DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2024, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES MALDIVES PRESIDENT ON STATE VISIT THE WORLD MuizzumeetsPMtoday, saysIndiaawareoffiscal situation,willeaseburden IRAN CANCELS FLIGHTS FROM ALL ITS AIRPORTS ISRAEL BOMBS BEIRUT IN HEAVIEST ATTACK YET PAGE 12 Confident of new impetus to ties, says Jaishankar EXPLAINED SHUBHAJIT ROY A YEAROFWARIN WEST ASIA NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 6 PAGE 9 The stranded mountaineers are picked up by an IAF helicopter from the Chaukhamba massif in Uttarakhand on Sunday. PTI Miracle on ice: Stranded duo rescued after 60 hours, with help from French climbers AVANEESH MISHRA DEHRADUN, OCTOBER 6 ‘The safeguards for judicial autonomy must come from within’ JUSTICE HIMA KOHLI RETIRED JUDGE OF SUPREME COURT PAGE 14 AFTER SPENDING more than 60 harrowing hours stranded at an altitude of 6,300 metres, British alpinist Fay Manners and American climate science PhD student Michelle Dvorak were rescued on Sunday from Chaukhamba-IIIinUttarakhand’s Garhwal Himalayas. Trapped in the extreme weather without any major equipment and no way to signal The climbers in Joshimath after being rescued. Reuters for help, the two women mountaineers,wholastsentoutanSOS call Thursday afternoon, waited in the biting cold, scanning the skies for a miracle, until help arrived in an unexpected form — a French expedition team. Inanextraordinarydisplayof camaraderie, the French climbers, who were on a separatemission intheChaukhamba region, diverted their routetolocate the two missing women mountaineers.Withcoordinates provided by rescue authorities, SRINAGAR, OCTOBER 6 NEARLY TWO decades after India and the US concluded a civil nuclear deal, the first real sliver of hope to belatedly leverage the commercial potential of this landmark pact comes from an unlikely contender: Holtec International, based in Camden, New Jersey. UnlikeWestinghouseElectric Co. and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy,thetwoUSnuclearindustry flag bearers that were seen as early frontrunners for entry into India’scivilnuclearsector,Holtec is a smaller, privately-held company that is now billed as one of the world’s largest exporter of capital nuclear components. Holtec’s pitch is for fostering a public-private initiative cen- E E X P L A I NE D NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 6 Benefits ● of SMRs WITH A capacity of 30MWe to 300 MWe per unit, SMRs are important for nuclear energy to remain a commercially competitive option. Advantages of SMRs include lower capital investment, greater efficiency, siting flexibility and clean energy transition. tredontheAmericancompany’s flagship small modular reactor, the SMR-300, to potentially help break this stasis in the nuclear engagement between the two CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NETWORK 5 DEAD, SCORES IN HOSPITAL AS 12 LAKH TURN UP AT IAF EVENT IN CHENNAI 10 EXPELLED FROM R G KAR PAGES 7, 8 Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu and his wife Sajidha Mohamed arrive in New Delhi on Sunday. PTI Singh.Duringhisfive-dayvisit— from October 6 to 10 — he will also travel to Agra, Mumbai and Bengaluru. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called on President Muizzu and, in a post on X, said “appreciate his commitment to enhance” the relationship between India and Maldives. He said he was confident that the President’s talks with the Prime Minister on Monday “will give a newimpetustoourfriendlyties”. Earlier, extending “a warm welcome” to the President, Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, said, “The visit will provide further boost to this longstanding comprehensive bilateral partnership.” President Muizzu and First CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 More Indians travelling abroad but Parties to experts, no clarity on arrivals yet to hit pre-Covid levels NAVEED IQBAL Holtec CEO met PM during his US visit AHEAD OF his bilateral meeting Monday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Maldives PresidentMohamedMuizzuhas flagged the need for financial aid to his country, saying Delhi is “fullycognisant”of theislandnation’s fiscal situation and will always be ready to “ease the burden” as one of Male’s biggest development partners. Ties between the two countrieshavebeenunderstrainever since Muizzu rode to power last Novemberonan‘IndiaOut’election plank. Muizzu reached New Delhi Sunday on his first bilateral State visit — he was here four months ago to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the third Modigovernment. He was received at the airport by Minister of State (External Affairs) Kirti Vardhan CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 20 yrs after N-deal, New Jersey firm’s nominated MLAs in J&K House proposal for small Exit polls add to fears that no group may get clear majority reactor opens a door ANIL SASI `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 WITH exit polls indicating that no party or coalitionmay end up withasimplemajorityinJammu and Kashmir, the confusion regarding the five members to be nominated to the Assembly by the Lieutenant Governor has parties worried. As more Opposition leaders came forward to say that Lt Governor Manoj Sinha should not be making the nominations without the “aid and advice” of theCouncilof Ministersthatisto BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY besworninsoon,theBJPhassaid heisclearlynotrequiredtoasper the J&K Reorganisation Act. Several legal experts The Indian Express spoke to also differed over what the changes implied. The addition of the five nominated members, who are to have the same powers and voting rights as other MLAs, would takethetotalJ&KHousestrength to 95, and the majority mark to 48.MostexitpollsSaturdaygave the National ConferenceCongress alliance — the frontrunner — less than that figure. As per senior administration SUKALP SHARMA NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 6 THE POST-PANDEMIC surge in international travel is a global phenomenonandthestoryisnot too different when it comes to Indians travelling overseas, with outbound numbers exceeding pre-Covid levels. But what continuestobeacauseof concernfor thecountry’stourismindustryis thatforeigntouristarrivals(FTAs) areyettocatchupwithpre-pandemic levels. In the first half of 2024, 47.78 FOREIGN TOURIST ARRIVALS Period Tourists (inlakh) 2024(H1) 47.78 2023 92.36 2022 61.91 2021** 15.27 2020** 27.45 2019 109.30 %change vs2019 -9.8* -15.5 -43.4 -86.0 -74.9 - * First half of 2019 ** Travel restricted by Covid-19 Source: Ministry of Tourism lakh foreign tourists visited India, 9.1 per cent higher than the same period the year before, but still 9.8 per cent lower than the corresponding months of 2019 — the last full year before the pandemic struck, according to data from the Ministry of Tourism (see chart). In contrast, Indian nationals’ departures from the country in the six months ended June 2024 rose 12.3 per cent over the corresponding period of 2019 to 1.50 crore. On a year-on-year basis, the departures were higher CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 `1.5-cr heist, 2 dead men: UP gang at centre of Yadav vs Thakur debate ASAD REHMAN SULTANPUR, JAUNPUR, AMETHI, OCTOBER 6 IT BEGAN as a movie-style heist allegedly involving 14 robbers, butendedwithtwo“encounter” killings and a major political slugfest that has inflamed the festering ‘Thakur versus Yadav’ debate in Uttar Pradesh. On August 28, a group of armed men robbed Bharat JewellersinSultanpur’sThatheri bazar,oneof thebusiestmarkets in town. According to police, jewellery worth `1.5 crore had been stolen in the robbery, Vishal Srivastav Anuj’s father Dharamraj Singh at his house in Janapur village. which was caught on CCTV. So far, police have arrested nine people — the alleged mas- terminds Vinay Shukla (34) and Vipin Singh (38), along with CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 ‘Couldn’t believe it’: For Rose Valley investors, a faint ray of hope as refund process begins PAGE 1 ANCHOR RAVIK BHATTACHARYA & ATRI MITRA KOLKATA, HOOGHLY, OCTOBER 6 SITTING ON a bed with sheets of papersspreadoutinfrontof him, 52-year-old Asim Kumar Baruri recounts how he lost his life savingsinPonzischemesandthathe even contemplated suicide. On Friday, howeverm he received an SMS that gave him cause for hope. The message said Asim Kumar Baruri, one of the Rose Valley investors who got part of their deposit back; (right) Susmita Banerjee, who lost husband Amit, a depositor and agent, in 2023. Ravik Bhattacharya his bank account was credited with `10,000 — a part of the amountheinvestedwiththeRose ValleyGroup,whichallegedlyran oneofthebiggestfinancialfrauds in the historyof WestBengal,un- til it went bust in 2013. Asim, from Pandua in West Bengal’s Hooghly district, is among 7,346 Rose Valley depositors who got part of their money back on Friday in the first phase of the long-awaited restitution process initiated by the Rose Valley Asset Disposal Committee. The committee was constituted in 2015 by a Calcutta High Courtorderforthepurposeof refunding investors, and was headed by Justice Dilip Kumar Seth. The first phase of the process saw 7,346 depositors receiving refunds of `10,200 each. AccordingtotheEnforcement Directorate, 31,352 claims by depositors have been processed so far,outofatotal28.10lakhclaims. Companies under the Rose Valley Group are estimated to havedefraudedinvestorsof over `17,000 crore — the highest amount among the several chit funds that went bust one after the other in West Bengal starting with the Saradha Group in January 2013. In 2014, the ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) againsttheRoseValleyGroup,its chairman Gautam Kundu, and others. Kundu was arrested in CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow