DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, PATNA, VADODARA L REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2025, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 CELEBRATES DIWALI ON BOARD INS VIKRANT, UNDERLINES DEFENCE SELF-RELIANCE 21/10/2025 98 126 155 78 Coordinationofthreeservicesbrought PaktoitskneesduringOpSindoor:PM Countryonvergeof freedomfromMaoistextremism...theirvisibleinfluenceonlyin3districts:Modi No seat-sharing agreement yet, RJD unveils list of 143 candidates 20 SC, 1 ST, 24 women in list, 36 MLAs dropped; ‘friendly fight’ in 6 seats THE WORLD HIMANSHU HARSH PATNA, OCTOBER 20 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY CEASEFIRE AND AID TO RESUME AFTER ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES KILL 26 IN GAZA CHINA: COMMUNIST PARTY BEGINS KEY MEETING, TRUMP TARIFFS ON AGENDA PAGE 12 India to pay ‘massive tariffs’ if it continues to buy Russian oil, says Trump US President Donald Trump Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Navy officers on the flight deck of INS Vikrant, off the coast of Goa and Karwar on Monday. PTI PAVNEET SINGH CHADHA PANAJI, OCTOBER 20 PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi said Monday that the exceptional coordination among thecountry’sthreearmedforces brought Pakistan to its knees swiftly during Operation Sindoor. The PM celebrated Diwali on board India’s indigenously built aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant,withNavypersonneloff the coast of Goa and Karwar. Addressing Navy personnel, Modi said the aircraft carrier’s name was enough to disrupt Pakistan’s sleep. “Vikrant is not merely a warship, it is a testament to 21st Century India’s hard work, talent, impact and commitment. Just a few months ago, we saw that INS Vikrant, with its name alone, gave sleeplessnightstoentirePakistan.The fear instilled by the Indian Navy, the incredible skill demon- strated by the Indian Air Force, thebraveryof theIndianArmy… the exceptional coordination of the three services brought Pakistantoitskneesswiftly(jaldi ghutne tekne par majboor kar diya tha) during Operation Sindoor,” Modi said. Recalling his night spent aboard the carrier, Modi said the experience is difficult to put into words.“Isawthatyouwereallfull of enthusiasm and excitement. And when I saw you sing songs yesterday and the way you described Operation Sindoor in those songs… perhaps no poet canexpressthefeelingthatasoldier standing on the battlefield experiences,” he said. Stressing that self-reliance is essential for the armed forces to be strong, the Prime Minister said,“Whentheenemyisinfront and war is imminent, the side that possesses the strength to fightindependentlyalwaysholds theadvantage.Weareproudthat over the past decade, our armed forces have made fast strides toward self-reliance. Our forces madealistof thousandsof items and decided that these items would no longer be imported from abroad. The result was that… most of the essential military equipment is now being manufactured in the country itself.Inthelast11years,India’sdefence production has more than tripled,crossingRs1.5lakhcrore CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PRESS TRUST OF INDIA US PRESIDENT Donald Trump said that India is going to pay “massivetariffs”if itcontinuesto buy oil fromRussia,while reiterating that he got assurance from Prime Minister Narendra Modi thatNewDelhiisgoingtohaltits oil purchases from Moscow. Speaking to reporters onboard Air Force One, Trump said India will “continue to pay massive tariffs” if they do not cease buying oil from Russia, adding that “they (India) don’t want to do that.” Trump was replying to a question about India’s recent remarks on oil purchases from Russia. India last week said it is “broad-basing and diversifying” its sourcing of energy to meet market conditions, hours after Trump claimed that Modi assured him that New Delhi will stopprocuringRussiancrudeoil. Trump said he does not believe India made such remarks. “But I don't believe they said that. No, I spoke with Prime Minister Modi of India, and he said he's not going to be doing the Russian oil thing,” the US President added. Washington has been maintainingthatIndiaishelpingPutin to finance the war through its purchase of Russian crude oil. The relations between New Delhi and Washington have been reeling under severe stress after Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50 per cent, including a 25 per cent additional duty for India's purchase of Russian crude oil. IndiadescribedtheUSaction as“unfair,unjustifiedandunreasonable”. In Maharashtra, 12,431 men got benefits under govt’s flagship scheme for women 77,980 ineligible women also among those who got `165-cr benefits: RTI VALLABH OZARKAR MUMBAI, OCTOBER 20 THE MAHARASHTRA government has found that at least 12,431 men were granted benefits under its flagship Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana — the scheme for womenthatgivesRs1,500every month to those aged 21-65 from families earning less than Rs 2.5 lakh annually, according to data accessed by The Indian Express EXPRESS NETWORK YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW E AN XPRESS RTI APPLICATION under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Responding to RTI queries from this newspaper, the WomenandChildDevelopment (WCD) Department, which runs the scheme, stated that these The scheme grants `1,500 per month to women aged 21-65 from families earning below `2.5 lakh annually. Amit Chakravarty men have been removed from the list of beneficiaries, following verification, along with 77,980 women who were also identified as ineligible. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RANCHI, OCTOBER 20 PAGES 7, 8 E ● Glaring holes THE MAHARASHTRA government’s response underscores the concerns that were raised about checks and balances when the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana was announced and rolled out in haste with Assembly elections around the corner last year. The presence of men on the list of beneficiaries highlights the lack of basic verification in the process. From grazing cows to coding AI: How a Ho scholar is helping to preserve his language SHUBHAM TIGGA CENTRE PLANS PLAY ON PATEL’S LIFE ON HIS 150TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY EMPLOYEE UNIONS TO HOLD PROTEST FOR RETURN OF OPS E X P L A I NE D WASHINGTON, OCTOBER 20 WHEN BIKRAM Biruly returned home after completing his PhD lastmonth,residents of Matkam Sahi, a Ho Adivasi village in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district, welcomed him with traditional dama,dumaandmandardrums, songs and dance. It was a felicitous reception for a 29-year-old working to preserve the Ho language using AI, significant for a Bikram Biruly, 29, gives a presentation on the Ho language and Warang Chhiti script to US delegates at his college tribe long battling threats to its cultural identity. Bikram,whotraceshisrootsto Jharkhand’s Kolhan region, earnedhisPhDatOdisha’sKalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KiSS) in September, the first Ho researcher to use AI to preserve the language,which,accordingtothe 2011Census,isspokenbyapproximately 1.4 million people, most of them in Jharkhand. The Ho community has for long been demanding inclusion CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WHILE A formal seat-sharing agreement continues to elude the Opposition MahagathbandhanfortheNovemberBihar Assembly elections, its lead player, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD),onMondayreleaseditsfull list of 143 candidates for the polls, which marked a dip from the 144 seats that the party had contested in the 2020 elections. The RJD’s move came on the last day of filing of nominations for the Bihar elections’ ting MLAs, opting for a second phase to be held mix of new faces and on November 11. Its canseasoned politicians. didates for the first Signalling its intent to phaseof polls,scheduled bring in fresh blood, the for November 6, have already filed their nomi- DECISION party has fielded several 2025 young leaders including nations last week even BIHAR its youth wing president though the party had Rajesh Yadav, who will then formally not renow replace the party’s sitting leased their names. TheRJD’skeyfaceandLeader MLA in Dinara. Among the RJD's candidates, of theOpposition(LoP) Tejashwi Yadav, party supremo Lalu more than 35 belong to the Yadav’s son, will again contest Yadav (OBC) group while 18 are fromhisstrongholdRaghopur.A from the Muslim community. total of 41 sitting MLAs have The move highlights the party’s been renominated, including bid to consolidate its core prominent leaders like Alok Muslim-Yadav (M-Y) vote base. Mehta, ex-minister Chandra The party has fielded 20 candiShekhar, Yusuf Salahuddin, and dates from the Scheduled Caste (SC) communities and one from Chandrahas Choupal. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 The RJD has dropped 36 sit- Surat textile hub braces for Bihar polls: ‘Long Diwali break for workers this time’ Inside a textile mill at Pandesara in Surat, Gujarat. Express KAMAL SAIYED SURAT, OCTOBER 20 UNLIKESURAT’Sdiamondindustry, where the Diwali break was cut short to meet high demand, its textile mills began to either shut fully or slow down productionaweekbeforethestartof festivities.Reason:migrantworkers from Bihar, who form a bulk of the textile workforce, have headed home for Chhath puja andAssemblypollsintheirstate. While migrants from UP and Odisha,too,arepartof theworkforce at textile factories, with power looms and processing units, the dyeing and printing unitsaremainlystaffedbywork- ers from Bihar. Accordingtoindustryexperts, around 400 textile mills in Surat cityareoperatingwithhalfoftheir staff currently, resulting in a production dip. The experts said the industrywillfacesignificantchallenges in restarting its units until theelectionsinBiharnextmonth. Expertsand textile mill owners say the Diwali vacation, which usually lasts for five to six days, will stretch to at least 1215 days “due to the Bihar elections”. This year, the workers are likely to return only after the elections, which will be held in two phases in Bihar on November 6 and 11, they said. “A majority of the 450 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Not enough space in villages, these cattle herders live in caves for half the year PAGE 1 ANCHOR DIPANITA NATH PUNE, OCTOBER 20 FOR HALF the year, Vanita Madge lives in a home whose walls are the Sahyadri hills. The ceiling is of dark basalt and slopesoneveryside,demanding that one stoops accordingly. In the kitchen — which doubles as the sleeping space — crouching is the only way to move. Madge’shomeisacaveinthe Sahyadri hills in Satewadi, in Akole block of Ahmednagar district.Shesharesthecavewithher husband,father-in-law,twoother families—and150headsofcattle, 50 of which belong to Madge's family. The animals are the primary occupants of the cave, and thesevenhumaninhabitantsare there to look after them. Madge’s family is among the few cattle-herding households in Satewadi and Phopsandi villages. With the rest of the village engaged in farm activity, cattle herders like them find little space to build sheds for their animals. “We have cows, buffaloes and goats, among others. They The caves in the Sahyadri hills in Satewadi, in Akole block of Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district; (right) cattle-herders inside, with bamboo poles marking out the sections for animals. A battery-operated diya is the only source of light. Pavan Khengre live in the open during the dry months but, when it rains, it becomes difficult for us. We have to take the animals somewhere dry,” says Madge, who has studied up to Class 12. So, for three generations now, Madge's family has been spending the months between June and January up in the hills where the forest is thick with vegetation. A couple of the caves whichdotthehillylandscapeare home to cattle herders like Madge, with the permission of theforestdepartment.“Wedon't know who discovered the caves but we have been coming here every year,” says Madge. “These cattle-herders have been permitted to live in the caves only during the rains. The rest of the year, the caves are empty. We have never had any problem with them,” says Pratibha Sonwane, Range Forest Officer, Wildlife Division, Rajur in Ahmednagar. At present,there are fourcattle-herdingfamilieslivingintwo caves in the area. Their presence is marked by the clothes spread over the bushes to dry, steel utensilspiledonrocksandabuffalo shed. Itisashortbutarduousclimb to the cave. The mouth of the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2