Today’s Expresso leads from Rajasthan, where a Cockroach Janta Party team was attacked while attempting to inspect a government school near Jaipur that was operating out of a cowshed. The confrontation has put a spotlight on the condition of government schools in the state – data shows state-run 611 schools have no buildings. And, of the 64,484 with buildings, as many as 2,047 lack toilet facilities and 1,049 don’t have drinking water.
We also have an explainer of India’s strategic and evolving relations with Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover five years ago. Since then India has moved from evacuating its Kabul embassy to increasingly open engagement, while stopping just short of formal diplomatic recognition. And if you thought the sugar price rise is the result of diversion of stocks to make ethanol, then you thought wrong.
From our Opinion section, we have RS Sharma, a former Secretary to the Government of India, who weighs in on the growing debate over whether or not the goverment should levy a small charge on UPI transactions. He suggests the Merchant Discount Rate – or MDR – could burden small businesses and consumers. Instead, he proposes the government should fund the UPI architcture from the savings it generates.
Finally, from the silver screen comes your entertainment fix for the weekend. And this time it’s a movie review – of ‘7 Dogs’. What is it about? A global cartel called 7 Dogs. A super-strong drug called Pink Lady. Good guys. Bad guys. A billion-dollar budget. Make that billions. And there’s your Big Arabic Blockbuster, studded with international stars and locations, its India release buoyed by the presence of Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt.
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Right. So now let’s move on to the top stories this Saturday
🚨 The Big Story
A CJP team led by co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka was attacked while trying to inspect a government school near Jaipur. The school was reportedly operating from a cowshed after its building was declared ‘unsafe’ and closed last year.
The episode underlines wider infrastructure problems in Rajasthan government schools. State data shows 611 lack buildings. And of the 64,484 that have them, 2,047 lack toilets and 1,049 don’t have drinking water. Tribal-heavy districts figure prominently among those lacking toilets.
The government has said it has provided Rs 550 crore for repairs and renovation and Rs 450 crore for buildings for schools without premises or operating from dilapidated structures. It also expects Rs 2,500 crore annually for construction, repairs and maintenance.
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Meanwhile, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke has reacted strongly. He warned the authorities of a Jantar Mantar-style protest unless action is taken within 48 hours. “I will go to Jaipur if the school repair work doesn’t begin and the BJP goons are not arrested within the next 48 hours.”
⚡ Only in Express
India’s Metro story
Over the last 12 years, India’s rapid urbanisation has been accompanied by a fourfold increase in its Metro network – from around 250 km to more than 1,100 km across 26 cities, big and small. Another 900 km is being built.
The Kolkata Metro – the country’s first Metro system – began operations in 1984. But it wasn’t till 2002 – when the more modern Delhi Metro came along – that it began to emerge as a symbol of what cities aspired for. Soon every city wanted one. And now they’re getting one.
And now, despite a relatively young network, daily ridership has crossed the 1-crore mark and should exceed 1.25 crore by 2028. Yet, critics point to high capital costs to say ‘we need to think beyond the Metro’. Are they right? Click here to find out in an Express Long Reads special.
✍️ Express Explained
India’s Afghanistan chessboard
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The Afghanistan embassy in New Delhi celebrated ‘victory day’ on August 15 – marking the Taliban’s takeover of the country five years ago.
Much has changed in these five years when it comes to the Indian position on the Taliban dispensation.
On August 17, 2021, New Delhi had hurriedly evacuated its entire embassy from Kabul. Now, it is openly conducting business with the Islamist regime, albeit without granting it official diplomatic recognition.
The ‘victory day’ celebration, attended by Indian diplomats and about two dozen foreign diplomats, was the latest sign that the India-Taliban relationship is now increasingly shifting from the shadows to the foreground.
Decoding the sugar price rise
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Retail prices of sugar – arguably the most vital ingredient in every Diwali mithai – have soared by Rs 20/kg in just a month. On the face of it, the 30 lakh tonnes that went to make ethanol in the current season seems significant.
But in reality the effect has been magnified by gross sugar production itself – i.e., before ethanol diversion – being 34.5 lt lower than the estimates. Not many would have envisaged this decline, leave alone a spurt in prices from July, at the start of the season.
Another factor is the monsoon. High rainfall deficiency in June – particularly for Maharashtra and Karnataka – convinced the trade that cane yields and sugar production will take a hit in the ensuing 2026-27 season too.
Click here for a fascinating and data-driven look at exactly why sugar prices are sky-high.
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✍️ Express Opinion
Keep UPI free, and fund it from savings
A former Secretary to the Government of India, RS Sharma urges us to ‘consider what UPI has become’.
In 2025-26, it carried over 24,000 crore transactions – roughly 66 crore – worth about Rs 314 lakh crore, accounting for some 85 per cent of India’s digital retail payments and nearly half the world’s real-time payments.
It is overwhelmingly a system of small sums: The average transaction is about Rs 1,300, and 86 per cent of merchant payments are below Rs 500. Such transactions involve the vegetable seller, the auto driver, and the kirana shop. A charge here is not a charge on commerce in the abstract; it is a levy on the smallest transactions of the poorest.
🎥 Movie Review
The ‘7 Dogs’ verdict
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What is it with international productions thinking that narrow, over-crowded gallis represent Mumbai?
In a shack nestles Salman Khan as a small-time informer called Johar; in a bigger shack, Sanjay Dutt holds court as flamboyant goon Ranjit. They’re both big draws in the Middle-East, Salman being the bigger one, but their parts are nothing but glorified cameos.
But how about the rest of the movie? Worth watching? Click here for a full review!
That’s all for today. Have a great Sunday!
And see you on Monday,
Chandrashekar Srinivasan
