The Editorial Page: EU, US deals connect India to world’s largest markets, open new trade vistas 10 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2026 JOURNALISM of COURAGE NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES ₹7.00 (₹8 RAIPUR, ₹15 SRINAGAR) l www.indianexpress.com CBC 06124/15/0004/2526 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 , LU 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 PM WINDS UP 2-DAY MALAYSIA VISIT No double standards, no compromise on terror: PM Pacts on defence, digital payments, social security for Indian workers CABINET SECRETARIAT SENDS ‘SCORECARDS’ FOR SEPT-NOV 2025 From file disposal to output, Union Secretaries now get a report card each Includes negative marks for ‘excessive’ spend on foreign visits or events, delayed payments to MSMEs Harikishan Sharma TheIndianExpresshas learnt. The scorecards assess the Secretaries and their departINAfirst,theCabinetSecretariat ments on about a dozen parhas sent “administrative score- ameters, with a total of 100 cards” to Secremarks, and intaries in the Cenclude “negative ExPRESS tral government, marks” and “disshowing the percretionarymarks”. centage of marks It is learnt that obtained by them, based on CabinetSecretaryDrTVSomatheirindividualperformanceas nathansentthefirstsetofthese wellasthatoftheirdepartments, »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 New Delhi, February 8 exclusive Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim on Sunday. PTI RELATED REPORT, PAGE 6 Divya A New Delhi, February 8 EMPHASISINGTHATstrategic trust between New Delhi and Kuala Lumpur is the way to economic transformation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asserted that India’s position on terrorism remains firm and uncompromising while underlining continued support for all efforts aimed at peace. “On terrorism, our message isclear:nodoublestandards,no compromise,” Modi said while delivering a joint press statement with his Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim in Kuala Lumpur before winding Business as Usual By EP UNNY uphistwo-dayvisittoMalaysia. “In the field of security, we »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Top I-T firms earmark Labour Code costs, less than 3% of payroll Siddharth Upasani New Delhi, February 8 INDIA’S BIGGEST companies set aside more than Rs 13,000 crore in the October-December 2025 quarter to account for the impact of the new Labour Codes, according to data compiled by The Indian Express. These provisions were 3 per cent or lower as a percentage of last financial year’s employee costs for major IT companies and private banks; for airline Happening today lTHE SUPREME COURT is scheduled to hear a batch of petitions, including one filed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, relating to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in the state. lBRITAIN'S PRINCE WILLIAM will arrive in Saudi Arabia on his first visit, during which he will likely meet the country's de facto leader and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. TRACK THESE AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPRESS.cOM carrierIndiGo,itwas13percent. The data shows that the 41 Nifty 50 companies that have so far announced their latest financial results provided Rs 13,307 crore in the reporting quarter for the first nine months of 2025-26. These 41 companies’consolidated profit aftertaxamountedtonearlyRs 1.75 lakh crore. The Nifty 50 is the flagship index of the National Stock Exchange and is made up of 50 of l Parametersusedinassessment PARAMETER File disposal Public grievance redressal Cabinet/CCEA notes Litigation Output/Activities annexure A of the monthly DO Expenditure on schemes and capital expenditure Timely completion of PMG projects Financial Advisor/IFD Disposal of bills by PAO/CCA Output/Activities in Annexure C of the monthly D.O. Discretionary marks by Cabinet Secretary Total NEGATIVE MARKS MAx MARKS 20 5 5 5 15 15 10 6 4 10 5 100 -12 Centrereadies Kuki-Zopeace deal,onlinesof Nagalandpact Asad Rehman New Delhi, February 8 THE PRIME Minister’s Office (PMO) has told the Lok Sabha Secretariat that Parliament questions and matters related to PM CARES Fund, the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) and the National Defence Fund (NDF) are not admissible under rules related to the conduct of business in Lok Sabha, The Indian Express has learnt. It is learnt that on January 30, the PMO told the Lok Sabha Secretariat that questions and matters related to the three Deeptiman Tiwary New Delhi, February 8 AS AN elected BJP-led government gets to work in Manipur amid protests from Kuki-Zo tribes in the hills, the Centre is at an advanced stage of finalising a Kuki-Zo peace deal, The Indian Express has learnt. Accordingtosourceswithin thegovernment,thisdealcould be on the lines of the Frontier Nagaland Territorial Authority (FNTA) deal signed last week with the Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organisation (ENPO), granting a degree of autonomy to six districts of Nagaland populatedbyeightmajortribes of the state. In fact, this was one of the assurances from the Centre which nudged three Kuki MLAs, including Deputy Chief Minister Nemcha Kipgen, to join the newly formed government in Manipur under the leadership of Meitei leader Yumnam Khemchand Singh. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ExPRESS IN Shubhajit Roy Dhaka, February 8 JHUMPA LAHIRI »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PAgE 15 PM CARES is a public charitable trust set up to raise funds for national emergencies such as Covid. PMNRF provides immediate relief to people affected by natural calamities, major accidents, riots, etc. The NDF is meant specifically for the welfare of members of the armed and paramilitary forces and support to their families. Assam BJP posts, then Days before Bangla polls, writing deletes video showing CM image firing at on the wall: Posters of Khaleda Zia everywhere, none of Hasina men wearing skullcaps dhaka PULITzER PRIzE-WINNING WRITER Funds in question Posters of Bangladesh Nationalist Party leaders Khaleda Zia, Ziaur Rahman and Tarique Rahman at a memorabilia shop in the party office building in Nayapaltan, Dhaka. SHUBHAJIT ROY »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘To those who ask, ‘where are you from?’ I wish the answer could be, I’m from that room where none of us can answer that question’ Citing rules, PMO tells LS Sectt: No questions on PM CARES, relief and defence funds E. ExPLAINED AT THE Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) office in Nayapaltan, a steady stream of visitors are buying memorabilia from the small store on the ground floor. Badges with the BNP's party symbol, “dhaaner sheesh”(sheafofpaddy),arethe popularchoice,amidpostersof BegumKhaledaZia,ZiaurRahman, Tarique Rahman and his family, books and T-shirts, among other items. Banners, hoardings and posters of Khaleda Zia and her son, Tarique Rahman, dot the facade of the building and the wallsoftheroadoutside,abusy four-lane in downtown Dhaka. A couple of painters and electricians are at work, painting the walls white and fixing the lights ahead of the February 12 elections, in which the BNP is expected to return to power after 20 years. “We are asking people to go out and vote, they have been deprived of this for the last 17 years,” Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, BNP’s standing committee (the party’s top policy-making body) member and the most prominent Hindu leader, told The Indian Express. About two kilometres away, in Gulistan, stands the Awami League’s abandoned head office.Thestenchofurineisoverpowering, and the imposing building is deserted, barring a few destitute men wandering around. Residents say the area is now being used as a parking spacefortemposoflocalflower »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Call to genocide, says Congress Sukrita Baruah Guwahati, February 8 A VIDEO posted by the Assam BJP,showinganimageofAssam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma aiming a rifle at two men in skullcaps, including one who resembles Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, has led to backlash from across the political spectrum, prompting the party to take down the post from X. The video, uploaded on Saturday with the caption “Point A videograb shows an image of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma holding a rifle blank shot”, shows an image of Sarma shooting at a photographofthetwomen,andends with an image of him dressed like a cowboy and wielding a »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 l POLICE GOT TO KNOW OF THE DEATHS OF FOUR BY ‘CONSUMING POISON’ TWO DAYS LATER 5 girls go out to play in Bihar village, only 1 returns — mystery continues Himanshu Harsh rashtra, having left the village just 10 days earlier for some contractlabourwork,whenthe phonecallcameonJanuary29, AGED 10 to 14, belonging to an informing him of what had impoverished Dalit settlement happened. in Haspura block of Bihar’s AuSurroundedbyothersinthe rangabad district, the five girls village, he says he was told his had little to call their own ex- 11-year-old daughter had been cept each other. Now, four are found dead in the fields along dead, the only survivor “un- with her friends. available” to tell The news would PAGE 1 what happened, and reach the Haspura as police say they are Police Station only probing,themystery on February 1, two is already fading into the dust. days later — that five girls had The father of one of them “consumedpoison”intheDalit says he was in Pangaon, Maha- village, and that only one had Haspura (Aurangabad), February 8 anchor The girls belonged to an impoverished Dalit village in Aurangabad district of Bihar. HIMANSHU HARSH survived and was receiving treatment. According to the Aurangabad police, when the Haspura Station House Officer and SubDivisionalPoliceOfficer,Daudnagar, reached the village to investigate, they were told the four deceased girls had been cremated on January 29 itself by the families. As the news spread, the Aurangabad police issued a press note on February 2 saying they were trying to record the statements of the parents, and that thiswasprovingdifficultasthey were not in the village. “Con- tinuousquestioningofvillagers and others is underway, evidenceisbeingcollected,andan FIRhasbeenregistered.Further investigation into the cause of deaths is ongoing,” police said. The Dalit village where the girlslivedisasmallclusterof25 to30houses,onlyafewofthem pucca structures, criss-crossed by clogged drains with stagnantdirtywater.Unpaved,potholed roads are the village’s only access to nearby towns. None of the homes has a toilet. Villagers say that the four-five common toilets have been unusable for the past New Delhi coupleofyears,forcingthemto relievethemselvesinthefields. There is no piped water supply either. “Most householdsdependonhandpumps,” says a villager. Almost all men are employed as farm hands or daily labourers, with work available only 10-15 days a month, fetching Rs 3,000-5,000 per person. “A family produces about 8-10 quintals per crop cycle, which we store for our consumption. We may sell 1-2 quintals to buy vegetablesandessentials,”avillager says. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2