The ideas Page: The delimitation debate is a fight over the wrong number 11 SAtURDAY, JUlY 18, 2026 JournaliSm of CouraGe kOlkATA, lATE cITy, 18 pAGES ₹6.00 (₹12 in North East states, ₹20 in Andaman) 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 4 students among 5 teAm of DoCtors from rml, sAfDArjUnG to visit ACtivist toDAy killed as train rams Day 20 of hunger strike: Wangchuk vows to school van in Bengal ‘stay alive’, march to Parliament on Monday sweety Kumari tabshir shams, Pragynesh & Anonna Dutt Four school students and a senior citizen died after a passenger train rammed a school van crossing railway tracks in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district early on Friday. Four others, including the van’s driver, were critically injured in the incident, which took place at the Gobindapur railway gate. The railways has ruled out any glitch in the signalling system and said the gateman on duty was at fault. The gateman, Arup Karmakar, hasbeenarrested.Also,thesectionsupervisorhasbeenplaced under immediate suspension. The incident took place between Karnasubarna and Go- oNDAy20ofhishungerstrike, activist sonam Wangchuk said that he remained “very strong” from the inside, and would “stay alive at any cost” until Monday, the first day of the Monsoon session, when the protesters intend to march to Parliament. Among those who visited the protest site on Friday were NcP (sharad Pawar) MP supriyasule,congressMPPawan Khera, and former union Minister Ashwani Kumar. “Iamweakfromtheoutside butverystronginside.Iamsure allofyouarestrongfromtheinside, and outside too. We need this energy for July 20, when Kolkata, July 17 New Delhi, July 17 happening today lUnion Home minister Amit Shah will visit the Jumagach Border Outpost in Siliguri and interact with the BSF personnel. He will also launch several BSF-related development projects. Track This and more on www.indianexpress.com west bengal p5 Why bengal govt moves to redraW Wards before civic body polls the big picture 25 years of agra summit, and What lies ahead for india, pak page 14 The mangled remains of the van in murshidabad. ExprESS bindapur stations during the morning rush hour. According to police and eyewitnesses, around 6.20 am, the railway crossing was closed for Nabadwip-Balurghat Express. The train passed, and the crossing wasopened.Threevehicles,including the school van, moved »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 AmIT mEHrA we will take out a peaceful marchtoParliament.Wewillgo together and present our plea in the temple of democracy,” Wangchuk told supporters in the morning. “IwillstayaliveuntilJuly20 atanycost.Ifyoudon’tcome[for the march] and July 20 is not successful, I will come back as a EPFO reform: Govt works on new pension plan for all ghost,” he said in a lighter vein. Wangchuk’s personal physician Dr satish lamba told reporters that he continued to lose weight and show “signs of mild dehydration” but was mentally alert and his parameters were normal. “We are worried about his health. This is an apathetic government that does not understand the language of democratic protest. And if we are protesting against such a government,ourprotesttechniques should also evolve,” Khera said. onThursday,congressgeneral secretary (organisation) K c Venugopal had said the party shared “the anguish and outrage” that Wangchuk felt, and appealed to him to end his fast. Wangchuk’s “concerns are E. Plan with 2 options: explained annuity, systematic flexibility based on withdrawal age, pension goal ravi Dutta mishra & Aanchal magazine New Delhi, July 17 ThE GoVErNMENT is working on a new contributory pension scheme for unorganised and formal sector workers that would accumulate contributionsovertime,andbeinvested in long-term governmentbacked securities, with annual crediting of interest. At the age of 60 years, the scheme may allow the proposed “Target retirement sum (Trs)” to be converted into pension, based on prevailingannuityandinterest rates,aseniorgovernmentofficial told The Indian Express. The scheme, part of the 3.0 reformsphaseoftheretirement fund body Employees’ ProvidentFundorganisation(EPFo), »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 Ram temple probe widens: After 8 held, 30 more under lens Probe finds ad hoc hiring: ‘Sensitive work’ entrusted through recommendations Deeptiman tiwary New Delhi, July 17 WITh EIGhT people arrested so far over the theft of donations at the ram Temple in Ayodhya, the investigation has now widened to scrutinise around 30 more employees engaged in counting cash offerings — many of them allegedly hiredontherecommendations offunctionariesoftheshriram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust or their associates, The Indian Express has learnt. sources linked to the police investigation told this newspaper that nearly 50 people were engaged in counting currency notes donated by devotees at the temple. of these, sources said, close to 40 were allegedly recruited on the recommendations of Trust officebearersorotherscloselyassociated with them. Investigatorsarenowexamining the backgrounds of these a few senior functionaries of the ram temple trust are also under scrutiny. FIlE employees and whether any of them accumulated assets disproportionate to their known sources of income after joining the cash-counting operation. The probe has also brought under scrutiny a few senior Trust functionaries associated with the management of donations,althoughnocriminalculpability has yet been established against them. “This was not merely a case of administrative lapse or an »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 johnson t A Bengaluru, July 17 cm d k shivakumar during the sIr in other states andtoldacongressconvention on June 21: “The sIr that will take place in our state is both a danger and an opportunity for us.Therefore,youmustprotect the right to vote.” KPcc president B K hariprasad, also newly appointed, has described the exercise as a “second Independence movement”,toensurethatnoeligible voter loses the franchise. The congress appears to haveheededthemessage.over the last month, as the sIr exercise rolled out in Karnataka, it has used the sIr exercise as an opportunity for party building and strengthening, even as the opposition BJP and JD(s) have »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 AAP corrupt, internal turmoil in Cong and SAD: PM in Punjab Flags off India’s first hydrogen-powered train, inaugurates rail and road projects Anju Agnihotri Chaba Jalandhar, July 17 sTEPPING uP the BJP’s outreachinPunjabaheadoftheAssembly elections next year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said his government remained committed to the development of the state, regardlessofwhichpartywasinpower. “Modihardum,harpalPunjab ke logon ke saath hai (Modi standswiththepeopleofPunjab at all times),” he said, as he launched a sharp attack on the The scheme will cover existing members and those excluded from the Employees’ Pension scheme (EPs). A Target retirement sum will be dynamically fixed based on the member’s chosen pension goal and expected retirement age. willcoverexistingmembersand those excluded from the Employees’Pensionscheme(EPs). It is likely to adopt a defined contribution framework and allow contributions from multiple sources: workers themselves,employers,government co-contributions for workers in the lower wage segment,aggregatorsinthecaseof gig and platform workers, and »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 Japan ex-minister claims ‘recklessness’ on bullet train project, India rejects Prime minister narendra modi flags off the first hydrogen-powered train, between Jind and sonipat, at Jind railway station in haryana, Friday. pTI relaTed rePorT, Page 6 Karnataka SIR: Cong is stealing the march, BJP playing catch-up WhIlE ThE BJP has been attacking the Karnataka governmentoveritsmovetointroduce aPermanentresidencecertificate (Prc) coinciding with the specialIntensiverevision(sIr) ofelectoralrollsinthestate,the ruling congress has taken several measures to turn the contentious exercise to its benefit. Weeks after assuming charge as chief Minister, D K shivakumarhadreferredtothe deletionoflakhsofvoternames sonam Wangchuk, wife gitanjali J angmo at Jantar mantar, Friday. formAl AnD UnorGAniseD seCtor Dheeraj mishra New Delhi, July 17 hours AFTEr a former Japanese minister alleged on social media that India had displayed “sheerrecklessness”initsbullet trainprojectthatstalleditsprogress,theMinistryofExternalAffairs(MEA)rejectedtheclaimas a“personalopinion...atvariance withfacts”andsaiddiscussions between both countries were progressing well. TakingtoXontheMumbaiAhmedabad high speed rail (MAhsr)project,hidekiMaki- ruling AamAadmi Party (AAP), tookswipesatthecongressand the shiromani Akali Dal (sAD), and asserted that only the BJP couldbringrealchangeanddevelopment in the state. saying that the AAP was “kattar beimaan” (blatantly dishonest), he alleged that “an open game of loot” was underway in Punjab, turning it into a state “run on advertisements” »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 hara, former justice minister and a leader of Japan's ruling liberal Democratic Party, wrote:“Theshinkansenproject in India is something I was involved with myself, but what stood out in international meetingsandnegotiationswas thesheerrecklessnessoftheIndian side, repeated over and over. They just don't keep promises, no matter what. Even if they make a promise, they flip it right away. They keep pushing their own self-interest right up to the very end.” »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 express special business as usual By EP UNNY 31 lions captured, 7 declared ‘maneaters’, gujarat battles recent surge in attacks Parimal A Dabhi Ahmedabad, July 17 politics page 3 students, job aspirants interact With rahul gandhi ThE GuJArAT Forest Department has decided to rope in the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) to conduct a study on possible changes in lion behaviour, amongotherthings,afteratleast nine attacks by the big cat since last month in the state, leaving six dead. In response, the authorities have captured around 31 lionsandrelocatedthem,aswell l thesiteofattacks Lion’s permanent Lion’s visitation distribution range record range barda wls girnar wls Junagadh GUJArAT Bhavnagar Amreli gir national park ArABIAN SEA as declared seven as “maneaters”, which means they will remainincaptivity—analarming number for such a short period in Gujarat. Kalubhai Parmar, 45, a maldhari or cowherd, lives in Garajiya village of Bhavnagar. The village falls in Palitana taluk known for both Jain temples and for lion sightings. But nothing had prepared Parmar for what happened on the »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 l WesT indies greaT Was named one oF Five ‘crickeTers oF The cenTury’ by Wisden in 2000 legendary all-rounder with many firsts: ‘He didn’t know how special he was’ sriram veera ‘Iwillgeta150,Kanhai,yougive me a 100, charlie, you give me a 75’. That was it. That was the sIr GArFIElD sobers, better plan. No self-doubt,” he said. The plan usually worked, known as Garry sobers, who died on Friday, 11 days short of though only one man could his 90th birthday, never quite ever keep his end of it. A few years before his death grasped his greatness. charlie Davis, who batted in2023,salimDurani,theflamboyant Indian allwith him for the page 1 rounder who shared WestIndies,onceexthe field with sobers plainedtheproblem. through the 1960s “he was too modest. he didn’t know how special he and 1970s, told The Indian Exwas. he expected us to bat like press: “What a player he was. him. And catch like him. he And itna simple aadmi (such a thoughtallofuswerelikehim,” simple man).” soberswasborninJuly1936 herecalledinanearlierconversationwithTheIndianExpress. inasmallwoodenhouseonWal“he would come in and say, cott Avenue in Barbados's capiMumbai, July 17 anchor tal Bridgetown, with an extra finger on each hand. his father, amerchantseaman,wentdown withhistorpedoedshipinJanuary 1942. sobers was five then. At 14, he was running errandsinafurniturefactory.Nobody ever coached him; he learnedeverythinginthestreet games of st Michael. At 21, his maiden Test hundred against Pakistan did notenduntil365,pastlenhutton’sworldrecord;itstoodfor36 yearsuntilBrianlaracrossedit. sobers bowled fastmedium, orthodox spin, wristspin, whatever the moment needed. At swansea in 1968, he hit Malcolm Nash for six sixes { Sir Garfield SoberS • 1936-2026 } in an over, the first man to do it infirst-classcricket.In93Tests, he made 8,032 runs at 57.78 and took 235 wickets. But the numbers hardly tell the full story. There was a phase in his career when he made three centuries in a home series against England. The motivation was a friend and teammate whose death he felt responsible for. Inseptember1959,atquarter to five in the morning, driving through the night to a london charity match, sobers came around a bend into the headlights of a 10-ton cattle truck. Fast bowler Tom Dewdney was in the passenger seat and collie smith, his closest friend, lay asleep across the back seat. smith’s spine was broken. “Don't worry about me,” he told sobers. “look after the big fellow;” he meant the burly Kolkata Dewdney. smith died three days later. he was 26. sobers was fined 10 pounds for careless driving and began drinking, before deciding that disappearing into the bottle would be a second betrayal. he resolved to bat for two men from then on, Garfield sobers and collie smith. Davis, who played under sobers and watched him from 22 yards for years, once said: "he is not normal. he is definitely not normal.” he never stopped being astonished by him. “Garry could catchablur,youknow.heused tobecloseatlegslip,attheback pocket of the batsman, and catch blurs.” At Melbourne in 1971-72, when he was playing for the World XI, sobers was bounced outbyayoungDennislilleefor a duck. That evening, sobers found Ian chappell in the Australian dressing room. “you’ve got a boy here called lillee. Tell him I can bowl quick too.” hebouncedlilleeback,and chappell later told him lillee had smashed his bat against the wall, swearing he hadn't really bowled quick at him yet. “he'sgottheball,I'vegotthe bat," sobers said. “I’ve never met the one who can scare me, »ContinUeD on PAGe 2