The Ideas Page: This overhaul of MGNREGA disempowers workers, demotivates states 15 SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2025 Journalism of Courage KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES ₹6.00 (₹12 in North East states, ₹20 in Andaman) 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 Happening today OSMAN HADI WAS CRITIC Of INDIA Violence erupts over death of anti-Hasina activist, two dailies torched in Dhaka lPRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi will arrive in Assam for a two-day visit, during which he will inaugurate the new terminal building of the Guwahati airport and perform the bhoomipujan of the Rs 12,000-crore ammonia-urea fertiliser plant at Namrup in Dibrugarh. lINDIA ARE SET to announce their squad for the T20 World Cup, which will be held in India and Sri Lanka. Among the talking points are Rinku Singh’s possible inclusion as a lowerorder finisher; and whether Shubman Gill, out of form, will retain his place as vice-captain. Soldiers fan out, interim Govt calls for calm in run-up to February polls TRACK THESE AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPrEss.cOm House Warming Julhas Alam Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at a tea hosted by Birla at his office after the conclusion of the Winter Session of Parliament on Friday. ANI PARLIAMENT, PAGE 5 THE BIg PICTURE The wrong turn to the Hills pAGE 12 PRADHAN MANTRI KAUSHAL VIKAS YOJANA 11111111111 as account number, shut centres, same photos: CAG on gaps in skills scheme INsIDE Corrective measures implemented with tech and Aadhaar, says Ministry POLITICS Harikishan Sharma CM, Ex-MINISTER dIvERTEd ₹466 CR Of MASALA bONd fUNdS: Ed p 9 ECONOMY NET dIRECT TAx COLLECTIONS RISE 8%, REfUNdS dOWN 13.5% p 17 New Delhi, December 19 THE USE of “11111111111” as the bank account number; the same photograph used for multiple beneficiaries; payouts pending for more than 34 lakh candidates; and shuttered training centres. These are some of the glaring irregularities identified by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in the implementationoftheCentre’s flagship skills training initiative, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal VikasYojana(PMKVY),inthree phases from 2015-2022. The CAG findings were detailed in an audit report tabled in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. They are significant because PMKVY has been one of the major interventions by the Government to provide skills training to combat joblessness among youth — according to Same photos provided for multiple beneficiaries in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. CAG REPORT available data, the unemployment rate was 15 per cent in the age group of 15-29 years in May 2025. The skills scheme was launched in July 2015 to enable a large number of youth to take up industry-relevant skill training and certification. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Deploy Central forces at Bengal ‘I felt Hindi would touch people’s hearts… CEO office: EC writes to Home this is an anti-elite era’ Ministry citing law & order risk Heena Khandelwal Mumbai, December 19 OVER THE years, stand-up comedian Zakir Khan has broken ceilings and defied norms. But when he recently headlined a full-length show at New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden — the first Indian comedian to do so in Hindi and sell out the venue — it became a moment everyone back home came together to celebrate. Speaking at the Express Adda in Mumbai on Thursday, Khan reflected on how standup comedy in India naturally leaned heavily on English initially. “The art form comes from abroad, so everybody was Stand-up comedian Zakir Khan at the Express Adda in Mumbai on Thursday. AMIT CHAKRAVARTY Dhaka, December 19 BANGLADESH’S INTERIM government urged people Fridaytoresistviolenceassoldiers and police fanned out across Dhaka and other cities following protests over the killing of a popular youth leader, sparking fears of more unrest ahead of national elections in which he had been due to run. Bangladesh is due to elect a new parliament in less than two months — a transition many hope will help the country recover from nearly two years of instability. Frequent bouts of violent protestsandpoliticalwrangling among disparate groups including Islamist hardliners have marked the wake of student-led protests that ousted powerful leader and long-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024. It has also exposed the limitations of the interim governmentheadedbyNobellaureate Muhammad Yunus, analysts said, raising questions over his grip on governance. Hasina's party, the Awami League, which has been barred from the February 12 vote, has threatenedunrestthatsomefear could derail the election itself. Youth leader Sharif Osman »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Cites gherao of Kolkata office by BLOs, workers of a political party in November Atri Mitra Kolkata, December 19 THE ELECTION Commission has asked the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to deploy Central armed forces on the premises of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer’s office in Kolkata, citing a potential “law and order” risk during the Special Summary Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state. In a letter to MHA Joint Secretary Anil Subramaniam »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 During a protest outside the CEO’s office in Kolkata recently. FILE on Thursday, ECI Secretary Sujeet Kumar Mishra wrote, “There was a law and order situation in front of the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, which was gheraoed by a crowd of booth level officers (BLOs) and workers from certain political party(ies) on November 24 and 25… posing a serious security risk to officers and staff of the office of Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal.” “Considering the sensitivity »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 LOKPAL fOLLOWED ‘ExTRANEOUS’ PROCEDURES, SAYS COURT Delhi HC sets aside Lokpal order for CBI move against Trinamool’s Mahua Moitra in cash-for-query matter Sohini Ghosh New Delhi, December 19 NOTING THATthereis“aclear departure from the procedure expressly mandated under the Lokpal Act”, the Delhi High Court Friday set aside the Lokpal order granting sanction to the CBI to file a chargesheet against Trinamool Congress (TMC) Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra in the alleged cash-forquery matter. In2023,Moitrawasaccused of allegedly sharing her Parliament login credentials with businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for cash and expensive gifts. She admittedsharingherlogindetails with Hiranandani but denied takinganycashfromhiminexchange for raising questions in Parliament. In a plea before the High Court, Moitra had challenged the Lokpal’s November 12 order, primarily on the ground that it was passed without taking into consideration her submissions and filings before the anti-corruption ombudsman in violation of the prescribed procedure under Section 20 (7) of the Lokpal Act. Recording that the Lokpal followed “extraneous and im- Mahua Moitra was accused of sharing her Parliament login details for raising questions in exchange for cash. FILE permissible procedures that find no support in the Lokpal Act”, a division bench of Justices Anil Kshetarpal and HarishVaidyanathanShankarsaid the manner in which the proceedings were conducted “is neither contemplated by the statute nor required for the proper discharge of the Lokpal’s functions,” and “appears to amount to a form of statutory ingenuity or re-engineering of the Lokpal Act, resulting in a process inconsistent with thescheme,object,andexpress provisions of the statute.” The bench has now remanded the matter back to Lokpal to reconsider the aspect of grant of sanction “strictly in accordance with provisions” of the Act, and take a decision in a month’s time. Thedirectioncameafterthe court concluded that the Lokpal, in Moitra’s case “has assumed, or has proposed to assume, the role of an adjudicatory authority and to conduct proceedings akin to a trial, an exercise that is wholly beyond” its jurisdiction. Section 20 (7) of the Act deals with the Lokpal’s grant of sanctiontoitsprosecutionwing orprobeagencytofileachargesheet; direct closure of report before a special court against a public servant; or direct the competent authority to initiate departmental proceedings or »CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Kolkata Flames engulf the office of the Prothom Alo newspaper after it was torched by protesters in Dhaka. AP Delhi worry: Anti-India current, will violence derail February polls? Shubhajit Roy New Delhi, December 19 WITHBANGLADESHwitnessing a fresh round of turmoil in which the Indian High Commission in Dhaka and its Assistant High Commissions across Bangladesh are facing threats, NewDelhi’sconcern is deepened by the imperative that its interests are linked to Bangladesh’s elections in February next year. The spark for the latest violence is the December 12 shootingof32-year-oldSharifOsman Hadi who had participated in the movement against Prime business as Usual By EP UNNY E. MinisterSheikhHasinaleading to her ouster from office on August 5, 2024. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2