The Ideas Page: What those who celebrate Bihar verdict, and those who lament it, get wrong 13 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2025 Journalism of Courage NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 22 PAGES ₹7.00 (₹8 RAIPUR, ₹15 SRINAGAR) 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 PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI DELIVERS SIxTH RAMNATH GOENKA LEcTURE PM urges 10-year pledge to shed ‘colonial mindset’ rooted in Macaulay’s 200-year legacy WHETHERUNDERtheBritish Raj or during the Emergency, Ramnath Goenka, founder of the Express Group, embodied the people’s resistance to attempts at “enslavement” and affirmed the power of dissent. Itwasthisspirit,PrimeMinister Narendra Modi said Monday, that should guide a national pledge to “put the locks on” the Western mindset embedded in India since 1835 through Thomas Macaulay’s project of reshaping Indian thought by dismantling indigenous knowledge systems and enforcing colonial education. Delivering the Sixth Ramnath Goenka Lecture, the Prime Minister set a 10-year timeframe — leading up to the 200th year of Macaulay’s campaign — to reverse that legacy. Macaulay’s crime, Modi said, was to create Indians who “are Indiansby appearance but British at heart.” India “paid a heavyprice”forthis,heargued, as the belief that the Western or foreign was superior took deep root. Macaulay, the PM said, broke India’s “self-confidence andinstilledasenseofinferiority. In one stroke, he discarded happening today l THE SEcURITIES APPELLATE Tribunal will hear the ongoing case involving Jane Street and SEBI. The matter is related to alleged manipulative trading practices by the quantitative trading firm in Indian market. lAMID THE BIHAR POLL debacle and its “vote chori” pitch, Congress will hold a meeting of top office-bearers of 12 states/ UTs where the SIR of electoral rolls is underway. lFINANcE MINISTER Nirmala Sitharaman will hold pre-Budget consultations with capital market participants, startups and representatives from the manufacturing sector. TRAcK THESE AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPRESS.cOM thousands of years of India’s knowledge, science, art, culture, and entire way of life.” That imprint persisted after Independence, Modi continued, as India’s “education, economy, and societal aspirations became increasingly aligned with foreign models.” Whenanationdoesnothonour itself, he said, “it ends up rejecting its indigenous ecosystem.” As an illustration, he pointed to tourism: countries thathavebuiltflourishingtourism industries do so by taking pride in their heritage, he said, whereas post-Independence India often sought to distance itself from its own legacy. “Without pride in heritage, there is no motivation for its preservation,andwithoutpreservation, such heritage is reduced to mere ruins of brick and stone,” he said. Modi noted that nations such as Japan and South Korea did adopt Western ideas but remainedrootedintheirownlanguages. This was a balance India’s new education policy also seeks to encourage, he said, stressing that he was not opposedtoEnglishbutsupportive of Indian languages. Turning to politics, he re- New Delhi, November 17 INDIA’S GOODS exports to the US fell nine per cent year-onyear in October, on top of a 12 per cent y-o-y decline the previous month, owing to US President Donald Trump’s Exports pM Narendra Modi delivers the Sixth Ramnath Goenka Lecture in New Delhi on Monday. TASHI TOBGYAL called the NDA’s recent victoryinBiharandadvisedstate governments that their politics today will shape their parties’ future, whether of the “left, right or centre.” He said Lalu Prasad had 15 years in power and could have driven development, but instead 2 E. ExPlAINED Shadow on party room — including families of victims — cheered and clapped, and some in the crowds outside sank to their knees and offered up prayers after the verdict, the harshest againstaleaderinthecountry’s history. Hasina’s death sentence comes months ahead of the scheduled national polls in Bangladesh next February. This puts more pressure on her party, Awami League, whose activities have been banned by the government, with its top leaders either in exile or under arrest. Hasina — who fled to India in August 2024 at the height of »cONTINUED ON PAGE 2 27 crypto exchanges under Govt lens: 2,872 victims, Rs 600 crore investigation { PART II } Mahender Singh Manral & Jay Mazoomdaar New Delhi, November 17 AT LEAST 27 cryptocurrency exchanges, or Virtual (digital) Asset Service Providers (VASPs), have been flagged by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) as conduits used by cyber criminals for laundering at least Rs 623.63 crore, si- Officials say just tip of iceberg, Indian virtual asset industry battles real-world challenges phoned from 2,872 victims in just 21 months between January 2024 and September 2025. In comparison, crime proceeds of Rs 25.3 crore reported in 769 complaints were transferred via 12 foreign crypto exchanges through credit/debit cards during 2024-2025, accordingtorecordsoftheMHA's Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C). These revelations, based on data compiled from the NationalCybercrimeReportingPortal(NCRP), point to what investigators call the most sophisticated financial laundering model yet to emergefromIndia’scybercrime ecosystem. “The victims had primarily 6 4 »cONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Sheikh Hasina fled to India in August 2024. pAGE 16 10 8.41 Imports »cONTINUED ON PAGE 2 steep 50 per cent tariffs that took effect in August. Exports from labour-intensive sectors, such as engineering goods and textiles, slowed sharply in October as the US tariffs, the highest globally, left Indian goods uncompetitive »cONTINUED ON PAGE 2 8.83 Trade balance 8.29 8 wITH INTERNATIONAL cONSORTIUM OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS ExPrEss for imports of around 2.2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LPG, close to 10% of India’s annual imports. It comes at a time when India is looking to shrink its trade surplus with the US — one of the issues flagged by PresidentDonaldTrumpwhen heslappedthe50percenttariff on incoming Indian goods. Government data released Monday showed that India’s trade surplus with the US had l GOODsTrADEsurPluswIThu.s.hAlvEs Dhaka asks Delhi to extradite her; MEA: Will engage constructively BANGLADESH’S OUSTED prime minister Sheikh Hasina was sentenced to death in her absence on Monday at the end of a months-long trial that found her guilty of ordering a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising last year. People in the packed court- New Delhi, November 17 Ravi Dutta Mishra Bangla ex-PM Hasina sentenced to death, says tribunal ‘rigged’ Dhaka, November 17 Sukalp Sharma Trump’s tariffs drag down Indian exports to US by 9% in October HISTORIc VERDIcT: YUNUS Ruma Paul & Krishna N Das Move comes as New Delhi looks to shrink trade surplus with Washington (in billion $) New Delhi, November 17 ‘Historic first’: India to source 10% LPG imports from US AS INDIA looks to increase its energy trade with the US amid trade pact negotiations, Indian public sector refiners have signed a one-year deal for American liquefied petroleum gas(LPG)imports,markingthe first structured contract of US LPG for the domestic market. The term deal, which Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri called a “historic first”, is India isn’t emerging market, it is emerging as a confident new model, says Modi; recalls Ramnath Goenka’s mission of journalism to articulate people’s voice of protest Vikas Pathak AMID BILATERAL TRADE TALKS invested through fake trading or investment apps, unaware that theirfundswerebeing converted into digital assets and layered through dozens of wallets,” an official »cONTINUED ON PAGE 2 HALL Of SHAME, PAGE 9 45 killed as bus carrying pilgrims from Telangana collides with oil tanker in Saudi Sreenivas Janyala & Divya A Hyderabad, New Delhi, November 17 A BUS carrying Umrah pilgrims from Telangana collided with an oil tanker near Medina in Saudi Arabia late on Sunday night, killing 45 people. The bus was taking 46 people from Mecca to Medina. According to officials, there were at least 10 minors in the bus. Hyderabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar said a batch of 54 pilgrims had travelled on November 9 to Jeddah and were scheduled to return on November 23. Of the 54 pilgrims, 46 were on the bus from Mecca to Medina, while four travelled separately by car and four others stayed back in Mecca, he said. “As per our information, 46 persons were on board that bus and at least 45 have died,” Sajjanar said. »cONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Business as Usual By EP UNNY (all numbers in $ bn) 8.01 6.86 3.18 5.46 6.30 1.45 5.24 3.62 April* May 3.99 June 4.55 July 3.60 August 3.98 4.84 September October