The Editorial Page: Rahul, Priyanka name-calling ECs is a disturbing new low 8 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2025 JOURNALISM of COURAGE MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES ₹5.00 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 REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 Happening today l IPL 2026 MINI AUCTION is scheduled to be held in Abu Dhabi at 2.30 pm IST. A total of 350 players — 239 Indians and 111 from overseas — will go under the hammer with the 10 franchises bidding to fill up a maximum of 77 slots. lDEFENCE MINISTER Rajnath Singh will confer the Raksha Mantri Awards for Excellence in public service in the field of Defence Land Management and Municipal Administration of 61 Cantonment Boards across the country. TRACK THESE AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPRESS.cOm Business as Usual By EP UNNY 16-year-oldboy detainedfor fatallystabbing peerinPune Express News Service NOW 125 DAYS OF GUARANTEED EMPLOYMENT Govt changes NREG: States to pay, pause for farm work States asked to fund 40% of rural job scheme Harikishan Sharma New Delhi, December 15 INAmajoroverhaulofthetwodecade-old rural job guarantee scheme, the BJP-led NDA government, in its third term, has prepared a Bill that proposes to increasethenumberofdaysfor which work can be demanded by rural households in a year to 125 from 100 now, and for the first time shifts 40 per cent of the financial burden of the scheme to states. For the last 20 years, since the rural employment guaranteelawwasenactedbytheCongress-led UPA government in 2005, the Centre has been footing 100 per cent of the wage costs. Wages account for threefourthoftheentireexpenditure under the scheme. Materials used in the works account for the balance one-fourth, and thiscostissharedbytheCentre and states in the ratio of 75:25. The proposed Bill has projected the annual spending on the new scheme to be Rs 1,51,282 crore in the first full year post implementation. It estimates the Centre’s share to be Rs 95,692.31 crore, suggesting that states would have to »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 l FourkeyfeaturesintheBill 125 DAYS’ employment guarantee, up from 100 now 60-DAY no-work period during peak agriculture seasons STATES TO share fiscal burden NORMATIVE ALLOCATION, of unskilled wage bill; currently, the Central government pays 100 per cent unlike MGNREGA’s demand based labour budget; Centre to fix state-wise allocation BeforeNDA, UPAtoo discussed haltingwork, sharingcost Manoj CG New Delhi, December 15 Ally TDP: Fund sharing concerning… it will put a lot of burden on state Sreenivas Janyala Hyderabad, December 15 WITHTHECentre’sViksitBharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) or VB-G Ram G Bill, 2025, likely to put a higher financial burden on the States’ exchequer with itsprovisiontosharefundingof the scheme, Andhra Pradesh’s finance minister has said they will “support and implement it”, though the sharing of fundingis“concerning”and“would put a burden on the state”. The BJP and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) are allies at the Centre and in the state. When The Indian Express pointedoutthefundingpattern ofthenewscheme,Andhra’sFinance, Planning, and Legislative Affairs Minister Payyavula Keshav said the government will study the provisionsoftheBill,andthatit will support and implement it. “Definitely,thefundingsharing »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AMONG THE major changes that the NDA government has proposed to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act architecture is halting the scheme during peak farming seasons and moving it from a Centre-funded model to a costsharing arrangement with states. While the Opposition, including the Congress, has hit outatthegovernment,theseissueswerepointsofdebatesand contention during the UPA government as well. In 2011, Sharad Pawar, as Agriculture Minister in the UPA-II government, had called for halting NREGA works during sowing and harvesting seasons, saying the scheme was adversely affecting the agriculturesectorbydrawingoutfarm labourers from agricultural operations. Pawar then wanted the scheme to be paused for at least three months during the »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MOREREPORtS, PAgES5,11 DRAFT ROLLS IN FIVE STATES/UTs TODAY Law says only local official can issue notice to electors; in Bihar, poll panel sent pre-filled notices May not have led to deletions but process raises questions of jurisdiction under election law E. ExPRESS exclusive Process is problem Damini Nath The Bihar notices, pre-filled and sent by EC, may not point to substantive wrongdoing. But they flag a procedural question at the heart of electoral integrity: when the law assigns responsibility to a local statutory authority, central interventions can unsettle the chain of accountability. Patna, Siwan, New Delhi, December 15 AS NOTICES begin going out on Tuesday to electors with the publication of draft rolls in five states and UTs under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR),aproceduralredflagfrom Biharhassetoffconcernwithin the election machinery. In the closing fortnight of the Bihar SIR in September, The Indian Express has learnt, Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) across the state found “pre-filled notices” appearing on their individual log-ins on the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) centralised portal. These notices, estimated to be in lakhs but no number has been provided by the EC, were addressedtoBiharelectorswho had already submitted their forms and supporting documents and whose names figuredinthedraftrollspublished in August. Significantly, while the notices bore the names of the ExPLAINED The notices were sent in the closing fortnight of Bihar SIR EROs,theyhadnotbeengenerated by them. This departure matters becausethelawisclear.Underthe Representation of the People Act,1950,itistheEROoftheAssembly constituency, and only the ERO, who is empowered to doubt an elector’s eligibility and issue a notice calling for a hearing. Indeed, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumarhasalsounderlinedthis principle. At an August 17 press conference, describing electoral revision as a “decentralised construct”, Kumar said: “Neither I nor my fellow Election Commissioners nor any ECofficialoryoucanaddordelete votes, except for following the legal process.” It is against this statutory andinstitutionalbackdropthat the Bihar episode raised eyebrows among several EROs, many of whom are learnt to have chosen not to act on or pursue the notices. This episode did not translate into mass deletions. According to official data, of the 68.66 lakh deletions recorded during the Bihar revision, only »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Pune, December 15 A 16-YEAR-OLD boy allegedly fatally stabbed a fellow student (16) at a private coaching class for Class 10 students in Pune district on Monday morning. Policesaidtheattacktookplace as a fallout of a fight between the two a month ago. Pune Rural Police, who detained the accused, said they willmoveanapplicationbefore the Juvenile Justice Board that he be tried as an adult. According to information given by Pune Rural police, the incident took place Monday morning around 8.55 am. Sandeep Singh Gill, Superintendent of Police for Pune Rural said, “Initial probe suggests the two had a fight on December 13 towards the end of theclass.TheattackonMonday isbelievedtobeafalloutofthat. The16-year-oldjuvenileinconflict with law attacked the victim on the neck and in the abdomen. The victim was rushed »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra to vote on Jan 15 Polls come 24 to 69 months after expiry of terms Vallabh Ozarkar Mumbai, December 15 THE MAHARASHTRA State Election Commission (SEC) Monday announced elections to 29 municipal corporations across the state, including the high-stakes Brihanmumbai State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare at a press conference in Mumbai on Monday. GANESH SHIRSEKAR Municipal Corporation (BMC) and neighbouring Thane and Navi Mumbai civic bodies, on Reuters 103 131 162 92 »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Gunmen in Sydney’s Bondi beach attack identified as father and son Sydney, December 15 16/12/2025 January 15, 2026. The counting will be held the next day. Theannnouncementcomes afterasignificantgapof24to69 months since the term of previous elected corporators expired. As for BMC and Thane Municipal Corporation, the civic body has been running withoutelectedrepresentatives since March 2022. While the term of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar Municipal Corporation had exipred in April 2020, Dhule is the last one in the list THE TWO alleged gunmen whokilled15peopleataJewish celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday were a father and son, police said on Monday, as Australia began mourning victims of its worst gun violence in almost 30 years. The father, a 50-year-old shopowner, was killed at the scene, taking the number of People pay tribute to the victims of the attack, in Sydney. REUTERS RELATED REPORT, PAGE 12 deadto16,whilehis24-year-old son was in a critical condition inhospital,policesaidatapress conference on Monday. Police did not release the shooters’ names, but said the son was known to authorities and the father had a firearms license since 2015 and had six licensed weapons. The father and son were identified as Sajid Akram and NaveedAkram,respectively,by »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 l AMID ALLEGATIONS CONGRESS LEADER HAD RECLAIMED BULK OF THE PAPERS IN 2008 Standoff looming over Nehru papers, Sonia tells PMs’ museum her staff ‘will look into it’ PAGE 1 anchor Divya A New Delhi, December 15 MOVING TO avert a potential standoff,CongressleaderSonia Gandhi has assured the Prime Ministers’ Museum & Library (PMML) of her cooperation in its bid to obtain a trove of privatepapersofthecountry’sfirst prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, The Indian Express has learnt. Sourcestoldthisnewspaper The Prime Ministers’ Museum & Library had written to Sonia Gandhi twice this year seeking access to these papers. ABHINAV SAHA thatthisisthefirsttimeGandhi has responded to a communication from PMML in the wake of allegations that a bulk of thesepapers,in51cartons,were reclaimed by her from the organisationin2008,whenitwas knownasNehruMemorialMuseum & Library (NMML). 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