The Editorial Page: The Bengal puzzle — social gains have not transformed into higher incomes 10 MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2026 JOURNALISM of COURAGE KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 22 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 l LOK SABHA IS ScHEDULED to take up discussion on the Government’s efforts to end left-wing extremism. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has set March 2026 as the deadline to free the country of Maoist violence. l PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi will interact virtually with BJP/NDA workers in pollbound Assam and Puducherry as part of the party’s outreach initiative ‘Mera Booth Sabse Mazboot Samvaad’. l GUWAHATI'S AcA STADIUM will be the battleground as five-time champions Chennai Super Kings open their IPL campaign against inaugural winners Rajasthan Royals. Match starts at 7.30 pm. TRACK THESE AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPRESS.cOm Business as Usual By EP UNNY ISLAMABAD HOLDS REGIONAL TALKS AS STRIKES INcREASE ‘Waiting’: Iran warns US against ground ops, more Marines arrive US sending us messages about talks, secretly planning assault by troops: Qalibaf Divya A The War DAY 30 lTop diplomats from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey were in Islamabad for talks with Pakistani leaders to find an end to the West Asia conflict lTehranthreatenedtotarget Israeli andUS educational facilitiesunlessUScondemns bombingofIranianvarsities Ariba Shahid & Alexander cornwell Islamabad, Tel Aviv, March 29 IRAN SAID it was ready to respond to any US ground attack, accusingWashingtonofpreparingalandassaultwhileseeking talks, as regional powers met in Pakistan Sunday to try to bring the two sides together. Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf accused the US of sending messagesaboutpossiblenegotiations whileatthesametimeplanning to send in troops, adding that Tehran was ready to respond if US soldiers were deployed. “As long as the Americans seek Iran’s surrender, our response is that we will never accept humiliation,” he said in a message to the nation. (Iranian forces “are waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their »cONTINUED ON PAGE 2 At the funeral of three Lebanese journalists who were killed in Israeli strikes, in Beirut on Sunday. AP STRATEGIc ASSETS MORE VULNERABLE War lessons for military: Rethinking air defence, countering drones to targets Amrita Nayak Dutta New Delhi, March 29 DRAWING LESSONS from the ongoing war in West Asia, the Indian military brass have begun discussions focused on the need for procurement of anti-drone systems and their large-scale integration with existing legacy air defence weaponsystemstocreateanef- E. DRONES AND WARFARE PAGE 9 fective umbrella against small enemy drones, The Indian Express has learnt. Acquisition of high-quality swarm drones and robotic capability to disrupt enemy logis- tics and supply chains while targeting the adversary’s manufacturing capacity are among the first lessons drawn from the month-old war. Senior military officers said Indiawillalsohavetoundertake passive measures such as dispersion, concealment, camouflage,forcepreservation,underground infrastructure, and »cONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Actor Rahul Banerjee drowns near Digha during a shoot, Tollywood stunned betargeted.UAE,Saudiand Kuwaitsaidtheyresponded tomissileanddroneattacks MORE REPORTS, PAGE 12 ‘Can’t imagine Netanyahu bucking Trump if Trump lays the law. He may turn and twist but he will listen’ VIVEK KATjU VETERAN INDIAN DIPLOMAT PAGE 14 PM NARENDRA MODI held a rally in Kerala’s Palakkad district and a roadshow in Thrissur as part of the NDA’s Assembly poll campaign. TARGETING cONGRESS, Modi said Gulf nations are giving ‘high priority’ to safety of Indians amid the conflict while the Opp party was making ‘dangerous’ remarks Kolkata, March 29 PM Narendra Modi tries his hand at the ‘chenda’, a percussion instrument, during a rally in Palakkad, Sunday. PTI PAGE 6 Rahul Arunoday Banerjee while shooting for TV serial ‘Bhole Baba Par Karega’, just before his death on Sunday. withstandtheforceofthewave, Rahul began to drown. Sensing the danger, Shweta screamed toalerteveryone.Suddenly,the technicians started shouting and rushed to rescue him. He was still alive when he was »cONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NATION, PAGES 3, 6 TELANGANA BILL TO DEDUCT PAY FOR NEGLECTING PARENTS PASSED l Gulfnationscontinuedto Poll beat in Kerala Sweety Kumari POPULAR BENGALI actor Rahul Arunoday Banerjee died on Sunday after he reportedly drowned in the sea at Talsari beach in Odisha, near Digha, where he was shooting for a TV serial. Sources said that Rahul, 42, ventured into the sea alone afterwrappingupashootwhen a“massivewave”drownedhim in front of his production unit members. He was taken to Digha hospital, where he was declared dead. “Rahul entered the water alone after the shooting was over. His co-star, Shweta Mishra, was present at the spot but remained on the shore. It seemed that his feet got stuck in the sand. Just then, a massive wave struck him. Unable to BjD’S PATRA qUITS HOUSE PANEL OVER DUBEY REMARKS ON BIjU PATNAIK ‘New normal (in India-Canada ties) does not erase what has happened’ More trauma for Nashik ‘godman’ Kharat’s victims: Viral videos, WhatsApp forwards Vallabh Ozarkar Nashik, March 29 FOR FAMILIES caught in the Nashik sexual exploitation case, the ordeal has not ended with the arrest of ‘godman’ Ashok Kumar Eknath Kharat. It continues in the form of explicit videos of the crime being shared rapidly through WhatsApp and social media — and the constant fear that someone they know will spot them. “We never thought something like this would happen,” the relative of a victim, visibly Ashok Kumar Eknath Kharat’s office in Nashik, where the women were allegedly assaulted, has been sealed by police. DEEPAK JOSHI distressed,toldthisnewspaper. “Our condition is not good. We are not even able to work properly. Our lives are at stake now.” Thesevideosarealsosilencing potential witnesses, actively obstructing the police investigation in the case. Family members of at least three victims told The Indian Express that their daily lives have been upendedwithconstantanxiety. Police say the two challenges, pursuing justice and containing the fallout, are now inseparable. “Some victims are »cONTINUED ON PAGE 2 New Delhi, March 29 HIS BELONGINGS packed in cartons at his Delhi residence, ready to be shipped to his hometown Patna, former IndianHighCommissionertoCanada Sanjay Verma recalls another shift that took place in the twilight of his 37 years in foreign service — one that was abrupt and “tense”. That was in October 2024, when Verma was declared persona non grata, along with five otherIndianofficials,bytheJustin Trudeau government in Canada over the Hardeep Singh Nijjarassassinationcase—India had denied any involvement in thekilling.Today,Vermasayshe is happy that ties have mended between the two countries, and a“newnormal”isbeingworked out.Editedexcerptsfromanexclusive interview: Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney visited India this month. There has been a turnaround in IndiaCanada ties. You were in Ottawa when ties were frozen, what do you think necessitated this (turnaround)? Whateverwashappeningin Canada when I was there was politically motivated. And the political motivation could linger long, or could be cut ExPRESS interview SANjAY VERMA FORMER INDIAN HIGH COMMISSIONER TO CANADA short depending on the person in the chair. So, that is what has happened (with PM Mark Carney coming in). Whenever thereisachange,thereisawindow of opportunity. And that window was quickly claimed through the visit of Prime MinisterNarendraModitoCanada. PM Carney is more of a global citizen, having served as governor of the British central bank. He has seen the world from a very different lens, which has a bit of geopolitics, but a lot of pragmatism. Earlier, everything was being put in one basket, which was highly coloured by the views expressed by Khalistani extremists and terrorists there. Now, there are two containers. In one container, those areas »cONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Canada audit flags high approval rates for Indian student visas amid fraud concerns India’s share falls from 52% to 8% in 3 years; fast-track route shut jay Mazoomdaar New Delhi, March 29 THE AUDITOR General of Canada has flagged in a report placedbeforethecountry’sParliament last week that nations at high risk of submitting fraudulentstudentapplications also had correspondingly low visa approval rates, with “one important exception” — India. According to Auditor GeneralKarenHogan’sreport,even as the total number of visas issued to new Indian students plunged from 51.6% in 2023 to 8.1% in 2025 (till September) — approvalratesforstudentsfrom India under the Student Direct Stream(SDS),whichincludeda fast-trackfeature,jumpedfrom 61% in 2022 to 98% in 2024. lYearlyforeignstudent arrivalsincanada(in%) REGION Europe 2023 2024 2025 3 8 21.2 China 4.8 10.3 18.9 Americas & Caribbean 6.4 8.5 13.7 India 51.6 33.6 Indo-Pacific 14 8.1 15.9 19.4 Africa 17.4 20.4 15.4 West Asia 2.8 3.4 3.3 This, despite warnings issued in August 2023 within the IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) that the “SDS was being targeted by non-genuine students seeking entry to Canada”, the report stated. Canada withdrew the fast-track feature from the SDS program by the end of 2024. Launched in 2018 for applicants from India, China, the Philippines and Vietnam, the SDSwaslabelledasafast-track, »cONTINUED ON PAGE 2 lWORKERS WEIGH LOSS IN WAGES AND HIGH FARES AGAINST ANxIETY ABOUT LOSING VOTING RIGHTS Amid SIR fears, Bengal migrants strive to return home for a vote that feels vital Ishika Gupta, Atiya Firdos, Kamal Saiyed & Brendan Dabhi Mumbai, Bengaluru, Surat, Ahmedabad, March 29 THE WEST Bengal Assembly elections might be just less than a month away, but amid concerns created by the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, migrantsfromBengalacrossthe countryaretryingtomaketheir way to the state. From a constructionworkerinMumbaiand a banker in Pune to a cook in BengaluruandworkersinGujarat, TheIndianExpressspoke to over a dozen such migrants. In Mumbai’s busy Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, people from Bengal waiting to catch a train complained about thelackofspecialtrainstomeet the high demand during the election season. Many like Asif Ashraf, a domestic helper on his way to Kolkata, are banking on unreserved tickets. “I tried booking tickets a month in advance, but to no avail. Now, I hope to get a seat with an unreserved general ticket,” he said. Thelackoftrainticketsand, in some cases, inflated costs, is proving to be an obstacle for many in other parts of the country, too. Bengaluru resident Reema, who works as a cook, said the “unrelenting electoral process” — she went toBengallastmonthfortheSIR mIGRANTS FROmBENGAL l DEcISION 2026 24.06 lakh across India MORE REP0RTS, PAGES 5,7 — was proving to be a financial challenge. All India Shramik Swaraj Kendra’snationalvice-president R Kaleem Ullah said more than three lakh workers from Bengal were engaged in various sectors in Karnataka, most of whom cannot afford the steep travel costs. “The Central and state governmentsmusttakeresponsibilitytoprovideShramiktrains TOP 5 STATES Jharkhand 4.94 lakh Maharashtra PeoplewaittoboardtheHowrah MailinMumbai. SANKHADEEP BANERJEE and sleeper buses,” he said. A similar scene is unfolding in Ahmedabad, too. At the city gold market, Samast Bengali 3.09 lakh Uttar Pradesh 2.34 lakh Bihar 2.27 lakh Delhi 1.82 lakh SOURCE: CENSUS 2011 Samaj Association president Abdul Rauf Yakub Shaikh said there was a “mighty rush” for ticketsinthesecondhalfofApril. TMC spokesperson Arup Chakraborty claimed the party was not making any organised effort to rent trains and bring over migrants, saying the BJPled Centre would scotch any such attempt. But, a senior party leader in Murshidabad, which is a migrant hub, said initiatives to bring voters back to the state would begin closer to the polls. “If we try to bring the migrants over now, many will not agree since they will lose days of wages,” he said. The shadow of SIR For many migrant workers, therushbackhomeisfuelledby the concern and anxiety generated by the long-drawn-out SIR Kolkata process,withmanylookingforward to voting this time, as it is tied to the perception that not beingabletoexercisetheirfranchise may lead to problems downtheroad.Lastyear,several migrant workers from Bengal weredetainedandfacedharassment in various states after being labelled as Bangladeshis. Many were pushed across the border into Bangladesh as part of a drive against undocumented immigrants. In its aftermath, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced the Shramshree scheme,underwhicheverymigrant family is eligible to receive Rs 5,000 per month for a year upon their return. “Mynamewasdeletedinthe SIR first phase. Subsequently, myfatherattendedanSIRhearing, as I am in Pune, following which my name has been included in the electoral rolls. Now, I want to vote to confirm it,”saidShibayanSett,abanker. Loton Mandal from Purba Medinipur who works at a local restaurant in Pune said though he had voted in every election until now, “this time it is crucial”. “I am not very educated, but I follow the news from Bengal. Everybody is saying that these elections are very important. I have had no problems withSIR,butpeoplearoundme are saying that if we don’t vote, »cONTINUED ON PAGE 2