The Editorial Page: R&D underspending in India has no one cause. It’s systemic as well as cultural 12 FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 2026 JournalisM of Courage NEW dELhi, LATE CiTy, 24 PAgES ₹7.00 (₹8 RAiPuR, ₹15 SRiNAgAR) l www.indianexpress.com CBC 46101/13/0010/2627 dA i Ly f R o M : A h M E dA B A d , C h A N d i gA R h , d E L h i , j A i P u R , ko L k ATA , Lu C k N o W , M u M B A i , N Ag P u R , PAT N A , P u N E , vA d o dA R A Happening today l The Supreme Court is set to hear Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan’s plea against rejection of her nomination papers for Rajya Sabha polls. l The Women’S T20 World Cup begins with England facing Sri Lanka in Birmingham. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com business as usual announcemenT on Social media poST hourS afTer ThreaTening freSh aTTackS Trump calls off Iran strikes, claims progress in talks towards a deal man in 11a: ‘won’t be at peace, i have to live with what i modi, Trump aT g7 nexT Week Third ship hit by US lost, went through’ Says ‘all parties’ have approved; no immediate Tehran response near Oman, all 20 Indians rescued, safe By EP UNNY CENTCOM: Fired Hellfire missiles at its engine room, was trying to ship Iran oil Shubhajit roy, Sukalp Sharma & purnima Sah New Delhi, Mumbai, June 11 says discussions were brought to the highest level of Iran’s leadership and approved. AP fiLE parisa hafezi & Susan heavey Dubai, Washington, June 11 nation pages 4,8 two killed in fresh violence as tensions boil over in manipur motoraccident claims:consider rs30,000/month ashomemakers’ income,sayssc gangster extradited from georgia President donald trump called off plans for renewed Us military strikes on iran at the last minute on thursday, saying negotiations with tehran had advanced to the highest levels of iran's leadership and had been approved by a broad coalition of regional powers. the dramatic reversal came hoursbeforethestrikeswereexpectedtobecarriedout.Butdetails of the diplomatic breakthrough after more than three monthsofwar—includinghow iran’s leadership had signaled its approval — were not immediatelyclearintrump’spost on truth social. “Based on the fact that discussions with the islamic republicofiranhavebeenbrought to the highest level of iranian leadershipandapproved,ihave, asPresidentoftheUnitedstates ofamerica,cancelledthescheduled strikes and bombings »conTinued on page 2 ‘family SafeTy neT my STrengTh’ Tanker mT Jalveer was attacked near the oman coast, Thursday. ANi Fears For the safety of indian seafarers on board ships trying to transit the strait of Hormuz heightened thursday when the UsmilitaryattackedMtJalveer, aGuinea-Bissau-flaggedtanker, near the oman coast, the third such incident in the area in four days. all 20 indian seafarers on board were safely evacuated after the missile strike. theattackonthetankertook place on the day sarbananda »conTinued on page 2 E. explained a year later safety concerns mount amid strikes US enforcement of a naval blockade of Iran has raised fears about safety of seafarers on board shipsin the region. Officials sayat least 562 Indian seafarers are on ships near the Strait of Hormuz — 329 inthe Persian Gulfwest of the Strait, and 233intheGulf of Oman tothe east. Ahmedabad, June 11 soMe stories start with a striking anecdote, some with hard facts. this one needs only a number and a letter: 11a. that was the seat allotted to 39-year-old Vishwas Kumar ramesh on ai 171, the Gatwickbound Boeing 787-8 dreamlinerthatcrashedminutesafter takeoff from ahmedabad on June 12 last year, with 242 passengers and crew on board — killing all but him. With Friday marking a year since the tragedy, this lone survivorisstillstrugglingtopickup thepiecesfromthatday.“idon’t think i can ever be completely Vishwas kumar ramesh (right), and his advisor sanjiv Patel. SPECiAL ARRANgEMENT explained page 16 amid uncertainty over ai 171 report, a look at the key theories behind the crash at peace. i will have to live with what i have gone through and »conTinued on page 2 least two warnings from the Us navy in the past fortnight, and that the ship was still trying to push towards the strait of Hormuz.Wewereworried.another ship, in their vicinity, was attacked on the same day, but he Panaji, Lucknow, Hyderabad, June 11 ontHelastphonecallwithhis father on sunday, indian seafarer aditya sharma confided in him about “warnings” from United states forces and the tense situation aboard his Palau-flaggedmerchanttanker, Mt settebello, as the ship navi- air india craSh leena misra Govt confirms three Indian seafarers killed in US strike, families left with memories of phone calls pavneet Singh chadha, Bhupendra pandey, nikhila henry & Sreenivas Janyala Lone survivor Vishwas Kumar Ramesh says final probe report will ‘help us know what happened’ (From left) shivanand chaurasia, aditya sharma and suresh Patnala died after mT settebello came under attack. gated waters off the coast of oman, amid a naval blockade near the strait of Hormuz. “Wespokealmosteveryday. on a Whatsapp call on sunday, hetoldme that theyreceivedat »conTinued on page 2 indian navy removes unexploded warhead from kochi-bound ship page 5 The B J medical college hostel buildings, a year after they were damaged in the air India plane crash. BhuPENdRA RANA A-I: Victims’ belongings Choose between Abhishek and us: niTi aayog governing council meeTing PM calls for district GDP estimates, returned, 15 families Loyalists’ ultimatum to Mamata didn’t take back anything CMs press for affordable energy Kalyan Banerjee targets Abhishek, Sougata Roy says Mamata must tackle charge of nephew’s ‘high-handedness’ Tanusree Bose & manoj c g and tMC’s lok sabha MP abhishek Banerjee and those who were standing by her. Banerjee, one of the MPs said, must take note of the “grievances” against abhishek and that he was with her “as of now”. this came on a day a singlejudge Bench of the Calcutta Kolkata, New Delhi, June 11 as one more rajya sabha MP of the trinamool Congress (tMC)resignedthursday,troubles mounted for party chairpersonMamataBanerjeeastwo ofhercolleaguesstillconsidered partofherfactiongaveheranultimatum, saying she must choose between her nephew Trinamool mPs kalyan Banerjee (left) and sougata roy. »conTinued on page 2 related reports, p 6 ritu Sharma ravi dutta mishra Ahmedabad, June 11 New Delhi, June 11 PriMe Minister narendra Modi thursday asked states to pursue investments from partner countries by addressing grievances rapidly and to come up withdistrict-levelGdPestimates todealwithgrowth-relatedchallenges at the grassroots level. He was addressing the 11th Governing Council meeting of niti aayog which was attended »conTinued on page 2 (From right) chief ministers d k shivakumar, hemant soren, nayab singh saini, and rekha Gupta at nITI aayog meeting, Thursday. ANi oF tHe families of 241 passengers and crew on board the ahmedabad-Gatwick ai 171 flight, which crashed minutes after taking off on June 12, 2025, as manyas15declinedtotakeback the personal belongings of their deceasedkin,includingclothes, passports, wallets and photographs, an air india spokesperson told TheIndianExpress. the spokesperson also said that the airline has so far paid an interim compensation of rs 25 lakh eachto 96 per cent of the families of victims. the crash killed 241 of the 242 people on board, leaving VishwasKumarramesh(39)as thesolesurvivor,andalsokilled 19 individuals on the ground. there were 169 indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese and one Canadian among those on board. Following the crash, air india set up a ‘Family returns Centre’(FrC)inahmedabadto »conTinued on page 2 l ‘hand oF God’ Goal sTaTue noW In sToraGe, BuT azTeca sTIll hIs — From PhoToGraPhs on Wall To ‘maradona TorTa’ In caFe ouTsIde Mexico’s ‘cathedral of football’, the stadium Maradona never really left express at World Cup Sandip g Mexico City, June 11 tHe seCUrity officer near tunnel eight of azteca stadium istired.asmallcrowdhasgathered at the alley leading to the dressing room and he is holding them back. on the wall nearby hangs a photograph: Gonzales, who runs the stadiego Maradona on the dium tours. shoulders of his teammates thegoalthatmadehimand after the 1986 quarter-final at unmade england, boxed up in this very stadium, hair fanned storage beneath the stadium outlikeahalo.sometrytobribe where it happened. azteca and their way past, but the security Maradona have given each officer doesn’t move. other footballing immortality. nearthestadium “almost every page 1 café,thereusedtobe visitor comes in a small bronze search of Maradona statueofMaradona’s memorabilia. some ‘Hand of God’ goal. it was re- get so emotional that they even moved during renovation be- cry,” says Gonzales. When Mafore this World Cup. “We had to radona died over five years ago, make some space, but it will be thousands turned up at the azrestored soon,” says Juventino teca. “He is not Mexican, but he anchor diegomaradona’sstatueandamuralinsidetheaztecastadiumwhere hescoredthehandofGodgoalin1986Worldcup. SPECiAL ARRANgEMENT iskindofaherohere.everyyear onhisdeathanniversary,people come and place bouquets. last time, we kept a mural of him in a churro hat,” he says. outside, the rumbling streets around the azteca are stacked with taco and torta stalls. Martina’s has a torta named after every legendary footballer. the Maradona torta is hot on one side and sweet on the other. “Poco diablo,” says Martina,thecafeowner.a little devil. Her husband watched that 1986 game live, she says. “the World Cup brought us happiness,” Martina says, “and Maradona was a big reason.” the earthquake had come the year before the 1986 World Cup and took everything from thecountry.ninemonthslater, Maradona arrived. inside the press pack that day was luis Caledron, then at Excélsior, now long retired. He remembers the press conferences. Journalists from argentina and england would pressMaradonaonhispersonal life, trying to unsettle him. “He rattledthemmorethantheydid him.Helikedthereporterswho New Delhi askedgoodquestions,andgave them long answers,” he recalls. He also remembers a story about the famous 1986 argentina jersey. since the original match jerseys were too heavy, coach Carlos Bilardo needed something lighter, with two days to go for their opening game. the manufacturers said it was too late. so Bilardo sent secondchoice goalkeeper Héctor MiguelZeladaintothecity.Zelada had played in the local league for years and knew where to go »conTinued on page 2