FRIDAY WINZO FOUNDERS ARRESTED ON MONEY LAUNDERING CHARGES 28 NOVEMBER, 2025 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard SRI LANKA 40 DEAD IN FLOODS, LANDSLIDES Enforcement Directorate arrested online gaming platform’s directors— Saumya Singh Rathore and Paavan Nanda—from Bengaluru Heavy rain triggered floods and landslides, killing at least 40 and injuring 10, across the island nation this week. Govt has put the missing count at 21 ASSETS WORTH `505 CRORE CONFISCATED A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS PAGE 9  NEW DELHI  J8.00  The searches were carried out under the provisions of the Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act, 2002. Earlier, the agency had conducted search operations at four locations in Delhi and Gurgaon from November 18–22 in an online betting case, and seized assets worth around `505 crore, a statement from Enforcement Directorate said PAGES 12 Assam passes bill banning polygamy; UCC next Will put an end to K’taka ‘confusion’ soon, says Kharge TUG-OF-WAR FOR CM POST EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Guwahati THE Assam assembly on Thursday passed a bill to ban polygamy making it an offence , which may lead to a maximum of 10 years of imprisonment, barring some exceptions. People belonging to the Scheduled Tribe category and those living in areas under the Sixth Schedule have been excluded from the purview of the the Assam Prohibition of Polygamy Bill, 2025. “Women’s rights will not be compromised. Through the Assam Prohibition of Polygamy Bill 2025, we secure legal protection, strict penalties and real accountability,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said after the bill was passed. The bill will cover people from Hindu, Muslim, Christian and all other societies, Sarma said. The bill will be sent for Presidential assent. After bringing laws against polygamy and child mar- India’s wait to be a $5-tn economy could get longer IMF says it could take at least one more year than earlier projected to reach the milestone P U S H P I TA D E Y @ New Delhi INDIA’s ambition of becoming a $5-trillion economy will take longer than earlier thought, according to the latest projections by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The delay has been attributed to slower nominal GDP growth and sharper depreciation of the rupee. India initially aimed to achieve the $5-trillion milestone by 2024-25, before revising the target to 2027-28. However, the IMF now estimates the economy to cross the $4-trillion mark only in FY26 and reach $4.96 trillion in FY28, falling short of the goal. India is projected to hit $5.46 trillion by FY29 and cross $6 trillion in 2030. The rupee’s weakness has particularly weighed on dollardenominated GDP figures. The currency has depreciated 4.26% so far this year. Lower inflation has also slowed growth in nominal GDP calculated at current , market prices. Subhash Chandra Garg, former finance and economic affairs secretary, warned that missing the target timeline could indicate the “Indian economy becoming stuck in the lower middle-income trap.” 7 6 SLOW AND STEADY 6.016 5.462 5 4.959 4 3 6.628 4.12 4.5 2025-26 26-27 India’s GDP projection ($ trillion) Source: IMF 27-28 28-29 29-30 30-31 Despite this, India is still expected to overtake Japan this year to emerge as the world’s fourth-largest economy . IMF projections suggest India could close FY26 with a GDP size of $4.12 trillion. India’s real GDP is expected to grow 6.6% in 2025-26. The IMF noted that reforms like the goods and services tax (GST) will help cushion the economy from global trade shocks, including the recent 50% tariffs imposed by the US. “India’s economy has continued to perform well. Following economic growth of 6.5% in FY 2024-25, real GDP expanded by 7.8% in the first quarter of FY 2025-26,” the IMF said after completing its annual Article IV consultation for India. EXPRESS READ Host show on specially abled, SC tells Samay Raina The Supreme Court, on Thursday, asked YouTuber Samay Raina and three other comedians to host a show on stories of the specially abled to raise funds for them. The court passed the order in a case about content that violates the right to life & dignity of such persons. | P7 B’deshi national held for voter list fraud in Bengal The West Bengal police has arrested a Bangladeshi national for enrolling his name in voters’ list after forging the enumeration form of a deceased person named in the electoral rolls during the last special intensive revision, which was conducted in the state in 2002. riage, the BJP-led gover nment’s focus is now on Uniform Civil Code (UCC). Sarma “assured” the House that if the NDA retained power, it would bring UCC in Assam which is expected to go to polls early next year. “Stop me but if you cannot, I will bring UCC in the first session of the Assembly,” the chief minister said, challenging the Opposition. “Some people attributed our actions to politics but we had to take these…Child marriage and polygamy snatched Muslim women and girls’ minimum right to live,” he added. The bill proposes 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for offenders, a ban on contesting Women’s rights will not be compromised. Through the Assam Prohibition of Polygamy Bill 2025, we secure legal protection, strict penalties and real accountability Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam CM after the polygamy bill was passed elections to rural and urban local bodies, and deletion of names from list of beneficiaries of government schemes. Offenders will