply management given the shortage in LNG supplies from West Asia; the shortage needs to be transferred to some nonpriority sectors while diverting gas supplies to high-priority sectors. Apart from domestic gas and imported LNG, the natural gas required to meet the demand of these priority sectors will be met “through full or partial curtailment” of gas supplied to some petrochemical manufacturing units, gasbased power plants, and consumers of domestic gas produced from difficult blocks. Natural gas supplies to refineries have been cut to 65 per cent of their average consumption of the past six months. IN A move that will allow limited investment flows from China into key manufacturing sectors, the Union Cabinet Tuesday approved easing curbs for countries sharing a land border with India for capital goods, electronic capital goods, electronic components, polysilicon and ingot-wafer for solar cells. Investment restrictions for land border-sharing countries, which were brought into force through Press Note 3 or PN3 of 2020, have been retained for strategic sectors such as semiconductors, official sources said. The government also decided a threshold level of 10% for automatic approval of the investment into these sectors. Under the revised investment norms, the majority sharehold- »coNTiNUed oN PaGe 2 LATEST l JAishANkAR: hAD DeTAileD coNveRsATioN WiTh iRAN’s ARAGhchi l U.s. AND isRAel PoUND iRAN WiTh ‘mosT iNTeNse AiRsTRikes’ oF The WAR l 700,000 DisPlAceD, 84 chilDReN killeD iN lebANoN, U.N. AGeNcies sAy More rePorTs, PaGe 14 a worker carries cooking gas cylinders in mumbai on Tuesday. AkAsh PATil scheduled to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone for projects worth about Rs 5,650 crore in poll-bound Tamil Nadu. lThe secoNd ediTioN of New Delhi World Para Athletics Grand Prix begins. The competition will bring together 275 athletes from eight countries. Track These and more on WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM INSIDE Pages 2, 4 CaBIneT aPProves rs 1.51 lakh Crore for Jal Jeevan CenTre looks aT delInkIng WoMen’s quoTa froM Census Page 4 arMy dy ChIef flags ChIna vIllages along n-e fronTIer ing and control of the investee entity will be with resident Indian citizen(s) and/or resident Indian entity(ies) owned and controlled by resident Indian citizen(s), at all times, according to an official release on the Cabinet decision. The government has set a »coNTiNUed oN PaGe 2 Ripple effects across sectors: From War very complete, may Top court on Bengal textiles to mining and steelmaking end soon: Trump; we SIR: Form tribunals will decide, says Iran War impacting three areas: Supply of ECONOMY Page 13 raw material, fuel & feedstock, market aIr IndIa To levy soumyarendra barik & Pratyush deep New Delhi, March 10 AS THE conflict in West Asia pushes up energy and commodity prices, its ripple effects are beginning to spread far beyond oil and gas, with sectors such as textiles, mining and steelmaking in India starting to feel the pressure. The impact is emerging through a chain of second- and third-order effects linked to fuel costs, petrochemicals, feedstock, and disruptions in global shipping routes along the Strait of Hormuz. “The West Asia conflict has set off a structural repricing across global chemical markets. Seventy-three commodities spiked in a single week: some by over 60% as Hormuz dis- Happening Three months after today flight disruptions, lPM NareNdra Modi is NATION IndiGo CEO resigns sukalp sharma New Delhi, March 10 THREE MONTHS after IndiGo, India’s largest airline, faced an unprecedented operational disruption that brought civil aviation operations across India to their knees, the carrier’s CEO, Pieter Elbers, resigned on Tuesday with immediate effect, according to stock exchange filings and a release issued by IndiGo. The airline’s promoter and managing director, Rahul Bhatia, will step in to assume management of the airline’s affairs until the appointment of a new CEO, “which is expected in short order”, IndiGo said. In his letter of resignation, Elbers — credited for IndiGo’s fuel surCharge ruptions choked the naphtha feedstock flows that Asian steam crackers depend on for 60–80% of their supply,” Ajay Joshi, a chemical sector expert and founder of an eponymous advisory firm for chemical companies, told The Indian Express. »coNTiNUed oN PaGe 2 Dubai, Tel Aviv, March 10 IRAN’S REVOLUTIONARY Guards said on Tuesday they would not let any oil out of the Middle East until US and Israeli attacks cease, prompting US President Donald Trump to threaten to hit Iran “twenty times harder” if it blocked exports. Despite the defiant rhetoric from both sides, investors placed strong bets on Tuesday New Delhi, March 10 »coNTiNUed oN PaGe 2 that Trump would call off his war soon, before the unprecedented disruption it has caused »coNTiNUed oN PaGe 2 UCC effective answer, we leave it to wisdom of legislature, says SC CJI bench flags ‘unnecessary void’ if E. EXPLAINED ananthakrishnan G “internationalisation” — cited personal reasons for leaving the airline that he helmed for over three years. Early December, the airline was hit by an operational meltdown, leading to thousands of flight cancellations over a few days. The crisis, brought about by improper and inadequate us President donald Trump 1937 shariaT acT ProVisioNs it strikes down provisions that are discriminatory to Muslim women Pieter elbers was indigo ceo since september 6, 2022. File to hear appeals over exclusion of names Parisa hafezi & alexander cornwell BACKING THE case for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country, the Supreme Court said Tuesday it is the “most effective answer” to address provisions in the Shariat law of 1937 that allegedly discriminate against Muslim women, including in matters of inheritance. The bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and R Mahadevan said securing a UCC should be left to “the wisdom of the legislature” rather than the court stepping in to declare the provisions unlawful and creating an “unnecessary void”. “The most effective answer… is the Uniform Civil Code,” the CJI said as the bench heard a plea challenging provisions of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937, which the petitioners said discriminated against Muslim women in matters of succession, etc. Justice Bagchi said, “Until and unless we can create, sC’s calls for uCC Ever since the mid-1980s, the SC has backed the UCC idea, urging Parliament to act under Article 44. Notables include its observations in the Shah Bano (1985), Sarla Mudgal (1995), John Vallamattom (2003) rulings. Directive Principles of State Policy, including Article 44 (UCC), are not directly enforceable by any court. West Bengal cm mamata Banerjee at the site of a dharna against the sir in kolkata. she called off the dharna after the sc order. exPRess ananthakrishnan G New Delhi, March 10 THE SUPREME Court Tuesday directed formation of tribunals comprising former High Court judges to hear appeals against exclusion of names from the West Bengal voter list following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) carried out in the state. The bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and R Mahadevan also warned against attempts to question the work of judicial officers deputed to verify names flagged for logistical discrepancies. “As Chief Justice of India, it is my duty to protect the judiciary. I will not allow anybody and I know what has happened… I will not share in the open court what has happened. I am issuing a stern warning. This side and this side both… »coNTiNUed oN PaGe 2 THE BIG PICTURE What’s on the mind: Inside IIT Madras Brain Centre Page 7 through our judicial fiat, an equal strata in respect of these asymmetric property rights, »coNTiNUed oN PaGe 2 l desPiTe risk of geTTing moBBed, he Took a Train To Be WiTh his children in mumBai Dube’s World T20 journey: From top of the world to upper berth of 3AC train devendra Pandey dian innings to take the team past 250 and New Zealand's reach. In the early hours of HOURS AFTER the lakh-plus- Monday, with all flights to capacity Narendra Modi Sta- Mumbai fully booked, the dium had echoed with deafen- “man always in a hurry”, along ing chants of “Dube, Dube” with wife Anjum and a friend, when Shivam Dube lifted the decided to board a train. India’s T20 World Cup, InT20 World Cup hero dia's “last action knew he risked getPAGE 1 hero” was on the top ting mobbed but he berth of an AC 3-Tier wanted to be with his coach of the Ahmefour-year-old son dabad-Mumbai Sayaji Express, Ayaan and two-year-old hiding under a thick brown daughter Mehwish, who were Railway blanket. at home in Mumbai. Late on Sunday, the tall left“There was no flight availhander with a golfer’s swing able, so I decided to take a train had hit three fours and two from Ahmedabad early in the sixes in the 20th over of the In- morning to Mumbai. We could Mumbai, March 10 anchor have gone by road but the train was faster,” Dube told The Indian Express. He then revealed how they put in place a plan to keep his identity under wraps. “Me, my wife and a friend decided to take a train. 3rd AC tickets were available so we decided to book them. Everyone we spoke to was worried, family and friends. What if someone recognised me at the station or inside the train?” Dube also needed the right attire for the undercover journey. “I wore a cap, a mask and a full-sleeved T-shirt. It was a 5.10-am train so we hoped there would not be many people on the platform,” he said. shivam dube, wife anjum with the World T20 cup at ahmedabad But that was not to be — there were many fans, some still in India colours, with the frenzy of witnessing India winning the Cup still fresh. So the plan was slightly tweaked. “I told my wife I will wait in the car till five minutes before the train's departure. After that, I will rush to board the train,” Dube said. Once inside the allotted coach, he quickly climbed to the top berth. Then the ticket checker came. “Shivam Dube? Woh kaun hai, cricketer?” Anjum didn’t miss a beat: “No, no. Woh kahan se aayega (where will he come from)?” The TC moved on. After that close call, and tired from the long tournament and celebrations, Dube tried to sleep through those eight hours, hoping that fellow passengers wouldn’t realise that they had amidst them a freshly Jaipur crowned world champion from Suryakumar Yadav’s team. “At night, I got down from the berth but no one recognised me on the way to the washroom and back. The train trip was smooth but I was worried about getting down at Borivali in broad daylight. I couldn't have escaped attention there,” he said. Dube eventually called the police for help. “They thought I was landing at the airport but were surprised when I told them that I was travelling by train. I was provided a police escort so things were easy and the exit was smooth,” he said with a laugh. It was an unexpected end to a tournament that had gone by the book for Dube. Coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Surya had defined his role clearly and the late-order batsman followed it to the T — scoring 235 at an impressive average of 39 and strike rate of 169. Batting mostly in the final overs, including that crucial 26 off eight balls in the final, he hit 17 sixes and 15 fours in the tournament. “They asked me to ensure that the run rate never dropped when I batted and to keep runs down when bowling,” he said. By afternoon, he was home. Ayaan and Mehwish were waiting. The World Cup champion was home. The brown Railway blanket stayed on the train.