DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2025, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES THE WINNERS ● `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 THE THIRD INDIAN EXPRESS EXCELLENCE IN GOVERNANCE AWARDS 3 months after aide named in murder of sarpanch, Dhananjay Munde steps down ALOK DESHPANDE MUMBAI, MARCH 4 ■ EDUCATION Sachin Rana, Deputy Commissioner, East Kameng, Arunachal Pradesh ■ HEALTHCARE Pushpendra Kumar Meena, District Collector & Magistrate, Durg, Chhattisgarh Commissioner, Tinsukia, Assam ■ SOCIALWELFARE Jasmeet Singh Sandhu, District Magistrate, Salumbar, Rajasthan ■ AGRICULTURE K M Sarayu, District Collector & Magistrate, Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu ■ SKILLDEVELOPMENT Rohit Anand, Deputy Commissioner, Kakching, Manipur ■ START-UP&MSME Dr Ravi Mittal, District Collector & Magistrate, Jashpur, Chhattisgarh ■ WATER Naman Priyesh Lakra, Deputy Commissioner, Giridih, Jharkhand ■ GENDER&INCLUSION Suryawanshi Mayur Vikas, Collector & District Magistrate, Kendrapara, Odisha ■ LAW&ORDER T Prabhushankar, District Collector, Karur, Tamil Nadu ■ DISASTERMANAGEMENT Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde, District Collector, Balasore, Odisha ■ JURYSPECIAL Fouzia Taranum, District Collector, Kalaburagi, Karnataka ■ E-GOVERNANCE Kengoo Zuringla, District Magistrate, Ukhrul, Manipur ■ ENERGY Karn Satyarthi, District Collector, Gumla, Jharkhand ■ SUSTAINABILITY Aditya Vikram Yadav, District Commissioner, Sivasagar, Assam ■ IMPLEMENTATIONOF CENTRAL SCHEMES Shrikant Balasaheb Suse, District Magistrate, Kargil, Ladakh BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY The winners of The Indian Express Excellence in Governance Awards with Union Minister of Railways, Information & Broadcasting, Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, The Indian Express Group Chairman and Managing Director Viveck Goenka, Executive Director Anant Goenka, CEO George Varghese, jury members Wajahat Habibullah and Amarjeet Sinha in New Delhi on Tuesday. Renuka Puri Governanceisabilitytodeveloptrust betweengovtandsociety:Vaishnaw Integrityshouldnotonlybepractised butseentobepractised:JitendraSingh DIVYA A labs & 56-hr rescue op NEW DELHI, MARCH 4 UNDERLINING THAT the imperative of governance is to build trust between the government and society, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Railways, Information & Broadcasting, Electronics and Information Technology, said Tuesday that people need to believe that the “systemwillworkforus,support us and give us justice”. Speaking at the third edition of The Indian ExpressExcellence in Governance Awards in New Delhi where he was Chief Guest, Vaishnaw said the District Magistrate is in fact an institution because “there is so much trust and expectation from people from that one particular person who acquires that position”. “It really means a lot and once you get into that category where people start calling you an institution, the sense of re- NIRBHAY THAKUR NEW DELHI, MARCH 4 If you know you can face the man or woman in the mirror, and say yes, what I’m doing is right, then that’s the right choice for being a good officer. ASHWINI VAISHNAW, UNION MINISTER, RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING, ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY NCP’s Dhananjay Munde; Santosh Deshmukh (right) was killed on Dec 9 last year FULL COVERAGE PAGE 4 of another NCP minister, Manikrao Kokate, in an old case. The resignation of Munde will take some of the heat off the Fadnavisgovernment,whichhas also been under pressure from within for the minister’s dismissal to ensure an “impartial probe” into the murder on December 9 last year. On December 11, an FIR was registered naming Munde aide CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Chargesheet gives Prize work: Rural solar details of torture in power to innovation 15 videos & 8 photos RELATED REPORTS PAGE 8 IMPARTING SKILLS to 6,000 displaced persons in Manipur; planting 54,000 bamboo trees over 80 acres of wasteland in Assam;providingover40villages with solar energy in Jharkhand; and, steering a 56-hour rescue operationafteradevastatingtrain tragedy in Odisha. These are among the landmarkendeavoursundertakenby District Magistrates across the countrythatwereacknowledged CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MOHAMED THAVER MUMBAI, MARCH 4 There is a huge democratisation of civil services. It is no longer confined to an elite section. JITENDRA SINGH, MoS (INDEPENDENT) FOR PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS sponsibility also increases a lot,” he said. “Governance is the ability to develop the trust between the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 photographs have been attached tothechargesheetfiledbytheCID Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by DIG Dr Basavaraj Teliagainsteightaccused, including Munde’s close aide Walmik Karad who has been named as the ● chief conspirator. The chargesheet contains brief descriptions of the videos andphotographsthatweretaken bytheaccusedwhileallegedlyexecutingthecrimeonDecember9. E ALTHOUGH PRESSURE had been mounting on NCP leader Dhananjay Munde to resign, it reached the tipping point as videos and photographs of the torture inflicted on Beed sarpanchSantoshDeshmukhbeforehismurderemerged,leading to public outrage. A set of 15 videos and eight EXPLAINED ■ SWACHHATA Swapneel Paul, District NCP MINISTER Dhananjay Munde resigned Tuesday after leakedphotosallegedlyshowing the atrocities and torture inflictedonaBeedsarpanchbefore his murder proved the tipping point. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis drove down to hold a late-nightmeetingMondaywith Deputy Chief Minister and NCP president Ajit Pawar, where the decision was taken in the presence of Munde. Mondayalsomarkedthestart of the first Budget Session of the newMahayutigovernment,elected in November 2024. Munde’s close association with one of the accused in Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh’s murder, whowaschargesheetedjustdays earlier,wassuretocomeupinthe House, along with the conviction CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ICC CHAMPIONS TROPHY SEMI-FINAL Chase General Kohli conquers Australia, leads march to final Days after spat with PM: World needs reliable partner, Zelenskyy, Trump our industry can’t remain spectators pauses Ukraine aid SUKALP SHARMA NEW DELHI, MARCH 4 Regret clash, ready to work under US leadership for peace, says Zelenskyy ANDREA SHALAL & MAX HUNDER WASHINGTON, KYIV, MARCH 4 05/03/2025 77 105 128 64 INTHEmostdramaticstepyetin hispivottowardsclosertieswith Russia, US President Donald Trump has paused military aid to Kyiv, days after the explosive confrontation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House last week. In a statement on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said he regretted the Oval Office clash and wanted to “make things right”. He said he supported peace negotiations and was ready to sign a deal giving the US access to Ukrainian minerals. “My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump's strong leadership to get a peace that lasts,” Zelenskyy said in his statement on X. Earlier, Zelenskyy's Prime Minister, Denys Shmyhal, said Ukraine's forces could hold their own on the battlefield against Russian troops, but that Kyiv would do everything possible so that cooperation with the US would continue. Announcing Trump’s decision, a US official said on CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AT A time when the world is looking for a reliable partner for high-qualityproducts with a dependable supply chain, the Indian industry must find a role for itself and carve out opportunities and not remain a mere “spectator”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday. Addressing a post-Budget webinar, Modi assured the industry of the government’s support, sayingthat itstands “shoulder to shoulder” at a time when the world views India as a key growth centre. “Today, the world needs a reliable partner from where highquality products come out and thesupplyisreliable.Ourcountry iscapableof doingthis.Allof you Virat Kohli celebrates his half century as Shreyas Iyer looks on at the India-Australia semi-final in Dubai Tuesday. PTI PM Narendra Modi at Vantara, a wildlife rescue, rehabilitation and conservation centre, in Gujarat’s Jamnagar. ANI PAGE8 arecapable.Thisisahugeopportunity for us. I want our industry not to see these expectations as a spectator; we cannot remain spectators. You have to find your role in this; you have to move ahead and carve out opportunities for yourself,” the Prime Minister said. “It is much easier today than it was earlier. Today, the country CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESSAT CHAMPIONS TROPHY VENKATA KRISHNA B DUBAI, MARCH 4 WITH A thumping K L Rahul six over long-on, India leapt over theirbiggesthurdleinthe50-over ICCtournaments--Australia.The marginof victory--byfourwick- ets and 11 balls to spare to fix the summitclashonSunday--doesn’t capture the clinical outmuscling and outwitting of the World Champions. The victory wasalsothelaststrokeof embarrassment for Pakistan. First the hostnationcrashedoutinhumiliating fashion, and now, with India in the final, Dubai gets to host the title contest. The chief protagonist of India's semi-final win was Virat Kohli,whocomposedafamiliarly CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 When a goalkeeper waiting in the wings met a war veteran — and found his hero PAGE 1 ANCHOR MIHIR VASAVDA MUMBAI, MARCH 4 TWO YEARS ago,nationalhockey goalkeeperSurajKarkera,anavid reader, chanced upon the memoirofIndia’s1971warhero,(Retd) Major General Ian Cardozo. Even beforeKarkerahadturnedthefinal page of the book, he had tracked down the war veteran. The series of conversations sincethenbetween the 29-yearold and the 87-year-old kept Karkera, who was then going through one of the most challengingphasesof hiscareer,motivated to fight for a permanent spot in India’s hockey team, which he finally earned last year after spending almost eight years on the fringes. For Cardozo, whose leg had to be amputated on the battlefield during the 1971 IndiaPakistan war, meeting Karkera was a chance to reconnect with asport hehadgrownupplaying. “Until two years ago, we didn’t know each other at all,” Cardozo tells The Indian Express. “Now, we have adopted him as our protege.” Says Karkera, “When I reached out to him, my mental space was like, ‘I would like to havethatsparkagain’. Of course, I was training and this and that but you tend to be a bit distracted… what will happen in the future and such.” Karkera’s concerns about his future were not unfounded. Despite being a constant in the core group of the national hockey team for a better part of the last decade, the goalkeeper was third in the pecking order behind the modern-day great P R Sreejesh and Krishan Pathak. Withonlytwospotsreserved for goalkeepers in a squad of 18 Suraj Karkera with Major General Ian Cardozo (retd) and his wife Priscilla at their home in Delhi for international competitions — and just one in the 16-member Olympicsteam—Karkerawasinvariably left out for big assignments. The only time he got uninterrupted chances to play for thenationalteamwasin2017-18, when Sreejesh, the first-choice keeper, was out with an injury. Karkera — spotted by Merzban Patel, the legendary coach from Mumbai, and later mentored by former India custodian Dipika Murthy — patiently waited for his turn, aware that it was routine for goalkeepers to go through this grind. His chance finally came after Sreejesh retired at the end of the Paris Olympics. Inthelastfivemonths,hehas played 17 matches, nearly as many as he did in the five years beforethat(19),andhasfeatured in every game of the recently concluded India leg of the FIH Pro League. “It shows your character…what you are going to do when things are not going your way.” Karkera says of the long waiting period. “These are testingtimes.Youneedpatienceand resilience.” During this phase, as he discovered the world of books, Karkeraimmersedhimself inthe extraordinary tales of South Africa’s 1995 rugby World Cup triumph. But it was in Cardozo’s life story, Cartoos Saab: A Soldier's Story of Resilience in Adversity, that he found the inspiration he needed. Maj Gen Cardozo fought threewars:1962,1965and,most notably, the India-Pakistan war of 1971thatledtothecreationof Bangladesh. In the final days of the war, during the Battle of Sylhet,Cardozoisknowntohave stepped on a landmine, following which his leg had to be amputated. He went on to become the first war-disabled officer to be approved for command of an Infantry Battalion. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2