The Ideas Page: Growth has been less strong than it seems. The misreading has complicated policy 11 SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 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 , 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 business as Usual By EP UNNY CHArtereD PLAne LeAVes KOCHi WitH sOme irAn sAiLOrs, BODies OF OtHers KiLLeD in U.s. AttACK neAr sri LAnKA Will try our best: Iran envoy on safe passage for India-bound fuel ships As BRICS chair, condemn attacks on Iran: Tehran’s message to New Delhi Two LPG tankers are reported to be transiting Strait of Hormuz Delhisirpreps crawl,CeOtells departments toletBLOs focusontask Devansh mittal New Delhi, March 13 FLagging the slow progress of preparatory work for the revision of electoral rolls in Delhi, the Office of the Chief electoral Officer (CeO), Delhi, has asked government departments to ensure that teachers and other officials deployed as Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are not assigned additional duties after office hours, so they can carry out the necessary fieldwork relating to the revision. theletterhasnotedthatthe special intensive revision (sir) of electoralrolls in the capital is expected to begin next month, that the preparatory exercise has progressed slowly — with only about 30 per cent of the required “mapping” exercise having been completed so far. the election Commission of india (eCi) carried out the sir in Bihar between June and september last year, and notified the second phase of the exercise, coveringnine states and three Union territories, in October. the final rolls for Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are yet to be published. OnFebruary19thisyear,the eCiwrotetoCeOsofanother17 states and five Uts, including the nCt of Delhi, where the »COntinUeD On PAGe 2 Happening today lPrime minister Narendra Modi will visit West Bengal to address a rally at the Brigade Parade Ground and inaugurate projects worth Rs 18,680 crore, in what will be his first trip to the state after the publication of the post-SIR electoral rolls on February 28. Modi will also inaugurate and lay the foundation stones for several NH projects with a combined length of over 420 km, worth around Rs 16,990 crore. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com explained PAGE 9 MEET THE bIGGEST WINNER OF THE WAR: RUSSIAN CRUDE Along with Iran, grouping also has the UAE, Saudi Arabia as members shubhajit roy New Delhi, March 13 signaLLing heaDWay in Delhi’s efforts to persuade tehran to let india-bound fuel ships transit the strait of hormuz, Mohammad Fathali, iran’s ambassador to india, said Friday “we willtry our best toremovetheproblems”and“i think you can expect good news in the near future”. theReutersnewsagencyreported that iran had allowed two indian-flagged LPg carriers to sail through the strait of hormuz. Quoting sources, it identified the vessels as shivalik and nanda Devi. another report by Reuters saidacharteredplanearranged by iran departed Kochi late Friday, carrying some sailors from a naval vessel that had docked in india, as well as the bodies of crew members killed in a Us submarine attack off sri shubhajit roy New Delhi, March 13 mohammad Fathali (right), Iran’s envoy to India, and abdul majid hakeem Ilahi, supreme Leader’s representative, in new delhi. ANI Lanka.) speaking to reporters in new Delhi after an event to mark the al-Quds Day, Fathali, on being asked whether iran would allowindia-bound ships safetransitthroughthestraitof hormuz, said, “yes. Because india and i are friends. you can see the future, and i think after two or three hours... Because we believe that. We believe that iran and india are friends. We have common interests, we have common faith.” “suffering of the people of india is our suffering and vice versa. and for this reason, the government of india helps us, and we should help the government of india because we have a common faith and common interest.”sources in the government said there have been “multiple conversations at multiple levels” and “layers ofconversation”betweenindia »COntinUeD On PAGe 2 tehran is learnt to have reached out to Delhi to take the lead in issuing a statement on behalf of the BriCs, currently chaired by india, condemning theUsandisraelistrikesagainst iran in the last two weeks. this has put Delhi in a diplomatic pickle since it has stayed away from taking sides in the ongoing conflict. Prime Minister narendra Modi has spoken to leaders of the countries in the region targeted by iran, condemned the attacks and thanked them for lookingaftertheindiancommunity “in these difficult times”. On thursday night, Modi spoke to iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and expressed external affairs minister s Jaishankar; (right) his Iranian counterpart abbas araghchi “deep concern over the escalation of tensions and the loss of civilian lives as well as damage to civilian