DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, JULY 5, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 THIS TITLE IS FOR THE COUNTRY: CAPTAIN ROHIT SHARMA A billion-plus welcome PILOT RUN DONE LAST WEEK Forintegrityof exams,Centre asksstatesto helpinsecurity States told to appoint one civil, one police observer for each exam centre RITIKA CHOPRA & MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL NEW DELHI, JULY 4 Home after lifting the T20 cricket World Cup, the Indian team heads to the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai for a felicitation ceremony on Thursday. Deepak Joshi As Kohli tears up, SKY soaks it in, Team India get a Mumbai Salaam MIHIR VASAVDA MUMBAI, JULY 4 WHAT MUST it feel like to be Rohit Sharma tonight? To hear his name reverberating at the Wankhede Stadium in the same rhythm as “Sachin, Sachin!”. To receive a standing ovation from hisownT20WorldCup-winning teammates. BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Or to be Virat Kohli. On the ground where he carried Sachin Tendulkar on his shoulders 13 years ago, the chants of fans wereenoughforKohlitotearup. OrevenHardikPandya.Booed relentlessly in Mumbai Indians’ hues of blue just three months ago. Tonight, they couldn't stop singing his name. Pandya smiled and waved back; almost CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 What went on in your mind... How does mud taste? PM posers to team DEVENDRA PANDEY MUMBAI, JULY 4 Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an interaction with the Indian team, in New Delhi on Thursday. PTI Can’t deny bail to constable because she was in car that tried to run over cops: Court GOPAL KATESHIYA RAJKOT, JULY 4 EXPRESS NETWORK HATHRAS STAMPEDE: 6 ‘SEVADARS’ HELD, MAIN ACCUSED ON THE RUN PAGE 9 BHACHAU ADDITIONAL Chief Judicial Magistrate D S Dabhi, whilegrantingbailtosuspended Gujarat Criminal Investigation Department (CID) head constable Nita Chaudhary in a case of attempttomurder,hasobserved that denying her bail just because she was sitting in the car whose driver allegedly tried to run it over six policemen would amountto“pre-trialconviction”. While Chaudhary (34) was granted bail on Wednesday, she andYuvrajsinhJadeja(30),anal- “HOW DID the mud taste, Rohit?” “What was going on in your mind in your final over, Bumrah?” “What were you thinking during that gameturning catch, Surya?” These were some of the questions that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is learnt to have asked the T20 World Cupwinning India team when he met them at his residence in the Capital on Thursday morning after their return from Barbados. Seated between captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid, with the rest of the players completing the circle, Modi’s meeting with the team lasted CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 India & China agree: Situation at LAC not in each other’s interest Bothtoredouble effortstoresolve issuesatearliest SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, JULY 4 Nita Chaudhary and Yuvrajsinh Jadeja leged bootlegger who was driving the car, were sent to two-day policeremand by the magistrate on Thursday in a case registered against the two under Gujarat CONTINUEDONPAGE2 IN THEIR first meeting after the return of the BJP-led NDA to power, External Affairs Minister SJaishankarandChineseForeign Minister Wang Yi agreed Thursday that the “prolongation of the current situation in the border areas is not in the interest of either side”. The military standoff along Jaishankar with Wang Yi in Astana on Thursday. ANI theLineof ActualControlineastern Ladakh, which began in May 2020, is now in its fifth year and has soured relations between the two countries. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE UNION government has reached out to the states for help in ensuring the integrity of its entrance tests. Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla held a meeting with all state Chief Secretaries and DGPs last week to seek their assistance in overseeing the conduct of upcoming tests including the All India Ayush Postgraduate EntranceTest(AIAPGET)andthe Foreign Medical Graduate Exam (FMGE) on July 6. The AIAPGET, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for the Ayush Ministry, is for admissions to MD/MS programmes in Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy. The FMGE, conducted biannually by the National Board of Examination (NBE) under the Health Ministry, screens overseas medical graduates seeking topractisemedicineinIndia.Just under one lakh candidates appearedforthetwotestslastyear. Botharecomputer-basedexams. During the meeting, sources said,Bhallarequestedthestatesto helpintroduceanadditionallayer of oversight for the exams by appointing one civil and one police observer for each exam centre in their respective states. An observerischargedwiththeresponsibility of ensuring that the exam