The Ideas Page: When the state pays for babies — some lessons from Sikkim 13 TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2026 JOURNALISM of COURAGE KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 20 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 MINISTRY SETS UP PANEL TO REvIEw INDUSTRY DEMANDS; SENSEx DOwN 1.7%, RUPEE LOSES 58 PAISE TO US DOLLAR Oil tops $100 a barrel, gas shortage fear grips restaurants, tiles industry Irannames Khameneison asSupreme Leader,China backsdecision Govt prioritises cooking gas supply for households, sets 25-day inter-booking period; no hike in fuel prices: Officials Sukalp Sharma Business as Usual New Delhi, March 9 WITHINTERNATIONALcrude oil prices surging to over $100 barrel due to the ongoing conflictinWestAsia,gasshortageis slowlyhittingcommercialusers ofcookinggasorLPG,especially restaurants, in big cities like Mumbai,Chennai,Hyderabad, and Bengaluru, and industrial users of LNG and propane-LPG suchastileandceramicmakers in Morbi, Gujarat. Refiners and fuel retailers havebeenaskedbythegovernment to prioritise domestic LPG supply to households over commercial users, which has led to some tightness in certain pockets. Further, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry said supplies from imported LPG are being prioritised to essentialsectorssuchashospitals and educational institutions. The government has also raised the minimum waiting period for booking a LPG cylinder to 25 days from 21 days to avoid hoarding and black marketing. Further, to review the representations for LPG supply to restaurants, hotels and other industries, it has set up a committee of three executive directorsofoilmarketingcompanies. Despite crude oil topping $100 a barrel, the highest in three-and-a-half years, the officials said there were no plans By EP UNNY LATEST l AS WAR RAGES, TOLL SO FAR: 1,230 DEAD IN IRAN, 397 IN LEBANON, 11 IN ISRAEL l TURKEY SUMMONS IRAN ENVOY AS SECOND MISSILE ENTERS ITS AIRSPACE l PAKISTAN TO CLOSE SCHOOLS TO CUT ENERGY MORE REPORTS, PAGES 11, 14, 15 External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar speaks in Rajya Sabha on Monday. ANI Jaishankar: India wants dialogue, diaspora safety, energy security Tells Rajya Sabha that India agreed to request for 3 Iranian ships to dock Anonna Dutt & Shubhajit Roy New Delhi, March 9 toincreaseretailpricesofpetrol and diesel for the time being. This is in line with the government’s policy to keep pump prices stable notwithstanding the volatility in international energy markets, they said. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, has been declared unacceptable by President Trump. REUTERS STATING THAT the unfolding conflict in West Asia has led to “numerous casualties, including at the leadership level in Iran”, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday outlined in the Rajya Sabha three broad messages of the Government: it favours a return to dialogue, views the security of the Indian diaspora as a priority, and considers energy security paramount. Inasuomotustatement“on thesituationinWestAsia”,amid protestsandslogan-shoutingby the Opposition which demanded a “full-fledged” dis- cussionontheissue,Jaishankar also said that nearly 67,000 Indian nationals have returned from the region since the war began on February 28. Referring to the sinking of an Iranian ship off the coast of Sri Lanka, he said Iran had requested permission on February 28 for “three ships” in the region to dock at Indian ports. The request was granted on March 1, he said. “We believe that this was the right thing to do and the Iranian Foreign »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Parisa Hafezi & Maayan Lubell Dubai, Jerusalem, March 9 IRANNAMEDMojtabaKhameneitosucceedhisslainfatheras supremeleaderonMonday,signalling that hardliners remain firmly in charge and appearing to close off any path to a swift end to war in the Middle East. The prospect that the disruption to global energy supplies — already one of the most severe in history — could last longer than previously expectedsentoilpricessurgingin record leaps and global stock markets into a nosedive. Khamenei, 56, a Shi’ite cleric with a power base among »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Opposition lines up motion seeking CEC impeachment TMC learnt to have taken initiative, backed motion against Birla in return CEC Gyanesh Kumar with