The editorial Page: neither government nor opposition can look youth in the eye on education 10 FRIDAY, JUlY 31, 2026 JournaliSM of CouraGe AhMeDABAD, lATe CITy, 20 PAGeS ₹5.00 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 lSC will hear a plea by former minister and DMK leader V Senthil Balaji seeking anticipatory bail in a case pertaining to alleged irregularities in TASMAC. DAy AfTeR lOk SAbhA, RAjyA SAbhA PASSeS bill by vOiCe vOTe AS OPPOSiTiON wAlkS OUT House clears anti-paper leak Bill, PM says nobody will be spared lDelhi hC will hear an appeal by Umar Khalid challenging the trial court’s July 4 decision to dismiss his bail application. Kharge raises police action on protesters: ‘If Shah cannot answer, he should resign’ Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com Police rules allow pellet gun use, can look at specific cases, says SC CJI bench to Govt: Preserve ammunition log of RAF personnel on Delhi protest duty Business as usual By EP UNNY Ananthakrishnan G New Delhi, July 30 leader of opposition mallikarjun kharge in rajya sabha, Thursday. PTI Divya A, Nikhil Ghanekar, Damini Nath & jatin Anand New Delhi, July 30 Shouldn’tthere beshowof fairness:SC onPMpanel choosingCeC Office of PM has sanctity attached to it, counters Centre Ananthakrishnan G ADAYafteritwasclearedbythe Lok Sabha, the Public examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, whichprovidesforstricterpunishment for paper leaks, was discussed and passed by the rajyaSabhathroughvoicevote on Thursday. hours later, Prime Minister narendra Modi posted a video on Instagram in which he assured that "any paper mafia, paper leak gang, gang which tries to play with the future of the youth of the country would not be spared”. Underlining that his government had delivered on its promisetobringatoughlaw,he said: "we are taking step after step towards creating a reliable education system, whether it is thecreationofataskforce,fasttrackcourts,takingsuggestions from states... A nationwide reform in education sector has become compulsory... work in this direction will continue." earlier, before Union Minister jitendra Singh could respond to the debate on the Bill in the rajya Sabha, InDIA bloc MPs walked out, demanding that home Minister Amit Shah make a statement on the police action against protesting students last week. Singh said it was unfortunate that the MPs who had spoken most vociferously during the debate had walked out. referring to the opposition members raising the issue of police action on students, »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 STATInG ThAT the existing policeregulationsallowtheuse ofpelletgunsinexceptionalcircumstances for crowd control, the Supreme Court on Thursday said they can only be banned if these rules are found to be unconstitutional. The politics paGe 15 court,however,saiditwasopen to examining specific allegations of misuse on a case-bycase basis. Thebench,ledbyChiefjustice of India Surya Kant, was hearing petitions — filed by YashovardhanAzad,formerIntelligence Bureau Special Director and Central Information Commissioner, and two per- Gayathri Mani Why centre is hoLdinG Back key BiLLs as LoGjam in house continues »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 Delhi govt: No action on NEET protesters, except those with criminal past New Delhi, July 30 parLiament cLears BiLL makinG insuLt to vande mataram a punishaBLe offence sons who allegedly sustained pellet gun injuries during the recent student protests in the Capital — seeking a ban on the useofpelletgunswhendealing with civilian crowds. The bench, which included justices joymalya Bagchi and v Mohana, also directed the Centre to preserve the ammunition log of the rapid Action Force (rAF) personnel deployed during the protest march to Parliament on july 20. The court issued notices to AFTer FoUr BjP-ruled states — Maharashtra, west Bengal, Assam and Bihar — began withdrawing cases against neeT-UG protesters following the Cockroach janta Party’s threat of a fresh stir, Delhi followed suit on Thursday. In an order issued by the homeDepartment,thegovern- ment approved the withdrawal of 13 FIrs registered in connection with the CjP-led protests, stating that no action will be taken against those who participated. however, this won’t include those with criminal antecedents. “As of 6 pm on 29.07.2026, a total of 13 cases were registered by Delhi Police in connection with the protests relating to the »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 New Delhi, July 30 QUeSTIonInG The appointment of the Chief election Commissioner (CeC) and election Commissioners (eCs) by a three-member committee comprisingthePrimeMinister, a Union Minister and the Leader of opposition, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked"shouldtherebenoshow of fairness" in the procedure. The bench of justices Dipankar Datta and S C Sharma washearingpetitionschallengingtheChiefelectionCommissionerandotherelectionCommissioners (Appointment, ConditionsofServiceandTerm of office) Act, 2023, which provides for their selection by the three-member panel. Defending the law, the Centre,representedbySolicitor General Tushar Mehta, said it would be wrong to assume that the PM and the minister would “not act in the interest of democracy” because they have a “numerical majority” in the selection procedure. Mehta submitted that the office of the PM has a “sanctity attached”toitanddoubtingthe decision of the selection committee would undermine the »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 Indian hockey ditches iconic blue for saffron; not consulted: 5 players, official Mihir vasavda Mumbai, July 30 SInCe 1928, the Indian hockey team has played in different shades of blue or white almost every time at a major tournament. That will change next month. when harmanpreet Singh and Salima Tete lead the men’s and women’s teams for the world Cup, starting August 15 in Belgium and the netherlands, the players will swap the iconic blue jersey that has defined the national side for a saf- p 17 drone strike near suez raises more security threats fron-coloured one. hockey India said the “primaryconsiderationwastechnical” since the blue uniform blended with the blue turf and made it difficult for a player to spot a teammate easily. »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 Rain alert: Schools, colleges shut today in Ahmedabad, central & south Gujarat IMD warns of extremely heavy rain, thunderstorms, lightning, in 13 districts Aditi Raja & Ritu Sharma Vadodara, Ahmedabad, July 30 the world indian men’s hockey team will be seen in their new jersey at the World cup in the netherlands and Belgium next month. @ThehoCKeyInDIA In vIew of a red alert and a warningofheavyrainaccompanied by high-velocity winds, all schools and colleges in Ahmedabad, Bharuch, valsad and the centralGujaratdistrictsofvadodara, Anand, and Kheda will re- main closed on Friday, officials said. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued warnings of extremely heavy rain, thunderstorms, lightning, and squall for Ahmedabad, vadodara, Anand, narmada, Chhota Udepur, Bhavnagar, Botad, Bharuch, valsad, Surat, »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 inside paGe 4 Leave of aLL officiaLs canceLLed; 24x7 controL rooms set up: Govt l nasir nagar demoliTion ‘Model state image at stake’: Gujarat HC asks why Surat civic chief remains in post Aditi Raja Vadodara, July 30 The GUjArAT high Court on Thursday orally questioned how the Surat Municipal Commissionercouldcontinueinoffice while a state-level inquiry into the controversial nasir nagar demolition is underway, observing that Gujarat’s image as a “model state” is at stake, even as the State informed the court that two of its “best officersinmunicipaladministration” had been appointed to around100shantieswererazedinmay;(right)smcchiefmnagarajan conduct the probe. hearingthepetitionfiledby 26residentsofnasirnagar,justice nikhil Kariel repeatedly expressed concern over the »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 Ahmedabad express special from govt to pvt: in 3 yrs, 1.54 lakh j&k Bank accounts were not linked to pan Data dump leads Income Tax sleuths to ‘systemic failure’; bank says compliance report submitted to RBI Ritu Sarin New Delhi, July 30 An InCoMe Tax probe has found that 1.54 lakh accounts wereopenedwithj&KBankbetween 2021 and 2024 without anyPAndetailslinkedtothem. And, deposits in such accounts with transactions touching rs 15 lakh or more in a financial year totalled rs 4.88 lakh crore, records investigated by TheIndian Express show. So much so that in its final report submitted late last year, the I-T Department said the probe’s findings point to a “systemicfailure”anda“significant red flag”, warning that the unlinkedaccounts,withtheirsubstantial transaction volumes, present “a staggering potential avenue for tax evasion”. Most of the accounts under the I-T scanner were Savings Bank accounts, opened merely by filling Form 60, a “declaration form” used by people without PAn cards. The IT probe found that these nonPAn-linkedaccountsincluded: l32,498Government-linked »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 l crunchingnumbers ₹4.88 lakh crore Deposits in accounts not linked to PAn with transactions of Rs 15 lakh+ in a financial year accounts not linked to pan Govt-associated 32,498 Private 1.25 lakh 10,464: Private accounts with credits of ₹50 lakh or more in a financial year E. explained under watch The J&K Bank accounts not linked to PAN form less than 1 per cent of the bank’s over-2 crore accounts base. But the range of such accounts, from corporate entities to those linked to government schemes, has brought them under the tax scanner.