DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2025, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES BY UNNY IN RAJKOT 52 detained as mob attacks police seeking public parade of murder accused EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE AHMEDABAD, JANUARY 6 THE RAJKOT Rural Police Monday confirmed it fired 10 tear gas shells and carried out a lathi charge on a mob of 1,500 people in Vinchhiya village of Jasdantalukaaftertheyallegedly resorted to violence following the police refusal to publicly parade six murder accused through the village. A total of 52 people have been detained and are likely to be booked for rioting and under other charges, said SP Himkar Singh. Vinchhiya is located 82 km from the district headquarters of Rajkot city. The incident took place after the local police took the six accused, currently in custody, to the scene of the crime for a reconstruction of the brutal murder of a man who had complained against them in a land grabbing case. Officials said that while the FIR, filed about a week ago, had named one person and three NSA SULLIVAN MEETS PM, JAISHANKAR, DOVAL VEHICLE TARGETED WITH IED IN BIJAPUR, CHHATTISGARH US eases curbs to push N-deal, 3 India entities may be off blacklist US President to relax norms to allow tech transfer in space SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, JANUARY 6 IN AN incremental step towards operationalisingtheIndo-USnuclear deal, US National Security AdvisorJakeSullivanannounced Monday that Washington is finalizing steps to remove longstanding regulations that have preventedcivilnuclearcooperation between India's leading nuclear entities and US companies. This includes removing Indiangovernmententitiesfrom the US entity list, The Indian Express has learnt. Sources said these could include: Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC); Indira Gandhi Atomic Research Centre (IGCAR) and Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL) — all government-run institutions. The US Entity List is a list of foreign individuals, businesses, and organizations that are subject to export restrictions and licensingrequirementsforcertain goods and technologies. The list — compiled by the Bureau of IndustryandSecurity(BIS)of the U.S.Departmentof Commerce— is ostensibly used to prevent unauthorizedtradeinitemsthat CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PM Modi with Sullivan in New Delhi on Monday. PTI 2 key hurdles: US law that bars manufacturing here, Indian law on liability ANIL SASI NEW DELHI, JANUARY 6 WHILE US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan did not spelloutthedetailswithsources suggesting that three entities may be taken off the blacklist, there are currently two key legal barriers to furthering Indo-US nuclear collaboration. OntheAmericanside,asignificant impediment is the ‘10CFR810’authorisation(Part810 of Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations (Part 810) of the US AtomicEnergyActof1954),which givesUSnuclearvendorstheability to export equipment to countries such as India under some strictsafeguards,butdoesnotpermitthemtomanufactureanynuclear equipment or perform any nuclear design work here. This authorisation is a clear impediment from New Delhi’s perspective, ● whichwantstoparticipate inthemanufacturingvaluechain andco-producethenuclearcomponents for atomic power projects being jointly planned to be set up in India, sources said. Maoists ambush securitymen on way back from operation, 9 killed 8 security personnel, their driver killed; ambush after road-opening party left JAYPRAKASH S NAIDU Raipur RAIPUR, JANUARY 6 AT LEAST eight security personnel and a driver were killed Monday after Maoists attacked their vehicle in the jungle area of Kutru in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district. “Maoistsblewupapolicevehicle using an Improvised Explosive Device on the KutruBedre road,” Inspector General of Police for Bastar Range, Sundarraj P, said. According to sources, the security personnel were returning after conducting an anti-Maoist operation in the Abujhmad region. The operation had started Friday, and on Saturday, an encounter broke out in Abujhmad, in which five Maoists and a District Reserve Guard (DRG) jawan were killed. The security personnel killed MondaywereidentifiedasHead Constable Budhram Korsa and Constables Duma Markam, Pandru Ram Poyam, and Baman Sodi from the DRG, as well as Constables Somdu Vetti, Sudarshan Veti, Subarnath E EXPLAINED BUSINESS AS USUAL `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 CHHATTISGARH KUTRU Dantewada Security personnel at the site of the IED blast in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Monday. PTI Yadavm and Harish Koram from the Bastar Fighters. The civilian driver was identified as Tuleshwar Rana. The DRG and Bastar Fighters are Chhattisgarh security forces mainly focused on countering Left-wing extremism, and are made up of recruits from remote villages. The Kutru area, where the IED blast took place Monday, is nearAbujhmad–anunsurveyed region, larger than the state of Goa. It is said to be the last haven for top Maoist leaders in the country. Officialssaidsecuritypersonnel were travellingin12vehicles on the Kutru-Bedre road, near Ambeli village, at around 2.15 pm Monday when Maoists triggered an IED that severely damaged one of the vehicles. Sources said the vehicle was a hired private SUV, and that the impact of the explosion was such that parts of the vehicle were found a few hundred metres away from the spot of the blast. The blast also left a crater around 25-30 feet wide and 10 feet deep. Police said Maoists werehiding in the jungle, watching the movement of the vehicles, and that just when this vehicle was passing over it, they detonated the IED. Deputy Inspector General of Police,KamlochanKashyap,said, “We suspect 60-70 kg of explosiveswereused.Forensicexperts CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 JANMEJAYA SINHA RUN UP TO BUDGET 2025-26 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PAGE 10 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 His ratings down, Trudeau UGC eases hiring announces resignation, opens contract teachers, a window to reset bilateral ties opens V-C post to Task easier said non-academics too than done given ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND & RITIKA CHOPRA NEW DELHI, JANUARY 6 SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, JANUARY 6 FACING LOSS of support within his party and low popularity in polls, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday that he will resign as partyleaderandPM,butwillstay on as the PM until the Liberal Party chooses a new leader. On Trudeau's request, Governor General Mary Simon agreed to prorogue Parliament until March 24. This will give the Liberal Party time to hold a shortened leadership contest. From New Delhi’s perspective, Trudeau’s time was up and the assessment, going by opinionpolls,wasthathewouldhave possibly lost the elections after being in office for 10 years — he Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces his resignation in Ottawa on Monday. AP becametheLiberalParty’sleader in 2013 and PM in 2015. Trudeau is seen as someone who has taken a "scorched earth policy" in terms of India-Canada ties,especiallyafterhisallegation in September 2023 that Indian governmentagentswereinvolved in the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. Delhi has rejected Trudeau'sallegationsas“absurd” and “politically motivated”, and accused his government of shelteringterrorists. This has led to a downslide in ties — to unprecedented levels, comparable only to India’s ties with Pakistan and China. Dozens of diplomats have been expelled, including High Commissioners, visashavebeenimpacted,nonew projectisbeingimplemented,and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IN A MAJOR overhaul of the process of appointment of leaders in higher education, the UniversityGrantsCommission(UGC) issued new rules Monday which effectivelygiveGovernorsinstates broader powers in appointing Vice-Chancellorsandopenedthe position to industry experts and publicsectorveterans,thusbreakingfromthetraditionofselecting only academicians. According to government sources, if approved as is, the new regulations will give Chancellors greater control over Vice-Chancellor selection. This will likely have significant ramifications for Opposition-ruled states such as Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Kerala, where the governmentandGovernor(who serves asChancellor of stateuni- E E X P L A I NE D Ottawa’s hard line against Delhi ODISHA A new ● flashpoint THE UGC’S draft norms have safely provided that Chancellors would get to control the entire process of appointing V-Cs in state universities. Some state governments led by non-BJP parties have already proposed that the CM — and not the Governor, who is appointed by the Union government — should be the Chancellor. The new norms could become a new flashpoint. versities) are currently locked in disputes over the top academic appointment process. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad