The Editorial Page: The rupee problem this time is different. The solution must be, too 10 MoNDAY, MAY 25, 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 expressinvestigation delhi’s killer dust Dust is one villain in Delhi’s pollution story, its levels don’t depend on weather and it makes up over a third of the fine particles that clog lungs, inflame blood vessels. The good news is it can be controlled. The bad news, as an investigation by The Indian Express of a year’s civic records reveals, the city’s fleet of sweeping machines is 80% short — and what exists barely scrapes the surface soMe bUMPs As U.s. MoDernisinG MiGrAtion systeM, trADe AGreeMent to be siGneD soon, sAys rUbio US-India strategic alliance, global influence: Rubio Asked about ties with Pakistan, US Secy of State says: We work at tactical level shubhajit roy New Delhi, May 24 a mechanical road sweeping machine in govindpuri. Just five of the 52 designated mrsm routes account for nearly 18% of their total running and sweeping distance. TAShI TObGyAL sophiya Mathew, Drishti Jain & Kaunain sheriff M New Delhi, May 24 AS PollUtion starts tightening its grip around the national capital again, triggering Stage i of the city’s graded Response Action Plan (gRAP), the only thing more predictable than Delhi’s toxic air is the discourse around it. every talking head points to the weather, the geography, the cars. What few talk about is where all the agencies have dropped the ball. it’s that four-letterwordinthepollution story: dust. DustiswhataccountsforPM 10 and PM 2.5 — the fine, lethal particulate matter that clogs lungsandsneaksintothebloodstream. Dust is what remains in the air, irrespective of weather. Andunliketheweather,itisthe one villain most easy to fix. ontheground,however,the reality is different. The Indian Express investigatedoneyear’srecords,March 2025 to March 2026, of daily movement logs of Delhi’s key weaponagainstdust,theMechanicalRoadSweepingMachine (MRSM).Usinggeospatialmapping and route-level analysis, a dashboard was created to track Was your neighbourhood dusted? Track cleaner on this dashboard explained the 4-letter word that everyone in delhi needs to know sophiya Mathew, Drishti Jain & shijith P Kunhitty New Delhi, May 24 Page 9 52geo-taggedMRSMsmanaged bytheMunicipalCorporationof Delhi (MCD) — the largest fleet in the capital — across 12 months. the investigation, based on coverage, frequency and concentration of mechanised sweeping across seasons and municipal zones, found thatthecapital’sclean-upinfrastructure barely scrubbed the city’s surface. indeed, the investigation found, these machines cover a fraction of the city, with a fleet thatisvastlyunderpowered:just 76 in all, including 52 run by the MCD, during a majority of the periodexaminedbyTheIndian Express.thisisashortfallof429 machines from the 505 recommended by the Centre to the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM). »ContinUeD on PAGe 7 HoW MUCH of Delhi is covered by Mechanical Road Sweeping Machines (MRSM)? Which roads are covered, which are missed? Most importantly, is your ward covered? theanswersarenowatyour fingertips — on a new, interactive dashboard available ex- this was a process inclusively at www.involving many layers: dianexpress.com. the geo-coordinates, timedashboard covers all 12 stamps, vehicle iDs, zones of the Municipal route iDs and gPS Corporation of Delhi points. (MCD) across 250 SCAN ThE l in the next step, wards. QR CODE TO Here’s how the ACCESS ThE route-level data points DAShbOARD — distance travelled, dashboard was made: l MRSM routes duration, and vehicle across 52 weeks, availspeed — were analysed able on the MCD’s live portal, and integrated to build a wereplottedontheofficialmap measurable dataset. of Delhi using google earth. »ContinUeD on PAGe 7 Seeking to repair ties between india and the United States — which he described as a “strategic alliance between two countries that have global influence and the ability to influence global events” — visiting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday addressed new Delhi’s concerns on challenges over the past year — fromtradetariffstovisarestrictions and changes in immigration policies to Washington’s close ties with Pakistan’s military leadership. Rubio underlined that the changes “whether trade tariffs or visa curbs” were not targeted atindia,butwerebeingapplied globally. Saying that the US was intheprocessof“modernising” its “migration system”, he said there may be “bumps” during thisperiodoftransition,butthe “destination” would be a more efficientsystem.Healsosaidthe two sides were “on the verge” of winding up a trade agreement that would be “beneficial to both” and “sustainable”. Addressing a press conferencewithexternalAffairsMinister S Jaishankar, Rubio »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 New Delhi, May 24 SHoRtly AfteR nightfall, under dim yellow streetlights, a convoy of mechanical roadsweeping machines rolls out of a small parking dock next to Delhi's iconic Jawaharlal More inside Page 7 new fleet, routes, aPP: mcd’s Plan to clean uP its act nehru Stadium. Seven of them line up, engines idling, before heading out to clear road dust across key roads in the capital's Central Zone for the night. this is the largest such fleet under the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in any single zone. these machines formthecapital’slastlineofdefence in its desperate fight against dust, one of the biggest »ContinUeD on PAGe 7 inside Page 3 mamata slams govt ‘bulldozer Politics’, questions mandate the West Bengal Dg and igPs. the order included the “procedure to be followed for deportation of Bangladeshi/ Rohingya apprehended for stayingillegallyinthiscountry”. “in this connection, it is requestedtotakeinitiative/appropriate action for setting up of Holding Centres in the district for apprehended foreigners as well as for the released foreign sweety Kumari Kolkata, May 24 tHe WeSt Bengal governmenthasorderedthesettingup of “holding centres” across all 23districtsinthestateforBangladesh nationals and Rohingya people found to be illegally stayinginthecountry,aheadof their deportation. the state’s Home and Hill Affairs Department issued the order, dated May 23, to all District Magistrates and copied it tosuperintendentsofpolice,all police commissionerates, the foreigners Regional Registration office (fRRo), as well as nation Joining An event hosted by the US embassy here to celebrate the 250th anniversary of America’s independence Day, USPresidentDonaldtrump,in a a live phone call on Sunday, assured his “100 per cent” support to india. “i love india... i love the Prime Minister. (narendra) Modi is great. He’s my friend, andijustwanttosayavery,very goodeveningtoeverybodythis business as usual By EP UNNY »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 ‘I don’t see India-Pakistan players shaking hands, as of now... our tradition is namaste’ MithUn MAnhAs bCCI PRESIDENT from the contest on the last day of campaign. the CPi(M) finished second. falta is part of tMC secondin-command Abhishek Banerjee’s Diamond Harbour lok Sabha constituency and had provided him a lead of 1.68 lakh votesinthe2024parliamentary elections.theparty’svote-share in falta was 89%, which has come down to 3.7% this time. inDiA HAS finalised the letter of Request (loR) for the procurement of 114 Rafale fighter jets for the iAf and is expected tosendittofrance“verysoon”, within the “next few weeks”, The Indian Express has learnt. Around 90 jets from this set of114aretobemanufacturedin india through a collaboration between the french manufacturer Dassault Aviation and an indian company, while the rest willarriveinfly-awaycondition. Senior officials said that soon after france responds to the loR, india will formalise the Request for Proposal (RfP) for acquisition. An loR is a formal government-to-government document used to initiate such procurement, under the foreign MilitarySales(fMS)orintergovernmental Agreement (igA) route,outliningthecapabilities, quantities and technical requirements needed. in such procurements, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) first grants its approval, following which the loR is issued. once the foreign governmentresponds,mentioningthe price, availability and logistical support,negotiationstakeplace between the two sides. the CabinetCommitteeonSecurity (CCS) has to grant approval beforethefinalcontractissigned. in this case, the loR came three months after the DAC cleared the long-awaited proposal to buy the Rafales under an inter-governmental deal. iAf Chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh is scheduled to visit franceearlynextmonthbefore Prime Minister narendra Modi visits later in June. the iAf already operates 36 Rafales, and the navy is set to induct 26 Rafale M aircraft for carrieroperationsoverthenext few years. the procurement of additional Rafales will help lvictims across country, app was developed by 31-year-old software engineer Page 4 Howhecouldbesotakenin, therefore, still confounds him. “iwasfooleddespitelookingup foRtHelastfewyears,Arvind the mobile app online,” gupta gupta would spend hours on recalls. stocktradingsites,usingtheinyet, 28-year-old gupta come to help supcountshimselflucky, page 1 since he was able to port his young family. A salesman escape “relatively at a rexine manufaclightly”. He also turing and import company, helped bust an elaborate fake gupta was no novice: having trading racket. started investing in financial in May, the Delhi Police armarkets five years ago, he rested three people — software thought he knew how to spot engineer Ravi Rathore, cricket an investment fraud. coach Sudama, and call centre New Delhi, May 24 happening today lUnion Minister Piyush Go- yal will visit Canada to advance talks on the India-Canada Comprehensive Economic & Partnership Agreement. bJp supporters celebrate the repoll win in falta. ExPRESS »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 Rs 10,000 complaint unravels Rs 100-crore algorithmic trading scam Alok singh ucc won’t aPPly to tribals: shah »ContinUeD on PAGe 2 tHe BJP on Sunday swept the repollinWestBengal’sfaltaAssembly seat with a victory margin of 1.09 lakh votes. the trinamool Congress (tMC) slipped to fourth place in its former stronghold and forfeited its deposit after its candidate did not put up a fight and announced his “withdrawal” New Delhi, May 24 New Delhi, May 24 Bengal to set up ‘holding centres’ for BJP wins Falta by over 1 lakh votes; illegal Bangla immigrants, Rohingya CPM second, TMC forfeits deposit ravik bhattacharya shubhajit roy Amrita nayak Dutta Page 14 Kolkata, May 24 India can count on me 100%... anything India wants, they get: Trump India finalises request letter for 114 Rafales, to send it to France soon Inside a night shift that sweeps the capital: ‘It feels like I have fainted’ sophiya Mathew & Drishti Jain us secretary of state marco rubio with minister of external affairs s Jaishankar in new delhi, sunday. AP anchor operator Vikas Rathore — for allegedly swindling over 600 people, including gupta, into investingmorethanRs90crore through their fraudulent trading platform. the arrests came a month after gupta filed a police complaint at the Central District CyberpolicestationinDelhifor investment fraud. for law-enforcement agencies already grappling with pervasive “digital arrest” scams, cyber investment frauds such as this — in which l luredwithlucrativeoffers FrAUDsters listeD the app, TRADEMAKERALGO, on Google Play Store lUreD PeoPle with lucrative offers, claiming to be an automated platform where users would have to pay lower fees and no service tax 636 viCtiM ACCoUnts and nearly 14,232 transactions amounting to Rs 99.77 crore linked to the app, say police Kolkata fraudsters lure unsuspecting investors with promises of higher returns — are now emerging as a major challenge. “in digital arrest scams, the fraudsters generally manipulate their targets emotionally and even threaten them. But in this case, they exploited greed, cheating multiple people on the same platform. of the total financial frauds in the country, around 65-70% are related to investment schemes,” one officer tells The Indian Express. Belonging to a family of farmers in Uttar Pradesh’s gonda, gupta, a Class 12 graduate, began working as a rexine salesman in Central Delhi in 2022.Heliveswithhisfamily— wife and two sons aged 5 and 2. His job earned him Rs 18,000 a month, and with rent and household expenses mounting, gupta began looking for other avenues of income. it was then that a friend introduced him to stock trading, and soon gupta began trading — cautiously at first, and then »ContinUeD on PAGe 2