DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2025, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 22 PAGES `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES, `20 IN ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 PM DISCUSSES CYBERSECURITY, TERROR WITH INTELLIGENCE CHIEF TULSI GABBARD AheadofTrumpmeeting,Modiconnectswith Musk,topUSofficials,talkstechandtrade In dramatic shift, Trump talks to Putin and Zelenskyy in bid to end Ukraine war; stuns Europe New defence framework, fair trade deal among issues on table SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 13 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AGENCIES WASHINGTON, MOSCOW, KYIV, FEBRUARY 13 AS PRESIDENT Donald Trump jettisoned three years of US policy and announced he would likely meet soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiateapeacedealinthealmost three-year war in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would not accept any negotiations that don’t include his country in the talks. European governments, too, demanded a seat at the table. Trump, who spoke with Putin and Zelenskyy in separate Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Tesla CEO and DOGE chief Elon Musk and family in Washington DC on Thursday. PIB THE WORLD BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 13 AS PRIME Minister Narendra Modi meets Donald Trump at the White House, a narrow focus on tariffs and immigration may obscure the broader transformations that the American President is initiating, and at a furious pace. Locating the PM’s conversation with Trump in the context of a shifting global landscape is crucial not only for bilateral ties with the US but also PAGE 22 phone calls on Wednesday, said both leaders expressed a desire for peace, and he ordered top US officials to begin talks on ending the war in Ukraine. The conversations came after Trump’s defence secretary CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 for India’s evolving role in an increasingly turbulent international order. Modi arrives at the White House at a pivotal moment when Trump is reshapinggreatpowerrelations. Of course, with Trump, one sweeping statement always runs theriskof beingbrushedasideby the next, the walk back as predictable as the push forward. But if he walks his talk — invoking World War II with RussianPresidentVladimirPutin about ending the war in Ukraine — this restructuring can potentiallybeassignificantastheYalta summitheld80yearsago.That’s where US President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and ● Soviet leader Joseph Stalin established a framework for the post-World War II global order. In his Wednesday phone call withPutin,Trumphaseffectively ended over a decade of treating E UP, Maharashtra & Bengal lead Adani Group exits Rlys push for station makeovers Sri Lanka wind project after Colombo looks THE ‘AMRIT BHARAT’ PLAN to renegotiate terms 1,337* Uttar Pradesh 157 Launched in 2022, the scheme aims to transform identified railway stations into ‘city centres’ of business, leisure Bihar 98 Jharkhand 57 AGGAM WALIA West Bengal 101 Rajasthan 85 Gujarat 87 Assam MP 50 80 TOTALINVESTMENT Maharashtra 132 Odisha 59 Karnataka 61 Tamil Nadu 77 Andhra Pradesh 73 *Stations identified for construction; most being redeveloped through Engineering, Procurement, Construction model funds in the revised estimates.” Funds for the scheme are earmarked under Customer Amenities in the Budget. Estimatedtocostthegovernment Rs 1 lakh crore, the project `1lakhcr TOTALEXPENDITURE IN‘23-24 `8,000cr PROJECTED EXPENDITURE FOR‘24-25 `12,992cr envisions airport-like facilities such as executive lounges and businesscentres,foodplazasand retail shops, and free WiFi, peppered with local art and culture, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Governor Bhalla sent a report to the President NEW DELHI, GUWAHATI, FEBRUARY 13 FOUR DAYS after N Biren Singh resigned as Manipur Chief Minister, the Centre Thursday announced that President’s rule had been imposed in the state and the Assembly placed under suspended animation. PresidentDroupadiMurmu’s decision, announced hours after the two Houses of Parliament adjourned to meet again on March 10 for the remainder of the Budget session, followed a report from Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla. The state has been roiled by ethnic violence since May 2023. Before the imposition of President’s rule, a security plan waspreparedandthestatepolice and intelligence agencies were said to be monitoring movements of certain individuals to prevent any untoward incident. The BJP-led government in the state collapsed on February 9 when Chief Minister Biren Singh resigned, shortly after returning to Imphal from New Delhi where he held talks with UnionHomeMinisterAmitShah and BJP president J P Nadda. Accepting Singh’s resignation, the Governor issued a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 13 THE ADANI Group has withdrawn from a 484-megawatt (MW) wind project in northern Sri Lanka after the government inColomboreportedlymovedto renegotiate the terms of the project. Adani Green Energy Ltd told Sri Lanka’s Board of Investment Wednesday that it will “respectfully withdraw” from the wind project following discussions with officials who indicated that freshcommitteeswillbeformed to “renegotiate the project proposal”. The wind project has been under intense scrutiny since the election of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in September last year, after he promisedtocancelthe“corrupt” projectintherun-uptothepolls. “Our executives recently had discussions with CEB (Ceylon ElectricityBoard)officialsasalso with Ministry officials at Colombo. It was learnt that another Cabinet-appointed negotiations committee (CANC) and Project Committee (PC) would beconstitutedtorenegotiatethe project proposal,” Adani Green wrote in a letter to Arjuna Herath, Chairman of the Board of Investment. “This aspect was deliberated attheBoardof ourcompanyand it was decided that while the company fully respects the sovereign rights of Sri Lanka and its choices, it would respectfully withdrawfromthesaidproject,” the letter stated. The project has also drawn criticism for its potential impact on a nearby bird corridor and on localfishingcommunities.Adani Green spent a total of $5 million in pre-developmental activities, including obtaining clearances and arranging for land. A 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) was earlier approved for the project, which CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 House proceedings disrupted as Opp and Treasury benches trade charges EXPRESS NETWORK Opposition members walk out of Lok Sabha Thursday. PTI DIVYA A & DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 13 Total stations MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL & SUKRITA BARUAH CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DHEERAJ MISHRA AN AMBITIOUS plan to turn railway stations across the country into city centres has got an impetus in the recent Union Budget, with the Centre setting aside over Rs 12,000 crore towards it in the financial year 2025-26. Of the 1,337 stations identified for a makeover, Uttar Pradesh has the most (157), officials told The Indian Express, followed by Maharashtra (132), West Bengal (101), Bihar (98), Gujarat (87), Rajasthan (85), Madhya Pradesh (80), Tamil Nadu (77), Andhra Pradesh (73), Karnataka (61), Odisha (59), Jharkhand (57) and Assam (50) (see map). The Indian Railways spent Rs 8,000 crore on the project in FY 2023-24 and allocated Rs 12,993 crore in FY 2024-45. Speaking to The Indian Express, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, “We have no shortage of funds. Flexibility is maintained regarding allocation in the umbrella works. Amrit Bharat station scheme is one of these. As work progresses in different phases, we will get more Announcement comes hours after Parliament adjourns to meet in March US reach-out can reshape global Waqf Bill report: Opp order, open a window for India protests redaction of dissent, corrigendum restores its notings C RAJA MOHAN EUROPE, UKRAINE DEMAND THEIR INCLUSION IN TALKS NATO TROOPS TEST NEW DEPLOYMENT MODEL WITHOUT U.S. Trump says first meeting with Putin ‘probably’ in Saudi Arabia soon EXPLAINED AHEAD OF his meeting with US President Donald Trump, Prime MinisterNarendraModimetkey membersof histeam—National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and billionaire Elon Musk — in Washington DC on Thursday. Among the issues discussed were: “intelligence cooperation incounter-terrorism,cybersecurity”, “defence, technology and security”, cooperation in “AI, semiconductors and space”. Modi and Waltz also discussed “strategic technologies”, as well as “defence industrial cooperation and civil nuclear energy withanemphasisonsmallmodular reactors, and counter-terrorism”. A new defence framework, a fair trade deal in 2025 and continuation of the cooperation on critical technologies are on the table at the meeting between Modi and Trump on Thursday afternoon local time (early Friday India time). Modi — who arrived in Washington DC late last night — beganhisvisitbymeetingnewly appointed Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, just hours after her confirmation. With Gabbard — who heads the entire US intelligence community of 17 intelligence agencies including the CIA — the discussions focused on “enhancing said Kyiv would have to give up its long-held goals of joining the NATO military alliance and regaining all of its territory seized by Russia, signalling a dramatic shift in Washington’s approach to the conflict. After speaking with Putin for more than an hour, Trump said the Russian leader, who launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, wants the war to end and they discussed “getting a ceasefire in the not-toodistant future”. “He wants it to end. He doesn’t want to end it and then go back to fighting six months later,” Trump told reporters in President’s rule in Manipur, Assembly under suspended animation: Centre NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 13 WHY DO YOU NEED BANGLADESH NOD TO SEND BACK ILLEGALS: SC KERALA RAGGING: POLICE WIDEN PROBE NET AFTER VIDEO EMERGES P 11 THETABLINGof thereportof the Joint Committee on The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, led to disruptions and chaos in both Houses of Parliament Thursday withtheOppositionallegingthat its dissent notes had been deleted, and the government rejecting the charge. Amid the ruckus, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, speakinginLokSabha,saidsome members of the Opposition had saidthattheir“disputes”hadnot beenfullyincludedinthereport. He said his party had no objection to whatever the Opposition wanted to include if the Speaker felt it appropriate as per CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IN PARLIAMENT PAGE 4 Abhishek hints at keeping doors open for alliance talks with Cong ATRI MITRA KOLKATA, FEBRUARY 13 WHILE REITERATING party supremoMamataBanerjee’sposition that the TMC would fight alone in the next year's Assembly elections in West Bengal, the party’s national generalsecretaryAbhishekBanerjee on Thursday hinted at keeping the door open for discussions. “In Bengal, we have categor- TMC No.2 Abhishek Banerjee ically stated that we are with the INDIAblocforthelargerinterest. However, if Congress does not wishtoexploreanywayforward or engage in seat-sharing, we will contest alone... Didi (Mamata Banerjee) has already made it clear that we will fight alone in Bengal. This is nothing new. We fought alone in 2014, 2016, 2019, and 2024, and won. We will do so again,” Abhishek, who is considered number two in the TMC, said. On Monday, Mamata had told her MLAs that the Congress was not in a position of strength in West Bengal to spoil TMC’s chances of winning the next year’s elections in the state. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 In search of baseball players for Olympics & Asiad, SAI may look at cricket PAGE 1 ANCHOR MIHIR VASAVDA MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 13 TURNING ‘RAW’ Indian cricketers into baseball players was a project that once inspired a Hollywoodfilm.Seventeenyears after the story of two aspiring fast bowlers from Uttar Pradesh airlifted to the US by Major League Baseball talent scouts was made into a sports movie, Million Dollar Arm, the idea is back —this time, with a push from the government. Toaddressthedroughtinthe playerpoolintwoeventsthatare going unrepresented in the Asian Games and the Olympics, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) is exploring the possibility of a talent transfer from cricket to baseball — a men’s-only sport at the multi-discipline events — anditswomen’svariant,softball. Still at an ideation stage, the proposal was discussed during the meeting of the high-powered Mission Olympic Cell (MOC), which monitors India’s preparationsformulti-discipline games, on Tuesday. The MOC also discussed the “actionplanuptothe2026Asian Games” which involves resolvinggovernanceissueswithinthe sports federations, “exploring the possibility of conducting domestic leagues in various games”, and “identifying possible training venues in Japan for betteracclimatisationinthelead up to the Asian Games”. With the Asiad just 18 months away, a committee member said baseball was “a long-term project” as it was “realistically” not possible to form a competitiveteaminsuchashort period. “However, it is a medal sport and we should at least work to- In 2008, UP cricketers Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel were signed by a Major League Baseball team. Hollywood film Million Dollar Arm was based on their story. File wards India’s participation in it. We have a large talent pool in cricket. Many players are very good at the sport but are still unable to make it to the top. So, it was discussed that we could explore the possibility of transferring talent from cricket to baseballandsoftball,”thecommittee member told The Indian Express. “There is no concrete plan yet. This was just the first meeting of the newly-constituted MOC and everyone will come up with their suggestions in the coming meetings.” Itisanambitiousidea,butnot a new one. In the past, American sports agent J B Bernstein came to India to search for baseball pitchers who could throw a ball at the speed of 90 mph. In 2008, heheldarealityTVshowinIndia, and unearthed two such talents in Uttar Pradesh — Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, who went on tosignforMajorLeagueBaseball side Pittsburgh Pirates, a first in Indian sporting history. The attempt to turn 140-plus cricket pacers into pitchers of around the same speed caught the interest of Walt Disney Pictures, which went on to produce the film Million Dollar Arm, starringJonathan Daniel Hamm, the lead of hit television series Mad Men. While the film was a modest success, the baseball careers of Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel didn’t take off. Singh turned into aprofessionalwrestlerintheUS, competing under the ring name ‘Veer’; Patel returned to India and attempted to popularise baseball. In 2014, ahead of the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea turned to its baseball players in an attempt to form a cricket team of indigenous players instead of South Asian expats. Similarly, after a two-decade career in baseball, Japan’s Shogo Kimura switched to cricket and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata