The Ideas Page: A reply to CEA — what’s missing in India is not ambition, but competition 13 SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2026 JournAlIsm of CourAge KOlKAtA, lAte cItY, 22 PAgeS ₹6.00 (₹12 in North east states, ₹20 in Andaman) 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 TODAY, THE COUNTRY HAS NEARLY 1,000 WAREHOUSES, ALMOST TWICE AS MANY AS IN 2014 Business as Usual By EP UNNY Happening today lPrime minister narendra Modi will release the 23rd instalment of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana from West Bengal. lPresident drouPadi Murmu will celebrate her 68th birthday at her native place in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com The Big PicTure VanCe, iranians Call oFF sWitZerland meetinG Deal under strain: iran suspends talks after israel attacks Lebanon Via Hormuz to Gujarat Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire after intense fighting, but Israel says its troops will stay Tmc leader abhishek Banerjee, along with other party mPs including kalyan Banerjee and mahua moitra, meets Lok sabha speaker om Birla in new delhi on Friday. ANI reLaTed rePorTs P 4 Abhishek meets LS Speaker, urges him to disqualify 20 defected MPs aamer madhani, Jamey Keaten & samy magdy Zurich, Cairo, June 19 tHe AMeRiCAn push to quickly begin high-stakes talks with iran hit a snag Friday, just two days after the signing of an agreement that opens a twomonth window for negotiations on tehran’s nuclear programme and returning oil trafficthroughtheStraitofHormuz to pre-war levels. iranian officials did not travel as planned to Switzerland, insisting that israeli strikes on iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in lebanon must stop before the talks can »Continued on PaGe 2 E. explained asad rehman New Delhi, June 19 Lng carrier Disha, which was the first Indian vessel to cross the strait of hormuz after the us and Iran announced a deal, at gujarat’s dahej port, Friday. carrying Qatari Lng, the vessel had been stranded in the Persian gulf for over three months amid the west asia war. PtI India’s Russian oil imports at record high, set to remain core of crude diet sukalp sharma country’s total crude imports for the period, as per vessel tracking data from commodity market analytics firm Kpler. Forthefullmonth,Kplerexpects Russian oil imports at over 2.35 million bpd, which would be the highest-ever. the previous monthly high was 2.2 million bpd in May 2023. Sumit Ritolia, Manager, difficult talks ahead Billa & Ranga a reporter’s diary Page 14 New Delhi, June 19 The discussions in Switzerland, when they do happen, are expected to focus on Iran’s nuclear programme. Tehran maintains it is peaceful, though it has highly enriched uranium that could be used to build multiple atomic bombs. WitH indiA steppingupitsoil imports from Russia amid the lossofWestAsianbarrelsdueto supply disruption owing to the crisis in the region, crude imports from Moscow in June are expected to touch an all-time high,preliminaryshiptracking data indicates. Although the US has allowed its sanctions waiver on Russian oil purchases to lapse, at least for the time being, industry experts and insiders expect Russian crude to remain indianrefiners’mainstayinthe foreseeable future. SofarinJune,india’soilimports from Russia averaged at 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd), a whopping 53.5% of the inside New Delhi, June 19 AnUMBeRofstateandcentral universitiesinsomestateshave decided to replace the word “india” with “Bharat” in their degrees, marksheets, correspondence, invites, and signboards, among other things. on Sunday, President droupadi Murmu will attend a convocation of Rani durgavati University in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur, a state university, where all degrees to be awarded will feature Bharat in- overeightmonths l in million bpd ‘least restriCtiVe’ Many universities in MP, Chhattisgarh replace ‘India’ with ‘Bharat’ in degrees, marksheets Vikas Pathak l importofrussianoil A delegAtion of tMC leaders led by its national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee met lok Sabha Speaker om Birla on Friday and submitted petitions against the 20 rebel party MPs, seeking their disqualification for defecting. AbhisheksaidtherebelMPs have sold their “conscience” and if they have an issue with the tMC, they should first resign from the lok Sabha membership and go for fresh polls. He was accompanied by tMC MPs Kalyan Banerjee, Mahua Moitra, Saugata Roy and derek o’Brien. Abhishek said tMC hopes that being the custodian of the House, Speaker functions as per the Constitution. the Friday meeting comes amid a dispute after a group of party MPs led by Kakoli ghosh dastidar had last week approached the Speaker, claiming that they had merged with the nCPi, a political party basedintripura,andshouldbe allowed to function as a separate bloc in lok Sabha. After meeting the Speaker, Abhishek said: “We have kept ourcasein frontoftheSpeaker. if he functions as per the Constitution and Supreme Court orders, then these MPs should be disqualified. We have left it to the Speaker’s wisdom. “We hope he gives a fair judgement… We hope the Speaker functions as per the Constitution.” He appealed to the 20 rebel stead of india. Rani durgavati University’s Vice-Chancellor (V-C) Rajesh Kumar Verma told The Indian Express that the university will henceforth use Bharat on all its degrees and marksheets in Hindiaswellasenglish.“inthe g20 summit, the word Bharat wasused.WearepeopleofBharat and the real name of the country is Bharat. the name indiacamelater.So,ourexecutiveCouncilpassedaresolution tousethewordBharatinallour documentation.” »Continued on PaGe 2 Pages 4, 7 BRidge collaPses in daRjeeling, Rains inUndaTe PaRTs of KolKaTa Uddhav aPPeals To cadRe as shinde says sena UBT exodUs is ‘TRaileR’ politics Page 6 fiR againsT lalU son Tej PRaTaP foR ThReaTening PaTna family »Continued on PaGe 2 Nov 2025 1.84 Dec 2025 1.24 Jan 2026 1.09 Feb 2026 1.04 Mar 2026 1.99 Apr 2026 1.57 May 2026 1.91 Jun 2026* 2.66 *uP tO JuNe 19 source: KPler »Continued on PaGe 2 ‘What if there’s an Delhi HC upholds order blocking Telegram ahead of NEET retest ambush’: Across divide, Govt empowered to issue emergency blocking directions under IT Act: Court sohini Ghosh New Delhi, June 19 UPHolding tHe Centre’s order directing temporary blocking of message application telegram until June 22, ahead of the neet-Ug 2026 re-examination this Sunday, the delhi High Court said on Friday that the government is “empowered” to issue emergency blocking directions to not only individual users, but also platforms or applications like telegram. dismissing telegram’s plea challenging the June 16 blocking order, Justice tejas Karia held the government action to be proportionate and the “least restrictivemeasure”forachieving the objective of potential misuseoftheplatformaheadof theneet-UgretestonJune21, and preventing potential public order implications. “the temporary blocking of telegram under the orders is operativeonlyuntil22.06.2026, whilethedisablingofthemessage-editing feature is confined to the period until 30.06.2026. the limited temporal scope of these measures demonstrates that they are narrowly tailored and confined to the period strictly necessary for securing the stated objective,” Justice Karia said.the High Court also took into consideration the Ministry of electronics and information technology’s June 16 and June 18 orders that entity-specific actions, including reporting and removal of channels,groups,botsandaccounts were “repeatedly found to be ineffective and inadequate”. »Continued on PaGe 2 aspirants dread journey to NEET centres In Manipur, some are being escorted to centres under security cover at night sukrita Baruah Guwahati, June 19 MoRe tHAn a month ago, a 19-year-old student travelled from her home in Manipur’s Kangpokpi by road, taking national Highway-2 through Senapati district, to her exam centre in nagaland’s Kohima, to write the national eligibility cum entrance test (neet) on May 3. Sincethen,notonlyhasthat test been cancelled following a paper leak controversy that rocked the entire country, but herstatehasalsoseenfreshconflict, with the flaring up of tensionsandhardeningoffaultlines making the circumstances »Continued on PaGe 2 l ParT oF aI 171’s caBIn crew, 22-year-oLd wouLd caLL uP home wIThouT FaIL, and severaL TImes a day IF he was FLyIng anywhere For family, flight attendant killed in Air India crash lives — one message at a time dipanita nath Pune, June 19 raaste mein hain. Inshaallah 10-11 baje tak pahuchenge. Bhaijaan Scorpio chala raha hai, dulha bana hai or khud ki gaadi chala raha hai” June17,5.50am: “irfan,islamic naya saal shuru hua hai. Moharram ka mahina” may22,6.37am: “irfan,aajbar- on JUne 12, 2025, 22-year-old irfan Shaikh, an attendant on ish ho rahi hai. Is saal garmi ke Ai-171, was killed baad ki pahli baawhen the Air india rish…mainevideo air india Crash Boeing787dreamnahin nikali... liner crashed in tujhe bhejti thi Ahmedabad, secna, ab kisko bheondsaftertake-off. joon…” may3,6.14am: “Janamdinmu- everyfewdays,sometimesseveral times a day, taslim Samir barak ho irfan, or aaj hi BhaiShaikhsendsatexttohisphone jaan ka nikah bhi hai. Dua number, kept activated by the karna sab thik ho. Ameen” may 3, 8.08 Pm: “Abhi hum family – and updates him on a year later what’s happening with their lives. taslim tells him about the firstrainpost-summer,thestart of Moharram, and his elder brother’s wedding. they chose his birthday for it, she reminds irfan,asshewisheshim,sothat they have something to celebrate that day. it’s something irfan would like, believes taslim. not a day passed when her younger son, who moved to Mumbai after getting a job at the age of 19, did not speak to his family, says the 46-year-old. Having done a course at Frankfinn institute in Pune, Irfan shaikh’s parents with the last uniform that he wore, at their home in Pimpri, Pune. Arul HOrIzON irfan had joined Air Vistara as cabincrew,andafterAirVistara merged with Air india, was flying to international destinations like Mauritius. every time he flew, irfan would follow a routine. He would call or message when he left for his flight, then when he reached the airport, again when he had boarded, soon after landing, and finally drop a line or connect with taslim after he reached the hotel where he was staying. on June 12, 2025, too, irfan called. in the taxi taking the cabin crew to the Ahmedabad airportforthegatwicklondon- Kolkata bound flight, he made a twominutevideocalltotaslim.the timewas10.07am,three-and-ahalf hours before the crash. the moment they heard of the accident, the family rushed to Ahmedabad by plane, trying irfan’s phone every few minutes. it kept ringing till the evening, they say, but no one answered. “We thought irfan may be busy. As a flight attendant, it was his duty to help rescue passengers…,” says father Samir noormohammed Shaikh, 50. By the time they got to Civil Hospital,Ahmedabad,hopesof any survivors had been quashed. there was eventually only one, a passenger, Vishwas Kumar. the Shaikhs spent nine days more in Ahmedabad before they could take irfan’s bodyhome.Sittingintheliving room of the family’s two-room flat in Sant tukaram nagar in PimpriChinchwad,Samirtalks of an endless wait, made worse by “insensitive” officials and politicians “vying for photoops”. every time it happened, the rescue operations were halted,hesays,asirfan’sgrandmother Shanubi noormohammad Shaikh, 73, and »Continued on PaGe 2