eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE The Other Shankar NEWDELHI,LATECITY JUNE16,2024 Grammy-winning violinist L Shankar is back and has a story to tell 16+4PAGES,`7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR,` 12SRINAGAR) DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA THE WORLD UK’S PRINCESS KATE MAKES 1ST PUBLIC APPEARANCE SINCE CANCER DIAGNOSIS SWEDEN AND IRAN SWAP PRISONERS IN BREAKTHROUGH DEAL PAGE 10 GOVT & POLITICS ODISHA CM ALLOTS PORTFOLIOS, KEEPS HOME, FINANCE PAGE 7 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM MEA SECRETARY (WEST) AT CONFERENCE IN SWITZERLAND India joins global meet on Ukraine, day after PM calls for dialogue, diplomacy Whatever is agreed upon will be part of peacemaking process: Zelenskyy SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, JUNE 15 A DAY after Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that India continues to encourage a peaceful resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict through dialogue and diplomacy, New Delhi sent a senior official to Switzerland for the two-day SummitonPeaceinUkrainethat began Saturday. Pavan Kapoor, Secretary (West)intheMinistryofExternal Affairs,whoreachedBurgenstock in central Switzerland, will be participatingindiscussionsatthe conference being hosted by Switzerland President Viola Amherd. The summit began a day after G7 leaders agreed in Italy to engineer a $50-billion loan to help Ukraine in its fight for survival. Interest earned on profits US Vice President Kamala Harris with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in Stansstad, Switzerland. Reuters fromRussia’sfrozencentralbank assets would be used as collateral and the money could reach Kyiv before the end of the year. In her statement Saturday at the start of the summit, President Amherd underlined “nuclearsafety,foodsecurityand thehumanitariandimension”as the three topics of discussion. With Zelenskyy by her side, shesaid,“Countriesthathaveexperiencedconflictssuchasthese themselves can contribute their experiences here… It is important that the conference on peace in Ukraine is taking place CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 JDU backs BJP pick for Speaker post, TDP bats for ‘NDA face’ Uncalled for diversion by Cong: Tyagi; will select Speaker by consensus: TDP INDIA & G7 Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Pope Francis, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni and other world leaders before concluding his day-long visit to Italy to attend the outreach session of 50th G7 Summit, in Apulia on Friday. ANI RELATEDREPORT,PAGE10 CLASS XII TEXT BOOKS HIT MARKET LAST WEEK In new NCERT textbook: A rewrite of Ayodhya dispute — and some deletions Babri Masjid called ‘3-dome structure’, 2019 SC verdict ‘classic example’ of consensus 14 KILLED AS VEHICLE PLUNGES INTO RIVER IN UTTARAKHAND IN ASPIRATIONAL DISTS, BJP SEATS DIP, CONGRESS DOUBLES TALLY PAGES 7, 8 RITIKA CHOPRA NEW DELHI, JUNE 15 THE NEW NCERT Class 12 PoliticalSciencetextbook,which hit the market last week, does not mention the Babri Masjid by name calling it a “three-domed structure,” has pruned the Ayodhya section from four to twopagesanddeletedtellingde- Ourresolutionhaschanged,itmatters, saysstateHomeMinisterVijaySharma JAYPRAKASH S NAIDU & DEEPTIMAN TIWARY RAIPUR, NEW DELHI, JUNE 15 EIGHTMAOISTSwerekilledduring an encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district on Saturday — the latest in a series of anti-Naxal operations in the current calendar year. A security force personnel also died in Saturday’s encounter after sustaining a bullet injury. According to state governmentsources,theanti-Naxaloperations have picked pace since the Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, with the alignment of the political objective at the Centre — of total area domination in core areas and a firm line against Naxals — with the state, where the BJP returned to power in December 2023. For instance, when it comes to penetration into core areas, in just five months, the police have set up 32 camps in core areas comparedwithanaverageof 1617campsbeingsetupeveryyear. “Multi-force and inter-district operationswithbettercoordination have helped. Majorityof the operations were done by state forces and Central forces like CRPF, CoBRA, ITBP and BSF, said Sundarraj P, Inspector General of Police, Bastar range. When asked about the state government’santi-Naxalstrategy, Chhattisgarh Home Minister Vijay Sharma told The Indian Express,“Theofficersandmenare CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INTERVIEW: STATE HOME MINISTER VIJAY SHARMA PAGE 7 Court told backdated entry was made to show they questioned gaming zone plan tails from the earlier version. These include: the BJP rath yatra from Somnath in Gujarat to Ayodhya; the role of kar sevaks; communal violence in the wake of the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992; President’s rule in BJPruled states; and the BJP’s expression of “regret over the happenings at Ayodhya”. As reported by The Indian ExpressonApril5,theNCERThad disclosedsomeofthechanges,including the removal of at least three references to the demolitionandtheprimacygiventothe Ram Janmabhoomi movement. But the extent of the revisions was unknown until now. The key changes: ■ The old textbook introducesBabriMasjidasa16thcentury mosque built by Mughal emperor Babur’s General Mir Baqi.Now,thechapterreferstoit as“athree-domestructure(that) wasbuiltatthesiteof ShriRam’s birthplacein1528,butthestructurehadvisibledisplaysof Hindu symbols and relics in its interior as well as its exterior portions”. ■ Over two pages, the old textbook described the mobilisation “on both sides” after the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E E X P L A I NE D EXPRESS NETWORK Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP, Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) are critical for NDA Govt CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 8 Maoists, one cop killed in encounter as Chhattisgarh steps up crackdown Day after Rajkot fire, officers forged register to save own skin, reveals probe NEW DELHI, JUNE 15 the BJP takes, we will support it,” JD(U)nationalgeneralsecretaryK C Tyagi told The Indian Express. On its part, the TDP said the candidate to be put up for the Speaker’s position by the ruling 136 MAOISTS KILLED IN 2024 SO FAR BLAZE KILLED 27 PEOPLE DEEPTIMAN TIWARY & NIKHILA HENRY IN THE wake of the Opposition INDIA bloc’s constituents, the Congress and the AAP, suggesting that the JD(U) and the TDP, key allies of the ruling BJP-led NDA, must push for their nominee as the new Lok Sabha Speaker, the JD(U) said Saturday itwillsupportanycandidatechosenbytheBJPforthiscrucialpost. “WhatCongressisdoingisdiversion.Itisuncalledfor.Itisaconvention that the largest party in therulingcoalitiontakesacallon the Speaker. Whatever decision FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT 4 rounds, 2014 to ● pandemic THIS IS the fourth round of revisions of NCERT textbooks since 2014. In the first round in 2017, NCERT cited nthe eed to reflect recent events. In 2018, it initiated revisions to reduce the “syllabus burden.” And less than three years later, a third round to reduce curriculum load and help students recover from learning disruptions caused by Covid. GOPAL KATESHIYA RAJKOT, JUNE 15 THEPOLICEprobeintotheRajkot TRP Game Zone blaze that killed 27peopleonMay25hasrevealed that the now-suspended town planner of Rajkot Municipal Corporation, M D Sagathiya, and other RMC officers allegedly forged a register with backdated entriesonMay26,adayafterthe incident, to show that the gaming zone had applied for regularisation and that the department had raised a query. The Rajkot Crime Branch, investigatingthecase,hasnowapplied IPC sections related to conspiracy, forgery and destruction of evidence against Sagathiya and other officers. Sagathiya and three officers — Gautam Joshi, assistant town planning officer (ATPO) of RMC, Mukesh Makwana, also RMC ATPO, Rohit Vigora, station offi- The TRP Game Zone was gutted in the May 25 fire. File cer of Kalavad Road fire station of RMC — were arrested on May 30. They are currently in judicial custody. On Saturday, two more officers – Rajesh Makwana, another ATPO,andJaydipChaudhary,assistantengineerof theRMCtown planning department, were arrested by the Crime Branch. “They were part of the group of officers who forged documents and records on May 26, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 As Nepal creates ripples at T20 cricket World Cup, a father in Punjab watches PAGE 1 ANCHOR PRATYUSH RAJ NEW DELHI, JUNE 15 RAMBAHADURThapa,apeonat the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd in Patiala, took the day off Saturday and woke up at 4 am to watch the men’s T20 cricket World Cup Group D matchbetweenSouthAfricaand Nepal.Hewantedtocheerforhis son, Sompal Kami, 28, who was battingforNepalinanimportant match for the country returning to the T20 World Cup after a gap of 10 years. The match at Kingstown, the capital of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, an island country in the eastern Caribbean, was downtothe wire. Nepal, chasing a target of 116, was within a whisker of a historic win when, in the 19th over, Sompal smashed the ball out of the ground over midwicket against Anrich Nortje, one of the world’s fastest bowlers. One ball left, Nepal needed two runs to win and one to force a Super Over. But then Ghulsan Jha,thestriker,wasrunoutwhile attemptingasingle,asthethrow fromthewicketkeeperdeflected off his body to a fielder at short mid-on, and Jha also stuttered after the blow. A disconsolate Kami sank to his knees; back in Patiala, his father was shattered. “Sompal match khatam kar deta agar strike uske pass rehta (He could have finished the match, if he had the strike in the last over),” adejectedRamBahadurtoldThe Indian Express. Kami has a Patiala connection. Thapa, whose family has roots in Gulmi, Lumbini, moved The Nepal cricket team at the innings break of their match against South Africa in Kingstown. @CricketNep/X to the district in Punjab for work in 1984, working as a security guardathotelsbeforelandingthe PSPCL job. This gave Kami a chance to train at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sportsthereuntilhewasselected to play for his home country. “From an early age, Kami trainedatNISPatialabutwenever realisedhowgoodhewas.Buthe got picked for Nepal and within a year he was selected for the 2014 T20 World Cup,” Thapa said. In a similar India-connection of sorts,CaptainRohitPaudelwas inMumbaiwhenhereceivedthe callfromhischildhoodidolParas Khadka, a legendary former Nepal captain and the secretary of the Nepal Cricket Board, informing him of his selection in the World Cup squad. So were two other players, Lalit Rajbanshi and Abhinash Bohara.“Theyweretrainingwith me in Mumbai when the team was announced for the T20 World Cup,” said former Nepal coach Umesh Patwal. ‘Climbing Mt Everest’ On Saturday, Nepal’s tryst with history may not have materialised, but with the team’s performance — its spinners DipendraSinghAireeandKushal Bhartel restricted South Africa’s power-packed and experienced line-uptojust115andcombined to take seven wickets — former captain Gyanendra Malla can’t be happier. “I am very proud of the way the team is playing. Seeing them playing the World Cup again is one of the proudest moments of my life,” Malla says, adding that he saw the one-run loss against South Africa as a perfect springboard for future achievements. Nepal has one more match left in the tournament, against CONTINUED ON PAGE 2