The Editorial Page: India needs a clear, rules-based framework for petrol prices 10 TUeSdAy, APRIl 28, 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 lPrime minister narendra Modi is scheduled to virtually inaugurate indoor cricket infrastructure in six states of the Northeastern region. Central forCes Will remain in state for 60 days after Polls: shah As campaign ends, Modi, Mamata make last pitch for West Bengal lPresident of the 80th session of UN General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock, will visit India and discuss key multilateral issues with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. examining seven key questions concerning the balance between religious freedom and fundamental rights, triggered by the Sabarimala review case, will continue its hearing. soumyarendra Barik Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com By eP UNNy New Delhi, April 27 Prime minister narendra modi campaigns in Barrackpore, north 24 Parganas. ANI; west Bengal chief minister mamata Banerjee in south kolkata, monday. pArthA pAUl Will return for oath ceremony, says PM; CM leads 12-km padayatra in Kolkata atri mitra & tanusree Bose Kolkata, April 27 freedinex-Pm rajivgandhi’s assassination case,Perarivalan nowalawyer The CamPaIGn for the second and final phase of the West Bengalassemblyelectionsconcluded on monday after weeks offierceexchangesoverSpecial Intensive revision of electoral rolls, undocumented immigration, corruption, and unemployment. From Prime minister narendra modi and union home minister amit Shah to West Bengal Chief minister mamata Banerjee, top leaders of the BJP and the Trinamool Congress (TmC) made their last-minute pitchestovoters.amidacouple of incidents of pre-poll violence, Shah said at a roadshow inKolkatalateronmondaythat central forces would remain in the state for 60 days after the elections. For the BJP, the day started withPmmodiaddressingapublic meeting in Jagatdal in north 24 Parganas district’s Barrackporearea.“Thisismylastpublic meeting for this election. Given what I felt wherever I went in Bengal, I can say that after the may4results,Iwillreturnforthe (BJPgovernment’s)oath-taking ceremony,” the Pm said. »Continued on Page 2 SIR stokes fears, Bengali asmita divides, but on fractured ground fault-lines don’t run straight Vandita mishra & sweety kumari deCision Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, Nadia, Howrah, April 27 The SharPneSS of the big issue in this West Bengal electionisbluntedonthestate’suneven and fractured ground. at stake in the election Commission’s controversial Special Intensiverevision(SIr)ofelecto- 2026 W e st B e n ga l ral rolls is a non-negotiable right and a fundamental promise — the right to vote that lies at the heart of the democratic compact, the promise of a free and fair election. But even on the SIr, the dividing lines lose their straightness in West Bengal. The possibilities of empathies and solidarities in the current moment are interrupted by fraught backstories. On the SIr, the dispiriting story so far: It has raised genuinefearsoflarge-scalevoterdisenfranchisement and targeted »Continued on Page 6 arun janardhanan Chennai, April 27 a G PerarIValan, who was once sentenced to death in the assassination case of former Prime minister rajiv Gandhi and later freed after more than three decades in prison, enrolled monday as an advocate with the Bar Council of Tamil nadu and Puducherry. at 54, Perarivalan is expectedtopracticeatthemadras high Court, within the same legal system in which he spent 31 years as an accused, convict and appellant. On monday, dressed in a blacklawyer’scoat,Perarivalan said that his years of litigation inspired him to study law. “my ambition is not to become a famous criminal lawyer, but to become a voice for the thousands of prisoners behind bars who have no legal assistance.especiallyforpoorlife convicts waiting endlessly for premature release, denied »Continued on Page 2 amID rISInG geopolitical and cybersecurity concerns, the government may require companiesincriticalsectorssuchas energy, telecom, and banking tousemade-in-Indiasovereign cloud systems, The Indian Express has learnt. according to government officials, the move under discussion is aimed at reducing dependence on foreign cloud providers and strengthening data security. The government may be comfortable with Mumbai, April 27 Bashaarat masood Srinagar, April 27 The Jammu and Kashmir administrationhasdeclaredSirajul-uloom, one of south Kashmir’s biggest educational seminaries, an unlawful entity under the unlawful activities (Prevention) act (uaPa), accusing it of having “covert linkages” with the banned Jamaate-Islami (JeI), “serious legal, administrativeandfinancialirregularities”, and of fostering “an environment conducive to radicalisation”. Siraj-ul-uloom is the first seminarytobedeclaredunlawful in J&K. The move comes days after the administration took over 58 schools that officials claimed were affiliated with the Jamaat-e-Islami and itseducationtrust,theFalah-eaam Trust. “In exercise of the powers conferred under Section 8(1) of theunlawfulactivities(Prevention) act, 1967, I, anshul Garg, IaS, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, hereby notify Darul uloom Jamia Siraj-ul-uloom, ImamSahib,Shopian,asanunlawful entity/Place under ua(P)act,1967,”theorderdated april 24 read. Section 8(1) of the uaPa allows for any place that isdeemedtohavebeenusedfor the purposes of an unlawful association to be notified as such, enabling actions such as the sealing of the premises and freezing of financial assets. Siraj-ul-uloom runs a school that imparts both religious and modern education. The school, which teaches students up to class 12, was establishedin1998andisrecognised by the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School education. as many as 814 students are enrolled in the school, which employs 56 teachers. The order said the decision to declare Siraj-ul-uloom an unlawful entity was taken following a report from the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Shopian. “The records so produced have been carefully examined anddulyconsidered;andupon perusal of the material on record,ithasemergedthatthesaid institution, though ostensibly functioning as a religious educational establishment, is »Continued on Page 2 gayathri mani & apurva Vishwanath New Delhi, April 27 In an unprecedented move, aaP national convener arvind Kejriwal wrote to Delhi high Court judge Justice Swarana KantaSharmaonmondaytosay “hewillneitherappearinperson northroughalawyerbeforeher” in the excise policy case. “I have lost hope of getting justice from Justice Swarana aaP national convener arvind kejriwal in a video posted on X Kanta. Therefore, I have decided to follow the path of Satyagraha as shown by mahatma Gandhi...,” he said. The letter comes days after Justice Sharma refused to recusefromhearingthecaseafter Kejriwalandfiveotheraccused raised apprehensions of bias and made allegations of a conflict of interest for the judge. Justice Sharma is hearing a criminal revision filed by the »Continued on Page 2 Ruchir Sharma, ace global investor and author, is guest at Adda today E. explained Govt’s worries A BLOCK by a cloud system provider can log out a client company from accessing its own data, communication channels and other tools and products. This can critically endanger operations in sectors such as telecom, energy and financial services. This is the reason why the government seeks greater control over such digital infrastructure. tighter control over sensitive data and digital infrastructure, they said. The consideration was prompted last year, when microsoft suddenly blocked oil refiner nayara energy from its »Continued on Page 2 Maharashtra: BJP-led environment dept scraps lake projects cleared by Shinde alok deshpande Kashmir seminary delhi exCise PoliCy Case declared ‘unlawful Kejriwal withdraws from proceedings before HC judge, invokes satyagraha entity’ under UAPA Perarivalan, 54, enrolled with the Bar council of Tamil nadu and Puducherry, monday Govt keen firms in critical sectors use ‘Made in India’ cloud systems Officials: Indian service providers are not globally competitive yet, need policy push la nine-judge sC BenCh Business as usual miCrosoft’s nyara BloCk trigger maharaShTra’S environment and Climate Change Department, led by BJP minister Pankaja munde, has cancelled administrative approval to 14 lake conservation projects clearedunderpreviousgovernments, including 11 sanctioned whenformerChiefministereknath Shinde, an ally, held the portfolio. The department has also ordered recovery of funds already released for these projects, along with interest. Of the 14 projects scrapped, 11 were approved during Shinde’s tenure, while three were cleared when the department was headed by Shiv Sena (uBT) mla aaditya Thackeray during the maharashtra Vikas aghadi (mVa) government. The 11 projects cleared under Shinde that have now world paGe 12 been scrapped include mukteshwar, Samatanagar and ausa lakes in latur; Vadap lake in Karjat (raigad); Parampok lakeinParli(Beed);Beloshilake in alibaug (raigad); and Kalmadu,Visapur,DevliandBrahmanshevage lakes in Chalisgaon (Jalgaon). These projects were estimated at rs 244.15 crore, of which rs 73.31 crore had already been released. The three projects cleared underThackeray--Ozarlakein lanja (ratnagiri), erangal lake in mumbai and Khambale lake in Igatpuri (nashik) -- had a combined project cost of rs 35.99 crore, with rs 18 crore already disbursed. "Since the in-principle approval previously granted to a totalof14lakeconservationprojects is being cancelled, and in order to avoid financial irregularities, the funds previously »Continued on Page 2 nation paGe 8 ens economic Bureau Mumbai, April 27 aCe GlOBal investor, fund manager and best-selling author ruchir Sharma will be the guest at express adda in mumbai on Tuesday — an interaction that comes at a time whentheWestasiaconflicthas changed the course of the global economy. »Continued on Page 2 araGhChi in russia; trump says iran Can Call for talks ruchir sharma is chairman of rockefeller international and founder of Breakout capital Centre piCks Dinesh triveDi as inDian envoy to Dhaka l afTer slowing down in winTer, cargo movemenT regains momenTum Cement coming in, apples going out: Freight hits high gear on Kashmir’s rail link dheeraj mishra that,cars, foodgrains, and even military consignments have been transported on rakes. On aPrIl 22, milk became the Freight operations began latest commodity to be trans- modestly, with 13 rakes in auported to anantnag over the gust 2025 and 20 in September, railwaylinktotheValleyopened but rose sharply to 46 rakes — in July last year, arriving from the highest — in October, linchrailwayStationinahme- largely driven by construction dabad Division. activity,with41rakesofcement Data shows that between enteringtheValleythatmonth. movement august 2025 and page 1 march 2026, during slowed in winter, the time Kashmir dropping to 34 rakes has been part of the in november, 22 in railway network, cement ac- December, and 16 in January, countedforthelargestinbound before regaining momentum freight into Kashmir, and with 22 rakes in February and apples the largest commodity 30 in march 2026. transported out. apart from One of the first rakes carryNew Delhi, April 27 anchor ing cement travelled to Kashmir on august 9, with 21 wagonsloadedinPunjab’srupnagar. By march 2026, 203 rakes had travelled to anantnag, carrying 3,514 wagons in all, of which 76% or 155 rakes were loaded with cement. Vehicles are the next inboundcommodity,havingbeen transportedover18specialnew modified Goods rakes. maruti Suzuki India was the first to do so in October 2025, with automobile transportation among the railways’ key initiatives to diversify its freight basket. Foodgrains come third at 17 rakes, from the Food Corporation of India. In December lFreighttrainstoValley Commodity cement Automobiles foodgrains (fcI) fertilizers Military consignment Apple Basket Salt others no. of rakes 155 18 17 6 2 1 1 3 DAtA IS froM AUGUSt 9, 2025 to MArch 31, 2026 A StANDArD frEIGht trAIN rAkE IN INDIA typIcAlly coNSIStS of 42 wAGoNS, 21 wAGoNS IN MINI rAkE 2025, a mini foodgrain freight traincarrying1,384tonnes,dis- patched from ajitwal railway Station in Punjab, reached the anantnag goods terminal — thefirstbulkfoodgrainssupply by rail to Kashmir. Other cargo includes fertilisers,tworakesofmilitaryconsignments, and one rake each of apple crates and salt. recently, amazon extendeditsoperationstotheValleythroughadoor-to-doorparcel delivery service by Indian railways and India Post. With freight movement expectedtogeneraterevenueand stabilise supply chains — especially in remote areas — the railways is giving it a significant push. “more than 65% of the national carrier’s revenue comes from this segment. We Kolkata are exploring new areas of freight supply to Kashmir,” a senior railway official said. “Daily vehicle parcel-based cargo movement has commencedbetweenadarshnagar and the Budgam rail terminal. This service will ensure forwardloadingfromthenational Capital region to the Valley and return loading of Valley produce back to the capital. It will be a two-way supply chain with a 30-hour train,” he said. With Kashmir the country’s leading apple producer, it is hardly a surprise that it is the leading produce transported out. a total of 278 apple-loaded bogie covered wagons — de- signed to protect goods from theweather—weredispatched from anantnag during the period. The 272-km udhampur– Srinagar–Baramula rail link (uSBrl), or Kashmir line, became fully operational on June 6, 2025, when Prime minister narendra modi inaugurated the 63-km Katra–Sangaldan section, marking the completionofaprojecttolinkKashmir to the rest of the country that was first initiated 42 years ago. While different stretches of the project were operationalised earlier in phases, the most challenging was the 111-km Katra–Banihal section.