eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE A Time to Sow & a Time to Reap KOLKATA,LATECITY As the country celebrates regional new years, a look at how the kinship of food ties communities and languages FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT APRIL14,2024 14+4PAGES,`7.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA 6 KILLED IN SYDNEY MALL STABBING; ATTACKER KILLED PAGE 9 Days before polling, 2 killed in fresh violence in Manipur SUKRITA BARUAH GUWAHATI, APRIL 13 INAviolentflare-upafteraperiod of relative peace lasting over 40 days, two persons were killed on Saturdaymorninginanareaatthe borderofMeitei-majorityImphal East district and Kuki-Zomi-majority Kangpokpi district. Kuki-Zomi organisations identified the victims as Kamminlal Lupheng (23) and Kamlengsat Lunkim (22), both residents of Kangpokpi. A senior police officer confirmedthattherewasfiringinthe area, and said two persons are suspected to have died but the bodies haven't been found yet. Purported videos of the killings — police said the videos are prima facie from Saturday — showedthebodiesbeingstamped on, disfigured and dragged. According to sources, there was heavy cross-firing between twoarmedgroupsatabout8am. Theincidenttookplaceinanarea under the jurisdiction of Maphoudam police station in Imphal East district, where the districts of Imphal East, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PLAN SHELVED EARLIER DUE TO FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS EyeoneasternLadakh,newArmy divisionlikelytoberaisedthisyear 72 Div, planned as part of 17 MSC, set to be raised under Northern Command AMRITA NAYAK DUTTA NEW DELHI, APRIL 13 A LONG-PENDING plan to raise a new Army division for possible deploymentineasternLadakhis likely to be implemented this yearaspartof aseriesof changes for Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and the Ladakh region, The Indian Express has learnt. According to sources, the Army is considering raising the 72 Division — which was to originally function under the 17 Mountain Strike Corps (MSC) basedinPanagarh(WestBengal) — for possible deployment in eastern Ladakh under the Northern Command. A division has approximately 14,000 to 15,000 troops. However,insteadofrecruitingadditional manpower, the Army is likely to reorganise existing personnelfordeploymentinthenew division from other formations. A strike corps is responsible foroffensivetrans-borderaction. Currently, the Army has four strike corps — the Mathurabased 1 Corps, Ambala-based 2 Corps, Bhopal-based 21 Corps, and 17 MSC in Panagarh. However, till 2021, only the EXPLAINED THE WORLD E ● 2-pronged strategy THE DECISION is part of overall redeployment changes being planned in the Northern Command, with a two-pronged strategy focused on eastern Ladakh amid the standoff along the LAC with China, and on ensuring no gap in training of strike corps elements. 17 MSC — which was partially raised then — was focused on China. The other three were focussed on Pakistan. Butinthebackdropofthemilitary standoff with China which beganin2020,arestructuringwas carriedoutin2021tokeeptwoof thestrikecorpsforthemountains facing China. The 1 Corps and 17 Corps were restructured to focus on the northern and eastern borders to tackle Chinese threats. The role of the 1 Corps was reorientedtofocusonthenorthernborderswithChinawithtwo infantry divisions. The 17 Corps CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Iran seizes cargo ship linked to Israel, 17 Indians in crew EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, APRIL 13 Revolutionary Guard commandos rappel down from a helicopter onto the ship on Saturday. Reuters ALONG ERODE-TIRUPPUR HIGHWAY IRANIAN COMMANDOS Saturday seized an Israeli-affiliated container ship carrying 17 Indian crew members, the latest escalationinWestAsia’sspiralling tensions in which New Delhi has now found itself caught up. Membersof theparamilitary Revolutionary Guard rappelled down from a helicopter onto the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Per sia nG ulf IRAN BandarAbbas Dubai Bahrain Qatar SAUDIARABIA AbuDhabi UAE Tracker shows path of the seized MSC Aries in Strait of Hormuz. Reuters ‘Gangrapes at TMC office’: NHRC submits report on Sandeshkhali Police told victims to compromise with perpetrators: Report RAVIK BHATTACHARYA KOLKATA, APRIL 13 WOMEN ALLEGEDLY gangraped ataTrinamoolCongress(TMC)office,victimstoldbypolicetoreach acompromisewithperpetrators, younggirlssentawayfromthevillage to keep them safe — the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has made graveallegationsinitsinquiryreportontheSandeshkhaliincident. The report was prepared by the rights body after it took suo motu cognisance of the allegations,andisbasedonavisittothe West Bengal village and conversationswithallegedvictims.Ithas been submitted to the Chief SecretaryandDGPofWestBengal tosubmitanaction-takenreport, withacopymarkedtotheCentral Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The TMC called the NHRC a "frontal organisation" of the BJP andsaidthereporthasbeenprepared at the party office. The report lists Shibu Prasad Hazra, Uttam Sardar and Amir Ali Gazi, close associates of suspended TMC strongman Sheikh Shahjahan, as the main accused. The three, as well as Shahjahan, are currently under arrest. Shahjahan first made headlines in the beginning of January whenanEnforcementDirectorate (ED)team,whichhadgonetoconduct searches at his residence, cameunderattackbyhissupporters. He went on the run, and a month later, protests erupted in CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SARATH REDDY STATEMENT IN EXCISE POLICY CASE 3 months before Kejriwal arrest, ED no to approver’s visit abroad: ‘May not return to support case’ Court allowed Reddy to go; ED said his absence will seriously affect probe KAUNAIN SHERIFF M NEW DELHI, APRIL 13 KEY TO the Enforcement Directorate’s case that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is the “kingpin” in the excise scam is the statement of non-executive director of Hyderabadbased Aurobindo Pharma, P Sarath Chandra Reddy, recorded on April 25, 2023, about his alleged meeting with Kejriwal whopurportedlytoldhimabout a “win-win” arrangement. Reddy was arrested in the case on November 10, 2022, and SC to hear CM plea against HC order on arrest tomorrow EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, APRIL 13 P Sarath Chandra Reddy; Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on May 29, 2023, a special court in Delhi, then presided over by Special Judge M K Nagpal, allowed Reddy to turn approver and granted him pardon. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE SUPREME Court is scheduled to hear Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea against the High Court's decision to uphold his arrest in the excise policy case, on April 15. The matter has been listed before a twojudge bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Gupta. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ARMY COACHING GROUND ZERO Migrant labour, Jharkhand Agnipath turns business dhaba and Ukraine war tell cold in Nagaur, heats up a 2024 Tamil Nadu story poll campaign in Rajasthan P VAIDYANATHAN IYER PARUL KULSHRESTHA EN ROUTE to Tiruppur in Tamil Naduthataccountsformorethan half of India’s garments exports, on the Erode-Tiruppur highway, Mohamed Sadiq Khan’s dhaba stands out for its name: JharkhandUP Dhaba. He has beenhereforseven years,andemploys DECISION four others from 2024 his home state Jharkhand. Sadiq Khan has seen “trains full of migrants” getting down at Tiruppur to work in looms and garment factories, hotels and restaurants, and even in agriculture, of late. “Labour ko koi problem nahi hai yahan,” he says, emphasising they do not face any resentment from the local people or politicians. Butwhathasresultedinhuge job losses is “order recession” or sharpdropinordersfromEurope, which accounts for over 40 per THE HOARDINGS put up by academies promising to help you get into the Armed Forces beginfrom5kmawayasoneapproaches Kuchaman city in Nagaur district. The city’s entrance gate has a welcome sign: ‘Shiksha ki Nagri Kuchaman (Education City Kuchaman)’. Past those gates though, Kuchaman is almost a ghost town,itsdesertedcoachinginstitutes and hostels a reflection of thedwindlingcharmsofanArmy job after the Agnipath scheme. Located in west Rajasthan, Kuchaman, which falls in the Nagaur Lok Sabha constituency, startedtakingshapeasacoaching hub for Army candidates sometimearound2009.Soon,students were trooping in from all over Rajasthan,aswellasHaryanaand western UP. At its height, over 2 lakhstudentswereenrolledinthe town’s “defence academies”, ERODE, TIRUPPUR, COIMBATORE, APRIL 13 KUCHAMAN (RAJASTHAN), APRIL 13 The Jharkhand-UP dhaba on the Erode-Tiruppur highway. P Vaidyanathan Iyer cent of the export market, post the Russia-Ukraine war. Theturnoverof garmentsexports has dropped by a minimum30percentfromRs38,000 crore in 2021-22. Just like the textile industry warmed up to migrant labour over the last decade and more, thetraditionalbusinesscommunity in Kongu Nadu’s textile belt comprising Erode, Tiruppur and Coimbatore, are opening up to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). They didn’t have a problem with Hindi-speaking labour, having accommodated them in CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 One of the last defence academies in Kuchaman city. Parul Kulshrestha NAGAUR Vote shares in % BJPally RLTP* 54.79% Cong 39.74% 2019 Others5.47% BJP Cong 41.25% 33.77% 2014 Others24.98% CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 India’s football map skewed, 65% of top players from just 5 states: Study PAGE 1 ANCHOR 4.PUNJAB 11.46% MIHIR VASAVDA SMALL PLAYER POOL Just 5 states make up 65.51% of player pool for senior national team MUMBAI, APRIL 13 LIKEHISpredecessors,FIFApresident Gianni Infantino was left searching for answers during a visit to India in October 2022. “It’s a country of more than 1.3 billion, so there must be enough talent in India,” he remarked. It wasn’t the first time a direct correlation was made between the country’s burgeoning population and its sporting suc- 1.MANIPUR 17.58% 3.WEST BENGAL 13.35% 5.GOA 9.71% 2.MIZORAM 13.41% Study by Richard Hood, former head of player development of AIFF cess, or the lack of it. Seen through this prism, India’s repeated failure to find 11 worldclass footballers has mystified observers at home and abroad. However, a new study has some answers. Research conducted by Richard Hood, UEFA ‘A’ and AFC Pro licence coach and former headofplayerdevelopmentofAll India Football Federation (AIFF), has revealed that in a sprawling country of a billion-plus people, over 65 per cent of the elite-level footballers hail from only five states—Manipur,Mizoram,West Bengal,PunjabandGoa—whose CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 Kolkata