infrastructure”. in a post on X following thephonecall,Modisaidhe“urged for dialogue and diplomacy” and“reiteratedindia’scommitment to peace and stability”. »COntinUeD On PAGe 2 Two Indians killed, 10 injured as downed drone falls in Oman city shubhajit roy New Delhi, March 13 a protest marking the annual al-Quds day (Jerusalem day) on the last Friday of ramadan, in Tehran.ReuteRS the gOVernMent said Friday that two indians were killed and 10 injured during an attack in sohar city in Oman. this raised the death toll of indianstofiveinthewarraging in West asia – three seafarers died earlier. there are about one crore indians living and working in West asia. the Oman news agency (Ona) said, “a security source hasreportedthedowningoftwo drones in sohar governorate. One of the drones fell in the al awahiindustrialarea,resulting in the tragic death of two expatriates and several injuries.” theseconddronefellinanopen area, where no injuries or material losses were recorded. “Competent authorities are »COntinUeD On PAGe 2 Mumbai, March 13 economy the DOMestiC stock market fell more than five per cent this week, marking its steepest weekly decline in nearly four years, driven by surging crude oil prices linked to the ongoing conflict in West asia that has kept investors on edge. since thecrisisbeganlatelastmonth, companies listed on the Bse have collectively lost about rs 34 lakh crore in investor wealth even as the benchmark stock indices have dropped roughly eight per cent. On Friday, the sensex index ended 1.9 per cent, or 1,470.50 points,lowerat74,563.92points as foreign investors went on a selling spree. the nifty 50 closed 2.1 per cent lower at WHY FPIS ARE DUMPING INDIAN STOCKS, PUSHING RUPEE DOWN PAGE 13 23,151.10 points. Both the indices are currently trading around their lowestlevelsinaroundayear.Despitereachingrecordhighsona couple of occasions, both have been in a consolidation phase over the past 18-24 months. they are now near February 2024 levels. the rupee also closed at a record low of 92.46, down 26 paise, against the dollar. Foreign institutional inves- tors pulled out rs 10,716 crore (around $ 1.16 billion) from the cash market on Friday, according to exchange data. Fiis have takenoutrs56,800crore($6.14 billion) in March so far. Crude oil prices have remained above or around the $100 per barrel mark over the lastfewdaysassupplyhasbeen disrupted due to the conflict in Westasia.refineriesacrosskey oil markets such as iran, Qatar and the Uae have been hit as part of the conflict, forcing the shutdown of large capacities. iran has unofficially maintainedachokeholdonthestrait of hormuz, a key trade waterway through which 20-25 per cent of the global crude oil supply is transported. the iranian military has also targeted AS ReFuellING PlANe cRASHeS IN IRAq l SRI lANkA HANdS oveR BodIeS oF 45 IRAN SAIloRS to eMBASSy l u.S. NAvy could eScoRt veSSelS IN StRAIt oF HoRMuz WItH INteRNAtIoNAl coAlItIoN »COntinUeD On PAGe 2 Seeking CEC’s removal, Opp moves both Houses 120 MPs in LS, 73 in RS sign notice Asad rehman New Delhi, March 13 Citing Charges including “partisan and discriminatory conduct” and “obstruction of investigation into electoral fraud and sir” (special intensive revision of electoral rolls), the Opposition on Friday submitted notices in both houses of Parliament for an impeachment motion against Chief election Commissioner (CeC) maharashtra cm devendra Fadnavis arrive for the Budget session at Vidhan Bhavan in mumbai, Friday. AkASH PAtIl Maharashtra Bill on ‘unlawful’ conversion: Mother’s first religion for child out of wedlock Bill tabled in Assembly; specifies 60-day notice for conversion Vallabh Ozarkar & Omkar Gokhale Mumbai, March 13 inaprovisionthatappearstogo beyond anti-conversion laws enacted in several states, the Dharma swatantrya Bill, 2026, tabled in the Maharashtra assembly on Friday, states that a childbornfromamarriagearising out of an “unlawful” religious conversion will be considered to belong to the religion followed by the mother before such a marriage/relationship. While some states like haryana recognise inheritance rights of children born from such marriages, the Maharashtra Bill specifically defines the religion of the child, a feature not explicitly mentioned in many similar laws enacted in recent years. "any child born out of marriage or relationship in the nature of marriage, caused due to unlawful conversion shall be deemed to belong to the religion of mother before such »COntinUeD On PAGe 2 LATEST l 6 u.S. PeRSoNNel kIlled Oil price rise: Market sinks 5% in ‘Partisan conduct.... mass a week, logs worst 4-yr weekly fall disenfranchisement’: Akash mandal mAHArAsHtrA DHArmA sWAtAntryA BiLL cec Gyanesh kumar in new delhi, Friday. ANI Ahead of polls, Mamata announces to set up five community boards ravik Bhattacharya Kolkata, March 13 at a time when she and her party are facing blowback following President Droupadi Murmu’s recent remarks, West Bengal Chief Minister and trinamool Congress (tMC) chief MamataBanerjeeonFridayannounced that the state government intends to set up five new cultural and development boards for various adivasi, backward class, and Dalit communities. the boards would be established for people from the Munda(scheduledtribe),Kora (st), Dom (scheduled Caste), Kumbhakar (Other Backward Class), and sadgope (OBC) communities. these join more than 20 inside gyanesh Kumar. a senior tMC MP told The Indian Express that 120 Lok sabha members and 73 rajya sabhamembershadsignedthe notices.“atotalof17Opposition »COntinUeD On PAGe 2 cm mamata Banerjee said that the boards will be set up for various adivasi, backward class, and dalit communities. suchboardsestablishedforvarious communities in the state. While the tMC hailed the announcement, Opposition parties said these boards had been announced with votes in mindbeforetheassemblyelections, and like the previously »COntinUeD On PAGe 2 PAGE 6 STRIKE OvER PENDING DA ARREARS WITNESSES MIxED OUTCOMES l ‘BasaVaraJu kILLInG our coLLecTIVe FaILure… sonu was a TraITor’ Will wind up armed operations if our party legalised: Surrendered Maoist Devuji nikhila Henry member and head of the CentralMilitaryCommissionofthe banned CPi (Maoist), surrenthiPPirithirUPatialiasDe- dered last month, just weeks vuji, a top Maoist who surren- ahead of the home Minister dered last month after 44 years amit shah’s deadline of March of rising through the Maoist 31, 2026, to eradicate naxalism from the country. ranks, has told The Indian ExinaninterviewwithTheInpressthat the killing of general secretary of the CPi (Maoist), dian Express, when asked if he considered Banambala Keexpress savaraju’s killing shava rao alias a personal failBasavaraju, in ure, Devuji said, May last year was their “collective failure”, “to a great extent, it was our and that the Maoist leadership collectivefailure.asCMCchief, had considered moving him ihadthoughtalotabouthowto away from the jungles before protect him — should he be moved from the jungle or security forces got to him. Devuji, who was a Politburo shouldhe stay on was the quesand Central Committee tion. We decided not to move Hyderabad, March 13 interview him because, without the general secretary, we could not have functioned as a single organ. it was definitely my responsibility as CMC chief to protecthim.yes,thehighestresponsibilitywasmine,andidid self-criticismandtoldthecadre that we couldn’t save him.” “Whenhepassed,there was a vacuum as he was one of the most experienced leaders. had he lived, we — the party — would have worked as a team,” he said. Devuji was also critical of another key Maoist leader, Mallojula Venugopal rao alias sonu, who surrendered last October. after Basavaraju’s killing, Devuji and sonu were re- devuji, who was a Politburo member and head of the central military commission of the banned cPI (maoist), surrendered last month portedly contenders for the general secretary post. Devuji, however, said this wasn’t the case: “sonu was never a contender for the post of general secretary because he met Basa- varaj when the latter was alive in 2024, and proposed that the armed struggle should stop. Basavaraj had told him off then and there and stuck to the party line of armed struggle. so, there was no question of sonu becoming the general secretary, as he had lost confidence when Basavaraju was alive.” “What sonu had proposed was to demoralise the cadre — to temporarily stop the armed struggle meant surrendering arms which were obtained after many sacrifices. it was anti-party activity; it was to break the party from within. he formed an alliance with the central and state governments against the party. so he was a traitor,” he said. When reminded that he, too, had surrendered, Devuji said, “i did not surrender; i was arrested. i could have been killed or jailed for years on end. instead of choosing these two options, i chose a third option — to stay with the party, stay with the party line of Marxism, Leninism and Maoism and work within the legal framework of the country. i chose the third option because the party is decimated and has to be built from the bottom. if you have to look at this from a moral perspective, yes, i should have gone to jail. But then what would become of the party? i chose to stay in the political line of the party.” With the walls closing in on theMaoistranks,Devujishared his viewonapossiblefuture for the CPi (Maoist): “Our demand now is to legalise the party. We will wind up armed operations if the party is legalised. What i mean is, the guerrilla armed tactics will not continue if they legalise the party. We will wind up the People’s Liberation guerrilla army (PLga), the armedwingoftheparty,andremain within the legal framework. We want to work for political prisoners who are still in jail. We want to stand by thosewhowerekilledbyarmed forces.” Kolkata