The editorial Page: From the iran conflict, four geopolitical shifts india cannot afford to miss 10 MONDaY, JUlY 6, 2026 JOurnalism of COurage lucKnow, lATe ciTy, 18 PAges ₹6.00 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 AllAhAbAd high Court is set to hear a writ petition seeking a survey of the Taj Mahal to examine a claim that a temple originally existed on the monument’s premises. Track This and more on www.indianexpress.com politics dr syama Prasad mooKerjee: a Life devoTed To india’s UniTy & Progress BY PM NarENDra MODi Page 7 Business as Usual By EP UNNY AgniPAth sChEmE Armed Forces seek larger retention of Agniveers after end of 4-yr tenure Behind the move: More experienced manpower, training on new platforms Navy likely to seek 75% retention, army and iaF up to 50%; current retention for each arm is 25% Amrita nayak dutta New Delhi, July 5 Amrita nayak dutta New Delhi, July 5 the ARMeD Forces are seeking an increase in the percentage of Agniveers who can be retained in the services after completing their four-year tenure, even as the overall percentage agreed upon remains 25 per cent for each of the three services at present. Agniveers recruited under The initial batches of agniveers recruited under the agnipath scheme will complete their 4-year tenure with the services later this year. PTi File the Agnipath scheme began theirtraininginearly2023.the initialbatchesofAgniveerswill completetheirfour-yeartenure with the services later this year. All of them would initially be released from the services, and the selected number of Agniveers who volunteer to serve in the defence forces would be enrolled back as regular »ContinuEd on PAgE 2 the KeY reason why the Armed Forces are seeking an increase in the percentage of Agniveers who can be retained aftercompletionoftheir four-year tenure is the need for a bigger pool of experienced troops in theservices,particularly intheeventofaconflict. this, people familiar with the matter told The Indian Express,wasamongthelessons learnt from Operation Sindoor last year. While the Agniveers performed extremely well in operations, there were instances whenexperiencegainedacross various field tenures and multiple training exercises came in handy, in terms offasterandmoreeffective reactions in operational situations. With a constant numberofsoldiersretiringeveryyear,alowerretention of Agniveers might lead to a shortfall of manpower in the E. »ContinuEd on PAgE 2 sAvEs on wAtEr, lAbour Cost diljitdosanjh’s Satlujpulled fromZEE5in indiatwodays afterrelease Direct-seeded rice gains traction among farmers amid El Nino shadow on monsoon express special Panel probing Kota maternal deaths flags lapses in monitoring, infection control Oxytocin was under scanner earlier; now experts say that may not be reason behind deaths Anonna dutt New Delhi, July 5 An eight-member expert committee, set up by the Rajasthan government to probe the recent maternal deaths, has flagged several procedural lapses,includingpoormonitoringofhigh-riskpregnancies,insufficient medical treatment records and gaps in infection control mechanisms, The Indian Express has learnt. earlier, the World health Organisation (WhO) had sought information on the possible link to ineffective oxytocin — an injection used to induce labour and to contract the uterusforpreventingbloodloss after delivery. the Rajasthan Drug testing Laboratory had found a batch ineffective, sayingtestsrevealedthattheinjectionscontainednotraceofoxytocin, its active ingredient. Additionally, the licences of the units of Jackson Laboratories,themanufacturerofoxytocin, in Punjab and himachal Pradesh were cancelled for non-compliance of a 2023 order to stop production. Sources said the current inspections found widespread irregularities, including the absence of evidence of key tests regarding drug purity, and proof of data fudging. the Union health Ministry had sought a detailed report on women developing complicationsfollowingcaesareanoperations across several government hospitals in Rajasthan, »ContinuEd on PAgE 2 Mumbai rain fury continues: 7 dead seven people were killed as heavy rainfall continued to affect life in mumbai, sunday. While six people were killed after a building collapsed in mankhurd, one died after a tree fell on him in kurla. AKAsh PATil a farm worker transplants paddy seedlings at a field on the delhi-haryana border. hArish DAMoDArAn harish damodaran New Delhi, July 5 FOR BASMAti paddy grower SatyavanSehrawat,thetwobiggest challenges are water and labour. the traditional method of cultivatingthecerealgraincrop — by puddling (flooding the field and tilling repeatedly to breakdownsoilclods,pluglarge poresandcreateasoftseedbed) and transplantation (of seedlingsinitiallyraisedinnurseries) — is highly water-intensive. “Puddling itself consumes water equivalent to three irrigations. For the first three weeks aftertransplanting,thefieldhas to be irrigated every second day to maintain a standing water depth of 4-5 cm. You need to irrigate even thereafter once a week,” said the 56-year-old Sehrawat,whofarmsbasmation 50 out of his 54-acre holding in Delhi’s Daryapur Kalan village. Depending on the crop’s duration(115-120daysfromseed to grain for Pusa Basmati-1509 and 140-145 days for Pusa Basmati-1121), and also how much it rains, the total irrigations can beanywherebetween20and30. each irrigation uses over 200,000 litres of water per acre. »ContinuEd on PAgE 2 sundAY’s CAsuAltiEs took the death toll in rainfall-related incidents in Mumbai to 10 in less than a week. issued on sunday has declared an orange alert for the city on Monday. thE AuthoritiEs declared a holiday for all schools and colleges in Mumbai, Thane and Palghar on Monday. Page 8 lAminE YAmAl fACEs CristiAno ronAldo in Spain vs Portugal, a star racing future vs a superstar chasing past express at World Cup sandip g Philadelphia, July 5 ‘As long as you do not overpower us, we are equal. That message is very strong within Assam’ himAntA biswA sArmA, AssAM cM Page 14 thE imd’s five-day forecast ALL hiS life, Lionel Messi’s shadow has loomed over Lamine Yamal. he was just an infant when a photographer arranged a shoot wherein Messi was bathing Yamal. Years later, when he stepped into Barcelona’sLaMasiaAcademy,hewas Lamine Yamal, 18, is the youngest goal-scorer in a World cup since Pele; ronaldo, 41, is the oldest ever in the knockouts. AP Messi’s blessed inheritor, the wunderkind beyond his years. every record he broke in the leaguewasoncetheArgentine’s. But in the wee hours of tuesday in india, when Spain takes on Portugal in a World Cup knockout game, the silhouette behind Yamal will not be that of Messi. it will be of Messi’s grand rival, another »ContinuEd on PAgE 2 Page 8 Legendary Pandavani singer Teejan Bai dies aT 69 Amritsar, Mumbai, July 5 »ContinuEd on PAgE 2 PArul KulshresThA nation Kamaldeep singh brar & Alaka sahani JUSt tWO days after it premiered on streaming service Zee5, Diljit Dosanjh-starrer Satluj,afilmbasedonthelifeof human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, has been made unavailable in india. in a social media statement on Sunday, Zee5 said, “in light of the current developments, Satluj will be unavailable in india until further notice. We remaincommittedtoexploring every appropriate avenue through due process to bring the film back to our audiences at the earliest opportunity.” Directed by honey trehan and produced by Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP alongside Macguffin Pictures, Satluj was releasedonZee5onJuly3after certification troubles held up the film for around three years. While it has now been pulled from india, the film remains available to stream abroad through Zee5 global. DirectortrehantoldTheIndian Express, “i got to know about the removal of Satluj from Zee5 in india at around 8.15pmonSunday.iamataloss right now. i don’t know how to react to this development.” in a statement on its official X account, Zee5 thanked viewers for what it described as an overwhelming response since the release of the movie, and said that it stood by “the at new medical college hospital in kota, one of the hospitals which saw maternal deaths. rAm tEmPlE donAtion ‘thEft’ row Trust meeting today, treasurer distances himself: ‘Catch guilty, give strict punishment’ maulshree seth Ayodhya, July 5 SignALLingDeePeningdiscontent within the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi teerth Kshetra trustovertheallegedembezzlement of donations at the Ram templeinAyodhya,itstreasurer Swami govind Dev giri sought to distance himself from the controversy and called for strict actionagainstthoseresponsible, irrespective of their position. inthefirstdetailedpublicresponse by a senior functionary of the trust on the controversy, giri also sought to separate his statutory responsibilities as treasurer from the day-to-day handling of donations and financial administration. in a two-page statement, he asserted that his responsibility ram temple Trust treasurer swami govind dev giri. File inside Page 4 as TrUsT meeTs, rss KeePs waTch was limited to maintaining audited accounts and records. “the police and investigating agencies should catch the guilty. no matter how big the »ContinuEd on PAgE 2 l ProTesT crosses forTnighT mark, WiTh Leading PoLiTicaL and cuLTuraL figures having visiTed JanTar manTar To exTend suPPorT One night at CJP protest: Crash course in politics & an ex-mall worker’s dream drishti Jain Party (CJP) protest demanding the resignation of Union education Minister Dharmendra AROUnD3amSaturday,atJan- Pradhan over the neet exam tar Mantar in the heart of Delhi, paperleak.now,heispreparing Vikas Kumar opens his small to start his own political party. Kumarisoneamongseveral bagandpullsoutacrumpledA4 sheet announcing his political volunteers — from artists to party.the20-year-old,wearing workers — for whom the proa white kurta with a blue scarf test site has also become a around his shoulder, stands “political classroom” of sorts. On the stage, acwith folded hands. page 1 tivist Sonam Wangthe sheet carries his chuk, who is on a picture which, he hunger strike, and says, is enhanced withAi.herunshisfingerdown CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, it:“ApnaBharatSenaParty-ABS sleep with a table fan for relief. Others lie on thick black sheets Party”, it reads. For the past 15 days, Kumar, on the floor. A few fan their fromhajipurinBihar,hasbeen neighbours with plastic fans, part of the Cockroach Janta while many sit in circles, exNew Delhi, July 5 anchor changing ideas with strangers about everything under the moon. Kumar, for his part, is busy learning. “Just like people pay moneytotakecoursesindigital marketing and computers, i’m doing a course in politics here. i get food and a place to sleep. it’s been 15 days since i started the ‘course’. Once it’s over, i’ll become a politician. Already 17 people have joined my party here,” he says. After completing a polytechnic course at Ambala in haryana, Kumar says he moved to noida for a job at a hardware firm and has since switched jobs across DelhinCR. On June 19, he left his The protesters at Jantar mantar on saturday night. AbhinAv sAhA “supervisor job” at a mall in gurgaon to join the protest. “My family’s financial condition is not good, so i had to start earning. i know the value of education and how important it is to reach higher. Rich fathers can hand over estab- lished businesses to their children, while middle and lower-class parents struggle to even give an education. When i become a politician, i won't become rich, but i’ll have the powertoraisethevoiceofthese people,” he says. “here, i’m meeting people who have studied arts. they have ideologies and different views, and they are patient in their approach. they think deeply.i’mwatchingandlearning. i take decisions impulsively,” he says, before playing a 3-minute-20-second Ai-generated video of his “party’s roadshow” in Bihar, adding thathisfriendsinhisvillageare more excited than he is. the protest, which started after Dipke arrived in Delhi from the US, has crossed the fortnight mark. So far, prominent figures who have visited thevenuetoextendsupportinclude author Arundhati Roy, CPM leaders Brinda Karat and John Brittas, Swaraj india founder Yogendra Yadav and AAP leader Sanjay Singh. the fight will continue, say volunteers, even as the silence ofthenightisbrokenbychatter, chalk scraping on canvases, songs and slogans demanding the Minister’s resignation. At the first stall near the stage, Zahid, who says he travelled two days from Baramulla in Kashmir to reach the site, is joined by two friends from Sopore and Srinagar. the 32-year-old wears a white tshirt printed with the image of a cockroach and has a card hanging from his left wrist that reads “Volunteer Marshal”. Pastmidnight,heisstillserving foodandwatertosupporterson site, along with others. Zahid says he could not make it to Delhi for the June 6 CJP protest but managed to reach the site after the extended agitation started at Jantar Mantar on June 20. “i came across the party’s social media page on May 15 and felt it was right, after reading the demands,” he says. »ContinuEd on PAgE 2 Lucknow