DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2025, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 ON AGENDA: UPGRADING INDIA-CHINA BILATERAL ECONOMIC RELATIONSHIP 82 110 135 62 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY US tariffs looming, India looks at easing non-trade barriers, relaxing Chinese FDI Dialling down of border tensions has yielded space to promote trade, say officials SANDEEP SINGH & ANIL SASI MUMBAI, NEW DELHI, MARCH 23 WITH SOME dialling down of tensionsbetweenIndiaandChina along the border, policy makers aremoreopentoupgradingbilat- INDIA-CHINA BILATERAL TRADE Year India’s export Change to China in % India’s import Change from China in % (Figures in USD billion) Trade deficit Total trade Change in % 2020 18.95 10.69% 58.71 -14.1% 39.76 77.66 -9.14% 2021 23.05 21.64% 87.65 49.29% 64.6 110.7 42.54% 2022 15.15 -34.27% 102.63 17.09% 87.48 117.78 6.4% 2023 16.23 7.13% 99.59 -2.96% 83.36 115.82 -1.66% 2024* 8.46 -9.23% 50.35 -9.02% 41.89 58.81 *Jan-Jul -9.05% Source: Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry; Embassy of India in Beijing eraleconomicrelationshipsnow. Itisbeingviewedasanopportune time, particularly when US PresidentDonaldTrumpispush- ing India to the corner on reducing tariffs and forcing it to agree to terms set by Washington, especially on tariffs. According to sources aware of developments,discussionsare on between departments to CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E EXPLAINED 24/03/2025 Signal ● to US THERE IS a growing view in India that entering into a visibly closer dialogue with China on normalising business ties could send out a signal to the US and likely act as a potential hedge. Talks are on to consider diluting some of the restrictions on trade and investments put in place after the Galwan clashes in 2020. FAULTY IMPLANTS IN INDIA J&J payout plan for patients wasn’t fair, so Govt rejected it: Book ANONNA DUTT NEW DELHI, MARCH 23 THE BJP has decided to appoint former Union IT Minister and technocrat-turned-politician Rajeev Chandrasekhar as the next president of its Kerala unit. The BJP’s core committee took the decision at a meeting in ThiruvananthapuramonSunday that was attended by the party’s Kerala in-charge Prakash Javadekar and co-in-charge AparjitaSarangi,aLokSabhaMP. “The decision was unanimous,” said a source. Chandrasekhar’s name is expected to be announced officiallyatapartyconclavethatwill be held at the Uday Palace Convention Centre in Kowdiar, Thiruvananthapuram, on Monday. Union Minister and senior BJP leader Pralhad Joshi, whoisinchargeof theparty’sorganisational elections in Kerala, ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND NEW DELHI, MARCH 23 STUDENT VISA denials by the United States (US) soared to a decade-high last fiscal year (October 2023 to September 2024) with 41% of F-1 visa applications from across all countries turned down — almost double the rejection rate of the 2014 fiscal year — shows an analysis of State Department data by The Indian Express. In 2023-24, (the US government's fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30), the US received a total of 6.79 lakh applications for F-1 visas, of which 2.79 lakh (41%) were denied. This is an increase from 2022-23, when 2.53 lakh applications (36%) of a total of 6.99 lakh were turned down. While the US State Departmentdidnotsharedataon the country-wise refusal rate for F-1 visas, The Indian Express had reportedonDecember9lastyear that the number of student visas issued to Indians in the first nine monthsof2024haddecreasedby 38% as compared to the corresponding period in 2023. According to the data, the percentage of student visa denials increased even as the absolute number of applications from across all countries dipped over the last decade. During this period, the total number of applications peaked at 8.56 lakh in 2014-15, but saw a steady dip in the next few years, till it hit a low of 1.62 lakh in the Covid year of 2019-2020. Post-Covid, while the number of applications steadily increased, there was a 3% decrease in 2023-24 — from 6.99 lakh in 2022-23 to 6.79 lakh in 202324.Asaresult,theabsolutenumber of visa denials in the last fiscal year (2.79 lakh) CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MINISTER FOR IT AND DIGITAL SERVICES PAGE 10 The book by The Indian Express National Health Editor, Kaunain Sheriff M Government.Overamonthlater, the Government put forward its own proposal based on the extent of disability, and held the company liable to pay amounts ranging from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 1.2 crore. This prompted J&J to approach the court, where the matter is currently being heard. The new book is based on a series of investigative reports that was published from August 2018 in The Indian Express on J&J’s ASR hip implants. These reports revealed the key findings CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 2024 SAMBHAL VIOLENCE Mosque panel head held; was to appear before judicial panel: brother CURFEW LIFTED IN NAGPUR Police carry out a route march in Nagpur. Curfew was completely lifted from the city on Sunday, with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis saying that the situation was peaceful. PTI RELATEDREPORTS,PAGE4 THE WORLD Rajeev Chandrasekhar set to be president of BJP’s Kerala unit LIZ MATHEW F-1 visa denials surge to 10-year high, US rejects 41% of foreign student applicants It’s not about NEP...can you teach enough children one language properly in UP, Bihar? PALANIVEL THIAGA RAJAN TAMIL NADU NEW DELHI, MARCH 23 EVEN AS nearly 4,000 patients awaitjusticefromtheDelhiHigh Court in the form of compensation from Johnson & Johnson (J&J) over faulty hip implants that severely impaired their health, the pharma giant had proposed a payout formula to the Government during a closed-door meeting over five years ago. That plan was shot down — it did not take into account the severity of a patient’s disability caused by the implant. This undisclosed episode in the “ASR implant scandal”, which has resonated in pharma markets across the world over the past decade, has been brought to light in The Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant (Juggernaut), authored by The Indian Express National Health Editor, Kaunain Sheriff M. According to the book, J&J’s proposal was rejected by the 2023-24 STATE DEPARTMENT DATA Immediate challenge will be the local body polls in October is expected to make the announcement at the meeting. “I am pleasantly surprised anddeeplyhonouredthatallmy colleagues in the Kerala BJP considered me worthy of being the party president,” Chandrasekhar, 60, told The Indian Express after the core committee meeting. Chandrasekhar impressed party leaders with his performanceinlastyear'sLokSabhaelections that he lost narrowly to Congress’s Shashi Tharoor in Thiruvananthapuram by a narrow margin of 16,000 votes. Chandrasekhar put up a fight CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SC to hear contempt plea by Malvan man over demolitions EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, MARCH 23 ERDOGAN’S MAIN RIVAL JAILED AHEAD OF TRIAL OVER CORRUPTION CHARGES ISRAELI STRIKE KILLS HAMAS OFFICIAL IN SOUTHERN GAZA PAGE 14 EXPLAINED THE SUPREME Court will Mondayhearapleabyaresident of Maharashtra’s Malvan town seeking contempt proceedings against civic authorities for demolishing his scrap shop and house after his 14-year-old son was accused of chanting “antiIndia” slogans during the IndiaPakistan cricket match on February 23. In his writ petition, Kitabulla Shiv Sena workers ransack hotel where Kamra’s show with Shinde jibe was shot PRESS TRUST OF INDIA WHAT HAPPENS IF THE TRUMP ADMIN FLOUTS A COURT ORDER? P11 Hamidulla Khan said the demolition was carried out under “political pressure”, without notice to him and violated the top court judgement against “bulldozer justice”. The November 13, 2024 judgment had said that demolition of properties of citizens withoutfollowingdueprocessis contrary to the rule of law. The plea, filed through Advocate Fauzia Shakil, disputes the FIR’s claim of anti-India sloganeering. Khan stated that, in reality, two men had assaulted MUMBAI, MARCH 23 SHIV SENA workers on Sunday vandalised a hotel in Mumbai’s Khar area where stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra’s show with “gaddar” (traitor) jibe at Deputy CM Eknath Shinde was filmed, police said. The vandals ransacked Hotel Unicontinental in Khar where theshowwasshotandsoughtan FIR be lodged against Kamra. According to a police official, the party workers reached the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 his son near a liquor shop when hewasbuyingchipsafterreturning from a mosque. The plea states that a mob came to the family’s tin shed house later at night and assaulted them. An FIR was registered against them on the complaint of one Sachin Varadkar, and the couple was taken into custody on February 24. They got bail the next day. Khan said that after the incident, local MLA Nilesh Rane also wrote to civic authorities to take CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MAHARASHTRA AUTHORITY WILL BE SET UP FOR NASHIK KUMBH ON THE LINES OF UP, SAYS CM FADNAVIS PAGE 4 Zafar Ali being taken into police custody, Sunday. ANI AMIT SHARMA & MANISH SAHU MEERUT,LUCKNOW,MARCH23 POLICE IN western UP’s Sambhal onSundayarrestedZafarAli,chairman of the Shahi Jama Masjid managing committee, accusing himofplayingan“incendiaryrole” in the violence that erupted on November 24 over a court-orderedsurveyof themosque. Sambhal SP Krishna Kumar said,“Wehavegatheredevidence thatheplayedanincendiaryrole during the violence last year. He waspickedupbythepolicefrom his house in Sambhal on Sunday morningandwasinterrogatedat Kotwali police station by senior policemenbeforebeingarrested.” However, Zafar Ali’s brother Tahir alleged that Zafar was arrested to prevent him from appearing before the judicial commission set up to investigate the violence in which four people were killed. Ahead of the arrest, personnel from the Rapid Action Force (RAF) and the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) were deployed in strength around the mosque and near Zafar’s residence. The house is just 100 metres from the mosque in Sambhal town. Zafar had previously been detainedbypoliceonNovember 25, 2024, a day after the violence outside the mosque, but was released after questioning. The 16th-century mosque has been at the centre of tensions after a petition claimed that it was the site of an ancient Hindu temple. AccordingtotheSP,Zafarhad allegedlyinformed“miscreants” about the survey team’s visits to the mosque on November 19 and 24, leading to protests. The survey team left without completing the survey on November 19 due to the protest. “On November 24, Zafar Ali remained inside the mosque with the survey team, but his information allegedly led to a large crowd gathering and engaging in violence,” an officer said. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Paralympics medallist sets target for teen rival who lost limbs at 5 PAGE 1 ANCHOR PRITISH RAJ NEW DELHI, MARCH 23 SHEETALDEVIisonlyoneof two armless athletes to win a medal at the Paralympics. The story of this 18-year-old archer from Jammu, however, is not just aboutbeatingtheoddsandwinningmedals.Sheisalsoinspiring others in similar or more chal- lengingcircumstancestotakeup the bow — and be as good as her. On Sunday, Sheetal edged past17-year-oldPayalNaginthe final to win gold in the 2025 Khelo India Para Games. But then,haditnotbeenforSheetal's exploits at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, where she won bronze, Payal would not have taken up the sport at all. HailingfromBalangir,atown inOdisha,Payallostallfourlimbs in an electrocution incident at the age of five. Shifted to an orphanageasayoungchild,shedid not know anything about parasports, or even what a bow and arrow looked like -- until a cry for help on social media caught the attention of Sheetal’s coach, Kuldeep Vedwan. “I had no idea what archery was when I was in Balangir. Kuldeepsirspoketomeonvideo call for the first time and then showed me videos of Sheetal didi.WhenIsawthose,Ithought I could also do something like this. Kuldeep sir gave me further motivationandsaidthatyoucan also participate in the Payal (left) and Sheetal after their event at Khelo India Para Games on Sunday. SAI Media Paralympics,” Payal said. Sheetal was born with phocomelia, a rare congenital disorder, resulting in the absence of arms.Vedwandevelopedatechnique for her to take up archery; she picks the bow using her legs and then uses her mouth to fix the latch attached to her shoulder to aim and shoot. At the same academy, Payal was taught the basics of the sport using the same technique but with prosthetic legs. “I saw Sheetal didi picking the bow with both her legs and thought how would I do it as I don't have legs. But then the prosthetic legs came in and I practised on them to pick the bow,” Payal said. Payal was an instant success on the national circuit. In her first-ever tournament, the ParaArchery National Championships in Jaipur earlier this year, she beat Sheetal to win gold. On Sunday, it was Sheetal's turn to come out on top. “Payal played very well and I am not surprised that she has come so far in just two years,” Sheetal said. Kuldeep is bullish about Payal’s chances at the international level. “The world has only seen armless archers but now it is time for everyone to witness an archer without any limbs. We want to go ahead and compete in international tournaments as I think Payal is ready for that level,”hesaid,speakingaheadof the final. Asked how it feels to inspire others to take up the sport , Sheetal said, “It feels good. I am glad Payal took up the sport. When I saw her shoot first, I was CONTINUED ON PAGE 2