DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2025, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY SINCE 1932 `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES, `20 IN ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM AFTER MISRI-WANG MEETING IN BEIJING Thaw in India-China chill: Direct flights, Mansarovar Yatra and easing of visas SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, JANUARY 27 EXPRESS NETWORK TAHAWWUR RANA: NIA FORMS TEAM, LIKELY TO GO TO U.S. THIS WEEK SC BENCH SPLIT ON VERDICT, ORDERS PASTOR’S BURIAL IN ANOTHER VILLAGE PAGES 10, 7 ‘WORST CRIME’ CBI court gives life term to Himachal IGP, 7 other cops for custodial death Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Monday. PTI IGP Zahur Haider Zaidi CHANDIGARH, JANUARY 27 PAGE 1 ANCHOR A tale of ● 3 mutuals WANG YI flagged three mutuals to avoid: “suspicion, estrangement, and exhaustion.” This comes after Jaishankar had outlined India’s approach in terms of “the three mutuals — mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interests”. Misri met Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Minister of International Department of the York, New Jersey CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SHUBHAJIT ROY LALIT K JHA AWEEKafterDonaldTrumpwas sworn in as the US President for the second time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to him on Monday. “Delighted to speak with my dear friend President @realDonaldTrump @POTUS. Congratulated him on his historic second term. We are committed to a mutually beneficial andtrustedpartnership.Wewill work together for the welfare of our people and towards global peace, prosperity and security,” Modi said on X. WASHINGTON, JANUARY 27 JAGPREET SINGH SANDHU CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E Communist Party of China Liu Jianchao in Beijing. Recalling the agreement between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at their meeting in Kazan in October, the MEA said that the two sides “reviewed the state of India-China bilateral relations comprehensively” and “agreed to take certain people-centric stepstostabiliseandrebuildties”. While there was no mention of the border situation in the Indian statement, it said: “It was agreedtoresumethesedialogues step by step and to utilise them to address each other’s priority areas of interest and concern.” This is an oblique reference to the border situation, with no Rolling out uniform US officials visit gurdwaras amid crackdown on illegal immigrants code, CM Dhami: Will prevent Aaftab, Sikh bodies protest Modi speaks to Trump: visits by Homeland Security agents to ‘Mutually beneficial ties’ Shraddha repeat gurdwaras in New Invokes 2022 killing in Delhi, claims not an intrusion but for protection of couples A SPECIAL CBI Court in Chandigarh on Monday sentenced Himachal Pradesh Inspector General of Police Zahur Haider Zaidiandsevenotherpolicepersonnel to life imprisonment for the custodial death of a suspect arrested for the gangrape and murder of a minor girl in Shimla district in 2017. “Custodial violence is a matter of great concern in a civilised society and custodial death is perhaps one of the worst crimes inacivilisedsocietygovernedby theruleof law,”SpecialCBIJudge Alka Malik said. “Inspiteof constitutionaland statutory provisions aimed at safeguarding the personal liberty and life of a citizen, growing incidents of torture and death in police custody show that there is still worst violation of human rightstakingplace,thattooatthe hands of law enforcement agencies, as in the instant case,” the court said. On January 18, the court had convicted Zaidi (55), then DeputySuperintendentof Police Manoj Joshi (42), Sub-Inspector Rajinder Singh (38), Assistant SI Deep Chand Sharma (59), Head ConstablesMohanLal(58),Surat Singh (50), Rafee Mohammad (43) and Constable Ranjit Sateta (37). The court, however, acquitted the then Superintendent of Police D W Negi. The police personnel were convictedundervarioussections of the Indian Penal Code, including 302 (murder) read with MARKING A major diplomatic breakthrough after the disengagementprocessbetweenIndia and China was completed last November,NewDelhiandBeijing decidedonaslewof measuresto improve bilateral exchanges: resumingKailashMansarovarYatra inthesummerthisyear;working to restore direct flights between thetwocapitals;issuingvisasfor journalists and think tanks, and sharing trans-border river data, an official statement from the MinistryofExternalAffairs(MEA) said on Monday. These decisions were arrived atafterForeignSecretaryVikram EXPLAINED To work on sharing trans-border river data, facilitate people-to-people exchanges of media, think-tanks Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami (centre) at an event to roll out the UCC, in Dehradun. PTI AISWARYA RAJ DEHRADUN, JANUARY 27 ROLLING OUT the Uniform Civil Code in Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Monday said that among the aims of the code — the first of its kind to be implemented in the country — was to ensure that cases like the murder of a woman in Delhi in 2022, al- legedly by her live-in partner, do not take place again. Dhami said the mandatory registration of live-in relationships under the UCC was not an “intrusion into the lives of livein couples” but is meant to LAW ENFORCEMENT officials from the US Department of Homeland Security have started visiting gurdwaras in New York and New Jersey to check for the presence of illegal immigrants, drawing a sharp reaction from some Sikh organisations which seesuchactionsasathreattothe sanctity of their faith. Some of the gurdwaras in New York and New Jersey are CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPLAINED CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DHANKHAR: MATTER OF TIME BEFORE UCC ACROSS INDIA PAGE 7 INDIA’S TIES WITH INDONESIA PAGE 18 Fewer seats but AAP claims win in Amritsar mayor polls, Cong objects KAMALDEEP SINGH BRAR AMRITSAR, JANUARY 27 AMID CONFLICTING versions on the voting process followed on Monday to elect the new Amritsar mayor, senior deputy mayor, and deputy mayor, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claimed that it has won all three posts — despite the Congress having the largest bloc of councillors in the 85-member municipal corporation House. Jatinder Singh Moti Bhatia was elected as mayor: AAP While the Congress held protestsandsaiditwillchallenge the AAP claim in the High Court, the AAP said the rival party was hit by two abstentions and “lack of preparation and internal coordination”. There was no official statement from Jalandhar Divisional CommissionerArunSekhri,who presided over the meeting to elect the mayor, or the Amritsar administration, confirming the election results. Sekhri did not respond to calls from The Indian Express for comments. Hours after the elections, which followed the oath-taking ceremonyof thenewcouncillors electedintheDecember21polls, AAP state president Aman Arora CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, JANUARY 27 Waqf panel clears 14 amendments by NDA MPs, rejects all 44 from Opp Opposition members Asaduddin Owaisi, Kalyan Banerjee, Mohamed Abdulla, Arvind Sawant, Syed Naseer Hussain and A Raja after the Waqf panel meet in New Delhi, Monday. PTI ASAD REHMAN NEW DELHI, JANUARY 27 FROM RELAXING the six-month window to register Waqf properties on a portal; replacing the districtcollectorwithastategovernment official to be the arbiter on whether a property is Waqf propertyorgovernmentland;to having one member in the Waqf tribunal with “knowledge of Muslim law and jurisprudence” — the Joint Committee of Parliament (JCP) examining the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, has approved key changes to the proposed legislation. However, while the JCP approved 14 amendments pro- posed by MPs of the BJP and its allies, 44 suggested by the Opposition were rejected. It is learnt that all the 44 amendments proposed by the Opposition were against the changesplannedintheBilltothe Waqf Act of 2013. Inajointstatementissuedafter the meeting, the Opposition said:“Asweexpecttheautocratic behavior of the Chairman at the behestof theUnionGovernment, today’s meeting (27/01/25) was calledtodiscussclause-by-clause consideration… The awkward CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RELATED REPORT PAGE 13 THE WORLD NORTH GAZA RESIDENTS MAKE LONG TREK HOME AS CROSSING REOPENS U.S. AND COLOMBIA REACH DEAL ON DEPORTATIONS; TARIFF ON HOLD PM Narendra Modi with President Donald Trump. File “The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment for a mutually beneficial and trusted partnership. They discussed various facets of the wide-ranging CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BJP got Rs 3,967 cr in Bengal Cabinet approves donations in 2023-24, 0.9 acres for BSF for border outpost in Nadia up 87%; share of poll bonds dipped to 43% EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, JANUARY 27 THE WEST BENGAL Cabinet on Mondayapprovedtheallocation of around 0.9 acres of land in Nadia district's Karimpur to the Border Security Force (BSF), potentially for setting up outposts or installing wired fences, a senior official said. The paramilitary force had informed the state government about their land requirement, and the matter was discussed during Monday's Cabinet meeting held at the state secretariat. “At today's Cabinet meeting, the matter was discussed and approval for 0.9 acres of land at Karimpur in Nadia was given to the BSF,” the official said. This decision comes amidst recent tensions, with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleging earlier this month that the BSF was allow- inginfiltrationfromBangladesh. Also, the decision has been made days after the BSF uncovered what it termed as “underground storage tanks” along the border in Nadia which were allegedly made for smuggling of material to Bangladesh. A senior official in the state home department said, “It is now of utmost importance for the state government to expedite the fencing and outpost work along the IndiaBangladesh border.” Earlier, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari strongly criticised Banerjee's remarks on the BSF, calling these (remarks) “an insult to the 75,000 personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and 33,000 BSF personnel in Bengal.” Adhikari also claimed that the state's lack of support was hindering the construction of fencing to prevent infiltration along the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Cong saw 320% jump to Rs 1,129.66 cr DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, JANUARY 27 IN THE run-up to the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, donations to theBJPshotup87%fromtheprevious year to touch Rs 3,967.14 crore,whiletheshareof electoral bonds in the party’s total contributions decreased to less than half, as per the BJP’s annual audit report for 2023-2024. The annual report,published by the Election Commission on Monday, showed that voluntary contributions to the ruling party increased from Rs 2,120.06 crore in2022-2023toRs3,967.14crore in 2023-2024. According to the report, the BJP got Rs 1,685.62 crore in the form of electoral bonds, or 43% of its total contributions. In 2022-2023, the party had got Rs 1,294.14croreintheformof electoral bonds, forming 61% of the total contributions. InFebruarylastyear,theelectoralbondschemewasscrapped by the Supreme Court, which held it unconstitutional. As expected for a Lok Sabha election year, the BJP’s expenditure on election/ general propaganda increased from Rs 1,092.15 crore in the previous year to Rs 1,754.06 crore, the report showed. Of that, Rs 591.39 crore was spent on advertisements and publicity. While the Congress was a distant second to the BJP in terms of donations, it saw a higher spike in contributions in the election year. The Congress’s annual report showed that the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Tamil Nadu meets Jharkhand meets Tripura in PM’s Vadnagar school RITU SHARMA VADNAGAR, JANUARY 27 WHILE T ROHIT KRISHNA, 14, from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, has learnt some “Jharkhandi words” from his room-mate, Atul Baweja, a Class 10 student fromaruralschoolinRajasthan’s Hanumangarh, was dazzled by the highways in Gandhinagar, and Suvordhana Das, 17, from Assam’s Sivasagar, says she has made new friends. Rohit, Atul and Suvordhana areamongabatchof 20students who recently spent a week at Prerana, an experiential school in Gujarat’s Vadnagar. As part of an experiential learning programme under the Centre’s National Education Policy 2020, since January 15, 2024, students from districts across the country have been spending time at the Vadnagar school. It was at Vadnagar Kumar Shala Number 1 — part of the same complex as the new Prerana school — that Prime MinisterNarendraModiwasadmittedtoClass1onJune13,1956. At the Prerana school, each batch has 20 students from 10 districts — one boy and a girl aged between 14 and 17 years per district — who stay on cam- pus and learn, among other things,whatitmeanstolivewith others from different cultures and sample different cuisines in the mess. The students also do yoga each day and visit the local historical sites. Though 43 batches of 860 students from Classes 9-12 have already spent a week each at Prerana since it opened last year, on January 15, 2024, the campus was formally inaugurated on January 16 this year by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, accompanied by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Eight mentors, selected from Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti A mentor with a group of students. Bhupendra Rana (NVS), Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan(KVS)andotherinstitutions, welcome the new batch at Prerana on Sundays, said officials. The students, they add, leavefromGandhinagarRailway StationonSaturdays.Allcostsfor theprogrammearebornebythe Ministry of Education. “Barring Nagaland and Kerala, most states have been coveredinthese43batchesfrom 430districts.Nodistricthasbeen repeatedsofar.Bytheendof this year,wehopetocoverallthedistricts across the country via 37 more batches,” says Pankaj Deshmukh, director, Prerana. Inside the Prerana building, theadministrationblock,andthe laser and 3D printing laboratory are located on the ground floor. From the reception, which has a massive embossed panel featuring Lord Buddha’s disciples at their guru’s feet, a staircase leads to the dining area and the sharedstudentaccommodations on the first floor. Along the stairs hangpaintingsoftheSaptarshior the seven seers — Charaka, Agastya, Aryabhatta, Panini, Patanjali, Kanad and Thiruvalluvar — who are said to have made significant contributions in the field of education. The complex also includes the refurbished Vernacular School building, which is connected to the Prerana building via the terrace. PM Modi’s old school, which has been refurbished, was a part of the Vernacular School. Sessions for studentsareheldatthiscomplex throughout the week. Located in Darbargadh, the highest point in Mehsana district’s Vadnagar, Vernacular School was established in 1888 by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad of the erstwhile Baroda state, which included Mehsana, at a cost of Rs 16,023. In 2019, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)startedrestoringtheschool. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata