The Editorial Page: Look beyond strategic autonomy, and closer at the Quad possibility 10 WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2026 JournAliSM of CourAge kolkATA, lATE cITy, 20 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 lPrime minister Narendra Modi will hold bilateral talks with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni in Rome. lFacebook owner meta is expected to start laying off 10% of its staff as part of an overhaul as it surges its AI investments. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com the ideas page p 11 iNdiA ANd iTAly look ToThEfUTUrE,boUNd by powEr of CUlTUrE ANd A shArEd visioN BY PM NArENDrA MODI AND ITALY PM GIOrGIA MELONI GroUPinG to meet sePtember 12-13 wHat maDe nationaL testinG aGency Look witHin All Chemistry questions in ‘guess paper’ matched with those in actual NEET exam E. Based on own probe, NTA referred names of Chemistry paper-setters and translators to CBI abhinaya Harigovind New Delhi, May 19 A 100% MATCH of Chemistry questions in the ‘guess paper’ with the actual neeT paper is what led the national Testing Agency to look within and then zero in on the source pool of the leak.Basedonitsinternalprobe, the nTA referred the names of all Chemistry paper setters and translators to the Central Bureauofinvestigation(CBi)for further examination, sources close to the development said. According to the sources, four days after the nationwide neeT exam on May 3, the nTA had on May 7 received an email from a whistleblower in Sikar. This whistleblower had first mailed information about the leak to the nTA, and subse- explained putting its own house in order Union education minister dharmendra Pradhan chairs a review meeting on the neeT (UG) retest, in new delhi, Tuesday. PTI quently shared the pdf of the leaked paper. Upon comparing itwiththeactualpaper,thenTA found that 100% of the Chemistry questions were leaked, and »continUeD on PaGe 2 The NTA is increasing its institutional strength. Besides getting four officers, two of Joint Secretary rank and two of Joint Director rank, the agency has advertised for appointing contract professionals, including a Chief Technology Officer, a Chief Financial Officer and a Chief Human Resource Officer. Xi and Putin likely to be in Delhi for BricS meet business as Usual By EP UNNY SC cites citizen’s right to move freely, allows euthanasia of ‘rabid, dangerous’ stray dogs Dayaftersc’s reminderon bailrule,Umar khalid’splea rejected sohini Ghosh New Delhi, May 19 AdAyaftertheSupremeCourt, whileunderliningthatbailisthe rule and jail an exception even in UAPA cases, expressed “serious reservations” on the decisionofoneofitsownbenchesto deny bail to activist Umar Khalidinthe2020delhiriotscase,a delhicourtTuesdaydeclinedto grant him interim bail. Khalidhadsoughtbailtoobserve a death ritual of his uncle and to take care of his mother who is due to undergo surgery. Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Sameer Bajpai of the KarkardoomaCourt,whileturning down the interim bail request, held that “attending the Chehlum ceremony (observed on the 40th day after death) of hisuncleisnotthatnecessary”, and that “things would have been different if the ceremony was of a person who was in immediate relation” with Khalid. “... if the relation was so immediate and thick, (Khalid) would have asked for the release at the time of death of his uncle only and not now after suchalongtime.Therefore,the court does not find his reason to be just,” ASJ Bajpai said. declining any relief on the grounds of his mother’s surgery,thecourtobservedthathe has five sisters, and though they do not live in the vicinity, »continUeD on PaGe 2 rElATEd rEporT, pAgE 5 Dismisses pleas against direction on relocation of stray canines ananthakrishnan G New Delhi, May 19 UndeRlininG THAT the right to live with dignity under Article 21 includes the right to move in public spaces without fear of dog bites, the Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed euthanasiaofstraydogsiftheyare “rabid, incurably ill or demonstrablydangerous/aggressive”, in accordance with the existing rules and laws. dismissing applications challengingthecourt’snovember 2025 directions on dealing with stray dogs, a three-judge benchofJusticesVikramnath, Sandeep Mehta and n V Anjaria said: “The right to live with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution of india necessarily encompasses the right of everycitizentomovefreelyand access public spaces without living under a constant appre- The Big PicTure explained sUmmit Voices concern oVer cHanGinG worLD orDer China President’s last visit to India was in Oct 2019, months before LAC standoff pAgE 9 shubhajit roy qUEsTioNs of righT To lifE, CompAssioN To liviNg bEiNgs hension of physical harm, attack, or exposure to life-threateningevents,suchas dog bites in public areas.” “in areas where the population of stray dogs has assumed alarming proportions and where incidents of dog bites or aggressiveattackshavebecome frequentandposeacontinuing threat to public safety, the concernedauthoritiesmay,subject to due assessment by qualified veterinary experts, and strictly in accordance with the provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, theAnimalBirthControl(ABC) Rules and other applicable statutory protocols, take such measuresasmaybelegallypermissible,includingeuthanasia, in cases involving rabid, incurably ill or demonstrably dangerous/ aggressive dogs so as to effectively curb the threat »continUeD on PaGe 2 New Delhi, May 19 Prime minister narendra modi with (from left) norway Pm Jonas Gahr store, Finland Pm Petteri orpo, sweden Pm Ulf kristersson, iceland Pm kristrun Frostadottir and denmark Pm mette Frederiksen at the nordic-indian summit at the city hall in oslo, norway, Tuesday. AP shubhajit roy New Delhi, May 19 ASindiAandnordiccountries agreed to transform ties into a GreenTechnologyPartnership, leadersofallsixcountriesTuesday flagged concerns over glo- manish sahu Lucknow, May 19 bihAr’s powErplAy pAgE 14 RUSSiAn PReSidenT Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are likely to attend the new delhi summit of BRiCS leaders on September 12 and 13, sources told TheIndian Express Tuesday. it is learnt that the Russian andtheChinesesideshaveconveyed to new delhi that their leaders are likely to come for the summit. Putin’spresenceatthesummit was confirmed by Russian officials, according to Russian news agency TASS. He will also be attending the Shanghai CooperationOrganizationsummit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on August 31 and September 1. Prime Minister narendra Modi too is likelytoattendtheSCOsummit. Sources said Xi’s participationintheBRiCSSummitisthe most anticipated visit. it will be his first visit to india after October 2019 when he was at Mamallapuram near Chennai for the second informal summit of india-China leaders. Bilateral ties between india and China dived after a border standoff began in April-May 2020. The process of stabilisation of ties began after Modi »continUeD on PaGe 2 Green tech to innovation, India elevates ties with Nordic nations In Bengal, new norms for slaughter spread PM: Nordic expertise, India’s talent can confusion and fear develop trusted solutions for world bal tensions and turbulence in the international order. Prime Minister narendra Modi said india and the nordic nations will continue to stand together in upholding a “rules-based global order”. After the third india-nordic Suvendu aide murder case: CBI arrests 5th suspect from Varanasi AdAyafterarrestingthefourth suspect in connection with the killing of West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s personal assistant, Chandranath Rath, the Central Bureau of investigation (CBi) Tuesday arrested another suspect from Varanasi, officials said. Officials said the arrested russian President Vladimir Putin with chinese Foreign minister Wang Yi after arriving in Beijing, Tuesday. REuTERs The World, P 12 The suspect being produced at a court in Barasat, north 24 Parganas district, Tuesday. PTI man, identified as 40-year-old Vinay Rai alias Pumpum Rai, originally hails from the Zamani area of Ghazipur. Police said Rai has three criminal cases registered against him in Ghazipur, including one for attempt to murder. As per information, officials said Rai had relocated to Varanasi several years ago, where he was engaged in property »continUeD on PaGe 2 summitinOslo,Modisaid,“We have decided to shape the india-nordic relationship into a strategic partnership focused on green technology and innovation. Through this Green Technology Partnership, by combining iceland’s expertise in geothermal energy and fisheries,norway’sstrengthsin theblueeconomyandArcticaffairs, and the maritime and »continUeD on PaGe 2 west bengal at his cowshed in south 24 Parganas, sadhan Ghosh says he planned to sell the cows to repay a loan: ‘But that looks difficult now’. PARThA PAul ravik bhattacharya Bhangar, May 19 NoTiCEs AgAiNsT 17 propErTiEs of AbhishEk TmClEAdErfrom fAlTA‘wiThdrAws’ bEforErEpoll pAgE3 STAndinGneARhiscowshed in Ghoshpara in Bhangar, South24Parganas(about28km from Kolkata), Sadhan Ghosh says he is running out of options.HetookaloanofRs5lakh fromalocalmoneylenderat4% interest rate, and hoped to repay it by selling nine of the 10 cows he owns. That looks diffi- cultfornow,Ghoshsays.Meanwhile, “every day, i am spending Rs 500 per cow on fodder”. About 15 minutes drive from Ghoshpara is Polerhat Goru Haat (Polerhat cow market). On any given day, nearly 2,000 cows would be bought and sold here, especially ahead of Bakr-i-eid, which is falling this year on May 27-28. These days, the ground holds barely »continUeD on PaGe 2 l her hUsBand, noW an accUsed, had a markedlY diFFerenT ProFessional UniVerse; a GradUaTe From a ToP laW school, he descriBed himselF as an indePendenT liTiGaTor Miss Pune, promising actor, MBA graduate: The Twisha Sharma story anand mohan J, Drishti Jain & ananya shetty campaigns and regional cinema. Friends remember her as Bhopal, Noida, Pune, May 19 “intensely social and ambitious”. Her linkedin profile inSiX MOnTHS beforeherdeath, dicates parallel ambitions as a TwishaSharma(33)wasposting marketing professional, comphotographs from office meet- munications specialist, actor, ings,filmsetsandairports,alife filmmaker, and digital creator. stitched together from modell“She was a dynamic lady,” ingassignments,corher father, navnidhi page 1 porate presentations Sharma, told TheInandtheoptimismofa dian Express. “She recent marriage. did presentations in Twisha moved through sev- Malaysia and indonesia. She eral careers. She entered mod- worked in advertisements. We elling circuits as a teenager be- are getting condolence messtween 2009 and 2012, agesfromBollywoodactorsand eventually winning the Miss people across the country.” Pune title, a recognition that On May 12, Twisha was opened doors to advertising found dead at her matrimonial anchor home in Bhopal’s Katara Hills area. Her husband, advocate SamarthSingh,andmother-inlaw, retired district judge Giribala Singh, have since been booked. Twisha graduated with a BBA from indira College in Pune and later did an MBA from nMiMS Centre for distance and Online education in 2024. Bythetimeofherdeath,she had rejoined dAdB Germany’s delhi office as a communications and onboarding manager after the company briefly shut down operations. Before that, she had worked in marketing roleswithprivatefirms,includ- Twisha sharma and samarth singh married in december 2025. ingFlavorPotFoods.Alongside corporate work, she continued acting assignments, appearing in the Telugu film Mugguru Monagalluand the Hindi short film Zara Sambhal Kay. Friendsalsodescribeherasa certified yoga instructor and a Vipassana practitioner. Her social media included motivational captions, travel photographsandoccasionalglimpses offilmshoots.Actorandpodcast hostSwetaaVarma,whoworked withherinMugguruMonagallu, wrote after her death: “Though our interaction was brief, we shared some fun conversations andalotoflaughter.Shecarried such positive energy.” According to a relative, she hadfeaturedinadvertisements for influential beauty brands and travelled to Australia for a filmshootjustbeforetheCovid19 pandemic. “She would send us photos and videos from her set… telling us to promote the Kolkata film when it was released,” her cousin, Priyanka Sharma, recalled. “She was ambitious, steadfast. When the Covid lockdown hit, she switched jobs and took up a marketing gig for an MnC… She used to visit colleges and deliver speeches as part of her job,” said Priyanka, describing her as “perfect”. Priyanka, who lives in Ahmedabad, rushed to noida upon hearing the news on May 14. On Tuesday, she and her mother, dr Madhu Sharma, held placards outside the family’s residence in Gaur City, demanding justice for Twisha. “Tuktuk (as Twisha was af- fectionately called) has always showeredloveandcaretowards everyone,” recalled Priyanka. “When i was pregnant, she would order ice cream for me.” Originally from Uttar Pradesh’sHathras,Twisha’sfamily first moved to Pune, where she completed her school and graduation. When the family moved to noida, she expressed interest in modelling and discussed it with them before pursuing it. “She was very strong and bold, and was always present for people,” said Priyanka. “i met her last during her younger brother’s wedding in March… she had lost a lot of »continUeD on PaGe 2