isfairandfreeofanymalpractices. Inadditiontothis,stateswere also asked to appoint one statelevel nodal officer to coordinate withtheexamconductingagency. Currently,thereisusuallyone observer appointed to each test CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Before Budget, DPIIT backs India Inc’s call to remove angel tax RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, JULY 4 AHEAD OF the Union Budget presentation expected later this month, the Department for Promotion of Industry and InternalTrade(DPIIT)hasbacked the industry’s demand to remove angel tax that the policymakers introduced to deter the use of unaccounted money but wasviewedbystartupsasanimpediment to much needed capital raising. DPIIT Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh told the press Thursday that the department has reiterated its recommendation to remove angel tax based on the discussions with the startup ecosystem. This comes after the Confederationof IndianIndustry Why industry wants it out THE INDUSTRY says taxes levied on the difference between issue price of unlisted securities and its fair market value has hurt funding as investors fund startups based on their future potential and it may be incorrect to see it as a sign of money laundering. (CII) in its Union Budget recommendation last month sought theremovalofthetaxstatingthat such a move would “greatly aid capitalformationinthecountry”. “Basedonconsultationswith the startup ecosystem, we have recommended the removal of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NRI sponsors, live broadcasts and a murder: Punjab’s world of pigeon racing PAGE 1 ANCHOR DIVYA GOYAL GOPAL LUDHIANA, JULY 4 LAST MONTH, an argument between two friends over who to invite for a pigeon racing event that they were jointly hosting in Ikolaha village of Punjab’s Ludhiana district ended in the death of one. Both Gurdeep Singh,22,andhisfriendKuldeep Singh alias Vicky Aujla, 44, coowned a flock of over 100 pigeons and would frequently or- ganise such events in the village. ThefriendshadgotintoanargumentoverKuldeepinvitingarivaltotheJune23racingevent.The argument ended with Kuldeep andhissonDaman,20,bludgeoningGurdeepwithanironrod,police said. Gurdeep is survived by hisminorbrotherandtheirgrandmother Mukhtiar Kaur. Inspector Hardeep Singh, SHO, Sadar Khanna police station, said, “Kuldeep and Daman went to Gurdeep’s house after the event. When Gurdeep came out, Daman hit him on the head with an iron rod. Gurdeep died of a head injury at a Chandigarh hospital. Kuldeep is in custody but Daman is on the run.” The death, over a seemingly innocuous issue, has put the spotlight on the high-stakes worldof kabutarbazi(pigeonracing). Thought to have been popularisedintheMughalera,when pigeon-keeping was a favourite pastime of the elite, the folk sport of kabutarbazi still exists in parts of India and Pakistan. What sets the Punjab races apart is the race variation — whichinvolveskeepingthebirds in the sky for as long as possible — and the prestige and money associated with winning. Manjit Singh Deepi, the former sarpanch of Ikolaha village, Victim Gurdeep Singh’s grandmother Mukhtiar Kaur at Ludhiana’s Ikolaha village. Gurmeet Singh says such races were earlier organisedby“idlemen”,whichled to unemployed people being referred to as kabutarbaz. With time, however, these races have helped shed that stereotype. Although kabutarbazi is not recognised as an official sport, village-level rules are largely followed across rural Punjab. Usually held in May and June, the races are even broadcast on YouTube. In fact, there are over 100YouTubevideosof eventsorganised in Punjab villages in this season alone. Besides awards, dedicatedYouTubechannelstoo line up to interview the “champion kabutarbaz”. The sport has also started attracting sponsorships from Punjabi NRIs in Canada and the UK. While winners typically get cash prizes upwards of Rs 20,000 and trophies, in case of sponsors, there are other prizes, includingtractors,cattle,ACs,refrigerators and two-wheelers. Former sarpanch Deepi says the winner of a race in Ludhiana’s Rangian village got a tractor worth Rs 12 lakh. Incaseof nosponsors,participants pay an entry fee. “If the entry fee is Rs 2,200 per pigeon, Rs 200 is kept aside for expenses like food, water, etc., and the rest — Rs 2,000 per pigeon — goes to the winner,” says Deepi. The live broadcast of a race in Ludhiana’s Pandori village on June 26 on a YouTube channel, ‘Star Kabutarbaaz’, shows a group of people — all carrying caged birds — huddled around a table for registration. A scoreboard displays two categories — kull kabutar (total pigeons) and kattey kabutar (fallen pigeons) — and a ticker the current temperature (44 degrees Celsius). The prizes — a motorcycle for the winner, a refrigerator for the runner-up and trophies for the first three pigeons — are stacked on one side. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad