The Ideas Page: This overhaul of MNREGA disempowers workers, demotivates states 9 SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2025 Journalism of Courage AHMEDABAD, 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 Happening today 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. lAFTER COVERING north Gujarat, the Congress has announced the second phase of its 'Jan Akrosh Yatra' in central Gujarat to be flagged off from Bhathiji Maharaj Temple in Fagvel Kheda district. The Yatra will conclude on January 6 at Kamboi Dham in Dahod which is Samadhi or memorial of Shri Govind Guru, tribal icon and freedom fighter who died in October 1931. The second phase of the yatra will cover seven districts Kheda, Anand, Vadodara, Chhota Udepur, Panchmahal, Mahisagar and Dahod, three municipalities, 55 talukas and 37 municipal areas. TRACK THESE AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPrEss.cOm INsIDE p 17 A RUN fESt IN AhmEdAbAd: INdIA fINd tImELy hERoES to SEAL SERIES vIctoRy REmovE ‘dEfAmAtoRy’ dEEpfAkE vIdEoS: gUjARAt coURt to coNgRESS, 4 LEAdERS p 3 OSMAN HADI WAS CRITIC OF INDIA PM KAUSHAL VIKAS YOJANA Soldiers fan out, interim Govt calls for calm in run-up to February polls Same photos provided for multiple beneficiaries in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. CAG REPORT Violence over death of anti-Hasina activist, 2 dailies torched in Dhaka 11111111111 as account number, shut centres, same photos: CAG on gaps in skills scheme Julhas Alam 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 Harikishan Sharma 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. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Flames engulf the office of the Prothom Alo newspaper after it was torched by protesters in Dhaka. AP business as Usual By EP UNNY Delhi’s concern: Anti-India current, will violence derail elections in Feb next year? Shubhajit Roy New Delhi, December 19 WITH BANGLADESH witnessing a fresh round of turmoil in which the Indian High Commission in Dhaka and its Assistant High Commissions across Bangladesh are facing threats, New Delhi’s concern is deepened by the imperative that its interests are linked to Bangladesh’s electionsinFebruarynextyear. ThesparkistheDecember12 shooting of 32-year-old Sharif Osman Hadi who had participated in the movement against PM SheikhHasinaleadingto her ouster from office on August5,2024. E. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘I felt Hindi would touch people’s hearts… this is an anti-elite era’ Night’swatchof POLICE BLAME LITTLE-KNOWN GROUP Laghat:Women After clash left officials & takeondrug ‘villagers’ injured, Gujarat probleminHP HeenaKhandelwal Saurabh Parashar Mumbai,December19 OVERTHEyears,stand-upcomedianZakirKhanhasbrokenceilingsanddefiednorms.Butwhen he recently headlined a fulllengthshowatNewYork’siconic Madison Square Garden — the first Indian comedian to do so in Hindiandselloutthevenue—it became a moment everyone back home came together to celebrate. SpeakingattheExpressAdda in Mumbai on Thursday, Khan reflected on how stand-up comedy in India naturally leaned heavily on English initially. “The art form comes from abroad, so everybody was »CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Laghat (Himachal Pradesh), December 19 Stand-up comedian Zakir Khan at the Express Adda in Mumbai on Thursday. AMIT CHAKRAVARTY EVERY NIGHT, as the rest of LaghatvillageinHimachal’sBilaspur district gets into their warm beds, a bunch of bobbing lightsappearonalinkroadconnecting it to the state highway. ThewomenofLaghatarebraced for the cold, dark hours ahead, wielding their mobile phone torchlights, lathis, and a resolve to stop a rising drug problem. Laghatvillagefallsunderthe Barmana gram panchayat bordering Punjab, which is one of the234panchayatsidentifiedas highly affected by the chitta (an intoxicant)menaceinHimachal Pradeshbythegovernment.Recently, the 22-member Laghat Mahila Mandal took the task of controlling it in its hands, »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 govt faces tribal protests Parimal A Dabhi Banaskantha, Ahmedabad, December 19 THE GUJARAT government is staring at a growing tribal protest in Danta taluka of Banaskantha district following a violentDecember13clashbetween residents of a village and officials, that left injuries on both sides. Six days after the clash that tooktheofficials,accompanied by police, by surprise, with nearly 50 of them injured, no arrests have been made. Probe is increasingly focused on the role of a little-known group called the ‘AC Bharat Sarkar Sangathan’,whichwassetupin South Gujarat’s Tapi district and is known to have a presence in areas along the Rajasthan border. Danta MLA Kanti Kharadi in Padaliya village, Banaskantha, recently. BHUPENDRA RANA An FIR into the December 13 incident names 26 people, along with “a mob of 500”, on charges of attempt to murder, dacoity, unlawful assembly, anddamagetopublicproperty. In the tribal-dominated Padaliya village where the incident happened, not many are »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad