FOLLOW US: @TheStatesmanLtd @thestatesmanltd thestatesman1875 www.thestatesman.com People’s Parliament, Always in Session India’s National Newspaper since 1818 | Pages 12 | ` 5.00 | KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | MUMBAI | BHUBANESWAR | LUCKNOW | SILIGURI US Supreme Court blocks Trump’s plan NATION Shah’s UCC pitch exposes fault lines in NDA NSE sets stage for mega IPO Page 11 Wednesday, 16 September 2026 SPORTS WORLD BUSINESS | Page 5 Page 10 West Indies ODIs force selectors to take tough calls Page 12 India’s global interests, responsibilities India-China ties must follow ‘three mutuals’: MEA have grown, says EAM Jaishankar NIKHIL VYAS New Delhi, 15 September STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE THE MINISTER SAID INDIA, WITH GREATER INTERESTS, WIDER EXPOSURE, A LARGER NUMBER OF PARTNERS AND OPERATING IN AN INCREASINGLY COMPLEX LANDSCAPE, WOULD HAVE TO “CONSTANTLY APPLY AND RE-APPLY ITSELF” TO CHANGING GLOBAL DYNAMICS New Delhi, 15 September E xternal Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said India’s close ties with all the parties involved in the conflicts in West Asia and Ukraine have made it difficult to formulate a straightforward approach. ‘’There are two major conflicts currently underway, one in the Gulf and the other in Ukraine. In each case, India has good ties with all the parties involved. Forging an approach is, therefore, not easy. How to balance out the various equities is a legitimate subject of conversation,’’ he said addressing the inaugural session of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA). The global economy, he said, is witnessing the weaponisation of everything. ‘’We are also seeing greater volatility in tariffs and increased dumping on other markets. How that could be best countered? Another subject for discussion, or let us take competition itself, it is now taking an extreme form with less restraint and higher risks,” said Jaishankar. The minister said India, with greater interests, wider exposure, a larger number of partners and operating in an increasingly complex landscape, UPI users get relief: No charges on P2P payments PARWINDER SANDHU New Delhi, 15 September Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments between individuals will continue to remain completely free irrespective of the transaction value, while a nominal Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) will be imposed only on person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions exceeding Rs 2,000, the Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday. Transactions above Rs 2,000 involving railways, telecom, insurance, fuel and agriculture inputs, among other identified categories, will attract a flat MDR of Rs 5 per transaction. Under the new framework, MDR on eligible P2M transactions will be fixed at 0.4 per cent, with the charge capped at Rs 300 per transaction for high-value payments of Rs 75,000 and above. The clarification assumes significance amid concerns over the introduction of MDR on UPI transactions and its possible impact on consumers and merchants. The Finance Ministry said the new structure specifically distinguishes between P2P and merchant transactions, with no charges applicable at all on P2P transactions, regardless of the amount transferred. Charges will apply only when a transaction is classified as person-to-merchant (P2M) and exceeds Rs 2,000. Under the technical framework, the 0.4 per cent MDR on eligible P2M transactions will be shared among payment ecosystem participants, including banks and app providers. The government said the reduced rate was intended to encourage greater retail participation in formal financial markets while keeping transaction costs low. Small vendors and businesses will continue to enjoy zero MDR under the Person-to-Person-Merchant (P2PM) framework if they receive up to Rs 1 lakh per month through UPI QR codes. Such transactions will continue to attract mandatory zero MDR irrespective of the individual transaction value. The government clarified that there will be no monthly quotas, transaction-volume limits or tiered caps on free UPI usage for individuals. would have to “constantly apply and re-apply itself” to changing global dynamics Emphasising that India has to customise and draw lessons from the experiences of others, Jaishankar said, “Diplomacy, after all, is very much an exercise in nuance; it is not enough to optimise. India also has to customise. We can draw lessons from the experiences of others, but ultimately the fact is that we are unique. It is, therefore, all the more important for us to have those debates amongst ourselves, an exercise where ICWA can make a real difference.” Highlighting India’s growing engagement with the international community, he said, “India today engages with a much wider range of countries and regions. Our interests have become increasingly global, our responsibilities have grown, and expectations of India have also risen correspondingly. India is also articulating with greater confidence its perspectives on global challenges, including those that concern the Global South. As India’s global role grows, our intellectual engagement with international affairs must keep pace.” “While much of the established discourse on international relations has been shaped by concepts and experiences developed elsewhere, a rising India must increasingly bring its own history, experience, interests, concepts, and even terminology to the way it approaches the world. ICWA has an important place in this endeavour. By encouraging informed debate from an Indian perspective, it (ICWA) contributes to a deeper understanding of the choices before us and a more confident articulation of India’s approach to the world. It must therefore play an active part in the debates that always accompany the rise of any power,” he added. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday reiterated that India-China ties must be anchored by the "three mutuals" — mutual respect, mutual interest and mutual sensitivity — after Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised core Indian concerns with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting at the recently concluded 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi. Addressing a media briefing here, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that during the meeting, "The Prime Minister referred to Indian concerns as well and underlined that both sides should show sensitivity to each other's core concerns and be guided by the 'three mutuals': mutual respect, mutual interest, and mutual sensitivity." Prime Minister Modi reaffirmed that peace and tranquillity on the border remain essential for sustained progress in bilateral relations, Six North CMs sign Kishau water project pact in Amit Shah’s presence DEEPAK RAZDAN New Delhi, 15 September Six North India Chief Ministers on Tuesday signed the Kishau Project Agreement for the construction of a 232.6-metre-highconcretegravity dam on the Tons river along the border of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. The dam will have a water storage capacity of 1,562 million cubic metres and irrigate 97,000 hectares of land. The Chief Ministers signed the historic agreement in the presence of Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah and Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil. The agreement has brought to an end the tenth water dispute among States under the Narendra Modi government. The project will generate 1,476 million units of clean hydropower. Delhi will be the biggest beneficiary of the project, along with the Yamuna, as 25 per cent of the water from the project will revive the river and make it clean. The Government of India has declared the Kishau Project a National Project. The Central government will bear approximately 90 per cent of its financial burden, while the remaining 10 per cent will be borne by the participating states in accordance with a 1994 agreement. Odisha board rejects Dara Singh’s release plea STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Bhubaneswar, 15 September The Odisha State Sentence Review Board has rejected the premature release plea of Rabindra Kumar Pal alias Dara Singh, who is serving a life sentence for burning alive Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons in 1999. The decision of the Board comes ahead of the Supreme Court hearing on his remission plea on 17 September . Singh, has spent over 26 years in prison and became eligible for consideration under the State’s 2022 remission policy. The Board reportedly held that his release could have wider social repercussions and affect communal harmony. It considered a recent report from the Kendujhar administration, which said 200-250 persons associated with Dara Sena had gathered outside the district jail on 15 August and raised provocative slogans. Singh’s remission pleas have been rejected several times—in 2016, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023—over concerns including communal harmony. The 1999 killing of Staines had triggered national and international outrage. It may be noted that the Kendujhar district administration had recommended his release in March 2025 with conditions, but the board deferred the matter, citing his convictions in three murder cases and seeking further reports. The Supreme Court had in July 2024 said his prolonged incarceration warranted consideration of premature release and subsequently directed the State to take a final decision. Singh was sentenced to death by a CBI court in 2003 for the Staines murders, but the Orissa High Court commuted the sentence to life imprisonment in 2005. The Supreme Court later dismissed his appeal. He was separately sentenced to life imprisonment in 2007 for the killings of priest Father Arul Doss and trader SK Rahman in Mayurbhanj. reiterating the necessity of respecting existing agreements. In line with the MEA's formal statement released following the bilateral talks, the "Prime Minister emphasised that peace and tranquillity in the border areas remain an essential basis for the continued development of bilateral relations," while stressing "the need for both sides to observe existing agreements and understandings on border-related issues." Both sides expressed commitment to resolving the boundary question from a strategic, long-term political perspective to achieve a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable outcome. The MEA noted that "the two leaders agreed that both sides must continue to expand common ground on regional and global issues, and in addressing challenges," reaffirming New Delhi's independent foreign policy approach. The MEA also noted that on boundary resolution, India's position remains focused on constructive, long-term diplomatic channels, with both leaders expressing "commitment to a fair, reasonable, and mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary question proceeding from the political perspective of their overall bilateral relations and the long-term interests of the two peoples." While Beijing's statement described the two nations as "partners rather than rivals," New Delhi maintained a strategic stance focusing on shared challenges without adopting Beijing's exact phrasing, reflecting a nuanced shift from previous summit readouts. Oman vessel attack: India calls targeting of shipping ‘unacceptable’ STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 15 September The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday said search and rescue operations were continuing to locate the lone missing Indian seafarer after a commercial vessel carrying 14 Indian nationals was attacked off the coast of Oman on September 13. It termed the targeting of commercial shipping, seafarers, civilians and civilian infrastructure in the region “unacceptable” to India. Addressing a media briefing here, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, responding to a question on the attack on the commercial vessel MT El Gaia off the coast of Oman, said the vessel was Panama-flagged and carrying 14 Indian nationals. “Of these, 13 have been rescued, and we deeply thank the Omani authorities for their efforts in rescuing our nationals. One Indian national, a seafarer who was on board the vessel, remains missing,” Jaiswal stated. The MEA spokesperson said search and rescue operations were continuing with the assistanceoftheOmaniauthorities, while the Indian Embassy remained in close contact with them. “Targeting commercial shipping, seafarers, civilians, and civilian infrastructure in the region is unacceptable to us,” the MEA spokesperson said. In response to another media query on Pakistan announcing a reward of PKR 70 lakh on Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, Jaiswal said, “Such gimmicks and attempts at hoodwinking people by Pakistan are nothing new. We have seen similar gimmicks in the past as well. For a state sponsor of terrorism to make such phoney announcements we all know how hollow they are. Pakistan must take concrete action rather than make announcements that are ultimately of no consequence.” MEA spokesperson, responding to another media query, said India remains deeply concerned about the escalation of the situation in the Red Sea region amid the latest strikes exchanged between Yemen’s Houthi group and Saudi Arabia. Rajasthan local body results: What the outcome means for key elections in Hindi heartland VIBHA SHARMA New Delhi, 15 September: The BJP on Monday hailed its performance in Rajasthan’s local body elections, calling it proof of the party’s “expanding social and geographical” reach and a “rejection” of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s “false propaganda in Kota”. Party MP Sudhanshu Trivedi told the media that the BJP, along with its allies, is in a position to form governments in nine of the 10 municipal corporations. A fact, however, is that Independents and Others have emerged as the real kingmakers in these elections, which registered a difference of less than one percentage point in the vote shares of the two key players—the BJP and the Congress. According to local reports, fractured verdicts in several urban local bodies have put 2,273 Independent councillors at the centre of the post-poll arithmetic. The BJP won 4,179 of the 10,244 wards across 309 urban local bodies, compared with 3,613 won by the Congress and 2,273 by Independents. Others included the RLP, which won 63 wards, AAP 42, CPI(M) 38, BSP 19 and the Bharat Adivasi Party eight. Take, for instance, Jodhpur, where the BJP and Congress won 44 wards each, while Independents won 10 and the RLP one in the 100-member municipal corporation. One ward remains undecided. Retaining a clear edge in urban pockets, the BJP has much to celebrate. But the Congress maintained a narrow margin in vote share even as it lost the absolute majority it had previously held. The BJP secured 35.18 per cent of INDEPENDENTS AND OTHERS EMERGE AS KINGMAKERS, WHILE VOTE-SHARE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BJP AND CONGRESS REMAINS BELOW 1 PER CENT the votes against the Congress’s 34.24 per cent—a difference of just 0.94 percentage points. The BJP reportedly received 37.35 lakh votes, the Congress 36.35 lakh and Independents 29.06 lakh, out of a total of 1.06 crore votes. The “One Election, One State” exercise, covering 10,245 councillor posts across 309 urban local bodies, was seen as a litmus test for the BJP and Congress ahead of the 2028 Assembly elections. Simultaneous elections provided a statewide snapshot of the political mood. Observers say the results could offer an early indicator of the fortunes of the major parties amid recent political developments, including protests by Gen Z and upper-caste groups. They may also provide clues to trends in upcoming elections in the Hindi heartland, particularly Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and potentially Punjab. A striking factor that emerged from Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma’s hometown, Bharatpur, where Independents won 36 of the 65 municipal corporation wards, is telling in itself. Independents also swept smaller tier-3 urban blocks. While the Congress suffered overall losses, it also dealt a blow to the BJP in Jhalawar, the political fortress of former BJP chief minister Vasundhara Raje. The results can be read in multiple ways ahead of upcoming elections in five states, three of them in the north and largely agrarian—Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab.