DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2025, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES SINCE 1932 `7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `15 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM I have Indian DNA: President of Indonesia at banquet on R-Day eve BJP TRYING TO GUILT MIDDLE-CLASS ON FREEBIES: AAP DIVYA A It’s AAP model for welfare vs BJP model to benefit its billionaire friends: Kejriwal Delhi polls near, AAP, BJP raise pitch, sops take centre stage NEW DELHI, JANUARY 26 IN INDIA as the chief guest for theRepublicDaycelebrationson Sunday, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has said his genetic sequencing test found that he has “Indian DNA”. While Subianto said this at a banquet hosted by President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday, Rashtrapati Bhavan shared a video clip of his speech on Sunday. “I would like to report to the President, Prime Minister, Vice-President… a few weeks ago,Ihadmygeneticsequencing testandmyDNAtest,andtheytell me that I have Indian DNA. And everybody knows when I hear Indian music, I start dancing... it must be part of my make-up,” Subianto says in the video clip. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY MALLICA JOSHI NEW DELHI, JANUARY 26 CELEBRATING REPUBLIC DAY President Droupadi Murmu, Indonesia President Prabowo Subianto, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during the 76th Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi, Sunday. President Subianto was the chief guest. Praveen Khanna PAGES3,7 RUN-UP TO BUDGET 2025-26 MSMEs: Centre may review import barriers that ‘protect’ big players AGGAM WALIA & RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, JANUARY 26 GOVT & POLITICS FOREIGN SECRETARY MISRI BEGINS CHINA VISIT PAGE 5 ■ After intense lobbying by IndianSteel Association (ISA),an industry body led by big steel companies, the Ministry of Commerce in December initiated a safeguard duty probe on the import of certain steel items. Protection for domestic steel producers has been in place at least since 2010, but calls for a sharp 25 per cent duty hike has triggered a pushback from MSMEs this time around — the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) told the govern- MSMEs &jobs Industry bodies representing MSMEs have brought to the notice of the government curbs on imports that have started hurting them. Given the employment potential of MSMEs, and their large number, the Budget is likely to set right the duty structure in these sectors. ment that domestic steel prices are much higher than imports CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RAISINGTHEpollpitch,withjust over a week to go for the Delhi Assembly elections on February 5,AamAadmiPartychief Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said it was a choice between two models of governance — the AAP model which “focuses on the welfare of people”, and the BJP model CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Double engine versus corruption, says Shah JATIN ANAND NEW DELHI, JANUARY 26 Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi, Sunday. Abhinav Saha FULL COVERAGE, PAGE4 ACCUSINGTHEAamAadmiParty (AAP) of being an ‘Avaidh Aamdani wali Party’ (party with illegal income) which has misusedDelhi'smoney,UnionHome Minister Amit Shah Sunday underlined the BJP’s “politics of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Narela, Sunday. ANI Environment Ministry panel clears new Jordan and Egypt should Sikkim dam despite its own concerns take more Palestinians to clean out Gaza: Trump NIKHIL GHANEKAR NEW DELHI, JANUARY 26 OVER A year after a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) ravaged parts of Sikkim and washed away a 60-metre-high rockfill concrete dam of the 1200-MW Teesta-III hydel project, an envi- ronment ministry panel has clearedaproposaltobuildanew 118.64-m-high concrete gravity dam in its place. This, without a fresh public hearing and even as thedesignaspectsof thedamare yet to be approved. The proposal by M/s Sikkim Urja Ltd, the project operator, was approved by the Environment Ministry’s Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) on River Valley and Hydroelectric Projects on January 10 under the provisionsof ‘expansionormodernisation’ in existing projects. On October 4, 2023, the South Lhonak glacial lake in Sikkimburst,causingafloodthat CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Bastar man fights to keep promise to father: Christian burial in his village JAYPRAKASH S NAIDU CHHINDWADA (BASTAR), JANUARY 26 IT HAS been three weeks since his pastor father died, but Ramesh Baghel, 45, a farmer Ramesh Baghel’s plea likely to be decided by SC today from Chhindwada village in Chhattisgarh’sMaoist-hitBastar has resolved not to see or move thebody—keptata mortuaryin Jagdalpur—untilhefulfilshisfather'sdyingwish:ofbeingburied in the village graveyard, next to CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WILL WEISSERT & ZEKE MILLER ABOARDAIRFORCEONE,JAN26 US PRESIDENT Donald Trump said he would like to see Jordan, Egypt andotherArabnations increasethenumberof Palestinian refugeestheyareacceptingfrom the Gaza Strip, potentially movingoutenoughof thepopulation to “just clean out” the war-torn areatocreateavirtualcleanslate. During a 20-minute question-and-answer session Saturday with reporters aboard AirForceOne,Trumpalsosaidhe hasendedhispredecessor’shold onsending2,000-poundbombs to Israel. That lifts a pressure pointmeanttoreducecivilianca- Displaced Palestinians wait to return to their homes amid the truce, in central Gaza on Sunday. Reuters sualties during Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza, which is now halted by a tenuous ceasefire. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2