The editorial Page: Neither government nor opposition can look youth in the eye on education 12 FRIDAY, JUlY 31, 2026 JoUrNAlism of CoUrAge KolKATA, lATE CiTy, 20 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 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. lDelhi hC will hear an appeal by Umar Khalid challenging the trial court’s July 4 decision to dismiss his bail application. 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 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 8 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- New Delhi, July 30 Why centre is holDing Back key Bills as logjam in house continues 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 »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 the world P 14 Drone strike near suez raises more security threats Indian hockey ditches iconic blue for saffron; not consulted: 5 players, official Mihir vasavda Mumbai, July 30 sinCe1928,indianhockeyteam hasplayedindifferentshadesof blue or white almost every time atamajortournament.Thatwill changenextmonth. 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 Indian men’s hockey team will be seen in their new jersey at the World cup in the netherlands and Belgium next month. @ThEhoCKEyiNDiA national side for a saffron-colouredone.hockeyindiasaidthe “primary consideration was technical” since the blue uni- form blended with the blue turf and made it difficult for a player tospotateammateeasily. »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 express special from govt to pvt: in 3 yrs, 1.54 lakh j&k Bank accounts were not linked to Pan 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”,warningthatthe unlinked accounts, with their substantial transaction volumes,present“astaggeringpotential avenue for tax evasion”. Most accounts under the iT scanner were savings Bank accounts, opened merely by filling Form 60, a “declaration form” used by people without PAn cards. Probe found 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 l cm hImanTa seeks cenTral relIef and rehaBIlITaTIon package ‘Not even our grandfathers saw this’: Upper Assam reels as floods wash away villages Swati Mishra & Rajat Sain Nepalikhuti (Sivasagar), July 30 l worst-hitdistricts “The 19Th is cursed for Assam,” sighs cab driver sumu on the way from Dibrugarh to sivasagar. “Zubeen Da (singer Zubeen Garg) left us on the 19th... and then, on the 19th, came this flood that swept everything away.” in Lower Assam, flooding is practically a season. it arrives every year, sometimes forgiving, sometimes merciless. But assam Charaideo Sivasagar Guwahati Jorhat Golaghat In nepalikhuti village in assam’s sivasagar district. rAJAT SAiN 16 districts in West Bengal were affected by amphan. ExprESS filE »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 Delhi govt: No action on NEET protesters, except those with criminal past Gayathri Mani 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 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 Fudged records to pay party faithful: CAG flags gaps in Amphan cyclone relief under TMC govt upperAssamdoesn’tknowthat rhythm. so, when heavy rains in the naga hills broke over the region on July 19, it caught everyonecompletelyoffguard. »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2 Kolkata Raises questions over classification of ‘damaged houses’, grants to those rejected Atri Mitra Kolkata, July 30 The use of identical photographs for multiple claims, incorrect classification of damaged houses, duplicate transactions worth Rs 18.07 crore,andgrantssanctionedon the recommendations of local political leaders. These are some of the irregularities that the Comptroller and Auditor General(CAG)hasflaggedinits reportonreliefdistributionand restoration work in West Bengal following Cyclone Amphan in 2020. The CAG has noted that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government's estimates ofdamagewere“notsupported by proper evidence”. The auditor analysed 31,457 photographs and found that in 3,126 cases identical photographs were uploaded against thenamesofmultiplebeneficiaries. This suggested that undue house-building grants might have been extended, though the exact amount could not be quantified because the photographswerenotlinkedtobeneficiary forms, the CAG said. using a data analytics tool to parse through the records of »CONTiNUeD ON PAGe 2