DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2025, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES SINCE 1932 SEPT DATA Y-O-Y FOR GOODS EXPORTS PRELUDE TO OLYMPICS DREAM Trump tariff: Exports to US dip 12% but China and UAE cushion blow MIHIR VASAVDA MUMBAI, OCTOBER 15 IN WHAT is being seen as a preludetoitsambitionof hostingthe 2036 Olympics, India is set to holdtheCommonwealthGames (CWG)in2030withAhmedabad as the venue for the centenary edition of the event. Gujarat’s largest city was recommended as the “proposed host” by the executive board of Commonwealth Sport following its meeting Wednesday. “Amdavad will now be put forward to the full Commonwealth Sportmembership”forformalapproval during its General Assembly at Glasgow in Scotland on November 26, the governing body said in a statement. India last hosted the CWG in 2010 in Delhi — an event that wasovershadowedbypoorplanning, delays in infrastructure CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RAVI DUTTA MISHRA BENGAL ‘GANGRAPE’ CASE Friend in custody, police want to know why he didn’t seek help or raise alarm piece together his role in the incident.The male friend of the woman, who also studies in the same private medical college, was produced before a court on Wednesday, a day after he was arrested. TANUSREE BOSE KOLKATA, OCTOBER 15 AFTER GETTING custody of the male friend of an MBBS student, who was allegedly gangraped outsidethemedicalcollegecampus in West Bengal’s Paschim Bardhaman district last Friday night, the police are trying to TRANSFER OF JUSTICE ATUL SREEDHARAN FROM MP HIGH COURT SC Collegium admits its decision on judge changed after Govt ‘sought’ it The friend of the victim in police custody, Tuesday. PTI CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MORE REPORTS PAGE 4 NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 15 EVENASIndia’sgoodsexportsto the United States registered a sharp fall of 12 per cent in September(yearonyear),thetotal exports registered a 6.74 per centgrowth,buttressedbygains in the UAE and Chinese markets. However, a sharp surge in gold, silver and fertiliser imports widened the trade deficit to $31.15 billion, the highest in over ayear,accordingtodatareleased by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on Wednesday. The data for September CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 UAE UK China ■ Exports(%) ■ Imports(%) -20.22 NA US 34.18 16.35 INDIA’S SEPTEMBER TRADE* *y-o-y; Source: Ministry of Commerce Netherlands & Industry China’s rare earth squeeze may push India-US deal to finish line, but timing key RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 15 WITH INDIAN negotiators in Washington this week — Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal, who is heading the negotiations, will join the Indian E delegation in the US tomorrow — shared concerns ● overcriticalminerals could provide the much-needed political push for the India-US trade deal that hasremainedstalledformonths. EXPLAINED Mallojula Venugopal Rao and 60 other Maoists hold copies of the Constitution after they laid down their arms before Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis in Gadchiroli. PTI REPORT,P7 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 -10 -20 -30 11.94 53.99 TOP MAOIST, 60 CADRES SURRENDER Total goods exports up 6.74%; trade deficit highest in a year on gold, silver, fertiliser imports 24.33 32.83 Beating Nigeria’s Abuja, Ahmedabad recommended as ‘proposed host’ -11.91 11.78 India set to host 2030 Commonwealth Games — in Gujarat An artist’s impression of the venues of the 2036 Olympics and the Commonwealth Games in Ahmedabad in 2030 `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES, `20 IN ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Judgepartof benchthatpulledupMinisterforremarksonColQureshi APURVA VISHWANATH JusticeAtul Sreedharan hasnow beensentto AllahabadHC NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 15 IN A highly unusual admission, the Supreme Court collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India B R Gavai, Wednesday said that it hadchangeditsrecommendation regardingtransferof ajudgeafter the government “sought reconsideration” of its earlier decision. On August 25, the Collegium had recommended the transfer of Madhya Pradesh High Court judge Justice Atul Sreedharan to Chhattisgarh High Court. Justice Sreedharan has now been recommended for a transfer to the Allahabad High Court. “The Supreme Court Collegium,initsmeetingheldon 14thOctober,2025,onreconsideration sought by the Government,resolvedtorecommend that Mr. Justice Atul Sreedharan, Judge, High Court of Madhya Pradesh, be transferred totheHighCourtof Judicatureat Allahabad instead of the High Court of Chhattisgarh,” a statement by the Collegium said. Although the Collegium has, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN AGREE TO 48-HR TRUCE PAGE 10 For first time in 15 years, ASHLEY TELLIS MET CHINESE OFFICIALS: FBI ratio of women-to-men Indian-American expert voters declines in Bihar held in US for illegally procuring defence data ANJISHNU DAS DOWN TO 892 & LALMANI VERMA NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 15 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 15 892 865 2025 2020 2015 2010 MORE REPORTS, P6 Source: EC 874 859 2005 ASPERthefinalelectoralrollsfollowing the Election Commission’s (EC's) contentious Special Intensive Revision DECISION (SIR) drive, Bihar has 2025 7.43 crore voters, inBIHAR cluding 3.92 crore men, 3.5 crore women and 1,725 belonging to the ‘third gender’. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE 899 ASHLEY J Tellis, 64, a prominent Indian-Americanstrategicaffairs expert who was part of the George W Bush administration and played a role in negotiations that led to the India-US nuclear deal, was arrested over the weekend and charged with the “unlawful retention of national defence information”, the US Ashley Tellis played role in talks leading to India-US n-deal Department of Justice (DoJ) said Wednesday. “We are fully focused on protectingtheAmericanpeoplefrom all threats, foreign and domestic. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 With friends hours before ‘suicide’, Rohtak ASI ‘got call, said was going back to office’ PAGE 1 ANCHOR ABHIMANYU HAZARIKA & VARINDER BHATIA ROHTAK, CHANDIGARH, OCTOBER 15 A COUPLE of hours before he allegedly shot himself in the head Tuesday, ASI Sandeep Kumar Lather met his friends at a tea stall near the Rohtak bypass. It was their “usual hangout” but ASISandeep Kumar(above); hiswifeSantosh athisuncle’s homeinLadhot village,Rohtak. Manoj Dhaka “something was off, he looked troubled and distracted”. Then came a phone call, around 11.30 am, and Sandeep quickly excused himself, saying he was going back to his office. “He lied,” Sandeep’s friend Sanjay Deswal, who was part of that group of friends, told The Indian Express Wednesday while describing their last meeting. Within an hour or so, Deswal came to know that Sandeep had “died by suicide”, found lying CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata