DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2025, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES BY UNNY After top level meet, fresh GST registration norms to curb harassment AANCHAL MAGAZINE NEW DELHI, APRIL 18 IN A bid to curb undue harassment of taxpayers, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has issued revised instructions for its officers to refrain from unnecessary interventions in the process of Goods and Services Tax (GST) registrations. It is learnt that the move follows a top-level meeting in the government on a series of complaints raised by applicants in recent days about the need for submission of several documents and clarifications to GST officers. TheCBIC,whichcomesunder theMinistryof Financeandoversees indirect taxes, pointed out that various unwarranted documents are being sought by raisingpresumptivequeries.Officers havenowbeendirectednottoissue notices based on presumptive grounds, minor discrepancies,orforadditionaldocuments thatarenotessentialforprocessing applications, the ministry said in a statement on Friday. Applicants had complained about the string of queries for documents such as proof of principal place of business, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DAYS BEFORE J D VANCE VISIT Intariffseason,PMModiandMusktalk: ‘Immensepotential’intech, innovation PM heads to Saudi next week: Trade, energy and defence ties on the table Talks as Tesla’s India retail ops in the works, after Starlink deals with Jio, Bharti SHUBHAJIT ROY SHUBHAJIT ROY & SOUMYARENDRA BARIK NEW DELHI, APRIL 18 NEW DELHI, APRIL 18 ATAtimewhenIndiaandtheUS are trying to work out differencesontariffsandworkonconvergences towards a trade deal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Friday that he spoke to US billionaire Elon Musk and discussed the “immense potential” for collaboration in technology and innovation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his family during his visit to the US in February. File His conversation with Musk comes days before US Vice President J D Vance is scheduled to visit India next week from April 21 to 24. This also comes in the middle of negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement between India and the US that was launched after Modi’s meeting withUSPresidentDonaldTrump in the White House in February. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi is headed to Saudi Arabia next week — his first visit to the country in his third term. Since first assuming office in 2014, Modi has travelled there twice before — in 2016 and 2019. Sources said that trade and investments, energy cooperation, reviving the IMEEC (IndiaMiddle East-Europe Corridor) CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E EXPLAINED BUSINESS AS USUAL `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES, `20 IN ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 ● Key issues AMID A China-US trade war, this will be a chance for India and Saudi Arabia to exchange notes. Saudi has played an important role in mediation of USRussia-Ukraine talks, and Delhi would want to get a sense of the negotiations. MURSHIDABAD VIOLENCE MALDA, APRIL 18 DEFYING CHIEF Minister Mamata Banerjee’s plea, West BengalGovernorCVAnandaBose onFridayreachedMaldaandvisited a temporary relief camp where people from violence-hit Murshidabad have taken shelter since last week’s clashes that left three persons dead and several policemen injured. Teams of NHRC (National HumanRightsCommission)and National Commission for ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND NEW DELHI, APRIL 18 ABOUT 50 per cent of the 327 international students whose US visas were revoked or Student andExchangeVisitorInformation System (SEVIS) records terminated recently — as per reports collected by the American ImmigrationLawyersAssociation (AILA) so far — are Indian. Based on reports from students, attorneys and university employees,AILA,inapolicybrief dated April 17, said 14 per cent of these students are from China, and “other significant countries represented in this data include South Korea, Nepal and Bangladesh”. Indians constituted the largest international student cohort in the US in 2023-24, according to data from Open BIG PICTURE Governor meets riot-hit people at Malda shelter: ‘They will get justice’ RAVIK BHATTACHARYA US lawyers’ body lists 327 cases of student visas being revoked, half of them Indians FULL COVERAGE The Shape Shifter OCs OF SAMSERGANJ, SUTI REPLACED BY SENIOR OFFICERS The make-believe world of ‘Dr John Camm’ PAGE 14 PAGE 3 Women (NCW) also visited Malda's Parlalpur High School, which has been converted into a relief camp. At the Malda shelter, the Governorspentnearlytwohours interacting with men, women CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose at a shelter in a Malda school for those who fled violence-hit Murshidabad, Friday. He is likely to visit Murshidabad Saturday. Partha Paul ‘WILL TAKE A PASS’: TRUMP WARNS OF QUITTING UKRAINE PEACE TALKS IN CASE OF DELAY PAGE 12 INDIAN STUDENTS IN THE U.S. 11,26,690 International students in the US 3,31,602 Indian students in the US 36,053: Number of Indian undergraduate students 1,96,567: Indian students in graduate courses 97,556: Indian students on Optional Practical Training 1,426: Non-degree Indian students (Open Doors data for 2023-24) Doors. Of the 11,26,690 international students in 2023-24, 3,31,602 students were from CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Hapur: Eviction notices to 41 Dalit families withdrawn, inquiry on NEETIKA JHA NOIDA, APRIL 18 THE HAPUR district administration has withdrawn eviction notices issued to 41 Dalit families stayingatIndraNagarinHapur’s SyanaChorahaarea,officialssaid on Friday. On Friday, The Indian Express had reported that the families, who had built houses in the area after being relocated by the Ghaziabad authorities in 1986, had received the notices stating that their occupancy on the land 33 FIRs and 16 blasts: Held RESIDENTS CHALLENGE RESETTLEMENT EXERCISE IN MP HIGH COURT SC stays demolition by FBI, gangster’s history No doors, windows: ‘Ghost homes’ notice to Nashik dargah, of terror, crime in Punjab for compensation under scanner seeks report from HC MAN AMAN SINGH CHHINA ANAND MOHAN J EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE HARPREET SINGH alias Happy Passia,agangster-turned-terrorist who has been arrested by the FBI and US Immigration department’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), faces several cases in Punjab for violence,extortionandterror-related incidents, including 16 blasts. Originally from Amritsar, he has been named in 33 FIRs, and 10 Look Out Circulars. As per a dossier prepared by PunjabPolice,Passiawasaccused of orchestrating 14 grenade at- IN WHAT highlights the challengesof relocatingpeopletoset up factories or mine mineral resources, hundreds of “ghost homes” or empty structures were allegedly constructed in Madhya Pradesh’s Singrauli district to claim compensation after a private firm bagged a mining project in the region. These homesarenowunderthelensof the district administration. A field visit by The Indian Express revealed that many of these “homes” have no doors or THE SUPREME Court has stayed ademolitionnoticeissuedbythe Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC)againstadargahinthecity, and sought to know from the Registrar General of the Bombay High Court whether an urgent hearingpleachallengingtheApril 1 notice was refused to be listed. On April 7, the Trust managing the Hazrat Satpeer Sayed BabaDargahhadapproachedthe High Court with a writ petition, seeking a direction to quash the NMC notice, which had said that CHANDIGARH, APRIL 18 SINGRAULI, APRIL 18 Harpreet Singh after his arrest in California. PTI tacks, an IED blast and a rocketpropelled grenade (RPG) attack in the state. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MUMBAI, APRIL 18 The empty structures in MP’s Singrauli. Anand Mohan J windows.Inseveralcases,broken bricksandcowdungserveasthe foundation.Somewerehurriedly built for as little as Rs 10 lakh. At the same time, several residents said despite being legitimate homeowners, they had CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 an alleged illegal structure at the dargah has to be demolished within15days.Thepetitionerapprehended that if the directions in the notice were not complied with, the civic body would raze the structure on April 15. On the night of April 15, a crowd clashed with police after NMC officials initiated demolition of the structure. The next day, the Supreme Court bench of Justices P S Narsimha and Joymalya Bagchi was informed by senior advocate Navin Pahwa, who represented the Trust, that there was an urgency in the matter as the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 The Indian Express reported the eviction notices Friday was “illegal”. Of the 41 houses, local residents said 40 had been built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), the flagship Central housing scheme for the poor, since 2019. “We have taken the cognizance of the news report and have withdrawn all the 41 notices. The residents had shown CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Rinku weds Dilip: BJP leader’s marriage unites Bengal parties in bliss PAGE 1 ANCHOR ATRI MITRA KOLKATA, APRIL 18 FOR A brief while in battleground West Bengal on Friday evening, rivals BJP and TrinamoolCongresswereonthe same side. As former BJP state president Dilip Ghosh got married to party colleague Rinku Majumdar,wishes pouredin,including from TMC supremo and Chief MinisterMamataBanerjee. Ghosh and Majumdar had a courtmarriagefollowedbyatraditional one with rituals, at a small event with only close relativespresentonFriday.Itwasthe 60-year-old groom's first marriage and the second one for Majumdar, who is in her early 50s and has a son from a previous marriage. From Friday morning, Ghosh started getting greetings from his BJP colleagues and TMC rivals. Mamata sent a letter, along with flowers and sweets. TMC leaderKunalGhoshwishedhim, while Madan Mitra said, “I am happy Dilip da is getting marriage... I would request Dilip da, he should travel now with boudi (Majumdar).” Ghosh and Majumdar met in 2021, while on their morning walks, and their friendship blossomedovertime.Asperthecouple, Majumdar took the lead and proposed to Ghosh. That was in September, with Ghosh's loss in last year's Lok Sabha elections still fresh. He took a little over two months to say yes. Again on Friday, it was Majumdar, a BJP Mahila Morcha leader, who led a procession to the groom's house. Around 6 pm, she reached Ghosh’s residence at New Town wearing a Banarasi sari in red and pink Rinku Majumdar and Dilip Ghosh exchanged vows at latter’s New Town residence in Kolkata on Friday. Express colour and gold ornaments. She saidshewas“thrilledaboutmarrying Ghosh”, and mentioned that “the entire media has its eyes on our marriage”. Majumdarbelievesitwasher persuasion that made Ghosh even consider marriage. “I made him think about it, probably no one before me had tried that.” Ghosh repeated that he wanted to fulfill his mother's wishes by getting married. “I always put party work first, and thatiswhyIneverthoughtabout family. But, I cannot say no to my mother. She wanted that I should get married. Then she (Majumdar) proposed, and I ac- cepted... In mylife, there are only two women, one is my mother and now my wife,” Ghosh said, adding that he would be back at party work after the one-day break for the wedding. BJP sources said Ghosh joined the RSS at an early age, andworkedasapracharakindifferentdistrictsof WestBengalfor alongtime,puttingmarriageout of the picture. In 2015, he moved to the BJP and was soon made the state party chief. About the same time, Majumdar, who got married for the first time when still in her teens, joined the BJP after working for a while at an NGO. In the 2016 Assembly elections when the BJP won only three seats in Bengal, Ghosh was oneof thewinners.Hewascredited with giving the party a new momentum in the state in a short while, and along with the push from the central leadership, the BJP soared to 18 seats out of 42 in Bengal in the 2019 LokSabhaelections.Ghosh,who himself won from Kharagpur, stepped down as state BJP chief and was made the national vicepresident of the BJP. During the 2021 Assembly polls, Ghosh found himself in a row when he mocked Mamata CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 Kolkata