www.IndIaneXpReSS.cOM Qawwali that got through In Dhurandhar, a repurposed qawwali with Pak origins engages with a shared cultural past LUcknoW, december 28, 2025 sPotliGHt When Maria Goretti Cooks Up a Memory LATE CITY 12+4 pageS ₹6.00 d a I l y f R O M : a H M e d a b a d , c H a n d I g a R H , d e l H I , j a I p u R , K O l K a T a , l u c K n O w , M u M b a I , n a g p u R , p a T n a , p u n e , v a d O d a R a Aravalli definition row back reMarKs aMid Poll losses, raHul’s ‘vote CHori’ ClaiM Digvijaya praises structure of in SC, hearing tomorrow Sangh in message to Rahul Court initiates suo motu proceedings after storm over threat to hills Happening today Flags Cong need to decentralise; says will always remain staunch opponent of RSS and Modi express news service New Delhi, December 27 l President drouPadi Asad Rehman & Jatin Anand Murmu will embark on a sea sortie in a submarine from Karwar Harbour in Karnataka. Murmu has earlier taken air sorties — in a Rafale fighter jet in October this year and a Sukhoi-30 MKI in 2023. New Delhi, December 27 lMyanMar will vote in the first phase of a general election — the country’s first poll since the military seized power nearly five years ago, setting off a devastating civil war. Track These and more on WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM IGNITING A political row and a debate within the party as the Congress Working Committee met Saturday, Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh heaped praise on the organisational strength of the BJP and RSS and the rise of Narendra Modi from an ordinary party worker to Prime Minister. He followed it by calling for “decentralisation” of power within the Congress and the “need for strengthening” its own organisational structure. Singh’s remarks, in a social media post and later at the CWC meeting in the presence of the party brass including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and digvijaya singh arrives for the cWc meeting. aMIT MeHRa inTervieW, page 5 E. EXPLAINED The grouse within As the Congress reels from a string of poll defeats, most recently in Bihar, and not many buying Rahul Gandhi’s ‘vote chori’ allegations, a section within wants the party to devise a new strategy on the way forward given that some key states will be going to polls in 2026. Calls for decentralisation stem from the grouse that all power, even in local appointments, rests with the leaders in Delhi. sonia gandhi, mallikarjun kharge and rahul gandhi during the cWc meeting on saturday. aMIT MeHRa Cong stir against new job law starts January 5 asad rehman & Jatin anand New Delhi, December 27 ANNOUNCING THAT the Congress will launch a nationwide campaign from January 5 against the VB-G RAM G Act, 2025 that has replaced the UPAera MGNREGA job guarantee scheme, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said Saturday that the decision to scrap MGNREGA was taken directly by the Prime Minister’s Office Goa club blaze: Probe report places bulk of blame on panchayat Spellings to mismatches: Bengal voters queue up to remain on rolls Pavneet singh Chadha atri Mitra Panaji, December 27 South 24 Parganas, December 27 A LOCAL panchayat that failed to do its job and a host of government departments that turned a blind eye to violations, big and small — these are, in essence, the key findings of a magisterial inquiry into the fire at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in North Goa’s Arpora that killed 25 people on December 6, The Indian Express has learnt. A senior official privy to the report said the probe found that “primary culpability” lies with the local panchayat for allowing the club to operate. “The trade licence expired in March 2024, but the panchayat failed to seal the premises or stop its operations. Though it issued a demolition order, there was a window to demolish the structure before the order was stayed. Here, it failed to act. The property has existed since 1996, and two restaurants previously operated from the premises. The probe found a systemic failure by the panchayat for years. Why did it issue no-objection certificates despite complaints regarding the construction being approved in an eco-sensitive zone and without the occupancy certificate?” the official said. The Indian Express earlier reported that at least seven approvals were given by the local panchayat in Arpora and government departments so that the club could operate. The approvals include trade, excise and food safety licences; a pollution body nod; and three noobjection certificates. All of these are now under »Continued on PaGe 2 »Continued on PaGe 2 NATION ON THE first day of hearings in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district as part of the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) exercise to decide if electors who have been issued notices will remain on the rolls, Bidhubhushan Mondol, 62, and his wife Renuka, 52, slowly make their way to one of the two ‘hearing tables’ inside PAGE 6 BANGLADESH SHOULD BE TAUGHT A LESSON AKIN TO GAZA: ADHIKARI the office of the Block Development Officer at Canning. Their names figure in the 2025 voter list, but they have been issued notices because neither they nor their parents figure in the 2002 electoral roll — the legacy base list used as a reference for the current exercise. “I’m worried about my oldest son who’s in Tamil Nadu for work and can’t come back now. I came with his documents but PADMA VIBHUSHAN RATAN N TATA 28.12.1937 - 09.10.2024 INSIDE P 4, 6 Remembering Ratan N Tata, an icon of industry and a humanitarian, on the occasion of his 88th birth anniversary. PREDOMINANTLY URBAN DISTRICTS IN IN U.P. FACE HIGHER VOTER DELETIONS TATA SONS & TATA GROUP OF COMPANIES UNNAO RAPE VICTIM FILES COMPLAINT WITH CBI »Continued on PaGe 2 without consulting the minister concerned and the Cabinet. Briefing the press with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge after the Congress Working Committee meeting on the party’s strategy on the issue of MGNREGA being replaced by VB-G RAM G Act, Rahul Gandhi said that scrapping the scheme will hurt the rural economy. Responding to his remarks, AMID THE row over the threat to the Aravallis following the Supreme Court-approved definition that limits legal recognition of the hills to landforms rising 100 metres or more above local relief, the top court Saturday initiated suo motu proceedings on the definition question and fixed it for hear- PAGE 6 ALLU ARJUN IN STAMPEDE CHARGESHEET ing on December 29. A three-judge bench, pre- »Continued on PaGe 2 Two weeks before SC accepted 100-m Aravalli norm, its panel cautioned on mining leases On Nov 7, CEC asked court not to approve 164 Rajasthan mines since they were part of Aravalli hills as per FSI Jay Mazoomdaar New Delhi, December 27 »Continued on PaGe 2 NATION an aerial view of the aravallis in haryana. TaSHI TObgyal sided by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, will hear the matter. The bench will also comprise Justices J K Maheshwari and A G Masih. On November 27, a week after the Supreme Court accepted the recommendations of a Union Environment Ministry panel on the definition of Aravalli Hills limiting it to landforms at an elevation of 100 m or more above local relief, a report in The Indian Express, based on an internal FSI assessment, flagged what the panel did not mention: that by this ON OCTOBER 14, a day after the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change proposed a new 100-metre definition of the Aravalli hills to the Supreme Court, the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) wrote to the court’s amicus cu- riae and underrecommended EXPRESS lined the need to that the proposal protect and confor renewal or exserve the hills’ tension of 164 ecology by sticking mining leases of to the 3-degree slope bench- Rajasthan placed before the mark set by the Forest Survey of court “may not be approved or India. processed further till a final Three weeks later on No- definition of the Aravalli” was vember 7, the CEC, in a way, re- approved by the apex court. »Continued on PaGe 2 affirmed its position when it exclusive