eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE Host with the Most AHMEDABAD,LATECITY OCTOBER12,2025 Gourmet catering has become a marker of modern hospitality 14+4PAGES,`6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM U.S. AMBASSADOR-DESIGNATE SERGIO GOR MEETS JAISHANKAR, DOVAL, MISRI CANCELS MEDIA MEET AT DEOBAND ‘Incredible’ meet with PM, ‘optimistic’ about days ahead for both nations: New US envoy Trump threatens China with 100% more tariffs over rare earth curbs Confident his tenure will further boost India-US global strategic partnership: PM RAVI DUTTA MISHRA SHUBHAJIT ROY AHEADOFhigh-stakesUS–China tradetalkslikelylaterthismonth, fresh tensions erupted after China significantly expanded its export controls on rare earths and other critical minerals on October 9, to which President Donald Trump responded by threatening to raise duties on Chinese goods by 100 per cent. Thistriggeredasharpdecline in US stock markets on Friday with the S&P 500 falling 2.7 per NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 11 INHISfirstoutreachtoNewDelhi amidtherecentbilateralchillthat hasseen50percentUStariffsand increased H-1B visa fees, US Ambassador-designate Sergio GormetPrimeMinisterNarendra Modi Saturday and framed his visit in warm and effusive terms. Last month, during his Senate confirmation hearings, Gor was bullish about the bilateralrelationshipandhadflagged India as a “strategic partner whose trajectory will shape the region and beyond." Gor, who is here from October 9-14, also met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri Saturday. “GladtoreceiveMrSergioGor, Ambassador-designate of the US to India. I’m confident that his tenurewillfurtherstrengthenthe India–US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership,” Modi said inapostonX,accompaniedbyan image in which Gor is seen presenting a photo of Modi with US President Donald Trump, signed Out with her friend, MBBS student raped near college in Bengal TANUSREE BOSE KOLKATA, OCTOBER 11 A SECOND-YEAR MBBS student of a private medical college in WestBengal’sPashchimBardhaman district was allegedly dragged into a forested area outside her college campus and raped on Friday night. While her family has alleged three-four menwereinvolved,noarresthas been made so far, police said. Students of the medical college, meanwhile,stagedaprotestoutside the principal’s office after the matter came to light. According to police officials, the woman, who hails from Odisha,hadgoneoutof thecampus with a friend when the incident took place. On being alerted, the police rushed to the spot.Thewomaniscurrentlyundergoing treatment at a local hospital where her condition is stable, though she remains deeply traumatised, officials said. NarayanSwaroopNigam,the state’sPrincipalHealthSecretary, saidthematterisunderpoliceinvestigation, and the Director of Medical Education has been askedtosubmitadetailedreport. Thecollegesaiditwillextend CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Why this matters for Delhi NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 11 BOTH CHINESE and American posturing on trade assumes significance for India, which is in midst of negotiations for a bilateral trade deal with the US. China’s curbs on rare earths also pose a threat to India’s automobile industry. While China is India’s largest import source, the US continues to be its largest export destination. cent, its biggest single-day drop in six months since early April. Threatening a steep hike in tariffs, Trump said: “It has just been learned that China has taken an extraordinarily aggressivepositionontradebysending CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 44% dip in Indian student arrivals in US over last yr, sharpest since Covid USAmbassador-designateSergioGorpresentstoPM Narendra ModiaframedphotographsignedbyUS PresidentDonald Trump,with amessage:‘MrPrimeMinister,youaregreat’. PTI by the latter. Stating that the “US values its relationshipwithIndia”,Gorsaid: “Ihadanincrediblemeetingwith Prime Minister Modi. President Trump considers PM Modi as a great and personal friend… “I arrived from Washington to New Delhi early this morning and we hit the ground running... “We just finished an incrediblemeetingwithPrimeMinister Modi where we discussed bilateral issues including defence, trade and technology. We also CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DROP AHEAD OF FALL SEMESTER ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 11 AHEAD OF the start of the Fall semester at American universities, the number of Indian student arrivals in the United States in Augustfelltothelowestsincethe Covidpandemic(2020),registering an over 44 per cent decrease ascomparedtothecorresponding CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 100k 50 k 0 93,833 49,797 40,911 41,540 Covid 2015 2,908 2020 2025 Source:International Trade Administration (US Dept of Commerce) From banks of the Volga, a Russian republic calls India Consulate opening in Kazan, Telangana makes strong case for trade, investment RAKESH SINHA KAZAN (RUSSIA), OCTOBER 11 IN KAZAN, where the Volga meetstheKamasouthof thecity, two teams met on the field for a T20 outing on a sunny morning this week. Vinay Kumar, India’s envoy to Moscow, was there to greet Team Russia and Team India, their playing 11s largely students, watched by most with little or no knowledge of cricket. It was soft diplomacy at play, Indiareturningtothecitywhere, MOSCOW THEGUJARATHighCourthasset aside a 2009 order of the state government to compulsorily retire a then additional district judge, consequential to a decision of the Full Court, pointing out that it was not “bona fide” or in “the public interest”. The court granted relief to the petitioner — the former judicial officer M S Shaikh — by directing the authorities to consider his entitlement to salary Taliban delegation kept women out, Embassy premises gave them shield MEAleanedoncurrentstaff toletMuttaqi holdmediabriefinginembassy:Sources SHUBHAJIT ROY & PRAGYNESH NEW DELHI, DEOBAND, OCTOBER 11 IT WAS the visiting Taliban delegation that had decided to exclude women journalists from the media briefing Friday, an event that was strongly resisted by current staffers, The Indian Express has learnt. Attheheartofthecontroversy is the venue: the Afghanistan Embassy on Shantipath in the capital’s Chanakyapuri diplomatic enclave. It has a current staff strength of about 23 with six Afghans, all representing the earlier regime, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan led by President Ashraf Ghani who fled the country in August 2021. Ahead of Thursday’s visit by Afghanistan Foreign Minister and Taliban leader Amir Khan Muttaqi, these staffers asked CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 and benefits “as if he was in continuous service, without any break” until achieving the age of superannuation in 2014. The court said that if the petitionerisfoundtobeentitledfor promotion as district judge, the effect of the promotion shall be givenfromthedateonwhichthe other incumbents who participated in the same exercise were promoted. Stating that the decisionmaking process (to prematurely retire the judge) was “tainted” due to “reasonable likelihood of bias”,thejudgment,pronounced ● Women in shackles SINCE THEY returned to power in Kabul in 2021, the Taliban have issued over 100 edicts restricting rights of women and girls: banning them from higher education and work; out of public spaces. There are also restrictions on their travel without male escorts; on even being heard singing or reading aloud from inside their homes. Charge D’Affaires (CDA) Sayed Mohammed Ibhrahimkhil — also a representative of the erstwhile regime — not to allow the Taliban briefing to be held there. “We knew they would want to declare this embassy as CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 GAZA: PALESTINIANS RETURN TO RUINS, AID GROUPS PUSH TO SCALE UP SUPPLIES THOUSANDS LAID OFF IN U.S. AMID GOVT SHUTDOWN P12 VOLGA RIVER a year ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinpingmetontheboundariesof the BRICS summit, leading their E THE WORLD KAZAN A T20 match in Kazan between Team Russia and Team India earlier this week. Rakesh Sinha 16 years later, Gujarat HC sets aside govt order to compulsorily retire judge VADODARA, OCTOBER 11 Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi at Darul Uloom Deoband in UP’s Saharanpur, Saturday. Gajendra Yadav RUSSIA ‘REASONABLE LIKELIHOOD OF BIAS’: COURT ORDER ADITI RAJA FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT EXPLAINED DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA by a Division Bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and JusticeDNRayonOctober9,said the compulsory retirement “cannot but be said to be an order of punishment.” M S Shaikh, who was then posted as additional district judge in Sabarkantha district, moved a petition in 2010 to quash and set aside a May 2009 notification of compulsory retirement and sought reinstatement to his original post as well as quashingofadepartmentalinquiry initiated in 2008 — which CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 EXPRESS NETWORK IPS officer death: Rohtak SP shifted; pressure mounts for action on DGP VARINDER BHATIA CHANDIGARH, OCTOBER 11 PM LAUNCHES 2 AGRI SCHEMES WITH OVER `35,000 CR OUTLAY, TARGETS CONGRESS ED ARRESTS CFO OF RELIANCE POWER LIMITED IN BANK LOAN FRAUD CASE PAGE 9 FOUR DAYS after senior Haryana IPS officer Y Puran Kumar was found dead with a gunshot wound at his residence, the Haryana government Saturday took its first action in the case by transferring Rohtak SuperintendentofPolice(SP)Narendra Bijarniya. Bijarniya,a2015-batchIPSofficer, was among the police officialsnamedinthe“finalnote”recovered from Kumar’s pocket. Surinder Singh Bhoriya, a Kamleshwar Singh Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann visits Haryana IPS officer Y Puran Kumar’s family. 2014-batch IPS officer, has been appointed the new Rohtak SP. The government said Bijarniya’s posting orders would be issued separately. Kumar, who belonged to a ScheduledCaste,wasfounddead at his Chandigarh residence on Tuesday. In her complaint, his wife,IASofficerAmneetPKumar, accused Bijarniya and Haryana DGP Shatrujeet Singh Kapur, besidessevenotherservingIPSofficers, one retired IPS officer and threeretiredIASofficersofharassment“resultinginthedeathofmy husband on October 7, 2025.” Bijarniya’s transfer comes evenasthestategovernmenthas alertedallpolicecommissioners CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 Weeks after students left in protest, Kutch sub-school gets upgrade, more teachers PAGE 1 ANCHOR BRENDAN DABHI AHMEDABAD, OCTOBER 11 THE GUJARAT state education department on Thursday issued orders to hire more teachers as part of the upgrade of a subschool at a village in Kutch. The movecomesweeksafter the Gujarat High Court took suo motu cognizance of a report in The Indian Express about how all students of the primary subschool had quit in protest after their demand for a full-fledged school fell on deaf ears. The Indian Express had reported on July 29 and on August 8, 2025, about how all 134 students of the sub-school in the Bharatnagar Pul Patiya village of Bhujtaluka,hadtakentheirleaving certificates in protest, barely a month after the 2025-26 academicsessionstarted,whichthe Gujarat High Court took suo motu cognizance of, prompting the BJP government in the state to issue orders to upgrade the schoolasanindependentone,all on the same day. A Special Civil Application filed in the matter had said, “The state cannot wait to act till the damage is done as seen in the present case wherein the state acted only after cognizance has been taken by the honorable court of the fact that all the students had left the school... nonregularisation of a school in a remote area due to lack of infrastructure is not in the interest of the public at large and prima facie demonstrates the state's inability to abide by the constitution and ensure fundamental rights of the students.” Residents of this village, which falls under the Jikadi Juth gram panchayat with a population of nearly 700 families, Students at the school in Bharatnagar Pul Patiya village of Bhuj, Kutch; The Indian Express report dated July 29, 2025, that the Gujarat High Court took suo motu cognizance of. Express pointed out that the sub-school thathadnearlydoublethenumber of students than the main school - Ambedkarnagar Prathmik Shala - which had 72 students itself and was two km away - lacked basic facilities and had not been given the status of a full school and was running on only two teachers between Classes 1-5. In an order dated October 9, Dr N N Patel, the state's Joint Director of Primary Education, “revised upwards” the sanctioned strength of teachers in Bhuj taluka of Kutch district, adding that the sub-school in Bharatnagar Pul Patiya village had been given approval as an independent school. This additional sanction of seven teachers, four for Classes 1-5 and three for Classes 6-8, came as a special provision by the state government, whose deadline for sanctioning the strength of teachers in Gujarat ended on July 31, 2025. While the vacancies for teachers in the primary school have already been filled, those for Classes 6-8 will be done after Diwali vacation. Taluka Primary Education Officer (TPEO) Nilesh Gor told The Indian Express, “After the CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 Ahmedabad