The Editorial Page: War is waged as spectacle. We have devised new strategies of moral evasion 14 SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2026 JOURNALISM of COURAgE KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 26 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 Happening today lPRESIDENT DROUPADI Murmu will attend the 9th International Santal Conference in Darjeeling. lUNION HOME MINISTER Amit Shah will address a public gathering in Haridwar. lAfTER BEINg BOwLED out for 198 in the first innings, India will look to contain hosts Australia and prevent them from taking a big lead on Day 2 of the women’s Test match. TRACK THESE AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPrEss.cOm Business as Usual By EP UNNY ‘I don’t think there should be any single superintelligence in the world’ OpenAI CEO SAM ALTMAN PAGES 12, 13 NATION PAGE 6 RAjASTHAN YOUTH TOPS UPSC: ‘I PUT IN 8-10 HOURS DAILY’ AT LEAST 87 wERE KILLED AfTER wARSHIP IRIS DENA wAS TORPEDOED NEAR SRI LANKA Before it was sunk by US, Iranian ship was offered shelter by India Second Iran warship, IRIS Lavan, docked at Kochi on March 4 Mamata on dharna Amrita Nayak Dutta West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with nephew and MP Abhishek Banerjee at Esplanade in Kolkata as she began her dharna against the EC’s SIR exercise in the state. PARTHA PAUL REPORT, PAgE 5 New Delhi, March 6 BEFORE IRANIAN frigate IRIS DenawassunkbyaUSsubmarinenearSriLanka,Indiahadoffered it shelter at one of its ports, The Indian Express has learnt. The Dena, which left Visakhapatnamafterparticipatingin the International Fleet Review (IFR)andMILAN-2026exercise thatendedonFebruary25,was torpedoed in the early hours of March 4. According to the Indian Navy, the warship was operating 20 nautical miles west of Galle. The safe harbour offer was said to have been made in view of the rising tensions between the US and Iran. Hostilities erupted on February 28 when IsraelandtheUScarriedoutthe first wave of air strikes across Iran. On Friday, government sources said a second Iranian warship, IRIS Lavan, docked at Kochi port on March 4, the day the Dena was torpedoed. Sources said that on February 28, Iran requested India to takeintheLavansincethevessel had developed technical issues. Approval for its docking was granted on March 1 and the LavanarrivedinKochionMarch 4. Its crew of 183 have been accommodated in naval facilities in Kochi, the sources said. On Friday afternoon, The IndianExpressemailedqueries to the Indian Navy regarding the offer of shelter to IRIS Dena and the docking of another warship in Kochi. By evening, government sources confirmed that IRIS »CONTINUED ON PAgE 2 Bengal SIR: 1 week and 11% of 60 lakh voter adjudication cases disposed of Tanusree Bose & Atri Mitra A photo released by Sri Lanka’s President Media Division shows Lankan navy personnel rescuing sailors of Iranian warship Dena. PTI Kolkata, March 6 ‘Essential partner’: US 9,000 Indians stuck in gives India one-month Iran, Centre works on waiver to buy Russia oil plan to bring them home Sukalp Sharma New Delhi, March 6 WITHANeffectivehaltincargo movementthroughtheStraitof Hormuz hitting crude oil flow to India, the US has issued a temporary 30-day “waiver” to allow Indian refiners to buy Russian crude that is already in the high seas. Indiahad,inrecentmonths, cut down significantly on its oil importsfromRussiaamidtrade negotiations with the US, as Washingtonmadeitapre-requisite for scrapping its 25% additionalpenaltariffonNewDelhi. ButwiththeStraitofHormuz— through which India gets over 40% of its oil imports—effectively closed, refiners had al- readystartedbuyingmoreRussian oil already available in the high seas, as per trade sources and vessel tracking data. Themovewillprovideshortterm relief to India, which imports 88% of its oil needs, said experts. However, this alone may not be able to fully offset the country’s exposure to West Asianoilthatcamethroughthe critical chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz. Experts also see it as part of US President Donald Trump’s effort to prevent a rise indomesticfuelpricesintheUS given the midterm elections later this year. Around 130 million barrels of crude is estimated to be on ships on water as of early »CONTINUED ON PAgE 2 Divya A New Delhi, March 6 WITH TEHRAN coming under incessant attacks from the UnitedStatesandIsrael,theIndiangovernmentisworkingon a plan to evacuate its citizens from the warzone in Iran, The Indian Express has learnt. Around 9,000 Indian citizens, mostly students, are stuckinIran.Mostofthemcome from Jammu & Kashmir, while some are from Uttar Pradesh and other states. They are primarily located in two Iranian cities—Tehran,whichhascome under heavy attack over the last few days, and Qom, about 150 kilometres from the capital. Iranianairspaceiscurrently LATEST lNO DEAL WITH IRAN EXCEPT UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER, SAYS TRUMP l SOME COUNTRIES HAVE BEGUN MEDIATION EFFORTS, SAYS PEzESHKIAN l ISRAEL POUNDS IRAN, LEBANON; TEHRAN HITS BACK AT UAE, BAHRAIN, SAUDI MORE REPORTS, P 7,18, 21, 26 closed following large-scale US and Israeli airstrikes beginning February 28. “Those requiring evacuation can be transported to neighbouring Armenia and »CONTINUED ON PAgE 2 INsIDE SINCETHEreleaseofthevoters’ list following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral roll in West Bengal a week ago, inwhich60.06lakhnameswere put under scrutiny for “adjudication”,tilldate,only6.5lakhor 10.82 per cent of the total such cases have been disposed of. Forthe60.06lakhregistered electors in the state, who found theirnamesontheelectoralroll but were stamped “under adjudication”, it meant that they wereontherolls,butwillnotbe able to exercise their right to voteintheupcomingAssembly electionstillthejudicialofficers appointed on orders of the Supreme Court review their cases and decide to keep them on the rollsinsubsequentsupplementary lists. Those found ineligible on the basis of documents submitted during the SIR will be deleted from the rolls, thereby losing the right to vote. OntheordersoftheSupreme Court,700-oddjudicialofficers, CEC GYANESH KUMAR TO VISIT BENGAL SUNDAY PAGE 5 including 200 from neighbouringJharkhandandOdisha,have been given the responsibility to adjudicate those cases. It is to be noted that in the first phase of the four-monthlong SIR exercise, around 61 lakh names or 8 per cent of the totalelectorateinthestatewere deleted. “Till date, not a single judicial official has come from Jharkhand and Odisha. Only 505 judicial officers are currently involved in resolving the adjudication cases. The West Bengal government is making logistical arrangements. Hundred judicial officers, including six retired judges, will come from Jharkhand and another hundred from Odisha by Saturday. After they arrive in West Bengal, they will be »CONTINUED ON PAgE 2 Nepal rejects old guard, Balen Karnataka and Andhra Panel ‘suppressed’ FSI view Shah, 35, is set to become PM move to ban social media use by children on Aravalli, amicus tells SC E. RSP heads for landslide win in first poll post 2025 Gen Z protests New Delhi keeps close watch Yubaraj ghimire Kathmandu, March 6 IN THE first election post the September 2025 Gen Z protests that forced out the K P Sharma Oli government, Nepal appeared to have rejected the old guard, voting overwhelmingly for the three-year-old Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and clearing the decks for its leader Balendra ‘Balen’ Shah to become Prime Minister. ExPlAINED RSP’s Balendra Shah is set to defeat former PM KP Sharma Oli in the Nepal elections. FILE As counting of votes progressedin150constituenciesFriday, the RSP won two seats and The coming to power of RSP, founded three years ago, and its leader Balen Shah is being closely tracked in Delhi. For quite some years, India’s ties with Nepal have shown signs of strain, especially over unresolved territorial disputes and Beijing’s growing influence. was ahead in another 106, leavingtheNepaliCongressandthe »CONTINUED ON PAgE 2 Naidu sets 90-day deadline for ban on those below age 13; Siddaramaiah says those below 16 to be banned Atiya firdos & Sreenivas Janyala Bengaluru, Hyderabad, March 6 MOVING TO ban social media usebychildren,ChiefMinisters oftwostatesFridayannounced plans to impose such a restriction. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told the state Assembly, where the Budget was being presented, that children below the age of 16 will be bannedfromusingsocialmedia. And in Andhra Pradesh, ChiefMinisterNChandrababu, speaking in the state Assembly, said the proposal to ban social media for children below the age of 13 will be implemented within 90 days. The Karnataka proposal, mentioned under the School Education section of the Budget, aims to curb the »CONTINUED ON PAgE 2 Jay Mazoomdaar New Delhi, March 6 THE SUPREME Court’s Amicus Curiae in the Aravalli definition case has submitted that the report by the court’s Aravalli committee led by the Environment secretary “completely suppressed” the views SC kept in abeyance its of the Forest Survey of India decision regarding the 100-m (FSI) while recommending a definition of the Aravalli hills. FILE 100-meter height proval of the SC’s definition for the ExPrEss Central Emhills. powered ComThe Amicus mittee (CEC) and Curiae’s subits “exclusionmission also pointed out that the “unsigned ary” definition did not “suffiandundated”reportoftheAra- ciently include landforms that valli panel did not have the ap- constitute the Aravalli hills in exclusive order to protect and conserve the same.” On November 20, 2025, the SC accepted the recommendations of the Aravalli panel that any landform at an elevation of 100 metres or more above the local relief would be considered aspartofAravallihillsalongwith its slopes and adjacent land. A series of investigations by The Indian Express during November-December 2025 reportedthattheAravallicommittee ignored the FSI’s warning that a 100-meter height definition would exclude 90% of Aravalli hills, that the CEC’s objection to the definition was overlooked, and that the SC »CONTINUED ON PAgE 2 l EVIDENT U.S. ACTING OUTSIDE TRADITIONAL FRAMEWORK OF INTERNATIONAL LAW: FINLAND PRESIDENT ‘See India as a peacemaker… one of the few countries that can talk to everyone’ Shubhajit Roy New Delhi, March 6 PRESIDENT OF Finland Alexander Stubb, who is on a state visit to India, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday and the two leaders decided to upgrade ties to strategic partnership on digitalisation and sustainability. InaninterviewwithTheIndianExpresson the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue Friday, Stubb shared his views on India’s growth, its peacemaking abilities,bilateralareasofcooperation, his assessment of US President Donald Trump, the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and Ukraine, and his ad- that has a 7% growth rate that has 250 million people that have been lifted from poverty in the past 10 years. When you This is your first visit as see the big infrastructure proPresident of Finland. Yes, I’ve been in office for jects,whenyouseeprojectsthat help in the daytwo years. And ExPrEss to-day life of Inthis my first visit dians, there is a to India. But I’ve sense of optibeen to India a ALExANDER STUBB mism here, few times bePRESIDENT OF FINLAND whichyourarely fore, and the last see nowadays, time was in 2013 especially in the Global West. as Minister of Trade. India is one of the few truly thriving economies right now. What are your key So my sort of big takeaway has takeaways this time? On a general level, my key beenextremelypositive,andof takeaway is that India is thriv- course, I see it with my own ing. You have to see it to believe eyes. The difference from 2013 it when you come to a country to 2026 is startling. vice to the Indian youth. Edited excerpts: interview Finland President Alexander Stubb in New Delhi. ANIL SHARMA What is the key difference you saw from 13 years ago? I think the key difference is that when you look at the streets and the infrastructure, youlookattheroads,itcouldbe that my police escort is only taken to good places, but New Delhi is a big place, so I’ve been very impressed with that. Then, on a second level, my key takeaway has been the extremelyinterestingdiscussions on geopolitics, a changing world order, and India’s place init.Andthenarealisationhow closeEuropeandIndiaareright now, and how important is that we have that as a key relationship thriving going forward. Because when the world is in turmoil, there are things such as values that bind us. So I’m really pleased with what I have seen and felt, and also the warm hospitality and obviously Prime Minister Modi Kolkata has been elected three times, which is quite unusual in today’s democracies. And it’s been a great pleasure to engage in conversation with him and with Foreign Minister Jaishankar, with the President and the Vice President. What are the key areas of cooperation that you are looking at, as the partnership has been upgraded to strategic partnership on digitalization? Well, I think first of all, the big frame is, of course, the European Union and the Free Trade Agreement, because we are part of the EU, and the EU has exclusive competence on trade. So this kind of gives us more instruments, and it takes down trade barriers. But I define the following key areas. All of them are actually linked to technology, but the first one would be networks. Nokia is still one of the biggest network companies in the world. Roughly half of the 5G here in India is by Nokia. Secondly, quantum, because quantum is basically the infrastructure and enabler for Artificial Intelligence. And I know that India is now very focused on AI, not only because of the AI summit, but because ofyourvibrantengineeringand »CONTINUED ON PAgE 2