The Editorial Page: From Licence Raj to Jan Vishwas, what we need to set our entrepreneurs free 10 SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2025 JOuRNALISM of COuRAGE jAIPUR, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES ₹6.00 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 POSTAL REGN. NO. JAIPUR CITY/001/2024-26 Happening today lLIONEL MESSI begins his GOAT India Tour 2025, which will take the football legend to Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi over three days. The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner will start his trip from Kolkata. TRACK THESE AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPREss.cOm AIRLINE cEO, TOP OffIcIALS APPEAR BEfORE REGULATOR’S INqUIRY PANEL Oversight on IndiGo under scanner, DGCA sacks 4 flight ops inspectors Airline turns to former FAA advisor to review disruptions in schedule Sukalp Sharma New Delhi, December 12 PARlIAmENT p7 RAHUL SEEkS DEbATE ON AIR pOLLUTION, GOvT SAYS READY INTHEwakeofthemassivedisruption in IndiGo’s flight operations last week, aviation regulatorDirectorateGeneralofCivil Aviation (DGCA) has sacked fourflightoperationsinspectors (FOIs)whowereresponsiblefor oversight on the airline and its preparation for the new pilot rest and duty duration rules. ThefourFOIs,engagedwith the DGCA on contract basis, have been relieved with immediate effect to join their respective parent organisations, according to an order by the regulator. The DGCA named the four FOIs, whose services with the regulator have been terminated, as Deputy Chief FOI Rishi Raj Chatterjee, Senior FOI Seema Jhamnani, and FOIs Anil Kumar Pokhriyal and Priyam Kaushik. Questions have been raised from different quarters on the DGCA’s oversight on IndiGo following last week’s spate of flight cancellations and delays that severely impacted tens of thousands of passengers. This could mark the beginning of government and »cONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IndiGo capable... Govt to monitor them very closely, says Naidu Liz Mathew New Delhi, December 12 STEPPINGINafterdisruptions in IndiGo flight operations left thousands stranded at airports across the country last week, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said Friday that though he is satisfied with the progressmadeinrestoringnormalcy, the government will now closely monitor IndiGo operations. Acknowledgingthatthecivil aviation sector needs reforms, keeping passenger interest as priority, he said the challenge is ExPREss interview KRAMMOHANNAIDU CIVIL AVIATION MINISTER to bring in more aircraft fast. InaninterviewwithTheIndian Express, Naidu said, “Things are back to normal, all operations have stabilised and IndiGo is operating up to more than 1,950 flights. All the destinations are properly connected. So at the airport side and the passenger side, there is no problem. And for the passengerswhohavebeenaffected during the peak of the crisis, issues are being addressed. To a large extent, refunds and rebookings have been closed. Since the time (given) is until December 15, that process will continue for three more days.” “IndiGo has been one of the »cONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Follow America First strategy, visiting USTR officials told US tech companies In FY25, average employment days per household under scheme was just 50 Harikishan Sharma New Delhi, December 12 Underline the need to prioritise capex investments in America US Deputy Trade Representative Rick Switzer (centre) and Assistant Trade Representative Brendan Lynch (second from right) during the USIBC-USTR industry roundtable earlier this week. X/@USIBC Soumyarendra Barik & Ravi Dutta Mishra New Delhi, December 12 IN DISCUSSIONS with American companies during the course of their two-day visit to India, officials from a visiting United States Trade Representative (USTR) delegation are learnt to have nudged these companies to follow an “America First” strategy. They were also urged to direct a substantive part of their investments in sectors such as technology and artificial intelligencetotheUSandfocus on creating meaningful jobs, rather than outsourcing those to foreign workers. A US trade team led by Deputy US Trade Representative Rick Switzer and Brendan Lynch, the US chief negotiator for the trade deal with India, wasinDelhiearlierthisweekto ironoutdifferencesinthelongpending bilateral trade agreement (BTA) between the two countries. During two meetings with American tech companies and »cONTINUED ON PAGE 2 business as Usual By EP UNNY THE BIG PICTURE Macaulay and a medical college pAGE 17 100 to 125 days: MNREGA scheme to get name change President’s Prayer in Manipur President Droupadi Murmu at Bijoy Govindajee Temple in Imphal on Friday. On a two-day visit to Manipur, Murmu spoke at a reception programme in Senapati district and also launched various developmental projects. ANI India out of US-led coalition on critical minerals supply chain Ravi Dutta Mishra New Delhi, December 12 A NEW US-led strategic initiative, Pax Silica, which aims to build a secure supply chain ranging from critical minerals and energy inputs to advanced manufacturing and semiconductors,doesnotincludeIndia. This comes at a time when an India-US trade deal remains elusive despite several highlevel talks and rounds of technical negotiations. Delhi has been vying for opportunities during the ongoing global supply chain realignmentasUSandEuropeancompanies are looking to diversify away from China. The West’s diversification push has gath- E. ExPlAINED Countering China’s dominance PaxSilicaisaUS-ledinitiative tocounterChina’sdominanceinnewagesectors.It aimstoreducewhatUScalls “coercivedependencies”and protectmaterialsandcapabilities“foundationaltoartificialintelligence”,and“ensurealignednationscan developanddeploytransformativetechnologiesatscale”. ered pace, especially after China imposed restrictions on rare earth magnets, disrupting global supply chains. A US Department of State statement said the inaugural Pax Silica Summit convenes counterparts from Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Australia. “Together, these countries are home to the most important companies and investors powering the global AI supply chain,” the statement said. Pax Silica is a US-led strategic initiative to build a “secure, prosperous, and innovation-driven silicon supply chain”—fromcriticalminerals and energy inputs to advanced »cONTINUED ON PAGE 2 l Approvedbycabinet THE GOVERNMENT may finalisearevampoftheMahatma GandhiNationalRuralGuaranteeActandincreasethenumber of guaranteed employment daystoeligibleruralhouseholds from 100 now to 125. The Union Cabinet discussed the proposal to expand the scheme and also to change the name of the law itself to PujyaBapuRuralEmployment Guarantee Act, sources in the government said. While the law guaranteed jobs for 100 days, the average days of employment provided per household under the scheme was just about 50 days in 2024-25. In fact, the number of households completing 100 days stood at 40.70 lakh last year. In the current financialyear,only6.74lakhfamilies have hit the 100-day ceiling. The proposal comes on the back of an approval process already initiated by the government for continuation of the schemeintheSixteenthFinance Commission awards which will be effective April 1, 2026. Rs 11,718 cR for Census 2027 A BILL to set up a higher educa- tion regulator which will replace bodies such as UGC and AICTE A BILL to raise FDI in the insurance sector to 100 per cent A BILL to open nuclear energy sector to private players pAGES 6, 15 In2022,acommitteeconstituted by the Ministry of Rural Development, which administerstheMNREGS,wastasked to study the performance of states and issues related to the scheme’s governance. The committee had submitted its report last year. The NREGA was enacted in 2005, and was renamed by the then UPA government as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act with effect from October 2, 2009.Accordingtosources,the NDA government will have to amendthelawtorenameitand increase the number of »cONTINUED ON PAGE 2 25 PEOPLE DIED IN BLAZE ON DEcEMBER 6 Under scrutiny: A string of approvals behind Goa nightclub theincidentsothataccountability can be fixed. According to documents, M/S Being GS Hospitality Goa ArporaLLP,whichoperatesthe the local panchayat in Arpora restaurant and has Saurabh and government departments Luthra,GauravLuthraandAjay so that Birch by Romeo Lane Gupta as partners, entered into couldoperate.The a licence agreeapprovals include ment with the ExPREss trade, excise and property owner, food safety liceSurinder Kumar nces; a pollution Khosla, on Nobody nod; and three no-objec- vember28,2023,toleaseaproption certificates. ertycalled‘CordonichoAgor’at AninquiryheadedbyNorth Sankwadi Arpora measuring Goa district magistrate and col- 31,200 square metres. lectorAnkitYadavisexamining »cONTINUED ON PAGE 2 From food safety licences to pollution body clearance and three NOCs Pavneet Singh chadha Panaji, December 12 WITH THE fatal fire at a Goa nightclub putting the spotlight on whether government departments had been lax in issuingapprovalsandprompting the chief minister to say errant officials would face action, documentsaccessedbyTheIndian Express show that at least seven approvals were given by exclusive l SIxTEEN MONTHS AFTER SHE qUIT FOLLOWING DISqUALIFICATION FROM PARIS OLYMPICS ‘Will tell my son, I did this’: Vinesh back on wrestling mat, eyes LA Olympics Mihir Vasavda the Paris Olympics, where she was disqualified for missing weight — said Friday that she LAST YEAR in Paris, wrestler has returned to the mat. “I don’t think I am over it Vinesh Phogat walked away fromthematintears—broken, yet,” Vinesh told The Indian empty, undone. She didn’t just Express, referring to Paris, lose an Olympic medal, she whereshehadenteredthefinal ofthe50kgeventbut came home with a PAGE 1 was disqualified on brutal heartbreak the day of the bout and announced her after weighing 100 retirement. Sixteenmonthslater,India’s gramsoverthelimit.“ButIdidgutsiest athlete — who took on n’t want it to be my end.” Vinesh, 31, said she has rethesystem,thentookdownthe world’s best wrestler in her cat- sumed training and is “stepegory and reached the final of ping back toward Los Angeles Mumbai, December 12 anchor 2028 with a heart that’s unafraid and a spirit that refuses tobow.”Butthebiggestmotivation behind her comeback, she said, is the thought of her fourmonth-old son, Kridhav, her “little cheerleader” as she calls him, one day watching her compete — and win. “It’ll be an amazing feeling if my son, who will be three by the time of the LA Olympics, canwatchmeplayatabigtournamentandwatchmewin,”Vineshsaid.“Youknow,Iimagine a scenario where, if I’m there at the 2028 Olympics, he’ll turn to Before she can again compete internationally, Vinesh Phogat, 31, will have to navigate the domestic selection trials. FILE me and say, ‘Arey mummy, kuch toh kar lo yaar!’ (Mom, come on, do something)”. While she competed in the 50kg category in Paris, Vinesh islikelytowrestleinthe53kgor 57kg weight class when she returns to competition in 2026. The year will be a busy one for India’swrestlers,withtheAsian Championships scheduled for April, the Asian Games in September and the World Championships in October. Before she can compete internationally, Vinesh will have to navigate the domestic selecJaipur tion trials. It’s a long road ahead, but she seems unfazed. “The path to Paris wasn’t straightforwardeither,”Vinesh said, adding that her primary focus now is to get back to full fitness. When asked about Vinesh’s return, Sanjay Singh, president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), said, “She is welcome to compete again.” “I want to assure that there won’t be any discrimination against anyone. As long as the rules and selection criteria of the federation are followed, everyone is welcome,” the WFI chief told The Indian Express over phone from Naranpura, Ahmedabad, where the National Championships got underway Friday. Incidentally, the venue of the Nationals — Veer Savarkar Sports Complex — has life-size portraits of the former WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, a former MP facing trial in a Delhi court after some of the country's top women wrestlersaccusedhimofsexual harassment in 2023. Vinesh »cONTINUED ON PAGE 2