The Editorial Page: Equality isn’t enemy of growth. High inequality erodes social trust 8 TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2026 JOURNALISM of COURAgE AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 20 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 AMBASSADOR-DESIGNATE SERGIO GOR 19 KEY PACTS SIGNED: NEW BILATERAL INDO-PACIFIC CONSULTATION MECHANISM From defence to visa-free transit, New envoy breaks ice: Trade talks today, India in US-led India & Germany push forward AI, supply chain alliance Modi, Merz back conclusion of India-EU FTA as key outcome of EU-India Summit on January 27 l Keyoutcomes Parimal A Dabhi & Shubhajit Roy of India-Germany Digital Dialogue (2025-2027) VISA-FREE TRANSIT for Indian passport holders for transiting through Germany SETTING UP TRACK 1.5 Foreign Policy and Security Dialogue BILATERAL DIALOGUE mechanism on Indo-Pacific ADOPTION OF WORK PLAN Gandhinagar, New Delhi, January 12 ASVISITINGGermanChancellor Friedrich Merz and Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks in Gandhinagar on Monday, India and Germanysigned19pacts—including roadmaps on defence industrial cooperation and higher education, joint declaration on critical minerals and semiconductorecosystem,abilateral dialogue mechanism on Indo-Pacific — and also announced a visa-free entry regime for Indian passengers EUR 1.24 BN for priority projects in renewable energies, green hydrogen, PM e-Bus Sewa LAUNCH OF BATTERY Storage Working Group under India-Germany Platform for Investments in Renewable Energy Worldwide INSIDE PM Narendra Modi, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz fly kites in Ahmedabad, Monday. BHUPENDRA RANA transiting through Germany. This means that Indian passport holders will be allowed to pass through Germanairportsforonwardflights without applying for a separate transit visa. “Chancellor Merz’s visit is taking place at a particularly significant time. Last year, we completed 25 years of our strategic partnership, and this year we are also celebrating 75 years of our diplomatic relations. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PAGE 4 ArIhA’S fAmILy hoLdS oN to hoPE AS Pm modI rAISES ISSUE wIth mErz Happening Setback for ISRO: PSLV today mission fails again, lINDIA OPEN BADMINTON begins. World's top shuttlers are in Delhi for the annual Super 750 badminton event. The 2026 edition carries additional significance as it comes ahead of the World Championships to be held in India in August. lFISHERIES MINISTER RAJIV Ranjan Singh will attend a three-day global summit on blue food security in Israel. The event will focus on enhancing food production in extreme climates through breakthrough technologies. lUNION HOMEand Cooper- atives Minister Amit Shah will be the chief guest at the 15th convocation of Charotar University of Science and Technology in Gujarat’s Anand district. lCANADA’S PRIME MINISTER Mark Carney will begin a state visit to China. The visit, the first for a Canadian leader in eight years, will focus on rebuilding ties after years of diplomatic tensions between the two sides. deviates from path Second successive failure for a PSLV rocket since its last flight in May 2025 Anonna Dutt & Amitabh Sinha New Delhi, January 12 THE INDIAN Space Research Organisation (ISRO) suffered a majorsetbackonMonday,with its PSLV-C62 mission, the first of the year, failing to reach its intendedorbitbecauseofproblems in the rocket. The PSLV-C62 rocket was carrying EOS-N1, an earth observation satellite, and 15 other payloads,includingsevenfrom Brazil and Nepal. All the payloads were lost. “The PSLV-C62 mission en- »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 New Delhi, January 12 A COMMITTEE appointed by the central government has proposed a sweeping overhaul of the country’s high school education system with the aim of reducing students’ dependence on coaching centres, The Indian Express has learnt. AMID ANTICIPATION that IndiaandtheUSareclosetosigning the first phase of the longawaited trade deal, US Ambassador-designate Sergio Gor Mondaysaidthatthe“nextcall” ontradebetweenthetwocountriesissettohappenonJanuary 13. Gor also invited India to the Pax Silica initiative, a month after leaving New Delhi out of the US-led initiative indicating a dialling down of tensions between the two countries. Pax Silica is a US-led initiative focused on securing AI and tech supply-chains, aimed at bringing“friendlyandtrusted” countries together to ensure that key technologies are safe, reliable, and not controlled by hostileplay,accordingtotheUS State Department. This strategic initiative, seenasacountertoChina’sgrip on the global manufacturing supply chain, was launched on December 12 to “reduce coercivedependencies”andbuilda “secure, prosperous, and innovation-driven silicon supply chain”—fromcriticalminerals and energy inputs to advanced Harikishan Sharma ISRO’s PSLV-C62 rocket after lift-off from Sriharikota, Monday. PTI ExPLAINED: THIRD-STAGE ISSuE FOR A SECOND TIME, PAGE 16 Also proposes introducing competitive tests in Class 11, more weight to board exam results in college admissions Vidheesha Kuntamalla New Delhi, January 12 Sergio Gor arrives at the uS Embassy in New Delhi, Monday. PTI Gor outreach: Trump-PM friendship, hotline to White House, his connect Shubhajit Roy New Delhi, January 12 BARELY DAYS after US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick publicly blamed India for delays in concluding a trade deal, US Ambassador-designate Sergio Gor struck a markedly conciliatory note in New Delhi, signalling a clear attempt at outreach at a moment when the bilateral re- The proposals include cap- possibility of introducing comping coaching classes at 2-3 petitive tests in Class 11. hours daily, redeThecommittee signingschoolcurheaded by Vineet ExPRESS ricula to mirror Joshi, Secretary, post-school comDepartment of petitive entrance HigherEducation, examinations,givwas set up by the ing greater weightage to board Ministry of Education on June examination results in college 17, 2025 to examine gaps in admissions and exploring the schooleducation,the“effective- exclusive nessandfairnessofcompetitive entranceexaminations”,therise of dummy schools, and the expanding influence of coaching institutes on the academic trajectories of students. The panel — which included CBSE chairman Rahul Singh, Director General of the NationalTestingAgency(NTA) RajeshLakhani,andprofessors from IIT Kanpur, IIT Madras, and NIT Trichy — is learnt to have met in Shastri Bhawan in New Delhi, which houses the »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 New Delhi, January 12 THE CENTRE is planning to cut the outlay of its flagship rural tap water scheme or Jal JeevanMission(JJM)byalmost 60percentfromRs67,000crore allocated in Budget 2025-26 to Rs17,000croreintherevisedestimates (RE) of the current financial year, The Indian Express has learned. It is learned that the Ministry of Finance has recently communicated to the Ministry of Jal Shakti about the lower JJM outlay for the year. Sources said the Ministry of Jal Shakti is still awaiting the Cabinet to approve an extensionoftheschemetill2028,and in the absence of such an approval, it was felt the entire budgeted amount could not be spent in the remaining 2-3 months of the financial year. Presenting the Budget for 2025-26 on February 1, 2025, »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INSIDE THE WORLD IrAN wANtS to NEGotIAtE, SAyS trUmP PAGE 17 lationship is under strain. By announcing that trade negotiators would speak as early as Tuesday, and by confirming that India would be invited into the US-led strategic initiative Pax Silica, Gor sought to reassure New Delhi that Washington was invested in repairing frayed ties. The message was unmistakable: his arrival could E. Awaiting extension, Jal Jeevan scheme outlay to be cut 60% this year Cap coaching hours, align curricula with JEE and NEET: Centre’s panel Business as Usual Ravi Dutta Mishra »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 TO CUT DEPENDENCE OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ON COACHING INSTITUTES TRACK THESE AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPRESS.COM By EP UNNY countered an anomaly during the end of PS3 (third stage) of the vehicle. A detailed analysis hasbeeninitiated,”ISROsaidin a post on X. The space agency did not provide more details. This was the second successive failure for a PSLV rocket, raisingquestionsoverthereliability of ISRO’s most successful launch vehicle. Its last flight in May 2025, which was carrying another earth observation satellite, EOS-09, had also met a similar fate. In fact, in both these missions, the problem arose in the third stage of the Month after kept out, India invited to join Pax Silica: membership expected to boost AI infrastructure NATION CBI qUEStIoNS VIjAy for 6 hoUrS PAGE 12 »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 I-PAC ROW Patternof MamataGovt misusingstate police:EDplea totopcourt Ananthakrishnan G New Delhi, January 12 SEEKING A CBI probe into the allegedobstructionofitssearch operations on political consultancy firm I-PAC in Kolkata by WestBengalChiefMinisterMamata Banerjee and her administration, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has told the Supreme Court that it is "not a solitaryincident"wheresuchillegal actions and offences have been committed by” the state administration “against officers of investigating agencies carrying out their duties". The West Bengal government has already filed a caveat before the top court, seeking that no order be passed in the matter without hearing it. On Thursday, the ED conducted searches at 10 locations linked to I-PAC, which is managing the TMC’s poll campaign. While the searches were »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 l 2001-2025 DATA SHARED BY BIHAR DGP SHOWS TRADITIONAL OFFENCES THAT FuELLED STATE’S ‘JuNGLE RAJ’ IMAGE DECLINING Murder to riots, serious violent crimes in Bihar fall to lowest in over two decades ent offences that fuelled the ‘Jungle Raj’ image declining from peaks in the early 2000s SERIOUS CRIMES such as and mid-2010s. murder and dacoity fell to their Murder cases, at 3,619 in lowest in 25 years in Bihar last 2001, stayed above 3,000 beyear, an analysis of data shows, tween2005and2015butbegan evenascasesoftheft, falling from 2016, PAGE 1 burglary and cyber dropping to 2,581. crime saw an uptick. Despite brief spikes Data between in2019and2020,the 2001 and 2025 — the most re- downward trend continued, cent figures were shared by reaching2,556in2025—theloBiharDirectorGeneralofPolice west in the past two-and-a-half Vinay Kumar last week — decades. paints a picture of how the Dacoity presents one of the state’s crime profile has sharpest long-term declines in changed, with traditional viol- the dataset. From more than anchor 1,200casesannuallyintheearly 2000s,includingapeakof1,297 cases in 2004, numbers fell steadily over the next two decades.By2015,dacoitycaseshad declined to 426, and by 2025, to 174 — a reduction of more than 80percentover25yearsandthe lowest level since 2001. Robbery, while more volatile, also shows a clear downward trajectory from its early peak. After touching 2,909 cases in 2004, robberies declined sharply to a low of 1,266 cases in 2012. Although intermittentspikeswererecordedin subsequent years, including lSharpdecline 14,000 NUMBER OF CASES Himanshu Harsh Patna, January 12 12,000 10,000 13,566 8,520 nRIOTS nMURDERS 8,000 6,000 2,502 4,000 2,000 3,619 2000 3,178 2005 2010 during the pandemic, the figure fell again to 1,558 cases in 2025, nearly half the level recorded in 2004. 2015 2,556 2020 2025 Riot-related cases show the most pronounced drop. From 8,520casesin2001,riotssurged through the 2000s and early 2010s, peaking at 13,566 cases in 2014. Since then, numbers havedroppedsharply,fallingto 7,262 cases in 2019 and further to 2,502 cases in 2025 — the lowest since 2001 and an over 80% decline from the mid2010s peak. Unlikeotherviolentcrimes, rape cases have risen, from 746 cases in 2000 to a peak of 2,205 cases in 2024. The year 2025 marked a marginal fall to 2,025 cases, although levels remain significantly higher than two decades ago. Despite the notable decline in several categories of violent crime in recent years, total cognisable crime in Bihar has increased — a trend that frequently features in public and politicaldebate.Datafrom2001 to 2024 shows that this rise is largely driven by non-violent offencessuchastheft,burglary, non-ransom kidnapping, cyber-related complaints and regulatory offences. Theft has emerged as one of the largest contributors to overall cognisable crime in the state over the past decade. Burglary followed a similar upward trajectory, though at a smaller scale. While kidnapping has seen an overall rise, experts argue that elopement-related cases, child custody disputes and missing-personcomplaintsare often registered under kidnapping provisions. In contrast, kidnapping for ransom has declined over the past two decades, from 385 cases in 2001 to 52 cases by 2024. Experts said crimes are also being reported more proactively, with cybercrimes, property crimes and dispute-linked offences now accounting for a much larger share. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad