DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE THURSDAY, JULY 31, 2025, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES, `20 IN ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 U.S. OFFICIALS TO COME TO INDIA IN AUGUST FOR NEXT ROUND OF TALKS ON TRADE PACT Trump hits India with 25% tariff plus a Russia penalty India: Studying implications, will take all steps to secure our national interest ln two weeks, a crucial test for India smartphone success story BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY SIDDHARTH UPASANI NEW DELHI, JULY 30 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SOUMYARENDRA BARIK NEW DELHI, JULY 30 Team India raises red flag after umpires give 30-overs-old substitute ball after 10 overs EXPRESSIN ENGLAND SANDEEP DWIVEDI INDIA’S TEAM management is not happy with the ball-change protocol during the ongoing Test series in England and has conveyed its concerns to the ICC matchreferee.Themanagement also believes that England got preferential treatment when it cametochoosingballsatthestart of the crucial third Test of the series at Lord's earlier this month. The Indian Express has learnt that during England’s first inningsatLord’s,whenthesecond new ball went out of shape after 10overs,thereplacement turned out to be 30-35 overs old. The protocol states the replacement needs to be as old as the original Bumrah bagged 3 wickets before ball went out of shape but it is learnt that the umpires toldtheteamtherewasnoballin stock that was 10 overs old. The Indians feel that since they got a softer and older replacement for a harder ball, which had been swinging and getting seam movement in the first10overs,itputthematadisadvantage in the Test that England eventually won by 22 runs to take a 2-1 lead in the series. The fourth Test ended in a tense draw with the last match starting Thursday. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 10% 15% 15% UK US PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s announcement of a 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports along withapenaltyforprocuringmilitary equipment and energy from Russia comes barely a day before the intended deadline to conclude agreements. It has key consequences. One, it puts India at a disad- gotiations towards a deal which could have a favourable tariff rate and potential waivers on secondary tariffs, which include the tariff on account of Russian oil imports and the proposed 10 per cent BRICS tariff. Though Trump did not specify the rate of penalty for India on account of Russian oil and defence imports, earlier statements made by Trump indicate that it EU NEW DELHI, JULY 30 vantage in comparison to competitors. Two, it put the onus back on the Indian side to fasttrack its negotiations for an interim deal with the US. Indications are that theouterlimitforadeal, currently pegged at around October from New Delhi’s perspective, might need to be brought forward. What complicates the equation for India is that the Chinese are at an advanced stage of ne- Japan AANCHAL MAGAZINE & ANIL SASI Philippines Road to October pact gets tougher, shrinks room to drive a better deal TARIFFS AS PER INTERIM DEALS 20% 19% 19% KEY UNKNOWN: WHAT’S THE PENALTY THIRD TEST AT LORD’S LONDON, JULY 30 US President Donald Trump, accompanied by grandchildren Spencer and Chloe, disembarks from Air Force One as he returns from Scotland, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Reuters Indonesia FAILED FOREIGN POLICY: OPP UNFORTUNATE, SAYS INDIA INC PAGES 6, 13 Vietnam* EVENASIndiaandtheUSnegotiate a trade agreement, President Donald Trump on Wednesday announceda25percenttariff on IndiangoodsfromAugust1,with an additional but unspecified “penalty” for its defence and energy imports from Russia. Inapostonsocialmediaplatform Truth Social, Trump said India has “the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any Country”. India’s Commerce and Industry Ministry said the government had taken note of Trump’sstatementandis“studying its implications”. “India and the US have been engaged in negotiations on concluding a fair, balancedandmutuallybeneficial bilateral trade agreement over the last few months. We remain committedtothatobjective.The governmentattachestheutmost importance to protecting and promoting the welfare of our farmers, entrepreneurs, and MSMEs,” the ministry said in a statement. Thegovernmentwilltake“all stepsnecessarytosecureournational interest, as has been the case with other trade agreements including the latest Comprehensive Economic and *(40% for transshipment) UNSC report names The Resistance Front, cites Pahalgam terror attack SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, JULY 30 IN A first, The Resistance Front (TRF), a shadow outfit of Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba that had claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, has found mention in a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) report monitoring sanctions on terror outfits. 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KhargetoldreEXPRESS NEWS attack. He by former SabhaMallikarjun the not looked terror attacks and Pahalgam courage of Indiraleader said that proclaimedthath ,thethenPrime DELHI, JULY 30 dyesterdaythat A LETTER written several shot in the head Indira Gandhi lateIndiraGandhi had gallantly NEW porters:“Ihadsaipeech,thecount “Yesterday, a three were asked listed theCongress-led India, Prime Minister India-Pakistan should be shown. Minister of diplobytheendofmys gtheclaim)will same day Chidambaram bank theresponseof after these inLeader of Opposition 50% courage the 1971 defenceforces with "vote LOKSABHA the war despite UPA government despite hun- during been picked up by the Wednesday (ofTrumprepeatin US President the question In1971,theIndianand someone fought dvariousother Gandhi said He said The war has Narendra the Rahul matic,politicalan the Opposition sacrifices to cidents. deaths in different increase to 30. again and again, politics" in mind. Prime Minister to say US BJP to counter of "capitulating" made Iron Lady (a of pressures from this dreds Responding result- that will not be able taken and was declared Gandhi),” strategic kept saying ethecourageto of America, assertion that no action was kept ap- chargeagainstit Donald Trump, else speaks to Modi was lyto Mrs United States buttheydon'thav mein Chidambaram’s was not deci- blasts, “You reference Donald Trump tween LoP Rahul Gandhi President of Bangladesh….” lying.... ‘Dal Lok Sabha. liament. ANI ade continued. and did not to US ation Sindoor ation Sindoor ing in creation ahul President y that he is ur said in the eringtruceb an target Shah, Nadda Cong: ‘You gave away PoK, BJP ’ will bring it back HOLDING OUT AGAINST BIHAR Hits back at N ROLL REVISIO ’s letter to Nixon BJP cites Indira‘Begged before US’ during ’71 war: not have faith in Army, her govt? Rahul: Did she as US Trump is lying PM will not say whole truth: Rahul tell President will PAGE 8 Accordingtothereportof the Monitoring Team (MT) of the UNSC 1267 [ISIS (Da’esh) & AlQaida]SanctionsCommittee,the entry under the Asia section reads: “On 22 April, five terrorists attacked a tourist spot in Pahalgam, in Jammu and Kashmir. Twenty-six civilians were killed. The attack was claimed that same day by The Resistance Front (TRF), who in parallel published a photograph CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ARREST OF TWO KERALA NUNS IN CHHATTISGARH Was coerced to give adverse statement, says woman at centre of conversion row JAYPRAKASH S NAIDU RAIPUR, JULY 30 AMID A storm over the arrest of twoKeralanunsonallegationsof forcible conversion and trafficking in Chhattisgarh, one of the women they are accused of targetinghastoldTheIndianExpress that she was coerced to give an adversestatementagainstthem. The nuns, Preeti Marry and Vandana Francis, and another person, Sukhman Mandavi, were arrested last Friday at the Durg railway station in Chhattisgarh. The FIR, registered under sections of the Chhattisgarh Religious Freedom Act and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, was based on a complaint by a local Bajrang Dal worker, who alleged that the accused forcibly converted three women from Narayanpur and were attempting to traffic them. But one of the three Narayanpur women told TheIndianExpressthatshewas threatenedandassaultedbyJyoti Sharma,awomanassociatedwith a right-wing outfit, to change her statement, and the police based theirFIRonwhatmembersofthe Bajrang Dal told them. When contacted, Rishi Mishra, the Bajrang Dal’s Chhattisgarh coordinator, told The Indian Express, “A rickshaw driverassociatedwiththeBajrang CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PRESIDENT DONALD Trump’s announcement on Wednesday of a25percenttariff rateonIndia fromAugust1hastriggeredconcerns in the government that electronicsexportstotheUnited States, particularly the growing smartphone exports — which currentlyattractnocustomsduty — could be affected. A senior government official said a review meeting on Section 232oftheUSTradeExpansionAct of 1962 is coming up in two weeks, after which there will be more clarity on whether smartphoneexportscouldbeimpacted. In 2018, the US had imposed an additionaltariffof25percentand 10 per cent on steel and aluminum respectively, globally underthesameprovision,whichhad impacted Indian exports. While smartphones are India’s top export to the US by value, Trump has threatened a 25 per cent tariff on Indianmade Apple iPhones, which account for the bulk of mobile phone exports to the country. Days after he announced reciprocal tariffs on a number of countriesinApril,theUS administration had exempted phones, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WEST BENGAL REVIEW ADDITIONS TO WEED OUT FICTITIOUS VOTERS: CEO TO DEOS APEX COURT SETS ASIDE CALCUTTA HC ORDER, EXTENDS RETIREMENT AGE OF VARSITY TEACHER TO 65 PAGES 3, 4 ISRO-NASA satellite placed in orbit, to map Earth in detail ISRO’s launch vehicle GSLV-F16 carrying NISAR, the first joint India-US satellite, lifts off from Sriharikota, Wednesday. PTI ANONNA DUTT NEW DELHI, JULY 30 IN ITS most significant launch since the Moon-landing Chandrayaan-3 in 2023, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday placed NISAR satellite, a first-of-its-kind collaborative project between India and the US, into its intended orbit. NISAR, which stands for NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, is the most powerful Earth observation satellite to be put in space, the result of over one decade of research and developmentbythespaceagencies of India and the US. The uniqueness of the satellite lies in the fact that it carries two Synthetic Aperture Radars (SARs) of different frequencies that are designed to work together to produce some of the most detailed images of the Earth ever captured from space. SARs are imaging equipment that use the non-visible microwave radiation to create pictures of the Earth from space. NeverbeforehavetwoSARsbeen mounted on a single satellite. The NISAR satellite flew on a GSLV rocket launched from SriharikotaWednesdayevening. Thesatellitewasdepositedinthe Sun Synchronous Polar Orbit (SSPO), about 747 km from the Earth, within 19 minutes of the launch. This was the first time thatISROuseditspowerfulGSLV rocket to drop a satellite in the SSPO. Usually, the PSLV rocket is used to access these orbits, but NISAR satellite was too heavy to be handled by PSLV. In fact, at 2,392 kgs, NISAR is the heaviest Earth observation satellite ever. “This is the first mission to SSPO using the GSLV. Therefore, severalanalysisandstudieswere carried out to make it a grand success, including cryogenic upper stage corrections and a host of mission simulations. The vehicle performance today was as expected and predicted,” ISRO Chairman V Narayanan said after the launch. This was ISRO’s first successful launch since Narayanan took overaschairmaninJanuary.Two earlier launches this year were unsuccessful. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Malda woman reiterates charge against Delhi Police at TMC presser in Kolkata EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, JULY 30 DAYS AFTER Delhi Police rebutted the claims of assaulting a woman from Malda, calling it "fabricated" and "politically motivated",theTMConWednesday presentedthewoman,identified asSajnurParveen,atapressconferenceinKolkata,whereshereiterated her charges against the Delhi Police. AttheTMCpressmeet,Sajnur Parveen recounted the alleged incident and said she was falsely accused of being a Bangladeshi, takentoasecludedlocation,tor- Sajnur Parveen with TMC leaders Firhad Hakim and Kunal Ghosh in Kolkata on Wednesday. Express tured along with her child, and extortedbyfourpeopleposingas Delhi Police personnel. "Two men and two women, identifying themselves as Delhi Police personnel, first raided our house on July 25, checked our Aadhaar cards, and searched for my husband, who was out for work then. They called us Bangladeshis, although we kept telling them we were from West Bengal and showed them our Aadhaar cards," Parveens alleged. "They returned the next day, took us to a secluded location, and asked us to chant 'Jai Shri Ram'. I told them I am a Muslim and refused. They slapped me and kicked me in my belly. They also assaulted my child… They then asked me for Rs 25,000," CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Dhankhar asked MHA for bulletproof vehicles; put on hold, he went with Innova PAGE 1 ANCHOR MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL NEW DELHI, JULY 30 IN FEBRUARY last year, the VicePresident’s Secretariat sought new bulletproof vehicles for then V-P Jagdeep Dhankhar, citing the age of his three high-security BMW cars. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) conveyed in June that a panel would be formed to look into it, but by November, his office decided to optforanon-bulletproof Innova, in which he has been travelling eversince,The Indian Express has learnt. DhankharannouncedonJuly 22 that he was stepping down from his post as Vice-President, citing health reasons. According to sources, on February28lastyear,aletterwas sentfromtheV-P’sSecretariatto the Additional Secretary (Police Modernisation Division), MHA, regardingtheconditionof hisofficial vehicles. In his communi- cation,thethendeputysecretary in the V-P’s Secretariat wrote, “I havebeendirectedtoinformyou that three bulletproof BMW HighSecurityvehicleshavebeen provided to the Hon’ble Vice President of India for using the same during his day-to-day movement. Out of the three vehicles,twovehicleshavebecome more than six years old, while thethirdoneisalmostfouryears and five months old, which will also become more than five years old in the next couple of months.” “It has been further directed Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned as Vice President July 22. File to get all three vehicles replaced with bulletproof high-security new vehicles. It is requested to get the process of replacement of three vehicles initiated at the earliest,” it states. According to sources, before this, a similar letter had been sent to the security division of Delhi Police, which clarified that procurement of vehicles is handled by the MHA. In response to the February 28 letter, an under-secretary in the MHA wrote to the V-P’s SecretariatonJune12,2024,that they were forming a board of of- ficers to inspect the three vehicles in question. For this, they had nominated six officers, including two from the NSG, and onefromtheCRPF,whohaveexpertise in technical issues involved in bulletproof vehicles, the under-secretary wrote. The Vice-President gets Zplus security cover provided by Delhi Police. On November 28, an internal communication issued by Delhi PolicestatedtheV-P’sSecretariat had changed Dhankhar’s bulletproof vehicles since their “life term of five years” was over. The new vehicle was an Innova, while the spare vehicle was a Fortuner,andneitherwasbulletproof, it noted. It is learnt that the V-P’s OSD and Secretary were told these vehicles are not bulletproof and if required, such vehicles could be sought from Delhi Police, but this was turned down. Queries sent to the VicePresident’s Secretariat, an MHA spokesperson, the Special Commissionerof Police(security division) Jaspal Singh and Delhi Police spokesperson for a comment did not elicit a response. Kolkata