The Editorial Page: Our parched cities need to make every drop count, recycle water 10 MoNDAY, JUNE 15, 2026 JouRNAlIsM of CouRAGE koLkATA, LATe CITy, 16 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 Happening today lNoida iNterNatioNal Airport (code DXN) begins its commercial flight operations. The first arrival will be an IndiGo flight from Lucknow. lSpecial iNteNSive Revision of electoral rolls begins in Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Chandigarh. Field oficers will conduct doorto-door verification of voters and collect enumeration forms. lUNioN MiNiSter Nitin Gadkari will visit Shillong to participate in a regional infrastructure summit and launch a series of national highway projects. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com In Bihar’s Samastipur, residents allege expressway route altered to spare Deputy CM aide’s land He denies using influence; CM, NHAI officials promise to look into issue Santosh Singh Patna, June 14 a roW is simmering in the sarairanjan block of Bihar’s samastipur district over the route alignment of the central government’s ambitious PatnaPurneagreenfieldexpressway, with local residents writing to the Union Minister for road transport and Highways (MortH), nitin gadkari, alleg- NCR Plan 2041 up for approval, conservation zones yet to be mapped Red flags over missing data on land-use change between 1999 and 2019 ignored jay Mazoomdaar New Delhi, June 14 desPiteMUltiPledirections from the national green tribunal (ngt) since 2018, the national Capital region Planning Board (nCrPB) has yet to map, ground-truth and demarcate natural Conservation Zones (nCZs)inthedraftregionalPlan 2041, scheduled to be considered for approval at the Board’snextmeetingonJune16. the nCrPB has also overlookedrepeatedremindersfrom the environment Ministry and thedelhigovernmenttoinclude comparative data on land-use changes between the regional plans (rPs) of 2021 and 2041. ground-truthing is the process of verifying whether land useandlandcoverindicatedby satellite imagery accurately reflect actual conditions on the ground. inaseriesofordersbetween 2018 and 2022, aimed at protecting nCZs and preventing shrinkage, the ngt sought E. explained Policy impact The decade-long pendency of field verification and demarcation of Natural Conservation Zones affects planning and policy-making. The absence of clearly marked boundaries also makes it difficult to identify violations of land use and enforce accountability. comparativemappingatascale of 1:50,000 to verify changes between 1999 and 2019 — and for a finer assessment of present land use at 1:10,000 scale or closer using satellite imagery from 2021-22 or later. the separate exercises were required becausehigher-resolutionimagery from 1999 — the base year forrP-2021—wasnotavailable withthenationalremotesensing Centre (nrsC). “the classification scheme of the mapping should be selectedinamannerthatnatural Conservation areas are explicitlymapped.dueemphasis should be placed on ground truthing,”thetribunalordered in september 2020. six years on, the revised draft rP-2041 relied on isro's »coNtiNUed oN paGe 2 ingan“arbitraryandpolitically motivated” alteration to the expressway’s original track along a five-kilometre stretch. thoughthepetitionershave not named anyone in their letter sent to gadkari, dated June 1, more than two dozen home and shop owners claim thattheJd(U)MlafromsarairanjanandcurrentBihardeputy Chief Minister, Vijay Kumar Choudhary, influenced the Samastipur revisedalignment ofproposedroad Land belonging to Deputy CM’s aide Samastipur Patna BIHAR Sarairanjan Satan Pur Sarangpur east movetobenefitacloseassociate who is also a distant relative. around 10.5 bighas of land be- proposed patnapurnea expressway longingtotheperson,Vinitishwar alias Bobby ishwar, and his family fell under the original alignment, records show. the route, if modified, could result in the demolition of over 150 homes and dozens of shops, as well as a section of the 65-year-old Kedar sant ramashray College, where over 6,000 students study. When contacted, ChoudharytoldTheIndianExpress,“i have not used any political influence. all people from sarairanjanbelongtome.itisentirely uptothenHai(nationalHighways authority of india) to say if they have changed the alignment. it is not my domain.” »coNtiNUed oN paGe 2 Upi at Nice aNd pariS airportS: MiSri Trade to AI to innovation: India, France set new goals nation Modi-Macron meeting: Plan to double trade in 5 yrs, increase cooperation in defence, space Pm: india tech Provider, offers gLobaL soLutions Shubhajit roy New Delhi, June 14 a MeCHanisM to double annual bilateral trade from the existing$16billioninfiveyears; an india-France innovation roadmap2030;ajointworking group focussed on ai (artificial intelligence) governance; an economicsecuritydialogue;increased cooperation on defence and space — these were among the key outcomes of the bilateral meeting between Prime Minister narendra Modi and French President emmanuel Macron in nice, France, on sunday. Modi, who arrived in nice on saturday, is scheduled to travel to slovakia from June 1416. He will be back in France for the g7 meeting in evian-lesBains on June 16-17, and is also scheduled to go to Paris. addressing Macron in a post on X, Modi said: “nice to have met you in nice. a productive first leg indeed. the india-France partnership will Page 6 prime minister narendra modi with french president emmanuel macron in nice, france, sunday. X/@eLySee keep scaling new heights. see you in evian and Paris.” this was their first meeting since the elevation of india- France ties to a ‘special global strategic partnership’ earlier this year. “the two leaders held extensivediscussionscoveringdiverse aspects of bilateral relations,” the Ministry of external affairs (Mea) said in a statement. they shared ideas to strengthen and diversify bilateral ties in the fields of economic growth, technology and innovation,talentmobilityand people-to-people and cultural exchanges, it said. in this context, they noted the “steady growth in bilateral trade and agreed to set up a high-level mechanism to double it within five years,” the Mea said. “they called for early implementation of indiaeU Free trade agreement, which offers a unique opportunity to expand bilateral trade and investment. the leaders alsodiscussedwaystoenhance cooperation in the sMe, aviation and railway sectors. they welcomed the agreement to establish Centre of excellence for skilling in aeronautics in Kanpur. Welcoming establishment »coNtiNUed oN paGe 2 rebel Tmc mps with speaker om birla in new delhi, sunday TMC rebel MPs meet Birla, say have merged with a regional party Manoj c G & asad rehman New Delhi, June 14 ClaiMing tHe support of 20 of the trinamool Congress’s (tMC) 28 lok sabha members, the party’s rebel MPs on sunday announced their merger withanoutfitcalledthenationalist Citizens Party of india (nCPi) and met lok sabha speakeromBirlaseekingaseparate seating arrangement in the House. this came moments after the tMC submitted to the speaker a letter by its ParliamentaryPartyleaderinthelok sabha,abhishekBanerjee,urging him not to accord “any recognition, status, or facility to any purported separate group or faction of the aitC (all india trinamool Congress)”. business as usual By EP UNNY “We 20 MPs, who were elected from the aitC, have met the speaker and given him »coNtiNUed oN paGe 2 related reportS, paGe 3 Israel hits Beirut, Trump says deal close, ‘stand down’ parisa Hafezi & phil Stewart Dubai, Washington, June 14 President donald trump criticisedanisraelistrikeonlebanonthatcouldcomplicateattempts to finalise a framework nation deal between the United states and iran on sunday on ending theirwar,butsaidanagreement was nonetheless close. iranian negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said israel's »coNtiNUed oN paGe 2 Page 4 Ladakh Pact hits roadbLock over ‘key omissions’ in fine Print india-fLagged dhow sinks off oman coast; aLL 14 crew rescued ‘Anybody can create a political party but don’t undermine and ridicule Indian democracy’ KireN rijijU uNIoN MINISTeR oF PARLIAMeNTARy AFFAIRS AND MINoRITy AFFAIRS Page 14 l aT an earlier discussion, one of GovernmenT’s own experTs had overruled objecTions raised by some members of ncerT abouT ‘nude’ depicTion In NCERT Art textbook, Mohenjo-daro’s nude ‘Dancing Girl’ gets a cover-up ritika chopra now features in the opening chapter, “History of arts”, of Madhurima — the new arts an iMage of one of the most education textbook for Class 9. recognisable artefacts of the intheimage,thefigurine’storso indus Valley Civilisation, the has been shaded over from the iconic “dancing girl” of Mo- shoulders down, obscuring henjo-daro, appears in a new anatomical details visible in photographs of the avatar in an nCert page 1 original and giving textbook — with the the impression that bare torso covered. she is clothed. thisisdespitethe the depiction is significant factthatatanearlierdiscussion related to the famous bronze fi- because the “dancing girl” has gurine, one of the govern- appeared in nCert textbooks ment’sownexpertshadpushed for at least 25 years, including back,andprevailed,overobjec- during the nda government tions raised by some members whenMurliManoharJoshiwas of nCert over what they said in charge of education as Minister of the then Human rewas the nude depiction. the retouched photograph source development ministry. Mumbai, June 14 anchor a review by this newspaper of earlier editions shows that while the figurine has long featured in school textbooks, its torso had never previously been covered. the retouched image appears in a textbook that is part of nCert's first-ever arts education series, introduced from Classes 1 to 10 under the national education Policy (neP) and the national Curriculum Framework (nCF) to integrate arts into mainstream education. textbooks from Classes 1 to 9 have been released so far. the approximately fourinch-high “dancing girl”, discovered at Mohenjo-daro, depicts a young girl with her hair The photo with masked torso in the new class 9 arts textbook; (right) the photo in the new class 6 social science textbook tied in a bun, adorned with bangles, a bracelet and a necklace.Herconfidentpostureand the sophistication of her craftsmanship have made her one of the defining symbols of the Harappan civilisation. archaeologists have long viewedthefigurineasevidence of the civilisation's advanced metallurgical knowledge. the original is housed in the national Museum in new delhi. inaninterviewwithTheIndianExpresspublished on May 27, historian Michel danino, whoheadedthetextbookdevelopment committee for nCert's new Class 6 social science books, had disclosed that the nCert objected to Kolkata placing the “dancing girl” on the opening page of a chapter on indus Valley Civilisation becausethefigurinewasnudeand could become “controversial”. “i even told nCert that if the dancing girl is not age-appropriate, then perhaps children of that age should not be allowed into the national Museum either because the figurine is displayed there,” danino had said. While he initiallyresistedthesuggestion,he eventually agreed to move the image from the chapter opener to an inside page and reduce its size. the image, however, was retained in the textbook. askedwhetherthemasking of the torso was linked to con- cerns over nudity, nCert director dinesh Prasad saklani told The Indian Express: “no, i don’t think there is any specific reason. in grade 6 sst (social sciencetextbook),thedancing girl is very much there along with many other findings related to Harappan civilisation as it is one of them. For art textbooks you may also contact the related tdt (textbook development team) members.” sandhyaPurecha,chairperson of the sangeet natak akademi and head of the textbook development team for arts education, was unavailable for comment. Commenting on the image »coNtiNUed oN paGe 2