ECs Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi during a meeting in Kolkata, Monday. ANI Manoj C G New Delhi, March 9 happening today lTHE SUPREME COURT will take up a fresh plea filed by some persons whose names have been deleted from the electoral rolls by the Election Commission during the SIR in West Bengal. lTHE CBSE wILL REvIEw the situation in West Asia for conducting the Class 12 board exams. The Board has postponed the exams in Bahrain, Iran, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE amid the Iran conflict. lIN THE AFC wOMEN’S Asian Cup, the Indian football team will take on Chinese Taipei and look to register their first win of the tournament in Australia. Match starts at 2:30 pm IST. TRACK THESE AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPrEss.cOm POlITIcs No dEBATE oN NoTIcE foR BIRLA’S REMovAL AMId opp pRoTESTS pAgE 8 Forest Survey of India MHA: Statutory bodies cannot seek Look Out Circulars directly stops its AI-based fortnightly alerts to Says requests must be routed through law agencies states on deforestation Mahender Singh Manral New Delhi, March 9 INAsignificantmodificationto its guidelines for Look Out Circulars (LOCs), the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has specified that statutory bodies with nocriminaljurisdictioncannot Was a pilot project, its utility being assessed: Official issue direct requests to the Bureau of Immigration to prevent any Indian or foreigner from leaving the country, The Indian Express has learnt. The MHA has underlined that all suchrequestshavetoberouted through a law enforcement agency. “Whenever such an order/ request is received, the BoI (Bureau of Immigration) shall immediately return the order/ request to such bodies, informing that such bodies are not authorised to open the LOC and that they may forward the »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 A DAY before the Lok Sabha is likely to take up an Oppositionsponsored resolution seeking Speaker Om Birla’s removal, the united Opposition on Monday moved to open yet another politicalfrontagainstthegovernment in Parliament by deciding to submit a notice on impeaching Chief Election Commissioner(CEC)GyaneshKumar. The Opposition has been contemplating the move for thepastfewmonths,itislearnt. Sources said the Opposition finally decided to go ahead on Monday and all the parties were said to be on board. The Trinamool Congress (TMC), INsIDE page 4 MAMATA MINISTER AccUSES cEc of INSULTINg HER: ‘SAId doN’T SHoUT’ whoseleaderMamataBanerjee issittingonadharnainKolkata in protest against the Special IntensiveRevision(SIR)ofelectoral rolls, is learnt to have takentheinitiative.Thedraftof the motion, prepared by a lawyer MP of the Congress and two TMC MPs, is ready and the parties will now begin collecting signatures. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Jay Mazoomdaar New Delhi, March 9 THE FOREST Survey of India (FSI), the central government organisationthatisresponsible for the assessment and monitoring of India’s forest wealth, has stopped issuing the fortnightly alerts through which it has kept a watch on deforestation activities in near-real time for more than two years. ThedataontheFSI’sAnavaran-DeforestationAlertSystem have not been updated since November 2025. The portal, which has been operational since January 2024, has been using satellite data and machine learning to enable FSI to issue location alerts on the loss of forest cover A deforestation alert for Punjab in Oct 2025. Data on Anavaran system have not been updated since November 2025. to states every 15 days so that targeted field inspections can be carried out. According to multiple sources, active monitoring through the portal was halted this January, and states stopped receiving the fortnightly deforestation alerts. Asked why the portal had stalled, FSI joint director Shivani Dogra said Anavaran had been running only as a pilot »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Nearly a year after tender, Rs 1,600-crore gravitational wave observatory in limbo E. Tender floated in April 2025, yet to be awarded Soham Shah Pune, March 9 THE CONSTRUCTION of a major gravitational wave observatory in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district, one of the country's biggest science pro- jects,remainsinlimbowiththe ever, maintained that the proRs 1,600-crore work tender ject would be completed as floated in April last year yet