The Editorial Page: Taking sides in conflict — Delhi’s past record tells a complicated story 10 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2026 JOURNALISM of COURAgE AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 22 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 GOVT TAKES URGENT MEASURES AMID CRISIS IN WEST ASIA LNG imports hit, essential commodities Act invoked, gas allocation prioritised Business as Usual Household piped gas, CNG, LPG production will get precedence By EP UNNY Govt eases curbs to allow limited FDI from China, others sharing land border 60-day deadline for proposal clearance Soumyarendra Barik, Ravi Dutta Mishra & Aanchal Magazine Sukalp Sharma New Delhi, March 10 NATION PAgE 12 New Delhi, March 10 WITH LIQUEFIED natural gas (LNG) supplies to India hit by the halt of shipments through the Strait of Hormuz amid the conflict in West Asia, the government has invoked the Essential Commodities Act to divert natural gas to “priority sectors” that are dependent on the fuel. According to the order issued by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), segments that directly impact millions of common consumers — piped natural gas (PNG) for households, compressed natural gas (CNG) for vehicles, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) production — will have precedence over other natural gas-consuming sectors. Government sources said the order has been issued for supply management given the shortage in LNG supplies from West Asia; the shortage needs to be transferred to some nonpriority sectors while diverting gas supplies to high-priority sectors. Apart from domestic gas and imported LNG, the natural gas required to meet the demand of these priority sectorswillbemet“throughfull or partial curtailment” of gas supplied to some petrochemical manufacturing units, gasbased power plants, and consumers of domestic gas producedfromdifficult blocks. Natural gas supplies to refineries have been cut to 65 per cent of their average consumption of the past six months. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 LATEST l JAISHANkAR: HAD DETAILED CONvERSATION WITH IRAN’S ARAGHCHI l U.S. AND ISRAEL POUND IRAN WITH ‘MOST INTENSE AIRSTRIkES’ OF THE WAR l 700,000 DISPLACED, 84 CHILDREN kILLED IN LEBANON, U.N. AGENCIES SAY lPM NARENDRA MODI is scheduled to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone for projects worth about Rs 5,650 crore in poll-bound Tamil Nadu. lTHE SECOND EDITION of New Delhi World Para Athletics Grand Prix begins. The competition will bring together 275 athletes from eight countries. TRACK THESE AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPrEss.cOm PAgES 12, 15 CABINET APPROvES RS 1.51 LAkH CRORE FOR JAL JEEvAN CENTRE LOOkS AT DELINkINg WOMEN’S qUOTA FROM CENSUS MOREREPORTS,P4,12,16,18,19 A worker carries cooking gas cylinders in Mumbai on Tuesday. AkASH PATIL INAmovethatwillallowlimited investment flows from China intokeymanufacturingsectors, the Union Cabinet Tuesday approved easing curbs for countries sharing a land border with India for capital goods, electronic capital goods, electronic components, polysilicon and ingot-wafer for solar cells. Investment restrictions for land border-sharing countries, which were brought into force through Press Note 3 or PN3 of 2020, have been retained for strategic sectors such as semiconductors,officialsourcessaid. The government also decided a threshold level of 10% for automatic approval of the investment into these sectors. Under the revised investment norms,themajoritysharehold- ARMy Dy CHIEF FLAgS CHINA vILLAgES ALONg N-E FRONTIER ing and control of the investee entity will be with resident Indian citizen(s) and/or resident Indian entity(ies) owned and controlled by resident Indian citizen(s), at all times, according to an official release on the Cabinet decision. The government has set a »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ripple effects across sectors: From War very complete, may BUILT DURING SHAH JAHAN’S REIGN textiles to mining and steelmaking end soon: Trump; we Surat civic body office will decide, says Iran EcONOmY Mughal Sarai renamed War impacting three areas: Supply of Parisa Hafezi & Alexander Cornwell raw material, fuel & feedstock, market AIR INDIA TO LEvy Tapi Bhavan; Muglisara FUEL SURCHARgE Soumyarendra Barik & Pratyush Deep to be called Tapipura PAgE 20 Dubai, Tel Aviv, March 10 New Delhi, March 10 AS THE conflict in West Asia pushes up energy and commodity prices, its ripple effects are beginning to spread far beyondoilandgas,withsectors such as textiles, mining and steelmakinginIndiastartingto feel the pressure. The impact is emerging through a chain of second- and third-order effects linkedtofuelcosts,petrochemicals,feedstock,anddisruptions in global shipping routes along the Strait of Hormuz. “The West Asia conflict has set off a structural repricing acrossglobalchemicalmarkets. Seventy-three commodities spikedinasingleweek:someby over 60% as Hormuz dis- Happening Three months after today flight disruptions, POlITIcs UNION CABINET DECISION IndiGo CEO resigns Sukalp Sharma New Delhi, March 10 THREEMONTHSafterIndiGo, India’s largest airline, faced an unprecedented operational disruption that brought civil aviation operations across India to their knees, the carrier’s CEO, Pieter Elbers, resigned on Tuesday with immediate effect, according to stock exchange filings and a release issued by IndiGo. The airline’s promoter and managing director, Rahul Bhatia, will step in to assume management of the airline’s affairs until the appointment of a new CEO, “which is expected in short order”, IndiGo said. In his letter of resignation, Elbers — credited for IndiGo’s ruptions choked the naphtha feedstock flows that Asian steam crackers depend on for 60–80% of their supply,” Ajay Joshi, a chemical sector expert and founder of an eponymous advisoryfirmforchemicalcompanies,toldTheIndianExpress. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IRAN’S REVOLUTIONARY Guards said on Tuesday they would not let any oil out of the Middle East until US and Israeli attacks cease, prompting US President Donald Trump to threatentohitIran“twentytimes harder”ifitblockedexports. Despite the defiant rhetoric from both sides, investors placed strong bets on Tuesday »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 that Trump would call off his war soon, before the unprecedented disruption it has caused »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 UCC effective answer, we leave it to wisdom of legislature, says SC CJI bench flags ‘unnecessary void’ if E. Ananthakrishnan G “internationalisation” — cited personalreasonsforleavingthe airline that he helmed for over three years. Early December, the airline was hit by an operational meltdown, leading to thousands of flight cancellations over a few days. The crisis, brought about by improper and inadequate US President Donald Trump 1937 SHARIAT ACT PROVISIONS it strikes down provisions that are discriminatory to Muslim women Pieter Elbers was IndiGo CEO since September 6, 2022. FILE Kamal Saiyed New Delhi, March 10 BACKING THE case for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country, the Supreme Court said Tuesday it is the “most effective answer” to address provisions in the Shariat law of 1937thatallegedlydiscriminate againstMuslimwomen,including in matters of inheritance. The bench of Chief Justice ofIndiaSuryaKantandJustices JoymalyaBagchiandRMahadevan said securing a UCC shouldbeleftto“thewisdomof the legislature” rather than the court stepping in to declare the provisions unlawful and creating an “unnecessary void”. “Themosteffectiveanswer… is the Uniform Civil Code,” the CJI said as the bench heard a plea challenging provisions of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat)ApplicationAct,1937,which the petitioners said discriminatedagainstMuslimwomenin matters of succession, etc. Justice Bagchi said, “Until and unless we can create, ExPlAINED SC’s calls for UCC Ever since the mid-1980s, the SC has backed the UCC idea, urging Parliament to act under Article 44. Notables include its observations in the Shah Bano (1985), Sarla Mudgal (1995), John Vallamattom (2003) rulings. Directive Principles of State Policy, including Article 44 (UCC), are not directly enforceable by any court. Surat, March 10 THE 17TH-CENTURY Mughal Sarai building, which houses offices of the Surat Municipal Corporation(SMC),willnowbe calledTapiBhavan,whileMuglisara, the area where it is located, will be renamed Tapipura. The decision was taken on Tuesday by the BJP-ruled civic body during the last general board meeting before the end of the elected body’s term ahead of the coming urban local body elections. Therenamingproposalwas tabled by Mayor Daxesh Mavani in the general board — the highest decision-making body ofthemunicipalcorporation— and was cleared by a majority. In 2018, BJP corporator Vijay Chaumal had sent a request to then mayor Dr Jagdish Patel to change the name of MughalSaraitoTapiBhavanor Suryapur Bhavan, the latter The decision was taken on Tuesday by the BJP-ruled civic body during the last general board meeting before the end of the elected body’s term. FILE being the ancient name of Surat. Afterthedecision,Chaumal told The Indian Express, “I am very happy as, after six long years, my dream to rename Mughal Sarai has come true.” Sarai described as ‘heaven’ According to the Surat MunicipalCorporation(SMC)website, Mughal Sarai was a »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE BIG PICTuRE What’s on the mind: Inside IIT Madras Brain Centre PAgE 17 through our judicial fiat, an equal strata in respect of these asymmetric property rights, »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 l DESPITE RISK OF GETTING MOBBED, HE TOOK A TRAIN TO BE WITH HIS CHILDREN IN MUMBAI Dube’s World T20 journey: From top of the world to upper berth of 3AC train Devendra Pandey dian innings to take the team past 250 and New Zealand's reach. In the early hours of HOURS AFTER the lakh-plus- Monday, with all flights to capacity Narendra Modi Sta- Mumbai fully booked, the dium had echoed with deafen- “man always in a hurry”, along ing chants of “Dube, Dube” with wife Anjum and a friend, when Shivam Dube lifted the decidedtoboardatrain.India’s T20 World Cup, InT20 World Cup hero dia's “last action knew he risked getPAGE 1 hero” was on the top ting mobbed but he berth of an AC 3-Tier wantedtobewithhis coach of the Ahmefour-year-old son dabad-Mumbai Sayaji Express, Ayaan and two-year-old hiding under a thick brown daughter Mehwish, who were Railway blanket. at home in Mumbai. Late on Sunday, the tall left“There was no flight availhander with a golfer’s swing able, so I decided to take a train had hit three fours and two from Ahmedabad early in the sixes in the 20th over of the In- morning to Mumbai. We could Mumbai, March 10 anchor have gone by road but the train was faster,” Dube told The Indian Express. He then revealed how they put in place a plan to keep his identity under wraps. “Me, my wifeandafrienddecidedtotake atrain.3rdACticketswereavailablesowedecidedtobookthem. Everyone we spoke to was worried, family and friends. What if someone recognised me at the station or inside the train?” Dube also needed the right attire for the undercover journey. “I wore a cap, a mask and a full-sleeved T-shirt. It was a 5.10-amtrainsowehopedthere would not be many people on the platform,” he said. Shivam Dube, wife Anjum with the World T20 Cup at Ahmedabad But that was not to be — thereweremanyfans,somestill inIndiacolours,withthefrenzy ofwitnessingIndiawinningthe Cup still fresh. So the plan was slightlytweaked.“Itoldmywife Iwillwaitinthecartillfiveminutes before the train's departure. After that, I will rush to board the train,” Dube said. Once inside the allotted coach, he quickly climbed to the top berth. Then the ticket checker came. “Shivam Dube? Woh kaun hai, cricketer?” Anjum didn’t miss a beat: “No, no. Woh kahan se aayega (where will he come from)?” The TC moved on. After that close call, and tiredfromthelongtournament and celebrations, Dube tried to sleep through those eight hours, hoping that fellow passengers wouldn’t realise that they had amidst them a freshly Ahmedabad crownedworldchampionfrom Suryakumar Yadav’s team. “Atnight,Igotdownfromthe berth but no one recognised me onthewaytothewashroomand back. The train trip was smooth but I was worried about getting down at Borivali in broad daylight.Icouldn'thaveescapedattention there,” he said. Dube eventually called the police for help. “They thought I was landing at the airport but weresurprisedwhenItoldthem that I was travelling by train. I was provided a police escort so thingswereeasyandtheexitwas smooth,” he said with a laugh. It was an unexpected end to a tournament that had gone by the book for Dube. Coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Surya had defined his role clearly and the late-order batsmanfollowedittotheT—scoring235atanimpressiveaverage of 39 and strike rate of 169. Battingmostlyinthefinalovers,including that crucial 26 off eight balls in the final, he hit 17 sixes and15foursinthetournament. “They asked me to ensure that the run rate never dropped when I batted and to keep runs down when bowling,” he said. By afternoon, he was home. AyaanandMehwishwerewaiting. The World Cup champion was home. The brown Railway blanket stayed on the train.