The Ideas Page: Growth has been less strong than it seems. The misreading has complicated policy 9 SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 2026 JournaliSM of Courage AhmedAbAd, lAte city, 20 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 gujarat page 10 ‘Family oF man who died aFter Falling oFF train berth entitled to compensation’ nation page 12 CHARTERED PLANE LEAVES KOCHI WITH SOME IRAN SAILORS, BODIES OF OTHERS KILLED IN U.S. ATTACK NEAR SRI LANKA Will try our best: Iran envoy on safe passage for India-bound fuel ships As BRICS chair, condemn attacks on Iran: Tehran’s message to New Delhi Two LPG tankers are reported to be transiting Strait of Hormuz Along with Iran, grouping also has the UAE, Saudi Arabia as members Shubhajit Roy New Delhi, March 13 cash crUnch pUshes Vijay’s party to consider alliance option SiGNaLLiNG heaDWay in Delhi’s efforts to persuade Tehran to let india-bound fuel ships transit the Strait of hormuz, mohammad Fathali, iran’s ambassador to india, said Friday “we will try our best toremove the problems”and“i think you can expect good news in the near future”. mohammad Fathali (right), Iran’s envoy to India, and abdul majid Hakeem Ilahi, Supreme leader’s representative, in new delhi. ANi Shubhajit Roy 2 IndIanS kIlled aS downed drone FallS In oman CIty P 13 TehraN iS learnt to have reached out to Delhi to take the lead in issuing a statement on behalf of the BriCS, currently chaired by india, condemning theuSandisraelistrikesagainst TheReutersnewsagencyreported that iran had allowed two indian-flagged LPG carriers tosailthroughthe Strait of hormuz. Quoting sources, it identified the vessels as Shivalik and Nanda Devi. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 New Delhi, March 13 iran in the last two weeks. This has put Delhi in a diplomatic pickle since it has stayed away from taking sides in the ongoing conflict. Prime minister Narendra modi has spoken to leaders of the countries in the region »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 iN a provision that appears to gobeyondanti-conversionlaws enacted in several states, the Dharma Swatantrya Bill, 2026, tabled in the maharashtra assembly on Friday, states that a childbornfromamarriagearising out of an “unlawful” religious conversion will be consideredtobelongtothereligion followed by the mother before such a marriage/relationship. While some states like haryana recognise inheritance rights of children born from Asad Rehman New Delhi, March 13 CeC Gyanesh kumar in new delhi, Friday. ANi »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Maharashtra Bill on ‘unlawful’ conversion: Mother’s first religion for child out of wedlock Mumbai, March 13 120 MPs in LS, 73 in RS sign notice Sabhamembershadsignedthe notices. “a total of 17 opposition partieshave supported the notice.ithasbeensubmittedin both houses,” the mP said. asperprocedure,thenotice has to be signed by at least 100 members if moved in the Lok Sabha and 50 members in the rajya Sabha. This is the first maharashtra Cm devendra Fadnavis arrive for the Budget Session at Vidhan Bhavan in mumbai, Friday. AkAsh PAtil Vallabh Ozarkar & Omkar Gokhale Seeking ouster of CEC, Opposition submits notices in both Houses CiTiNG CharGeS including “partisan and discriminatory conduct” and “obstruction of investigation into electoral fraud and Sir” (Special intensive revision of electoral rolls), the opposition on Friday submitted notices in both houses of Parliament for an impeachment motion against Chief election Commissioner (CeC) Gyanesh Kumar. a senior TmC mP told The Indian Express that 120 Lok Sabha members and 73 rajya DHARMA SWATANTRyA BILL, 2026 nation PM In Bengal Today such marriages,the maharashtra Bill specifically defines the religion of the child, a feature not explicitly mentioned in many similar laws enacted in recent years. "any child born out of marriage or relationship in the nature of marriage, caused due to unlawful conversion shall be deemed to belong to the religion of mother before such marriage or relationship in the nature of marriage," states the Bill. it also mandates that those intending to change their religion must give 60 days prior noticetothedistrictmagistrate »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 pages 12, 13 ended injUstice to tea worKers in assam, says pm sc reFUses to entertain pil oVer menstrUal leaVe policy Brigade Parade ground decked up the day before Pm narendra modi’s rally in kolkata, on Friday. PArthA PAul Book LPG only if needed, switch Oil price rise: Market sinks 5% in to piped gas if possible: Govt a week, logs worst 4-yr weekly fall Gujarat HC allows Sukalp Sharma business as Usual New Delhi, March 13 WiTh The war in West asia affectingindia’sLPGimportsand oil marketing companies (omCs) swamped with bookings for cooking gas cylinders, the government Friday appealed to consumers not to panic and book cylinders only when required. aseniorPetroleumministry official said the government is ensuring uninterrupted cooking gas supply to households, and urged consumers living in the vicinity of areas that have piped natural gas (PNG) connectivitytoapplyforhousehold PNG connections to reduce pressure on LPG supplies. The Centre and state governments are also cracking down,throughthelocaladministration and police, on in- By EP UNNY stances of black marketing and hoarding of LPG cylinders. accordingtodatasharedby Petroleum ministry joint Secretary Sujata Sharma, average LPG bookings by households averaged at 55.7 lakh cylinders in the april-February period of the current financial year, but thenumberjumpedover35%to 75.7lakhonThursday,march12. Sharma attributed this to panicbookingbehaviourdueto “misinformation” and “rumours”.Despitetheconstraints in LPG imports, the government, she said, is prioritising supplies to households over commercialandindustrialconsumers.omCsaremaintaining their earlier average of over 50 lakhcylinder deliveries perday and none of the 25,000-odd LPGdistributorshipsacrossthe country have reported a “dryout” – running out of stock. She said there are roughly 60 lakh LPG-consuming households that have access to PNGconnectivityintheirvicinity, and they could apply for PNGconnectionswiththelocal »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Akash Mandal Mumbai, March 13 economy The DomeSTiC stock market fell more than five per cent this week, marking its steepest weekly decline in nearly four years, driven by surging crude oil prices linked to the ongoing conflict in West asia that has kept investors on edge. Since thecrisisbeganlatelastmonth, companies listed on the BSe have collectively lost about rs 34 lakh crore in investor wealth even as the benchmark stock indices have dropped roughly eight per cent. on Friday, the Sensex index ended 1.9 per cent, or 1,470.50 points,lowerat74,563.92points as foreign investors went on a selling spree. The Nifty 50 closed 2.1 per cent lower at 23,151.10 points. Both the indices are cur- why Fpis are dUmping indian stocKs, pUshing rUpee down page 18 rently trading around their lowestlevelsinaroundayear.Despitereachingrecordhighsona couple of occasions, both have been in a consolidation phase over the past 18-24 months. They are now near February 2024 levels. The rupee also closed at a record low of 92.46, down 26 paise, against the dollar. Foreign institutional investors pulled out rs 10,716 crore (around $ 1.16 billion) from the cash market on Friday, according to exchange data. Fiis have takenoutrs56,800crore($6.14 billion) in march so far. Crude oil prices have remained above or around the $100 per barrel mark over the lastfewdaysassupplyhasbeen disrupted due to the conflict in Westasia.refineriesacrosskey oil markets such as iran, Qatar and the uae have been hit as part of the conflict, forcing the shutdown of large capacities. iran has unofficially maintainedachokeholdontheStrait of hormuz, a key trade waterway through which 20-25 per cent of the global crude oil supply is transported. The iranian military has also targeted multiple ships attempting to navigatethroughthewaterway, including at least one indiabound ship. The situation has led to a shortageofliquifiednaturalgas »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 man in judicial custody to perform last rites of his pet dog of 14 years Aditi Raja Vadodara, March 13 The GujaraT high Court on Friday directed the Surat City Policetoescortaman, whoisin judicialcustodyinLajporeCentral jail in a cheating case filed by his estranged wife, to perform the last rites of his pet dog of 14 years. abenchofjusticeuTDesai of the Gujarat hC was hearing an application filed by a Suratresident seeking temporary bail in the case lodged against himbyhisestrangedwifealleging misappropriation of rs 17 lakhfromaninvestmentpolicy. Court asked Surat City Police to escort man to his house and hand him over to jail authorities after 8 pm on Friday. File Though the man had moved the trial court for bail before the chargesheet was filed, his application was rejected. Later, he moved the »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 l ‘BaSaVaraju kIllInG our ColleCtIVe FaIlure… Sonu waS a traItor’ Will wind up armed operations if our party legalised: Surrendered Maoist Devuji Nikhila Henry member and head of the CentralmilitaryCommissionofthe banned CPi (maoist), surrenThiPPiriThiruPaTialiasDe- dered last month, just weeks vuji, a top maoist who surren- ahead of the home minister dered last month after 44 years amit Shah’s deadline of march of rising through the maoist 31, 2026, to eradicate Naxalism ranks, has told The Indian Exfrom the country. pressthat the killing of General inaninterviewwithTheInSecretary of the CPi (maoist), dian Express, when asked if he Nambala Keconsidered Baexpress shava rao alias savaraju’s killing Basavaraju, in a personal failmay last year ure, Devuji said, was their “collective failure”, “To a great extent, it was our and that the maoist leadership collectivefailure.asCmCchief, had considered moving him ihadthoughtalotabouthowto away from the jungles before protect him — should he be security forces got to him. moved from the jungle or Devuji, who was a Politburo shouldhe stay on was the quesand Central Committee tion. We decided not to move Hyderabad, March 13 interview him because, without the general secretary, we could not have functioned as a single organ. it was definitely my responsibility as CmC chief to protecthim.yes,thehighestresponsibilitywasmine,andidid self-criticismandtoldthecadre that we couldn’t save him.” “Whenhepassed,there was a vacuum as he was one of the most experienced leaders. had he lived, we — the party — would have worked as a team,” he said. Devuji was also critical of another key maoist leader, mallojula Venugopal rao alias Sonu, who surrendered last october. after Basavaraju’s killing, Devuji and Sonu were re- devuji, who was a Politburo member and head of the Central military Commission of the banned CPI (maoist), surrendered last month portedly contenders for the general secretary post. Devuji, however, said this wasn’t the case: “Sonu was never a contender for the post of general secretary because he met Basa- varaj when the latter was alive in 2024, and proposed that the armed struggle should stop. Basavaraj had told him off then and there and stuck to the party line of armed struggle. So, there was no question of Sonu becoming the general secretary, as he had lost confidence when Basavaraju was alive.” “What Sonu had proposed was to demoralise the cadre — to temporarily stop the armed struggle meant surrendering arms which were obtained after many sacrifices. it was anti-party activity; it was to break the party from within. he formed an alliance with the central and state governments against the party. So he was a traitor,” he said. When reminded that he, too, had surrendered, Devuji said, “i did not surrender; i was arrested. i could have been killed or jailed for years on end. instead of choosing these two options, i chose a third option — to stay with the party, stay with the party line of marxism, Leninism and maoism and work within the legal framework of the country. i chose the third option because the party is decimated and has to be built from the bottom. if you have to look at this from a moral perspective, yes, i should have gone to jail. But then what would become of the party? i chose to stay in the political line of the party.” With the walls closing in on themaoistranks,Devujishared his viewonapossiblefuture for the CPi (maoist): “our demand now is to legalise the party. We will wind up armed operations if the party is legalised. What i mean is, the guerrilla armed tactics will not continue if they legalise the party. We will wind up the People’s Liberation Guerrilla army (PLGa), the armedwingoftheparty,andremain within the legal framework. We want to work for political prisoners who are still in jail. We want to stand by thosewhowerekilledbyarmed forces.” Ahmedabad