eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE Artist of a Brave New World AHMEDABAD,LATECITY In his centenary year, a look at the life and legacy of F N Souza, one of India’s most prominent modernists FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT APRIL21,2024 14+4PAGES,`6.00 DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM LARGEST OF THE SEVEN PHASES IN THE 2024 ELECTIONS Face of protests against Brij Bhushan, wrestler Vinesh Phogat clinches spot in Paris Olympics MIHIR VASAVDA MUMBAI, APRIL 20 WRESTLER VINESH Phogat, the face of the protests against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the former Wrestling Federation of India president accused of sexual harassment, has won a spot in the Paris Olympics in the 50kg category. Inherfirstinternationalcompetition since September 2022, Phogat on Saturday defeated Kazakhstan’sLauraGanikyzy100 in the semifinal of the Asian Qualifying Tournament being held in Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek. The 29-year-old didn’t concede a single point and needed a little more than six minutes to win the three bouts to clinch a quota place for India in the Paris games, scheduled to be held from 26 July to 11 August. “It has been very difficult. At one stage, it felt impossible. But this is a job half done,” she told The Indian Express from Bishkek, where the Asian Qualifying Tournament is being held. Indeed, this would have seemed improbable a year ago when, on April 21 last year, Phogat — along with six other women wrestlers — filed a police complaint against former WFI chief Singh, accusing him of sexual harassment. She and two othertopwrestlers,SakshiMalik and Bajrang Punia, also sat on months-long protests to demandtheBJPMP’sarrest.ADelhi court last week deferred until April 26 its order on framing charges against Brij Bhushan in the case. For Phogat, the Paris dream lookedfurtheroutof reachwhen another young, highly promising wrestler, Antim Panghal, won India an Olympic quota in the 53-kg category, which was Phogat’s pet weight class. In fact, not just the Olympics, Phogat’s wrestling future itself looked bleakwhen,attempting acomeback, she suffered a knee injury that required surgery. But one of India’s most resilientathletesof thisgeneration, Phogat, who weighed 59 kg when she began mat training in Heatwave to wedding season to lack of enthusiasm among reasons being cited DAMINI NATH, RITIKA CHOPRA, ARUN JANARDHANAN & AVANEESH MISHRA VOTING FOR the 18th Lok Sabha commencedonarelativelytepid note with the first and largest phase of the seven-phase elections showing a decrease of about 4 percentage points in voter turnout, a development that has officials of the Election Commission of India concerned. On Friday, the 102 seats that were up for election, with a little over 16 crore voters eligible to cast their votes, saw a turnout of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Election officials keep EVMs and VVPATs in a strong room in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, on Saturday, a day after the first phase of polling was held for the Lok Sabha elections. PTI PHASE-1 TURNOUT: 102 SEATS 2019:69.9% 2024:65.5% (INTHESE102SEATS) (AVGASOF11PM,APRIL20) CONTINUEDONPAGE2 EXPRESS NETWORK CJI HAILS THREE NEW CRIMINAL LAWS: WATERSHED MOMENT FOR INDIA PAGE 7 2019 65.12 2024 63.99 Change -1.13 82.11 78.14 53.36 66.26 70.15 85.21 75.07 64.07 82.69 71.43 63.14 83 81.25 64 81.41 72.44 81.93 66.6 61.88 84.8 72.74 76.09 49.26 68.29 68.27 84.16 67.76 63.7 72.17 74.5 56.9 56.91 78.9 57.65 80.24 69.46 81.48 61.37 56.72 81.91 -9.37 -2.05 -4.1 2.03 -1.88 -1.05 -7.31 -0.37 -10.52 3.07 -6.24 -26.09 -2.35 -6.35 -1.17 -2.98 -0.45 -5.23 -5.16 -2.89 Seats InPh-1 1 1 2 14 40 11 5 1 29 48 2 2 1 1 1 25 1 39 2 80 5 42 2 5 4 1 1 1 6 5 2 2 1 1 1 12 1 39 1 8 5 3 *(1 seat in two phases) Source: ECI’s voter turnout app Vote for anyone, but do vote… it is important for country’s future, says PM ALOK DESHPANDE NANDED, APRIL 20 A DAY after the first phase of polling for the Lok Sabha elections ended with a voterturnout lower than that in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged peopletostepoutof theirhomes and “vote for anyone”. HeevenaskedtheOpposition parties to encourage their supporters to vote. This,he said,was importanttosecurethefutureof the country. Addressing a rally in Maharahtra’s Nanded which will vote in the second phase on April 26, Modi claimed that voters had overwhelmingly voted in favour of the ruling NDA in the first phase. Butheclearlyhadtheturnout PM Narendra Modi with Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde in Nanded. PTI in mind. The vote, he said, is “the greateststrengthof ademocracy (loktantra ki sabse badi takat). Vote for anyone, but do vote... It istruethatitisveryhot,thereare problems, there are weddings. There are some areas where farmers are at work. But look at CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 In Tharoor bastion, Rajeev mixes change pitch with Modi theme SHAJU PHILIP THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 20 HEARINGTHEdistantannouncement about the impending arrival of Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a group of BJP workers at Kuravankonam junction in Thiruvananthapuramgetsready, holding saffron shawls. As his convoy halts, Chandrasekhar bends his head from the top of his vehicle. The BJP workers and several locals wrap shawls around the Union minister, one afteranother.Thereisalsoabrief jostle among them for selfies with him. Before his roadshow rolls to the next reception, Chandrasekhar, the BJP’s candidate from the Thiruvananthapuram Lok DECISION 2024 Sabha seat, addresses the When big firms show interest in India, we make it attractive for them: Nirmala RAVI DUTTA MISHRA & SOHINI GHOSH NEW DELHI, AHMEDABAD, APRIL 20 NEW DELHI, CHENNAI, DEHRADUN, APRIL 20 State/UT Andaman& NicobarIslands ArunachalPradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh J&K Lakshadweep MadhyaPradesh Maharashtra Manipur* Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Puducherry Rajasthan Sikkim TamilNadu Tripura UttarPradesh Uttarakhand WestBengal Musk defers India visit, says aim to visit ‘later this year’ Stage set for Modi govt 3.0, I will be minister: Union MoS gathering: “Our election will be held on April 26. In this poll, we want to make history, bring in change and move ahead. On June 4,whenourPMModijibecomes PM for the third term, Thiruvananthapuram should be part of (Modi’s target of) 400plus seats. I want you to make me an MP and minister. We must ensure that on April 26.” During his whistle-stop roadshow with nearly two dozenstopovers,Chandrasekhar keeps driving home his message before the crowds that the stage wassetfortheModigovernment 3.0 and that he would be a minister in it. Kicking off the day's campaign at Kannammoola, senior BJP leader P K Krishnadas said, “If we ensure Chandrasekhar’s victory, Modi ji would certainly make him a member of his Cabinet. If (Congress candidate) Shashi Tharoor or (CPI candidate) Pannian Ravindran is elected, they would hold sit-ins in Delhi and will never bring any development to Thiruvananthapuram. We want Chandrasekhar to bring in change in this constituency.” Although the roadshow was running behind the schedule, people waited for Chandrasekhar for long hours despitethecurrentfestivalsatlocal temples. At some receptions, the BJP candidate did not even speak. “People from all sections CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 TESLA INC. CEO Elon Musk announced a surprise change of plans Saturday postponing his much-anticipated India visit barely a day before he was expected to meet Prime Minister NarendraModiandinteractwith Indianspacetechnologystart-up founders. Musk was expected to announce his investment plans in India, a month after the Union Government released its new Electric Vehicle (EV) policy that opened the doors for the world's most valuable automaker to import cars into India at lower duties amid expectations that this could help foster an EV ecosystem in the country. “Unfortunately, very heavy Teslaobligationsrequirethatthe visit to India be delayed, but I do very much look forward to visiting later this year,” Musk said in E E X P L A I NE D Vinesh Phogat after beating Kyrgyzstan’s Laura Ganikyzy at the qualifiers in Bishkek. United World Wrestling/ Kadir Caliskan Turnout down by 4 pc points in Phase 1 over 2019, EC looks at ways to bring more voters out COMES AMID PUSH FOR EV SECTOR Tesla Inc CEO was expected to meet PM Modi Space to broadbase ● norms A DELAYED visit would give more time to policymakers to broadbase the guidelines for new EV norms to effectively ensure that the benefits from relaxed import duties can be leveraged by a greater number of players and help enrich the domestic EV ecosystem. a social media post. Earlier this month, Musk, in a post on X, wrote that he was looking CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘High growth not possible if we don’t do our own science, produce own tech’ P7 AMITABH SINHA NEW DELHI, APRIL 20 INDIAWILLnotbeabletoachieve 10-12percenteconomicgrowth, if “we don’t do our own science and produce our own technologies,” and to that effect, what is neededisaramp-uponallkeyscience indicators, not just in numbersbutinqualityaswell,saidthe government’s Principal Scientific Advisor, Ajay Kumar Sood. InaninterviewwithTheIndian Express, Sood said India had missed the bus on certain critical technologiesinthepastandmust not allow that situation to repeat in areas like artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, clean energysolutions,orsemiconductors that are still under development. “Improving our science and technology output is linked to our economic growth… essential for our goal to become a developednationby2047.Thekind of economic growth that is required to take us there — 8 or 10 per cent or more — would not be THE EXPRESS INTERVIEW AJAY KUMAR SOOD PRINCIPAL SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR possible without deployment of breakthrough technologies. It is thesetechnologiesthatwilldrive economic growth in coming decades.Mostof thesetechnologies are still being developed, and there is an opportunity for India to make fundamental contributions in these areas, take leadership, and reap the benefits…A Viksit Bharat will have to bealeader inscience.Thereisno other way,” said Sood. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Land gone to dam, SoU projects, villagers in Ekta Nagar stare at eviction PAGE 1 ANCHOR ADITIRAJA KEVADIA, APRIL 20 KEVADIA, THE site of the contentiousSardarSarovarProjecton the Narmada river, where the 182-m statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel came up in 2018,willseeaLokSabhaelection for the first time since its transitionasatouristhotspotanditsrechristening to Ekta Nagar. The elections, however, have failedtoexcitethe10,000-oddres- idents from five villages around theStatueofUnity(SoU),whowill faceevictionanytime,afterlosing claim to their land taken away in 1961forthedamproject,apartof which has also been used for the tourism infrastructure. In2017,thedamwasraisedto itsmaximumheightat163m after the Union government nod soon after Narendra Modi was elected Prime Minister. Whatfollowedwastheancillaryentertainmentinfrastructure built around SoU – now the world's tallest – which were inaugurated by Modi in October 2020,therenamingof Kevadiaas Ekta Nagar and the setting up of the Statue of Unity Area Development and Tourism Governance Authority (SoUADTGA) that has complete control over the administration of 21 villages around the periphery of SoU. SoUADTGA overrides the “strict implementation” of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, whichempowersthegramsabha ofthescheduledareastoapprove plans and programmes for social and economic development and protect natural resources. "Willtheelectionschangeour fate? Our eviction is certain and no candidate from either the The Lok Sabha polls have failed to excite the 10,000-odd residents from five villages around Statue of Unity. Express Congress or the BJP have visited us to even seek votes... None of them is raising the issue of our landorourfuture,"saysaresident of Kevadia village, which has around 1,280 voters. MadhuTadvi(64)fromLimdi village in the Chhota Udepur Lok Sabha constituency, which covers SoU, claims the statue – located300maway–"hasbecome a source of anxiety". "We settled in this faliya (street)aslabourersandgaveour entire life to construct the Sardar Sarovar dam. Back then, we did not know that we would be treatedasencroacherseventually whenthis(statue)comesup...We know that the government wishes to make the most of the primelandavailablearoundSoU. As soon as the polls end, we will be evicted,” says Madhu. The Gujarat High Court in 2020turneddownthepetitionof Kevadia, Limdi, Vaghadia, Navagam,GoraandKothivillages that had challenged the Sardar SarovarNarmadaNigamLimited (SSNNL) taking possession of their land -- originally acquired by the Gujarat government in 1961toconstructthedamandits canal network -- and subsequently transferred the same to the SSNNL and recently to the SoUADTGA. While Kevadia has around 1,280 voters, Gora has 1,750, Vaghadia and Navagam 957 and Limdi has 600 voters. JustbeforetheLokSabhaelections were announced, the SoUADTGA announced that the residents of the five villages facingevictioncouldlease230shops in the vicinity of SoU. This would be over and above the governmentcompensationpackagethat the beneficiaries could choose from in lieu of their land. Theshops,meantonlyforresidents of Ekta Nagar (formerly Kevadia), Vaghadia, Navagam, LimdiandGorawere"anemploymentopportunitytothebeneficiaries as well as to develop a market space for the needs of the visiting tourists''. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad