The editorial Page: government trusts Aadhaar on welfare. it needs to rely on it to make voter lists 10 TUESDAy, SEPTEMBER 15, 2026 JournAlism of CourAge nEw dElhI, laTE cITy, 20 PaGEs ₹7.00 (₹8 raIPur, ₹15 srInaGar) 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 exempTion for rupay debiT Card Too Govt: No bank charge on UPI payment up to Rs 2,000 lThe World CirCular Economy Forum 2026 begins in Gujarat. The global forum will showcase India’s initiatives to strengthen cooperation on sustainable production and consumption. Track This and more on www.indianexpress.com afTer shah says uCC in nda sTaTes by ’29 In 2025-26, only 4% of person-to-merchant UPI payments were for over Rs 2,000 NDA allies TDP and Sena back Uniform Team MEA, day after BRICS Civil Code, JD(U) says not in Bihar siddharth upasani New Delhi, September 14 external affairs minister s Jaishankar with the ministry team that was involved in the Brics summit, in new delhi on monday, a day after the conclusion of the event. Posting the photograph on X, he said, ‘Your unwavering commitment and professionalism contributed to the success of #Bricsindia2026 summit.’ Xi, modi reached ‘mosT imPorTanT consensus’ on ParTnershiP, saYs wang Yi, Page 6 u.s. federal reserve expeCTed To inCrease inTeresT raTes This Week Not a hidden agenda for us, says Bengal BJP chief liz mathew & Jatin anand New Delhi, September 14 Dip in fertiliser sales warning signal wpi inflation 10% harish damodaran New Delhi, September 14 8% output ppi inflation 6% 4% cpi inflation 2% 0% Jan Feb mar apr may June July aug This yeAr’s southwest monsoon has been rather erratic. June, the opening month of theseason,usuallywitnessesan average of three low-pressure systems (LPs) that cover a 24- hour period of about 11 days. This time, not a single LPs — which brings rain as warm, moist air near the ground rises into the atmosphere, where it coolsandcondensesintoclouds — was formed. rainfall over india as a whole was, then, 38% »ConTinued on paGe 2 sourcE: sTaTIsTIcs, commErcE mInIsTrIEs siddharth upasani New Delhi, September 14 Vegetable oil Price Index cereal Price Index 250 200 196.9 185.9 auG-26 mar-26 ocT-25 may-25 dEc-24 Jul-24 FEb-24 sEP-23 sourcE: Food and aGrIculTurE orGanIzaTIon oF ThE unITEd naTIons. BJP trumps Cong in Rajasthan civic QuanTum informaTion and CompuTinG lab aT raman researCh insTiTuTe polls, Independents win on CM turf Scientists develop new way to tackle E. explained key quantum computing challenge Single-shot fix hamza khan Jaipur, September 14 The OUTCOMe of the rajasthan urban local body (ULB) elections Monday saw the ruling BJP getting the better of the principalOppositionCongress, even as independents and smaller parties registered a significant performance. As per the poll results declared by the state election Commission, the BJP won a clear majority in four of 10 »ConTinued on paGe 2 amitabh sinha New Delhi, September 14 rajasthan chief minister Bhajan Lal sharma offers sweets to state BJP chief madan rathore after the poll win, in Jaipur. rohIT JaIn Paras sCienTisTs AT the Quantum information and Computing (QuiC)laboratoryatramanresearch institute in Bengaluru havedemonstratedanovelway to increase the stability of the quantum states that enable computation in a quantum computer that can potentially improve the reliability and integrity of these calculations. Unlike traditional computers that encode electric statesinto0sand1stostoreand process information, quantum computersmakeuseofthevery unique, but counter-intuitive, properties of the quantum world to carry out calculations. One of these happens to be “quantumentanglement,”aremarkablepropertyofthequantum world in which two particles, after undergoing an interaction, get “linked” (or en- tangled) together in such a way that they begin to behave like one single system. Measuring certain properties of one reveals information about corresponding properties of the other, irrespective of the distance between the two. scientists have used this, along with some other special propertieslikesuperposition— theabilityofquantumparticles to exist in multiple states at the »ConTinued on paGe 2 TarunTejpal surrenders beforecourtin Goa,takeninto policecustody Panaji, September 14 116.3 140.6 135.7 »ConTinued on paGe 2 pavneet singh Chadha 133.3 150 aPr-23 »ConTinued on paGe 2 Food Price Index 300 100 Business as Usual By EP UNNy l Faofoodpriceindex noV-22 ArAnGeofindicatorsmeasuring prices rose in August, with the main gauge of household inflation rising to 4.82% from 4.45% in July — the highest in atleasteightmonths—government data showed on Monday, bringing the focus on the October5-7meetingofthereserve Bankofindia’sMonetaryPolicy Committee(MPC),whichcould see the first interest rate hike in three-and-a-half years. While food inflation as measured by the Consumer Price index (CPi) rose from 5.52% in July to 5.95% in August, upward pressure in prices was clearly visible for several items such as sugar and onion. The CPi for sugar surged by 19% in August from July, and 24% as compared to August 2025. Prices have jumped due Jun-22 »ConTinued on paGe 2 12% Jan-22 A DAy after Union home Minister Amit shah announced that a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) would be implemented inall21nDA-ruledstatesbefore the next Lok sabha polls in 2029, most alliance partners came out in support of the move. A few other nDA allies, however, adopted a cautious approach while the JD(U) made it clear that it would not allow any such move in Bihar. The TDP, on which the BJPled nDA depends for a majority in Parliament and which has a significantMuslimvotebankin AndhraPradesh,expressedsupportforthemove,asdidtheshiv senaandthehindustaniAwam Morcha (secular). “We will be supporting it,” Lavu Krishna Devarayalu, leader of TDP in the Lok sabha, told The Indian Express. “As of now,thereisnodiscussion.But whenever we find the need for it, we will be looking into it. We will definitely involve various stakeholders before we adopt it,” Krishna said. The TDP and JD(U), which also has a sizeable Muslim vote bank in Bihar, had earlier opposed any legislation without adequate consultation, but the TDP appears to have since softened its stand on the issue. “it (UCC) is very much needed in a country like india, which has different religions and cultures,” said a TDP leader. Before the TDP joined the linflationratestickingup PrIcE IndEX union home minister amit shah with maharashtra cm devendra Fadnavis on ganesh chaturthi in mumbai, monday. PTI express special Key inflation numbers rise in August, all eyes Pressure on food on RBI’s interest rate prices: El Nino effect, decision next month geopolitical tensions The MinisTry of Finance on Monday notified that banks and system providers cannot levy charges on UPi transactions of up to rs 2,000 and ruPay debit card payments, paving the way for a fee to be leviedonhigher-valueperson-tomerchant transactions. Theministrydidnotspecify the charges for transactions above the specified amount. Whether a Merchant Discount rate(MDr)feewillbeimposed on higher-value person-tomerchantUPitransactionswill be decided by the UPi and services steering Committee. headed by the national Payments Corporation of india (nPCi), the committee has 22 members including banks, third-party application providerslikePhonePeandGoogle Pay, Payments Council of india and indian Banks’ Association. Payments industry officials have said earlier that an MDr of around 0.4-0.5% may be set for UPi payments to large merchants. This would help in meeting the industry’s annual cost of about rs 20,700 crore. “no bank or system provider shall impose, whether directly or indirectly, any charge upon a person making or receiving a payment by using the electronic modes of payment specified in paragraph above,” the government notification said on Monday, referring to a paragraph in which it specified ruPay debit cards and UPi transactions of up to rs 2,000. While only 4% of person-tomerchant UPi payments in 2025-26 were for more than rs 2,000, these transactions accountedforabouttwo-thirdsof the total person-to-merchant UPi payments by value. More than 24,000 crore UPi transactions worth rs 314 lakh crore were made in the year. Thenotificationcomesafter the Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 — passed by Parliament last month — amended section 10A of the Payment and settlement systems Act, 2007, to remove exemption from bank charges for electronic payments under section 269sU of the income Tax Act, 1961. Raman Research Institute scientists found that a single, well-timed operation, not repeated fixes, can delay or prevent quantum entanglement from collapsing in this context. Timing itself becomes a new control tool, offering a simpler way to protect fragile quantum states used in computing, alongside existing errorcorrection methods. COnviCTeD FOr raping a woman journalist, Tehelka’s former editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal surrendered before a local court in Goa’s Mapusa on Monday and was subsequently taken into police custody. A senior police officer said TejpalhasbeensenttotheCentral Jail in Colvale. OutsidethecourtinMapusa, Tejpaltoldmediapersons,“ijust wanttosaythatweareinthesupreme Court and we are sure that justice will come.” The supreme Court last month rejected Tejpal’s plea seekinganexemptionfromsurrendering in the 2013 case, in which he was convicted for aggravated rape and related offencesandsentencedto10years in jail. The high Court of Bombay at Goa, while sentencing Tejpal on August 6, had given him four weeks to surrender. The woman had accused Tejpalofsexuallyassaultingher »ConTinued on paGe 2 l aFTer armY cusTodiaL kiLLings, ToPa Pir was adoPTed as ‘modeL viLLage’, goT inFrasTrucTure uPgrade Adopted by Army after killings, Jammu village sees change as it fights tragedy naveed iqbal & arun sharma some 10 km from the Bufliaz bridge in Poonch, closer to Topa Pir (Poonch), Jammu, J&K’s strategic ThannamandiSeptember 14 DKG–Bufliaz road — and the rest of the Union Territory. As she sweeps her tiny courtBut for Zainab, both the yard just outside her new house and the road carry a single-storeyhouseinPoonch’s painful memory — that of her remotetribalvillageofTopaPir, 48-year-oldson,safeerAhmed. Zainab Bi pauses for a minute safeerwasoneofthreecivilians tocatchherbreath.shestopsas killed during custodial torture a load carrier by rashtriya rifles page 1 trundles past the troops on December house on the newly 22, 2023. At the time, laid road made of families of the three broken stones. civilians described to The InThe house was a dream of dian Express cuts, bruises and the 80-year-old’s family, made burn marks on the bodies. possiblebythenew1.7-kmroad Lastmonth,theChandigarh that has brought the so-far-re- Bench of the Armed Forces mote tribal village of Topa Pir, Tribunal (AFT) upheld the in- anchor dian Army’s decision to award “severe displeasure” to Brigadier P Acharya, the officer who commanded the troops accused in the Topa Pir incident. TheBenchnotedthatwhilethe incidentcameinthewakeofan ambush by terrorists on the DKG-Bufliaz road that left four soldiersdeadandthreeinjured, “emotionscannotoverridemilitarydisciplineandthelegalobligationtotreatthecivilianshumanely” for troops involved in follow-up operations. however, for people like Zainab, closure feels distant and the pain acute, especially given that her oldest son is still serving in the Army. Memories of her lost son now haunt her: jo mujhse lena tha woh le gaye (they’ve taken from me what they could),” she says. “My son used to work very hard to earn a living for his family. The kids all lived here, and we were happy. it is lonely now. i wake up in the morning and look forward to nothing.” That day (Left) a community hall built by the army in Topa Pir; Zainab Bi’s son safeer ahmed was among the three killed. shuaIb masoodI they lurk in the corners of the grey house, stand beside her in the mud-and-stone kitchen as she makes tea, and crouch behind the blue plastic drum in one corner of the courtyard. Much has changed in the house: Zainab’s husband passed away six months after they lost safeer, and her grand- childrenareawayatschool.her onlycompanionnowissafeer’s widow, Zareena Begum. “Building this was possible becauseofthisnewroad.Lekin Topa Pir is a village of about 30householdsinJ&K’sPoonch district, sitting high on the forested terrain of the Pir Panjal. Beforethenewbutnot-yet-macadamised road came up, reaching Topa Pir was an odious task: it meant an hour’s drive uphill on a dilapidated roadandthena30-minutetrek through the forest from an unmarked point just off the DKGBufliaz road. On December 22, 2023, the local unit of the 48 rashtriya riflespickedupninemenfrom Topa Pir’s Gujjar Bakerwal community. Three of them — safeer, 28-year-old Mohammad showkat, and 25-year-old Mohammad shabir — never made it back, while six others had to be treated for severe torture wounds at an Army health facility in Potha. The incident occurred following the deaths of four indianArmysoldiersinamilitant ambush near the village. After the custodial deaths, the Army »ConTinued on paGe 2