8 The Editorial Page: Let’s resist easy indictments of Indian Knowledge Systems MoNDAY, JUNE 8, 2026 Journalism of Courage AhMEdABAd, lATE CITy, 16 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 No need to worry about US Section 301, we will tackle it… confident of a good trade deal: Goyal Asks India Inc to get out of ‘comfort zone’, look for opportunities at home, abroad express news service Mumbai, June 7 dayS afTer the Trump administration proposed 12.5% tariffs on India and 53 other countries after a United States Trade representative (USTr) trade investigation under Section 301 of the US Trade act of 1974 declared that these countries failed to impose a legal prohibition on “importation of goods produced wholly or in Union minister piyush Goyal in mumbai, sunday. SANKhAdEEP BANERJEE part with forced labour”, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said Sunday he didn’tthinktherewasanyneed toworryaboutSection301,and that “we will tackle it”. The proposed tariffs have been announced while US and Indian negotiators are finalisingabilateraltradeagreement. Speaking at the Financial Express India’s Best Banks awards in Mumbai, Goyal said USTraderepresentativeJamieson Greer will visit India in the next two weeks for further discussions on the trade deal. earlier, he had indicated an agreement could be reached by July. “So this (Section 301 investigation) is really a mechanism »COnTinUeD On pAge 2 seCOnD pRiCe RevisiOn sinCe CRisis in wesT AsiA LPG cylinder price up Rs 29; OMCs still losing Rs 700: Govt Ministry: Price of household cylinder lower than that in neighbouring countries l afterthehike city price delhi Rs 942 Kolkata Rs 968 Mumbai Rs 941.50 Chennai Rs 957.50 sukalp sharma New Delhi, June 7 Some MPs out of reach, Mamata 15 months & counting, in Delhi amid fears of rebellion pROBe inTO plAnTATiOn wORks rajasthan Forest dept sits on its probe that exposed graft within 2025 report alleged forged bills, fabricated records, fake signatures Jay Mazoomdaar New Delhi, June 7 oNeINTerNalreportalleged corruption, including illegal money transfers, forged bills; this report gathers dust until a year later, a second report is ordered which says that the paymentwasinbanktransfers,not cash, so there was no need for a probe.Now,everyone’swaiting for a third report. This is the unusual case of the rajasthan forest department sitting on its own enquiry’s recommendation — 15 months and counting — to initiate an anti-Corruption Bureau (aCB) investigation into alleged embezzlement in Business as usual By EP UNNY plantation works, according to records reviewed by The Indian Express. Keytothecaseareallegedillegal withdrawals of rs 17 crore for advance soil work during 2023-24 in a single forest range ofthealwardivision.forestdepartment sources, however, said an aCB probe could exposedeepersystemicirregularities in a state that has spent an estimatedrs600-800croreannually on plantation schemes in recent years. Based on internal evaluationsofadvancesoilandplantation works carried out by seven Village forest Protection and Management Committees »COnTinUeD On pAge 2 Manoj C g & Ravik Bhattacharya New Delhi, Kolkata, June 7 BeleaGUeredTrINaMool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee landed in delhi on Sunday with the avowed objective of resurrecting the INdIa bloc—whichshewasoncecriticalofandmaintainedadistance from — amid indications that a section of her lok Sabha and rajya Sabha MPs are getting readytochartaseparatecourse. TMC sources said efforts wereontoreplicatetheKolkata model of Mlas breaking away and forming a separate group andelectinganewleaderinthe parliamentary wing of the party. The TMC’s organisational leadership is said to be making a last-ditch attempt to preventasplitintheparliamentary party, but several MPs are incommunicado, it is learnt. “There is a possibility and the process has already started as far as the lok Sabha is concerned. What has happened in the West Bengal assembly will be repeated in lok Sabha so far as our party is concerned,” »COnTinUeD On pAge 2 Tmc chief mamata banerjee with aap convenor arvind kejriwal and Tmc mp abhishek banerjee in new delhi, sunday. ANI ‘Two people destroyed the India Bloc alliance: Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal’ sAnJAy JhA Jd(U) woRKINg PRESIdENT Page 11 The four from Ballia: Joining dots between accused in killing of Suvendu aide in Bengal Manish sahu Ballia, June 7 a BUSINeSS installing water pipelines for agricultural fields brought together four men from Ballia. Two years later, they would find themselves at the centre of a high-profile criminal investigation. The four are among seven people arrested by the Central raj kumar singh and Gyanendra singh, two of the four accused from ballia, Up. a total of seven people have been arrested in the case l GUjaraT GovT annoUnced ‘immediaTe’ consTrUcTion of Bureau of Investigation in connectionwiththekillingofChandranathrath,acloseassociateof WestBengalBJPleaderandnow CM Suvendu adhikari, in the state’s Madhyamgram city on May6,shortlyafterBJP’sthumpingwinintheassemblypolls. Themen,whosevillagesare scattered across a radius of roughly 50 kilometres, first »COnTinUeD On pAge 2 The PrICe of a 14.2-kg domestic lPG cylinder was raised by rs 29 effective Sunday, the secondsuchpricerevisionsince the start of the war in West asia which triggered a supply crisis. Theincreasefollowsars60per-cylinder hike on March 7, takingthecumulativehiketors 89 per 14.2-kg domestic cylinder. It will now cost rs 942 in delhi—correspondingchanges in price have been effected in other parts of the country. BeneficiariesofthePradhan Mantri Ujjwala yojana (PMUy) willcontinuetopayaneffective rs642percylinderafterreceivingasubsidyofrs300perrefill onthefirstfourrefillsannually, down from 9 refills announced last year. despite the hike, public sector oil marketing companies (oMCs) continue to absorb under-recoveriesofaboutrs700 per 14.2-kg cylinder as the market-linkedpriceofthefuelisover rs 1,600 per cylinder, the Petro- lpG cylinders being delivered in nadia, west bengal, sunday. PTI E. explained consumption down India’s LPG consumption stood at about 90,000 tonnes a day before the West Asia war. But with the disruption in flows through the Strait of Hormuz and seasonal dip in demand, LPG consumption has declined to about 72,000 tonnes a day, according to recent estimates. leumMinistrysaidSunday. It also said that the price of domestic lPG in India continues to be lower than in neighbouring countries as the government and the oMCs have been shielding house »COnTinUeD On pAge 2 Opp targets Govt: ‘Why are BJP leaders not protesting now?’ express news service New Delhi, June 7 The oPPoSITIoN on Sunday targeted the BJP-led Central government over the domestic lPGpricehike,sayingitreflects the failure of its economic policies and asked if BJP leaders would hit the streets in protest like they did during the UPa years. The BJP, meanwhile, defended the increase in price, pointing to global factors. CongresspresidentMallikarjun Kharge said the cost of lPG cylindershadincreasedbyrs89 »COnTinUeD On pAge 2 happening Revanth says he took today ‘inspiration from Hitler’ for HYDRAA; BJP calls it ‘Emergency mindset’ lA high-level EU delegation will be in Assam to advance collaboration opportunities between Europe and India’s Northeastern states in line with the priorities set out in the India–EU Joint Comprehensive Strategic Agenda. nikhila henry Hyderabad, June 7 TelaNGaNa ChIef Minister a revanth reddy has triggered a controversy with his statement that the hyderabad disaster response and asset Protectionagency(hydraa)drew itsnameandconceptfromGerman dictator adolf hitler’s “fondness for the word hydra”. “hydra, the word is hitler's favourite word. his core team was called hydra, which could assassinate anyone. So, I have taken inspiration from hitler and named it hydraa,” he said at a conclave in Bengaluru lChinA’s Xi Jinping will meet Telangana cm revanth reddy on Saturday. The BJP and the Bharat rashtra Samithi (BrS) were quick to criticise the Congress leader’s comment, suggesting that this was an indication of his “dictatorial” mindset. »COnTinUeD On pAge 2 North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang. This will be his first visit to North Korea in nearly seven years as Beijing looks to reassert ties with its ally. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com the world Page 13 Israel hIts BeIrut areas desPIte truce; wIll retalIate: Iran a 8-km Tar road, bUT projecT awaiTs sTaTe foresT depT nod. in The meanTime, anoTher preGnanT woman died afTer joUrney on cloTh sTreTcher Pregnant woman’s death, HC intervention & a promise: Tribal village waits for a road Aditi Raja deeper one goes into the hills, the vehicles are fewer and even motorcycles cannot ride this The road to Baskariya faliya path. The final stretch to 32inTurkhedavillageofGujarat’s year-old Kishan Bhil’s home ChhotaUdepur,atribaldistrict, can be reached only on foot. does not really end, it simply Itwasalongthisverymoundisappears. tain path, before dawn on ocJust about two tober1,2024,thatvilpage 1 kilometres after lagers had carried turning in from the Kishan’s pregnant main road towards wife, Kavita, on a the rugged hillside makeshift cloth where the village lies, the nar- stretcher tied to bamboo poles row dirt track shrinks into a after she developed labour winding trail of loose mud and pains. The nearest point where jagged stone curling around a 108 ambulance could reach barren mountainsides. The was almost five kilometres Chhota Udepur, June 7 anchor away. Kavita died before that, but not before bringing to the world a baby girl. a year later, on September 16,2025,a36-year-oldpregnant woman,VansiNayak,wassimilarlycarriedonaclothstretcher for five km till the ambulance, which took her to the local hospital and then the Vadodara SSG hospital where she died. ononesideofthemountain track, crumbling gravel slopes cling to the edge of the hill. on the other hand, there is a steep valley, dotted with mud homes and isolated tribal hamlets. Therearenorailings,noretain- The mud road cutting through the rocky terrain in Turkheda of chhota Udepur district. AdITI RAJA Ahmedabad ing walls, no drainage channels, no signages; only the tyre marks on the dusty road trace the fragile connection between Turkheda’s interior faliyas (housing cluster) and the outside world. In summer, the mud road is harsh and rocky. But villagers saytherealfeararriveswiththe monsoon. Within weeks from now, rainwater will turn the pathway into a slippery stream of mud where even twowheelers are abandoned midway. The six-km journey to the nearest motorable main road – and onward to Kawant town – becomes uncertain, especially at night or during medical emergencies. Unkept promise Kavita’sdeathtriggeredoutrage across Gujarat and prompted the Gujarat high Court to take suo motu cognisance of The Indian express report detailing Kavita's tragic death. Soon after, the state governmentannounced“immediate” construction of an eightkilometre tar road connecting Turkheda’s scattered hamlets at an estimated cost of »COnTinUeD On pAge 2