DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2025, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES Trump underlines reciprocal tariff for India amid talk of trade agreement `5.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 PM, UNION MINISTERS TO ATTEND SWEARING-IN TODAY RekhaGuptaisDelhiCM,says willtakecityto‘newheights’ Cabinet to have ‘Whatever you charge, I am charging. representation He (Modi) said, no, no, I don’t like that’ from across sections of Delhi RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 19 Uttarakhand to stop outsiders from buying farm land in 11 of 13 districts AISWARYA RAJ DEHRADUN, FEBRUARY 19 THE UTTARAKHAND Cabinet Wednesday approved a new draft law banning people from outside the state from buying agricultural and horticultural land in 11 of the state’s 13 districts. The new draft law will be tabled in the ongoing Budget Session of the Assembly. In a tweet, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami called it a “historic step”. “Our government is the protector of rajya, sanskriti, aur mool swaroop,” he said. “Today, the Cabinet has approved a strict land law, fully respecting the long-standing demand of the peopleof thestateandtheirsentiments. This historic step will protecttheresourcesof thestate, cultural heritage and the rights of the citizens, as well as play an important role in maintaining theoriginalidentityof thestate.” Under the new draft law, people from outside the state — except for Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar — will not be allowed to purchase horticultural andagriculturalland,anddistrict magistrates will no longer have the authority to approve land purchases. This is a departure from the current rule, which states that non-residents can purchase up CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SOHINI GHOSH NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 19 JATIN ANAND NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 19 Trump and Modi met at the White House last week E EXPLAINED DAYS AFTER his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi attheWhiteHouse,USPresident DonaldTrumphasindicatedthat tariff concessions for India may not be on offer yet. Duringatelevisioninterview withFoxNews,Trumpdescribed his conversation with Modi: “Here’s what we’re going to do: reciprocal.Whateveryoucharge, I am charging. He (Modi) responded, ‘No, no, I don’t like that.’ No, no, whatever you charge,Iamgoingtocharge.Iam doing that with every country.” “Now,if hebuiltthefactoryin India,that’sokay,butthat’sunfair to us. It’s very unfair,” he said. “I toldPrimeMinisterModiyesterday — he was here. Here’s what youdo.We’regoingtobeveryfair with you. They charge the highesttariffsintheworld,justabout.” Trump’s comments follow India’sdecisiontoslashtariffson a range of US products, such as bourbon whiskey, ahead of both countries announcing a trade deal aimed at doubling trade. Indian government officials stated that India hopes to secure concessions during the trade deal negotiations. Reiterating concerns over ● The likely fallout WHILE DETAILS of reciprocal tariffs are expected in April, a report by Goldman Sachs stated that India could be affected by Trump’s tariffs at a country level, product level, or through nontariff barriers, and this could complicate their trade relations. high tariffs, Elon Musk, advisor to the US government and CEO of Tesla and X, called Indian tariffs “unfair”. Notably, he also met Modi and top Indian officials during the Prime Minister’s visit to the US last week. “The tariffs ELEVEN DAYS after it ousted the AAP to end its 27-year exile from power in the Capital, the BJP Wednesday named 50-year-old Rekha Gupta, the newly-elected MLA from Shalimar Bagh, as Chief Minister of Delhi. A first-time legislator, Gupta will be administered the oath of office Thursday with six other ministersattheRamlilaMaidan. The composition of the Council of Ministers, sources said, will have “adequate representation” fromeachof thecity’sprominent castes and community groups, including a leading Sikh face. In first remarks after being namedCM,Gupta,whowassaid to have topped the list of “young and organisationally-experienced leaders in the party” prepared by the BJP brass in consultation with the RSS over the last week, said, “I thank our Central leadership,PrimeMinisterModi, all our MLAs for this responsibility.” She said she was “fully committed to… take Delhi to new heights”. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Hearing PIL on stampede, Delhi HC asks Railways: Why sell excess tickets? CM-designate Rekha Gupta outside her residence in New Delhi on Wednesday. Gajendra Yadav From DUSU president to councillor to Delhi CM, tracing her political journey SAMAN HUSAIN & ANKITA UPADHYAY NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 19 ONWEDNESDAYevening,asthe news came in that Rekha Gupta had been chosen as the next Chief Minister of Delhi, a huge crowd of BJP supporters and her family members gathered outside her house in Shalimar Cong’s Alka Lamba (right) posted this photo with Gupta on X. This was when they won DUSU polls in 1995 Bagh, all prepared to celebrate. Amid the sound of dhols and nagadas, the BJP supporters raised slogans: “Sabko dekha, aa gayi Rekha (we have seen everyone, nowRekhahasarrived)”and“Jai Shri Ram”. In the house, a beaming Manish Gupta, the CM-designate’s husband who is a businessman, told reporters, DAYS AFTER 18 people were killed in a stampede at the New Delhi Railway Station, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday questionedtheRailwaysonthesaleof excess tickets at railway stations. HearingaPILontheFebruary 15 stampede, the division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela sought a response from the Centre and Railways. “If youfixthenumberof passengers to be accommodated in a coach, then why do you sell... why do the number of tickets soldexceedthatnumber?Thatis a problem... If you implement a simple thing in letter and spirit, such a situation can be avoided. On rush days, you may increase that number to accommodate BUSINESS AS USUAL Ragging deaths: Complaints spike but system stuck in grey zone, SC guidelines remain on paper RUPSA CHAKRABORTY & PALLAVI SMART MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 19 ■THE VIDEO shows a boy on a cot with his hands and legs tied. A group of other boys is seen jabbing him with a sharp object, laughing while doing so, while the victim is heardcrying.Thisclipisnowthefocus of a Kerala police investigation into an alleged case of ragging at a government nursing college in Kottayam — the latest reminder of a menace that continues to haunt the hallways of educational institutions across the country. SUPREME COURT guidelines to eradicate ragging from 15 years ago that haven’t gone much beyond tokenism on college campuses; government regulations that remain on paper; a regulatory system that, authorities say, is undermined by complaints that are either “frivolous” or difficult to track down — and the challenge of coming up with a widely accepted legal definition of ragging itself. Thesearethekeyreasonsbehind a sharp spike in ragging complaints logged so far by a dedicated helpline set up in 2009 by the University Grants CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 DEATHONCAMPUS 8,000 ragging complaints to UGC helpline 208% surge in ragging complaints 1,202 complaints from UP, most among states 78 suicide/ death cases alleged due to ragging RUPSA CHAKRABORTY & PALLAVI SMART INSIDE UGC CHIEF FLAGS WEAK ENFORCEMENT OF REGULATIONS P12 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE AHMEDABAD/NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 19 THECBIhasbookedandarrested five senior officials, including two IRPS (Indian Railway Personnel Service) officers posted in Vadodara Division of the Western Railway, as it claimed to have unearthed a racket in which bribe was allegedly sought from candidates by “promising them positive se- LOOKING FOR CLOSURE Note: Data from 2012 to 2023 from UGC, RTI suicide/ death cases in Maharashtra, most among states Alleging involvement in bribery racket targeting railway aspirants, CBI arrests 2 IRPS officers posted in Vadodara Narender Singh and Bindu at their Gurgaon home. Their son Tushar, 19, died on IIT-Guwahati campus in 2014. Renuka Puri 10 MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 19 A MOTHER in Assam who came to know that her son’s body had signs of a gunshot wound and a stab injury on the neck; a father in UP who gave up hope after pursuing his daughter’s death for three years; an elder brother in Telangana who re- mains hopeful that justice will be delivered. These are the searing stories that bring to life the number 78 — the count of students who died on campus allegedly due to ragging, between 2012 and 2023, according to data from the University Grants Commission (UGC) that was obtained under the RTI Act and investigated by The Indian Express. CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 GUJARAT GUJARAT GOVT REMOVED OVER 5,000 ILLEGAL ENCROACHMENTS BY CRIMINALS, SAYS GOVERNOR PAGE 4 CONTINUEDONPAGE2 THE WORLD ‘Doors are open, hoping my son will come home’ CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BY UNNY CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AN EXPRESS INVESTIGATION the rush... but not fixing the strengthtobeaccommodatedin acoach,thisprovisionappearsto have been neglected all along,” the bench said in oral remarks. The PIL — filed by a Delhibased organisation of lawyers, entrepreneurs and professionals, Arth Vidhi, through advocates Aditya Trivedi and Subhi Pastor — seeks the court’s directions to the government for implementation of provisions of the Railways Act, 1989, specifically Sections 57 and 147. According to Section 57, the Railways has to fix the maximum number of passengers per compartment, and display that number inside or outside each compartment in Hindi, English and one or more regional languages used in the area. Section 147 deals with trespass, TRUMP CALLS ZELENSKYY A DICTATOR: MOVE FAST FOR PEACE EU PREPARES PLAN TO BOOST ARMS SUPPLIES TO UKRAINE PAGE 15 EXPLAINED EXPERT EXPLAINS INDIA’S QATAR OPPORTUNITY P14 lection outcomes” in Limited Departmental Examination of the Indian Railways. A sixth