The Ideas Page: A reply to CEA — what’s missing in India is not ambition, but competition 11 SATURdAY, JUNE 20, 2026 JournAlIsm of CourAge MuMbAI, lATE CITy, 22 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 reg.no. mcs/067/2018 - 20 rnI regn. no. 1543/57 TODAY, THE COUNTRY HAS NEARLY 1,000 WAREHOUSES, ALMOST TWICE AS MANY AS IN 2014 VANCE, IrANIANS CAll OFF SWITZErlAND MEETING 123 151 188 90 business as usual By EP UNNY 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 maharashtra deputy chief minister eknath shinde speaks at the shiv sena event at nesco on friday. AMIT CHAKrAvArTy Uddhav makes an emotional appeal as Shinde says this is ‘just the trailer’ Aamer Madhani, Jamey Keaten & Samy Magdy Zurich, Cairo, June 19 abhishek to birla: disqualify MPs who defected P 14 The Big PicTure 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 Six Sena (UBT) MPs at the centre of defection buzz skip both events Vallabh Ozarkar & Alok Deshpande Mumbai, 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 difficult talks ahead billa & ranga a reporter’s diary Page 15 ShIV SENA FOUNDATION DAy 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 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, »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 l Importofrussianoil overeightmonths l in million bpd aMid the rebellion buzz in Shiv Sena (Ubt) with six of its lokSabhaMPsbeingspeculated tobecrossingovertotheeknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the rival factions used the party’s 60th Foundation day on Friday to drawbattlelinesoverthelegacy of bal thackeray and the future of the Sena. While Shiv Sena (Ubt) chief Uddhav thackeray made an emotional appeal to party workers, even offering to step down if they lost faith in him, deputy Chief Minister eknath Shinde declared, “Yeh toh sirf trailer hai, picture abhi baaki hai (this is just a trailer; the movie is still not over).” »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 shiv sena (ubt) chief uddhav thackeray at the 60th foundation day of the party in mumbai on friday. GANESH SHIrSEKAr Many universities in MP, ‘lEAST rESTrICTIVE’ Aspirants dread journey to NEET HC upholds Govt order blocking centres: ‘What if there’s an ambush?’ Chhattisgarh replace Telegram to secure NEET retest In Manipur, some ‘India’ with ‘Bharat’ in NEETcentresin degrees, marksheets threetowns are escorted Govt empowered to issue emergency Vikas Pathak 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- 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 blocking directions under IT Act: Court Sohini Ghosh New Delhi, June 19 UPholdinG the Centre’s order directing temporary blockingofmessageapplication telegram until June 22, ahead of the neet-UG 2026 re-examination this Sunday, the delhi high Court said Friday that the governmentis“empowered”to issueemergencyblockingdirections 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. “thetemporaryblockingof telegram under the orders is operativeonlyuntil22.06.2026, whilethedisablingofthemess- age-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 intoconsiderationtheMinistry of electronics and information technology’sJune16andJune 18ordersthatentity-specificactions, including reporting and removal of channels, groups, bots and accounts were “repeatedlyfoundtobeineffective and inadequate”. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 l 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 nationalhighway-2throughSenapati district, to her exam centre in nagaland’s Kohima, to write thenationaleligibilitycumentrance test (neet) on May 3. Sincethen,notonlyhasthat test been cancelled following a Senapati Kangpokpi l NEET centres l Districts providing security arrangements for candidates Tamenglong Noney Kamjong Imphal Tengnoupal Chandel Churachandpur paper leak controversy that rocked the entire country, but her state has also seen fresh conflict, with the flaring up of tensions and hardening of faultlines making the circum- stances surrounding the upcoming neet retest significantly different. the national-level undergraduate medical entrance »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 ish ho rahi hai. Is saal garmi ke irfan Shaikh, an attendant on baad ki pahli baaai-171, was killed rish…mainevideo when the air india AIr INDIA CrASh boeing787dreamnahin nikali... tujhe bhejti thi liner crashed in na, ab kisko bheahmedabad, secjoon…” ondsaftertake-off. MAy3,6.14AM: “Janamdinmu- everyfewdays,sometimessevbarak ho irfan, or aaj hi Bhaieral times a day, taslim Samir jaan ka nikah bhi hai. Dua Shaikhsendsatexttohisphone karna sab thik ho. Ameen” number, kept activated by the 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- 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