The Editorial Page: R&D underspending in India has no one cause. It’s systemic as well as cultural 8 FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 2026 Journalism of Courage ahMEdaBad, LaTE CiTy,18 pagES ₹5.00 l www.indianexpress.com da i Ly f R o M : a h M E da B a d , C h a N d i ga R h , d E L h i , j a i p u R , ko L k aTa , L u C k N o W , M u M B a i , N ag p u R , paT N a , p u N E , va d o da R a Happening today l The Supreme Court is set to hear Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan’s plea against rejection of her nomination papers for Rajya Sabha polls. l The Women’S T20 World Cup begins with England facing Sri Lanka in Birmingham. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com business as usual By EP UNNY CLAImS proGreSS In DeAL TALKS Trump man in 11a: ‘Won’t be at peace... i have to live with what i have lost’ calls off Iran strikes fAmILy SAfeTy neT my STrenGTh,SAyS VIShWAS KumAr rAmeSh Lone survivor says final probe report will ‘help us know what happened’ Says ‘all parties’ have approved; no immediate Tehran response AIr InDIA CrASh a year later parisa hafezi & Susan heavey Leena misra Ahmedabad, June 11 nation Page 13 tWo killed in fresh violence as tensions boil over in maniPur ‘homemakers nation builders’:sc Puts‘lossof domesticcare’ atrs30,000 monthly gangster extradited from georgia SoMe STorieS start with a striking anecdote, some with hard facts. This one needs only a number and a letter: 11a. That was the seat allotted to 39-year-old Vishwas Kumar ramesh on ai 171, the Gatwickbound Boeing 787-8 dreamlinerthatcrashedminutesafter takeoff from ahmedabad on June 12 last year, with 242 passengers and crew on board — killing all but him. With Friday marking a year since the tragedy, this lone survivorisstillstrugglingtopickup thepiecesfromthatday.“idon’t think i can ever be completely at peace. i will have to live with what i have gone through and whatihavelost,eachdayofmy life,” says Vishwas. a British citizen with roots in diu, Vishwas spoke exclusively to The Indian Express in an interaction over phone facilitated by his personal representative and advisor Sanjiv Patel, a motivational speakerbased in Leicester. Having lost his 35-year-old brother ajay in the crash, Vishwas says he is hoping for some relief from the “final investigation report”, which he insists “is necessary”. “it will help us know what happened,andensurethisdoesnot happen again,” he says. a month after the crash, the aircraftaccidentinvestigation Bureau (aaiB) released a preliminary report stating that the aircraft's engine fuel control switches transitioned from the “run” to “Cutoff ” position almostimmediatelyafterliftoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel international airport. These Dubai, Washington, June 11 LonesurvivorofaI171crash, Vishwaskumarramesh(right), andhisadvisorsanjivPatel. SpECiaL aRRaNgEMENT fuLL coVerage,Page 4 BhupENdRa RaNa The B J medical college hostel buildings, a year after they were damaged in the June 12 plane crash. explained Page 14 amid uncertainty over ai 171 rePort, a look at the key theories behind the crash switches control the flow of jet fuel to the engines. Last month, Union Civil aviation Minister ram Mohan Naidu said the final investigation report was in its “final stages”andcouldbecompleted withinamonth,possiblybyFriday's one-year mark. Vishwas credits his family andPatelforkeepinghimgoing through the healing process. “i getthestrengthtodealwiththe sorrow and shock because of my family and cooperation from Sanjivbhai,” he says. Vishwas's family ran a fishingbusinessindiubeforemost of them moved to the UK. The eldest of four brothers, he lives in Leicester with his wife Hiral, their five-year-old son divang, his parents rameshbhai and Jayaben, and youngest brother Nayan.HisthirdbrotherSunny is based in diu. on the day of the crash, Vishwas was seated near the emergency exit when the aircraft slammed into the hostel buildings of BJ Medical »ConTInueD on pAGe 2 A-I: Victims’ belongings returned, 15 families didn’t take back anything ritu Sharma Ahmedabad, June 11 oF THe families of 241 passengers and crew on board the ahmedabad-Gatwick ai 171 flight, which crashed minutes aftertakingoffonJune12,2025, as many as 15 declined to take backthepersonalbelongingsof their deceased kin, including clothes, passports, wallets and photographs, an air india spokesperson told The Indian Express. The spokesperson also said that the airline has so far paid an interim compensation of rs 25 lakh each to 96 per cent of the families of victims. The crash killed 241 of the 242 people on board, leaving VishwasKumarramesh(39)as thesolesurvivor,andalsokilled 19 individuals on the ground. There were 169 indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese and one Canadian among those on board. Following the crash, air india set up a 'Family returns Centre' (FrC) in ahmedabad to return the 8,000 identified personal effects, where the next of kinvisitedbyappointmentand were given the belongings with “due dignity”, airline officials said. at the centre, which was active till February, the families were given a 45-day window to browsearelatedportal,clickon images they found familiar, place the items in a “cart” and reconnect with the airline for processing the claim, officials said. of the 22,000 personal belongings recovered, around 8,000, including passports and other documents, could be identified. The remaining 14,000 items could not be directly linked to any individual and went to the “unassociated personal belongings” portal. “Families of 15 of the deceaseddeclinedtotakethepersonal belongings. also, 25 digital devices were recovered, of which 16 have been returned to the families, with remainingcasesprimarilyconstituting situations in which »ConTInueD on pAGe 2 ‘Everyminuteis precious’:Doctor whocheateddeath parimal A Dabhi Ahmedabad, June 11 Tadie Mra, 32, had a narrow escape when he abandoned his lunch to rush for an emergency call, and within "four minutes" the Boeing 787 8 dreamliner crashedonhishostelmessbuilding on the fateful afternoon of June12lastyear,killing19onthe groundand241onboard. Tadie Mra, who hails from arunachal Pradesh, has been tothecrashsiteonlytwicesince and is sceptical about government plans to build a PG hostel complex at the same place for medicalstudents. “i think that if they build a new (hostel) there, nobody will staythere.Youjustthink,around 260peoplehavediedthere...ido not think anybody will stay there. Such a horrible (incident) happened. Nobody will stay there,”TadieMra,afinalyearPG studentatGujarat Cancer research institute from arunachal Pradesh, told TheIndianExpress. Speaking about the lesson »ConTInueD on pAGe 2 Choose between Abhishek and us: nITI AAyoG GoVernInG CounCIL meeTInG PM calls for district GDP estimates, Loyalists’ ultimatum to Mamata CMs press for affordable energy Kalyan Banerjee targets Abhishek, Sougata Roy says Mamata must tackle charge of nephew’s ‘high-handedness’ and TMC’s Lok Sabha MP abhishek Banerjee and those who were standing by her. Banerjee, one of the MPs said, must take note of the “grievances” against abhishek and that he was with her “as of now”. This came on a day a singlejudge Bench of the Calcutta Tanusree Bose & manoj C G Kolkata, New Delhi, June 11 aS oNe more rajya Sabha MP of the Trinamool Congress (TMC)resignedThursday,troubles mounted for party chairpersonMamataBanerjeeastwo ofhercolleaguesstillconsidered partofherfactiongaveheranultimatum, saying she must choose between her nephew »ConTInueD on pAGe 2 Trinamool mPs kalyan Banerjee (left) and sougata roy. related rePorts, P 12 New Delhi, June 11 »ConTInueD on pAGe 2 (from right) chief ministers d k shivakumar, hemant soren, nayab singh saini, and rekha gupta at nITI aayog meeting, Thursday. aNi Ahmedabad says discussions were brought to the highest level of Iran’s leadership and approved. ap fiLE and place of the signing to be announced shortly," he added. Therewasnoimmediateofficial comment from iran. But iran's Fars news agency cited an informed source close to iran's negotiating team as saying that Tehran has not approved any text for an initial memorandum of understanding with the United States. Trump has repeatedly claimedthatadealwithTehran was imminent, only to have its government deny the suggestions. earlier in the day, Trump had said the US would hit iran "very hard tonight" and even added that he wanted at some point to take iran's oil infrastructure hub Kharg island, after a second day of strikes by both sides in the Gulf appeared to threaten a return to all-out war. a fragile ceasefire has been in place since early april. iranian sources and »ConTInueD on pAGe 2 moDI, Trump AT G7 nexT WeeK Third ship hit by US near Oman, all 20 Indians rescued, safe CENTCOM: Fired Hellfire missiles at its engine room, was trying to ship Iran oil Shubhajit roy, Sukalp Sharma & purnima Sah New Delhi, Mumbai, June 11 ravi Dutta mishra PriMe MiNiSTer Narendra Modi Thursday asked states to pursue investments from partner countries by addressing grievances rapidly and to come up withdistrict-levelGdPestimates todealwithgrowth-relatedchallenges at the grassroots level. He was addressing the 11th Governing Council meeting of Niti aayog which was attended PreSideNT doNaLd Trump called off plans for renewed US military strikes on iran at the last minute on Thursday, saying negotiations with Tehran had advanced to the highest levels of iran's leadership and had been approved by a broad coalition of regional powers. Thedramaticreversalcame hoursbeforethestrikeswereexpectedtobecarriedout.Butdetails of the diplomatic breakthrough after more than three months of war — includinghowiran’sleadership had signaled its approval — were not immediately clear in Trump’s post on Truth Social. “Based on the fact that discussions with the islamic republicofiranhavebeenbrought to the highest level of iranian leadership and approved, i have, as President of the United Statesofamerica,cancelledthe scheduledstrikesandbombingsagainst iran this evening," Trump wrote. "discussions and final points have been, in both concept and great detail, approved by all parties involved, including the United States, israel, Saudi arabia, Uae, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, egypt, and others. The naval blockade will remain in full force and effect until this transactionisfinalized—Time FearS For the safety of indian seafarers on board ships trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz heightened Thursday when the USmilitaryattackedMTJalveer, aGuinea-Bissau-flaggedtanker, near the oman coast, the third such incident in the area in four days. all 20 indian seafarers on board were safely evacuated after the missile strike. Theattackonthetankertook place on the day Sarbananda »ConTInueD on pAGe 2 E. explained safety concerns mount amid strikes US enforcement of a naval blockade of Iran has raised fears about safety of seafarers on board ships in the region. Officials say at least 562 Indian seafarers are on ships near the Strait of Hormuz — 329 in the Persian Gulf west of the Strait, and 233 in the Gulf of Oman to the east.