The editorial Page: india doesn’t just need start-ups, but scale-ups that become global giants 10 WEdNESdAY, JUNE 24, 2026 JournAlisM of CourAge mumbai, laTe CiTy, 20 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. 1543/57 126 154 192 90 happening today lThe BomBay hC is sched- uled to hear State of Goa’s concluding arguments in its appeal against Tehelka founder editor Tarun Tejpal's acquittal in a rape case by a trial court in 2021. Land bought by MP CM’s family: Opp Cong seeks his resignation, independent probe express News Service Business as usual New Delhi, Bhopal, June 23 ThE ConGREss on Tuesday demanded madhya Pradesh Chief minister mohan Yadav’s resignation, citing The Indian Express investigation on land purchases linked to his family andassociatedrealestatefirms. The party also sought a public explanation from the Cm and an “independent inquiry” into the issue. TheIndianExpressreported on Tuesday that after Yadav took oath as the Cm on By EP UNNY the editoRial page in ujjain, a familiar plot, a disturBing aBdication page 10 december 13, 2023, his family andtheirrealestatecompanies had bought at least 137 plots in »CoNTINUeD oN PaGe 2 harikishan Sharma & amitabh Sinha New Delhi, June 23 6 yrs before sit probe, audit firm flagged lack of ‘systemic record’ of ram temple donations Had sought SOP for each level of transaction to fix accountability Ayodhya, June 23 wIThIn monThs of the formation of the shri Ram janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, an audit firm had found its management to be “highly unprofessional” and noted that there wasno“systemicrecord”ofdonations. six years later, the recommendation of the private audit firm that a “systematic operating Process (soP)” be drafted forefficientmanagementisyet to be implemented, even as the temple committee is now facing allegations of misappropriationofdonations.Aspecial Investigation Team submitted its preliminary findings to the uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday. Initsreportsubmittedinnovember2020,theauditfirmsuggested the “need to devise soP oftrustforeachleveloftransaction, data management, staff and other resources” to fix responsibilityandaccountability. Italsonotedtheunavailability of “systematic record for financial reporting” and said: “(The) Layer of management at the execution level is not defined and highly unprofessional… It will be difficult to controltheinformationandestablish fair practice in the present scenario.” A senior official at the firm wascontacted,butcouldnotbe reached for comment. The IndianExpressalsosentquestions to the firm’s accountant, Chandan Rai, as well as the trust’s »CoNTINUeD oN PaGe 2 HC upholds decision to restrain use of New Indian Express outside permitted territories express News Service Mumbai, June 23 ATwo-judGEdivisionbench of the Bombay high Court last week upheld a decision of a single judge that restrained the ExpressPublications(madurai) Pvt. Ltd (EPmL) from using the title The new Indian Express outside the states of Tamil nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, odisha and Andhra Pradesh andspecifiedunionTerritories. Thisprohibitionemanatesfrom a memorandum of settlement signed between EPmL and The Indian Express (P) Limited in 1995 which became a decree of the madras high Court. The division bench of justice Bharati h dangre and justice manjusha A deshpande held there was “no perversity or patent error” in the november 13, 2025 order of justice Riyaz I Chagla. Thebenchofjusticedangre and justice deshpande, by a judgementpronouncedonjune 15, 2026, dismissed an interim applicationintheappealfiledby Express Publications (madurai) Pvt. Ltd against the november 2025 decision by the bench of justice Chagla, which had passed the order on an interim application in a commercial intellectualpropertyrightssuitby »CoNTINUeD oN PaGe 2 Rainfall 43% deficit so far, kharif crops likely to be hit: Govt Agri ministry flags 111 districts as ‘high priority’, prepares contingency plans The Express report dated june 23 eXpReSS special Shyamlal yadav ShIvraj holDS revIew meeTING India, US start trade talks union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal with united States Trade representative jamieson Greer and uS Ambassador to India Sergio Gor in New Delhi, Tuesday. ani exPlAINeD, PAGe 15 Retd judge-led panel to prepare draft for Maharashtra Uniform Civil Code alok Deshpande Mumbai, June 23 ThEmAhARAshTRAgovernment has approved the formation of a committee headed by a retired high court judge to examine the implementation of the uniform Civil Code (uCC) in the state, minister of state (home) Yogesh Kadam informed the state Legislative Assembly on Tuesday. The uCC will be implemented after receiving the report, he added. “The maharashtra government is positive about the implementation of the uniform maharaShTra assembly Civil Code. The chief minister has given his nod to form a committeeledbyaretiredhigh court judge to prepare a uCC draft. once it is submitted, the uCC will be implemented,” Kadamsaid.hewasreplyingto a calling attention motion raised by Bharatiya janata Party (BjP) mLA devyani Farandeovertheinstancesoftriple talaq in nashik district. Earlier,Farandehadclaimed thatdespitetheCentrebanning it, triple talaq instances are on the rise. she said she has received complaints from three muslim women regarding threats,violenceandtripletalaq. demanding to know the state government’s stand on polygamy,FarandeaskedifuCC »CoNTINUeD oN PaGe 2 wITh IndIA staring at a fairly weak monsoon season this year and kharif crops likely to be impacted, the Agriculture ministry has formulated contingency plans for districts likely to be most affected due to low rainfall, and identified 111 districts with irrigation coverage of 25 per cent or less as ‘high priority’ needing intervention, Agriculture minister shivraj singh Chouhan said on Tuesday. After chairing a review meeting, held over video conference, with state agriculture ministers, senior officials and district collectors, Chouhan said that 315 districts across the country were likely to be affected due to low monsoon rainfall. “of these (315 districts), 111 districts are of high priority, wheretheirrigationcoverageis lessthan25percent;76districts are of medium priority, where 25-50percentirrigationisavailable; 128 districts are of low »CoNTINUeD oN PaGe 2 the Big picture Pallavi Smart Two monThs after a pair of bulls he was transporting were seized,afterself-styledcowvigilantes intercepted his vehicle, BeedfarmerTayyabAlihasnow secured their interim custody by paying Rs 25,000 maintenance charges to a cow shelter wheretheanimalsweretakento, andaRs2lakhindemnitybond. Ali moved court for relief as he needs the bulls ahead of the sowingseason.Acaseregistered against him by the Latur police under provisions related to animal cruelty remains pending. Ali told The Indian Express that while the cow vigilantes alleged he was taking the bulls to aslaughter-house,hewastaking them to Lamjana village in neighbouringLaturtoarelative’s placeforagriculturalwork,when they stopped him on April 20. A third-generation farmer from saygaon village in Beed district, Ali says the two bulls had been with the family for five-six years, and helped till their 6-7 acre farm, where they growsoybeanandothergrains. Given limited resources, it is common among small farmers to share resources, which is why he says he was taking the bulls to his relative’s place. As the distance was more than80km,hehadhiredatempo totransporttheanimals,Alisays. For farmers, bajra crop of choice: Short maturity, low water, fertiliser need harish Damodaran Rewari, Alwar, Dausa, June 23 “I hoPE the monsoon arrives by this month-end. I can sow bajra even it comes by july 15. The problem will be if it’s delayed beyond that,” says Ramsingh meena. The 52-year-old from jalalpura village in Baijupara tehsil of Rajasthan’s dausa district grows bajra or pearl millet on his entire 50-bigha (31 acres) land: “This is the best crop in »CoNTINUeD oN PaGe 2 E. eXplained gloomy forecast The first half of the monsoon (June-July) was supposed to be slightly better this season. But so far, June has been drier than expected. With El Nino gaining in strength, the outlook for the subsequent months is not very bright. June accounts for 19% of the monsoon rains, July contributes 32%. Pune businessman’s son pushed off cliff by fiancee, her friend; both held for murder: Police Sushant Kulkarni Pune, June 23 via lipulekh: at 17,000 ft, a trade door opens into china page 13 Beed farmer pays maintenance and indemnity bond to get back bulls seized by cow vigilantes Mumbai, June 23 Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan chairs a review meeting at Krishi Bhawan in New Delhi, Tuesday. X/@ChouhanShivraj “As we entered Latur, we were intercepted by cow vigilantes. TheysuspectedthatIwastaking theanimalsforslaughter,which was shocking for me. Anyone could look at the bullocks and see that they were healthy farm animals with many years of work left in them,” says Ali. Police reached the spot, seized the animals and sent them to a gaushala in nearby Kopala village of Latur. »CoNTINUeD oN PaGe 2 A 25-YEAR-oLd belonging to a prominent real-estate family, who was earlier suspected to have fallen to his death at the Lohagad Fort near Pune while takingaphotograph,waskilled by his 20-year-old fiancee and her friend, police said. Five days after Ketan Agarwal’s death, the Pune Rural Police Tuesday arrested siya PraveenGoyalandChetanBabulal Chaudhary,22,onthechargeof killingAgarwalbypushinghim off the cliff. The two had confessedtokillingAgarwal,police said, and are probing if it was their fourth attempt to kill the 25-year-old. Agarwal, the son of real-estate businessman Vishal Agarwalandadirectorinthefamilyrun firm, was killed on june 18 morning while on a visit to Lohagad Fort, about 50 km from Pune,tocelebrateGoyal’sbirthday that falls on june 19. Ketan Agarwal and Siya Praveen Goyal got engaged in February ThetwogotengagedinFebruary and were to have a destination wedding in Rajasthan later this year, for which a palace and two special flights for guests had been booked. Police are also probing the circumstancesbehindthecancellation of a pre-wedding shoot in Bali, »CoNTINUeD oN PaGe 2 lANDhrA PrADeSh IT MINISTer NArA loKeSh SAyS TDP'S SuPPorT To PM ‘uNCoNDITIoNAl’, rejeCTS SuGGeSTIoNS BjP AllIeS Are AT A DISADvANTAGe IN NDA ‘Parties like TMC, AAP that lose ideology after coming to power face trouble’ express News Service naidu, said the TdP has endured political ups and downs because it remained rooted in ThE REGIonAL parties that its ideology and cadre despite lose their ideological moorings facing both victories and deafter years in power inevitably feats over the years. run into trouble, Andhra PraReferringtoTmCleaderAbdesh IT minister and Telugu hishekBanerjee,Lokeshsaidhe desam Party (TdP) was going through a national working difficult phase and page 1 president nara Losuggested that the kesh said, citing the TmC had become challenges being “complacent” after faced by parties such as the Tri- spendingmorethanadecadeat namool Congress (TmC) and the helm of the west Bengal the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). government. he claimed that speaking at the Express both the mamata Banerjee-led Adda in delhi on monday, Lo- TmC and the Arvind Kejriwalkesh, the son of Andhra Pra- led AAP had drifted away from desh Chief minister and TdP the principles on which they president n Chandrababu were founded. New Delhi, June 23 anchor Andhra Minister Nara lokesh at the express Adda, Monday. renuka Puri “when I look at what is happening around me, the message is loud and clear that we stand for our ideology, as a regional party, we should stand for our workers and we have to double down on it. Parties whichhavelosttheirideologies because of winning elections and coming to power multiple times have faced challenges,” Lokesh said. he was in conversationwithVanditamishra,national opinion Editor, The Indian Express. The TdP is a key ally of the BjP in both Andhra Pradesh and at the Centre. Lokeshrejectedsuggestions that regional parties were at a disadvantage within the BjPled ndA, insisting that the alliance provided enough space for partners to express their views and shape policies. “our support to ndA has always beenunconditional.ourleader and the TdP believe that India needs stable leadership,” he said,addingthatdifferenceson policy matters were discussed within the ndA. “I absolutely disagree with that narrative. Because whenever we wanted to voice an opinion, the doors were always open. whenever we wanted reforms to come in certain sectors, our opinion was always heard. And things were changed,” he said. Lokesh cited the waqf amendmentBillasanexample, saying the TdP had raised concerns that eventually led to wider consultations on it. he also referred to discussions on the delimitation issue, saying the party had closely studied the proposal before taking up its concerns within the ruling coalition. The question of the TdP’s place in the ndA resurfaced when Anant Goenka, Executive director, The Indian ExpressGroup,referredtoreports of a meeting involving Cm naidu, a corporate leader and a formerVice-Presidentinmumbai. Asked what had transpired during that meeting, Lokesh dismissed speculation that it had any political significance. “I don’t know why this story keepsrepeating.Andit’salways as if the TdP has to prove itself that we are in ndA. someone writes TdP is upset, someone says TdP is going to go away. There was never such conversation,becauseallthedoorsare open,” the TdP leader said. “About the rumour, I met modi ji. I told him the context in which I met the person and the conversations I have had »CoNTINUeD oN PaGe 2