DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA NEW DELHI, APRIL 12 RETAIL INFLATION slipped to a 10-monthlowof 4.85percentin March, primarily led by a moderationinfoodandfuelprices,especially lower petrol, diesel and LPG rates, showed data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) Friday. The Consumer Food Price Index-basedinflation,whileeasing to 8.52 per cent in March from 8.66 per cent, continued to remain elevated above the 8 per cent-mark for the fifth month in arow,withruralareaspersistent in showing a higher increase in food inflation than urban areas. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E DUO TRACED TO HIDEOUT NEAR KOLKATA: NIA Bengaluru blast mastermind, bomber arrested from Bengal Shazib and Taha had been living in state for past 3 weeks; used aliases, checked into small hotels: Officials Fed stand, tax treaty ● shadow MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL, SWEETY KUMARI & KIRAN PARASHAR THE DOWNTREND in headline inflation has been positive but food inflation continues to be a worry given the risks from an early onset of a heatwave. The data print came on a day when there was a sell-off in stock markets, with FPIs offloading Rs 8,027 crore worth of equities on a net basis amid concerns over the US Fed’s stance on interest rate cuts and the apprehensions of greater scrutiny after the recently amended IndiaMauritius tax treaty. NEW DELHI, KOLKATA, BENGALURU, APRIL 12 RELATEDREPORTS,P17 EXPRESS NETWORK 154 192 60 MAHARASHTRA UNSEASONAL RAIN HITS VIDARBHA, MARATHWADA PAGE 7 Dhoti-kurta and tilak: Police on duty in priest attire at Kashi temple MANISH SAHU LUCKNOW, APRIL 12 THE VARANASI police have, on a trial basis, asked policemen stationed at the gates of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple’s sanctum sanctorum to wear dhoti and kurta and sport a tilak on their forehead like temple priests. The move is aimed at fostering a more welcoming environment at the temple in Varanasi, police said. Varanasi Police Commissioner Mohit Agarwal said the initiativehasbeenrolledoutfora 15-daytrialperiod,afterwhichit willbereviewed.Thiswastested in 2018 as well, but was discontinued after the trial period. “We need to ensure that devotees feel respected, especially during times of large gatherings and visits of VIPs,” Agarwal said. Currently, only the four male policepersonnelstationedatthe four gates of the sanctum sanctorum have been wearing the PAGE 1 ANCHOR A policeman in red kurta directs devotees at the temple. Express dhotis and kurtas, but a senior officer said the four female police personnel stationed with them will also start wearing kurtas soon. More police personnel have been stationed 15 metres away from the gates, but they continue to wear khaki uniforms. The move, started earlier this week, faced criticism from the Opposition, with Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 An accused in the Bengaluru cafe blast case being produced at a Kolkata court by NIA officers on Friday. PTI NAGPUR CAMPAIGN Gadkari banks on track record; Cong bets on bread-butter issues VALLABH OZARKAR NAGPUR, APRIL 12 A FORMER Congress stronghold and the seat of the RSS headquarters, the BJP has coasted to victory in Nagpur in the last two Lok Sabha polls with Union Minister Nitin Gadkari winning both times. But with its vote share having gone up 10 percentagepointsin2019,peoplein thecitytalkingaboutlocalissues suchasunemploymentandcivic amenities, and given the caste dynamics,the Congressbelieves it is in with a chance this time around. Union Minister and BJP candidate Nitin Gadkari campaigns A national leader, Gadkari is in Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency. Vallabh Ozarkar regularlycitedasoneof thebestperforming Union Ministers and is seeking Gadkari won in 2014 votesbased on thedevelby2.16lakhvotesandinopment work done by creased both his vote the Narendra Modi govshareandvictorymargin ernment and his track five years later (the ■ INC ■ BJP record in the last two DECISION Congress’s vote share 2024 terms. “There is no doubt also jumped in 2019). about victory but we This time, he is camshould strive for 75% vote share paigning round the clock, adfor the BJP in Nagpur,” a confi- dressing rallies in every corner dent Gadkari says at a gathering of the city. in Nagpur, where his supporters Echoing the Union Minister, 2014 2019 say they will help him win by state BJP president Source: Election Commission more than 5 lakh votes this time. Chandrashekhar Bawankule Nagpur is among five of says, “Gadkari ji will poll more Maharashtra’s48LokSabhacon- than 65% of the total polls. We infrastructure development is stituencies that vote in the first are confident our victory mar- his success.” phase on April 19. gin will increase. His work in CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 VOTE SHARES (%) IN NAGPUR LS SEAT 54.17 126 TO FREE KERALAMAN IN SAUDI, `34 CR ‘BLOOD MONEY’ CROWDFUNDED P 12 27.92 13/04/2024 THE MAN who planted an IED at Bengaluru’sRameshwaramCafe on March 1 as well as the mastermind who planned the blast have been arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from West Bengal. “The absconders in the Rameshwaram Cafe blast case, Adbul Matheen Taha and Mussavir Hussain Shazib, were traced to their hideout near Kolkata and were apprehended by the NIA team. Early morning onApril12,theNIAwassuccessful in tracing the accused, who were hiding under false identities,” an NIA spokesperson said. “Shazib is the accused who placed the IED at the cafe, and Taha is the mastermind behind 55.67 AANCHAL MAGAZINE E X P L A I NE D IIP at four-month high of 5.7% in Feb `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 37.45 Inflation cools to 10-month low but food prices under heat wave pressure REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES RETAIL INFLATION 4.85% IN MARCH ● Arrested suspects Mussavir Hussain Shazib (left) and Abdul Matheen Taha. ANI the planning and execution of the blast and subsequent evasion from the clutches of law,” the spokesperson said. Sourcesinthestatepoliceand the central agency said the two menhadbeeninWestBengalfor roughly three weeks — checking into small hotels and living under aliases — until their luck ran out. The West Bengal police maintainedthatthetwowerearrestedaspartof ajointoperation. The NIA had last month released photographs and details CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Don’t travel to Iran, Israel: India advises its citizens SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, APRIL 12 AMID APPREHENSIONS of Iran avenging the April 1 airstrike on its embassy in Syria, India on Friday advised its citizens to not travel to Iran and Israel “in view of the prevailing situation in the region”. Iran has been threatening to avenge the death of two of its Generals who were those killed in an airstrike in Syrian capital Damascus on April 1. Tehran has blamed Israel for the strike, although Israel has not commented yet. New Delhi’s advisory comes atatimewhencountrieslikethe US and France have also issued similar advisories for their respective citizens and officials. In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said, “In view of the prevailing situation in the region, all Indians are advised not to travel to Iran or Israel till further notice.” “All those who are currently residing in Iran or Israel are requested to get in touch with Indian Embassies there and register themselves,” the advisory said. “They are also requested to observe utmost precautions CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public meeting in Udhampur on Friday. ANI J&K will get back statehood, day not far for Assembly elections, says PM Attacks Opp for skipping Ayodhya ceremony, ‘making video of mutton during Saawan to hurt sentiments’ ARUN SHARMA UDHAMPUR, APRIL 12 PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi told the people of Jammu & Kashmir Friday that statehood will be restored and “the day is not far” when Assembly elections will be held there. Underlining that there has been a lot of change in J&K in the last 10 years and “development has replaced militancy” — J&K lost its special status in August 2019 and its statehood in October that year when it was divided into the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh — Modi,addressingaBJPrally,said, “Aap logo ne bahut saare kasht jhelehain.Maineaapkeliyebahut bada sapna dekha hai. Hum rajya ka darja bahal karenge (You have suffered a lot. I have a very big dream for you. We will restore statehood).” BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Therallywasheldtomobilise support for BJP’s Lok Sabha candidates Dr Jitendra Singh (Udhampur) and Jugal Kishore Sharma (Jammu). “The day is not far when Assembly elections will be held inJ&K.Everybodywillbevisiting CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 2 creators get YouTube notice on EVM videos, monetisation curbed DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, APRIL 12 MONTHS AFTER YouTube started adding additional context under videos pertaining to the efficacy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the online platformhasalsostartedplacing curbs on monetisation of some such videos, meaning that creators will not receive their share of advertisement revenue generated from such content. At least two creators — Mehgnadandindependentjournalist Sohit Mishra — were recently alerted by YouTube about the monetisation limits placed on some of their videos pertain- ing to EVMs and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines. Theplatformcitedits advertiser-friendly guidelines for this decision, stating that videos containing demonstrably false information are not eligible for ad revenue. Mishra’s YouTube channel, Sohit Mishra Official, has over 3.68 lakh subscribers, and Mehgnad's channel has over 42,000 subscribers. MishratoldTheIndianExpress thatfourof hisvideosonthesubject of EVMs were placed under “limitedmonetisation”.Of these, monetisationwaseventuallyrestored for only one video, upon Mishra’s request for a review. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 As poll race heats up, a turtle becomes mascot in Cooch Behar RAVIK BHATTACHARYA & ATRI MITRA BANESWAR (COOCH BEHAR), APRIL 12 IN THE village of Baneswar in north Bengal, about 10 km from the city of Cooch Behar, lies a Shiva temple that Koch dynasty king Pran Narayan is saidto have built during his reign in the 17th Century. Devotees believe the templecameupontheruinsof a temple built by Asura king Banasura. But, Shiva is not the soleresidentdeityinthetemple. Thetemplepondisalsohome to“Mohan”,thenamelocalshave given to the endangered black softshell turtles that are revered as an incarnation of the Hindu deity Vishnu. The turtles are so vulnerable — the International UnionforConservationof Nature (IUCN)liststhemas“criticallyendangered’ — that locals have been waging a battle to protect them, even calling a bandh last November in protest against the state administration’s perceived lack of efforts. Recognisingthisstrongbond, the Election Commission (EC) hasadopted“MohanBabu”asits poll mascot to get people out to the polling booths on April 19 — not that turnout is a problem in Cooch Behar, where polling has crossed 80% in all parliamentary polls since 1999. The EC, which had used “Mohan Babu” during the2021Assemblyelectionstoo, hasplastered photos of thesmiling turtle across the constituency, with a message to people to vote. “Local people revere the tur- A poster of EC mascot ‘Mohan Babu’, an endangered black softshell turtle; (top) a turtle in the temple pond. Partha Paul tles.So,wethoughtitwasagood idea to use them to reach out to voters and spread voter awareness,” Cooch Behar District MagistrateArvindKumarMeena told The Indian Express. ThoughtheEChastakennote of the turtles’ importance, Baneswar residents allege the government has done little to protect the reptiles apart from putting up hoardings on the Cooch Behar-Alipurduar Road telling drivers to slow down in the “turtle corridor”. “We always knew that there were Mohans here. In 2002, when the pond attached to the temple was being cleaned after drainingthewater,localsdiscovered Mohans. I was there,” said Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and Cooch Behar Zilla ParishadboardmemberParimal Burman, who is also the president of the Mohan Raksha Committee formed that year. “We consider Mohan to be an avatar of Lord Vishnu (Kurma avatar). As per folklore, a king of Cooch Behar brought the turtles CONTINUED ON PAGE 2