Wednesday, December 31, 2025 | Vol. 69 No. 74 | 44 Pages Reg.No MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 400001 THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL INDIA EDITION | www.freepressjournal.in ● Leader in E-paper circulation GAMES NATION Shah says Mamata abetting infiltration for poll benefits, Didi hits back BYE BYE 2025 THE www.freepressjournal.in MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 31, 2025 Reg. No. MCS/048/2018-20; | RNI No. 1541/1957/M.P.C.S. | Office Mumbai-400001 YEAR-END SPECIAL BYE BYE 2025 GM Erigaisi stuns Carlsen but loses in semis to settle for bronze at World Blitz C’ship he Free Press Journal bids farewell to 2025 with a special 16-page supplement that reflects on the year gone by and looks forward to the year ahead. Happy reading. Send your comments to letters@fpj.co.in No last call for bars and restaurants on Dec 31 Ravikiran Deshmukh MUMBAI Bringing cheer to partygoers and hospitality businesses alike, the state government has ended the annual ritual of special permissions and granted a blanket approval allowing eating places, hotels, restaurants and orchestra bars to operate beyond permissible hours on Christmas and December 31. Until now, bodies such as the Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association would make yearly representations to the state government and local authorities seeking extended operating hours for December 24, 25 and 31. Since these requests were routinely granted every year, the government has decided to make the permission permanent. Traditionally, such establishments are allowed to remain open until 5 am the following day on these festive occasions. However, the Home Department has attached a set of conditions to the extended hours. Hotels, restaurants and orchestra bars will be required to appoint private security guards to ensure that law and order is maintained. 4Contd on | nation Reforms drive India’s rise: PM FPJ News Service Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that India’s economic rise is being shaped not by headline-grabbing policy shocks but by sustained, methodical reforms that build credibility, stability and longterm confidence. Writing on LinkedIn, the Prime Minister argued that India has emerged as a global focal point because of the pace and depth of nextgeneration reforms that cut across sectors and amplify the country’s growth potential. According to Modi, the world today views India with “hope and confidence”, driven by the innovative energy of its people and a demographic advantage anchored in a young, aspirational workforce. He described India as having boarded a “Reform Express”, powered by institutional modernisation, simplified governance and a clear focus on inclusive, longterm growth. He said 2025 would be remembered as a year FPJ News Service A Delhi court has acquitted three men accused of vandalism, arson and looting at Jannati Masjid in the city’s Gokalpuri area during the 2020 North East Delhi riots, delivering a stinging indictment of the quality of investigation carried out by the police. Additional Sessions Judge Parveen Singh of Karkardooma Courts acquitted when reforms were pursued as a continuous national mission, building on work done over the past 11 years. The Prime Minister stressed that reforms have been designed not as abstract economic exercises but as tools to improve daily life — enabling citizens to live with dignity, entrepreneurs to innovate without fear, and institutions to function with clarity and trust. He said the government had moved forward with higher ambition, faster execution and 4Contd on | nation Prime Minister Modi was quick to pay tribute. Writing on X, he said was “deeply saddened” to learn about her Tributes flowed in as Bangladesh’s passing away of the thr passing away first female prime minister and leader and stated that her contribution “toof the Bangladesh Nawards the development tionalist Party (BNP) of India-Bangladesh reBegum Khaleda Zia PM pays tribute. lations would always be passed away on Tues- External Affairs remembered.”   day at age 80. Zia, who Only recently in an Minister Dr S had been battling a outreach, Prime Minprolonged illness for Jaishankar to ister recalled that he some time, had a fierce attend funeral in had met her in Dhaka in rivalry with former Dhaka today 2015 and more recently prime minister Sheikh gladdened the hearts of Hasina, who was BNP supporters when ousted from power in August last he enquired about her health. year. The two women had dominated 4Contd on | nation Bangladeshi politics ever since Zia 4See also | world took power in 1991. Ashwin Ahmad NEW DELHI Ravikiran Deshmukh MUMBAI Ahead of polling for 29 municipal corporations scheduled on January 15, the state government has warned employers of strict action if employees are denied time off to exercise their right to vote. In a circular issued on Tuesday, the Industries and Labour Department made it mandatory for establishments to grant a full day’s paid leave to employees on polling day. Where granting a full day off is not feasible due to the nature of work, employers must allow a minimum leave of two to three hours to enable em- ployees to cast their vote. The relaxation applies particularly to employees engaged in sensitive duties or essential public services, where complete shutdowns could disrupt operations. However, the department made it clear that operational inconvenience cannot be cited as a reason to deny voting rights. The circular also specifies that employees who are registered voters in a particular municipal corporation but are posted outside that civic body’s jurisdiction must be given a paid holiday on January 15 to return and vote. on inadmissible electronic evidence and eyewitness accounts that emerged far too late to inspire confidence reported Live Law. President Droupadi Murmu has returned the Tamil Nadu University of Madras Amendment Bill, which seeks to empower the state government to appoint the vice chancellor of the varsity, an official source said on Tuesday. The Tamil Nadu Assembly had passed the Bill in April 2022 and sent it for presidential assent. The move was aimed at taking control of the 168-year-old University of Madras, which has been functioning without a vice chancellor for over two years. The Bill proposed an amendment to the University of Madras Act to transfer the power to appoint and remove the vice chancellor from the governor, who currently serves as the ex officio chancellor of the university, to the state government. This was to be done by replacing the word “chancellor” with “government” in the Act. 4Contd on | nation 4Contd on | nation 4Contd on | nation The judge said he was ‘pained’ by the manner in which the case had been investigated, noting that the accused were arrested and charge-sheeted solely on the basis of evidence that was legally untenable Deepak, Prince and Shiv, holding that the prosecution had failed to establish their guilt beyond reasonable doubt. In sharply worded observations, the court criticised the investigation for resting PTI CHENNAI Galwan 2.0: Dragon attacks Tiger FPJ News Service MUMBAI Indian and Chinese forces clashed in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh in 2020, leading to multiple casualties on both sides, including Colonel Santosh Babu (C), whose character is portrayed in the Salman Khan–starrer. tected and integral part of India’s democratic framework, pushing back against criticism from Chinese state media over the film. Government sources stressed that filmmakers in India are free to exercise creative expression, however uncomfortable it may make foreign capitals, and that the government has no role in shaping, scripting or vetting cinematic narratives. In other words, while Beijing may see provocation, India sees popcorn, a projector — and the Constitution doing its job. 4Contd on | nation who recently returned to Dhaka from London, where he had been living in exile since 2008, is considered the favourite to win the elections. The question remains: given Rahman’s long exile, does he have significant control over the party? Dr Smruti S. Pattanaik, Research Fellow (SS) at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, believes so. India has emerged as the world’s fourth-largest economy, overtaking Japan with a gross domestic product of $4.18 trillion, and is now poised to surpass Germany within the next two-and-ahalf to three years, the government said in its year-end economic review. On current projections, India’s GDP could rise to $7.3 trillion by 2030. Growth has exceeded expectations, with output expanding to a sixquarter high in the second quarter of 2025–26, underscoring resilience amid persistent global trade uncertainties. The expansion has been anchored in robust domestic demand, led by private consumption and supported by buoyant industrial and services activity. The finance ministry said strong growth, structural reforms and social progress were laying firm foundations as India works towards high middle-income status by 2047. The RBI has raised its growth forecast for the year to 7.3%, citing easing inflation, improving exports and sustained economic activity. 4Contd on | nation 4See also | money Prime Minister Modi, along with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and key officials, interacted on Tuesday with a group of eminent economists and experts at NITI Aayog ahead of the 2026–27 Budget. The enigma that is Tarique Rahman Ashwin Ahmad Vote leave mandatory Prez sends back TN varsity Bill INDIA EYES ECONOMY THIRD SPOT FPJ News Service NEW DELHI A file photo of PM Modi with Begum Zia JAPAN OVERTAKEN MUMBAI ANALYSIS offgrid One could hardly have imagined that a certain Bhaijaan ensconced in Bandra’s Galaxy apartments would end up making Beijing see red. Yet that is precisely what the Salman Khan–starrer Battle of Galwan has managed to do. India, however, responded with a collective yawn — and a reminder that cinema, inconvenient as it may sometimes be, is still art. On Tuesday, New Delhi underlined to selected media that artistic freedom is a pro- deeper transformation, shifting India away from a controlbased economic model towards one rooted in trust and transparency. Citing taxation reforms, Modi pointed to changes in the Goods and Services Tax regime, including a simplified two-slab structure of 5 per cent and 18 per cent, which he said had eased the burden on households, MSMEs, farmers and labour-intensive sectors. BEGUM KHALEDA ZIA DEAD 3 Delhi riots accused acquitted MUMBAI Edit Pawar’s opportunistic alliance marks Maha politics in 2026 DRIVER OF BIG CHANGE | The sustained, methodical changes have been designed not as abstract economic exercises but as tools to improve daily life and build credibility and stability, says Modi MUMBAI T Cinema 2025 saw some much-awaited reunions, both on screen and stage With former PM Sheikh Hasina unable to contest, the passing away of Begum Khaleda Zia has meant that the “Battles of the Begums” will not be factors in the upcoming elections. All eyes will now be on Tarique Rahman, Zia’s son and currently the acting chairperson of the BNP. Rahman,