The editorial Page: Count caste by all means. But abandon belief that counting settles anything 10 ThURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2026 JournalISm of Courage KolKATA, lATE CITy, 18 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 on His First visit to vAlley, envoy sAys ‘incrediBle stePs’ tAKen to mAKe Union territory sAFe J&K important part of India, will relook at travel warnings: US envoy in Srinagar Post-Op Sindoor chill, message underlines Delhi stand, signal to Pak too Conversation will be taken forward between Gor and Washington, and New Delhi and I, says Omar after meeting naveed iqbal Srinagar, August 19 iN A strong endorsement of New Delhi’s long-standing position on Jammu & Kashmir, US Ambassador Sergio Gor, who was in Srinagar Wednesday on his maiden visit to the Valley,describedJ&Kas“animportant part of india” and signalled that Washington would review the situation in the Union Territory to downgrade and ease travel warnings for US citizens. Gor met Chief Minister Omar Abdullah at his Gupkar road residence, marking the first standalone visit to the ValleybyaservingUSAmbassador since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. in January 2020, Kenneth Juster, the then Ambassador, had visited the Valley as part of a governmentfacilitateddelegationofforeign envoys. Stating that he was “thrilled” to be in the Valley, Gor said, “This is an important part of india. i am here, visiting for the first time. it’s an incredibly beautiful place.” he is expected to travel to ladakh Thursday. he said he had “a very »continUed on PAge 2 shubhajit roy New Delhi, August 19 USAMBASSADOrSergioGor’s declaration from Srinagar that Jammu and Kashmir is “an important part of india” is not just Washington’s public affirmation of New Delhi’s long-standing position on J&K, but it is also being seen as a message to islamabad and Beijing, especially postthePahalgamterrorattack and Operation Sindoor. A close confidant of President Donald Trump, Gor is also E. Us ambassador sergio Gor with Jammu and kashmir chief minister omar abdullah in srinagar on Wednesday. ANI The world pAgE 12 express investigation UAE sUspEnds trAdE tiEs with irAn AftEr MissilE AttAcks workers protesting for higher wages got over 50 days on average in jail — until courts stepped in happening today lUnion Home Minister Amit Shah will chair the 31st meeting of the Southern Zonal Council in Tamil Nadu’s Mamallapuram. lA nine-jUdge Constitution Bench will pronounce its verdict on reference against expansive definition given to “industry” in Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. lFinAnce ministerNirmala Sitharaman will lead a ministerial delegation for the fourth IndiaSingapore Ministerial Roundtable, a key platform for discussions on bilateral economic and strategic cooperation. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com Business as Usual By EP UNNY drishti jain & Kaunain sheriff m New Delhi, August 19 on BAil: 19-year-old says stepped out for food, was arrested; (right) 20-year-old says picked up from lane outside home. pRAvEEN KhANNA l 106arrests,daysinjail Fir no max min Avg 151 74 8 32 149 81 25 36 164 118 49 89 165 105 34 71 169 120 25 54 172 81 27 35 DATA foR fIR No. 163/2026 NoT AvAIlABlE ent pattern. Judges repeatedly found that the police case rests on treating a crowd as the accused, rather than establishing what any one worker actually did. »continUed on PAge 2 Parents now ring up six times a day, worrying the police would pick me up again” Where bail denied: Govt slapped NSA, cited book, library, articles and Gaza drishti jain & Kaunain sheriff m New Delhi, August 19 iN The Noida labour protests, where nearly eight of every 10 people arrested have got bail, those denied relief face a commonaccusation:anallegedrole in the conspiracy. Books read, WhatsApp texts, and participation inGaza and NrC protests have all been cited as evidence, with police even using the term “andolan- »continUed on PAge 2 ‘conFlict oF interest’ April protests in Noida met with police crackdown; courts granted relief in 84% bail pleas on FIRs with substantive allegations: ‘mere presence not enough to deny bail, specific evidence needed, can’t equate workers with instigators’ iT’SAtaleoftwoprotests—and two very different outcomes. lastmonth,theJantarMantar protest demanding a leakproof exam system ended with theUnioneducationMinister’s resignationandanassuranceby the Centre and states that the police will not pursue any case against the protesters. in sharp contrast, the weeklongproteststartingApril10by factoryworkersinprivatefirms in neighbouring Noida, demanding higher wages, got no such assurance. indeed, a police crackdown saw up to 200 people taken into custody, including two booked under the stringent National Security Act (NSA), which allows detention withouttrialforuptoayear.On April 14, the UP government raised the wages but it took the courts to grant relief to most of the jailed protesters. The Indian Express investigated 106 arrests with substantive allegations, ranging from rioting and arson to attempt to murder — the average period a protester spent in custody was 53 days. These arrests led to 222 bailorderslinkedtosevenfirs. Theinvestigationrevealedthat reliefwasgrantedinasmanyas 188, or 84 per cent. Significantly,theordershadaconsist- his special envoy to South and Central Asia. his meeting with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah signalsbothacknowledgement and engagement with J&K’s firstelectedgovernment post the 2019 constitutional changes. for New Delhi, this has significance given that the india-US chill was precipitated by the india-Pak conflict amid Trump’s repeated claims of brokering the ceasefire followingOperationSindoorlastyear. from Srinagar, however, jeevi” in one case. Those denied bail include activists, a former journalist and a Delhi University graduate — the latter two held under the draconian National Security Act (NSA), which permits detention of up to a year without trial. On May 13, nearly a month after the protests turned violent, UP invoked the NSA against Satyam Verma, a 60year-oldformerjournalistfrom »continUed on PAge 2 canlookatmore safeguards: ministryon deeptechfund Amitabh sinha New Delhi, August 19 While MAiNTAiNiNG that thesafeguardsonavoidingconflict of interest in the disbursement of research, Development and innovation (rDi) fund were fairly robust, Science and Technology MinisterJitendraSinghonWednesday said the government was open to considering suggestionsforstrengtheningtheprocess further. Singh’s remarks, made at the monthly meeting of Secretaries of scientific departments under his charge, come in the wake of an investigative report by The Indian Express earlier this month that showed that 15 of the 22 private companies selected for the first round of fundingfromtherDifundhad investment ties to seven membersoftheselectionpanel, raising questions of conflict of interest and propriety. Though the panel members concerned had declared their interest and recused themselvesfromevaluatingthecompany they had a stake in, as per the guidelines, the matter underlined the need for additionalsafeguardsinthesystem. At Wednesday’s meeting, Singhreviewedalltheproceduralsafeguardsbeingadoptedto avoid a conflict of interest situation,andemphasisedthatdue diligence and verification »continUed on PAge 2 naTion pAgE 7 institUtionAlisE ntA rEforMs, sAys ApEX coUrt Guests at shikha Inn wait for firefighters to rescue them, in central kolkata on early Wednesday morning. ExpRESS sUvendU orders sAFety AUdit Another hotel fire kills 9, most from Bangladesh for medical treatment inside pAgE 4 5-member SIT formed; President, crAMpEd rooMs, no firE AlArM, thE PM condole deaths BUilding VirtUAlly ravik Bhattacharya & tanusree Bose Kolkata, August 19 A fire at a hotel in central Kolkata in the early hours of Wednesdayhasclaimedatleastnine lives, including at least five Bangladesh nationals. Most of the guests were asleep when smoke engulfed the hotel, suffocatingninepersonsincluding a child, the police said. The fire broke out around 2 amonWednesdayattheShikha inn located in a five-storeyed buildingonMirzaGhalibStreet. The area houses several hotels catering especially to Bangladeshnationalswhovisitthecity for medical treatment. Theincidentcomescloseon the heels of a massive fire at a four-storey hotel in Tarapith in A tindErBoX how cAg rEport flAggEd firE sAfEty dEficiEnciEs And sAw this coMing West Bengal’s Birbhum district earlyonMonday,inwhichnine people had died. The state government has ordered a statewide fire-safety auditofhotelsandguesthouses, while an SiT has also been formed to probe the incident. ThepolicesaidthatWednesdaymorning’sfire,believedtobe causedbyashortcircuit,spread fast, making it difficult for the guests to escape. Police sources said the building also lacked proper firefighting systems. »continUed on PAge 2 Cong invokes Tagore, Mahatma: Will sing only first 2 stanzas of Vande Mataram Asad rehman New Delhi, August 19 DAySAfTertheCongresswas embroiledinacontroversyover the rendition of the national song, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Wednesday decided that the party will onlysingthefirsttwostanzasof Vande Mataram at its programmes. TheCongress’shighestdecision-making body cited a 1937 CWC resolution to back its stand, arguing that the leading lights of the freedom movement, including Mahatma Gandhi and rabindranath Tagore, had backed limiting the public rendition of Vande Mataram to its first two stanzas. following a CWC meeting convened by the All india Congress Committee (AiCC) chief, MallikarjunKharge,attheparty headquarters indira Bhavan in Delhi,AiCCgeneralsecretaryin charge of organisation K C Venugopaltoldapressconference that there was “no confusion” overtherenditionofVandeMataram within the Congress. “The Congress president (Kharge) categorically said it yesterday. it was clarified. But againtoday,itwasdiscussedby theCongressWorkingCommittee. Our stand is very clear. The CWC resolution of 1937... Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, rabindranath Tagore, Subhas Chandra Bose and Sardar Patel. We will abide by the decision taken by them. »continUed on PAge 2 l sonIPaT academY seT UP bY former IndIa PlaYer PrITam ranI sIWach sends foUr Women To onGoInG World cUP She captained Team India, now son in Hockey World Cup — via her academy mihir vasavda ongoing hockey World Cup — defender Jyoti, midfielders Neha Goyal and Shilpi Dabas, The1998hockeyWorldCupin and teenage forward Sakshi the Netherlands gave former rana — from the academy that india captain Pritam rani Si- she and her husband, Kuldeep, wach one of the fondest set up in haryana’s Sonipat. chapters of her career. TwentyfiveWorldCupplayers.One eight years later, the same tour- academy. One hockey family. nament and the same country “it’sabigtournament.yashhavegivenheranothermemory deep is playing in the same to cherish: watching country where i also page 1 played my first her son, yashdeep, make his World Cup World Cup. it is debut, making them special,” Pritam, 51, thefirstmother-sonduotoplay tellsTheIndianExpress.“Mazdoor jab ghar banata hai, toh in the marquee event. Pritam has another reason banata hi rehta hai (When lato cheer. Besides yashdeep, a bourers build a home, they just defender, there are four players keep building). That’s what i in india’s women's squad at the am doing. Coaching is my Mumbai, August 19 anchor passion. i don’t see it as my son playing the tournament. My daughters are there, too. There’s no difference for me.” Over the years, Pritam and Kuldeep have quietly built one ofindia’smostproductivetalent pipelinesforwomen'shockey— yashdeep, too, trained at the academy in his early years, beforemovingontoamen’sacademy. The Pritam Siwach Academy, which once stood on land used for grazing cattle, is now a breeding ground for elite players, producing internationals such as Neha Goyal, NishaWarsiandSharmilaDevi. The couple have relied less on infrastructure and more on persistence, providing young Yashdeep siwach with mother Pritam, a former India captain, and father kuldeep, a hockey coach. players with coaching, equipment and, just as importantly, a space to train consistently. yet, for all the players she has helped shape, there was onewhoPritamneverintended to coach: her own son. Oneofindiansport’searliest supermoms, Pritam never stopped going to the hockey ground throughout her pregnancy — initially training lightly before coaching the players there. Seven months after yashdeep was born, she was back chasingherowndream.Shewas summoned for the Manchester Commonwealth Games selectiontrialsafterdecidingtomake a comeback to the national team. She shed 18 kg in three or fourmonthstoearnherplacein thesquadthatwentontowinindia’s famous gold medal. Pritameventuallysetupthe academy in Sonipat. But when it came to her son, she wanted Kolkata a different path. yashdeep occasionally accompanied her to the training ground, but she encouraged himtotryothersports.Shealso worried that if he made the nationalteam,hisselectionwould be viewed through the prism of his mother’s influence, even if he had earned it on merit. So, yashdeep turned to swimming. Given the sporting genesinthefamily—hisfather wasalsoahockeyplayerandhis sister, Kanika, currently plays for india — it was hardly surprising that he excelled. Then, one winter, the swimming poolsshut.yashdeeppickedup a hockey stick to pass time, and soon found himself hooked. yashdeep may have been late to structured hockey, but the sport itself was hardly new tohim.“Sincechildhood,ihave been surrounded by hockey. At home, our dinner table conversations would revolve around the game and if i accompanied my parents to their work, it would be at a hockey field,” he had told The Indian Express in an earlier interview. “That atmosphere really helped me grasp the sport faster.” Meanwhile,PritamandKuldeep continued to scout and train players from across haryana, moulding them into india stars. Many like Neha, whose mother worked at a »continUed on PAge 2