DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2025, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES THE WINNERS `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 THE THIRD INDIAN EXPRESS EXCELLENCE IN GOVERNANCE AWARDS ICC CHAMPIONS TROPHY SEMI-FINAL Chase General Kohli conquers Australia, leads march to final ■ EDUCATION Sachin Rana, Deputy Commissioner, East Kameng, Arunachal Pradesh ■ HEALTHCARE Pushpendra Kumar Meena, District Collector & Magistrate, Durg, Chhattisgarh ■ SWACHHATA Swapneel Paul, District 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 DIVYA A NEW DELHI, MARCH 4 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, RELATED REPORTS PAGE 10 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 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 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 GUJARAT ‘I commend Anant Ambani, his entire team for this very compassionate effort’ EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE AHMEDABAD, MARCH 4 EXPRESS NETWORK NHRC ORDERS ONSPOT INQUIRY INTO NEPAL STUDENT’S ‘SUICIDE’ AT KIIT PAGE 11 PM Narendra Modi and Anant Ambani at Vantara. PTI P10 of his trip on X, the PM posted: “Inaugurated Vantara, a unique wildlifeconservation,rescueand DUBAI, MARCH 4 WITH A thumping K L Rahul six over long-on, India leapt over their biggest hurdle in the 50over ICC tournaments — rehabilitation initiative, which providesasafehavenforanimals while promoting ecological sus- tainability and wildlife welfare. I commend Anant Ambani and hisentireteamforthisverycompassionate effort. An effort like Vantara is truly commendable, a vibrant example of our centuriesold ethos of protecting those we share our planet with.” A video shared by the company Tuesday showed Modi feeding lion cubs, an okapi, giraffes, fish, elephants and other species at Vantara — said to be home to more than 2,000 species and over 1.5 lakh rescued, endangered and CONTINUEDONPAGE2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Regret clash, ready to work under US leadership for peace, says Zelenskyy sibility also increases a lot,” he said. “Governance is the ability to develop the trust between the PM inaugurates animal rescue facility Vantara, says reflects our ‘ethos of protecting planet’ PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi patted an okapi, fed a recently orphaned rhino calf and witnessed an Asiatic lion undergoing an MRI as he inaugurated Vantara, the wildlife rescue, rehabilitation, and conservation centre established by the Reliance Industries and Reliance Foundation, in Jamnagar on Sunday,accordingtoastatement issued by RIL. Sharing a video and pictures VENKATA KRISHNA B Australia. The margin of victory — by four wickets and 11 balls to spare to fix the summit clash on Sunday — doesn’t capture the clinicaloutmusclingandoutwitting of the World Champions. The victory was also the last stroke of embarrassment for Pakistan. First the host nation crashed out in humiliating fashion,andnow,withIndiainthefinal, Dubai gets to host the title contest. pauses Ukraine aid NIRBHAY THAKUR UNION MINISTER, RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING, ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EXPRESSAT CHAMPIONS TROPHY Prize work: Rural solar power to innovation Days after spat with labs & 56-hr rescue op Zelenskyy, Trump Integrityshouldnotonlybepractised butseentobepractised:JitendraSingh 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 wherepeoplestartcallingyouan institution, the sense of respon- Virat Kohli celebrates his half century as Shreyas Iyer looks on at the India-Australia semi-final in Dubai Tuesday. PTI ANDREA SHALAL & MAX HUNDER WASHINGTON, KYIV, MARCH 4 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 3 months after aide named in killing of sarpanch, Dhananjay Munde resigns ALOK DESHPANDE WHAT IS DRIVING THE UNDERWATER EXERCISE BY ASI TO UNDERSTAND DWARKA’S ANCIENT CITY ‘IN A BETTER WAY’ UCC PANEL BEGINS CONSULTATION PROCESS; DEADLINE EXTENDED PAGE 4 MUMBAI, MARCH 4 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 pres- NCP’s Dhananjay Munde; Santosh Deshmukh (right) was killed on Dec 9 last year ence of Munde. Monday also marked the start of the first Budget Session CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad