DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, JUNE 3, 2025, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES BY UNNY `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES, `20 IN ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM Three soldiers killed, six missing as Tesla not keen landslide hits Army camp in Sikkim to manufacture ‘OTHERS SHOWN INTEREST’ 1,600 tourists evacuated, nine still missing SWEETY KUMARI KOLKATA, JUNE 2 US probing Adani link to Iran LPG trade: report; firm says ‘baseless’ THREE ARMY personnel were killed and six of their colleagues went missing after a landslide triggered by heavy rainfall hit a military camp in Sikkim's Lachen district on Sunday evening, a defence official said. Soon after the incident, the Army launched a rescue operation and recovered the bodies of Havaldar Lakhwinder Singh, Lance Naik Munish Thakur and porter Abhishek Lakhada. Four personnel were rescued with minor injuries, it is learnt. “At 7 pm (on June 1), a catastrophic landslide… struck the militarycampatChhaten.Rescue operationswerelaunchedimmediately. The rescue teams are Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani GEORGE MATHEW & HITESH VYAS MUMBAI, JUNE 2 PROSECUTORS IN the US are investigatingwhetherIndianbusinessman Gautam Adani’s companiesimportedIranianliquefied petroleum gas (LPG) into India through the Adani Group's Mundra port, despite US sanctions on Iran, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. This comes at a time when the Trump administration is rolling back on the enforcement of certain white-collar crimes, includingcasesrelatedtoforeign bribery and sanctions evasion. Tankers travelling between Mundra in Gujarat and the Persian Gulf exhibited traits common to ships evading sanctions,theWSJreportsaid.TheUS Justice Department is reviewing the activities of several LPG tankers used to ship cargoes to Adani Enterprises, it said. In a statement, the Adani Groupsaidthereportwas“baseless and mischievous”. “Adani categorically denies any deliberate engagement in sanctions CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WEST BENGAL ARRESTED SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCER SEEKS PROTECTION PAGE 3 Rescue operation underway at a military camp at Chhaten in Sikkim on Monday. PTI CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WORLD CHAMP RETURNS FROM THE BRINK TO BEAT CHESS LEGEND Gujarat Govt plans Op Sindoor memorial Fist bang, apologies and a pat: Carlsen goes down to Gukesh park near Pakistan EXPRESS border in Kutch Will also have area dedicated to Pahalgam terror attack victims RITU SHARMA BHUJ, JUNE 2 THE GUJARAT government is working on a memorial park dedicated to Operation Sindoor — India's military response to terror emanating from Pakistan —asamarkof respectforthedefence forces as well as the unity the nation displayed, officials told The Indian Express. The memorial, which will be called ‘Sindoor Van’ (forest), will come up in Kutch district on the India-Pakistan border, which bore the brunt of the attacks in Gujarat from the other side. The memorialisexpectedtobecompleted in about a year and a half, officials said, adding that initial work has begun on the ground. “In memory of the unity ex- Forest department officials survey the area for the ‘Sindoor Van’ in Kutch. Express hibited by society, Army, Air Force, BSF and other forces during Operation Sindoor, the Sindoor Van — a memorial park — is being planned by the forest department,” Kutch Collector CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INNORWAY AMIT KAMATH STAVANGER, JUNE 2 JUST A week ago, right after Magnus Carlsen had forced the youngest world champion in chesshistory,DGukesh,toresign in the opening round of Norway Chess, the Norwegian had posted a tweet using a reference from the HBO show The Wire: “You come at the king, you best not miss.” In the second time of asking, in the early hours of Monday at the same event in Stavanger, Gukesh did exactly that. The 19-year-old Indian notched up his first victory over theworldno.1inaclassicalchess contest after 62 moves. “Oh my God!” bellowed a livid Carlsen as he looked away from the chess board and his opponent. Just seconds before that moment, Carlsen, one of the greatest chess players in history, NEW DELHI, JUNE 2 THE DELHI Police have approached the Union Home Ministry after they found that a foreign citizen working with an Embassy of a Western European country had allegedly put up posterscarryingaphotoof Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alongside the word “Wanted” in the national capital’s Chanakyapuri area, The Indian Express has learnt. PAGE 1 ANCHOR CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ax-4 crew members Shubhanshu Shukla and Slawosz Uznanski from Poland review a procedure checklist card during training within the ISS Harmony mockup. Axiom Space AGGAM WALIA & SOUMYARENDRA BARIK NEW DELHI, JUNE 2 ELECTRIC VEHICLE (EV) major Tesla is not interested in manufacturing in India but is looking at opening two stores, Union Heavy Industries Minister H D Kumaraswamy said on Monday. He, however, said that global EV makers like Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen-Škoda, Hyundai and Kia have shown interest in applying under the ministry’s flagship Scheme to Promote Manufacturing of Electric Passenger Cars in India, notified in March last year. “Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen-Škoda, Hyundai and Kia -- all these companies have already shown interest. Tesla,weareactuallynotexpecting from them. They (Tesla) are going to start two showrooms, they are not interested in manufacturing in India,” Kumaraswamy said at a media briefing. In February, US President Donald Trump had criticised E UnionHeavy Industries MinisterHD Kumaraswamy Only showrooms ● in India THE TEXAS-BASED EV maker, with plants across the world, including in China and Germany, is set to launch retail operations in India soon, and has signed a leasing deal for a showroom in Mumbai, with plans for another showroom in New Delhi in the works. Tesla’s plan to expand in India, calling it “unfair” to the US. “Now, if (Tesla CEO Elon Musk) built the factory in India, that’s okay, but that’s unfair to us. It’s CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RUSSIA,UKRAINE HOLDTALKSDAY AFTERKYIV’S DRONEATTACK Magnus Carlsen bangs the table after his defeat; D Gukesh at the Norway Chess 2025 tournament, in Stavanger, Norway. PTI had slammed a balled fist on the chess board with such brute force that a seismic tremor had gonethroughtheboardtoppling over pieces. Some of the pieces had remained standing. One of them was Gukesh’s king. CarlsenapologisedtoGukesh —twice—fortheemotionaloutburst, which was uncharacteristic for a chess game, and then, as NEW DELHI, JUNE 2 A senior police officer at the Delhi Police headquarters said the matter came to light around 7.30amonMay29whenpersonnel from the Chanakyapuri police station spotted two such postersonelectricitypoles–one near the Carmel Convent School inMalchaMargandanothernear the American Embassy School. “They informed their seniors and were asked to remove the posters,” the officer said. Police personnel were also instructed to scan all CCTV cameras in the area to identify who Govt issues EV scheme guidelines: Defined domestic value addition targets, Customs duty cuts for 5 years THE WORLD he power-walked his way out of the playing hall after signing his score sheet and banging the black king erect in the middle of the board, he patted the Indian teenager on his back. Carlsen’s anger was understandable.Hewaslookinglikehe was going to win for most of the game. Then, like the Stavanger CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Foreign Embassy staffer Countdown to space mission: Why seat for put up ‘Wanted’ posters Shukla on Axiom-4 is a big moment for India of Netanyahu: Delhi AMITABH SINHA & ANJALI MARAR Police report to MHA MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL in India, says Union Minister EXPLAINED BUSINESS AS USUAL SINCE 1932 FOUR DECADES after Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to travel to space, Shubhanshu Shukla, a 39-year-old Indian Air Force officer who is in the final leg of his pre-launch quarantine at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, will on June 8 pilot a Dragon spacecraft that will take him, and three others, to the InternationalSpaceStation(ISS), about 400 km from the Earth. Shukla, who is set to be the first Indian to step on to the ISS, will spend two weeks carrying out various experiments and studies in space. Though India or the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)hashadlittleroletoplayin theplanningandexecutionofthe mission — apart from securing a seat for an Indian on the spacecraft — Shukla’s journey couldn't havecomeatabettertimeforthe country's space programme as it prepares for Gaganyaan, India’s own human spaceflight. The Dragon spacecraft, as well as the Falcon 9 rocket that willlaunchitintospace,arebuilt by Elon Musk-owned SpaceX, one of the biggest private space companiesintheworld.Themission is being operated and managed by Axiom Space, a nineyear-oldprivateentityfocusedon commercialspaceflightservices. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PAGE 10 Assam man alleges his mother picked for deportation, SC agrees to take up plea EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, JUNE 2 THE SUPREME Court has agreed to take up next week a Habeas Corpus petition filed by a man from Assam, who alleged that his mother has been picked up for deportation, and her whereaboutssincethenarenotknown. Initially, the Bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Satish Chandra Sharma said it will tag the petition with a pending plea on illegal immigrants. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, however,urgedthecourttoissue noticesothattheStatecanreply. “We don’t know. Son doesn’t know. Let them say. If she is in Bangladesh,it’sanothermatter,” Sibalsaid,contendingthatthearrestof thepetitioner’smotherviolatednormsonarrestlaiddown by the SC in the D K Basu case. “YourLordshipsknowshehas to be produced within 24 hours. She is not produced. Picked up from the house. Directly in violationoftheDKBasujudgement.SP (SuperintendentofPolice)goesto the house, picks her up and throwsher.Howcanthatbe?”the senior counsel submitted. The petitioner, 26-year-old Iunuch (Yunus) Ali, has alleged thathismotherMonowaraBewa was detained on May 24 after being called to the Dhubri police station on the pretext of recording her statement. The plea also sought a direction restraining the deportation or "push back" of the detainee across any Indian border. Sibalsaidthatthewomanhad previouslyfiledaspecialleavepetition (SLP) in the apex court, which is still pending, and that shehadalsobeengrantedbail,yet she was being “thrown out”. The SLP challenges the decision of the Gauhati High Court, which upheld a Foreigners CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 12 students to over 1,200: Inside new campus of Nalanda University SANTOSH SINGH PATNA, JUNE 2 HIS BACK against the whiteboard,AssociateProfessorRajeev Ranjan Chaturvedi tells his 34 students,pursuingtheirmaster’s degreefromNalandaUniversity’s Schoolof InternationalRelations and Peace Studies (IPRS), why Indiawaswellwithinitsrightsto putinabeyancetheIndusWaters Treaty with Pakistan after the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam. “Itsprovisionsclearlydescribe that the pact can be put in abeyance in case of disturbance of internal peace,” he tells the class. The students, including 11 internationalones,agreewiththe professor, who heads the school. Introduced by the university in 2024-25, IRPS is a huge draw for scholarsandoneof itssixschools offering master’s courses. From just 12 students after it was established in 2014 under a special Act of Parliament, Nalanda University now has 1,270 students, within a year of Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating its new campus in June 2024 in Bihar’s Rajgir town. Theuniversity’sstate-of-theart 455-acre campus stands in the foothills of the imposing Vaibhar Giri hill, considered the seat of both Buddhism and Jainism. Barely 12 km from the new campus — and over 70 km from Bodh Gaya, considered the siteof GautamBuddha’senlightenment — lie the ruins of the ancient Nalanda University, perhaps the world’s first Ivy League university. Conceived as an international institute of excellence where the old and new knowledge systems coexist, the new Nalanda University was established under the Nalanda University Act, 2010, by the Ministryof ExternalAffairs.Then President A P J Abdul Kalam was The administration block at Nalanda University’s new campus in Bihar’s Rajgir town. Nalanda University its first Visitor, while economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen was its first Chancellor. Sixteen countries had come together to support its establishment. Before moving to its new zero-carboncampus,theuniversity functioned out of “borrowed” buildings at the Rajgir Convention Centre and had just two international students. At the new “car-free” campus, a pathway flanked by canna lilies and street lights leads one inside the university. With a built area of just 8%, the campus, designed by renowned architect B V Doshi’s Vastu Shilpa Consultants, attempts to “match the architectural and geographical setting the ancient Nalanda University would have provided”. Its exposed brick buildings — similar to the signature image of the Nalanda ruins — and elevated staircases are surrounded by 15 water bodies, christened ‘Kamal Sagars’ and spread over 100acres.Universityofficialssay the area’s water table has gone up “substantially” since the new campus came up. The ancient Nalanda Universityisbelievedtohavebeen established in the 5th century CE and faded out around the 13th century due to a combination of factors, including the rise of Hinduism, the decline of Buddhism and invasions by foreign invaders. Post-doctoral fellow Azad Hind Gulshan Nanda, who quit his job at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Trombay and the Indian Institute of Management in Kolkata to research Nalanda at the university, says, “It is believed that the ancient university was destroyed by fire, though its ecological degradation over the years cannot be ruled out.” The fire theory was referencedbyPMModiinhiscampus CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata
Indian Express Limited is an Indian news media publishing company. It publishes several widely circulated dailies, including The Indian Express and The Financial Express in English, the Loksatta in Marathi and the Jansatta in Hindi.