The Editorial Page: Attacks on energy infra bring war closer home 10 FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2026 JoURNalISm of CoURage lUcknOW, 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 happening today lCommerCe ministryto release February production data for India’s 8 core industries — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, cement, steel and electricity. In January, production was up 4% year-on-year. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com Uttar pradesh tArGets HUBs in QAtAr, sAUDi ArABiA, KUWAit, UAe, isrAel Iran strikes Gulf energy facilities, shock waves hit global economy Market tanks over 3% as crude surges, HDFC Bank tumbles Israel will not attack Iranian gas field again, says Trump Jon Gambrell, David rising, mike Corder & natalie melzer First time, rupee breaches the 93-mark iRan inTensiFied itsattacks on oil and natural gas facilities around the gulf Thursday, raising the stakes in a war that issendingshockwavesthrough the global economy. Thestrikes,inretaliationfor an israeli attack on south Pars, a key iraniangas field,sent fuel pricessoaring andrisked drawing iran’s arab neighbours directly into the conflict. Underscoring the danger to ships in the region, a vessel was set ablaze off the coast of the Uae and another damaged off Qatar. efforts to bypass the strait of hormuz were also under pressure: an iranian drone hit a saudi refinery on the Red sea, which the country hadbeenhopingtouseasanalternative exit route. Brent crude oil, the international standard, briefly surged above $119 a barrel, up more than 60% since israel and the Us started the war. The european benchmark for natural The BenchmaRK stock indices crashed over 3% Thursday to their lowest levels since February 16, 2024 as the war in West asia escalated, sending crude prices above $110 a barrel. With this, the benchmark indiceswashedoutthenear3% Akash mandal Dubai, March 19 ram yantra installEd at ayodhya tEmplE pagE 3 sport bhubanEswar to host 2028 world indoor athlEtiCs pagE 17 business as usual By EP UNNY »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 Mumbai, March 19 gain they had notched up over the last three days. Thiswasthesteepestsingleday fall for the market since June 4, 2024 when voting trends during the lok sabha elections had shown an unexpectedlynarrowwinfortheBJP. shares of hdFc Bank crashed after its chairman No power struggle or governance issue: HDFC Bank’s Mistry after Chairman quits RBI: No concerns on governance or conduct, board professionally-run George mathew & siddharth Upasani Mumbai, New Delhi, March 19 a daY after hdFc Bank parttime chairman atanu chakraborty quit, the bank’s interim chairman Keki mistry Thursday said there had been no powerstrugglewithinthebank, interim chairman keki mistry and no discussion regarding governancewithintheboardof directors. stating that the board was united,mistrysaidithadnotwitnessed “any kind of complete difference in opinion” in its »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 For not invoking UP ‘It feels like a second birth’: anti-conversion law, 2 Eight seafarers return with Noida cops suspended »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 only clothes on their backs Purnima sah Mumbai, March 19 iranian missiles targeted israel’s haifa oil refinery, Thursday. reUTerS; ras laffan aTTack deepens india’s worries over lnG, ExplainEd, pagE 15 eighT indian seafarers who survivedthemarch1missileattack on the oil tanker skylight near Oman’s Khasab port returnedtomumbaiaround1pm Wednesday, but now face uncertainty over documentation, compensation and their journey back home. »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 l india:strikes Unacceptable amid concerns following attacks on West asian gas hubs, India Thursday said the strikes are “unacceptable and need to cease”. PM narendra Modi spoke to leaders of Qatar, Oman, France, Jordan and Malaysia, calling for urgent restoration of peace. p6 Drishti Jain Noida, March 19 TWO POlice officers in noida have been suspended and a preliminary inquiry has been initiated against a third senior officer for not invoking the Uttar Pradesh anti-conversion act and the sc/sT act in a case registered Tuesday. “duetothenon-inclusionof these relevant sections, an explanation has been sought from dcP central noida, shakti mohan awasthi, and a preliminary inquiry has been initiated against acP-1 central noida, Umesh Yadav. The station in-charge of Phase-3, PuneetKumar,andtheinvestigating Officer (sub-inspector) Preeti gupta have been suspendedwithimmediateeffect,” a senior police officer said. The police officers had allegedlyfailed to invoke section »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 Design to seize control of Bengal: Mamata hits out at EC, BJP over spate of transfers Atri mitra not democratic principles,”Banerjeesaidin a post on social media, adding that “Bengal in an all-out attack on will fight, Bengal will the election commisDeCision resist and Bengal will sion (ec) and the BJP 2026 decisively defeat every ahead of the assembly West attempt to impose a elections next month, BenGAl divisive and destrucWest Bengal chief minister mamata Banerjee Thurs- tive agenda on its soil”. accusingtheecof“singling dayallegeda“deliberatedesign to seize control” of the state out and targeting” the state, »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 “through coercion and institutional manipulation”. “What we are witnessing is EC powEr to nothing short of an undeclared transfEr emergency and an unpromuloffiCials gated form of President’s Rule pagE 15 driven by political vendetta, Kolkata, March 19 Tmc campaigns for party chief and west bengal cm mamata banerjee in bhabanipur constituency in kolkata, Thursday. PTI E. Navy officer takes a jab at selection of Army boxers for Asian Championships shashank nair New Delhi, March 19 a seniOR navy officer has questioned the selection of an armyboxeroverthenavy’spugilistintheindiansquadforthe upcoming asian championships in Ulaanbaatar, mongolia. The 10-member squad for the march 28-april 11 asian meet includes nine army boxers — the tenth is a boxer hitesh Gulia will not be travelling to the asian boxing meet later this month. BFI from Rajasthan, not from the defenceservices.Thenavy’shiteshgulialostouttothearmy’s deepak in the 70-kg category. in a letter to secretary (sports)hariRanjanRao,aVice admiral in charge of personnel-related matters has alleged that the selection committee appointedbytheBoxingFederation of india (BFi) had two members from the “same organisationwhoseathleteswere »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 inside pagEs 6, 12 bordoloi on why hE quit CongrEss gujarat to widEn ambit of disturbEd arEas aCt l officials say They were unable To find The man who filed all The 544 forms found in shamli Names of half its voters in ‘unexplained’ SIR forms, UP village anxious for final list page 1 anchor Asad rehman Shamli (UP), March 19 The claims and objections round is over, the names have been sealed, and Uttar Pradesh is in the last stages of its special intensive Revision (siR) exercise, with a final voter list due in mid-april, after yet another extension. nusrat, a former village head, found her name as well as those of 12 members of her family in the 544 form 7s for deletions. GaJendra yadav For 544 residents of village louharipur in shamli district, that means a month more of an anxious wait. On February 14, Form 7s with names of the 544 – all of them muslims – were found stuffed in an envelope with the Booth level Officer (BlO) at the village primary school. They made up nearly half the total number of existing voters in the village, which is around 1,100. in the siR exercise, Form 7s »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 Lucknow