eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE A Time to Sow & a Time to Reap JAIPUR,LATECITY As the country celebrates regional new years, a look at how the kinship of food ties communities and languages FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT APRIL14,2024 12+4PAGES,`6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA Iran seizes cargo ship affiliated to Israel, 17 Indian crew on board EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE EyeoneasternLadakh,newArmy divisionlikelytoberaisedthisyear 72 Div, planned as part of 17 MSC, set to be raised under Northern Command AMRITA NAYAK DUTTA NEW DELHI, APRIL 13 A helicopter raid targeting the vessel near the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday. AP 12 people, including a senior Guard general. Iran had vowed to avenge the strike. The ship is associated with London-based Zodiac Maritime. Zodiac Maritime is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group. Geneva-based MSC later CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 A LONG-PENDING plan to raise anew Armydivision forpossible deploymentineasternLadakhis likely to be implemented this yearaspartof aseriesof changes for Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and the Ladakh region, The Indian Express has learnt. According to sources, the Army is considering raising the 72 Division -- which was to originally function under the 17 Mountain Strike Corps (MSC) basedinPanagarh(WestBengal) — for possible deployment in eastern Ladakh under the Northern Command. A division has approximately 14,000 to 15,000 troops. However,insteadofrecruitingadditional manpower, the Army is likely to reorganise existing personnelfordeploymentinthenew division from other formations. A strike corps is responsible foroffensivetrans-borderaction. Currently, the Army has four strike corps — the Mathurabased 1 Corps, Ambala-based 2 Corps, Bhopal-based 21 Corps, and 17 MSC in Panagarh. However, till 2021, only the E EXPLAINED NEW DELHI, APRIL 13 IRANIAN COMMANDOS Saturday seized an Israeli-affiliated containershipcarrying17Indian crew members, the latest escalation in West Asia’s spiralling tensions which New Delhi has now found itself caught up in. Membersof theparamilitary Revolutionary Guard rappelled down from a helicopter onto the Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries neartheStraitofHormuzand,according to state-run IRNA news agency,weretakingtheshipinto Iranian territorial waters. The seizure followed a suspected Israeli strike this month on an Iranian consular building in Syria’s Damascus that killed PLAN SHELVED EARLIER DUE TO FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS 2-pronged ● strategy THE DECISION is part of overall redeployment changes being planned in the Northern Command, with a two-pronged strategy focused on eastern Ladakh amid the standoff along the LAC with China, and on ensuring no gap in training of strike corps elements. 17 MSC — which was partially raised then — was focused on China. The other three were focussed on Pakistan. But in the backdrop of the military standoff with China which began in 2020, a restructuring was carried out in 2021 to keep two of the strike corps for the mountains facing China. The 1 Corps and 17 Corps were restructuredtofocusonthenorthernandeasternborderstotackle Chinese threats. The role of the 1 Corps was reorientedtofocusonthenorthernborderswithChinawithtwo CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Before Kejriwal arrest, ED no to foreign visit by approver: ‘May not return to support case’ Court allowed Reddy to go; ED said his absence will seriously affect probe KAUNAIN SHERIFF M NEW DELHI, APRIL 13 KEY TO the Enforcement Directorate’s case that Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwalis the “kingpin” in the excise scam is the statement of non-executive director of Hyderabadbased Aurobindo Pharma, P Sarath Chandra Reddy, recorded on April 25, 2023, about his alleged meeting with Kejriwal whopurportedly told himabout a “win-win” arrangement. P Sarath Chandra Reddy TOP COURT TO HEAR KEJRIWAL PLEA TOMORROW PAGE 3 Reddy was arrested in the case on November 10, 2022, and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘Gangrapes at TMC Agnipath turns business cold in ALONG ERODE-TIRUPPUR HIGHWAY office’: NHRC submits Nagaur, heats up poll campaign Migrant labour, Jharkhand dhaba, Ukraine war tell a 2024 TN story Army coaching Sandeshkhali report Opp targets scheme atto dodge questions NAGAUR Region faces labour shortage, businessmen talk of change Ground Zero; BJP tries Vote shares in % RAVIK BHATTACHARYA KOLKATA, APRIL 13 WOMEN ALLEGEDLY gangraped ataTrinamoolCongress(TMC)office,victimstoldbypolicetoreach acompromisewithperpetrators, younggirlssentawayfromthevillage to keep them safe — the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has made graveallegationsinitsinquiryreportontheSandeshkhaliincident. The report was prepared by the rights body after it took suo motu cognisance of the allegations,andisbasedonavisittothe West Bengal village and conversationswithallegedvictims.Ithas been submitted to the Chief SecretaryandDGPofWestBengal tosubmitanaction-takenreport, withacopymarkedtotheCentral Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The TMC called the NHRC a "frontal organisation" of the BJP andsaidthereporthasbeenprepared at the party office. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 (Education City Kuchaman)’. Past those gates though, Kuchaman is almost a ghost KUCHAMAN (RAJASTHAN), APRIL 13 town, its deserted coaching institutes and hostels THE HOARDINGS put up a reflection of the dwinby academies promising dling charms of an Army to help you get into the job after the Agnipath Armed Forces begin from DECISION scheme. 2024 5 km away as one apLocated in west proaches Kuchaman city Rajasthan, Kuchaman, in Nagaur district. The city's en- which falls in the Nagaur Lok trance gate has a welcome sign: Sabha constituency, started ‘Shiksha ki Nagri Kuchaman CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PARUL KULSHRESTHA BJPally RLTP* 54.79% Cong 39.74% 2019 Others5.47% BJP Cong 41.25% 33.77% 2014 Others24.98% P VAIDYANATHAN IYER ERODE, TIRUPPUR, COIMBATORE, APRIL 13 EN ROUTE to Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu that accounts for more than half of India’s garments exports, on the Erode-Tiruppur highway, Mohamed Sadiq Khan’s dhaba stands out for its name: Jharkhand-UP Dhaba. He has been here for seven years, and employs four others from Jaipur The Jharkhand-UP dhaba on Erode-Tiruppur highway his home state Jharkhand. Sadiq Khan has seen “trains full of migrants” getting down at Tiruppur to work in looms and garment factories, hotels and restaurants, and even in agriculture, of late. “Labour ko koi problem nahi hai yahan,” he says, emphasising they do not face any resentment from the local people or politicians. But what has resulted in huge job losses is “order recession” or sharp drop in orders fromEurope,whichaccountsfor CONTINUED ON PAGE 2