The Editorial Page: Our stakes are high in West Asia. Delhi must call for diplomacy, de-escalation 10 FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2026 JOURNALISM of COURAGE KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 18 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 UPLIFTING THE POOR IN WEST BENGAL CBC 35101/13/0122/2526 6+ crore people receive free ration every month under PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana 52 lakh houses under PM Awas Yojana, turning dreams of home-ownership into reality Business as Usual By EP UNNY Happening today lWEST BENGAL Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will begin her dharna against the SIR exercise in the state in Kolkata from 2 pm. lINDIAN WOMEN’S team will be in action in a one-off Test match in Perth against Australia. Match starts at 10.50 am. TRACK THESE AND MORE ON WWW.INDIANExPRESS.COM BA GLA BIKOSHITO BHNRAT BIKOSHITO A PM MODI’S VISION NITISH TENURE WILL BE KNOWN AS GOLDEN PERIOD IN BIHAR POLITICS, SAYS SHAH Bihar readies for post-Nitish era: CM for RS, BJP set to take charge New government will have my full cooperation, says Nitish Kumar How it went from RS NEW GOVERNORS IN STATES, UTs nomination for his son TN’s Ravi replaces Bose to one for Nitish Kumar in Bengal ahead of polls, Liz Mathew & Santosh Singh Hasnain named for Bihar, Sandhu gets Delhi CV Ananda Bose with Arif Mohammad Khan, in Chennai two days ago. Santosh Singh & Himanshu Harsh Patna, March 5 SETTING IN motion the end of his run as Bihar’s longest-serving Chief Minister, Nitish KumaronThursdayfilednomination papers for the coming Rajya Sabha elections. This clears the decks for a new CM, likely from the BJP, to take charge,andhasleftmanyinthe JD(U) in disbelief. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 New Delhi, Patna, March 5 IF THE change of guard in Bihar, marking the start of the end of Nitish Kumar’s 21-year run as Chief Minister, came as a surprise, it was. Sources in the BJP and JD(U) camps say that it was only in the last week that the wheels were set in motion. The conversation between the allies initially started a month ago as a discussion on the future of Nitish’s son Nishant. A political novice, Nishant has developed a public profile recently, with many in the JD(U) seeing in him the glue to keep the party together as Nitish’s deteriorating health slides further. According to sources in the BJP, a Rajya Sabha berth was E. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar during the latter’s filing of nomination papers for Rajya Sabha elections, in Patna, Thursday. PTI RELATED REPORTS: PAGE 8 »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 (From left) Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (retd); R N Ravi; and Taranjit Singh Sandhu Liz Mathew & Jatin Anand New Delhi, March 5 Responded to Iran warship SOS, searched: Navy At Iran embassy, Foreign Secretary offers India’s condolences on the death of Ayatollah Khamenei, others Amrita Nayak Dutta & Shubhajit Roy New Delhi, March 5 ADAYafteraUSsubmarinetorpedo sank an Iranian warship nearSriLankaasitheadedhome after participating in Exercise MILAN and the International FleetReviewinVisakhapatnam, the Indian Navy said Thursday it had sent its aircraft and ships to augment the search and rescue (SAR) efforts for IRIS Dena after it put out a distress call. The Indian Navy statement came on the day the government condoled the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and others killedinairstrikesbyIsraeland the US. SriLankaallowscrew ofsecondIranshipto disembarkinColombo Chennai: A day after a US submarine torpedoed and sank an Iranian naval frigate near Sri Lanka’s southern coast, a second Iranian warship waited for hours just outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters. Eventually, the country’s President, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, said the crew of the Iranian naval ship, IRIS Bushehr, will be disembarked at Colombo Port. He said the vessel will then be taken to Trincomalee Harbour, while the Sri Lanka Navy makes arrangements to bring the 208 personnel on board safely to Colombo. PAGE 5 »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Sukalp Sharma WITH VESSEL passage through the Strait of Hormuz disrupted due to the West Asia conflict, there are early signs that India could be increasing its intake of Russian crude. Two crude oil tankers laden with Russian oil, which were earlier showing East Asia as their destination, arrived at IndianportsThursday,according to ship tracking data. Another tanker, while still showing Singapore as its destination, »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Flying Axar, brainy Bumrah take India to final after a scare Sriram Veera Mumbai, March 5 Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri signs a condolence book at the Iran Embassy in New Delhi, Thursday, days after Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in Israel-US strikes. PTI India is for rule of law & dialogue, military conflict no solution: PM Strait of Hormuz shut, a few tankers with Russia crude oil divert to India New Delhi, March 5 WITH ASSEMBLY elections in West Bengal round the corner, Governor C V Ananda Bose resigned Thursday citing “personalreasons”.Hewasreplaced by Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi who had been at loggerheads with the DMK-led government in the state. As part of major gubernatorial appointments announced by President Droupadi Murmu Thursday night, Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (retd) was named the new Bihar Governor, taking over from Arif Mohammed Khan. Taranjit Singh Sandhu, retired diplomat and a former Ambassador to the US, will be the new Lt Governor of Delhi, replacing Vinai Kumar Saxena who was posted to Ladakh as Lt Governor. Ladakh Lt Governor Kavinder Gupta, a former Deputy Chief Minister in the BJP-PDP government in the erstwhile Shubhajit Roy New Delhi, March 5 PM Narendra Modi with Finland President Alexander Stubb at Hyderabad House, in New Delhi, Thursday. ANIL SHARMA UNDERLINING THAT India believes in the “rule of law, dialogue, and diplomacy”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday that “no issue can be resolvedsolelythroughmilitary conflict” and Delhi will continue to support every effort to end conflict and restore peace, be it in West Asia or Ukraine. His remarks came a day after Iranian warship IRIS Dena, which had earlier taken part in a military exercise in India, was torpedoed by a US submarine in international waters in the Indian Ocean. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar too had a phone conversation with Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian Foreign Minister — this was their secondconversationsincethestart of the conflict on February 28. Iran’s Deputy Foreign MinisterSaeedKhatibzadehisvisiting India beginning Thursday andisexpectedtomeetofficials over the next few days. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 TWOACTSofsportinggreatness deflated England and revealed India’s desperation to win. Thetargetof254toenterthe T20WorldCupfinaldemanded EnglishcaptainHarryBrookdo what he does. The flat pancake at Wankhede demanded Jasprit Bumrah do what he does. But Axar Patel ensured he didn’t have to do it alone — with an act of athleticism that will long be recalled, the kind that embeds itself straight into viral reels. Unbelievably, he would better it when the chase tightened with another breathtaking effort. Onthenightwhenbatsmen from both teams repeatedly hit high notes, Axar delivered a match-winning performance with his hands, feet and eyes. Despite scoring 253, India won by just 7 runs. Before Flying Axar and Brainy Bumrah, it was Sanju India defeated England by seven runs to enter the ICC Men’s T20 final, at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Thursday. NARENDRA VASKAR Samson who set up the game with a 42-ball 89, an innings of grace, maturity, and inspiration.Itstillmightnothavebeen enough.JacobBethellconjured an impeccable knock — startlingly assured shot selections, purposefultargetingofbowlers, and a calmness that smoothed allthataggression.Itneededrepeated interventions by Axar andBumrahtokeepBethelljust out of reach of a dream finish. Introduced in the fifth over, Bumrah straight away went for »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 l UNEMPLOYED YOUTHS AGED 21-40 ENTITLED TO A STIPEND UNDER ‘BANGLAR YUVA SATHI’ IN POLL-BOUND STATE; TMC GOVT SAYS SCHEME MEANT AS ‘SOME SORT OF ASSISTANCE’ TO BUY BOOKS 84 lakh applications for Rs 1,500 a month: On SIR sidelines, another rush in Bengal Tanusree Bose ‘Banglar Yuva Sathi’ scheme, which entitles unemployed youths in the state between the WHILE ALL eyes were on the ages of 21-40 to Rs 1,500 queuestogetintoelectoralrolls monthlystipend,startingApril. in West Bengal ahead of comAsperestimatesbythenonpletion of the Special Intensive profit Population Foundation Revision (SIR) exercise last of India for 2021, West Bengal month,morethan65 has around 3.46 PAGE 1 lakh were lining up crore people in the before other camps 21-40 bracket. In in the 294 Assembly other words, almost constituencies of the state. 1 in 4 people between these Combined with 19 lakh who ages registered for the Bengal applied online, over 84 lakh government scheme. registered over the space of 12 Minister of Women and days, between February 15 and Child Development and Social 26, for the state government’s Welfare Shashi Panja told The Kolkata, March 5 anchor Indian Express that the response to the Yuva Sathi scheme showed that “it meets the expectations of the young”. To the Opposition’s charge that the rush indicated the extent of unemployment in the state, Panja said that there shouldbeappreciationthatthe government was extending “some sort of assistance” to those currently unemployed, including those who may be pursuing higher education. “The idea is to provide basic help so that someone can purchase books needed or pay enrolment form fees. Obviously, A camp for Banglar Yuva Sathi scheme in North Kolkata. PARTHA PAUL the state will be taking initiatives to generate more jobs, but those making fun of us should know that the all-India unemployment index is not very healthyeither.Thisisaproblem that the entire country is struggling with,” the minister said. That the government is gambling big on the scheme aheadoftheelectionsisevident fromtheRs5,000croresetaside for it in the Budget for this year. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s photograph dominated billboards advertising the scheme,rulingTrinamoolCongressworkerssetupdesksatthe Kolkata Yuva Sathi camps to help registration,andthegovernmentensured banks put up counters to handle any issues on the spot. A senior officer of a nationalisedbanktoldTheIndianExpress: “Many applicants had joint accounts, while for this scheme, the beneficiaries needed accounts to be in their name. Every day, we handled 10-12 applications per counter for new accounts.” One of those who has registeredfortheYuvaSathischeme is Anshu Jaiswal, 24. He registered at a camp in the Shyampukar Assembly seat, a day be- foretheregistrationwastoend. TheB.Comgraduatesaidhe did not want to move out of Bengal and had been trying for a job for a year. “I have given so many interviews, applied at several places, with no luck… With the Yuva Sathi money, at leastmybusfaresandformfees will be covered.” RenuSingh,21,whohasalso enrolled for the scheme, said she had studied only till Class 12 and was looking for some work she could do from home. “I want to do a stitching or a beautician course, and this »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2