The Ideas Page: as India’s youth spoke up, the message from across the border — you inspire us 15 ThURSdaY, JULY 30, 2026 JournalIsm of Courage AHMeDABAD, LATe CITy, 22 PAGeS ₹5.00 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 Happening today lKanwar Yatra begins amid heavy security and phased traffic restrictions which will impact travel between Delhi, Haridwar, Dehradun and Saharanpur. stringent ProVisions in aMended legislation Tough exam leak Bill clears LS, Rahul raises police crackdown CHargesHeet filed in fast-traCK CoUrt Govt hails passage, says open to learn from experience; LoP: Shah must quit over July 20 action Leaked NEET papers took two routes out of Maharashtra: CBI probe bypolls in Datia, Bankipur and Manjalpur Assembly constituencies. asad rehman, anonna dutt & jatin anand Mahender singh Manral Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com WrAPPing UP a two-day debate punctuated by acrimonious exchanges as the opposition slammed the government over the police crackdown on studentprotestersinDelhi,Lok Sabha Wednesday passed the stringent Public examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment bill, 2026 by a voice vote amid sloganeering. Leader of opposition rahul gandhi’s remarks against Union home Minister Amit Shah over the July 20 police action led to stormy scenes with lUnited nations Security Council will hold an initial round of informal closed-door “straw poll” ballots to assess support for seven candidates vying to replace Antonio Guterres as the next UN chief. lVoting will be held for Business as usual By EP UNNY New Delhi, July 29 New Delhi, July 29 Union minister kiren rijiju and LoP rahul Gandhi in Lok sabha. PTI politics page 8 rajya saBha passes Bill maKing insult to vande mataram a Criminal offenCe strong protests from the treasurybenches—oneofthewords he used was expunged from house records. Later, the government hailed the passage of the bill. UnionMinisterJitendraSingh, who replied to the debate, said it reflected the government’s “openness to incorporate constructive inputs, learn from experience and further strengthenthelaw”todealwith exam paper leaks. Shah, in a post on X, congratulated “every student in india”onthepassageofthebill, saying it “shields the dreams »ContinUed on Page 2 Probingtheneet-Ug2026 paper leak case, the Cbi has uncovered two messaging app trails — a Maharashtra-rajasthan-haryana route and a Maharashtra-rajasthan-Kerala pathway — through which the question papers travelled. investigators are calling it a “countrywide conspiracy” involving subject experts, coaching institute operators and intermediaries, The Indian Express has learnt. in a chargesheet filed tuesday in a Delhi fast-track court, the Cbi has named 13 accused inside including ntA biology expert Manisha Mandhare, ntA chemistry expert Pralhad Vithalrao Kulkarni, ntA physics expert Manisha Sanjay havaldar. the others named are Shivraj raghunath Motegoankar, owner of renukai Career Centre Coaching institute in Latur; tejas harshadkumar Shah, Coo at APMA Coaching institute in Pune, and eight alleged intermediaries: Manisha Sanjay Waghmare, Dhananjay nivrutti Lokhande, Shubham Madhukar Khairnar, Yash Yadav, Mangilal biwal, Vikash biwal, Dinesh biwal and »ContinUed on Page 2 pages 6, 13 amid farmers’ protest, shivraj vs mp govt over proCurement 19monthsafter Manmohan singh’sdeath, hegetsclean chitincoalcase Bengal govt to give eggs with mid-day meals from isKCon 28-year-old Gulveer singh during the men’s 10,000 m final at commonwealth Games in Glasgow. AP ex-Pm manmohan singh was summoned to face trial in 2015. From Sirsa mud ground to India’s first CWG men’s 10,000m silver ananthakrishnan g Pritish raj More thAn a decade after a trial court summoned former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the coal block allocation case, the Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside the order and accepted the Central bureau of investigation’s (Cbi) closure report which cleared him in the matter. Saying that the trial court had no justification for rejecting the Cbi’s closure report, a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of india Surya Kant closed the proceedings. While Singh died in December 2024, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the former PM, said though the matterhadbecomeinfructuous after his death, the trial court’s remarksagainsthimoughttobe expunged.SeniorAdvocateAM Singhvi, also representing Singh, urged the court to do away with the remarks. the bench, which included PeLting rAin, chilly conditionsandafieldofrunnersfrom Africawithapodium-finishing history spanning over 50 years —india’s gulveer Singh was up against the weather, sporting historyandaqualityfieldatthe New Delhi, July 29 »ContinUed on Page 2 New Delhi, July 29 Commonwealth games. Yet, the 28-year-old from Sirsa in UP’s Aligarh held his nerve, stuck to his race strategy and produced an impressive final burst to win silver, marking india’s first-ever Commonwealth games medal in the men’s 10,000m with a time of 27 minutes and 49.80 seconds. gulveer had, in fact, fallen behind during the race but fought back to snap at the heels of the leading pack before surging forward. Ky robinson of Australia won gold in 27:48.93, whileDavidMullarkeyoftheisle of Man took bronze in 27:50.28. the result also ended »ContinUed on Page 2 PaPer ‘leaK’ at gUjarat aYUrVed UniVersitY V-C says prof from Junagadh raised alarm; student wings stage protest Brendan dabhi Ahmedabad, July 29 the ShALYA tantra-1 (surgicalmethods)paperofthebachelor of Ayurveda Medicine and Surgery — suspected to have leaked—hadbeenputthrough the two-person authentication system. Since tuesday, several student organisations, including The Gujarat ayurved University in Jamnagar the rSS-backed Akhil bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (AbVP) and the Congress's national Students Union of india (nSUi), organised protests overtheissue.theydemanded an investigation and immediateactionagainstthose responsible. on July 20, five days before a nationwide agitation led by »ContinUed on Page 4 l case aGainsT kaPiL sanGwan reLaTes To his aLLeGed roLe in rUnninG an exTorTion syndicaTe In a first, trial in absentia begins today in Delhi against absconding gangster nirbhay thakur New Delhi, July 29 inAfirst,aDelhicourtwillstart hearing arguments thursday against Kapil Sangwan, a gangster accused in two cases under the Maharashtra Control of organisedCrimeAct(MCoCA),in absentia — or, in his absence. Sangwanhasbeendeclaredabsconding and is believed to be in London. in an order issued on July 9, Special Judge Vishal gogne of rouse Avenue Court permitted the trial to proceed in “absen- lroadtotrial KaPil sangwan, an accused in two cases under MCOCA, has been absconding since 2019. He is believed to be in London. sangwan was declared a proclaimed offender in May 2025. two non-bailable warrants were issued against him by Rouse Avenue court against him but they rouse avenue court in delhi. could not be executed since his house was found to be “locked”. on jUlY 9, Special Judge Vishal Gogne of Rouse Avenue Court permitted the trial to proceed in absentia under BNSS Section 356 (inquiry, trial or judgment in absentia of a proclaimed offender) tia” under Section 356 (inquiry, trial or judgment in absentia of proclaimed offender) of the bharatiya nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (bnSS). the trial pertains to one of the two MCoCA cases against Sangwan, related to his alleged role in running an extortion syndicate. According to new norms, a person accused of a crime can betriedandconvictedinhisabsence, as if he was present in court and has waived his right to a fair trial. earlier, the Code »ContinUed on Page 2 Ahmedabad no iMPaCt on eXisting ClearanCes Retrospective green nod: SC strikes down Centre’s order, opens window for exception 2021 Office Memorandum quashed, CJI bench says exceptions can be granted in public interest but under 1986 legislation ananthakrishnan g New Delhi, July 29 inAunanimousruling,theSupreme Court Wednesday held that the Centre can retrospectively grant environmental clearanceforprojects“inpublic interest” under the environment(Protection)Act,1986and not through a mere administrative office memorandum. the bench of Chief Justice of india Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya bagchi and Justice Vipul M Pancholi struck down theCentre’s2021officememorandumregardingretrospective approval for projects that had already commenced construction or operation without environmental clearance. toavoiddisruptiontoexisting projects, the bench said the ruling will apply prospectively, leaving existing clearances unaffected. itclarifiedthattheSupreme Court’s earlier decisions in Common Cause and Alembic Pharmaceuticalswererendered inthecontextofprevailinglaws at the time and “do not place a clogonthepoweroftheCentral government to issue an appropriate, narrowly tailored amn- E. explained no perpetual regime The SC has held that the government must make a distinct selection of projects for the grant of post facto environmental clearance. Projects with a bearing on public interest satisfy the test of proportionality, reasonableness. estynotificationinsupervening public interest as an exception to the 2006 notification”. “the decriminalisation of regulatory contraventions underthe1986Act,throughthe Jan Vishwas Act 2023, reinforces our conclusion that the Central government has ample power under Section 3 to issue appropriate notifications, formulating amnesty schemes with regard to such classes orcategories of non-compliant projects whose sustainability is necessary to subserve larger public interest,” it said. on May 16, 2025, the bench of Justice Abhay S oka and »ContinUed on Page 2