www.INdIANEXpRESS.CoM A poet for the ages Veteran poet Gulzar on the home he lost, the city he found and all the words in between kolkaTa, ocTober 4, 2026 Down in JUnGlelanD By ranJit lal What makes insect wings marvels of natural engineering LAtE CIty 14+4 pAGES ₹7.00 (₹12 IN NoRthEASt StAtES, ₹20 IN ANdAMAN) d A I L y F R o M : A h M E d A B A d , Happening today lBrazil will hold the first round of presidential elections pitting incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is seeking a fourth term, against conservative Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. lHaryana CHief Minister Nayab Singh Saini begins his three-day visit to Singapore, where he will explore new opportunities for investment, industrial cooperation and technological partnerships. lsHiv sena (UBt) and MNS will hold a joint protest in Mumbai against the Election Commission and Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com west benGal p3 suvendu says will launch a probe into mamata’s 2021 leg injury claim parliamentary committee rejig: tmc loses both chairperson posts C h A N d I G A R h , d E L h I , j A I p u R , k o L k A t A , L u C k N o w , M u M B A I , N A G p u R , GST Council to discuss issue on Oct 7, Govt likely to bring amendment in Winter Session aanchal Magazine New Delhi, October 3 MOrETHAnnineyearsafterits rollout in July 2017, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime is set to see a major overhaul — removal of arrest powers. In a bid to boost investor sentiment and allay concerns about overreach by tax authorities, the upcoming GST Council meeting, on October 7, will takeuptheproposaltodecriminalise offences under the indirect tax regime, two persons aware of the development told The Indian Express. The Centre and the states are learnt to have held several meetings over the last eightnine months, including involvement at the top levels of theUniongovernment,toreach a broad consensus on removal of the arrest provisions under GST, which were being seen as amajorimpedimentfortraders and businesses. The move is viewed as urgent as several arrests of high-ranking functionariesweremadeinrecenttimes under the GST provisions that lodge protests over ‘infiltration’, ‘killing’ AdAyaftertheBorderSecurity Force (BSF) killed two suspected Pakistani intruders along the International Border in Punjab's Tarn Taran district, India and Pakistan summoned each other’s Charge d’Affaires andlodged“strongprotests”on Saturday. While India protested over the“continuedfacilitationofillegal cross-border infiltration”, Pakistan claimed the two who were killed were “unarmed civilians”. The Pakistani diplomat in delhi was summoned hours afterIslamabadsummonedthe Indian official there. “The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) today summoned the Chargé d'Affaires of thePakistanHighCommission to lodge India’s strong protest over the continued facilitation of illegal cross-border infiltration from Pakistan. India also v A d o d A R A 9 years after rollout of GST regime, arrest powers likely to be removed lGstevasionincludinginputtaxcreditfrauds period 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 (up to dec 24) total cases detection recovery (in rs crore) (in rs crore) arrests 12,574 15,562 20,582 73,238 1,31,613 2,30,332 25,157 33,226 31,758 342 190 223 23,675 1,88,415 20,128 132 72,393 6,23,598 1,10,269 887 *FRAud dEtECtEd By CENtRAL GSt FoRMAtIoNS *EvASIoN FIGuRES INCLudE FIGuRES oF ItC FRAud CASES; SouRCE: Lok SABhA E. explained throwback to vat If the power to arrest is removed, the GST regime, in a way, will be similar to the Value Added Tax regime that existed before the rollout of the indirect tax regime in July 2017 and did not have any provisions for arrest. were termed by industry leaders as an overreach. For intentional frauds and deceit under GST, the authorities will proceed with prosecution and arrests will be through the country's criminal code, Bharatiya nyaya Sanhita, a source said. “The consultations had been going on since the last eight-nine months. The feedbackfrombusinessesaboutthe arrests has been taken into ac- inside page 7 india can be called developed economy if development inclusive, says v-p count to move ahead with this discussion. The GST Council will take up the matter and the finaldecisionwillbetakenafter that, following which there will be legislative changes to allow removal of arrest provisions under GST laws,” said a source. After the rollout of GST in July 2017, authorities have grappled with multiple instances of frauds, involving broadly similar modus operandi. Typically, such cases involvefakeidentitiesormuleaccountstoundertakefraudulent GSTtransactionsinabidtoavail input tax credit, or fake bills without actual supply of goods. Manysuppliersalsoundervalue »ContinUeD on PaGe 2 flyDUBai MiD-air sCare Union finance minister nirmala sitharaman at the kautilya economic conclave in new delhi, saturday. ptI KaUtilya eConoMiC ConClave Private sector must lead investment cycle, including R&D: FM siddharth Upasani New Delhi, October 3 FInAnCE MInISTEr nirmala Sitharaman has called on the privatesectortobethedriverof investments, including in research & development (r&d), saying that with global uncertainty now a "standing condition", the coming years demand preparation. She added that the resilience being displayed by the Indian economy now has been built "layer by layer" since 2014, with fiscal prudence giving continuity to thegovernment'sdevelopment commitments. “raisingboththescaleofinvestment and private sector participation is essential to strengthening our innovation capacity,” Sitharaman said, notingthatIndia’sexpenditure on r&d is only 0.83% of GdP, less than a third of the average of2.7%formembercountriesof Organisation for Economic »ContinUeD on PaGe 2 17-year-old archer scripts history with India, Pakistan recurve gold, beats world champion summon top envoys, New Delhi, October 3 p u N E , BiD to aDDress ConCerns on overreaCH By tax aUtHorities tit-for-tat Move shubhajit roy p A t N A , categorically rejected the baseless and motivated allegations regardinganincidentintheFerozepur sector, Punjab, along theInternationalBorderonOctober 2, 2026,” the MEA said in a statement. It said the “Pakistani side was informed that three individuals infiltrated into Indian territory and despite multiple warnings by BSF to return to Pakistan, continued to move towards the border fence. The BSF was compelled to engage them for posing an imminent security threat.” The MEA said the incident highlightsa“clearpatternofrepeatedcross-bordermovement by armed narcotics syndicates operating from Pakistan. Government of Pakistan was urged to investigate these crossborder infiltration, drug smuggling activities and the complicity of Pakistan border guarding forces therein, and to take appropriate remedial »ContinUeD on PaGe 2 express at Oman Air had barred co-pilot from flying over concerns on his extremist views Attacked pilot with crash axe, terror bid: UAE inside page 6 samy Magdy, sam Mednick & Cara anna Cairo, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, October 3 AsiAn GAmes Mihir vasavda Okazaki, October 3 WHEn KUMKUM Mohod was born in 2009, South Korea had already spent two decades ruling women’s recurve archery. When she picked up a wooden bow in 2018, Korea had six straight Asian Games team titles and Olympic champions in its ranks. On Saturday, at her first Asian Games, the 17-yearold tore through that reign of dominance, one Korean at a time, and then shot the final arrow into the 10-ring to become an Asiad champion. She made history by becoming the first Indian recurve archer to winanindividualgoldmedalat the Asian Games. Andwhatarouteshetookto get there. Mohod beat two Koreans, including world champion Kang Chae-young, nicknamed‘thedestroyer’,and a Chinese archer on her way to the title. crown Prince and minister of defence of the Uae, sheikh hamdan bin mohammed bin rashid al maktoum, visits captain smit machchhar at a hospital, saturday. @hAMdANMohAMMEd/X kumkum mohod at the asian Games, saturday. oLyMpICS.CoM/AINAGoC “I had visualised this,” she said. “I had visualised my match against Kang… And before the shoot-off, I had visualised shooting an X (dead centre of target), and that is exactly what happened.” There is something almost absurd about all of this when you remember that Mohod is still 17. Her first Asian Games has already given her two gold medalsandasilver,andshehas beaten Korea three times along the way. She has done it without seeming particularly interested in the weight of the names on the targets beside her. “I stay focused on my own process,” she said. “you are aware of who you are shooting against, but while shooting, I stay in my own zone and focus on my key points.” sport page 13 with last-minute gold rush, india set to finish fourth in medal tally That might sound like the polished answer of an established champion. Then you »ContinUeD on PaGe 2 THE CO-PIlOT accused of attacking the captain, Indian pilot Smit Machchhar, on an Israel-bound flydubai flight with an axe and trying to seize the controls was an Omani national who had been barred fromflyingonhiscountry’sairline because of concerns about extremist views, officials said Saturday. Theco-pilothasbeenidentified as Hamam al-Hammami, according to three people with knowledge of the situation, including a Gulf and Western diplomat, who spoke on conditionofanonymitybecausethey were not authorized to speak to the media. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is leading the investigation, said the co-pilot attacked with the cockpit’s crash axe and tried to take control of the sharply plummeting plane in a “terrorist attack” Wednesday. His actions nearly crashed the flight with 182 people on board before passengers and others rushed in and subdued him. israel pm speaks to indian pilot: ‘you are a hero’ “Investigations into the incident involving flydubai flight FZ1073 found that the copilothadattemptedtocarryout a terrorist attack,” Prosecutor General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said in a statement carried by the UAE's state news agency. Separately, a regional official and a person familiar with themattersaidtheco-pilothad been barred from flying by Oman over concerns he had adopted extremist views. The officialsaidhewasmovedtoan administrativejobatOmanAir. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation. They gave no details about the alleged extremist views. The co-pilot was later hired by UAE-based airline flydubai, the person said. It was not immediately clear to what extent »ContinUeD on PaGe 2 l 70% of reJinaGar PoPUlaTion is mUslim; hUmayUn kabir, Who Won earlier This year WiTh nearly doUble The voTes of his bJP rival, says facinG ‘inTimidaTion’ ‘Not the time for Masjid-Mandir’: BJP shifts tack to development in Bengal bypoll ravik Bhattacharya us. But this election is different,” says Bhattacharya. daysafterChiefMinisterSuOn A small makeshift stage in vendu Adhikari said that the Begunbari area of rejinagar, October 6 bypolls were a “test” BJP Bengal president Samik for the minority community, Bhattacharya stands beside andthattheyshouldcomewith party candidate Shankharavh the BJP, Bhattacharya says: Sarkar,asothersjostleforspace. “EightypercentofMuslimsstay in villages, and their The public meeting paGe 1 monthly income is has come at the end rs 5,000 or lower. of an impressive ParticipationofMusroad show involving lims in government jobs is also over a hundred motorcycles. Thecrowdgatheredaround low. The situation needs to the stage is predominantly change.” While the BJP government Muslim,withotherslookingon from balconies and rooftops. is accused by opponents of “In the last elections, our can- stoking anti-minority sentididate lost by a huge margin. ments in West Bengal to win Minority voters were not with this year’s Assembly elections Rejinagar, October 3 anchor and to consolidate its hold in the state since then, for the bypoll in rejinagar where nearly 70% of the population is Muslim, the party has changed its narrative to development. It is also directly reaching out to Muslims, in a manner rarely seen before in the state. Bhattacharya, seen as the “moderate”facewithinthestate BJP, says: “In these last six monthsunderourgovernment, has there been a single riot?... This is not the time to do Babri Masjid-ram Mandir. For the next 20 years, it will be our government both at the Centre and inthestate.youwillhavetostay withus.youwillhavetochoose.” A day later, during his tour West bengal bJP chief samik bhattacharya campaigns ahead of rejinagar bypoll on october 6. EXpRESS of the constituency, Adhikari underlines the same at a public meeting in Shaktipur. Bhattacharya’s reference to Babri Masjid is deliberate. In the April 2026 Assembly elec- tions, the rejinagar seat was won by Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) leader Humayun Kabir, who laid the foundation for a replica of the mosque in the constituency. Kabir got nearly double the votes of his BJP rival, getting 51.62% of the votes, to the BJP’s 27.02%, and the TMC’s 17.43%. The rejinagar bypoll was necessitated as Kabir resigned from the seat and retained the other constituency he won from, nouda. Kabir’s son Gulam nabi Azad is the AJUP candidate for therejinagarbypollnow.There islittlesignofhimthoughinthe constituency,withKabirclaiming “intimidation” by the BJP Kolkata administration,includingslapping of cases, and saying the AJUPwouldcampaignonlyonline and on social media. With the BJP wooing MuslimsandKabiraway,thecontest could go either way – particularly as the anti-BJP corner is crowded.ApartfromKabir,who used to be in the Trinamool Congress before floating the AJUP ahead of the Assembly polls, it includes the Congress, CPI(M) and the two TMC factions.Allhaveputupcandidates from the Muslim community. At the site of Kabir’s Babri Masjid replica, along national Highway10,constructionison, with earthmovers at work and bricks lying in a pile. “Around rs 10 crore have come in as donations,” says Kabir, sitting in a small office at the site. He is “being forced to take a backseat”,saystheAUJPleader, who seems subdued and far removed from his once firebrand image. “Apart from fresh cases against me, old cases are being revived against my party leaders. Twenty-four of them have been arrested. Twelve of us got bail, but police kept calling me for interrogation, and harassing my followers. That is why I decided that neither my son nor I will campaign.” As per Kabir, the “harassment” has been on since May, when the government asked »ContinUeD on PaGe 2