DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA BY UNNY DIVYA A NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 19 RUSSIAN PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin is set to visit India and the dates for his trip are being finalised, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had invited Putin to visit India when the two leaders held summit-leveltalksinMoscowin July this year. Modi had also visited Russia in October for the BRICS Summit in Kazan. “We welcomed Prime Minister Modi twice this year and we hope that soon we will figure out the dates of the visit of President Putin to India,” Peskov said during his video address at an event in New Delhi organised by state-owned Sputnik news agency. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Jaishankar, Wang discuss next steps: resuming Mansarovar Yatra, flights CORNERED BY BVA ACTIVISTS IN VIRAR Electionstoday,BJP gensecyTawdebooked aftercashfoundinhotel Named in 3 FIRs, he rejects charge, seeks fair inquiry; Opp targets BJP Putin will visit India, we are finalising dates, says Kremlin Will be his first visit to India since Ukraine war POSTAL REGN. NO. JAIPUR CITY/001/2024-26 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2024, JAIPUR, LATE CITY, 22 PAGES BUSINESS AS USUAL ● VALLABH OZARKAR & VIJAY KUMAR YADAV MUMBAI, NOVEMBER 19 Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, China’s Xi Jinping, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Olaf Scholz, other leaders pose for a photo at the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro. PTI Planningeventsinbothcountriesto mark75yearsof diplomaticties:China SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 19 A MONTH after India and China agreedtodisengageattwofriction points along the Line of Actual Control leading to a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Russia, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his ChinesecounterpartWangiYidiscussed the “next steps in IndiaChina relations” that include “resumption of the Kailash MansarovarYatrapilgrimage,data sharingontrans-borderrivers,direct flights between India and China and media exchanges”. Meeting on the sidelines of theG20SummitinRiodeJaneiro in Brazil, the two ministers also agreed that a meeting of the SpecialRepresentativesandofthe Foreign Secretary-Vice Minister mechanism will take place soon. Jaishankar,inapost,said,“On the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio, met CPC Politburo member and FM Wang Yi of China.” “We noted the progress in the recent disengagement in the India-China border areas. And exchanged views on the next steps in our bilateral ties,” he said,addingthey“alsodiscussed the global situation”. The Chinese readout of the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Beijing keen on a reset in ties with Delhi, wants to get back to business SHUBHAJIT ROY SHANGHAI, SHENZHEN, BEIJING, NOVEMBER 19 AS CHINA slows down and faces prospects of an escalating trade war with the United States after Donald Trump takes charge as the US President, business and political leaders in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, hope for a reset in China’s economic ties with India. Thedisengagementalongthe borders has provided the oppor- tunity to “look into the future”, Chineseofficialsandtopbusiness executivestoldTheIndianExpress. Beijing has already announced two rounds of monetary and fiscal packages, with a third expectedearlynextyear,toprovide a stimulus to its economy. Beijing’s economic imperative is to not only boost its slowingeconomy,butalsotobuildon its trade ties with large markets for trade and investment, especially with Trump having proposed tariffsupto 60per cent on AMID ALLEGATIONS from Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) workersthathewasdistributing cash among voters on the eve of the Assembly elections in Maharashtra, BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde was Tuesday booked following recovery of cash at a prominent hotel in Virar near Mumbai where he was present. While BVA president Hitendra Thakur, who is seeking re-electionfromVasai-Virarseat, claimed that the BJP leader was caught red-handed with cash, Tawdedeniedtheallegation and demanded a fair inquiry by the Election Commission. ThreeFIRsagainstTawde,BJP candidate from Nalasopara Rajan Naik and over 200 others were registered at Tulinj police station in Palghar for allegedly giving cash and liquor to voters, violation of the model code of conduct and conducting a press conference by breaching law. “We received a complaint from BVA workers and its candidatethatBJPleaderVinodTawde DIVYA A NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 19 LATE LAST year, Karnataka announceditwouldholdBoardexaminations three times in an academic year for Classes 10 and 12, giving all students, whether they passed or failed, up to two chances to improve their performance. Data from the unique experiment for the 2023-2024 session now shows that science subjects have the highest share of repeat takers. The highest number of Class 12 students retaking the state Board (or II PU) exams the second time to improvetheir scores were in Physics (21,646), followed by Chemistry (17,948), Mathematics (14,875), English (7,253), and Biology (7,015). These represent 8%, 7%, 6%, 1%, and 3% of the original cohort for each subject, respectively. A much smaller number attempted a third retake, shows data from the Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB), the first in India to offer multiple Board exams annually for Classes 10 and 12. Karnataka became the first state to implement a key recom- E EXPLAINED NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 19 Karnataka shows the ● way KARNATAKA BECAME the first state to implement a key recommendation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which advocates allowing students up to two opportunities in a school year to take Board exams — one main exam and one for improvement — as a way to ease stress among students. Other Boards, including CBSE, have been grappling with the logistics of implementing this change, and Karnataka's experience could serve as a template for them. mendation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which advocates allowing students up to two opportunities in aschoolyeartotakeBoardexams. Inthe2023-24academicseason, Board Exam 1 was held in CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Political analyst and CNN news host Fareed Zakaria at the Express Adda in Mumbai, Monday. Pradip Das THE WORLD BENGALURU, NOVEMBER 19 UKRAINE FIRES U.S. MISSILES INSIDE RUSSIA ON WAR’S 1,000TH DAY US ENVOY: END TO ISRAEL-HEZBOLLAH WAR 'WITHIN GRASP' PAGE 16 THERE’S A golden opportunity for India in President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to levy high tariffs on all imports from China in his coming term, according to political analyst and CNN news host Fareed Zakaria. SpeakingattheExpressAdda inMumbaiMonday,Zakariasaid while China will be particularly hithardbythetariffs, everybody else, including India, would be abletofacethem,anditmayalso betherighttimeforIndiatostart negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement with the US. MAOISTLEADERVikramGowda, 44,whohadbeenelusiveformore than20years,waskilledinanexchangeofgunfirewithKarnataka Police'sAnti-NaxalForce(ANF)in UdupidistrictMondaynight,state Home Minister G Parameshwara said Tuesday. Gowda, who belonged to a place near Hebri in Udupi, was CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DECISION 2024 Maharashtra 288 seats Jharkhand 38 seats Party-wiseseats in2019 Maharashtra*: BJP:105,ShivSena:56, NCP:54,INC:44, Others29 Jharkhand(Phase2): JMM:13,BJP:12,INC:8, AJSUP:2,Others:3 Turnoutin2019 Maharashtra: 61.44% Jharkhand: 66.9% *Shiv Sena & NCP undivided in 2019, Source: EC RESULTS ON NOV 23 Maoist leader Vikram Gowda seen as the last standing Maoist leaderfromKarnatakafollowing the arrest of B G Krishnamurthy, alias Gangadhar, 50, by Kerala Police in 2021. Krishnamurthy, who hailed On election-eve, Soren swipe at BJP: ‘Where are the infiltrators? None have been found’ ABHISHEK ANGAD RANCHI, NOVEMBER 19 P7 TWO DAYS after the Jharkhand BJPdeletedavideoonallegedinfiltrators in the state following complaints to the Election Commission (EC), Jharkhand Chief Minister and JMM leader Hemant Soren took a swipe at HEMANT SOREN the party on Tuesday, saying: JHARKHAND CM AND JMM LEADER “Where is the infiltration? Institutions or people whose job istofindtheinfiltratorssaid ponents”. there were none.” “I have no qualms In an interview to The accepting that if I have Indian Express a day bedone wrong, then I fore Jharkhand votes in should be jailed, but the second phase of the whenIhadn’tandIstill Assembly elections, went to jail then I was Soren,whenaskedabout DECISION not able to accept it,” 2024 Union Home Minister he said. “From inside JHARKHAND Amit Shah’s statement the prison premises, I that it was the state govrealised that the main ernment’sjob to find the alleged idea was to destabilise the govinfiltrators and governing bor- ernment and weaken the ders is difficult because they are JharkhandMuktiMorcha(JMM). porous, said: “Then Amit Shah However, we fought it legally should leave the job and hand it and when I came out on bail I over to us.” saw that the situation was haySoren, who was arrested in wire aur ek toofan aaya hua hai January on money laundering (there is a storm outside). Then I charges and got out on bail in had to get into the system again June, accused the BJP of using (by returning as CM) to set the “investigative agencies to de- course right.” moralise and weaken their opCONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE EXPRESS INTERVIEW He was in conversation with Anant Goenka, Executive Director of The Indian Express CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Wanted for 20 yrs, Maoist leader killed in Karnataka encounter EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE and some other officer-bearers were distributing money. Following the complaint, election officials reached the spot along with police and took action,” said Palghar District Collector Govind Bodke, who is also the Returning Officer for Vasai-VirarandNalasoparaseats. “After our staff conducted a search at the hotel, they recoveredRs9.93lakhcashalongwith some documents,” Bodke said. Videos of the alleged “cash distribution”,manyof themshot byBVAworkerswhobargedinto the hotel hall where Tawde was present, went viral, after which police registered the FIRs. The BVA workers also gheraoed Tawde, and confronted him. DCP (zone-2) Pournima Chougule-Shringi said police reached the hotel after receiving CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Highest repeat test Golden opportunity for India from Trump’s takers in Science as likely tariff hike on China: Fareed Zakaria Karnataka holds three Board exams a year ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND A video grab of BVA activists waving cash as they corner BJP’s Vinod Tawde in a Virar hotel on Tuesday. from Chikkamagaluru, was a memberoftheCentralCommittee of the banned CPI (Maoist) and secretary of the Western Ghats SpecialZonalCommittee. Police sources said Gowda was visiting Kabbinale village Monday night with his team to collect groceries when the ANF, which was combing the area, came across him. The Maoists opened fire on the ANF team and Gowda was CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Communal fires at Manipur gateway, Assam district tries not to get singed PAGE 1 ANCHOR SUKRITA BARUAH GUWAHATI, NOVEMBER 19 FROM HEIGHTENED vigilance on the border to shutting marketsearlytoholdingpeacemeetings — authorities in Assam’s Cachar are working overtime to ensure the communal fire from the neighbouring district of Manipur’s Jiribam does not spread there. Separated only by a bridge, the Lakhipur subdivision in Cachar and Jiribam have a similar demographic profile — a mixed population of Bengali Muslims and Hindus, Meiteis, Meitei Pangals, Bishnupriya Manipuris, Biharis, Dimasas, Hmars, Kukis, Khasis, Rongmei Nagas, and so on. WithJiribamontheboilsince November7andviolenceclaiming21livessofar,authoritiesand locals of both Meitei and Hmar groups in Cachar are being extra vigilant. On Tuesday afternoon, representativesof both communitiesheldtheirfirstpeacemeeting in Lakhipur with local administration and police officers since the latest cycle of violence broke out. Those at the meeting, which includedrepresentativesofother communitiesresidinginthearea, saidtheydiscussedmeasuresbeing taken by the police to maintainvigilance,instructionstoavoid rumour mongering, shutting down markets before dark, and reporting suspicious activities to officials. “Though people on both sidesfeelaffected whenwe hear of what’s happening to members of our communities in Manipur, we also want to make sure there is no impact here. We’ve been reiterating that people should be careful not to react Violence-hit Jiribam, the gateway to Manipur, borders Assam’s Cachar district. Express quickly to any kind of situation. For instance, many Manipuri youngsters go to the Hmar villageof Hmarkhawlientoeatmomos there. They should be careful not to get into arguments or fights because now, it will be seen as a fight between a Meitei and a Hmar,” said Reena Singh, a resident of the area and chairman of the Manipuri Development Council. Police have also increased their presence at the borders. Assam IGP (Law and Order) P K Bhuyan told The Indian Express thatpersonnelhave beenplaced atlocationsfromwhere“thereis a possibility of miscreants infil- Jaipur trating” into Cachar. “To ensure that no one takes advantage of the law-and-order situation in Jiribam to break the peacehere,wearealertandhave deployed commandos and all our police battalions here. We don’t want any bad elements to enter and create unrest. We are working 24x7 to prevent this… We have informed local committees that if suchpeople come here, they should report it to us so we can take lawful action. But we don’t have any information yet of such movement,” Cachar Superintendent of Police Numal Mahatta told reporters during a midnight patrol on Monday. The police have also temporarily stopped the movement of boatsonthe riverineroutebetween Lakhipur and Manipur over the Barak River and are carrying out patrols there too. While Cachar has not seen any violence since the outbreak of clashes in its neighbourhood, it has still felt the ripples. When violencefirstbrokeoutinJiribam in June this year, around 1,000 displacedHmarandKukipeople fled to Lakhipur to seek shelter. Now, locals estimate that around 400 people, mostly women,childrenandtheelderly, are in informal relief camps in CONTINUED ON PAGE 2