DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2025, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 NEXT HEARING ON JULY 28, EC HAS TO RESPOND BY JULY 21 SCletsECrevisioncontinue,suggestsadding Aadhaar,ration,votercardtolistofdocuments In poll run-up, to help voters, parties ramp up their agents on the ground Give reasons if you wish to discard these 3 papers: Bench to poll panel ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, JULY 10 Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi listed for hearing again on July 28, before publication of the draft electoral roll. Justice Dhulia, who was presiding over the bench that heard a clutch of petitions voicing concerns over the SIR in Bihar, including its timing, said, “There is a democratic process which is on… You may question it, we CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WHAT WILL Booth level officers collect forms in Patna as part of the special intensive revision. Express BUSINESS AS USUAL Why three documents SC suggests widen net, dial down panic HARIKISHAN SHARMA NEW DELHI, JULY 10 THESUPREMECourt’ssuggestion to include Aadhaar, Voter ID, and ration cards in the ongoing SpecialIntensiveRevision(SIR)of Bihar’s electoral rolls, if adopted bytheElectionCommission(EC), could provide existing voters — thoseenrolledafter2003butstill needing to prove their eligibility to remain on the rolls — with Ladakh to Arunachal, 30 Defence projects get wildlife panel nod NIKHIL GHANEKAR NEW DELHI, JULY 10 FROM INFRASTRUCTURE for a forwardaviationbase,facilitiesfor missiles and vital road linkages along the Line of Actual Control, the standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife (SCNBWL) has approved proposals forcriticalDefenceprojectsalong theboundarywithChina,stretching from eastern Ladakh to Sikkim to Arunachal Pradesh. It has also cleared construction of the Arunachal Frontier Highway close to the Myanmar border, through the core zone of the Namdapha Tiger Reserve subject to mitigation measures to minimise impact on wildlife and their habitats. The project will divert 310 hectares of forest from the tiger reserve — committee members have noted it will also lead to tree felling. One of the most significant projects approved was a 10.26kmroadlinkbetweenDaulatBeg Oldie (DBO) to the Border Personnel Meeting (BPM) Hut where senior Indian and CONTINUEDONPAGE2 more accessible options, potentiallyeasingtheirscrambletosecure one of the 11 documents originally proposed. As the ongoing series in The IndianExpressshows,thesethree arethedocumentsmostfamilies have. The fact that none of these meets the requirement has sparked concerns among voters acrossBihar,fromChief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Harnaut in NalandatoRJDchief LaluPrasad’s CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BY UNNY APURVA VISHWANATH NEW DELHI, JULY 10 EXPLAINED POLICY THE REVISION OF ELECTORALROLLS PAGE 14 RECIPROCAL TARIFF PAUSE RUNS OUT AUG 1 Agri, auto in focus as India team heads back to US next week for trade talks RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, JULY 10 WITH A fresh window for negotiations before the US 'reciprocal tariffs' come into effect on August 1, Indian negotiators led by Rajesh Agrawal, Special Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, are likely to leave for Washington nextweektoironoutpendingissues like agriculture and auto sector tariffs that are holding back the interim trade agreement on goods, a government official told The Indian Express. The Indian team had returnedfromthelastroundof negotiations on July 4, days before the reciprocal tariff pause was earlier set to run out on July 9. Lastweek,theUSsaidthenew tariffrateswouldcomeintoeffect on August 1, and there would be “no extension”. It said that if the August 1 deadline was not adheredto,countrieswouldgoback Timing, due process & citizenship: SC flags key issues for poll panel EVEN AS the Supreme Court allowed the Election Commission (EC) to continue its Special Intensive Revision of the electoral list in Bihar, a two-judge bench Thursday flagged three key issues that the commission will have to factor in as it formulates its response. These include: the EC’s power to check the citizenship of voters; the importance of due totheApril2tarifflevels—theUS hadannounced26percentreciprocal tariffs on India then. “Aproposalforanotherround of trade negotiations with the US has been sent to the top brass of the government. Negotiators are confident that the differences with the US team on agriculture, whichhavebeenholdingbackthe agreement,willberesolved.There isalreadybroadconsensusonthe subject between the two teams andtheremainingissueswillalso be settled,” an official said. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NOT COUNTINBIHAR AN EXPRESS SERIES PART 8 HIMANSHU HARSH PATNA, JULY 10 ASTHEongoingSpecialIntensive Revision(SIR)of electoralrollsin Bihar spreads confusion and leavespeoplescramblingfordocuments, political parties are reaching out by boosting their presence on the ground. While all parties have shown a steep increase in workers enrolled as Booth Level Agents (BLAs),theriseissharperamong Opposition parties, which hope the outreach will pay off in the coming Assembly elections. Since the SIR began on June 25, the Election Commission datashows,thetotalBLAsacross CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 Fadnavis warns of ‘urban Maoism’, Bill to tackle ‘extremist Left ideology’ passed VALLABH OZARKAR MUMBAI, JULY 10 THE STRINGENT Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill, which seeks “to provide for effective prevention of certain unlawful activities of Left Wing Extremist organizations or similar organizations and for mattersconnectedtherewithorincidental thereto”, was passed by the state Assembly Thursday via a voice vote amid Opposition concern over the definition and CONTINUEDONPAGE2 President Donald Trump, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. AP process and procedure to be followed during the revision and the timing of the revision itself. A bench of Justices SudhanshuDhuliaandJoymalya Bagchisaidthat“thereisnoquestion that this issue is an important one and goestotheveryrootof democracy and the right to vote.” ● The bench, in the three-hour-longhearing, acknowledged that the EC, as a constitutional body, has powers well beyond the E EXPLAINED DECLINING TO restrain the Election Commission of India from proceeding with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar, the Supreme Court Thursday suggested to the poll panel to also consider Aadhaar, voter ID and ration cards for the purpose of updating the rolls. The vacation bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and JoymalyaBagchisaiditwasleaving it to the EC to consider its suggestion on the inclusion of these three documents and “if youhavegoodreasonstodiscard it, discard it” but “give reasons”. It directed that the matter be GUJARAT Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis arrives for the Monsoon Session in Mumbai on Thursday. Narendra Vaskar VADODARA BRIDGE COLLAPSE Cranes were deployed to retrieve vehicles that plunged into the Mahisagar. Bhupendra Rana PAGE4 In Anand, a village mourns deaths of its own — and threat to livelihood RITU SHARMA GAMBHIRA VILLAGE (ANAND), JULY 10 FOR MORE than 40 years, the bridge over Mahi was a lifeline fortheresidentsof Gambhiravillage in Anand district, saving them the trouble of having to travel an extra 70 km to work in the factories of Vadodara on the other side. So much so, the bridge itself came to be known as Gambhira. Today, a day after a portion of the bridge collapsed, no one from the village went to work. They were mourning the deaths of two of their own in the accident, with the death toll rising to 18 on Thursday. They were also ADITI RAJA VADODARA, JULY 10 ON THE dusty path leading to the home of the Padhiyar family in Mujpur village of Vadodara district, an unsettling quiet hangs in the air on Thursday afternoon.Thesilenceisbrokenintermittently by the wails of women grieving the loss of six members, including two children,of thefamily—allof whom met a watery grave when a slab of the kilometre-long MujpurGambhira bridge over River Mahisagar collapsed around 7.30am on Wednesday. The video of a distraught and helplessSonalPadhiyar(45)crying for help to rescue her loved onesbecameadefiningimageof (Left) Sonal at her home (above) in Mujpur village. Bhupendra Rana the tragedy that struck unsuspecting commuters. Sonal's husband Ramesh (45) and children Vedika (4) and Naitik (2) died in the accident. CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Screen Academy launched, to nurture new voices in Indian cinema — guided by top filmmakers MUMBAI, JULY 10 PAGE 3 CONTINUEDONPAGE12 ‘How will I live with this pain? My husband, son, daughter... all gone’ EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE VNSGU: PROTEST AFTER 8,681 OFFER LETTERS GIVEN OUT AGAINST 222 SEATS LONG ROAD TO JUSTICE FOR UNA FLOGGING VICTIMS staring at an uncertain future. “Taking a detour will mean travelling 70 km, instead of 10 km, to the factory. Four of our family members, all working with us in the same factory, have not returned home since yesterday after the bridge collapsed. They are doing two-three shifts. Only when we report for work will they be able to take a break and return home,” said Piyush Machhi (21). Piyush was with Dharmesh Nijama (25), both workers at a pharmaceutical company in Vadodara. “There are many like us who were unable to go to work and relieve their family members working in the same firm,” said Dharmesh. Both got THE INDIAN Express Group and Screen on Wednesday announced the launch of Screen Academy, a pioneering not-forprofit initiative that will nurture and showcase exciting new voices in Indian cinema. With a fast-expanding list of talented members, including Cannes and Oscar winners Guneet Monga, Payal Kapadia and Resul Pookutty Guneet Monga, Payal Kapadia and Resul Pookutty, and veteran screenwriterAnjumRajabali,the academywillworkwithsomeof India’stopfilminstitutestoidentify and empower the next generation of filmmakers through education, representation and recognition. Established with the support of founding patron Abhishek Lodha of Lodha Foundation, the academy will offer annual CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 With USAID shut, Norman Borlaug’s institute knocks on India’s doors PAGE 1 ANCHOR HARISH DAMODARAN NEW DELHI, JULY 10 SIX DECADES ago, the legendary agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug ushered in India’s Green Revolution through his high-yielding, semi-dwarf wheat varieties such as Lerma Rojo 64A, Sonora 63, Sonora 64 and Mayo 64. Today, his organisation — the Mexico-headquarteredInternational Maize and Wheat ImprovementCenterorCIMMYT — is reaching out to the Indian governmentandtheprivatesector, seeking financial support for its breeding research and development programme in the two cereals that cover over a quarter of the world’s cropped area. Thereason:Afundingcrunch brought about by global factors, including the shutting down of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)bytheDonaldTrumpadministration, officially from July 1. The agency, which administered civilian foreign aid and development assistance for the US government,accountedforabout $83millionoutofCIMMYT'stotal grant revenue of $211 million in 2024. That made it CIMMYT's largestfunder,followedbytheBill & Melinda Gates Foundation (now Gates Foundation), which gave $42 million. “USAID ceasing operations andotherdevelopmentagencies drastically reducing funding is going to significantly impact our agricultural R&D activities worldwide. While there may be somemoneythisyearfromprojects in winding-down stage, the realeffectswillbefeltfrom2026. We are looking for support from countries such as India that have interests in CIMMYT continuing Norman Borlaug (right) and MS Swaminathan. MSSRF to empower farmers through science and innovation and breeding varieties today for tomorrow's climate,” CIMMYT’s director-general,BramGovaerts, told The Indian Express. CIMMYT’sadvancedbreeding lines are present as parent or grandparent in wheat varieties planted on more than 60 million hectares (mh) globally. The early GreenRevolutionblockbustervarietiesthatIndianscientistsdeveloped were all through selections fromCIMMYTmaterials.Thatincluded Kalyan Sona (released in 1967), Sonalika (1968) and PBW 343 (1995), which, at their peak, were grown on 5-6 mh, 14 mh and 7-8 mh respectively. That hasn’t changed much. Last year, Indian farmers sowed wheat on around 32 mh, with the top 10 varieties accounting for over 20 mh. Of these 10 varieties, six were released from CIMMYT-derived germplasm — DBW 187, DBW 303, DBW 222, WH 1270, DBW 327andPBW826—andcovered an estimated 15.3 mh. “Roughly 50% of the wheat cultivated in India now is from varieties released after 2019 and developed through collaboration between CIMMYT and national institutions such as the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, Karnal. Our partnership has led to India not only becoming self-sufficient, buteventransformingwheatfor the world,” Govaerts said. Hecitedtheexampleof DBW 303, “the first wheat variety in South Asia to exceed an average grain yield of 8 tonnes per hectare”. Some advanced lines, yet to be released for commercialplanting,haveevenachieved 10-tonnes yield in CIMMYT’s field trials. In October 2011, CIMMYT established the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) as a joint venture with the Indian Council CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad