The editorial Page: august 15 after Jantar mantar — the many spaces of freedom and unfreedom 8 TuESDAy, AuguST 18, 2026 JournalIsm of Courage KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 16 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 lKerala’s VizhinjamInterna- tional Seaport will begin fullscale export-import operations, a major milestone in maritime and economic development. lindia-ThailandJoint Military Exercise begins in Thailand, with focus on operations in jungle and semi-urban terrain. BrinGs TOGeTher OrGanisaTiOnal exPerienCe, enerGy, GrassrOOTs COnneCT: Pm BJP rejig: Goyal treasurer, Smriti, Ram Madhav back KeyInclusIOnsandexclusIOns In BharTi Pawar, 47: ram madhaV, 61: exPRess special March to july, govt sent one blocking order to social media firms every minute National vice president. An author, RSS ideologue, he was BJP national general secretary from 2014 to 2020 and played crucial role in formation of BJPPDP government in J&K smriTi irani, 50: National general secretary. She's a former Lok Sabha MP & Union Minister One of the six women national vice-presidents appointed. She’s a former Union Minister and a tribal leader from Maharashtra manPreeT sinGh Badal, 64: National vice president. Seen as one of BJP's leading faces for the coming Assembly elections in Punjab VishnU daTT sharma, 55: Over half sent to Instagram which was key protest platform; Oct 2024-25, daily B L Santhosh, Vasundhara Raje retained; takedown average was six, shows Sahyog Malviya replaced by Deepak Mhaskey soumyarendra Barik New Delhi, August 17 l Blockingorders onE BloCKing order, on an average, every 68 seconds. Around 1,275 every day. nearly 1.95 lakh in just five months. that was the surge in statebackeddirectionsseekingtorestrict online content sent to instagram, Facebook and Youtube between March and Julythisyear,accordingtodata accessedbyTheIndianExpress. significantly, this period included the students’ protests against exam leaks at delhi’s From March–July 2026 Instagram Facebook YouTube ToTAl ~1,00,000 ~80,000 ~15,000 ~1,95,000 SOURCE: INTERNAL GOvT DATA; NOTE: EACH BLOCKING ORDER MAY COvER MULTIPLE PIECES OF CONTENT OR ACCOUNTS Jantar Mantar, which began in earlyJuneandwascalledoffon »COnTinUed On PaGe 2 liz mathew & jatin anand New Delhi, August 17 sEvEn Months after taking over as the BJp national president, nitin nabin on Monday constituted a new team of central party office-bearers, bringing in former Union minister smriti irani as a general secretaryandseniorpartyleaderram Madhav as a vice-president. nabin named Union Commerce and industry Minister piyush goyal as the BJp treasurer while retaining B l santhoshasthepartynationalgen- eral secretary (organisation). smriti irani returns to the BJp leadership ranks for the first time since the 2024 lok sabha elections when she lost her Amethi seat in Uttar pradesh to the Congress’s Kishori lal sharma. Among the eight general secretaries, only two — vinod tawde and sunil Bansal — havebeenretained,withothers including former tripura chief minister Biplab deb, rajya sabha Mps sanjay Bhatia and satish poonia, Assam party »COnTinUed On PaGe 2 Out All Cells Coordinator. Former BJP state chief of MP, considered a rival to incumbent CM Mohan Yadav in state unit swadesh sinGh, 46: National secretary. An emerging face who has been inducted in the team from the Yuva Morcha; considered close to party chief Nitin Nabin hemanG jOshi, 35: Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha president. A young face from Gujarat, he is considered to enjoy confidence of party’s top brass amiT malViya He was chief of the BJP’s National IT Department, co-incharge for West Bengal and member of the National Executive TejasVi sUrya, 36: He was chief of the BJYM. A second-time Lok Sabha MP from Bangalore South, his exit is being interpreted as the party hitting the refresh button on its youth wing Party bid to hit Refresh in the wake of protests, run-up to key state polls Vikas Pathak & liz mathew New Delhi, August 17 thEBJp’sorganisationaloverhaul signals the return of leaders who had been sidelined, replaces the social media in-charge, and brings in a new youth wing president — all changes that are being viewed within the party as a much-needed refresh after the recent CJp protests and be- fore crucial state elections. As expected, the party has inducted several leaders from Upandpunjabaheadofpollsin the two states. Among the key changes, the inclusion ofsmritiiraniasgeneral secretary is being seen by party insiders as not just a rehabilitation but also a move to add teeth to the party’s campaign ahead of the E. »COnTinUed On PaGe 2 Business as usual By EP uNNy InsIde Page 3 Bengal: 17 lakh annaPurna aPPlicaTions rejecTed Twisha deaTh: aiiMs delhi finds ‘no injury suggesTive of assaulT’ Page 7 Ayush stuns top seed Ayush shetty after defeating top seed and defending champion shi yuqi of China 21-14, 13-21, 21-19 in the first round of the Badminton world Championships in new delhi, Monday. PTI RePoRT, PAge 16 Eight killed in Tarapith hotel fire as locked emergency exit traps guests Tanusree Bose Kolkata, August 17 Eight pEoplE, including five tourists from Meghalaya, were killed after a massive fire broke out at a four-storey hotel in tarapithinWestBengal’sBirbhum district early Monday morning. threeofthedeceasedwerefrom Alipurduar in north Bengal. two persons, including A team of forensic experts at the hotel that caught fire, in Tarapith on Monday. PTI hotel owner Kalyan pal, have been detained as police probe whether there were lapses in fire-safety arrangements. Fire officials said that although the hotel had a rear exit and an emergency staircase, thegrillestotheemergencyexit were locked. they said they had to break open the locks to rescue those trapped inside. »COnTinUed On PaGe 2 l Men IdenTIfIed As heAlTh sCheMe BenefICIARIes weRe ReTIRed govT eMPloyees I-Day tableau to showcase knee surgery success in Punjab on a shaky footing Kanchan Vasdev & man aman singh Chhina ifiedbytheannounceras“beneficiaries who had undergone knee-replacement surgeries Chandigarh, August 17 under the Mukhmantri sehat thE pUnJAB government is Bima Yojana”. only, the five are retired claiming it was operating on, so tospeak,akneed-to-knowbasis. healthdepartmentemployees, As per the opposition, that who were dancing on sturdy knees very much their own. claim has no legs. As the facts on saturday, a Page 1 trickled out, Ferozetableau by the state pur Civil surgeon health department dr Meenakshi dhinat the independence day parade in Ferozepur, at- gra said they did nothing tended by Chief Minister Bhag- wrong. the participants, she want Mann, featured five men said, were “part of a symbolic »COnTinUed On PaGe 2 dancingthebhangraandident- anchor five people, identified by the announcer as ‘beneficiaries’ of the scheme, dance at the I-day parade in ferozepur. ExPRESS Kolkata Protesters celebrate in Ranchi, Monday; they said the agitation would continue until their demand for a CBI probe was fulfilled. PTI Amid protests, Soren cancels key exam, scraps all tests held byoutsourced agency Rahul writes to CM, urges him to meet protesters shubham Tigga & manoj CG Ranchi, New Delhi, August 17 JhArKhAnd ChiEF Minister hemant soren on Monday said thestateCabinethasdecidedto cancel the result for the JssCCgl examination, and all exams conducted by testing agency tdpl, in a bid to end a deadlockthathasembroiledhis government for weeks now. he alsoorderedaprobeintoexaminationsconductedbythestate government since 2014. soren said ongoing investigations had revealed “shocking” facts and suggested a larger network involving com- panies linked to the examinations. Earlier in the day, alliance partner Congress had urged soren to engage with protesting students. the protesters, however, said they would continue their agitation as long as their demand for a CBi probe into all exams in question remains unfulfilled. the soren government’s latest decision was, meanwhile, met with resistance from anotherquarter:thosewhohad qualifiedforthenow-cancelled exam. A group of candidates who had secured government jobs gathered outside project Bhavan, arguing that they shouldnotbemadetosufferfor alleged irregularities for which they were not responsible. the administrationdeployedsecurity personnel as the candidates »COnTinUed On PaGe 2