The Ideas Page: India’s GDP debate — Right questions, wrong numbers 9 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2026 JOURNALISM of COURAGE jAIPuR, LATe CITy, 18 PAGes ₹6.00 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 , 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 PosTaL regn. no. JaIPur cITy/001/2024-26 Happening today lSC'S nine-judge Constitu- tion Bench will conclude the hearing on the contentious issue of defining the word “industry” under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. lin ueFA ChAmpionS League, Premier League giants Liverpool aim to overturn a 0-1 first leg deficit when they host Turkish club Galatasaray in the Round of 16. Track These and more on WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM Business as Usual By EP UNNY on table: global media outreach proposal with iiS officers in foreign missions CloSe To The lATe AyATollAh KhAmenei, he wAS iRAn’S FoRmeR nuCleAR negoTiAToR Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani killed, says Israel as war rages LATEST Head of Basij militia also killed, claims Tel Aviv; no response yet from Tehran parisa hafezi, jana Choukeir & maayan lubell Dubai, Jerusalem, March 17 ISRAELI PRIME Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said Israeli forces have killed Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani, one of the most powerful figures in the Islamic nation. He also claimed that Gholamreza Soleimani, who led the volunteer Basij militia, has been eliminated too. “This morning, we eliminated Ali Larijani... the boss of the Revolutionary Guards, that group of gangsters that effectively runs Iran. Alongside him, we also eliminated the commander of the Basij (Soleimani). They are the gangsters’ south korean monks protest against President Trump’s call to allies to send warships. AP ali Larijani was a former speaker of Iran’s Parliament. AP FILe PM MODI SPEAKS TO AL NAHYAN, CONDEMNS ATTACKS ON UAE PAGE 3 assistants who are terrorising the population on the streets of Tehran and other Iranian l NATO’s ReFusAL TO heLP A FOOLIsh mIsTAke: TRumP l hITTING IRANIAN ReGIme INFRA wITh New wAve OF sTRIkes, sAys IsRAeL l ThIRD ATTACk ON FujAIRAh PORT; DuBAI shuTs AIRsPACe AGAIN moRe RepoRTS, pAgeS 12, 13, 14 »ConTinued on pAge 2 home, FinAnCe, i&B And deFenCe Centre looks to empower more ministries to block content on social media platforms According to two senior officials, the government is holding inter-ministerial discussions with various stakeholders to bring an amendment to make the change possible, which they 2000, a power currently only said was being necessitated due available to the IT Ministry, The to the proliferation of AI-generIndian Express ated misleading has learnt. content on the inEXPRESS This will imternet. pact tech platAlthough forms like Instathese five minisgram, Facebook and YouTube tries are currently being diswhich may start receiving cussed, the scope could also blocking orders from a wide widen to allow regulators like range of government agencies. »ConTinued on pAge 2 Inter-ministerial discussions on, officials flag proliferation of AI-generated misleading content Soumyarendra Barik New Delhi, March 17 The purview of the new initiative will not include foreign policy. FILe divya A New Delhi, March 17 AIMING TO directly engage with media across the world, project India’s growth story and counter adverse narratives, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) has proposed to create a new global outreach unit within the Press Information Bureau (PIB). The proposal includes 40 cadre posts for Indian Information Service (IIS) officers in foreign missions to exclusively handle media and communications. The sources said that as part of a proposed cadre restructuring of the IIS, which is the central service responsible for government communications under the I&B Ministry, a proposal has been sent to the Ministry of External Affairs to create 40 IIS posts in Indian missions abroad. According to sources, the initiative aims to highlight India’s economy, trade potential, culture and heritage, tourism and infrastructure development as the country’s global stature rises. “In this age of fake narratives and misinformation, there is a need to present an Indian perspective directly to the world,” sources said. The need to expand New Delhi’s global outreach has been felt for several years, they said. “In the wake of Operation Sindoor, it was felt that handling misinformation and countering fake narratives would be a key concern in the times to come. There has also »ConTinued on pAge 2 THE BIG PICTURE THE CENTRE may soon allow the ministries of Home Affairs, External Affairs, Defence, and Information and Broadcasting to issue content blocking orders to social media platforms under Section 69 (A) of the Information Technology (IT) Act, Trump’s counter-terror chief quits: ‘Iran posed no imminent threat’ Clear we started this war due to pressure from Israel: Joe Kent julian e Barnes & Robert draper Washington, March 17 JOE KENT, one of the United States’ top counterterrorism officials, announced his resignation on Tuesday, citing his opposition to the Iran war and what he said was Israel’s in- Joe kent’s wife was killed while fighting the Islamic state group in syria in 2019. AP fluence over the Trump administration’s policies. “I cannot in good conscience »ConTinued on pAge 2 6 Ukrainians, American in NIA net: ‘Drone supply to insurgents, illegal entry’ nirbhay Thakur New Delhi, March 17 ILLEGALLY ENTERING restricted areas in Mizoram, crossing into Myanmar without permits, training ethnic armed groups and facilitating the supply of drone consignments from Europe to insurgentlinked networks. These are the key charges against the seven foreign nationals — six Ukrainians and one from the US — who were detained by law enforcement agencies in an extraordinary »ConTinued on pAge 2 Shubhajit Roy nous act of aggression by Pakistan” and “a blatant assault on Afghanistan’s sovereignty”. Rejecting the Afghan charge, Pakistan said it “precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure” Monday night. In New Delhi, Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, said, “India unequivocally condemns New Delhi, March 17 OVER 400 people were killed and more than 250 injured in an airstrike by Pakistan on a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul, Afghanistan’s Taliban government said Tuesday, sharply escalating tensions between the two neighbours. Condemning the “barbaric” attack, India called it a “hei- »ConTinued on pAge 2 R AS Foundation Batch Online & Offline 10 ekpZ 2026 ls u;k cSp izkjEHk Exclusive Live Batch from Classroom “Classes Based on the New RAS Syllabus” RAS flyscl esa tksM+s x, u, VkWfiDl ds fy, lHkh iqjkus fo|kfFkZ;ksa gsrq fu%'kqYd d{kk,¡ çkjEHk 10 ekpZ 2026] lqcg 7%00 cts ls Springboard ds lHkh Students ds fy, ijh{kk gsrq fo'ks"k Revision/ Marathon Dyklst çkjEHk ekpZ 2026, lqcg 7%00 cts ls Riddhi - Siddhi, Gopalpura Bypass, Jaipur PAGE 15 Omid hospital treated hundreds, provided vocational training to locals exclusive 6 INSIDE AN AI DATA CENTRE Pak strike on Kabul hospital kills 400; ‘massacre dressed up as op’, says India 9636977490, 0141-3555948 Contact usSpringboard Academy Online Springboard Academy Jaipur ,si MkmuyksM djus ds fy, QR Code LdSu djsa fLizaxcksMZ ,dMeh ds IAS, RAS grq izekf.kr Dykl ukV~l miyC/k The Notes Hub 7610010054, 7300134518 s s s Jaipur