The Editorial Page: Washington-Tehran MoU is a relief, but flashpoints remain 8 FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2026 Journalism of Courage MUMBaI, laTe CITY, 18 PageS ₹5.00 l www.indianexpress.com 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 , l U 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 reG.no. mcs/067/2018 - 20 rnI reGn. no. 1543/57 Nation First The Core Policy Freedom from the colonial mindset – Rajpath becomes Kartavya Path, and a new Naval Ensign in honour of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vishwas ke, Vikas ke, Jan-Kalyan ke aHead OF SePTeMBer SUMMIT China, Russia, Iran in Delhi next week for huddle of BRICS NSAs Shubhajit roy New Delhi, June 18 cHinese Foreign minister Wang Yi, russian nsa sergei shoigu and iranian supreme nationalsecuritycouncilDeputy secretary nezamipour will beinnewDelhiforthemeeting of the Brics nsas on June 22-23, which will set the stage for the summit of Brics leaders in india in september. india holds the rotating presidency of the Brics bloc this year. its members include Brazil, china, egypt, ethiopia, india, indonesia, iran, russia, saudi arabia, south africa and the United arab emirates. Wang, who is also Beijing’s special representative on the india-china boundary issue, is expected to hold bilateral talks doval and Wang are also India and china’s representatives for boundary talks. PTI FIle with nsa ajit Doval during the visit. Doval will host the meeting of the nsas. Wang was unable to attend the meeting of Brics Foreign ministerslastmonthbecausehe had to be in Beijing for the visit of Us President Donald trump. sources said Wang’s visit is »CONTINUed ON PaGe 2 INTerIM PaCT reOPeNS HOrMUZ, eNdS BlOCkade Deal ending war gives Iran critical economic lifeline Tehran can sell oil freely, will get rich incentives if it agrees to new nuclear pact lee keath Cairo, June 18 tHe interim deal reached by theUsandirantoendtheirwar will reopen the strait of Hormuz and bring the two adversaries back to the negotiating tableovertehran’snuclearprogramme, according to details released by both countries. it will also give iran an immediate benefit, allowing it to 123 Fadnavis to head panel reviewing farm loan waiver eligibility criteria 151 alok deshpande 188 90 Happening today lkerala CM V D Satheesan will present the first Budget of the UDF government. lPM NareNdra Modi will dis- burse Rs 2,400 crore under PM Viksit Bharat Rojgar Yojana. track these and more on www.indianexpress.com Mumbai, June 18 Facing criticism that its “Punyashlok ahilyadevi Holkar farm loan waiver scheme, 2026” could exclude a large number of distressed farmers, the maharashtra government has constituted a committee headed by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to review the schemeandsuggestchangesto its eligibility criteria. “to ensure that farmers eligibleforloanwaiverandincentive benefits under the ‘Punyashlok ahilyadevi Holkar shetkari Karjmukti Yojana, 2026’ are not deprived of the benefits of this scheme, receive theirduebenefitswithoutdelay and that the scheme is imple- the Indian express report publsihed on June 8 mentedtransparently,istheprimary objective of this scheme. For this purpose, a cabinet »CONTINUed ON PaGe 2 Ayodhya, June 18 inside the building which houses the counting centre. ShYaMlal YaDaV related report, page 12 fINMIN raTIfIeS epf raTe aT 8.25%; upI WIThdraWal By MoNTh-eNd page 15 »CONTINUed ON PaGe 2 economy page 15 eMergeNcy fuel Supply To Be rolled Back oNce WeST aSIa SITuaTIoN STaBIlISeS expressinvestigation private schools, pricey coaching, family business, MNc jobs: They also cracked eWS list in upSc exam Whytopcourt hadquestioned rs8-lakhlimit New Delhi, June 18 For everY candidate who cracked india’s civil services this year under the economicallyWeakersectionquota,the son of a security guard or the daughter of a railway porter, there are many others on the same quota list whose backgrounds tell a different story: sons and daughters of businessmen, iit graduates, alumniofprivateschoolsinthe city charging over a lakh a year in fees. there were 104 candidates selected in the civil services examination2025underthe10 per cent quota for the economicallyWeakersection(eWs) — those from general category families with an annual income of less than rs 8 lakh. an investigation by The Indian Express has found a gap between the scheme’s stated purpose and the profiles of many it has come to benefit. »CONTINUed ON PaGe 2 the Upsc office on delhi’s shahjahan road. TaShI ToBgYal l TheQuotadata 104 eWS candidates selected in 2025 civil services exam. 67 attended well-known coaching institutes, annual fees up to Rs 2.65 lakh. 28 candidates’ parents have businesses — shops and trading to steel fabrication, cloth and confectionery. 10 14 candidates held private jobs, including in MNCs. graduates or postgraduates from IITs, and at least three from NITs. Who qualifies under EWS? the economically Weaker section (eWs) quota, notified in 2019, grants 10% reservation in government jobs and educational institutions to persons from the general category not covered under sc, st or oBc reservations. it covers applicants and their families. a 2019 office memorandum of the centre’s ministry of Personnel, Public grievances and Pensions clarifies, “the term ‘Family’forthispurposewillinclude the person who seeks benefit of reservation, his/her parents and siblings below the age of 18 years as also his/her spouse and children below the age of 18 years.” E. »CONTINUed ON PaGe 2 Will urge Speaker Birla to disqualify absentee members, says Sanjay Raut Vikas Pathak, deeptiman Tiwary & Vallabh Ozarkar New Delhi, Mumbai, June 18 tHe sPLit in shiv sena (UBt) became virtually official on thursday after six of the party’s nine Lok sabha mPs skipped a parliamentary party meeting,promptingtheleadership to issue show-cause notices to the rebels. “We have issued showcause notices to the mPs who did not attend; they have been given seven days to respond. the process has been initiated, and we will seek their disqualification. if the speaker acts according to the law and rules, they will be disqualified. the fight will continue in Parliament, in court, and on the streets. the fight on the streets hasalreadybegun.thesecurity of these traitors has been enhanced. Let them even bring in Business as usual By EP UNNY the indian army. that is the only thing left to be deployed forthesecurityoftraitors,”sena (UBt) rajya sabha mP sanjay raut said. »CONTINUed ON PaGe 2 full coverage page 6 6 rebels try to convince seventh to join, may meet Speaker on June 21 or 22 liz Mathew New Delhi, June 18 WitHsixshivsena(UBt)mPs being a no-show at the parliamentary party meeting in new Delhi on thursday and getting served with a show-cause notice,theUddhavthackeray-led partyisheadingtowardsasplit. the mPs who skipped the meeting of the parliamentary party are sanjay Jadhav, sanjay Deshmukh, nagesh Patil ashtikar, Bhausaheb Wakchaure, sanjay Dina Patil, and omraje nimbalkar. they are likely to approach Lok sabha speaker om Birla and make a formal claim for a merger with the shiv sena on June 21 or June 22, the indian express has learnt. in the Lok sabha, shiv sena leader eknath shinde’s son shrikant is the leader. »CONTINUed ON PaGe 2 ‘Will not succumb to threats... bad guys are not allowed to win’ New Delhi, June 18 page 12 left thousands dead across the region, triggered a global energy crisis and shaken the american economy. iran and the Us will enter a 60-day period of negotiations, Uddhav Sena all but splits: Six of nine MPs skip key meeting, party issues notice l JUstIce GaUtam patel, retIred BomBay hIGh coUrt JUdGe, speaks to The IndIan express on facInG threats oVer JUdGment, attack on daUGhter In Uk aamir khan pM: IN aN era of dISrupTIoN, Tech MuST delIver for all sell its oil freely again. Besides the new oil revenue for iran, the two sides are more or less back where they were three-and-half months ago — before israel and the Us launched their war, which has Shyamlal Yadav Shyamlal Yadav »CONTINUed ON PaGe 2 Us president donald trump in Versailles and Iranian president masoud pezeshkian in tehran sign the agreement to end the war. PTI, aNI relaTed reporTS, paGes 13, 14 Daughter of railway porter to son of security guard to IIT graduate, MNC employee: Rs 8-lakh income bar raises questions of fairness in eligibility 35 donation boxes, 2 shifts: As SIT probes Ram Mandir ‘fund theft’, how count is kept an innocUoUsLY named ‘Pilgrim Facilitation centre’ is at the heart of the row brewing over ram temple donation funds in ayodhya. Located 200 metres from the main temple, and bearing its architectural imprint, the building holds a counting room in the basement. it is to this room that CBC 22201/13/0017/2627 Dream of a Naxal-free India becomes a reality, with a strong crackdown on terrorism DaYs BeFore he retired from theBombayHighcourtinapril 2024, Justice gautam Patel delivered a judgment on the Dawoodi Bohra succession dispute, upholding syedna mufaddalsaifuddinasthecommunity’srightfulspiritualhead. that judgment is at the centre of threats being faced by theretiredJudgeandhisfamily for nearly 10 months now — from mumbai to London, where his daughter, aditi, was assaulted on april 22. the anonymous letters warned Justice Patel to leave india and topubliclyrecanthisjudgment in a Youtube video. edited excerpts from an interview with Justice Patel: You were doubtful about returning from the UK to India. How is the family coping with the threats? i am back in mumbai. no question about that. We have to getonwithourlives.Wearetaking the necessary precautions andbeingcareful.Butweareab- solutelynotgoingtoallowthem toalterthetempoortenorofour lives, or to dictate to us what we can and can’t do, where we should work, how we should live,andwhereweshouldtravel. that’s not happening. We will continue, and we will not succumb to these threats. the familyandiaretogetheronthis. express interview JUSTICe GaUTaM PaTel ReTIReD BoMBaY hIgh CoURT jUDge One of the threatening letters demanded that you leave India and record a YouTube video recanting your 2024 judgment. Have you ever encountered a campaign of this sort? neverheardofit,anditisabsolutelyunthinkable.itissomething unknown to law. it’s entirelyoutsidetherealmoflaw.in fact, the demand is to commit an illegality. Let’s be very clear aboutit.notonlyisthedemand in itself illegal, but it asks that i make a false allegation against oneofthepartiestothedispute. i am essentially being asked to fabricate a statement, which i refuse to do. and i will look at it a different way. they have an allegation against me. they don’t want to prove it. talk is cheap. instead of proving it, they are trying to browbeat not just me, but browbeat me by browbeating my family and actually attacking my family, which has nothing to do with any of this, into committing a rank illegality. How can that be contemplated? there’s the judgment. i rendered it after thought and due deliberation. the appeal court will decide whether i was right or wrong. it’s really that simple. Whatever has to be arguedhastobearguedinappeal. »CONTINUed ON PaGe 2 Mumbai