www.InDIaneXPress.COM The Many Lives of a Weave koLkaTa, aUgUsT 9, 2026 Laila Tyabji traces the hands, histories and chance encounters behind the country’s handloom revival (₹12 In nOrTheasT sTaTes, ₹20 In anDaMan) sCreen A new Netflix series revisits Kargil War through the eyes of young pilots laTe CITy 14+4 Pages ₹7.00 D a I l y f r O M : a h M e D a b a D , Happening today lAssAm government will begin a door-to-door assessment of flood damage in the four worst-hit districts of the state. It will disburse compensation to those affected based on this survey. lthe hAr ghAr tirAngA Campaign 2026 begins. Organised under the Ministry of Culture, this year’s initiative coincides with Independence Day and is dedicated to the spirit of Vande Mataram. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com politics pAGe 6 tAmil nAdu mps seek permAnent freeze on lok sAbhA seAts C h a n D I g a r h , D e l h I , j a I P u r , k O l k a T a , PlAn to mArCh towArDs AssemBlY tomorrow Jharkhand student protest: Round 2 of talks with govt fails to end deadlock Protesters say demands will be taken to CM, no call to withdraw agitation yet shubham tigga Ranchi, August 8 the SeCOND round of talks between the Jharkhand governmentandstudentrepresentatives protesting alleged irregularities in government recruitment examinations ended without a breakthrough on Saturday, prolonging a conflict that the state has so far struggled to resolve. thestudents,however,said thegovernmenthadlistenedto their demands and that they would wait for the issues to be taken up with Chief Minister hemant Soren before deciding whether to withdraw their »ContinUeD on PAge 2 Kolkata, August 8 »ContinUeD on PAge 2 n a g P u r , express special stalled govt jobs, cases stuck in court, exam delays: What’s behind the ranchi fast, protest The charges for merchants, if and when applied, will be lower than that for debit or credit cards: Ministry siddharth Upasani New Delhi, August 8 Unne habiba, 27 rupesh kumar Pal, 30 shubham tigga Ranchi, August 8 WheN 40-year-OlD rahul Kranti walked into the protest site, he said he was carrying nearly a decade of frustration with Jharkhand’s recruitment P a T n a , P u n e , V a D O D a r a UPI free for citizens, merchants may face ‘nominal’ fee: Govt savita kumari, 28 system. On Friday, he was amongthecandidatesonanindefinite hunger strike, saying repeated examinations, court battles and delayed recruitments had left him with little choice but to take to the streets. like Kranti, those on the rahul kranti, 40 stage symbolise the grievances thathavesimmeredamongthe state’s job aspirants over decades. From a woman attending her first-ever protest to a man who has spent countless hours in court, The Indian Express »ContinUeD on PAge 2 nation pAGe 4 find solutions: pm to students allayING USer concerns, the Ministry of Finance “categorically”statedSaturdaythat consumers making UPI paymentswillnotfaceanytransaction charges, and all person-toperson transactions will continue to be free of charge. It, however, said as and whenMDr(MerchantDiscount rate) charges are introduced, theywillapplyatanominalrate only above a certain threshold, andonalimitedsetofmerchant transactions. “It would be far lower than debit or credit card MDrs,” the statement said. MDr is a fee levied on merchants by banks to help meet costs related to processing of transactions, settlement and infrastructure.Creditcardsface »ContinUeD on PAge 2 West Bengal cm suvendu adhikari, speaker rathindra Bose (left) and rebel Tmc mLa ritabrata Banerjee at an event in kolkata, saturday. PTI ICA-D1203(21)/2026 Barely three months after stormingtopowerinWestBengal by sweeping the assembly elections, the BJP has been dealing with increasing allegations of corruption and extortion against a party section, which it had earlier associated with the previous Mamata Banerjee-ledtrinamoolCongress (tMC) regime. the Bengal BJP recently suspendedabout25partyactivists and issued show-cause notices to over 300 workers at variouslevelsindistrictsacross the state on charges of extortion, corruption and anti-party activities against them. “this (extortion) is indeed a problem. there are two things. One,asectionofourownleaders and workers are indulging in it. M u M b a I , no ChArge on ConsUmer, Person-to-Person PAYments Bengal BJP grapples with ‘TMC culture’, cracks down on 325 workers over extortion charges ravik Bhattacharya & Atri mitra l u C k n O w , Kolkata lUpitransactionsbyticketsizeinFY26 100 n<₹500 n₹501-₹2,000 n>₹2,000 86% 80 60 59% 40 20 0 21% 20% 10% PersOn-TO-PersOn 4% PersOn-TO-MerChanT sOurCe: MInIsTry Of fInanCe Why charge? Because smooth UPI payments cost Rs 20,000 cr a year siddharth Upasani New Delhi, August 8 ShOPPING haS never been easier or cheaper since the Unified Interface Payments, launched in 2016, democratised finance and Qr codes replaced complex bank details for transactions big and small. today, consumers don’t pay for it, nor do merchants. the costs are being paid for bybanksandotherfinancialsystem players, and estimates suggest these to be about rs 20,000 crore a year now. Banks expected to get compensated after all this when the lok Sabha passed the taxation and Other laws (amendment) Bill, 2026 on thursday. E. »ContinUeD on PAge 2