not be entitled to public employment and denied government scheme benefits. The bill defines ‘polygamy’ as an act of marrying another person when either of the parties already has a subsisting marriage or a living spouse from whom he/she is not legally divorced, or their marriage is not legally annulled. Repeat offenders will attract a jail term of 20 years. SC says no instant fix to pollution; AQI spikes a day after GRAP-III revoked U DAYA N K I S H O R E & P R A B H AT S H U K L A @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Thursday said judges do not have a magic wand to solve Delhi’s worsening air pollution, even as the city’s air quality slipped sharply just a day after the rollback of Stage-III restrictions under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). There were multiple causes for the deteriorating air quality in Delhi, a bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi observed. Delhi’s AQI measured 377 on Thursday, while several localities dived into the “severe” category going be, yond the 400-mark. The bench made the remarks after advocate Aparajita Singh, amicus curiae in the air pollution case, flagged an “alarming situation” in Delhi-NCR, calling it a “health emergency .” “What magic wand can a ju- dicial forum exercise? I know this is hazardous for DelhiNCR... Tell me what we can direct... that we can give directions, and there will be clean air immediately. We all know there is a problem. We need to identify all the reasons. There is no one single reason. It could be a bona fide mistake to think that. Only domain experts and scientists can look into that. Then we have to see what solutions are possible in each region,” the CJI said. He added that matters related to pollution are listed before the SC in “a rather ceremonial manner” every year during the Diwali season and that the issue needs regular monitoring. The bench agreed to list the case on December 1. On Wednesday, the CJI said Delhi’s air pollution had made walking outdoors difficult and said he would consider shifting hearings to a virtual mode after consulting the Bar. P3 MCD introduces cow-dung cakes for cremation A D I T I R AY C H OW D H U RY @ New Delhi THE MCD has decided to use cow dung cakes at crematoriums to fight air pollution in the city. The decision came at a meeting of the Public Health Department, which wanted to stop the use of wood to control city’s toxic air. Its Standing Committee member and BJP leader Rajpal Singh said, “We have decided to hand over two–three cremation centres to NGOs that work with cow dung. Pollution comes down significantly in this method. We started using this method at Kalkaji crematorium as a pilot project when I was the Standing Committee chairman. It has been running successfully for four–five years.” D EVA RA J B H I R E H A L L I @ Bengaluru THE Congress high command, which has so far been silent on the power tussle between Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and deputy CM D K Shivakumar, seems to have finally woken up to resolve the tug-ofwar for CM post. On Thursday Congress chief , Mallikarjuna Kharge said both the leaders will be summoned to Delhi for talks and also to put an end to the ‘confusion’ over a possible change of leadership. Meanwhile, caste groups have rallied behind both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, complicating matters for the party’s central leadership. AHINDA (a Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalit communities) and Karnataka State Federation of Backward Class Communities have warned the Congress of adverse implications if Siddaramaiah was forced out to make way for Shivakumar. On the other hand, the Karnataka Rajya Vokkaligara Sangha has vowed to vehemently fight if injustice is meted out to the Shivakumar, a powerful Vokkaliga leader aspiring to become Karnataka CM. Besides, prominent Vokkaliga seer Nirmalanandanatha Swamiji, pontiff of Adichunchanagiri Math and with other Vokkaliga seers are in support of Shivakumar. Kharge, talking to reporters in Bengaluru before leaving for Delhi on Thursday said: “I will , `23,850 CR PLAN TO DECLOG DELHI by this newspaper, Malhotra noted that the ministry has already delivered infrastructure projects worth `80,545 crore, covering 1,679 km, marking a significant step toward reshaping the region’s road network. “The ministry has been consistently working to make the national capital and its adjoining areas congestionfree. A proper plan has been chalked out, and it is being executed accordingly. Lots of projects have been executed over a decade, and many more are in the pipeline. In the near future, the entire region will have an augmented network of road infrastructure, which will help to remove traffic deadlocks,” he said. The minister said the extension of the Delhi–Amritsar–Katra Expressway from A N U P V E R M A @ New Delhi UNION Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and Corporate Affairs (MCA) Harsh Malhotra said on Thursday that the Centre is moving ahead with an ambitious plan to ease traffic congestion in Delhi and the NCR. The mix of ongoing, upcoming, and completed highway projects is aimed at transforming connectivity in and around the Capital. According to the minister, six decongestion projects, spanning 128 km and valued at `23,850 crore, are in the planning stage, while another 91 km of works worth `7,084 crore are currently under active implementation. Speaking at Delhi Dialogues programme organised SAYANTAN GHOSH the KMP Expressway to UERII—a 20 km stretch—will cost `4,000 crore. The extension of UER-II from near Alipur to the Delhi–Dehradun Expressway near Tronica City—17 km long—will be built at a cost of `3,350 crore, and the Eastern Extension of UER-II from the Delhi–Dehradun Expressway to Noida–Ghaziabad/Faridabad—65 km long— will come up at a cost of `7,500 crore. He added that a 5 km road tunnel from the Dwarka Expressway (near Shiv Murti, Mahipalpur) to Nelson Mandela Marg, Vasant Kunj, will be built at a cost of `3,500 crore. An elevated corridor from AIIMS to the Mahipalpur Bypass, with further extension to the Gurgaon–Faridabad Road—20 km long—will be constructed for `5,000 crore, and a half-kilometrelong interchange at Kalindi Kunj Intersection of the Delhi–Noida Road and Agra Canal Road near Okhla Barrage will be built for `500 crore. Additionally three projects , spanning 35 km and worth `114 crore have been taken back from the Delhi government and will now be maintained by the National Highways Authority of India, which, the minister said, will help ease congestion through proper upkeep and maintenance. MEDIA RIGHTS IN FOCUS ICC warns members of 30% reduction in revenue next cycle ment published a few days ago. “The ICC,” a line in the docuCRICKET could be the biggest ment says, “have warned to exmoney spanner for India but pect a 30% revenue decrease in the International Cricket 2028 when their media conCouncil seems to be extracts come up for renewal. pecting a revenue cut Xpress This knowledge necessiin 2028. It has apparto prepare imSpecial tates KNCBand do everyently warned its memmediately bers to expect a reducthing we can to safeguard tion of up to 30 per cent in domestic and HP cricket by 2028 when the next media rights taking the necessary measures.” cycle is up for renewal. This This could have big ramificaline was contained in a Dutch tions up and down the food Cricket Board’s financial docu- chain, barring the Big Three of S W A R O O P S W A M I N AT H A N @ Chennai India, England and Australia. Most of the other cricketing nations, be it Full Members or Associate, depend on ICC funding to meet a lot of the working capital expenditures. A 30% reduction in media contracts may be felt at all levels including player contracts, the capacity to host Test matches, running grassroot programmes and giving young players development-based contracts. Per the document, the KNCB, an Associate board, will aim to reduce their long-term dependency on ICC. To do this, some of the steps they will take are ‘attracting long-term private partnerships’ as well as ‘securing event specific partners’, including for next year’s men’s T20 WC. Qualifying for that World Cup in India has given them a significant boost. One reason why the ICC may expect a reduction in media rights in the next cycle is the merger between Disney Star and Jio. It could result in reduced competition within the India media rights market, which usually bids aggressively for India’s international as well as prominent ICC properties like World Cup. HASINA HANDED 21-YEAR JAIL TERM FOR GRAFT A B’desh court on Thursday sentenced deposed PM Sheikh Hasina to 21 years in a corruption case. Her son and daughter got a jail term of five years each | P9 Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar FACE-OFF OVER PROMISED ‘WORD’ The tug-of-war between Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar turned into a war of words on Thursday. Shivakumar insisted that “word power is world power,” prompting a repartee from the CM, who said: “A word is not power unless it betters the world for the people.” call three-four key leaders and discuss the way forward, and thereby put an end to the confusion.” He said Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar will be called for discussions across the table with Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. He said the central leadership will reach a decision after discussing with everyone. Sources said Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and K C Venugopal had a meeting in Delhi on Thursday evening, and Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar would soon be summoned for talks, tentatively to be held on November 29 or December 1. It was not immediately clear if Sonia Gandhi – who is currently abroad – will also be part of the meeting. ‘Will Lord Shiva come to present temple papers?’ R A J E S H A S N A N I @ Jaipur AN encroachment notice sent by the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) to a Shiva temple has sparked anger in local residents, as it was sent directly to the temple rather than its management committee. “Who will respond to the notice on behalf of the temple, and who will submit the documents?” asked Indu Gurnani, a resident of Jaipur’s Vaishali Nagar, where the temple is located. The notice, pasted on the temple wall on November 21, demands a response within seven days. The temple’s boundary wall extends 1.59 metres inside an area where a road will be widened. The notice warns that if no supporting documents are submitted, the encroachment will be removed. Residents say the JDA had built the temple and its agency constructed the boundary wall. “Calling the same structure an encroachment now is unjustified. Moreover, will Lord Shiva appear with documents on November 28, as the notice was not served to temple managers?” asked a devotee. A JDA official said that as part of standard procedure, a notice is placed wherever encroachment is observed. OP SINDOOR A DEFINING MOMENT, SAYS PREZ | P7 LIST OF 1,806 ‘TAINTED’ CANDIDATES OUT | P8 CHOUHAN PRAISES VILLAGE ON STUBBLE CONTROL | P8