The editorial Page: gen Z’s parents have to answer for their politics which created this crisis 8 THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2026 JoUrnalism of CoUrage ahmEdabad, laTE CITy, 18 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 lBomBay HCwill pronounce its verdict on Goa government’s plea challenging Tarun Tejpal’s acquittal in a sexual assault case. lSC willresume hearing pleas of Uddhav Thackeray-led faction against the EC’s decision recognising Shinde-led faction as “real Shiv Sena”. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com Business as usual By EP UNNY aS oF Now, No PRoPoSal To EXTEND moNSooN SESSioN: PaRliamENTaRy aFFaiRS miNiSTER Govt reaches out to Opp, ready to soften FCRA Bill, allay concerns ‘Can’t leave without justice’: Jharkhand protest brings job Money Bill route pending aspirants together Rijiju meets Rahul to break deadlock; Opp seeks Shah statement on police action on protesters before SC, Govt chooses it to raise strength of judges apurva Vishwanath New Delhi, August 5 Deeptiman Tiwary, liz mathew & manoj C G New Delhi, August 5 ON THe day it reached out to theOppositioninanattemptto break the deadlock in Parliament where proceedings remain disrupted, the governmentWednesdaysignalledthat the Foreign Contribution (regulation) Amendment Bill, opposition mps protest outside parliament, Wednesday. PTI 2026wouldnothaveanypenalising retrospective provision. Civil society and religious groupshaveexpressedconcern that asset-vesting rules in the »CoNTiNUED oN PaGE 2 THe rAJYA Sabha Wednesday passed the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026, which seeks to increase the sanctioned strength ofSupremeCourtjudges from 34 to 38 including the Chief Justice of India. The Bill, which cleared lok Sabha monday, was passed as a Monetary Policy Committee raises growth outlook, cuts inflation forecast marginally Mumbai, August 5 THe reSerVe Bank of India’s monetary Policy Committee (mPC) Wednesday kept its key policy repo rate unchanged at 5.25percent,optingforcaution as volatile crude oil prices, geopolitical tensions in West Asia andanuncertainglobaloutlook cloud the inflation trajectory. While the central bank maintained the neutral policy stanceandmarginallyraisedits growth forecast for FY27 to 6.7 per cent from 6.6 per cent, it lowered its inflation projection to 5 per cent from 5.1 per cent, signallingconfidencethatprice pressures will moderate over the course of the year despite near-term risks. money Bill, a route it had also taken in 2019 when the SupremeCourtstrengthwasraisedto 34. In 2018, a key dissenting opinioninaSupremeCourtruling had described this route as a “fraud on the Constitution.” The Statement of Objects and reasons of the Bill cites the expenditureinvolvedincreatingfour additional posts of judges, E. RBI keeps interest rates unchanged, opts for caution amid uncertain global outlook akash mandal & George mathew »CoNTiNUED oN PaGE 2 The world ProPosed deal will give iran Control over shiPs entering hormuz Page 15 inside rBI governor sanjay malhotra (third from left) and deputy governors shirish chandra murmu, swaminathan Janakiraman, poonam gupta and rohit Jain in mumbai, Wednesday. PTI The decision, taken unanimously by the six-member mPC chaired by rBI Governor air india PiCks ex-grouP Chief of ethioPian airlines as its Ceo & md Page 4 gold rings, Coins & laPtoPs: Big sPending in viJay’s deBut Budget Page 12 Sanjay malhotra, means borrowing and deposit rates are »CoNTiNUED oN PaGE 2 Pmvideoremoval: metaapologises, Housecommittee wantstohearit fromZuckerberg Regret India allowed public event: Dhaka Want to go back in December, our (1971) victory month, says Hasina Shubhajit Roy Soumyarendra Barik & Jatin anand New Delhi, August 5 New Delhi, August 5 SOCIAl medIA giant meta’s global affairs head Joel Kaplan Wednesdayreiteratedthecompany’s apology over the brief takedown of a video posted by PrimeministerNarendramodi. He conveyed this during a meeting chaired by IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. meta is learnt to have said that the video’s removal was an inadvertent error, and it was strengthening its internal checks and balances. In a statement, Kaplan said, “Iapologisedtotheministeron behalf of meta for the error restricting Pm modi’s post.” A contingent of meta’s policy and regulatory officials, including Kaplan and Neil Potts, vice president of public policy at the company, had two separate meetings with government officials on Wednesday — a meeting with senior bureaucrats from the IT ministry, »CoNTiNUED oN PaGE 2 express special deClArING THAT her “life moved beyond calculations of personal safety long ago”, formerBangladeshPrimeminister Sheikh Hasina, who has been living in India ever since her ouster in August 2024, said Wednesdaythatsheplanstoreturn to her country, stand with its people and help improve their lives. Asked when she plans to return,Hasinareferredtothe1971 Bangladesh liberation war and said, “december is our victory month, so I want to go back in »CoNTiNUED oN PaGE 2 cannot stay away while my countrymen are suffering: ex-pm sheikh hasina. rEUTErS FIlE Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos is guest at Express Adda today Express News Service New Delhi, August 5 THe WAY we watch stories has changed dramatically over the past decade. Streaming has transformed not only how entertainmentreachesaudiences, but also how films and series arecreated,discoveredandcelebrated across the world. As storytelling continues to evolve, so do the questions: What does the future of enter- netflix co-ceo Ted sarandos tainment look like? How will changing audience habits and »CoNTiNUED oN PaGE 2 l In march, TrIaL courT acquITTed aLmosT aLL accused In 2016 case; hc WILL hear appeaL nexT on aug 25 10 yrs after Una flogging, Dalit victims seek help from society to continue legal fight Parimal a Dabhi parts of the country. months after the acquittal, the complainant in the case, IN mArCH, a court in Gujarat who was himself a victim of the acquitted 35 men accused of 2016 atrocity, is seeking finanpartially stripping and flogging cial assistance from wellfour dalits after falsely accus- wishers so he can pursue his ing them of killing appealintheGujarat page 1 cows in una in Gir High Court (HC). Somnath district 10 The last hearing years ago. on Vashram SarTheincidentwasseenatthe vaiya’s appeal against the timeasastarkillustrationofthe march 16 order of the Veraval atrocities that dalit commu- sessions court took place on nities continued to face at the July 20. A division Bench of the hands of non-dalits in many »CoNTiNUED oN PaGE 2 Ahmedabad, August 5 anchor Vashram sarvaiya (left) and his father Balu sarvaiya. ExPrESS FIlE Ahmedabad Shubham Tigga Ranchi, August 5 BrAHmANANd KumAr mahatofromramgarhliesonathin matbeneaththestatueofOlympian,writerandpoliticianJaipal Singh munda at ranchi’s iconic Jaipal Singh munda Stadium. His white shirt, unchanged for four days, is drenched in sweat and the pouring rain, the streaks of mud on it the only realindicationofthepassageof time. Around the 30-year-old, fellow protesters sit gently pressing his arms and feet, while doctors hover nearby to Leader of opposition in Jharkhand assembly Babulal marandi at the protest site in ranchi on Wednesday. PTI monitor his health. “I had no idea how a hunger strike was observed. I’ve never done it before. I just came here, »CoNTiNUED oN PaGE 2 ‘Starvation drove mother to extreme act; collective failure’, says Gujarat HC Court grants bail to woman booked for ‘fatally assaulting hungry child’ aditi Raja Vadodara, August 5 CAN A mother's act of violence againstherhungrychildalsobe an indictment of society's fail- ure to feed its poorest? Answering that question, the Gujarat High Court (HC) has granted bail to a pregnant woman accused of “fatally assaulting” hertwo-year-olddaughterover »CoNTiNUED oN PaGE 4