person, a private individual who allegedlyfacilitatedtheracket,was also arrested. The arrested persons include Sunil Bishnoi, Senior Divisional Personnel Officer (IRPS: 2008 Batch) at Vadodara division; Ankush Wasan, Divisional Personnel Officer (IRPS: 2018 batch) at Vadodara division; Sanjay Kumar Tiwari, Deputy Chief Commercial Manager at Churchgate in Mumbai division; Neeraj Sinha, the Deputy Station Superintendent in Vadodara; Dinesh Kumar, the Nursing SuperintendentattheDivisional Railway Hospital in Sabarmati, Ahmedabad; and one Mukesh Meena. Tiwari was earlier posted in Vadodara. In its statement Wednesday, the CBI said that searches were conducted at residential and official premises of the accused CONTINUEDONPAGE2 MUDA case: Lokayukta police to close probe against Siddaramaiah EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE BENGALURU, FEBRUARY 19 CITING LACK of evidence, the Karnataka Lokayukta police is set to file a closure report in its investigationintoallegedirregularities in the allotment of 14 housing sites by the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's wife in 2021. In a notice to RTI activist Snehamayi Krishna, who filed the original private complaint seeking a probe into the MUDA land allotments, the Lokayukta policeonWednesdaysaidnoevidence of corruption had been Police cite lack of evidence against CM and wife found, signalling its move to file a closure report (B report). Theinvestigationbeganafter the registration of an FIR on September 28, 2024, against Siddaramaiah, his wife Parvathi B M, brother-in-law Mallikarjun Swamy, and a landowner, Devaraju J, under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian PenalCodesectionsforbreachof CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 A car crash & ‘suicide bid’: How an accident sent Kolkata Police into a whirl PAGE 1 ANCHOR SWEETY KUMARI KOLKATA, FEBRUARY 19 SUICIDEORmurder?That’swhat Kolkata Police is now investigating after a bizarre sequence of events that started with a car crash and culminated in the discoveryof threebodiesinamultistoreyed apartment building. On Wednesday, a car with three men — Pranay Dey, 44, brother Prasun Dey, 42, and Prasun’s minor son — crashed into a pillar near Abhishikta More on Kolkata’s EM Bypass. During questioning, Pranay allegedly made a startling confession: that they had intentionally crashed the car in a “suicide attempt”andthathisfamilymembers — his wife and teenage daughter and his sister-in-law — had already killed themselves. “On Wednesday, around 9 am,TangraPoliceStationreceived informationthatanaccidentvictim, Pranay Dey, had informed police that three female bodies were lying in the three-storeyed house,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rupesh Kumar saidatapressconferenceheheld in the evening. A police team that was dispatched immediately to a buildingintheTangraneighbourhood of east Kolkata discovered the bodiesof twowomen—Pranay’s 44-year-old wife Romi Dey and Prasun’s 39-year-old wife Sudeshna Dey — and Pranay’s minor daughter, all in separate rooms in a flat on the first floor. JCP Kumar said there were bloodstains in the flat. According to police, no suicidenotewasfoundatthehouse. While Sudeshna and Romi Deybothhadcutsontheirthroats and wrists, the minor appeared to have bruises, minor nasal and Police personnel in Tangra neighbourhood of east Kolkata where the Dey family lived. Partha Paul lips injuries and was “frothing in themouth”whenshewasfound, a police officer said. While their bodies have been sent for post mortem, the two men and the child in the car were admitted to Kolkata’s Ruby General Hospital for treatment. According to police, the Deys own a leather-manufacturing unitthatemploys200peopleand live in a “well-furnished” threestoreyed building in Tangra. However, the family was in debt, with a cheque of Rs 23 lakh that they issued recently bouncing. Initial police investigations appear to suggest multiple suicide attempts by the victims, withpolicesourcesclaimingthat the family had first unsuccessfully tried to kill themselves on February17by lacingtheir payas (rice pudding) with poison. “They then changed their plan, resulting in clean-cut injuries,” an officer told The Indian Express. A police source who is part of the investigation said the nature of injuries suggests that “the victims were not fully conscious or aware when they were inflicted with the injuries, indicating foul play rather than self-harm”. “Thispointstowardsmurder, wherethevictimswereincapacitated before the fatal injuries were inflicted,” the source said. Sources also claim that while the accidents occurred at 3 am, CCTV images from the area showsacar,presumablybelonging to the family, leaving the house at 12:51 am, with the hours in between “still unaccounted for”. On Wednesday evening, on a complaint by Romi’s father Swapan Kumar Banerjee, police registered a murder case under section 103 (1) the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). KolkataPoliceCommissioner Manoj Verma said the cause of death was yet to be determined, and that investigators were CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad