The Editorial Page: In thinking of the good death, what are the lines we ought to draw? 8 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2025 JOURNALISM of COURAGE jAIPur, lATE CITy, 18 PAGES ₹6.00 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 Postal Regn. no. JaiPuR City/001/2024-26 Happening today lA breAkfAst meeting is likely between Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar amid the leadership row. The CM said he invited Shivakumar after the Cong high command asked them to hold a meeting. lA delhi court will take cognizance of the ED’s chargesheet in the National Herald case. The judge had reserved the order on November 7. lPoPe leo will visit Istanbul’s prominent Blue Mosque, his first visit as pope to a Muslim place of worship. He will also attend a Catholic Mass as he continues his West Asia tour. Business as Usual By EP UNNY reflects hArd work And enterPrise of our PeoPle, sAYs Pm GDP growth tops outlook again, records six-quarter high of 8.2% CEA Nageswaran now expects growth to be at least 7% in 2025-26 siddharth upasani & Aanchal magazine New Delhi, November 28 THE ECONOMY continued to expand at a faster-than-anticipated rate in July-September, with GDP growth rising to a sixquarter high of 8.2 per cent on the back of near double-digit growth in the services sector. The manufacturing sector, too, expanded at the fastest pace in six quarters. Economists had broadly expected that GDP growth would moderate to 7.3 per cent from 7.8 per cent in April-June. How- ever, the growth rate unexpectedly rose for the fourth quarter in a row in July-September. “The 8.2% GDP growth in Q2 of 2025-26 is very encouraging. It reflects the impact of our pro-growth policies and reforms. It also reflects the hard work and enterprise of our people. Our government will continue to advance reforms and strengthen Ease of Living for every citizen,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated in a post on X. In a briefing after the data was released, Chief Economic G I driven by manufacturing, financial services Q2 fy25 I 7.8 8.2 Q1 fy26 I Q2 fy26 (All figures in %) 9.1 8.3 8.8 8.7 7.7 8.4 9.5 7.6 7.2 10.2 7.2 5.6 4.1 3.7 3.5 2.2 -0.40 real GDP Nominal GDP Agriculture NoTE: GroWTH rATES ArE oN yEAr-oN-yEAr BASIS for KEy SECTorS Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran said GDP growth for 202526 as a whole will now be at least 7 per cent. This is an up- -0.04 -3.10 Mining, quarrying Manufacturing Construction SourCE: MoSPI ward revision from his previous forecast of 6.3-6.8 per cent. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) current growth forecast financial, real estate, services for 2025-26 stands at 6.8 per cent. But with second-quarter growth exceeding expectations »continued on PAge 2 red fort blAst terror module world PAGE 14 48 staffers questioned at Al Falah, probe expands to Delhi hospitals Will be Russian President’s first visit since Ukraine war began in 2022 shubhajit roy New Delhi, November 28 IN HIS first visit since the Ukraine war began in February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin will undertake a twoday visit to India on December 45 for annual summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Announcing the visit, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday: “At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President of the Russian Federation H.E. Mr. Vladimir Putin will pay a State visit to India from 04-05 December 2025 for the 23rd IndiaRussia Annual Summit”. The India-Russia bilateral summit at the leaders’ level takes place in each other’s countries every year. Last year, Modi had visited Moscow for the 22nd annual summit; he also went to Kazan, in Russia, for the BRICS leaders summit. Putin last visited India in December 2021. Alok singh New Delhi, November 28 TEN KILLED IN ISRAELI RAID IN SOUTHERN SYRIA KHALEDA ZIA ‘EXTREMELY CRITICAL’: AIDE explained PAGE 10 GOOGLE AND NVIDIA’S RIVALRY IN AI CHIPS ALMOST THREE weeks after the blast outside the Red Fort in the national capital, investigators have intensified their scrutiny of Faridabad’s Al Falah University, where three of the accused were employed. Officials familiar with the probe told The Indian Express that 48 staff members, including about 30 doctors, have been questioned as agencies attempt to reconstruct Red Fort bomber Umar Nabi’s movements and interactions in the days leading up to the blast. Apart from Nabi, two other members of the now-busted Jaish-e-Mohammed terror module — Pahalgam resident Dr Muzammil Ganai and Lucknow resident Dr Shaheen Shahid Ansari — were working at Al Falah. The other members of the module, who have also been arrested, are Dr Adeel Rather, who was employed at a private hospital in Saharampur, and Kashmir cleric Mufti Irfan Wagay. Probe agencies reconstruct bomber’s movements in days leading up to blast 12 people were killed in the blast near the Red Fort. fIlE On Wednesday, the National highly placed sources, security Investigation Agency arrested a agencies have instructed private ward boy emhospitals across ployed at Al Falah Delhi to provide express University, identrecords identifyified as Soyab, for ing doctors who allegedly providearned MBBS deing logistical supgrees in Banglaport to Umar before the attack. desh, the United Arab Emirates, Simultaneously, the investi- China or Pakistan and are curgation has expanded beyond rently practising in the city. the campus. According to »continued on PAge 2 Govt to foreclose emergency procurement contracts if no delivery in a year: Defence Secy Amrita nayak dutta New Delhi, November 28 IN THE latest round of emergency procurements carried out by the Ministry of Defence, the government has taken the decision to foreclose contracts where deliveries are not made within a year, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said Friday, adding that such deci- sions would bring in some sort of accountability when it comes to delivery milestones. Speaking at a defence conclave organised by news agency ANI, Singh also said that the government would discuss broader defence cooperation and seek clarity from Russia on delivery delays of the S-400 air defence systems during the upcoming visit of Russian Presi- dent Vladimir Putin next month. “In the current round of emergency procurement, we have taken a very tough stand that any case where delivery is not done within one year, it will all be foreclosed. I seek to ensure that it is done, irrespective of who it is, which company or which country, we will foreclose every contract after one year,” Singh said. “Those types of decisions will bring in some sort of accountability when it comes to delivery milestones,” he said. The Indian Express was the first to report in September that as part of policy changes being made by the Ministry of Defence to expedite and streamline critical military acquisition, Vladimir Putin last visited india in December 2021. AP E. explained Concerns: US tariffs & Russia-China ties Amid the US tariff turmoil, India is in a difficult spot with long-time partner Russia. Energy imports are down but defence sales will likely continue. India and Russia will discuss the situation, at a time Moscow’s ties to Beijing are closer, much to India’s concern. »continued on PAge 2 exclusive FULL REPORT ON WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM Putin in India on Dec 4-5 for bilateral summit; defence ties, trade on table PM unveils Ram statue PM narendra Modi with goa CM Pramod sawant after unveiling a 77-foot bronze statue of lord Ram in south goa district on Friday. the unveiling was part of the 550th year celebrations of the shree samsthan gokarn Jeevottam Mutt. earlier in the day, the PM also visited the sri Krishna Mutt in Karnataka’s udupi district. PTI Page 6 THE BIG PICTURE The teen caught in Kenya doping PAGE 7 scandal nation PAGE 6 WITH 7 DAYS TO GO, 74% OF S.I.R. FORMS DIGITISED »continued on PAge 2 After AfghAn held for dc AttAck Trump vows freeze on migration from ‘3rd world’ nations US directs ‘negative factors’ for 19 high-risk countries; India not on list Yoshita singh New York, Washington, November 28 US PRESIDENT Donald Trump on Friday said he will “permanently pause” migration from all “third world” countries and deport foreign nationals who are a “security risk”, as his administration intensified crackdown on immigration in the wake of the killing of a National Guard member by an Afghan national. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow said that at Trump’s direction, he has “directed a full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern”. The policy guidance is »continued on PAge 2 l DeatH oF teen BasKetBall PlayeRs in HaRyana’s RoHtaK anD BaHaDuRgaRH DistRiCts 2 lost in basketball court: One family recalls NBA dream, the other those last moments Abhimanyu hazarika a fallen basketball ring. Thursday was just another day at these sporting venues, just 65 km apart in Haryana, AT THE Lakhan Majra sports with the bustle and shouts manursery near the government sking the horror that unfolded girls’ college in Rohtak, a group here over the past week. of children were busy practisOn Tuesday, Hardik Rathi, ing track and field routines as a 16-year-old national-level their athletics player died at the coaches looked on. sports nursery after a page 1 At the Shaheed basketball post with the hoop and ring Brigadier Hoshiyar collapsed into his Singh stadium in Bahadurgarh, another group of chest as he attempted a dunk. children played tennis-ball Just two days earlier, at the Shacricket, their jackets piled over heed Brigadier Hoshiyar Singh Rohtak, Bahadurgarh, November 28 anchor stadium, another basketball pole fell on 15-year-old Aman leading to serious injuries and his death a day later. Both the fallen poles, visibly rusted, remain on the ground as grim reminders — even today. The dunk was Hardik's favourite move, his uncle Sunil Rathi said, adding that “he looked up to LeBron James and wanted to reach his level at the NBA”. According to Sunil, Hardik had fever that morning “but he still went to practice for an upcoming national-level tournament in December in the basketball post that collapsed on Hardik Rathi, 16, in Rohtak district’s lakhan Mazra village; and (right) the family of aman, 15, who died in a similar accident, in Bahadurgarh. GAjENDrA yADAv Jaipur Mumbai”. “He has inspired at least 30 boys from the village to take up sports. Hardik's younger brother Pratik (12) is also a national-level player. He is still not able to process what happened and has gone very quiet,” Sunil said. “It was at my home, close to Hardik's, that we installed a steel basketball hoop on one of the walls in the courtyard. Once he began taking up the sport seriously, he would practice dunks at the hoop that has now gone slightly crooked as a result,” the uncle said. Jagbir Singh (64), one of Hardik's first coaches who continued to mentor him, said he was a very “potent” player. “He would practice day and night, up to 10 hours. His father spent lakhs on training both his children, and was very proud of them. Hardik would dunk really well. He had a good jump, and he was also tall (about 6”2’),” the coach said. At the home of Aman, meanwhile, the talk is not about basketball but of those final moments of despair. »continued on PAge 2