The Editorial Page: Likely below-normal monsoon is a warning, India must heed water stress 10 FRIdAY, MAY 1, 2026 Journalism of Courage new deLhI, LATe CITy, 22 PAgeS ₹7.00 (₹8 RAIPuR, ₹15 SRInAgAR) 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 happening today lIndIa, aImIng to stay on course for a second title, face Japan in quarterfinals of the Thomas Cup. Track This and more on www.indianexpress.com Business as usual By EP UNNY WEsT BEngal Cm TaRgETs BJP ThE day aFTER POlls Guard EVM strong rooms, exit polls fixed, Mamata tells party In Bengal, 48 seats showed dip in voter numbers, account for 28% of SIR deletions If attacked, do not retaliate now... we will cross 226 seats: CM to TMC dECIsIOn 2026 l 10seatswithmaximumdeletionsins.i.r. WEsT BEnga l Ravik Bhattacharya Kolkata, April 30 ‘gOlI maaRO’ REmaRk In 2020 nohatespeech offencemade out:Topcourt cleanchitto Thakur,Parvesh BJp leader anurag Thakur; (right) delhi deputy chief minister parvesh sahib singh ananthakrishnan g New Delhi, April 30 aGreeING WItH the conclusion that “no cognizable offence is made out” against former union Minister anurag thakuranddelhideputyChief Minister Parvesh sahib singh Verma, the supreme Court has cleared the two BJP leaders in acomplaintthattheydelivered allegedhatespeechestargeting those protesting the Citizenship(amendment)actindelhi in January 2020. dealing with a plea by CPM leaders Brinda Karat and K M tiwari, the bench of Justices Vikram Nath and sandeep Mehta upheld the findings of the delhi High Court which said the remarks of the BJP leaders did not incite communal violence or public disorder. “upon a careful consideration of the material placed on record, including the alleged speeches,thestatusreportdated february 26, 2020, submitted »COnTInUEd On PagE 2 nation Page 6 ruchir sharma on BJP dominance: no rival on right, oPP divided a day after polling concluded in West Bengal and most exit polls gave the opposition BJP the edge, tMC chief and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urgedpartyworkersandpeople of the state to guard strong rooms where electronic Voting Machines (eVMs) are stored, sayingshetoowouldstandvigil. In a video message posted on social media, Banerjee rejected the exit poll projections, saying they had been aired on the “instruction of the BJP” to “demoralise”tMCworkersand said her party would cross 226 seats in the House of 294. asking tMC workers to remain calm, she said they must not “retaliate right now” if attacked. “I am asking our workers and the general public to guard the strong rooms and »COnTInUEd On PagE 2 Votes polled in 2021 seats chief minister mamata Banerjee outside a school in kolkata which serves as a strong room, Thursday. exPReSS High drama in Kolkata: TMC claims tampering of EVMs, poll officials reject charge Ravik Bhattacharya & atri mitra Kolkata, April 30 Hours after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged her party to guard the eVM strong rooms,therewashighdramain Kolkata thursday night as tMC candidates Kunal Ghosh and shashi Panja and workers allegedeVMtamperingandsat on a dharna at the Khudiram anushilan Kendra near Netaji Indoor stadium. BJP candidates too rushed to the spot. Banerjee, meanwhile, reached the sakhawat Memorial Girls High school, a strong room for eVMs from her constituency Bhabanipur, at 8.15 pm and remained there until midnight. Workers of both the tMC and BJP gathered outside the school and there was heavy police deployment there. Banerjee later said: “I have requested that candidates and electionagentsbegivenproper facilities. I was here for four hours.Iwasheretokeepavigil. our eVMs are here. at the »COnTInUEd On PagE 2 Samserganj Lalgola Bhagabangola Raghunathganj Metiaburuz Farakka Suti Mothabari Jangipur Ratua 1,88,579 1,90,437 2,25,990 1,90,478 1,96,582 1,86,423 2,16,328 1,63,143 1,98,261 2,19,147 sandeep singh & Jatin anand New Delhi, April 30 tHe West Bengal elections stoodoutfortworeasons:one,a newcriterionof‘logicaldiscrepancies’ that deleted 27.16 lakh names from electoral roll, and two, a record turnout of 92.95% which saw 31 lakh more votes polled compared with 2021. ananalysisofthetwosetsof data throws up 96 seats, which display a telling pattern. In 48 seats, the number of voters this -17.8 -5.7 -3.6 2 -8.6 -6.4 1.8 -1.3 6.6 5.7 74,775 55,420 47,493 46,100 39,579 38,222 37,965 37,255 36,581 35,573 time was lower than in 2021. these48accountfor28%ofthe total 27.16 lakh deletions. this suggests that the special Intensive revision (sIr) could have had an impact on the number of voters who turned out. BJP had won 15 of these 48 seats in 2021. of the remaining 246 seats where the number of voters is higher than in 2021, 48 seats polled at least 20,000 more votes. these 48 accounted 42% of the total additional votes »COnTInUEd On PagE 2 akash mandal Mumbai, April 30 l4%fallsinceFeb-end tHe ruPee fell past the 95per-dollar mark thursday on its way to hitting a new all-time low of 95.34-per-dollar as fresh concerns about the war in West asia propelled global crude oil prices to a four-year high. Having closed at 94.85 Wednesday, therupeeendedthursdayonly slightly weaker at 94.92. domesticstockmarketsalso behaved similarly, with Nifty and sensex falling as much as 1.6%duringthedaybeforeclosing 0.75% lower. However, for aprilasawhole,thetwobenchmark indices were up 7-8% — the biggest monthly gain in over two years — after falling more than 11% in March. Investor apprehension weighed heavy thursday as Brent crude oil prices surged to $126 per barrel, with worries mounting that the conflict in West asia could escalate after american news website axios reported that us President donald trump would be briefed on “new plans for potential military action” in Iran. Market sentiment was also weighed down by cautious commentary by the us federal reserve,whichlateWednesday leftthefederalfundsratetarget range unchanged at 3.5-3.75%. “the fed’s messaging has 90 91 AIIMS can’t choose for parents: SC refuses to hear plea against ending minor’s pregnancy ThE TRaIn’s design, said Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, is significantly different as it can operate even at -10°C. A single train has more than 3,000 semiconductor chips and is “highly computerised”. ThE day’s first train service starts from Jammu Tawi at 6.20 am and after 3 stops will reach Srinagar at 11.10 am. At 2 pm, it will leave Srinagar and reach Jammu Tawi by 6.50 pm. The pair will run 6 days a week. a Vande Bharat express crosses the chenab Bridge for the first time, Thursday after railways minister ashwini Vaishnaw flagged off the 20-coach train service between Jammu and srinagar. services for the public will commence on may 2. PTI In MP, a KBC-winning tehsildar, a flood relief ‘scam’, and hundreds of farmers in limbo anand mohan J Sheopur, April 30 INtHeaugust2021floodsthat ravaged Madhya Pradesh’s sheopur district, Jairam lost morelivestockthanmostinhis village of lalitpura: 40 rabbits, 15chickens,13goats,fourcows, two buffaloes, and two calves, besides three homes. What he didn’t know then was much of the compensation meant for families like his would never 1,55,042 1,79,554 2,17,767 1,94,238 1,79,640 1,74,411 2,20,200 1,60,981 2,11,406 2,31,606 deletions in adjudication Rupee breaches 95-mark amid fresh war concerns, spike in oil prices 92 93 94 90.99 95 96 94.92 26 FeB 30 APRIL FIguReS ARe dAILy CLoSIng LeVeLS oF RuPee'S uS doLLAR exChAnge RATe. SouRCe: InVeSTIng.CoM the world iran threatens ‘Painful’ resPonse if u.s. attacks Page 18 certainly turned more hawkish,” Madhavi arora, Chief economist at emkay Global financial services, said. It is unlikely the central bank “will move on rates until there is greater clarity” on the conflict and evidence that effects of the ustariffsarefading,arorasaid. the rupee is now down more than 4% since the us and Israel attacked Iran on february 28, with foreign Portfolio »COnTInUEd On PagE 2 dOn’T makE IT a FIghT BETWEEn sTaTE, CITIzEns: sC Jammuto srinagarin lessthan5hrs 21 sECURITy personnel, including RPF commandos, to provide security. reporTs: pages 9, 15 Votes polled change in % in 2026 BREnT CRUdE PRICEs hIT $126/BaRREl makand suman; dara singh meena; sugreev kushwaha; and Vishnu kushwaha say they have all been waiting for government help. reach them. While the money remains elusive, the case has been thrust into the limelight once more with the arrest of a tehsildar, amita singh tomar, on allegations of irregularities. tomar, a key accused in the case, had gained fame in 2019 after winning rs 50 lakh on amitabh Bachchan’s Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC). “We got only rs 5,000,” Jairam’s wife, urmala, alleged when The Indian Express visited their home. “everyone in our family had to take up work; three children dropped out of school. We built a »COnTInUEd On PagE 2 Amend law to remove time limit in case of unwanted pregnancy on account of rape of minor girl: CJI ananthakrishnan g New Delhi, April 30 uNderlINING tHat an unwanted pregnancy cannot be thrust on anyone, the supreme Court on thursday refused to entertain a curative petition filedbytheallIndiaInstituteof Medical sciences (aIIMs), contesting the court’s earlier decision to allow a 15-year-old rape survivor to terminate her 30weekpregnancy.thecourtsaid it “will not allow the institution to choose for the parents”. “this is a case of child rape. the victim will have a lifelong scar and trauma. It is now a fight between the foetus and the child. the child must survive, and she must have a dignified life,” observed Chief Justice of India surya Kant, heading a two-Judge bench whichincludedJusticeJoymalya Bagchi. the CJI also said the Medical termination of Pregnancy (MtP) act should be amended to remove the time limit for legal termination of pregnancies arising out of rape of minor girls. on april 24, another twoJudgebenchofJusticesBVNagarathna and ujjal Bhuyan had allowed the medical termination of pregnancy. aIIMs had then filed a review petition, which was dismissed by the bench on Wednesday. aIIMs then filed a curative petition against the dismissal of the review petition. appearing for aIIMs on thursday, additional solicitor General aishwarya Bhati said thefoetuswasalready30weeks old, and waiting for four more weeks would be in the interest of the minor as well as the foetus. “What has to be done is »COnTInUEd On PagE 2 Inthepast, courtsallowed govtstandof carryingfoetus tofullterm apurva Vishwanath New Delhi, April 30 IN reCeNt cases involving minors seeking termination of advanced pregnancies, even in casesofrape,theCentrehasadvocated for carrying the foetus to full term followed by adoption,insteadofapprovingabortions beyond the 24-week statutory limit. the Centre’s lawyers and the all India Institute of Medical sciences (aIIMs), which is the nodal medical body assigned by the courtforabortioncases,haveargued that termination of pregnancyinadvancedcasesis“akin to foeticide”. additional solicitor General aishwaryaBhatimadethisargument on thursday, too, in the curative plea filed by aIIMs, pressingforthe15-year-oldrape survivor to carry the foetus for “fourmoreweeks”intheinterest oftheminoraswellasthefoetus. While the sC refused to entertain the plea in this case, courts have declined to allow E. »COnTInUEd On PagE 2 l somVeer ghasola from Bhiwani disTricT has acquired 65 acres on a 99-Year lease for an equiValenT of rs 1.5 cr in Tanzania, poinTed ouT an acre in harYana can cosT rs 25 lakh To oVer rs 1 cr Haryana to Tanzania: With help from state govt, farmers bridge the gap sukhbir siwach state’s farmers, “we will verify documentation with the authoritiessothattheydon’tfacediftHree years after Haryana ficulties”. “We also plan to sign began a push for investment an Mou with the tanzanian opportunitiesintanzania,with government to formalise this regular visits by officials and cooperation,” the official said, private delegations, the state marking the Haryana governgovernment has started ident- ment’s first overseas initiative ifying nearly one lakh acres in undertakenatsuchalargescale. the east african country for its on Wednesday, Haryana farmerstopursueagforeignCooperation page 1 ricultural ventures. Minister rao Narbir a senior Haryana singh chaired a government official meeting with potentold The Indian Extial investors keen to press that after identifying land exploreopportunitiesintanzathat can be acquired by the niaandotherafricancountries. Chandigarh, April 30 anchor Yogesh sharma (above), a ca from haryana, has acquired 160 acres in morogoro, Tanzania; his mother inspecting the fields exPReSS the fertile soil and climatic conditions in tanzania, as well ascheapavailabilityofland,are the reasons for Haryana zooming in on the country. tanzania’s location along the Indian ocean offers direct maritime routes to India and global markets, making agricultural exports more viable. somveer Ghasola from BhiwanidistrictisamongHaryana farmers who have already begunleasinglandintanzania. Ghasola, who has acquired 65 acres on a 99‑year lease for equivalentofrs1.5crore,points outthestrikingcontrastinland prices. “In Haryana, an acre of land can cost between rs 25 lakh and over rs 1 crore de- pending on location,” says the 58-year-old. officials say the idea to explore options in tanzania originated with Manohar lal Khattar as Chief Minister, with his government giving the slogan “Go Global”. following that, Haryana established the dedicated ‘department of foreign Cooperation’ to strengthen international partnerships. since tanzania was identified as a lucrative destination, delegationsofHaryanaofficials and interested investors have visited the country regularly. like Khattar, his successor as CM, Nayab singh saini, has been holding meetings with tanzanian officials and stakeholders for large‑scale farming opportunities. earlier this year, a Haryanaafrica strategic Partnership Meetingwasorganisedatsurajkund in faridabad. Ghasola, who fought the 2024 assembly elections as an IndependentfromBadhraincidentallyandlost,hadearlierset upaminingbusinessneartanzania’s capital dodoma. He bought the 65 acres he owns in 2025 for warehousing initially, »COnTInUEd On PagE 2