8 The Editorial Page: Census is about who we are. It cannot ignore migration, caste FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2025 JOURNALISM of COURAgE AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES ₹5.00 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 Happening today lRESERVE BANK OF INDIA Governor Sanjay Malhotra will announce the Monetary Policy Committee’s interest rate decision at 10 am. With the MPC having last cut the repo rate in June, economists expect another rate cut today amid record low inflation and growth potentially weakening in the near future. Malhotra and his Deputy Governors will also hold a press conference at 12 noon. lUNION HOME and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah will be in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, on Friday. He is scheduled to take part in a number of public functions including concluding function of a summit organised by NABARD and Internet and Mobile Association of India in Gandhinagar and concluding ceremony of Sansad Khel Mahotsav in Ahmedabad. TRACK THESE AND MORE ON WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM Business as Usual By EP UNNY RUSSIAN PRESIDENT ON STATE VISIT, FIRST SINCE START OF UKRAINE WAR Modi-Putin talks today: Strategic economic 2030 roadmap likely On table: Defence ware, manpower pact, Eurasian Economic Union FTA, Arctic shipbuilding Express News Service New Delhi, December 4 THE SUPREME Court said Thursday that Booth Level Officers assigned to carry out Special Intensive Revision (SIR) cannot shirk their duty, but added that state governments are obligated to provide substitutes if BLOs are overworked. Chief Justice of India Surya Kant made the remarks while hearingapetitionfiledbyactor Vijay’s party Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK), seeking payment of compensation for BLOs who have taken their lives, “on account of unreasonable workloads, and mental/ physical/ emotional stresses faced by them to complete the distribution and processing of enumeration forms as part of the SIR exercise”. Presiding over a two-judge bench, also comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi, CJI Surya Kant said, “There is an obligation on the part of the employee. They cannot run away from that. There are officers who go from one state to another for conducting CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 As flight disruptions continue, how IndiGo hit perfect storm: New rules, crew shortage Shubhajit Roy New Delhi, December 4 RUSSIAN PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin, who reached New Delhi Thursday evening on a two-day state visit, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are likelytounveiladeclarationfor the Development of Strategic Areas of India-Russia Economic Cooperation until 2030, move forward on a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union, seal a labour mobility agreement and team up on Arctic shipbuilding, The Indian Express has learnt. In a special gesture indicating the close ties between the twocountriesandtheirleaders, ModireceivedPutinatDelhiairport. They also met for a private dinner at the Prime Minister’s Lok Kalyan Marg residence. PresentingacopyoftheGita in Russian to Putin, Modi, in a post on X late at night, said, “The teachings of the Gita give inspiration to millions across »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SupportBLOs, deploymore staffforSIR: SCtostates Passengers at the IndiGo counter at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru on Thursday. PTI Stable ops by Feb 10, airline tells DGCA, seeks temporary relief from norms PM Narendra Modi welcomes Russian President Vladimir Putin at Palam airport in New Delhi on Thursday. AP REPORTS, PAGE 12 Sukalp Sharma New Delhi, December 4 E. ExPlAINED Securing bilateral ties While it has cut import of Russian oil following US penalty tariffs, India is moving to secure its time-tested ties with Russia, exploring new avenues in areas ranging from trade to defence to civilian nuclear power. And Moscow too is responding. Putin’s nuclear power hardsell: SMRs, new-gen large reactors, Make in India Anil Sasi New Delhi, December 4 RUSSIAN NUCLEAR company Rosatom State Corporation is likely to make a strong pitch for deploying its small modular reactors (SMR) for targeted applications in India, alongside efforts to position its large new-generation atomic power reactor-basedprojectsasthecornerstoneofthebilateralcooperationbetweenthetwocountries in the field of nuclear energy. Bilateral talks during RussianPresidentVladimirPutin's visit are expected to build on the working meeting that took place in Mumbai on November 10 between Ajit Kumar Mohanty, Chairman of India’s Department of Atomic Energy, andAlexeyLikhachev,Director General of Rosatom, a Russian statecorporationbasedinMoscow that specialises in nuclear energyandnuclearnon-energy products. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PASSENGERS ON IndiGo continued to face disruption in travel plans Thursday with the airline cancelling over 250 flights across major airports. Since Tuesday, the carrier has had to cancel over 500 flights, withmanymoredelayedforextended periods. As the airline continued to grapplewithdisruptionsforthe third day running, IndiGo Thursday informed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) that it will start reduc- GujArAT INdIGo fLIGhT dIvERTS To AhmEdABAd AfTER BomB ThREAT ing flight operations from December 8 to minimise the disruption—andexpectsnormalised and stable operations to be fully restored by February 10, the regulator said. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 2024 RAJKOT FIRE AFFIDAVIT IN SUPREME COURT Four firms owned by Arunachal CM’s family got 146 govt contracts in Tawang SC directs state govt to give details of contracts in all districts for 2015-2025 Jay Mazoomdaar & Sukrita Baruah New Delhi, Guwahati, December 4 FOUR FIRMS, two owned by Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu’s wife Tsering Dolma, and one each by his brother Tashi Khandu and sister-in-lawNimaDrema,were awarded 146 work contracts worth Rs 383.74 crore by the state government in Tawang districtalonebetween2012and 2023, as per an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court. Ofthis,59contractsworthRs 16.83 crore were awarded directlythroughworkorderswithout a tender being floated. At least 11 of these work orders exceededtheRs50lakhlimitsetin Firms owned by CM Khandu’s wife, brother, sister-in-law 2020 for contracts issued withouttenders,whichwasmeantto promotelocalprofessionalsand entrepreneurs in the state. The contracts were for the construction or maintenance of roads, bridges, drains, irrigation channels, power lines, retainingwalls,communityhalls, cultural centres, residential »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SCdismisses petition,all15 accusedtoface trialforculpable homicide Express News Service Vadodara, December 4 THE SUPREME Court has dismissed a Special Leave Petition filed by suspended fire officer oftheRajkotMunicipalCorporationRohitVigora,seekingdischarge from the charges framed by the Rajkot Sessions Court and from the Section of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, in the May 2024 TRP game zone fire in Rajkot that killed 27 people. All 15 accused booked in the case will now face the trial for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The Supreme Court bench ofJusticeManojMisraandJustice Joymalya Bagchi, in an order dated November 18, dismissedVigora’spetitionstating that the apex court did not find “a good ground to interfere with the impugned judgement” of the Gujarat High Court,whichhaddismissedthe dischargepetitionsfiledbyseveral accused in the TRP game »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SENTENCED TO LIFE TERM FOR KILLING THEIR RESPECTIVE SPOUSES... Man&womanfellinloveinSuratjail,jumped parole,married;heldfromHaryana5yrslater Couple now has a five-year-old son, who is kept in a separate room at jail Kamal Saiyed Luck ran out for the couple on Tuesday when the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the A MAN and a woman, who Gujarat police arrested them were convicted in two separate fromPanipatinHaryanawhere cases of murdering their re- they have been living since spective spouses over 2019. PAGE 1 15 years ago, jumped The couple, paroleandfurloughin identified as Mo2018-2019 and went hammad Riyaz into hiding. The duo, who met Mansuri, 38, a native of Bihar, while serving their jail sen- andKinnaryPatel,36,fromGutences in Surat Central Jail, got jarat’s Valsad, were brought married and had a son, who is backtotheSuratCentralJailon five years old now. Wednesday. The couple’s fiveSurat, December 4 anchor Mohammad Riyaz Mansuri, 38, a native of Bihar, and Kinnary Patel, 36, from Gujarat’s Valsad PAGE 4 year-old son is kept in a separate room at the jail. According to police, the SOG tracked downthecouplebytracingCall Data Records (CDR) of the man’s sister, who lives in Bihar. Kinnaryhasbeenconvicted for bludgeoning her husband Hitesh Patel to death in 2010 alongwithherboyfriendManoj Patel and another accused identified as Vasu, who is still wanted in the case. Her boyfrienddiedduringthecommission of the crime, police said. On the other hand, Mansuri has been convicted for pouring kerosene over his wife and setting her ablaze in 2008, in the »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad