DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, MARCH 3, 2025, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES ONCE IN A GENERATION MOMENT: UK PM AS EUROPE RALLIES BEHIND ZELENSKYY LALMANI VERMA NEW DELHI, MARCH 2 TARGETING HER nephew Akash Anand for the second time within a span of 10 months, after he was once labelled as her politicalheir,BSPchief Mayawati sacked him from the post of national coordinator even as she declared that the party will no longer name a successor to take her place as long as she is alive. Announcing that Akash’s post will be split into two, in favour of his father Anand Kumar and Rajya Sabha MP Ramji Gautam, Mayawati said, “Now, I have decided that there willbenosuccessorformeinthe party till my last breath.” Anand Kumar is Mayawati’s younger brother while Gautam hasbeenassociatedwiththeBSP forover30years,holdingkeyorganisationalpositions,andiscurrently in charge of Bihar where Assembly polls are due this year. Mayawati attributed the latestmoveagainstAkashtohisassociation with his father-in-law Ashok Siddharth, a former MP who was expelled from the BSP CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Union Minister says daughter harassed at fair: ‘Imagine what people go through’ MANOJ MORE PUNE, MARCH 2 A UNION Minister of State and BJP leader lodged a police complaint Sunday stating that some youths had “harassed” her daughter during a fair in Maharashtra’sJalgaondistrict,triggering a political firestorm with the Opposition slamming the BJPled ruling alliance for what they said was the “deteriorating law and order situation in the state”. JalgaonPolicesaidthatacase under the POCSO and IT Acts has been registered over the incident. “Two persons have been arrested and a minor detained. We are searching for other accused,” Jalgaon SP Maheswar Reddy told The Indian Express. Reacting to the incident, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis claimed that some of theaccusedhadpoliticaltiesbut he did not provide details. “Unfortunately, office-bearers of a particular party are involved in this crime,” he said. The Jalgaon SP said he had “no information about which party” the accused allegedly belonged to. Speaking to reporters, the Union MoS said the incident occurred when her daughter, who is a minor, participated in an event on February 28 to mark the occasion of Mahashivratri. “Two days ago, my daughter went for a Yatra. Some youths harassedher.Iwenttothepolice station to lodge a complaint against them,” she said. AccordingtotheMinister,she was in Gujarat on the day of the alleged incident and had asked her daughter and friends to take her security guard with them. “The youths first misbehaved withthegirls,tooktheirpictures and made inappropriate remarks. When the guard intervened, the youths misbehaved CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer with France President Emmanuel Macron, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other world leaders at Lancaster House in central London on Sunday. AP UK, France, Ukraine to work on truce plan, discuss it with US, says Starmer Lists 3 essentials, including ‘US backstop’ to prevent Putin from breaking promises BRIAN MELLEY LONDON, MARCH 2 BRITISH PRIME Minister Keir Starmer told leaders gathered Sunday for a summit on the war in Ukraine that they need to step up and continue to support Kyiv andmeeta“onceinageneration moment” for the security of Europe. “Even while Russia talks aboutpeace,theyarecontinuing their relentless aggression,” Starmer said at the opening of the meeting. Starmer, flanked by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron, said the three of them had agreed to work on a plan to stop the fighting, and take that to the US, which has discussed brokering a peace deal. “We need to agree what steps come out of this meeting to deliver peace through strengthforthebenefitof all,”he said. “So, let’s get started.” Starmer also pledged to supply more arms to defend Ukraine,announcingthattheUK BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY USAID fund cuts: Curtains down on first transgender clinic in India NIKHILA HENRY HYDERABAD, MARCH 2 PM AT SOMNATH PrimeMinisterNarendraModiattheSomnathtempleinGujarat’sGirSomnathdistrict,Sunday. Earlierintheday,hevisitedVantara,ananimalrescueandrehabilitationcentre. ANI REPORT, P6 EXPRESSAT CHAMPIONS TROPHY VENKATA KRISHNA B DUBAI, MARCH 2 UDAY SHANKAR VICE CHAIRMAN OF JIOSTAR PAGE 12 WHATNEWZealandsufferedon Sunday could well torment Australia on Tuesday. Kiwi captain Mitchell Santner,amanof fewwords,admitted that New Zealand were “squeezed by spin” after Varun Chakravarthycameoff thebench will use 1.6 billion pounds ($2billion)inexportfinancingto supply 5,000 air defence missiles. The meeting was overshadowed by the extraordinary scolding of Zelenskyy by US President Donald Trump, who blasted him Friday at the White HouseasbeingungratefulforUS support against the invasion by Russia. Starmer said he’s focused on being a bridge to restore peace talks, whose collapse he used as an opportunity to re-engage CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kiwis done, Aussies next for Indian spin quartet ‘You can’t say that I own the platform, but I’m not responsible for the content’ On Govt table: PLI 2.0, what next to push manufacturing New metrics such as incremental exports, value addition to incentivise manufacturing being discussed BSP chief Mayawati, her nephew Akash Anand on disciplinary grounds. Akash was first removed from his post on May 7 last year, in the middle of Lok Sabha polls, after he was booked for “promoting enmity” during a speech in Sitapur — he was reinstated the next month. Sources said the BSP supremocommunicatedherdecision to Akash at a party meeting in Delhi on February 17 before announcing it formally Sunday at a meeting of senior leaders in Lucknow. Akash was conspicuous by his absence at the Lucknow meeting, and the chair usually allotted to him was occupied by Gautam. “You are aware that Siddharth’s daughter is married to him (Akash). We will have to PLI REVIEW 5 YEARS ON Varun Chakravarthy and Rohit Sharma celebrate the wicket of Glenn Phillips in Dubai, Sunday. AP RELATEDREPORTS, P13 to form a quartet of tweakers even as his five-wicket haul helped India claim a 44-run win in the final league match of the ICC Champions Trophy in Dubai. Australia, watching India’s strangulation of their neighbours, will realise that bagging the World Cup and the Champions Trophy at the same time might not be particularly easy. More pointedly, the Indian spinners won't allow them to saunter away with another title. Watching New Zealand being cut down to size while chasing a target of 249, a few demons CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ON JANUARY 20, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order effectively “pausing” US foreign development assistance for 90 days. The ripples of this order were felt soon in a medical clinic in Hyderabad, Telangana, which had been running for over four years on funds from the United States Agency for International Development or USAID. Mitr Clinic, the first comprehensivetransgenderhealthclinic in the country, closed down on January 24, four days after Trump’sexecutiveorder.Reacting totheclinic'sclosure,theworld’s richestmanandsenioradvisorto the Trump administration, Elon CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INSIDE UTTARAKHAND: SEARCH OPS END AS 4 BODIES FOUND, AVALANCHE TOLL 8 COURT ORDERS FIR AGAINST BUCH, 5 OTHERS ON FRAUD COMPLAINT P 3, 11 PLI 1.0: THE MANUFA CTURING PIVOT Outlay so far `1.97 lakh crore Sectors covered 14 so far Investments realised `1.46 lakh crore Jobs, direct and indirect 9.5 lakh Uptick in exports `4 lakh crore Source: Union I&B Ministry, Govt of India ANIL SASI NEW DELHI, MARCH 2 WITH THE Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme gaining tractioninitsfirstphase,thegovernment is considering if incentives should be linked to metrics beyond incremental sales such as domestic value addition and incremental exports. Accordingtosourcesawareof discussions at the inter-ministerial level, no final decision has been taken. Since its launch in April2020,thePLIschemecovers 14sectorsasofnow.Ithashelped India achieve scale in manufacturing by attracting OEMs (originalequipmentmanufacturers)as wellascontractmanufacturersin designated sectors. It has also contributed to limited value additionissegmentssuchassurface mounting and PCB (printed circuit board) assembly, product testing, and packaging. Given that the first phase of the PLI scheme is seen to have enabled a directional pivot in favour of manufacturing, the trigger for the renewed debate stems from the challenge of using the gains of the first phase as an inflection point for PLI 2.0. In E EXPLAINED Mayawati sacks her nephew, says no party successor till ‘my last breath’ `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 The next ● steps THE PLI scheme may have decidedly helped pivot India towards rebooting manufacturing in some of the selected sectors, but there is a need being felt to look at incentive metrics that go beyond incremental sales. To increase the levels of value addition in PLI 2.0, other metrics such as localisation, incremental exports and the need to tap into a strategic vendor base could also be on the cards. theinter-ministerialdiscussions, it was noted that percentage valueadditionacrosskeysectors is still in single digits. This is the case even in sectors where the PLI scheme is seen as a relative success. Arenewedcaseisbeingmade for localisation of electronics manufacturing since it is critical to creating a dynamic domestic CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 OPENED IN COURT: LEAD INVESTIGATORS Book says Bofors boxes unopened, CBI officers say no, used as evidence RITU SARIN NEW DELHI, MARCH 2 SOMETIMES,ONEstorycanspan an entire career or that career can be dominated by one story. That was the case with Chitra Subramaniam and her decadelonginvestigationintotheBofors bribery scam. The story broke in 1987 via broadcasts of the Swedish state radio and subsequentlythroughSubramaniam’s exposes, first, in The Hindu and later in The Indian Express and The Statesman. In her upcoming book Bofors Gate (published by Juggernaut), one refrain that runs through as her major regret: the box/boxes with between 500-1,000 pages of secret Swiss documents — The book by journalist Chitra Subramaniam sent to India in 1997 — remain unopened. Thedocumentswerehanded over to then Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director Joginder Singh at a public ceremonyinBern(Subramaniamwas present). It is not clear whether there were one or two boxes. The book has over a dozen references to the “unopened boxes” with the author writing, “Over the years, politicians have CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ladakh school goes to Mumbai, for classes, memories and vada pav PAGE 1 ANCHOR PALLAVI SMART & AMIT CHAKRAVARTY MUMBAI, MARCH 2 WHEN NAIMA Bataul left for home in Ladakh on Friday, after spending three months in Mumbai,the12-year-oldcarried with her a bagful of smiles, memories, and confidence. The Class 7 student from Thang,aremotebordervillagein Leh district, was in Mumbai along with 20 of her classmates to study at the AFAC School in Chembur — as their school back home remained closed for the harsh winter months. As part of an initiative to offer exposure to children from Ladakh, the students of Turtuk Valley School in Leh were brought to the AFAC School so that they not only continue with their classes, but also get a taste of the bustling city. Thestudentswereaccommodated at the AFAC School, where computer labs were converted intoamakeshiftresidentialfacility for them. Apart from classes, the children spent their after-school hours and weekends exploring the city, savouring vada pav, and taking selfies at landmarks such as the Gateway of India and Marine Drive. They also performed at a festival on the steps of MountMaryChurchinBandra and made educational trips to the Nehru Science Centre, Planetarium, and Museum of Solutions among others. The initiative was started by JitendraMandlecha,generalsecretary of AFAC Trust, which runs the Chembur school as well as the Turtuk Valley School in Leh. According to Mandlecha, it became possible for him to establish the school in Turtuk The students stayed at Mumbai’s AFAC School, where computer labs were converted into a residential facility. Amit Chakravarty Valley after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. Mandlecha has been organising the trip to Mumbai for students from the Turtuk Valley School for the past four years — fromNovember-endtoFebruary —whenschoolsintheUnionterritory are mostly shut due to the extreme cold conditions. Apart from continuing with education, Mandlecha said the initiative aims for a unique cultural exchange. The effects were evident when the The Indian Express met Naima and her friends at the Chembur school, before they headed home on February 28. Not only did they share their experiences, they even tried to speak in broken Marathi, which they had picked from their new friends in Mumbai. Reflectingontheirexperience in the city, one of the students, Atiya Mahei, said, “It is here that wecametoknowabouttheconcept of tuition classes. Almost all my classmates here at AFAC School go to tuition after school. All of them have smartphones and they use it for various online learning apps.” Zeba Noor, another student, spokeabouthowallofthemhave become more confident in spoken English. “Some of us are al- readylookingathighereducation options in Commerce, Science and Psychology,” she said. Her classmate Tamim Iqbal was more fascinated with the widerangeof extracurricularactivitiesforchildreninthecity,including a cricket turf in the school playground. He and his friendShahidHassanalsoshared problems in the city: heavy traffic on roads, annoying mosquito bites and the humid weather. But all the students were unanimous on what they will miss most after returning home — vada pav, Mumbai’s favourite street food. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow