DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE Modi Sarkar ki Guarantee Government of india Hamara Sankalp Viksit Bharat `7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Means Guarantee of fulfilling dreams of 140 crore Indians Scan for more information Modi greets Shehbaz, first Indian response on new govt in Pak SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, MARCH 5 IN THE first Indian government response on the new dispensationinIslamabad,PrimeMinister NarendraModiTuesdaycongratulated Shebhaz Sharif, the new Prime Minister of Pakistan. The brother of former Prime Minister and PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif was administered the oathof office as Prime Minister — for the second time — Monday, nearly a month after an election marred bycontroversy,allegationsof rigging,and protests by the party of the jailed PTI leader Imran Khan. “Congratulations to @CM Shehbaz on being sworn in as the Prime Minister of Pakistan,” Modi posted on X. This message from Modi is BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY JAN 5 ATTACK ON ED TEAM CBI takes over Sandeshkhali probe, Bengal Govt goes to SC Wait and watch FOR NOW, Delhi has a wait-and-watch policy on the new coalition in Islamabad where, with the Pakistan Army’s backing, the PML-N and PPP have come to power to keep out Imran Khan’s PTI amid protests, rigging allegations. India too is headed to polls and any movement on resumption of ties will happen only after the next government takes charge. different from the one he posted in April 2022 when he said India desired peace and stability in a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Calcutta HC says police biased, orders transfer of probe, custody of Sheikh ATRI MITRA & SWEETY KUMARI KOLKATA, MARCH 5 PM IN VALLEY TOMORROW Preparations are underway in Srinagar for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit Thursday, his first to the Valley since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. He will be addressing a public rally at the Bakshi Stadium. ANI MISSION GAGANYAAN Training for space at ISRO: Survival lessons, simulators, yoga, engineering After Russian leg, the four IAF officers are preparing for the mission in Bengaluru TWO-PHASE TRAINING ANONNA DUTT NEW DELHI, MARCH 5 EXPRESS NETWORK NAVEEN A LOKPRIYA CM, ODISHA HAS KEY ROLE IN ECONOMY: PM SHOWN DAGGER, BEATEN, RAPED: SPANISH VLOGGER TO POLICE PAGES 6, 12 LAST WEEK, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi bestowed them the “astronaut wings”, the four Indian Air Force officers, Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla, were a picture of confidence and determination. Behind this is a rigorous training regimen the four astronauts-designate for Gaganyaan, India’s first crewed space mission, have been undergoing at the Indian Space Research Organisation’s(ISRO)newastronaut training facility in Bengaluru. This includes training in engineering disciplines with a focus on spaceflight, propulsion and aerodynamics; GENERIC SPACEFLIGHT TRAINING IN RUSSIA ARUN JANARDHANAN DMK LEADER and former Union Minister A Raja has said India is not a nation in conventional terms with one language, one culture and one tradition. It was not a country, but a subcontinent, he said. Addressing a function in Coimbatore to celebrate Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin’s birthday on March 1, Raja said, PAGE 1 ANCHOR Raja: India a subcontinent, not a country “One country means one language,oneculture,onetradition. Indiawasnotacountrybutasubcontinent. Here, Tamil Nadu is a country, with one language, and oneculture.Malayalamisanother languageandaculture…Keeping MISSION SPECIFIC TRAINING IN INDIA ■ Training to get used to weightlessness, motion sickness, and living in isolation ■ Training on four sets of simulators, including one that will mimic jerks, vibrations, acceleration, and shocks ■ Parabolic flights — aircraft that fly up and down at 45-degree angles A video grab of one of the four astronauts at ISRO’s Bengaluru facility yoga classes; and training on simulators that mimic the jerks, vibrations, acceleration and shocks that a space flight entails. Currently, the astronauts are doing mission-specific training, as part of which they familiarise DMK Raja’s remarks on India, Ram: BJP hits back, his allies urge restraint CHENNAI, MARCH 5 cbc 22201/13/0329/2324 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2024, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 22 PAGES them all together is what made India — this makes India a subcontinent, not a country.” Further,referringtosupporters of the Bilkis Bano gangrape convicts chanting “Jai Shri Ram” when they were released, Raja said, “If this is the god you are talking about, if this is your ‘Jai ShriRam’and‘BharatMataKiJai’, wewillneveracceptyour‘JaiShri Ram’ and ‘Bharat Mata’. Tamil Nadu cannot accept that. You go and tell everyone that we are CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ■ Survival training for terrains such as mountains, woodlands, the Arctic, and the sea themselves with the spacecraft and its operations ahead of the spacemission,whichiscurrently scheduled for next year. Thisfollowsthetrainingatthe Gagarin Cosmonaut Training CentreinRussia’sMoscowOblast ■ Basics of spaceflight, propulsion and aerodynamics ■ Psychological and physical training, including yoga that started in 2020 and continued through the pandemic. Sometimein2021,thetrainingat ISRO’sBengalurufacilityfollowed. ISROofficialsdescribedthetraining as a “continuous process”. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 HC acquits Saibaba, others in Maoist case; Maharashtra moves SC OMKAR GOKHALE MUMBAI, MARCH 5 NOTING THAT the prosecution failed to prove its case against former Delhi University professorGNSaibaba,sentencedtolife in an alleged Maoist links case, theNagpurbenchof theBombay High Court Tuesday acquitted him and five other co-accused Saibaba was sentenced to life term in jail and allowed their appeals against their conviction in 2017. Hours later, the Maharashtra CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Muizzu: No Indian troops, in uniform or civilian clothes, after May 10 Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, MARCH 5 DAYS BEFORE the deadline set for the withdrawal of the first batch of Indian military personnel, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu has said that no Indian military personnel, whether in uniform or “civilian clothing”, will be present in the island country after May 10. “There will be no Indian troops in the country come May 10. Not in uniform and not in civilian clothing. Indian military will not be residing in this countryin anyformof clothing.Istate this with confidence,” Muizzu said, according to a Maldives news portal. He was responding to the Opposition’s criticism that the Indian technical personnel who are replacing the military personnel are actually military personnel without their uniform. According to the report, while addressing the residential community of Eydhafushi during his tour across Baa Atoll on Monday, Muizzu said: “That these people (Indian military) are not departing, that they are returning after changing their uniforms into civilian clothing... We must not indulge such thoughtsthatinstildoubtsinour hearts and spread lies.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 COMING DOWN heavily on the WestBengalPolice,whoitcalled “totally biased”, the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ordered the transfer of the probe into the January5attackonEnforcement Directorate (ED) officials in Sandeshkhali, as well as custody of main accused Shahjahan Sheikh, to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Hours later, the state government movedthe Supreme Court against the HC’s order. Meanwhile, taking over the investigation, the CBI registered an FIR in the case. A CBI team, escortedbyparamilitarypersonnel, reached the CID office in Kolkata totakecustodyof Sheikh.Butthe police refused to hand him over, sayingthematterwassub-judice. In its order, the HC had directed that the custody of Sheikh, the suspended Trinamool Congress leader who was arrested by the West Bengal Police refused to hand over Sheikh custody to the CBI ED ATTACHES PROPERTIES THE ENFORCEMENT Directorate Tuesday said it has attached assets worth Rs 12.78 crore of suspended TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh, including bank deposits, an apartment, and agricultural and fishery land in Sandeshkhali and Kolkata, under PMLA. ENS PoliceonFebruary29in connection with the attack on the ED CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Will join BJP, says Gangopadhyay after quitting as HC judge SWEETY KUMARI KOLKATA, MARCH 5 HOURS AFTER he resigned as a judge of the Calcutta High Court, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay announced Tuesday that he will be joining the BJP on March 7 and it was up to the party to decide if he should contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. “I will join the BJP on March 7. It is the only national party which is fighting against Trinamool Congress’s corruption,” said the former judge, known for making critical remarks against the ruling TMC anditsleaderAbhishekBanerjee. “I have been forced to take thisstepduetotauntsbytheruling party. Their taunts and statements inspired me to take this step. The ruling party insulted me many times. Their spokespersonsattackedmewith unparliamentary words. I think they have a problem with their Justice Gangopadhyay at his residence in Kolkata on Tuesday. Partha Paul education,” he told reporters at his Salt Lake residence. Responding to a question on when the BJP approached him and how long he took to take a call on joining politics, Gangopadhyay said, “I did not CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Weeks after moving to Israel for work, Kerala man killed in shelling SHAJU PHILIP THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MARCH 5 THE PROSPECT of a better life in Israel ended bitterly for a family as a 31-year-old Kerala man was killed in a missile strike in the northern part of the country, leavingbehindhispregnantwife and a five-year-old child. Nibin Maxwell, who came from Kaikulangara in Kerala’s Kollam, was killed and two people from the state were injured on Monday when an anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah hit a farm in Northern Israel where they were employed. The incident took place at an orchard at Margaliot, a moshav (collective agricultural community), sources said. The injured men were identified as Joseph and Paul Melvin. According to Nibin’s father Antony,theincidenttookplacein the afternoon. “My eldest son Nivin, who is also employed in Israel,informedmethatNibinhad been injured in a missile attack. Later, his death was confirmed. Twoweeksago,Nibinhadtoldus aboutanairstrikeneartheirfarm. I told them to move elsewhere, but since there were no other issues, they continued at the same workplace,” said Antony. Nibin,whoheldanindustrial training certificate, was working with a manpower supply firm in the UAE before he quit in December to move to Israel, when that country opened agricultural visas for Indians. “The husband of Nibin’s sister-in-law, who works as a caregiver in Israel, helped him find a job there. A week after Nibin left for Israel, his elder brother Nivin followed. Nivin, who was workinginaprivatefirminBengaluru, also took up work in the agriculturalsector.TheymovedtoIsrael considering the better prospects,” said Antony, whose Nibin Maxwell, 31, was killed in a Hezbollah missile strike youngest son works in the UAE. Sources in Israel said the injured men are out of danger. Nibin’sbodywillbemovedtoTel Aviv on Wednesday before being sent back to India. The attack on farm workers in Israel led to panic among Indians employed there. “Most of the Indians in Israel are caregivers, working inside houses. Theycanrunforcoveratshelters when a siren is sounded. But thoseworkingin thefarm sector areexposedto theattacks.Many Indianshavejoinedthefarmsafter people from other countries abandoned that sector in the wake of the war,” said a source. The Indian Embassy in Israel has issued an advisory for Indian nationalsworkinginthecountry, especially in border areas, to relocate to safe areas within the country. The Embassy said they are in touch with the Israel authoritiestoensurethesafetyofall itsnationals.TheIndianEmbassy also shared a helpline number and email address for any help. In a post on X, the Israel Embassy wrote: “We are deeply shocked and saddened by the death of one Indian national and the injury of two others due to a cowardly terror attack launched by Shia Terror organization Hezbollah, on peaceful agricul- ture workers who were cultivating an orchard at the northern village of Margaliot yesterday early afternoon.” “Israeli Medical institutions are completely at the service of the injured who are being treated by our very best medical staff.Israelregardsequallyallnationals,Israeliorforeign,whoare injured or killed due to terrorism. We will be there to support the families and offer them assistance,” it wrote. “Our countries, who are sadly well versed in civilian loss, stand united in hopes of a speedy recovery for the injured and solace for the familyof the bereaved,” it wrote.