eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE Ways of Seeing NEWDELHI,LATECITY MARCH9,2025 Photo-artist Dayanita Singh on intersection of physical worlds in her photography 16+4PAGES,`7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, ` 15SRINAGAR) THE WORLD CLASHES, REVENGE KILLINGS LEAVE OVER 600 DEAD IN SYRIA PAGE 10 D-day in Dubai: All eyes on Kohli as India take on Kiwis for Champions Trophy glory EXPRESSAT CHAMPIONS TROPHY VENKATA B KRISHNA DUBAI, MARCH 8 Rahul draws line for Gujarat Cong: ‘Those conniving with BJP have to go’ AROUND 4:40 pm Saturday, after a two-hour net session at the Dubaicricketstadiumtoprepare for the Champions Trophy final against NewZealand, Virat Kohli stepped into the team bus that was parked right outside the dressing room. Not far from the bus, a kid perched on his father’s shouldersletoutadesperatecry: “Kohli bhaiya… please ek ticket dedo,” (please give me a ticket) drawing chuckles. Moments later, Kohli stepped out of the bus, headed towards that kid to pose for a photograph and put his signature on the kid’s cap. In a rare instance, for the next couple of minutes, Kohli would go about engaging with each of his fans before disappearing. Not just kids, but adults CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Indian players practise ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy final against New Zealand, in Dubai on Saturday. PTI GOVT & POLITICS ANNAMALAI: STALIN ALLOWS 3-LANGUAGE RULE IN PVT SCHOOLS CPM FOR PRIVATE INVESTMENT IN KERALA PSUs PAGE 6 Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Ahmedabad on Saturday. Bhupendra Rana LEENA MISRA & ADITI RAJA AHMEDABAD, VADODARA, MARCH 8 CONGRESS LEADER Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused a section of party leaders in Gujarat of “conniving with the BJP”andsaidthepartyshouldbe ready to remove “20 to 30 people” if needed. The revival of the Congress in the state was not a “two to three year project but a 50-year project”, added the Leaderof theOpposition(LoP)in the Lok Sabha. “Why has the Congress not been able to fulfil the expectations of the people of Gujarat for the last 20 to 30 years? The answer is that the leadership of Gujarat, the workers, the district andblockpresidentsof theparty have two kinds of leaders. One, who stand with the public, fight for them and respect them because they have the Congress in their heart; the other, who sits CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MODI AT WOMEN’S DAY EVENT Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel during an event to mark International Women’s Day in Navsari on Saturday. ANI REPORTS,PAGE7 Delhi clears `2,500 monthly payout for women, earmarks `5,100 crore SAMAN HUSAIN NEW DELHI, MARCH 8 DELHI CHIEF Minister Rekha Gupta announced Saturday that her government had approved the Mahila Samridhi Yojana under which eligible women beneficiaries would get a monthly allowance of Rs 2,500, a poll promise made by the BJP. Manipur: On first day of free movement, clashes, stone pelting, and a death SUKRITA BARUAH & JIMMY LEIVON GUWHATI, IMPHAL, MARCH 8 AFTER FOUR months of no casualties in the ongoing conflict in Manipur, one person died and many others were injured in Kangpokpi district on the first day of the central government trying toenforcefreemovement through the state’s highways. The man, Lalgun Singsit, was part of a group that had clashed withsecurity forces while trying to prevent the movement of a bus from the Meitei-majority valley through the Kuki-Zo majority district. Union Home Minister Amit Shahhadorderedthefree movement intitiave during a meeting CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CM Rekha Gupta addresses reporters after a Cabinet meet, Saturday. Praveen Khanna Speakingaftertheconclusion of the BJP Mahila Morcha’s convention on the International Women’s Day, Gupta said, “Utilising this august occasion, we convened a meeting of the Delhi Cabinet (earlier in the day)… We have fulfilled the promise we had made to Delhi’s sisters in our Sankalp Patra (manifesto) under the Mahila CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 2 women including tourist from Israel raped, fellow traveller killed near Hampi EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE BENGALURU, MARCH 8 TWO WOMEN, including a touristfromIsrael,wereallegedly raped and a male tourist from Odisha drowned after being pushed into the Tungabhadra rivercanalattheidyllicAnegundi region in the Koppal district of Karnataka. The tourists were at- tacked by three local youths on the night of March 6, police said. The body of the 26-year-old touristfromOdisha,identifiedas Bibash, was recovered from the canal on Saturday morning. The attack on the tourists and their woman guide from a local resort occurred in the vicinity of the historical Hampi heritage site, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Maha Kumbh is over, now for the hard part: Dismantling Mela city over 4,000 hectares PAGE 1 ANCHOR MAULSHREE SETH LUCKNOW, MARCH 8 THE MAHA Kumbh may be over forpilgrimsandtheAkharas,but forthegovernmentauthorities,a mammoth task awaits: dismantling the temporary city spread over4,000hectaresonthebanks of the Ganga. According to various author- NCC cadets take part in a cleanliness drive at Sangam in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Express itiesandagenciesinvolvedinthe uninstallation and cleanup, while the deadline to bring the entire area back to how it was is March 20, the processes — a third-partyverification,dismantling and inventorying — means the deadline could be pushed. Authorities have to dismantle, clean and store away about 2 lakh tents, over 1.5 lakh portable toilets, 2.69 lakh chequered aluminium plates used for laying roads, about 1,300 km of water pipeline,over56,000watertaps, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT U.S. PRESIDENT’S TARIFF OFFENSIVE Tradepacttalksahead, DelhiducksTrump’s freshsalvoontariff‘cut’ E Goyal meets Lutnick, Greer to prepare ground for negotiations E X P L A I NE D DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, MARCH 8 US PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s latestsalvothatIndiahas“agreed” to“cuttheirtariffswaydown”did notelicitanyimmediateresponse from Delhi Saturday. Officials indicatedit’sonebaitthattheIndian establishmentisnotgoingtobite, especiallywhenthegroundisbeing prepared for negotiations on a bilateral trade pact. Speaking at the Oval Office Friday night, Trump said, “India charges us massive tariffs, mas- US President Donald Trump in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday. AP sive you can’t even sell anything in India. It’s almost…restrictive. You know, we do very little business inside. They have agreed… Theywanttocuttheirtariffsway ● The Indian objective IN THE Indian assessment, a bilateral trade pact will deepen twoway trade across the goods and services sector, increase market access, reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers, and deepen supply chain integration. Negotiators will look to finalise the deal by autumn this year. down now because somebody’s finally exposing them for what they have done.” Delhi offered no immediate CONTINUED ON PAGE 2