The Ideas Page: as India’s youth spoke up, the message from across the border — you inspire us 13 ThURSdaY, JULY 30, 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 Happening today lKanwar Yatra begins amid heavy security and phased traffic restrictions which will impact travel between Delhi, Haridwar, Dehradun and Saharanpur. stringent ProVisions in aMended legislation Tough exam leak Bill clears LS, Rahul raises police crackdown CHargesHeet filed in fast-traCK CoUrt Govt hails passage, says open to learn from experience; LoP: Shah must quit over July 20 action Leaked NEET papers took two routes out of Maharashtra: CBI probe bypolls in Datia, Bankipur and Manjalpur Assembly constituencies. asad rehman, anonna dutt & Jatin anand Mahender singh Manral Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com WraPPIng uP a two-day debate punctuated by acrimonious exchanges as the Opposition slammed the government over the police crackdown on studentprotestersinDelhi,lok sabha Wednesday passed the stringent Public examination (Prevention of unfair Means) amendment Bill, 2026 by a voice vote amid sloganeering. leader of Opposition rahul gandhi’s remarks against union home Minister amit shah over the July 20 police action led to stormy scenes with lUnited nations Security Council will hold an initial round of informal closed-door “straw poll” ballots to assess support for seven candidates vying to replace Antonio Guterres as the next UN chief. lVoting will be held for Business as Usual By EP UNNY New Delhi, July 29 New Delhi, July 29 Union minister kiren rijiju and LoP rahul Gandhi in Lok sabha. PTI politics page 4 rajya saBha passes Bill making insUlt to vande mataram a criminal offence strong protests from the treasurybenches—oneofthewords he used was expunged from house records. later, the government hailed the passage of the Bill. unionMinisterJitendrasingh, who replied to the debate, said it reflected the government’s “openness to incorporate constructive inputs, learn from experience and further strengthenthelaw”todealwith exam paper leaks. shah, in a post on X, congratulated “every student in India”onthepassageoftheBill, saying it “shields the dreams »ContinUed on Page 2 PrOBIngtheneet-ug2026 paper leak case, the CBI has uncovered two messaging app trails — a Maharashtra-rajasthan-haryana route and a Maharashtra-rajasthan-Kerala pathway — through which the question papers travelled. Investigators are calling it a “countrywide conspiracy” involving subject experts, coaching institute operators and intermediaries, The Indian Express has learnt. In a chargesheet filed tuesday in a Delhi fast-track court, the CBI has named 13 accused inside including nta biology expert Manisha Mandhare, nta chemistry expert Pralhad Vithalrao Kulkarni, nta physics expert Manisha sanjay havaldar. the others named are shivraj raghunath Motegoankar, owner of renukai Career Centre Coaching Institute in latur; tejas harshadkumar shah, COO at aPMa Coaching Institute in Pune, and eight alleged intermediaries: Manisha sanjay Waghmare, Dhananjay nivrutti lokhande, shubham Madhukar Khairnar, yash yadav, Mangilal Biwal, Vikash Biwal, Dinesh Biwal and »ContinUed on Page 2 pages 3,11 amid farmers’ protest, shivraj vs mp govt over procUrement 19monthsafter Manmohan singh’sdeath, hegetsclean chitincoalcase cal hc: voter id, aadhaar, pan not proof of indian citizenship 28-year-old Gulveer singh during the men’s 10,000 m final at commonwealth Games in Glasgow. AP ex-Pm manmohan singh was summoned to face trial in 2015. From Sirsa mud ground to India’s first CWG men’s 10,000m silver ananthakrishnan g Pritish raj MOre than a decade after a trial court summoned former Prime Minister Manmohan singh in the coal block allocation case, the supreme Court on Wednesday set aside the order and accepted the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) closure report which cleared him in the matter. saying that the trial court had no justification for rejecting the CBI’s closure report, a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India surya Kant closed the proceedings. While singh died in December 2024, senior advocate Kapil sibal, appearing for the former PM, said though the matterhadbecomeinfructuous after his death, the trial court’s remarksagainsthimoughttobe expunged.senioradvocateaM singhvi, also representing singh, urged the court to do away with the remarks. the bench, which included PeltIng raIn, chilly conditionsandafieldofrunnersfrom africawithapodium-finishing history spanning over 50 years —India’s gulveer singh was up against the weather, sporting historyandaqualityfieldatthe New Delhi, July 29 »ContinUed on Page 2 New Delhi, July 29 Commonwealth games. yet, the 28-year-old from sirsa in uP’s aligarh held his nerve, stuck to his race strategy and produced an impressive final burst to win silver, marking India’s first-ever Commonwealth games medal in the men’s 10,000m with a time of 27 minutes and 49.80 seconds. gulveer had, in fact, fallen behind during the race but fought back to snap at the heels of the leading pack before surging forward. Ky robinson of australia won gold in 27:48.93, whileDavidMullarkeyoftheIsle of Man took bronze in 27:50.28. the result also ended »ContinUed on Page 2 CM: Bengal govt to give eggs with veg food from ISKCON in mid-day meals ravik Bhattacharya Kolkata, July 29 West Bengal Chief minister suvendu adhikari on Wednesday said that the government will provide eggs in mid-day meals along with the proposed IsKCOn-cooked vegetarian mealsinschoolsacrossKolkata from august 1. this comes amid a controversy after the BJP government announced cm suvendu adhikari in Belur math, kolkata, Wednesday. PTI an overhaul of the mid-day meal scheme with its proposal to partner with IsKCOn to providecookedmealsunderapilot project that would drop eggs from the menu. speaking to the media during a programme of the school education department at nabanna, adhiakri said, “From august 1, as a pilot project, IsKCOn, will provide mid day »ContinUed on Page 2 l aLLeGed masTermInd rePorTedLy Based In dUBaI 3 lured to Thailand with holiday trip, held for ransom; five Indians arrested divya a New Delhi, July 29 three yOuths, all in their early 20s, were allegedly lured to Pattaya in thailand through what was advertised as a lowcost seven-day holiday package, held captive and tortured for five days while ransom calls were made to their families in India — before they were rescued by police on Monday. their alleged kidnappers, also Indians, were arrested from Bangkok the next day while they were preparing to Thai police with the three Indian nationals. X/@THe_PATTAyANewS flee the country, according to local media reports. the five suspects — identified as avtar singh (38), Jagjit singh (38), rambalak Kumar (24), sukhbir singh (37) and Kulra singh (27) — were arrested from a hotel in Khlong tan area of Bangkok on tuesday while they were waiting to board an outbound flight, the Bangkok Post reported, citing the police. While the suspects have reportedly admitted to the charges,theyhaveclaimedthat a Pakistani national, who they were in contact with via a chat app over the past month, ordered them to kidnap the three Indians. the alleged mastermind is reportedly based in Dubai and had planned to receive ransom payment in »ContinUed on Page 2 Kolkata no iMPaCt on eXisting ClearanCes Retrospective green nod: SC strikes down Centre’s order, opens window for exception 2021 Office Memorandum quashed, CJI bench says exceptions can be granted in public interest but under 1986 legislation ananthakrishnan g New Delhi, July 29 Inaunanimousruling,thesupreme Court Wednesday held that the Centre can retrospectively grant environmental clearanceforprojects“inpublic interest” under the environment(Protection)act,1986and not through a mere administrative office memorandum. the bench of Chief Justice of India surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M Pancholi struck down theCentre’s2021officememorandumregardingretrospective approval for projects that had already commenced construction or operation without environmental clearance. toavoiddisruptiontoexisting projects, the bench said the ruling will apply prospectively, leaving existing clearances unaffected. Itclarifiedthatthesupreme Court’s earlier decisions in Common Cause and Alembic Pharmaceuticalswererendered inthecontextofprevailinglaws at the time and “do not place a clogonthepoweroftheCentral government to issue an appropriate, narrowly tailored amn- E. explained no perpetual regime The SC has held that the government must make a distinct selection of projects for the grant of post facto environmental clearance. Projects with a bearing on public interest satisfy the test of proportionality, reasonableness. estynotificationinsupervening public interest as an exception to the 2006 notification”. “the decriminalisation of regulatory contraventions underthe1986act,throughthe Jan Vishwas act 2023, reinforces our conclusion that the Central government has ample power under section 3 to issue appropriate notifications, formulating amnesty schemes with regard to such classes orcategories of non-compliant projects whose sustainability is necessary to subserve larger public interest,” it said. On May 16, 2025, the bench of Justice abhay s Oka and »ContinUed on Page 2