DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2024, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Silence on OPS, DECEMBER 2023 INCIDENT IN J&K promise to end PMLA: Cong manifesto will be out today Army probes point to torture, death of 3 men from Poonch during questioning MANOJ C G NEW DELHI, APRIL 4 AFTER MAKING the Old Pension Scheme a strong poll pitch ahead of Assembly polls and actually reverting to it in states where it came to power, the Congress party is learnt to have junked the promise of an OPS for government employees in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections. The manifesto, to be released by the party on Friday, will also likely DECISION promise scrap2024 ping of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, whose ambit was widened by the Congress-led UPA government and later strengthened by the Narendra Modi-led government through amendments in 2015 and 2019. These amendments had given teeth to the Directorate of Enforcement. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY 10 survived ordeal, most still to recover even after 3 months, unable to work PM slams Cong on national security: Now India ‘ghar ARUN SHARMA mein ghus ke maarta hai’ Officers among personnel to face action; Army says it’s committed to highest standards Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at a public meeting in Jamui, Thursday. PTI AMRITA NAYAK DUTTA JAMMU, APRIL 4 NEW DELHI, APRIL 4 THE ARMY’S internal inquiries into the killing of three civilians, allegedlyduringinterrogationby Army personnel following a terror attack in J&K’s Poonch in December 2023 that left four soldiers dead, and into the operational gaps have found serious lapses in the conduct of 7-8 personnel,includingofficers,at various levels. Rajnath Singh met families of victims last December. ANI file Sources have told The Indian Express that the findings of the inquiries indicate that the three civiliansdiedof torture,allegedly during interrogation. The terror attack took place on December 21 on the Mughal Road between Dehra Ki Gali and Bufliaz. The next morning, eight civilians were picked up from Topa Pir in Poonch district’s Bufliaz area, and five from Rajouri district’s Thanamandi area. Of the eight taken away from Topa Pir, three died of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 REVISION AFTER SC VERDICT, ITS ‘WELCOMING RECEPTION’: NCERT 3 Babri references out, Ayodhya section ‘revised’ in Class XII new politics book RITIKA CHOPRA NEW DELHI, APRIL 4 THE section on the Ayodhya dispute in a chapter in NCERT’s Class XII political science textbook is said to have been revised to give primacy to the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, factor in the 2019 Supreme Court verdict allowing the temple — and, in at least three places, referencestotheDecember6,1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid Fourthround of revision THIS IS the fourth round of revision and updating of NCERT textbooks since 2014. The first round, in 2017, was called a “review”, and not a revision, as the then NCERT director cited the need to update textbooks to reflect recent events, changes. have been deleted, The Indian Express has learnt. The revised book is expected to be in classrooms in a month. These changes are part of the revision of school textbooks undertaken by NCERT for the academicyear2024-25,whichwere recently communicated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). NCERT, which advises the Uniongovernmentonschooleducation, is the apex body tasked CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MORE THAN three months after they were picked up and tortured,allegedlybyArmypersonnel, following the killing of four soldiers in a terror attack in Jammu’s Poonch district, nine of the10villagerswhosurvivedare yet to return to work, many still nursing their wounds. Of the 13 Poonch residents who were rounded up after the December21terrorattack,three INSIDE NEW UNIVERSE MAP MAY OPEN WINDOW TO DARK ENERGY PROSTATE CANCER CASES IN INDIA TO DOUBLE BY 2040: LANCET STUDY DUTY TO HUSBAND: AJIT PAWAR’S WIFE ON FIGHTING POLLS PAGES 8, 5 wereallegedlytorturedtodeath, whilefiveeachwereadmittedto two separate hospitals. Of them, the only one who has returned to work, as a room attendant at a Srinagar hotel, is 30-year-old Topa Pir resident Mohammad Riyaz. “MuchbeforeIwaspickedup byArmypersonnelonthemorning of December 22, I had taken an advance from my employer before returning home,” he told The Indian Express, explaining why he rushed back to work CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SANTOSH SINGH JAMUI (BIHAR), APRIL 4 OFFICIALLY KICKING off the BJP poll campaign in Bihar on Thursday, with his first election meetinginthestatesincetheannouncement of the poll schedule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the Opposition overcorruptionandissuesof national security. Sharing the dais with him, Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leaderNitishKumarreachedout to Muslims, assuring them that there would be “no communal discord” under the NDA government in the state. Jamui votes in the first phase on April 19, along with Nawada, Gaya and Aurangabad in Bihar. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 KHARGE ATTACKS PM ON CHINA PAGE 7 RESPONSE TO EXPRESS REPORT ED driven by legal mandate, evidence, not shifting sands of politics: Official EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, APRIL 4 THE ENFORCEMENT Directorate is “driven by legal mandates and evidence, not by the shifting sands of political will” and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) “stands as the bedrock upon which credible investigations are built”, a senior Government official said Thursday. The official was responding to the report ‘Since 2014, 25 Opposition leaders facing corruption probe crossed over to BJP, 23 of them got reprieve’, published in The Indian Express Wednesday. “TheGovernment’sunwaveringstanceonrootingoutcorruption has instilled renewed confidenceamongcitizens,reinforcing the belief that India is shedding its image as a sanctuary for the corrupt,” the official said. The official accused the Opposition of “spreading a spu- rious narrative that questions the credibility of agencies” and “engaging in a campaign to malign the integrity of our nation's investigative agencies” after its “corrupt leaders” were “subjected to the rigours of the law”. “The legal processes in India are far from linear or simplistic. They are characterised by a networkofchecks,balances,appeals and reviews that ensure no case is closed without exhaustive examination. This framework, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2