The editorial Page: The mountains have sounded a warning, we ignore it at our peril 8 MonDay, aUGUsT 31, 2026 JourNaLism of Courage LUCKnOW, LATe CITy, 16 PAGeS ₹6.00 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 AmID ShIFtInG GeoPolItIcS, wAr In weSt ASIA Modi at SCO today, will hold talks with Putin, may meet Xi lAn nIA court will pronounce its judgment in the 2013 Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh’s Jhiram Valley, in which several Congress leaders, including former Union Minister V C Shukla, were killed. lthe Sc wIll heAr a plea challenging the validity of a provision of the Income Tax Act that allows political parties to receive cash donations below Rs 2,000. look forward to advancing india’s vision for region, says PM ahead of bishkek gathering Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com Business as usual Shubhajit roy New Delhi, August 30 by eP Unny Vasudev and arjun Pyakurial perform their mother’s last rites after failing to find her, in nepal’s Umerkot. TAShI TOBGyAL more rePorTs, P 4, 10 ‘Can’t stop looking... not so soon’: in nepal, hope against hope as families search for the missing await sign of their relatives, dead or alive nation pAge 4 Kin of dAlits Killed in 2012 guJArAt firing linK suicide to A fAtHer’s grief neet-pg: power cut Hits two JAipur centres, retest on sept 5; pAnel formed Devansh Tashi MiTTal TobGyal express in Nepal Betrawati, August 30 over The last four days, Lekhnath Adhikari, 43, has travelledhundredsofkilometres on his uncle’s bike. he has been goingtoalmosteverysearchand reliefcamp,hospitalandlocality nearhisnativevillageBetrawati, and areas downstream. Betrawati is located in nuwakot district, north of Kathmandu. It is on the border of rasuwa district — which was theepicenteroftheflashfloods. While it usually takes two hours to reach the village, after the floods, it takes roughly four hours. on Wednesday, when »contInueD on PAGe 2 Govt prepares for mass cremations; toll now 788 Yubaraj Ghimire Kathmandu, August 30 The GovernmenT of nepal has decided to go for mass cremations amid a dearth of mortuary facilities in hospitals on one hand and recovery of bodies of flood victims in hundreds, on the other. A day after 70 bodies were cremated en masse in Chitwan district,theFederalhomemin- the editorial page As glAciers melt, prepAre for HimAlAyAn cHAllenge pAge 8 istryhasdecidedtodothesame in Kathmandu, the hub where bodies of victims of the devastating floods are being brought »contInueD on PAGe 2 in a first, Rlys to build FIr AGAInSt loP bASeD on comPlAInt bY vAlmIkI reSIDent 6freight lines with pvt Kharge ‘purification’ row: Day after he firms using highways’ calls for FiR, Rahul booked in haldwani hybrid funding model lalmani verma Lucknow, August 30 l thesixproposedprojects odisha 647 km freight lines l 49.58-km Balaram-PutgadiaTentuloi (Inner Corridor) l 112.56-km BudhapankTentuloi-Luburi (Outer Corridor) telangana 207.80-km Manuguru to Ramagundam An FIr was lodged against LeaderofoppositionintheLok Sabha rahul Gandhi in Uttarakhand’s haldwani town on Sunday under sections of the Bharatiya nyaya Sanhita and the SC/ST Act. The FIr was lodged a day after Gandhi, in a press confer- Jharkhand: l 101.26-km Jajpur-Keonjhar 126.52-km Pakur to Godda Dheeraj mishra & Sukalp Sharma New Delhi, August 30 GIvInG A push to private investment in Indian railways, the Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) under the ministry of Finance, earlier in August, approved six railway lines spanning 647 km along freight corridors. These are to be developed under the hybrid Annuity model (hAm) — similar to the model used in the highways sector wherein thegovernmentandtheprivate builder split the project costs and risks. of the six proposed railway projects, four are in odisha: 49.58-km Balaram-PutgadiaTentuloi(InnerCorridor),112.56km Budhapank-Tentuloi-Luburi(outerCorridor),101.26-km Jajpur-Keonjhar road-AradiDhamaraPortand48.96-kmTikiri Station to Waltair Bauxite mines. The other two projects are the 207.80-km manugururamagundamlineinTelangana andthe126.52kmPakur/nagarnabitoGoddalineinJharkhand. The project will now be sent to the Union Cabinet for final approval,beforethebidsareinvited. This will be the first time »contInueD on PAGe 2 »contInueD on PAGe 2 »contInueD on PAGe 2 ‘Despite US tariffs, our fish export has increased... now exporting to the UK, Japan, China, Thailand and EU’ rAJIv rAnJAn SInGh UnIOn MInISTeR Of fISheRIeS, AnIMAL hUSBAnDRy AnD DAIRyInG pAge 14 for india polymer notes, bidders certify no animal tallow, firewalls against china, pak among bidders is indian firm in partnership with global banknote major De la Rue ritu Sarin New Delhi, August 30 movInGAstepclosertotheintroduction of low-denomination plastic banknotes in the country, Indian and foreign firms have bid for the supply of polymer substrate sheets with inbuilt security features. responding to the global expression of Interest (eoI) issued by reserve Bank of India subsidiary Bharatiya reserve Bank note mudran (P) Ltd (BrBnmPL), which set an August 18 deadline, at least two foreign polymer currency manufacturers and an Indian substratemanufacturerinpartnership with UK banknote manufacturer De La rue have placed their bids, The Indian Express has learnt. Given the sensitivity of future supplies of polymer banknotes, the companies have been made to fill an integrity pact;aconfidentialitycontract; a no-agent pact and an undertaking that they will firewall their operations in India from those they may have in China and Pakistan. The bidders have also had to Pm narendra modi receives the ‘order of highest Friendship’ from Uzbekistan President shavkat mirziyoyev, in Tashkent, sunday. PTI Delhi & Tashkent discuss long-term uranium supply to india, upgrade relations Shubhajit roy New Delhi, August 30 eLevATInG TheIr ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership, India and Uzbekistan Sunday discussed establishing a framework for long-term supply of uranium to India and set a bilateral trade target of USD 5 billion by 2030. These were the key takeawaysafterPrimeministernarendra modi met Uzbekistan President Shavkat mirziyoyev »contInueD on PAGe 2 E. explained expanding footprint India’s engagement with Central Asia has been on the rise. Security cooperation has deepened in the wake of Taliban rule in Afghanistan. India has to deal with China’s influence in the strategically vital region, establish connectivity projects and meet its growing energy needs. nlu DelhI convocAtIon ADDreSS express special Road-Aradi-Dhamara Port l 48.96-km Tikiri Station to Waltair Bauxite Mines rahul Gandhi called it an act related to untouchability without verification: complaint enceinnewDelhi,urgedPrime minister narendra modi to orderanFIrovera“shuddhikaran havan” (purification ritual) heldatramlilamaidaninhaldwani, days after a rally there by Congress president and Dalit leader mallikarjun Kharge. Calling the act a “crime,” Gandhi said that it illustrated the“untouchability”Dalitsface PrIme mInISTer narendra modi is expected to meet russian President vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek monday where leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation organisation are gathering for a two-day summit amid shifting geopolitics and the conflicts in Ukraine and West Asia. modi reached Bishkek from Tashkent Sunday night. This year marks 25 years of the SCo. ForIndia,theBishkekgathering is a lead-up to the BrICS summitinnewDelhionSeptember 12-13. Both Putin and Xi are expected to attend the summit. officials said that while a bilateral meeting with Putin has been slotted, modi and Xi are expected to meet each other during the summit. Calling the SCo an “important organisation”, modi said, certify that their polymer substrate will not contain any animaltallowcontentoritsDnAfor suppliestotheBrBnmPL.Controversies over the presence of animal tallow in banknotes in countriesliketheUKissaidtobe one of the reasons for the rBI’s hesitationovertheintroduction of polymer currency in India. In its eoI documents, the »contInueD on PAGe 2 Threatening students for asking questions is misuse of power, says Justice bhuyan Amaal Sheikh New Delhi, August 30 SUPreme CoUrT judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said Sunday that students cannot be threatened with punitive action for expressing a different point of view or asking questions, and called such action “unconstitutional” and a “misuse of power”. Speaking at the 13th Convocation of the LL.m programmes at national Law University Delhi, Justice Bhuyan said, “In a democracy, the right to question is not an act of defiance. It is an essential expression of citizenship, liberty and constitutional responsibility… When students express a different point of view, when students ask questions, they cannot be threatened. They cannot be threatened with punitive action. That is unconstitutional. That is misuse of power and office.” earlier this month, the Bar Council of India withdrew a directive issued by its chairman, Constitutional democracy requires the State to listen to the citizens, the citizens to listen to one another, to have institutions that are accountable and a society that does not treat every dissent as a threat.” JuStIce uJJAl bhuYAn, SUPReMe COURT JUDGe manan Kumar mishra, asking state bar councils not to enrol graduates of the 2026 batch of nALSAr University of Law. »contInueD on PAGe 2 l coUnTry has remoVed leGal obsTacle To VolUnTary reTUrn oF reFUGees who Fled ciVil war wiThoUT Valid PassPorTs or ThroUGh UnaUThorised deParTUre PoinTs Lanka beckons, but for refugees in TN, too much time and distance lie in between Arun Janardhanan captured by the LTTe, put into battle with the Sri Lankan army, and died fighting. mahendran’s family waited FIve DAyS before his family fled Sri Lanka, men from the 15 days on the mannar island eelam People’s revolutionary for a boat, surviving on limited Liberation Front arrived look- food, and dodging the LTTe ing for boys above the age of 12. and the Sri Lankan military. onthenightofJuly22,1990, mahendran was 11. his parents hid him, his brother and they finally crossed the Palk cousinsinthenarrowspacebe- Strait,gettingoffnearDhanushkodi on the Indian tween the roof and a page 1 shore.Thewater,mafalse ceiling of their hendran still rehome. The children members, reached stayed there from above his father’s waist as he morning until 9 at night. Soon afterwards, the family carried the children to land. Thirty-six years later, malefthome,escaping15kmtoPesalaiinthemannarisland.Two hendran lives in Pudukkottai. of mahendran’s cousins travel- his father, who was 42 when ling in another vehicle were the family fled, died just seven Chennai, August 30 anchor years later. mahendran went to school in Tamil nadu, studied at Loyola College in Chennai, and now sells furniture on instalments. Ask the 47-year-old where he comes from and his answer is still “Ceylon”. his son and daughter, he says, would answer differently: Tamil nadu. That gap between two generations is what Sri Lanka is seeking to bridge, removing thismonthalongstandinglegal obstacletothevoluntaryreturn of refugees who fled the civil war without valid passports or through unauthorised departure points. AsperaCabinetdecisionby the Lankan government, re- a house in one of the refugee camps in Tamil nadu. exPReSS turnees whose Lankan nationality is established can enter through an authorised port after clearance by the State In- telligence Service. Those cleared will not face prosecution under immigration law merely for having left the country without authorisation during the war. It applies to all those who left before may 19, 2009,whenthecivilwarended. This is a major leap for many refugees. As late as August 2025, four returnees were detainedonarrivalinSriLanka because they had originally left the country illegally. The Lankan government’s new decision has been welcomed by the Un as an importantsteptowards“safeanddignified return” of its people. But, for the nearly 90,000 Sri Lankan refugees in India, moving back is not an easy decision. more than 58,000 of them live in 103 camps spread across 29 districts of Tamil nadu, and another 30,000 outside the camps, with one special camp within the Tiruchi Central Prison complex. The long road home SriLankaisadifficultchoice even though, more than three decades after many of them arrived in India, they continue to be registered with police and subject to periodic renewals, sometimes weekly. Those living in camps are allowed to leave the premises at 6 am but generally required to be back at 6 pm. There are curbs on travel outside Tamil nadu. Says mahendran: “The importantthingisnotawarmwelcome,buthowthegovernment expects us to live. how do they expect us to survive, how do we buy food there?” A friend who returned eight years ago managedtofindhisfeetinLanka,he says,andthedreamof“Ceylon” isalwaysthere.Butmahendran can’t set aside questions about land, shelter, employment and his children’s education. “Should we go back and start a life from scratch, worse than a refugee life here?… Am I asking for too much? I don’t know,” he says. While successive Lankan governments have offered returning refugees resettlement assistance, including with housing and livelihood, the »contInueD on PAGe 2 Lucknow