to scheduled within the next four years. “In the presbe awarded, acent scenario, the cording to records YOur rIGhT project is set to be accessed by The completed by its Indian Express original deadline under the RTI Act. AN EXPRESS RTI of 2030,” it said. Responding to APPLICATION The showpiece an RTI query by Laser Interferomthis newspaper, theDirectorateofConstruction eter Gravitational Wave ObServices and Estate Manage- servatory (LIGO) is designed to ment of the Department of work in sync with two similar Atomic Energy (DAE), how»CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 to know NATION pAgE 9 ExPlAINED Why LIgo matters The ability to detect gravitational waves gives scientists a new vision to track cosmic events that light or other electromagnetic waves are not able to capture. The LIGO is designed to work in sync with two similar facilities in the United States. HISToRIAN KNpANIKKAR dIESAT90 AcAdEMIcSTRESS TRIggERIN3of5 SUIcIdESoNBITS’ goAcAMpUS l COMPENSATION ANNOUNCED ON FEBRUARY 12, THREE YEARS AFTER SHE WAS RUN OVER BY A POLICE VEHICLE IN SEATTLE A death in the US, Rs 260-crore settlement, and family plunged into limelight Nikhila Henry The compensation was announced on February 12 this year. MEGHANA KANDULA is all of In January 2023, Jaahnavi 24, but her life is stuck in limbo, Kandula — then a 23-year-old she says. Memories of her sister student who was pursuing a Jaahnavi Kandula haunt her. master’s degree in information But what she cannot really en- systems at the Seattle campus dure are the prying glances and of Northeastern University — questions from neighbours, was fatally struck down, while relatives and friends who con- crossing a street, by a speeding sider her the heir to policevehicledriven PAGE 1 a fortune — $29 milby officer Kevin lion or Rs 260 crore Dave, who was reto be precise — sponding to a drug which Seattle City awarded the overdose call. Kandulas for compensating Davewasdrivingat74miles the wrongful death of Jaahnavi per hour on Dexter Avenue, three years ago. which was a 25 miles-per-hour Adoni, Kurnool, March 9 anchor zone. On the night of the accident, officer Daniel Auderer, whowascalledintoadminister a drug recognition test to Dave, wasallegedlycapturedonbody camera joking about Kandula’s death. He allegedly told Seattle Police Officers Guild president Mike Solan that Kandula’s life was “of limited value”, that she was “an ordinary person”, and that the city should “just write a cheque”. The Seattle police department fired both Dave and Auderer. “It was the first time that I heard of racism – when my sister was killed. Would they have laughed about an Ameri- Jaahnavi Kandula was pursuing a Master’s in Information Systems at the Seattle campus of Northeastern University. NIKHILA HENRY can being killed in a road accident?”Meghanasaid,sittingon a beige sofa in her modest maternal home in Adoni in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district.Theentrancetothishome has a sign which says “Jaahnavi’s Smriti Aavas”. A GoFundMe campaign run by Jaahnavi’s friends and wellwishers paid for this house, where Meghana, their mother, G Vijayalakshmi, and her grandparents, G Suri Babu and G Uma Devi, now live. Insidetheone-storeyhome, their mother’s cries were audible. Meghana said, “My mother is an independent Kolkata woman, and Jaahnavi and I learnt a lot from her.” It was the mother who brought up the two girls after being separated from her husband, Srikanth Kandula.Srikanth,whousedto be a railway police constable, died of a cardiac arrest just two days before the Seattle settlement was announced. “He was estranged, but he was still family,” Meghana said. In seeking justice for Jaahnavi, they were together. They sued the Seattle Police Department and the city of Seattle together. But the money will be transferred to just the mother,nowthatthefatherhas passed away. Meghana’s maternal uncle, Gundapuneedi Naveen Chowdari, said, “The money will not bring her back, but it has fixed accountability.” Chowdari kept tabs on all that transpired in the US after Jaahnavi’s death through friends and relatives. Jaahnavi left for the US on a student exchange programme in 2021 after the family took a Rs 60 lakh education loan. Her closest friends and family said they are now struggling to keep their lives private. “Rumours are flying that we havealreadygotthemoneyand »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2