The ideas Page: Pm modi needs a Kamaraj Plan. Will he bite the bullet? 11 FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 2026 JournaliSm of Courage KoLKATA, LATe CITy, 20 PAgeS ₹6.00 (₹12 in North east states, ₹20 in Andaman) 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 AYodHYA trUst member complAinAnt After A neArlY tWo-YeAr sUspension FIR against 8 over theft of donations at Ram temple From Sunday, India will resume tourist visas for Bangladesh nationals: Trivedi Envoy presents credentials in Dhaka, Delhi grants him Cabinet Minister status divya A New Delhi, June 25 Moving to improve bilateral relations, india thursday announced the resumption of tourist visas for Bangladeshi nationals after a nearly twoyear suspension. the announcement was made by the newly appointed indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Dinesh trivedi, during a visit to the indian visa Application Centre (ivAC) in Dhaka. Delhi suspended tourist visas for Bangladeshi nationals inAugust2024followingpolitical unrest and the ouster of the SheikhHasina-ledgovernment. trivedi announced that tourist visaapplicationswill resume on June 28, at five visa centres, including the one in Dhaka. thiswashisfirstannouncement after presenting his credentials to the President of Bangladesh, Mohammed Shahabuddin, thursday after- happening today lUnion Home Minister Amit Shah will chair the 10th apex-level meeting of the Narco-Coordination Centre with focus on tackling the challenges posed by synthetic drugs, darknet-enabled trafficking and expanding the reach of rehabilitation centres. l AccommodAting Ex-driver of Trust gen secy among those named; action after SIT report goes to CM rescue workers search through the rubble after powerful earthquakes in caracas, Venezuela on wednesday. AP more rePorTs, page 14 Indian envoy to Bangladesh dinesh Trivedi with President mohammed shahabuddin in dhaka. @IhCdhAKA The ediTorial page Thousands feared killed as twin quakes rock Venezuela, many trapped under rubble My absence is not silence. i will return through the strength of the people Official toll 188 so far, USGS says may cross 10,000 sHeiKH HAsinA WAzed, Vivian sequera, mayela Armas & deisy buitrago ForMer bANgLAdeSh PM page 10 La Guaira, Caracas, June 25 noon, signalling that he has been tasked with repairing ties between the two countries. »continUed on pAge 2 tHoUSAnDS oF venezuelans were feared dead on thursday after two powerful earthquakes,includingthecountry’s express news service ‘Aligns with democratising access to AI, digitising small businesses, creating jobs’ Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com By EP UNNY Pm narendra modi with amazon ceo andy Jassy on Thursday. PTI george mathew Mumbai, June 25 ncert’s new textbook has sir, details on eMergency Page 9 explained page 12 behind earthquake devastation: rare ‘seisMic doublet’, vulnerable location years of economic turmoil that had left much of its infrastructure fragile, complicating rescue and recovery efforts. in some areas, emergency workersscrambledoverthedebris of collapsed buildings through the evening and into thursday. in others, residents decried a lack of help. JorgeRodriguez,whoheads venezuela's national assembly and is the brother of interim President Delcy Rodriguez, said at least 188 people were confirmed dead and 200 were trapped. He said 1,520 people were injured and at least 250 buildingshadbeendamagedor destroyed. the worst-affected area, »continUed on pAge 2 Amazon ramps up AI, BJP defends MP CM, silent on his firm cloud infra investment buying land, 4-fold jump since 2021 in India, takes total to Firm where Mohan Yadav, wife Seema hold 73% bought at least 2.6 acres for Rs 1.43 cr after he became Chief Minister $48 billion by 2030 VAibHAVSooryavanshi in the team will be the toughest riddle for the management when India step into a new T20 era under Shreyas Iyer in the first of a twomatch series against Ireland. business as usual strongest in over a century, wreaked havoc in and around the capital Caracas, trapping people beneath the rubble of collapsedbuildingsandsetting off powerful aftershocks. Amagnitude7.2earthquake hit about 160 km west of Caracasonwednesdayevening,followed less than a minute later by a magnitude 7.5 tremor, according to the US geological Survey (USgS). the disaster struck a countryalreadygrapplingwith StEPPing UP its investment plans in india, US e-commerce giant Amazon has proposed to invest an additional $13 billion to expand artificial intelligence (Ai) and cloud infrastructure in india, taking its total investment in the country to $48 billion between 2026 and 2030. in 2025, Amazon announced a $35-billion investmentacrossallitsbusinessesin india. this additional $13 billion, the company said, will expand AwS data centre capacity in Mumbai and Hyderabad, givingstartups,enterprisesand government organisations access to custom Ai chips, managed Ai services, secure and reliable cloud technologies, and developer tools to innovate faster, scale further and serve customers globally. the announcement came after Amazon CEo Andy Jassy met Prime Minister narendra Modi in new Delhi thursday. Jassy highlighted the growing importance of india, where Amazon operates several businesses including e-commerce, Ai and cloud, and entertainment among others, in his »continUed on pAge 2 New Delhi, Bhopal, June 25 AS tHE Congress stepped up its attack on Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav over The Indian Express investigation on land purchases by his family and their real estate firms, national convener of the BJP’s it cell Amit Malviya, BJP state president Hemant Khandelwal and ministers of the Madhya Pradesh government dismissed the allegations as “baseless…bereftofsubstance” and “politically motivated.” However, the party is silent on the investigation’s key findings that the Yadav family’s land holdings doubled between 2021 and 2023, when Mohan Yadav was a Minister, and doubled again between 2024 and 2025 after he became Chief Minister. in a post on X thursday, Malviya said: “the entire edi- fice of allegations built around TheIndianExpressreport rests on the insinuation that Mohan Yadav or his family benefitted from privileged access to information after he became Chief Minister. But even a cursory examination of the facts exposes how baseless and bereftofsubstancethiscampaign really is.” As “the most crucial fact,” Malviya claimed that “the land »continUed on pAge 2 In Bengal, Suvendu govt to bring UCC Bill this Assembly session ravik bhattacharya Kolkata, June 25 tHE nEw BJP government in west Bengal is planning to bringinaBillonimplementing the Uniform Civil Code in the state during the ongoing Assembly session. During the Assembly elections in the state, the BJP had promised to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) within six months of being voted to power as part of its manifesto. “it is likely that the UCC Bill will be introduced in the Assembly and it will be a law in this Assembly session itself. it will be a milestone. it is in tune with our party’s policy of one nation, one law,” said a senior BJP MLA. Accordingtosources,abusinessadvisory(BA)meetingwas held late thursday evening at the state Assembly, where tabling of the Bills, including UCC, was discussed. “the Bill may be placed on Monday,” said a source. the Uniform Civil Code is a proposedframeworktoreplace religion-based personal laws withonecommonsetofsecular laws governing marriage, divorce, inheritance, and adoption for all citizens. Rooted in Article44oftheConstitution,it seekstopromotegenderjustice and national integration. Historically, personal laws, suchastheHinduMarriageAct or Muslim Personal Law, have governed private affairs. the BJP has already »continUed on pAge 2 bhupendra pandey & shyamlal Yadav Lucknow, New Delhi, June 25 PoLiCE in Ayodhya registered an FiR thursday against eight individuals and unidentified others on a complaint alleging theft,misappropriationofcash, embezzlement of funds and valuables donated to the Ram temple. the FiR was lodged at Kotwali Ramjanmabhoomi police station on a complaint by Krishna Mohan, a member of the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi teerth Kshetra trust, two days after a Special investigation team (Sit), probing the allegations,submitteditspreliminary findingstotheUPgovernment. the eight individuals named in the FiR are Avinash Shukla, Lavkush Mishra, Anukalp Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, RamashankarMishra,RamShankar Yadav alias tinnu Yadav and Subhash Srivastav. Late thursday, all eight were brought to the police stationforquestioning.Mostwere involvedinthedonationcounting work. The building which houses the counting centre. ShyAMLAL yAdAv lTheroleoftheeight sUbHAsH sriVAstAV: A retired bank employee, he was in-charge of the donation counting shifts at the Pilgrim Facility Centre. rAm sHAnKAr YAdAV AliAs tinnU YAdAV: ex-driver of Trust general secretary Champat rai, looked after temple functioning. coUnting stAff: Avinash Shukla, Lavkush Mishra, Anukalp Mishra, Manish Kumar yadav, Karunesh Pandey, ramashankar Mishra. tinnu Yadav used to work as a driver for Champat Rai, »continUed on pAge 2 KolKAtA WAreHoUse collApse ‘Every single pillar used to shake… was terrified to work there’ sweety Kumari Jaggadal (North 24 Parganas), June 25 RAJAMonDAL,28,feelslucky. Four days ago, he decided not to work at Kolkata's taratala warehouse construction site, where the roof caved in on wednesday afternoon, killing 11 labourers. At least over a dozen others are still feared to be trapped inside the rubble. “i worked there for a couple of days, but i didn't like it. the supervisors promised to pay Rs 650 a day, but never paid on time. More importantly, every single pillar (of the warehouse) used to shake,” Mondal told the indian Express. “the construction was visibly faulty. i was terrified to work there. Being a labourer, i knew my voice wouldn't be heard, so i suddenly decided to stop going,” Mondal added, reaffirming Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s statement in Family mourns Pappu rajak in Jaggadal , Thursday. SweeTy KuMArI the Assembly where he said thatKolkataMunicipalCorporation, then led by tMC Mayor Firhad Hakim, approved the faulty design of the multi-storied warehouse. His neighbour, 40-year-old PappuKumarRajak,wasnotas lucky as him. »continUed on pAge 2 l among measures ProPosed were an sos Phone numBer, gPs amBulances, good samarITan law and a Trauma regIsTry Saving lives on road: SC told states to put in 5 key measures, hardly any state did page 1 anchor l Two-ThirdsofdeaThsin8sTaTesalone dheeraj mishra State New Delhi, June 25 inDiA’S DiSMAL road safety record of 1.77 lakh fatalities a year has a revealing backstory. not a single state has a complete trauma care architecture the Supreme Court sought for saving lives, according to data submitted to it by 34 states and Union territories over the last nine months. A common emergency phone number, gPS-equipped ambulances, a good Samaritan law, a trauma registry and a res- Ambulance: good road Trauma 112 NerS Public gPS Samaritan deaths registry Integration dashboard grievance (2024) uttar Pradesh 24,118 Partial No No yes Tamil Nadu 18,449 Partial NA yes yes Maharashtra 15,715 Partial yes yes No Madhya Pradesh 14,791 Partial No yes No Karnataka 12,390 NA yes No No rajasthan 11,790 Partial No No No bihar 9,347 Andhra Pradesh 8,346 Partial No No No No NA No No cueprotocol—thesearethefive mostimportantmeasuresofthe total nine the Supreme Court had asked states to put in place in its May 26 order. these five measures form a Total deaths 1,77,175 Total deaths in top 8 states 1,14,946 (65%) l Most of the states did not provide gPS device data on private ambulances l only 1 of 8 states has linked gPS dashboard with 112 NerS l except Karnataka, seven states have their own rescue protocol SourCe: STATeS’S SubMISSIoNS IN SuPreMe CourT crucialframeworktopreparefor the“goldenHour”—thefirst60 minutesafteranaccidentcritical to saving lives. the top court’s order came in a petition filed by SaveLiFE Foundation,aDelhi-basedroad safety organisation, which had recommended a uniform trauma care system across states. Acomprehensivereadingof the 1,200 pages of court submissions shows that of the eight states — Uttar Pradesh, tamil nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh—thataccountfortwo out of every three accident deathsinthecountry,sevenare yet to merge all their emergency numbers into 112; one »continUed on pAge 7 Why states are dragging their feet in establishing a trauma system dheeraj mishra New Delhi, June 25 PooR CooRDinAtion amongagencies,multiplicityof departments and missing standard operating procedures (SoPs) are some of the key reasons why states have not built a trauma response system as directed by the Supreme Court. A road fatality involves at least six departments viz., po- lice, health, road agency, district magistrate office, insurance company and the death registration office, which makes a quick response in emergency cases difficult. the first challenge whenever an accident happens is which number to call. there are many emergency numbers — police (100), fire (101), medical (102), ambulance (108), highway (1033), women (181), E. Kolkata cybercrime(1930),etc.Asingle number 112 has been conceived, but this will work only when there is a command centre at the district or state level to deploy required resources from all concerned agencies promptly during an accident. “theintegrationto112isnot just an integration of two computers. it is an integration of two different ecosystems. Currently, the APi level integration »continUed on pAge 7