5 min readNew DelhiJan 31, 2026 09:53 AM IST First published on: Jan 31, 2026 at 09:53 AM IST
Good morning,
From the shores of the Ganges River in Prayagraj, Kumbh Mela has now made its way down South to Kerala, ahead of the state Assembly elections. Organized on the bathing ghats of the Nava Mukunda Temple at Thirunavaya in Malappuram district, where generations have offered prayers to the souls of the dead, a festival is seeing a revival as a surrogate of the Mela. Thousands are thronging to the ghats for the 18-day Mela, which ends on February 3. The Mela comes a year after Swami Bharati was declared the “Mahamandaleshwar” for South India at the Mahakumbh in Prayagraj. The festival comes at a time when the BJP is making a strong push in the state, buoyed by its recent civic poll performance.
With that, let’s move on to the top 5 stories from today’s edition:
🚨 Big Story
‘More than just a trade deal’: Within days of wrapping up the negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the European Union (EU), Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal highlighted that India is looking at ramping up its manufacturing with technology know-how and investments from European countries that step beyond trade. “It is a strategic and defence partnership… Then there is financial integration. Going forward, a mobility partnership, and they (the EU) have said we would like to do an Investment Protection Agreement,” Goyal said in an interview to The Indian Express.
In our Opinion columns today, Shoumitro Chatterjee sheds light on how India’s Free trade agreements with markets in the EU, the UK, and Australia have created a strong platform for its export growth, however, there are challenges. He writes: “The success of India’s FTAs will not be judged by signing ceremonies but by a single metric: Gains in global market share. The opportunity is large. Delivering on it requires credibility with global firms and trading partners — built on standards compliance, simpler regulation, access to competitive inputs, and sustained commitments after agreements are signed.”
⚡ Only in Express
“A baby’s white sweater with pine trees and red trucks. A blue ‘Dad to-be’ badge. Bunches of rakhi, one of those for a Superman fan. Prayer books and prayer beads. A child’s toy. A ghungroo. A pink hair clip with a bow and flowing ribbons. Pink sunglasses with its Barbie paper tag intact. A white metal keychain with a pink rubber heart — on it, ‘Love’ and a couple holding hands.”
More than six months after Air India’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed in Ahmedabad, killing 241 of the 242 passengers on board, the airline is known to have recovered 22,000 personal belongings of passengers, out of which, 8,000 have been identified. Air India is now reaching out to relatives of the victims with these belongings via emails. Each of these items on the portal is a pause. The Indian Express meets the families as they search for a piece of what they lost.
💡 Express Explained
Ahead of the release of the Union Budget 2026, our in-house columnist Udit Misra delves into the three macro worries for the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, given India’s current economic situation. Even though the new Budget should ideally be a completely new exercise, in reality it isn’t. A new Budget, more often than not, “has limited space — both monetary and policy — to fundamentally alter things,” Misra explains. From weak GDP growth, tax buoyancy, to weak private corporate investments, here are the main concerns he underlines.
✍️ Express Opinion
In our Opinion pages today, V Anantha Nageswaran, Chanchal Sarkar, and Mira Sethi make sense of India’s manufacturing sector leap amidst geopolitical uncertainties. They write: “India’s next manufacturing leap will be defined not just by how much it produces, but by what it produces and how strategically indispensable it becomes. The proposed National Manufacturing Mission offers a platform to align reforms, skilling, infrastructure and innovation under a long-term industrial strategy. While these enablers are essential, the ultimate objective must be deeper technological capability, stronger R&D systems, and globally competitive firms embedded in strategic sectors.”
🎬 Movie Review
Wondering what to watch this weekend? Mardaani 3 is now back to your nearby screens, with Rani Mukerji returning for a third go round of the franchise, as cop Shivani Shivaji Roy, against a new set of antagonists. Shubhra Gupta, in her review of the film, writes: “Shivani gets to deliver the mandatory speech about how girls and women are perpetual victims, and how there will always be brave ones who come to the rescue, which is fine, but the eagerness to frame Mukerji centre-stage– literally in more than one scene– dulls the rest of the enterprise.”
Business As Usual by E P Unny