The Editorial Page: Dead ends after Bengal, both sides need new directions 10 TUESDAY, MAY 26, 2026 JournalIsm of Courage LuCknow, LATE CITy, 16 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 happening today lRCB’spuRsuit of back-to- back IPL titles will run into the season’s most disciplined bowling attack when they face Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 1, with a direct place in the final at stake. Both ended league stage on 18 points but RCB claimed the top spot due to better net run rate. ‘CyniCal naRRative Being geneRated... india Cannot affoRd feaR-MongeRing’ Sitharaman flags ‘3F’ concerns: Fuel, fertiliser, foreign exchange E. Track This and more on www.indianexpress.com Says ‘unimaginable’ hike in fertiliser explained prices, high crude and gold prices fertiliser & forex creating ‘challenges on external front’ the world akash Mandal & siddharth upasani Mumbai, New Delhi, May 25 iran’S toP envoyS in Qatar to diScuSS deal to end war PaGe 12 nation’sbest dMs:entriesfor indianexpress governance awardsopen untilJune30 UnDerLining priMe Minister narendra Modi’s call earlier this month to conserve foreign exchange, Finance Minister nirmala sitharaman onMondayemphasisedtheimportance of “three Fs: fuel, fertiliser and foreign exchange”. taking on critics of the indian economy amid the ongoing West Asia crisis, sitharaman said the naysayers were creating a “cynical narrative”. not only is this wrong, but it is also “fear-mongering” and “india cannot afford fear-mongering”, she said. sitharamanwasspeakingat business as usual By EP UNNY In 2025-26, India imported 28.2 million tonnes of fertilisers worth $14 billion. But the actual figure, inclusive of the value of imported inputs such as natural gas and ammonia, was over $27 billion and could soar even higher in the current fiscal. Four hikes in 11 days: Petrol, diesel prices now up by over Rs 7/litre OMC losses down, but still about Rs 600 cr/day sukalp sharma May 25 May 23 May 19 May 15 New Delhi, May 25 inside PaGeS 9, 13 Should rbi defend ruPee, or let it fall? the37thfoundationdayeventof the small industries »Continued on page 2 Govt dialS StateS to watch SuPPly at omc PumPS AFter hoLDing retail fuel prices for over two-and-a-half months amid the surge in global rates due to the West Asia crisis, public sector oil marketing companies (oMCs) have hiked the prices of petrol and diesel by over rs 7 per litre in less than two weeks. While seemingly steep, the cumulativepriceincreasesofar price hike (₹/litre) Petrol diesel Petrol diesel 102.12 95.2 2.61 2.71 99.51 92.49 0.87 0.91 98.64 91.58 0.87 0.91 97.77 90.67 3 Seeks report on steps taken on the 2024 committee’s recommendations express news service New Delhi, May 25 l risinGprices Retail price (₹/litre) So sad that NTA has not learnt its lessons: SC on NEET paper leak 3 Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell; Delhi prices — done through four hikes — has been the lowest among »Continued on page 2 Karnataka change of guard on agenda as Siddaramaiah, DKS called to Delhi for talks MAking eViDent its displeasure over the neet-Ug 2026 question paper leak and the subsequent cancellation of the exam, the supreme Court Monday said it is “sad” that the nationaltestingAgency(ntA) has still not learnt its lessons despite the court intervening on previous occasions. “We are so sad, they (ntA) haven’t learnt their lessons,” saidjusticepsnarasimha,presiding over a two-judge bench. referringtoaprevioussuch instance in 2024, justice narasimha said the court had “passed an order directing the constitution of a committee to give recommendations, which was accepted”. hearing petitions by the Federation of All india Medical Association(FAiMA)andothers seeking the replacement or restructuring of the ntA, the bench, also including justice Alok Aradhe, issued notice to the agency and sought a report on the steps taken on the 2024 committee’srecommendations. in june 2024, the Centre had announced a high-level committee of experts under former isro chairman k radhakrishnan to suggest measures for the transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations by the ntA. While refusing to cancel the neet-Ug exams that year, the court had asked the committee to look into examination securityandadministration,andsuggestadvanceddatasecurityprotocols to protect examination »Continued on page 2 Two days after govt order, one detention facility opens in Bengal, another in the works 3 ‘illegal Bangla immigrants’ housed at centre in Murshidabad Ravik Bhattacharya express news service New Delhi, May 25 the FoUrth edition of the indian express excellence in governance Awards is open for entriesuntiljune30,withadistinguished jury set to evaluate innovations in public administration across 15 categories. Launched in 2019, the awards honour District Magistrates nationwide for innovations that have positively impacted citizen welfare and government efficiency — and help spread best practices across government, innovation, sCAn ThE leadership and QR CoDE learning. To APPLy Applications are open across 15 categories including education, healthcare, swachhata, gender and inclusion, social welfare, agriculture, e-governance,skilldevelopment,MsMe and industries, start-up and innovations, climate change and sustainability, water, energy, urban governance and liveability and jury awards. the jury for this edition »Continued on page 2 Kolkata, May 25 karnataka cm siddaramaiah, his deputy d k shivakumar and congress mP randeep singh surjewala in Bengaluru, monday. PTI Manoj C g New Delhi, May 25 the Congress high command has summoned karnataka Chief Minister siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D k shivakumar to Delhi for a discussion tuesday on leadership change, a complex and tricky topic that ithas been deflecting for some months. sourcesinthepartysaidthe leadershipwantstoaddressthe inside PaGe 4 issue and put an end to the power tussle between the two and the persistent bickering in the state. sources said leadership change would be on the table whenCongresspresidentMallikarjunkharge,Leaderoftheopposition (Lop) rahul gandhi, AiCC general secretaries k C Venugopal and randeep singh surjewala meet the two leadersseparatelyandtogether. »Continued on page 2 President droupadi murmu with BJP mP and actor hema malini, who received the Padma Vibhushan on behalf of her late husband, actor dharmendra, at rashtrapati Bhavan, monday. PTI; PaGe 7 Blocking of X handle: ‘Cockroach Janta Party’ founder moves Delhi HC sohini ghosh New Delhi, May 25 Sc SayS cbi muSt ‘immediately’ Probe twiSha death Padma Vibhushan for Dharmendra AbhijeetDipke,thefounder of the satirical online platform ‘Cockroach janta party’ or Cjp, has moved the Delhi high Court against the blocking of the Cjp’s X handle. thecaseislikelytobeheard this week. As first reported by The Indian Express, the X handle was withheld in india on May 21 after a direction from the Centre following inputs from the intelligence bureau (ib) »Continued on page 2 inside PaGe 5 a government building in malda’s english Bazar town chosen as a ‘holding centre’. ExPREss bad border bangladesh. in an order dated May 23, the bengal home & hill Affairs Department had ordered all district magistrates to set up ‘holding centres’ for illegal bangladeshis and rohingya in their areas in the state. thethree-storeybuildingin »Continued on page 2 afteR dawood aide BRought BaCk on apRil 28 India working on extradition of another drug kingpin, criminal from Turkey divya a New Delhi, May 25 GulmarG cable car SnaG: 320 touriStS reScued in 6 hrS Within 48 hours of the West bengal bjp government ordering establishment of holding centresinalldistrictsacrossthe state for essentially bangladeshis and rohingya, a detention facility was opened in Murshidabad, while preparations are on to set up another in Malda. A senior district police officer told The Indian Express that three people suspected to be illegal immigrants from bangladesh had already been brought to the Murshidabad centre. both Malda and Murshida- jUst Weeks after the extradition of salim Dola, an alleged drugtraffickerandcloseassociateoffugitivedonDawoodibrahim, from turkey, new Delhi and Ankara are learnt to be working on the extradition of two more criminals wanted by india — navpreet singh from punjab, who is wanted in severalnarcotics-relatedcases,and Mohammad sartaj from Madhya pradesh, linked to cases involving threats and violence. Dola, who is allegedly linked to international drug syndicates, was extradited to india on April 28. his return reinforced the security partnershipbetweenindiaandturkey, which faced strain in their ties for the past year or so. earlier this month, another »Continued on page 2 l Vishal had TrouBle walking since he was Born wiTh knock knees; ‘i Told myself ThaT if you haVe To Become greaT, you haVe To make sacrifices,’ he says From standing knee-deep in sand as a child to India’s fastest quarter-miler pritish Raj he joined them and thus began his track and field journey. on saturday in ranchi, Vishal, 23, thirteen yeArs back, when crossed the 400m finish line in thennarasutookhisson,Vishal 44.98seconds—thefirstindian t k, to a stadium in jolarpet in history to go below 45. thentownintamilnadu,itwasn’tto narasu raced onto the track and makehimarunner.hissonhad the two embraced. “What i felt after he crossed trouble walking since he was bornwithknockknees.thenna- thefinishlinecan’tbeexpressed rasu, a dairy farmer who had in words,” thennarasu said. “not even in my playedfootballforthe paGe 1 dreams.” he paused. state, had heard that “but when he started burying his child’s progressing and legsknee-deepinthe long jump pit could help doing well, i could see he had a hunger to win and one day he straighten them. When at the stadium, after would do something big.” india has a proud history of his daily stand-pit ritual, Vishal would sit and watch long- quarter-milers. the country’s distancerunners.thenoneday, most celebrated runner Ranchi, May 25 anchor happens to be the late Milkha singhwhohadclocked45.6seconds in 1960 rome olympics. Like Milkha, Vishal’s tale toohasmanyhardships.heleft home at a young age to move to the sports hostel in jawaharlal nehru stadium in tamil nadu. he ran 100m and 200m and was good at it. he had no plans to change. “the stadium became my home at a very early age. i used to miss my parents a lot and didn’t have any idea about the magnitude of what i could achieve,” he said. “but i told myself that if you have to become great, you have to make sacrifices. i never thought of running 400m,” he said. “but Vishal T k with his father, Thennarasu, after becoming the first indian to run a sub-45 seconds 400 metres race. AFI my coach sreenivasan told me i would do much better at the quarter-mile.” sreenivasan had scouted him through the sports Development Authority of tamil nadu programme and his first thoughtwassimple:Whyisthis guy running 100 and 200m? “i haveseentheanatomicalstructure of his body. he is a tall runner and his speed is very good. he didn’t have the explosive strength of a 100m sprinter but his tall frame and strides were really good for 400m. i was convinced he would do well in the 400m,” sreenivasan said. “it took me some time to convince him.” Vishal was 21. switching events at that age — abandoning years of training — is not a decision athletes take on a whim.“itrustmycoach.iknew if i give 100%, new or old event, doesn’tmatter.”in2024,Vishal clocked 46.77 seconds as his season best. good enough to earn a call to the national camp and a meeting with Australian coach jason Dawson. Dawsonhadareputationfor demanding total commitment from his athletes. he had been frustrated by national campers who came and went. Vishal cameandstayed.“hejustasked metotrusthimandwe’llgetthe results,” Vishal said. “i told him — coach, i’m all yours. just make me a better runner.” sreenivasan,whogaveuphis own charge of Vishal to send him to Dawson, told him: “i know the basics but jason will take you to the world level.” threemonthsafterclockinghis firstsub-46run—45.57seconds at the Asian Athletics Cham- pionships in May 2025, missing the podium by 0.02 seconds — Vishal shattered the national record at the inter-state Championships with 45.12 seconds. then, in ranchi, 44.98. “he took me from 46.77 to 44.98,” Vishal said. “i trust him blindly and so does he.” thefatherwithmodestgoals of taking his son to the stadium so that he could walk normally, neverimaginedhewouldbeflyingonthetrackonedaytoenter the record books. And when it happened, he ran across a track to hold his son — the fastest indianquarter-milerwhohasever lived. thennarasu didn’t say anything for some time. he just held on. Lucknow