WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM The Liquid Drape A sari has always been about style and common sense. Now, women (and men) are reimagining the many ways to wear it LUCKNOW, DECEMBER 14, 2025 DOwN IN JUNgLELAND BY RANJIT LAL One can spot harriers, Brahminy kites and, if you are lucky enough, Amur falcons in Goa’s Socorro LATE CITY 12+4 PAGES ₹6.00 D A I L Y F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , 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 , L U C K N O W , M U M B A I , N A G P U R , P A T N A , P U N E , V A D O D A R A CM ANNOUNCES PROBE, APOLOgISES TO MESSI, fANS ‘CJI AS MASTER Of THE ROSTER… ROLE IS HEAVILY MISUNDERSTOOD’ Collegium far more open than it once was… room to do better: CJI ‘Trolling must be ignored... justice will suffer if we shift focus from duty to what’s being said on social media’ Ananthakrishnan g New Delhi, December 13 SIGNALLING CONTINUITY with reform, new Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant has said the Collegium system of judicial appointments is “certainly far more open and transparent today than it once was” and “there is always room to do better.” “Change is the only constant,andassocietyevolves,institutions must also adapt their mechanisms accordingly. The same applies to the Collegium system, which is certainly far more open and transparent todaythanitoncewas.Thereis, however, always room to do better,” he said. In an interview to The Indian Express, the CJI said that while the Collegium has evolved, “any system or practice, no matter how well-established, will at some stage require improvement”. He pointed to the introduction of ExPrEss interview JUSTICE SURYA KANT CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA in-person interactions with candidates as “a very welcome step”, adding that it allows members to “arrive at a more objective view.” Q&A ON P 6 “My focus on judicial appointments, whether to the High Courts or the Supreme Court, would be to place strong emphasisonmerit,experience, happening today integrity,andthetemperament required to serve as a judge,” said CJI Kant who took oath on November 24. “Going forward, I believe an even stronger emphasis must be placed on the credentials of the candidate — their merit, theirintegrity,andtheirexperience.Theseshouldremaincentral considerations in every appointment,” he said. On transparency, he noted that reasons are now increasingly being recorded for approvals and disapprovals, but cautionedthat“itiscrucialtostrike abalanceandalsomaintainthe integrity of the system”. OntheChiefJustice’sroleas “master of the roster”, he said »CONTINUED ON PAgE 2 ThE wOrlD l CONgRESS wILL hold a rally over its “vote chori” allegations at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi. Party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi are likely to address the event. U.S. And UKrAinE to diSCUSS trUCE in bErLin lCHILE HOLDS its presidential run-off. Far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast is set to become the country's most conservative leader since its military dictator Pinochet. PAgE 8 l A TOTAL Of 1.36 CRORE rural electors will vote for the zila parishad and block samiti elections in Punjab. The rural polls are significant as they come just over a year before the Assembly elections scheduled for 2027. TRACK THESE AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPrEss.cOm December 13: The Nation Remembers PM Narendra Modi, LoP Rahul Gandhi, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and others at an event Saturday marking the 24th anniversary of the 2001 Parliament attack. PRAVEEN KHANNA At kisan mela near UDF comeback in Kerala, Pune, beeline to a quiet BJP stuns ruling Left in corner on mental health Thiruvananthapuram Rohit Yadav LOCAL BODY ELECTIONS Shaju Philip E. Thiruvananthapuram, December 13 THE RULING CPM-led LDF in Kerala was dealt a stunning blow Saturday ahead of the Assembly polls in the state, losing heavily to the Opposition UDF led by the Congress in elections to local bodies and surrendering the prized Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation after a 45year run to the BJP. The UDF made a strong comeback, winning or leading in four out of six corporations, 54 of 86 municipalities, 79 of Pune, December 13 ExPlAINED Wake-up call Its poor performance in the local body polls is a wake-up call to the ruling LDF given that Assembly elections are due next year. The Congressled UDF, which has been in Opposition since 2016, and BJP will now step up plans for the state polls. 152 block panchayats, and 504 out of 941 gram panchayats. »CONTINUED ON PAgE 2 A FARMER from Latur, the 46 year-old stopped at a pavilion which had a chart with a meter onitandthewords‘Kaimajhya manat’ (What’s on my mind?). Puttingdownhisbag,thefather ofthreelookedatthepamphlet handed to him by a woman. He went to the extended space behind the counter and sat down to talk. Of successive crop failures, sleepless nights and his fears about the family’s future. Anotherfarmer,a31-yearold from Satara, opened up about his struggle with alcohol addictionanditsimpactonhisfamily. At the bustling Kisan Mela A pavillion set up by Institute for Psychological Health at Kisan Mela 2025 in Moshi. ROHIT YADAV 2025underwayinMoshi,about an hour’s drive from Pune city, whereagriculturalinnovations and entrepreneurship are being showcased, this one corner is quietly sowing the seeds of resilience. »CONTINUED ON PAgE 2 Messi tour Day 1: Chaos as angry fans ransack stadium in Kolkata; organiser held Soccer superstar escorted out in 20 minutes Tanusree Bose & Sayak Dutta Kolkata, December 13 CHAOS AND pandemonium broke out at Salt Lake Stadium inKolkataonSaturdayasthousands of football fans, angry and disappointed they could hardly catch a glimpse of Argentinian soccer superstar Lionel Messi at the stadium, tore down banners, hurled water bottles and chairs, and ransacked the ground. Messi is in India as part of his three-day ‘GOAT Tour’ across Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi from December 13 to 15. Fans had paid for tickets ranging from Rs 3,800 to Rs 11,800, with many queueing up outside the venue since early morning. He arrived at the stadium at about 11.30 am and walked around the ground, but was surrounded by a barricade of security as well as VIPs, and others. Since fans in the stadium could not get to see him, they became restless, started shouting “We want Messi… we want Messi”, finally breached the barricades and »CONTINUED ON PAgE 2 At the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on Saturday. PARTHA PAUL ‘Waste of time & money’: How VIPs hijacked event, leaving fans fuming Sayak Dutta, Ravik Bhattacharya & Atri Mitra Kolkata, December 13 FOR LIFELONG Lionel Messi fan Sabyasachi Ghosh (25), the triptoSaltLakeStadiumonSaturday morning was to be a pilgrimage, a chance to pay homage to the global football deity. By noon, he would stand stunned, his eyes searching for the5’7”Argentinewhoseposter adornedhisroom’swall.“Waste of time, waste of money,” was »CONTINUED ON PAgE 2 Lionel Messi signs a young fan’s T-shirt in Kolkata. PARTHA PAUL Eye on 2027 polls, BJP set to name Union MoS Chaudhary as UP chief Maulshree Seth Lucknow, December 13 UNION MINISTER of State (MoS) for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary (61) is poised to be electedunopposedaspresident of the BJP's Uttar Pradesh unit. OnSaturday,theseven-time MP from Maharajganj, accompanied by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy CMs BrajeshPathakandKeshavPrasad Maurya, filed his nominationpapersforthepost.Among hisproposerswereseveralstate ministers and former Union minister Smriti Irani. A formal announcement of his unopposed election is likely to be made on Sunday. A formal announcement of hisunopposedelectionislikely to be made on Sunday. Chaudhary landed in Lucknow on Saturday afternoon from Delhi. Sources said the timing of filing nomination papers, which was to start at 1 pm, was shifted following a slight delay in his arrival. Current state president Chaudhary Bhupendra Singh, who reached the party office for the election process, said, “The leadership would be given to a leader who has long Union Minister of State Pankaj Chaudhary files his nomination for Uttar Pradesh BJP president in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, in Lucknow on Saturday. VISHAL SRIVASTAV experience of working for the party and would be a person from the cadre.” Former Union Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey, the organisation election officer of the BJP’s state unit, said filing of nomination papers would continue till 3 pm. While a formal announcementofthenewstatepresident will be made on Sunday, sources indicated that the name could become clear on Saturday as only a single nomination is expected. Why he was picked Considered close to the BJP’stopleadership,theKurmi leader was described by Union Home Minister Amit Shah as the party’s “most experienced parliamentarian” during the 2024LokSabhaelections.Also, during a visit to Gorakhpur in 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had walked on foot to Chaudhary’s home to meet his family. Chaudhary is not only seen as a “man of the cadre” but also the party’s face to counter the Opposition Samajwadi Party’s (SP) plank of PDA – or picchda (backward), Dalit and alpsankhyak (minority) – ahead of the UP Assembly elections in 2027. Chaudhary hails from the Kurmi community, the state’s most prominent non-Yadav Other Backward Class (OBC) group. Kurmis comprise 8% of the state’s voters with a significant presence in eastern and central UP. Chaudharybeganhispoliticalcareeratthegrassrootslevel in the Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation in late 1980s, before becoming the Gorakhpur DeputyMayorintheearly1990. His first foray into national politics came in 1991, when he won his debut Lok Sabha election from Maharajganj at the age of 27. Though he launched hiscareerfromGorakhpur,Maharajganj has become his stronghold over the years as he wonthisparliamentaryseatsix more times – in 1996, 1998, 2004, 2019 and 2024. In 2021, after a Union Cabinet reshuffle, Chaudhary was given a Minister of State berth in the Finance Ministry as one of the party’s key OBC leaders »CONTINUED ON PAgE 2 l FEAR THE PLANT IN HANUMANGARH DISTRICT WOULD POLLUTE GROUNDWATER Anger against Rajasthan ethanol unit boils over: Farmers from other states join in Parul Kulshrestha after the latter demolished a boundary wall of the underconstruction plant with tractors. The clash took place folA VIOLENT clash, hundreds lowing a mahapanchayat by namedinFIR,40arrestsandan the protesting farmers. echo in Lok Sabha — Tibbi, a The clash was intense — town in Rajasthan’s Hanuman- protesters vandalised and set garh district, this week became ablaze several vehicles, while ground zero for a protest that police fired teargas shells and brought farmers used lathi charge to PAGE 1 from several north bring them under Indian states tocontrol. A Congress gether against the MLA, Abhimanyu construction of an ethanol Poonia, who was at the site to plant. Their fear: the plant support the agitating farmers, wouldpollutegroundwaterand was injured. hinder farming in one of RajasThe plant’s management than’s most fertile areas. filed a complaint, following The past week saw a clash which an FIR was registered between police and protesters against 273 people. The Tibbi Tibbi (Hanumangarh), December 13 anchor Protesters in Tibbi town of Hanumangarh district. PARUL KULSHRESTHA Circle Officer also filed a suo motu FIR against 108 people. As many as 40 people have been arrested, including two Congress MLAs, former MLAs and farmer leaders. One of the farmer leaders, Jagjit Singh Jaggi, said another mahapanchayat would be held on December 17 under the banner of the All-India Kisan Sabha and the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, where leaders such as Rakesh Tikait are expected, along with protesters from Punjab,HaryanaandUttarPradesh. On Friday night, however, the protest was “suspended” after the farmers and the administration reached a “consensus” on key issues. The mahapanchayat, though, will proceed as planned, farmers said. Theproposed40-megawatt grain-based ethanol plant is being constructed by Dune Ethanol Private Limited, a Chandigarh-headquartered company that was incorpor- ated in 2020. While the company says it will support the Centre’s ethanol-blended petrol (EBP) programme, locals, especially farmers, apprehend itwillleadtopollution,particularly affecting groundwater. Company officials were unavailable for comment despite repeated attempts, but governmentofficialsassuredtheplant would not cause pollution. “The factory was constructed after taking an NOC (no objection certificate) from the pollution control department and the state groundwater department. This is a ‘zero liquid discharge’ factory, where the wastewater, including all the industrial effluent, will be treated, recovered, and reused within the plant. This will leave no discharge to surface water or soil. When the rules are clearly stated and when the company has agreed toit,thisissueisbeingraisedfor political gain,” said an official who did not wish to be identified. Political slugfest Rajasthan ministers Sumit Godara and Jogaram Patel allege the protest was being orchestratedbythegovernment’s political opponents. “This has been made a political issue by Congress leaders. This is not a farmers’ protest, but something orches- tratedbytheOpposition,which wants to create tension in the area. The government is ready for dialogue and will consider all legitimate demands, but people should not take the law intotheirhands,”saidJogaram Patel. Agriculture Minister Kirodi Lal Meena said on Thursday thatthelandforthefactorywas allotted after an MoU was signed during the previous Congressgovernment’stenure, but the same party’s MLAs are now “leading the farmers in an attack on the plant”. Meanwhile, MPs Hanuman Beniwal of the RLP and Kuldeep Indora of the Congress »CONTINUED ON PAgE 2