The Ideas Page: A reply to CEA — what’s missing in India is not ambition, but competition 11 SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2026 JournAlIsm of CourAge lucKNOW lATe cITY, 18 PAgeS ₹6.00 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 TODAY, THE COUNTRY HAS NEARLY 1,000 WAREHOUSES, ALMOST TWICE AS MANY AS IN 2014 Business as usual By EP UNNY Happening today lPrime minister narendra Modi will release the 23rd instalment of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana from West Bengal. lPresident drouPadi Murmu will celebrate her 68th birthday at her native place in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com The Big PicTure VanCe, iranians Call oFF sWitZerland meetinG Deal under strain: iran suspends talks after israel attacks Lebanon Via Hormuz to Gujarat Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire after intense fighting, but Israel says its troops will stay sohini Ghosh New Delhi, June 19 Zurich, Cairo, June 19 »Continued on PaGe 2 E. explained lng carrier Disha, which was the first Indian vessel to cross the strait of hormuz after the Us and Iran announced a deal, at gujarat’s dahej port, Friday. carrying Qatari lng, the vessel had been stranded in the Persian gulf for over three months amid the west asia war. PTI India’s Russian oil imports at record high, set to remain core of crude diet sukalp sharma difficult talks ahead Billa & Ranga a reporter’s diary Page 15 New Delhi, June 19 The discussions in Switzerland, when they do happen, are expected to focus on Iran’s nuclear programme. Tehran maintains it is peaceful, though it has highly enriched uranium that could be used to build multiple atomic bombs. WiTh india steppingupitsoil imports from russia amid the lossofWestasianbarrelsdueto supply disruption owing to the crisis in the region, crude imports from Moscow in June are expected to touch an all-time high,preliminaryshiptracking data indicates. although the Us has allowed its sanctions waiver on russian oil purchases to lapse, at least for the time being, industry experts and insiders expect russian crude to remain indianrefiners’mainstayinthe foreseeable future. sofarinJune,india’soilimports from russia averaged at 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd), a whopping 53.5% of the country’s total crude imports for the period, as per vessel tracking data from commodity market analytics firm kpler. Forthefullmonth,kplerexpects russian oil imports at over 2.35 million bpd, which would be the highest-ever. The previous monthly high was 2.2 million bpd in May 2023. sumit ritolia, Manager, »Continued on PaGe 2 Many universities in MP, ‘Waited 500 years for Ram temple, Chhattisgarh replace give SIT 15 days’: Yogi in Ayodhya ‘India’ with ‘Bharat’ in maulshree seth degrees, marksheets l importofrussianoil overeightmonths l in million bpd Nov 2025 1.84 Dec 2025 1.24 Jan 2026 1.09 Feb 2026 1.04 Mar 2026 1.99 Apr 2026 1.57 May 2026 1.91 Jun 2026* 2.66 *uP TO JuNe 19 source: KPler politics New Delhi, June 19 anUMBerofstateandcentral universitiesinsomestateshave decided to replace the word “india” with “Bharat” in their degrees, marksheets, correspondence, invites, and signboards, among other things. on sunday, President droupadi Murmu will attend a convocation of rani durgavati University in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur, a state university, where all degrees to be awarded will feature Bharat in- stead of india. rani durgavati University’s Vice-Chancellor (V-C) rajesh kumar Verma told The Indian Express that the university will henceforth use Bharat on all its degrees and marksheets in hindiaswellasenglish.“inthe g20 summit, the word Bharat wasused.WearepeopleofBharat and the real name of the country is Bharat. The name indiacamelater.so,ourexecutiveCouncilpassedaresolution tousethewordBharatinallour documentation.” »Continued on PaGe 2 Breaking his silence on the allegations of misappropriation of donations and valuables at the ram Temple, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi adityanathFridayurgedcritics to submit any evidence they possess to the special investigation Team (siT) that is conducting an inquiry and wait for the outcome of the probe, ratherthan“defame”ayodhya. “Trust ke anurodh par siT jaanch karayi gayi hai. siT jaanchdoodhkadoodh,panika pani karegi. (The siT inquiry was ordered at the request of the trust. it will establish the truth and separate facts from Page 7 examining records and statements in ayodhya and is expected to submit its findings to »Continued on PaGe 2 In Manipur, some are being escorted to centres under security cover at night Senapati threetowns Kangpokpi Tamenglong Noney Kamjong imphal Tengnoupal chandel disqualify TMC MPs who defeCTed: aBhishek To BiRla falsehood),”hesaidinayodhya. The three-member siT, headed by senior ias officer Vijay Vishwas Pant, has been »Continued on PaGe 2 ‘What if there’s an ambush’: Across divide, aspirants dread journey to NEET centres l NeeT centres l Districts providing security arrangements for candidates uddhav aPPeals To CadRe as shinde says sena uBT exodus is ‘TRaileR’ Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi adityanath at maa kamakhya Temple in ayodhya on Friday. PTI relaTed rePorT, Page 3 UPholding The Centre’s order directing temporary blockingofmessageapplication Telegram until June 22, ahead of the neeT-Ug 2026 re-examination this sunday, the delhi high Court said Friday that the government is “empowered” to issueemergencyblockingdirections to not only individual users, but also platforms or applications like Telegram. dismissing Telegram’s plea challenging the June 16 blocking order, Justice Tejas karia held the government action to be proportionate and the “least restrictivemeasure”forachieving the objective of potential misuseoftheplatformaheadof theneeT-UgretestonJune21, and preventing potential public order implications. “The temporary blocking of Telegram under the orders is operativeonlyuntil22.06.2026, whilethedisablingofthemessage-editing feature is confined to the period until 30.06.2026. The limited temporal scope of these measures demonstrates that they are narrowly tailored and confined to the period strictly necessary for securing the stated objective,” Justice karia said. l neetcentresin Lucknow, June 19 Vikas Pathak Delhi HC upholds Govt order blocking Telegram to secure NEET retest Sunday Govt empowered to issue emergency blocking directions under IT Act: Court aamer madhani, Jamey Keaten & samy magdy The aMeriCan push to quickly begin high-stakes talks with iran hit a snag Friday, just two days after the signing of an agreement that opens a twomonth window for negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear programme and returning oil trafficthroughthestraitofhormuz to pre-war levels. iranian officials did not travel as planned to switzerland, insisting that israeli strikes on iranian-backed hezbollah militants in lebanon must stop before the talks can ‘least restriCtiVe’ uttar pradesH daliT Man killed, PRoTesTeRs seT aCCused’s house on fiRe Page 5 churachandpur sukrita Baruah Guwahati, June 19 More Than a month ago, a 19-year-old student travelled from her home in Manipur’s kangpokpi by road, taking nationalhighway-2throughsenapati district, to her exam centre in nagaland’s kohima, to write thenationaleligibilitycumentrance Test (neeT) on May 3. sincethen,notonlyhasthat test been cancelled following a paper leak controversy that rocked the entire country, but her state has also seen fresh conflict, with the flaring up of tensions and hardening of faultlines making the circumstances surrounding the upcoming neeT retest significantly different. The national-level undergraduate medical entrance exam will now be held on June 21, and the 19-year-old has had to travel days before the test to thelocationofherexamination »Continued on PaGe 2 l ParT oF aI 171’s cabIn crew, 22-Year-old woUld call UP home wIThoUT FaIl, and several TImes a daY IF he was FlYIng anYwhere For family, flight attendant killed in Air India crash lives — one message at a time dipanita nath Pune, June 19 raaste mein hain. Inshaallah 10-11 baje tak pahuchenge. Bhaijaan scorpio chala raha hai, dulha bana hai or khud ki gaadi chala raha hai” June17,5.50am: “irfan,islamic naya saal shuru hua hai. Moharram ka mahina” may22,6.37am: “irfan,aajbar- on JUne 12, 2025, 22-year-old irfan shaikh, an attendant on ish ho rahi hai. Is saal garmi ke ai-171, was killed baad ki pahli baawhen the air india rish…mainevideo air india Crash Boeing787dreamnahin nikali... liner crashed in tujhe bhejti thi ahmedabad, secna, ab kisko bheondsaftertake-off. joon…” may3,6.14am: “Janamdinmu- everyfewdays,sometimesseveral times a day, Taslim samir barak ho irfan, or aaj hi Bhaishaikhsendsatexttohisphone jaan ka nikah bhi hai. Dua number, kept activated by the karna sab thik ho. Ameen” may 3, 8.08 Pm: “Abhi hum family – and updates him on a year later what’s happening with their lives. Taslim tells him about the firstrainpost-summer,thestart of Moharram, and his elder brother’s wedding. They chose his birthday for it, she reminds irfan,asshewisheshim,sothat they have something to celebrate that day. it’s something irfan would like, believes Taslim. not a day passed when her younger son, who moved to Mumbai after getting a job at the age of 19, did not speak to his family, says the 46-year-old. having done a course at Frankfinn institute in Pune, Irfan shaikh’s parents with the last uniform that he wore, at their home in Pimpri, Pune. Arul HOrIzON irfan had joined air Vistara as cabincrew,andafterairVistara merged with air india, was flying to international destinations like Mauritius. every time he flew, irfan would follow a routine. he would call or message when he left for his flight, then when he reached the airport, again when he had boarded, soon after landing, and finally drop a line or connect with Taslim after he reached the hotel where he was staying. on June 12, 2025, too, irfan called. in the taxi taking the cabin crew to the ahmedabad airportforthegatwicklondon- bound flight, he made a twominutevideocalltoTaslim.The timewas10.07am,three-and-ahalf hours before the crash. The moment they heard of the accident, the family rushed to ahmedabad by plane, trying irfan’s phone every few minutes. it kept ringing till the evening, they say, but no one answered. “We thought irfan may be busy. as a flight attendant, it was his duty to help rescue passengers…,” says father samir noormohammed shaikh, 50. By the time they got to Civil hospital,ahmedabad,hopesof any survivors had been quashed. There was eventually only one, a passenger, Vishwas kumar. The shaikhs spent nine days more in ahmedabad before they could take irfan’s bodyhome.sittingintheliving room of the family’s two-room flat in sant Tukaram nagar in PimpriChinchwad,samirtalks of an endless wait, made worse by “insensitive” officials and politicians “vying for photoops”. every time it happened, the rescue operations were halted,hesays,asirfan’sgrandmother shanubi noormohammad shaikh, 73, and »Continued on PaGe 2 Lucknow