tuesdAY Core sector output rises to a 13-month high of 6.3% in August 23 India’s eight key infrastructure sectors’ growth jumped to a 13-month high on account of expansion in coal, steel, and cement production september, 2025 August numbers flip muted July figures epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard The core sectors’ output growth was 3.7% in the previous month of July. It was (-) 1.5% in August last year. Earlier, the similar pace of growth at 6.3% was recorded in July 2024. During April-August of this fiscal year, the eight infrastructure sectors expanded by 2.8%, compared to a rise of 4.6% in the same period last year X.com/TheMornStandard N e pa l 4 ministers sworn in interim cabinet Newly appointed Prime Minister Sushila Karki on Monday inducted four new ministers into her interim cabinet, raising its strength to eight. Page 9 A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS l New Delhi l J8.00 Car showrooms, retail outlets, online platforms witness record sales as lower tax rates kick in Festive buying rush on Day 1 of GST 2.0 A R S H A D K H A N @ New Delhi Amit Kamat, chief commercial officer at Tata Motors PasCAR showrooms, retail outlets, senger Vehicles, said the GST and e-commerce platforms saw rate cut has led to a sharp surge brisk sales on the first day of in enquiries and bookings, with GST 2.0 on Monday which also a noticeable spike in showroom , coincided with the start of the walk-ins, higher conversions, festive season. Fuelled by the and a growing order book. pent-up demand and sharp re“ O u r d e a l e r s h i p s h ave duction in prices on the back of opened early and extended lower tax rates under the new their working hours to welGST regime, shoppers flocked come the festive rush. With a to marketplaces as businesses strong pipeline of bookings lined up additional discounts and scheduled deliveries, we to cash in on the rush. are geared to meet the demand Partho Banerjee, and are optimistic senior executive ofabout setting new no diwali ficer, marketing & gifts: Govt records this festive sales at Maruti Suzuseason,” said Kumar. ki, said customers’ re- While the Centre According to early sponse has been pheestimates, the autohas extended nomenal, adding that mobile industry is festive cheer to this is the first time in the public, it has likely to have record35 years that the firm ed a 20-30% surge in directed govt has witnessed such bookings (compared offices not to high demand. to bookings on the spend on gifts. “On the very first first day Navratri last “No expenditure day (of GST 2.0), we shall be incurred year) and high delivrecorded 80,000 eneries, thanks to a 10% on gifts... for quiries, and have al- Diwali and other cut in GST rates. This ready delivered over drop in rate, coupled festivals by 25,000 cars, with delivwith additional offers Ministries/ eries expected to by companies, has led Departments,” touch 30,000 shortly. to a sharp correction read a circular Since September 18 in the ex-showroom issued by P K when we announced prices of automobiles, Singh, joint additional price re- secretary, Dept of especially passenger duction (over and vehicles. Expenditure, above GST), we have The white goods Ministry of received 75,000 bookse gment also witFinance ings, with nearly nessed an uptick in 15,000 bookings combookings and sales on ing in every day—50% higher Monday as the GST on air conthan usual. Demand for small ditioners, refrigerators, washcars has been especially strong, ing machines, dishwashers, with bookings growing by near- and large-screen TVs dropped ly 50%,” said Banerjee. from 28% to 18%. Tarun Garg, whole-time diB Thiagarajan, managing director and COO at Hyundai rector of Blue Star, said there Motor India, said the festive has been a 20% growth in sales mood, boosted by GST reforms, on Monday, compared to the has infused strong positivity same period last year. “If things into the market. On Monday, go well, lost sales in the sumHyundai recorded 11,000 dealer mer season due to rain will be billings—its highest single-day made up between now and the performance in five years. New Year,” he said. Actionpacked Monday Automobile, white goods industries record unprecedented surge in bookings compared with last year 1 Maruti gets 80,000 enquiries, delivers over 25,000 cars. The demand is so high that it may run out of stock on certain variants 2 Hyundai recorded around 11,000 dealer billings on Monday--its highest single-day performance in the past five years 3 Used car marketplace Cars24 sees 400% surge in car deliveries compared with normal daily averages 4 White goods maker Blue Star sees 20% sales growth compared with last year LETTER FROM THE PM l -1.5% was the core sector output growth in august last year PAGES 12 Jaishankar discusses issues of ‘current concern’ with Rubio J aya n th J a c ob @ New Delhi GST Savings Fest begins, time to go Swadeshi My Fellow Indians, Namaskar! The Next Generation GST reforms have begun to make their presence felt, marking the start of a ‘GST Bachat Utsav’ or ‘GST Savings Festival’ across the country These reforms will boost savings and directly benefit every section of society, be it farmers, women, youth, poor, middle class, traders or MSMEs Heartening to see various shopkeepers and traders putting up ‘then and now’ boards which indicate taxes pre-reforms and postreforms Income tax cuts and Next Gen GST reforms taken together add up to savings of nearly J2.5 lakh crore for the people Your household expenses will reduce and it will be easier to fulfill aspirations such as building a home, purchasing a vehicle, purchasing appliances, eating out or planning a family vacation This festive season, let us also resolve to support products that are Made in India. This means buying Swadeshi products that have the sweat and toil of an Indian involved in their making, irrespective of the brand or the company that makes them Every time you buy a product made by our own artisans, workers and industries, you are helping many families earn their living and creating job opportunities for our youth. I appeal to our shopkeepers and traders to sell products that are Made in India. Let us proudly say – what we buy is Swadeshi. Let us proudly say – what we sell is Swadeshi. NARENDRA MODI EXTERNAL Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday held their first in-person meeting ever since Washington imposed steep tariffs on key Indian exports over New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil. Following the meeting in New York, Jaishankar posted on X that both sides “agreed on the importance of sustained engagement” on priority areas, signaling a mutual intent to keep the dialogue open amid rising trade and geopolitical tensions. “Our conversation covered a range of bilateral and international issues of S Jaishankar (left) and Marco Rubio current concern. Agreed on the importance of sustained engagement to progress on priority areas,” Jaishankar said. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the United Nat i o n s G e n e r a l A s s e m bly (UNGA) and comes as India-US trade talks resume in Washington, led by Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal. These negotiations follow a shift in SC seeks cops’ reply on Khalid, Imam bail pleas S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi Th e S u p r e m e C o u r t o n Monday issued notice to Delhi Police and sought its response on bail plea of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima and Shifa Ur Rehman and others in the 2020 riots larger conspiracy case. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for many accused, including Imam, said they are students and had been in jail for over five years. A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria, while issuing the notice to the Delhi Police, decided to hear the case on October 27, when the replies of the cops will be filed in the SC. On September 6, former JNU student, Imam, moved top court, after the Delhi High Court rejected his bail plea. Similarly Khalid on September , 10 approached the SC challeng- ing HC’s order denying him bail in the same case. According to the prosecution, Delhi Police had booked Imam under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). On January 28, 2020, he was arrested from Bihar’s Jehanabad in a sedition case for allegedly making inflammatory speeches in Jamia Millia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University . The riots took place in February 2020, following clashes over the then-proposed Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). As per police, 53 people lost their lives and left hundreds injured. The prosecution alleged that Imam had hatched a larger criminal conspiracy to cause riots. The FIR in this case was registered under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and UAPA. Imam was booked in multiple FIRs across several states, mostly under sedition and UAPA charges. Time to decriminalise defamation, says sc S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Monday said that the time has come to decriminalise defamation. A bench of justices M M Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma was hearing a plea of online news portal The Wire seeking to quash summons in a defamation case filed by a former professor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). “I think the time has come to decriminalise all this (defamation cases). How long will you go on dragging these cases?” Justice Sundresh remarked. After hearing the petition filed by the Foundation for Independent Journalism, wh i c h r u n s T h e Wi re , the bench issued notice to professor Amita Singh and sought her reply . The petitioner had approached the Supreme Court Section 356 makes defamation a crime Section 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita criminalises defamation. It replaced the earlier provision on criminal defamation — Section 499 of Indian Penal Code challenging the issuance of summons to it in connection with the criminal defamation case filed by professor Amrita Singh. The defamation case was filed by professor Singh in connection with an article published by the news portal, titled ‘Dossier Calls JNU Den of Organised Sex Racket’, in 2016. The article had hinted that professor Singh was among several teachers who had prepared the dossier that “set the script for the hate campaign against JNU”. This was followed by the criminal defamation case against The Wire. In February 2017, a trial court issued summons to the portal. Last year, the Supreme Court set aside those summons, after hearing the plea of The Wire. The court had then asked the magistrate to take a fresh call on the summons after examining the news article. The magistrate had in January 2025 again issued the summons to the news portal, following which the petitioner moved the SC. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the news portal, concurred with Justice Sundresh. “Similar matter is being considered. Rahul Gandhi’s case,” he said. express read Loudspeakers allowed till midnight during fest Complaint filed against Aryan Khan’s web series Assam govt orders 2nd autopsy on Garg’s body The Delhi government on Monday allowed the use of loudspeakers till midnight during Ramlila, Durga Puja, Dussehra, subject to compliance with Noise Pollution Rules. The relaxation is valid from September 22 to October 3. P5 Following a complaint against Netflix’s web series ‘The Ba***ds of Bollywood’ allegedly showing actor Ranbir Kapoor using banned e-cigarettes without a disclaimer, the NHRC on Monday wrote to the I&B ministry to take action. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said a second postmortem would be conducted on the body of Zubeen Garg who died in Singapore last Friday. The first autopsy mentioned drowning as the cause of death. festive time A woman with her child during the ‘Navratri’ festival, at Durgiana temple in Amritsar, Punjab, on Monday | PTI tone from President Donald Trump, who recently indicated his administration was working to resolve key trade irritants with India, which still remains a work in progress. Sources said the Jaishankar– Rubio discussion covered a wide range of bilateral and global issues, including economic cooperation, energy security, and regional stability in the Indo-Pacific. The New York talks are seen as a crucial step in stabilising the broader India-US strategic partnership, which remains strong on defence, technology, and Indo-Pacific coordination but faces friction on issues related to trade sanctions and visa issues. israel france joins uk to recognise palestine Recognition by Britain, Canada, Australia and Portugal of a Palestinian state piled pressure on Israel as it intensifies its war in Gaza. | P9 CISF takes over Jewar airport ahead of launch e x pr e ss n e ws s e r v i c e @ New Delhi The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) was on Monday inducted as the designated aviation security agency of the Noida International Airport (NIA), Jewar. The airport is set for launch on October 30 with operations expected to commence 45 days later. “In the first phase, 1,047 CISF personnel will be deployed under the leadership of a Chief Aerodrome Security Officer. Deployment strength will be scaled up in line with operational requirements as passenger traffic and flight operations grow,” an official release said. The Air port Sector and the Aviation Security Group (ASG) of the CISF will oversee the security. Its mandate includes perimeter and access control, passenger and baggage screening, terminal and landside security, deployment of quick response reams and coordination with local law enforcement agencies. Praveer Ranjan, Special DG, Airports, CISF, said, “Our ASG will implement globally benchmarked procedures and layered security measures to safeguard passengers, crew, and critical assets. We are committed to working closely with the airport operator and stakeholders to maintain the highest levels of security .” Crop damage surveys begin in city, farmers jittery P R A B H AT S H U K L A @ New Delhi After weeks of intense monsoon rains that left much of outer Delhi waterlogged, the government has begun survey camps in several villages to assess crop losses. Last week, SDMs of Kapashera and Najafgarh ordered revenue officials to collect damage reports and prepare lists of eligible farmers for compensation. However, farmers remain wary of a repeat of past lapses, when thousands went uncom- pensated despite surveys. Villages such as Jhuljhuli, Jhatikra, Kanganheri, and Nanakheri are listed for surveys, but locals recall many valid claims that were previously overlooked. “In 2021, our fields were waterlogged and crops damaged,” said Jitendar Yadav, a farmer from Jhuljhuli in Najafgarh. “The government announced compensation and sent officers for assessment. We provided all the necessary papers but our name wasn’t on the beneficiary list. We approached the high court. Officials informed the court that since our village was declared urban in 2017, land mutation records are unclear. Our case has been stuck for two years,” Yadav added. The Centre for Youth Culture Law and Environment, an advocacy group, has written to the Chief Minister and chief secretary urging them to adopt , transparent methods, such as using satellite imagery, to ensure fair compensation and prevent exclusion. For farmers already reeling from losses, trust in the system remains fragile. Many say this year’s exercise will test whether lessons have truly been learned from the past.