The editorial Page: let’s curb misuse of a legal relic that elevates the mob over the individual 10 THURSdaY, SEPTEMBER 17, 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 lAndhrA PrAdesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu will attend bike rallies in Varanasi to mark PM Narendra Modi’s birthday Track This and more on www.indianexpress.com Business as usual By EP UNNY InCIdenT In InTernATIOnAL WATers In nOrTh ArABIAn seA, 120 nAUTICAL MILes FrOM GULF OF OMAn India, Pak warships collide at sea, Delhi summons Islamabad envoy sport Pak Navy’s Hunain damaged, Indian warship continued on mission after incident: Officials Pak for shifting tournament to neutral venue; no, says hockey india Amrita nayak dutta & shubhajit roy New Delhi, September 16 A FroNtlINE warship of the Indian Navy and a pakistan Navy vessel were involved in a collision tuesday evening in Page 15 This photograph from the Turkish ministry of national defence shows Pakistani navy ship Pns hunain in the foreground. @tCsaVuNMa/X express special international waters in the North Arabian sea, prompting Delhi to lodge a strong protest with Islamabad Wednesday over the “unprofessional conduct of pakistani naval units”. the incident was said to have taken place about 120 nautical miles from the Gulf of oman. For several months now, Indian Navy destroyers and frigates have been deployed on missions in the North Arabian sea. official sources identified the pakistani vessel as pNs Hunain and said it was damaged in the collision, and had headed to its home port. No damage to the Indian warship was reported and it continued on its routine surveillance mission, the sources said. providing details of the incident, sources said pNs Hunain — it is an offshore patrol vessel, »COnTInUed On PAGe 2 0.4% MerChAnT dIsCOUnT rATe FrOM OCTOBer 15 inside the fast-track court trying Opp demands UPI fee rollback, claims neet leak case: ‘every min counts’ US pressure; no foreign influence: Govt For ovEr 40days,JudgeAjay Gupta has been driving one of the country’s most closely watched examination paper leak cases at a pace that has left little room for delay. At 10 am each working day, the Fast track special Court Judge at Delhi’s rouse Avenue Court takes his seat and works through the case against 13 accused in this year’s NEEt-UG paper leak. Chargesheet scru- nTAtranslators tonowensure qualityofAIwork As pArt of its overhaul, the NtA has changed the role of translators. It is now looking for thosewhocanreview“AI-generatedtranslations”ofexamquestions into Indian languages, according to the Expression of Interest floated by the agency. tiny, preliminary arguments and a string of interim applications have followed in quick succession, with Judge Gupta repeatedly pressing lawyers to appear on time. the latest test of that timetable came on Monday, in the form of a request to defer argumentsbecausetheinvestigation was ongoing. “time is very precious...We can continue the hearingalldayifnecessary,”the Judge told the defence counsel. thehearing,whichstretchedfor »COnTInUed On PAGe 2 Rahul leads Opp chorus, targets PM; Rajnath hails UPI success, Finance says customers, small merchants protected Lalmani Verma & sweety Kumari New Delhi, Kolkata, September 16 A DAy after the National payments Corporation of India announced that UpI person-tomerchant transactions over rs 2,000 would attract a fee of 0.4 per cent, the Merchant Discountrate,fromoctober15,the government came under fire Wednesdayfromtheopposition which demanded that the decisionberolledbackimmediately. opposition parties led by the Congress alleged that the MDr decision had been taken »COnTInUed On PAGe 2 Lok sabha LoP rahul Gandhi posted a video message on X Revision benefits another 51 lakh; Rs 2,080 cap on pension contribution Aanchal Magazine & ravi dutta Mishra New Delhi, September 16 tHE UNIoN Cabinet Wednesdayapprovedahikeinthewage ceiling for subscribers of the Employees’ provident Fund organisation (EpFo) from rs 15,000 to rs 25,000 per month, arevisionafteragapof12years. Union Minister of labour and Employment Mansukh Mandaviya said the hike is expected to incentivise social security and formal employment, adding that the revised wage ceiling will be effective thursday, which is also vishwakarma puja. the revision means over 8 croreworkerswillbemandated to contribute to the retirement fundforsocialsecurityuptothe wagelimitofrs25,000,beyond whichcontributionswillbevoluntary. the monthly pension contribution,undertheEmployees’ pension scheme (Eps), will be capped at rs 2,080, up from rs 1,250 at present. Both employees and employers contribute 12% of the employee’s basic salary, dearness allowance and retaining allowance, if any, to the EpF. the employee’s entire contribution goes to EpF, while the @MaNsukhMaNdViya/X Union Labour & employment minister mansukh mandaviya E. explained Why the revision after 12 years This is the first revision in 12 years. In September 2014, the EPFO wage ceiling was raised to Rs 15,000 from Rs 6,500. The government said the latest revision will “reflect the sustained wage growth, rising incomes and a continued expansion of formal employment over the intervening years”. 12% contribution by the employer is split as 3.67% to EpF and 8.33% to Eps. the government contributes 1.16% for an »COnTInUed On PAGe 2 ICA-D1410(23)/2026 nirbhay Thakur New Delhi, September 16 Social security net widens: Govt nod for raising EPFO wage ceiling to Rs 25,000 Kolkata