The Ideas Page: Through Raghu Rai’s lens — there is always drama in Bengal 9 SAtURDAY, MAY 2, 2026 JoURnaliSM of CoURage AhmeDABAD, LATe ciTy, 20 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 , 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 PeTrol, Diesel Prices haVe remaineD UnchanGeD for oVer foUr years now Polls over, energy prices soaring due to West Asia crisis, fuel rate hike on table Govt shielded people from fuel price shocks; no link to polls: Puri Incurring heavy losses, public sector oil marketing firms push for increase sukalp sharma & anil sasi New Delhi, May 1 wITH INTeRNaTIoNal oil and fuel prices persisting at supernormallevelsintheinternationalmarketduetothewest asia crisis and polling in state electionsover,ahikeinpricesof fuels like petrol, diesel and domestic lPG could be in the offinginthecomingdaysorweeks, according to highly placed sources in the government. Public sector oil marketing companies (oMCs) are incurring heavy losses on the sale of thesefuelsandhavebeenpushing for price hikes. Petrol and diesel prices have been frozen foroverfouryearsnowinIndia. Moreover,thetimingofthecurrent global surge in prices, which clashed with assembly elections in four states and a Union Territory, made it politically fraught for the prices to be hiked. Throughout March and april,theMinistryofPetroleum »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 Ahmedabad/Surat , May 1 Union Petroleum minister hardeep singh Puri with Gujarat cm Bhupendra Patel during the Vibrant Gujarat regional conference (VGrc) at auro University in surat on Friday. expreSS UNIoN MINIsTeR for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep singh Puri on Friday said that the Union government has Dhaka, Delhi move to resume full-scale visa operations E. 2025 Delhi 63,380 Kolkata 43,048 Lord Buddha will be opened for public veneration at Jivetsal in Leh. lUnion home minisTer Amit Shah will launch mobilebased disaster communication systems developed to ensure timely dissemination of critical information. Kolkata 3,557 Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com Agartala 27,946 2026 Delhi 5,197 Agartala 9,462 Agartala 99,941 New Delhi, May 1 MoVING To normalise ties after months of turmoil in the recent past, delhi and dhaka are taking the first step forward with full-scale resumption of visaservices.whileBangladesh has resumed visas for Indian citizens across all categories, India is aiming at gradual resumption of visa operations over the next few weeks, The Indian Express has learnt. when Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman was in India last month, visa normalisation was among the key points raised by dhaka. while all Bangladesh visa centres in India,includingtheHighCommission in New delhi and consulardivisionsinKolkata,agartala, Mumbai and Chennai, are now functional, dhaka has sought early reciprocation by »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 Maharashtra CEO wants self-mapping option for pre-SIR work, seeks EC nod alok Deshpande ‘Inconclusive forensics’, ‘material contradictions’: Gujarat HC upholds acquittals in two 2002 riot cases THeGUJaRaTHighCourthas refused to disturb acquittals in two separate cases of violence linked to the 2002 riots and involving allegations of victims being “thrown alive into the fire” and chased down by mobs, dismissing the appeals filedbythestatein2003andby an individual petitioner in 2007. In a judgment dated april 18,2026(whichwasmadeavailable on Thursday), a bench comprising Justice Nirzar Vadodara, May 1 Fadnavis govt wants to make Marathi a must for auto & taxi drivers, Bihar and UP caution cm devendra Fadnavis with deputy cm eknath shinde on the mumbai-Pune expressway, Friday. DeepAK JoShi language and Maharashtra’s identity is important, but India’s spirit also dictates that »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 desaiandJusticedNRayofthe Gujarat HC dismissed the appeal filed by the state challenging a 2003 order passed by the additionalsessionsjudgeofVadodara acquitting five individuals accused of “throwing alive into the fire” a person named samsuddin alias Kasam Khan in the Khodiyar Nagar area of Vadodara on February 28, 2002. The FIR, based on the complaint of samsuddin’s neighbhour,stemmedfromthe“widespread communal disturbances across the state" intheaftermathoftheincident ofburningofthesabarmatiexpressinGodhraonFebruary27, 2002, the judgment notes. The prosecution had alleged that the five accused, along with approximately 200 other individuals, had formed anunlawfulassembly“withthe common objective of committing the murder of the deceased... and to set ablaze Muslim residential colonies and shops”, the judgment notes. according to the case, around 11 pm on February 28, a mob forcibly entered samsuddin’s house and set it on fire. LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, DELHI Chairman and Members of the Board of Governors cordially invite you to the th 29 CONVOCATION Saturday May 02, 2026 Chief Guest »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 Dr. Alok Kumar Rai Director, IIM Calcutta ‘Modi Tattva’, RSS fieldwork, studies on Hinduism & patriotism in sociology courses at Vadodara MSU aditi raja Vadodara, May 1 anchor msU sociology department building. FiLe knowledge,contemporarygovernance and lived social realities”. Conceptualised by the university’s sociology department head dr Virendra singh, who is chairperson of the Board of studies of MsU as well as a part of Niti aayog Project for monitoring public policies and a memberofthedistrictadministration’s ‘Vadodara 2047’ plan, theapproachseekstobuildwhat he called a “practice-oriented, inquiry-drivensociology,rooted in both historical depth and present-day relevance.” LBSIM Auditorium 05:00 PM l Lessons on sardar PaTeL, amBedkar, chhaTraPaTI shIVajI aLso In cUrrIcULUm of the fourth year of the Ba sociology course as well as the first year of the two-year a ModUle on ‘Modi Tattva’, Masters in sociology prolessons on Rss fieldwork and a gramme. return to Indian knowledge The modules, ‘sociology of systems — Maharaja sayajirao Bharat’, ‘Hindu sociology’ and (Ms) University of Baroda has ‘sociology of Patriotism’, are introduced a new courses of four page 1 curriculum that is credits each, which set to study Prime form part of the reMinister Narendra structuringofsociolModi’s leadership as a concept, ogy education at MsU from the integrate indigenous knowl- forthcoming academic year edge systems, Hindu religion starting in June, designed to studiesandnationalism.These “align academic framework willnowbepartofthe10papers with India’s civilisational »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 security personnel guard a strong room ahead of the may 4 counting of votes for the West Bengal polls, in kolkata, Friday. meanwhile, the election commission said repolling will be held saturday in 15 polling stations where voting was held on april 29 in the second phase of the elections in the state. pTi PaGe 12 as MaHaRasHTRa struggles to complete the pre-special IntensiveRevision(sIR)mapping exercise — a time-consuming process that requires Booth levelofficersorBlostomatch every current voter’s name against a 24-year-old electoral roll—thestate’sChiefelectoral officer (Ceo) has written to the election Commission of India (eCI) seeking permission to allowvoterstomapthemselves online, on the lines of the selfenumeration option introduced for the national Census. »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 Two days after the Mumbai Press Club suspended three members over an event attended by accused persons out on bail in the Bhima Koregaon case, officials of the National Investigation agency (NIa) visited the club seeking documents related to the gathering, accordingtoastatementissued by the club Friday. Thedevelopmentpertainsto a January 19 event at the MumbaiPressClubthatwasattended by several accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case — these included Varavara Rao, Vernon THe RUle to make Marathi mandatory for auto drivers in Maharashtra, which has now been deferred, has evoked sharp reactions across the political spectrum in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. In Bihar, the BJP’s national spokesperson, Guru Prakash Paswan, told The Indian Express,“TheBJPbelievesinboth national unity and cultural diversity. Respecting the Marathi Guarding the strong room aditi raja at present, the pre-sIR activityinvolvesBloscomparing the 2002 electoral roll with the current one. every voter’s name must be traceable to the 2002listtopassscrutiny.young Gonsalves, arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha, anand Teltumbde, Hany Babu, Rona wilsonandsudhirdhawale—allof whom are currently out on bail. The Press Club said the gathering had taken place in the presence of former officebearers, including former president Gurbir singh. The club stated that while granting bail,thesupremeCourtandthe special NIa court had imposed conditions restricting some of the accused from meeting one another while out on bail. accordingtotheclub,theJanuary 19 gathering raised questions about a possible violation of Mumbai, May 1 Patna, Lucknow, May 1 By EP UNNY Mumbai, May 1 Yes, I have sent a letter, says state’s ceo s chockalingam Vallabh ozarkar santosh singh & maulshree seth Business as Usual Source: BAngLADeSh high commiSSion Divya a »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 lThe PiPrahwa relics of lVisasforindianstoBangladesh Kolkata 72,265 kept the consumer “shielded” and did not revise retail prices of petrol and diesel even when crude import prices went up following the west asia conflict. Happening today Efforts for India-Bangladesh political engagements currently underway 2024 Delhi 69,684 Club suspends three members, they deny wrongdoing; agency sought documents related to January meet ‘India stands strong, commercial LPG situation back to 70% of pre-crisis’ express news service NIA visits Mumbai Press Club over gathering of Bhima Koregaon accused singh told The Indian Express on Friday that ‘Modi Tattva’—apartofthesociology of Patriotism course — is a study of the leadership of the Prime Minister, drawing from German sociologist Max weber’s concept of “charismatic authority”. “‘Modi Tattva’ treats a contemporary political figure — PM Narendra Modi — as a case study in charismatic leadership, policy perception and mass connect, within a sociological framework. PM Modi will deliver the Convocation Address https://Ytube.Lbsim.ac.in Watch Live R.S.V.P. Tel : 011-25307700 Mob. : +91-9958137595, +91-9811320320 Dr. Praveen Gupta Director, LBSIM Delhi NATIONAL BOARD (3 PGDM PROGRAMMES) »conTinUeD on PaGe 2 Ahmedabad RANKING 2025 RANK BAND 101-125 OF ACCREDITATION (3 PGDM PROGRAMMES)