eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE AWorld Within Words NEWDELHI,LATECITY Gulzar, one of India’s finest poets and lyricists, talks about his journey and how he keeps up with the times MARCH30,2025 20+4PAGES,`7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, ` 15SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM DAY AFTER CLASH, CURFEW LIFTED IN KATHMANDU, GOVT FINES EX-KING PAGE 14 EXPRESS NETWORK MOHANLAL-STARRER EMPURAAN AGREES TO ‘VOLUNTARY MODIFICATIONS’ IIM-A CAMPUS IN DUBAI IN SEPT, SAYS DIRECTOR PAGES 8, 11 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AUTHORISATION Keynucleardealbreakthrough:USclears firmtobuildanddesignn-reactorsinIndia Subject to IAEA safeguards, Holtec can transfer tech to L&T, Tata, subsidiary ANIL SASI NEW DELHI, MARCH 29 TWO DECADES after it was inked, decks have been cleared to tap the commercial potential of the India-US civil nuclear deal with an unprecedented regulatory clearance from the US Department of Energy (DoE) that will allow a US company to build and design nuclear reactors in India. The March 26 approval from DoEclearedHoltecInternational’s applicationforspecificauthorisationwithrespecttotherestrictive regulation that is referred to as PM Narendra Modi with US President Donald Trump at the White House in Feb. File “10CFR810”. (Part 810 of Title 10, CodeofFederalRegulationsofthe US Atomic Energy Act of 1954). This authorisation permits CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E E X P L A I NE D THE WORLD What next after ● the OK HOLTEC COULD explore a collaboration with TCE, one of India’s largest consulting engineering firms in power sector, and partner with L&T to make some of the components for the upcoming nuclear plants here. In due course, Holtec said it hopes to work with the two state-owned entities authorised to operate nuclear power plants in India, NPCIL and NTPC, as potential customers and operators of the SMR-160 reactors. Trade deal: First tranche by Fall, but no relief yet on reciprocal tariffs Terms of Reference still being discussed RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, MARCH 29 THE FOUR-DAY India-US trade talks concluded Saturday with substantial convergence on the contours of a trade deal but without finalising the Terms of Reference (ToR), a document that kickstarts negotiations by defining the scope and objectives of a bilateral trade agree- ment (BTA), a government official told The Indian Express. In a statement after the talks, India’s Commerce and Industry Ministry said the talks ended with a “broad understanding” of thenextstepstowardsabilateral trade agreement both countries aimtosignbyFall.It,however,did notindicatewhethertherewould be any relaxation on President Donald Trump’s decision to CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, MARCH 29 WITH THE death toll in Myanmar rising to 1,644 a day after a 7.7-magnitude earthquakehitthecountryandneighbouring Thailand, India on Saturday launched Operation Brahma to aid rescue and relief work, pitching in with tonnes of ration, tents, medicines, sleeping bags, rescue teams and equipment, canine squad and a fully functional field hospital. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Senior General MinAungHlaing,whoheadsthe military-led government in A specialised medical task force of the Indian Army prepares to depart for Myanmar to assist in rescue operations. PTI SPECIAL CBI COURT DECISION IN 2008 CASE SC releasing internal probe report ‘Cash-at-Judge’s door’: Former HC Judge acquitted, says judiciary fair sets dangerous precedent: Sibal NEW DELHI, MARCH 29 RAJYA SABHA MP and Supreme Court Bar Association president KapilSibalhassaidthetopcourt’s decisiontomakepublicaninternal inquiry report in the Justice Yashwant Varma episodesetsa“dangerous precedent”. Justice Varma has beenatthecentreof a storm ever since If you put out things in public domain, the institution has already lost: Sibal 937 killedin more than11years 134 35 47 CHHATTISGARH 217 112 Raipur Kanker 117 69 65 51 40 30 20 Narayanpur Bijapur Dantewada Sukma *Till March 29; Source:Chhattisgarh Police chargeoftheDarbhadivisionand carried a bounty of Rs 25 lakh. The Jhiram Ghati attack had left 32 people, including state Congress leaders Mahendra Karma, Nand Kumar Patel, Uday Mudliyar and Vidya Charan Shukla, dead. “He was also the mastermind of the 2023 Aranpur IED blast in which 10 DRG jawans and a civilian driver were killed,” said an official. Jagdish, aged around 40, has a lengthy criminal record, with a senior official claiming his involvement in over 100 killingsof security personnel, civilians and politicians. He hailed from Dantewada and was a key CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WILL COME THIS SESSION, SAID SHAH JUSTICE VARMA INCIDENT EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE MAOISTS KILLED IN BASTAR ASENIORMaoistleaderinvolved in the 2013 Jhiram Ghati attack, in which several Congress leaders were killed, was among 18 Maoists gunned down in two encounters in Sukma and Bijapur districts of south Chhattisgarh on Saturday, officials said. Kudhami Jagdish alias Badhura, a member of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee, the highest statelevel committee in Chhattisgarh of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), was also in CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PAGE 14 134 Maoists killed in state since start of year, including 117 in Bastar region BASTAR, MARCH 29 Myanmar, on Saturday morning — his first call with the military leader since the February 2021 coup there. “Spoke with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing of Myanmar. Conveyed ourdeep condolences at the loss of lives in the devastating earthquake. As a close friend and neighbour, India standsinsolidaritywiththepeople of Myanmar in this difficult hour,” Modi posted on X. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing is expected to join the RELATED REPORTS Top Maoist leader among 18 killed in two encounters in Chhattisgarh JAYPRAKASH S NAIDU Myanmar quake toll over 1,600, India sends relief, rescue teams DIVYA A FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025* DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA cash was allegedly found at his New Delhi home during a fire on March 14 and has been transferred from the Delhi High Court to his parent High Court in Allahabad. The Supreme Court on March 22 announced a threemember Committee comprising Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice G S Sandhawalia, and Karnataka High Court CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 JAGPREETSINGHSANDHU CHANDIGARH, MARCH 29 A SPECIAL CBI court here on Saturday acquitted former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Justice Nirmal Yadav, who has since retired, and three others in the ‘cash-at-judge’s door’ case dating back to 2008. While five persons were accused in the case, one has since died. The Court of Special CBI Judge Alka Malik pronounced Justice Nirmal Yadav retired in March 2011 the verdict on Saturday. A detailed order is yet to be released by the court. Speaking to reporters after theverdict,JusticeYadavsaidshe had finally been vindicated. “Judiciary is really fair, of course it has taken a long time, maybe due to many reasons... but now it is done,” she said. ThecasedatesbacktoAugust 13,2008,whenRs15lakhincash was allegedly delivered at the residenceof anotherthenPunjab and Haryana HC judge, Justice NirmaljitKaur,whoisalsoretired now. It was alleged that the cash was meant for Justice Yadav, but was wrongly delivered at the other judge’s residence due to their similar-sounding names. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Amid fault-lines, Waqf Bill may come later rather than sooner Section in party and government feels Bill can wait until Bihar elections over LIZ MATHEW NEW DELHI, MARCH 29 EVEN AS Union Home Minister Amit Shah reiterated that the Waqf (Amendment) Bill will be introduced in the ongoing Budget session, there’s a section within the government and the ruling BJP which wants to explore the possibility of bringing the contentious Bill later rather than sooner. Sources said these leaders feel that given the fault-lines over delimitation and the threelanguage policy — both being framedasanorthvssouthdivide — the Waqf Bill could harden these dividing lines. “There is a view that the government could wait for some more time,” said a senior BJP leader. And that there was a case fordeferringtheBilluntilafterthe elections in Bihar later this year. When contacted, ally JD(U) MPKaushalendraKumarclaimed theBillwasn’tafactorintheelection. “The government says the Bill is good for Muslim community. We have to see the Bill anyway. I do not think the passage of the Bill, before or after, would make any difference to the NDA in the Bihar election,” he said. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Covid is past but it future-proofs this Jharkhand control room for migrants PAGE 1 ANCHOR HIMANSHU HARSH PATNA, MARCH 29 IN DECEMBER, a video of Jharkhand migrants narrating their plight in Cameroon went viral. In it, 47 migrants recruited by a Mumbai-based construction engineering company to install power lines in the central African country highlighted the months of exploitation and mis- treatment they suffered — right from unpaid wages and inadequate food and water to threats from their employer. The SOS video caused outrage, leading the State Migrant Control Room (SMCR) of Jharkhand to launch a rescue missionincoordinationwiththe Indian and Cameroon governments to repatriate the workers in three phases until the first week of January. Launched by the Jharkhand government on March 27, 2020, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemicasacrisishelpline,the SMCR of today is more than a control room: it is a single point access for everything pertaining to Jharkhand migrants, both domestic and international. From conducting rescue missions to providing legal aid, skill training and supporting migrants’ families, the SMCR does it all. “It began as a 24x7 helpline for lockdown-hit workers but has since become a one-stop solution to address the concerns of migrant workers and their families. In the last five years, we have handled over 11 lakh calls and resolved 66,831 cases,” says Eleven workers rescued from Cameroon were brought back to Jharkhand on December 29. X/ @migrantcell_JH Shikha Lakra, head of Jharkhand’s State Migrant Control Room — a body under the state’s Department of Labour, Employment, Training and Skill Development. In 2023-24, for instance, the SMCR not only brought back 74 Jharkhand workers from Cameroon but also helped them recover Rs 69.77 lakh in unpaid dues. “They were further enrolled in state welfare schemes tosecuretheirfuturelivelihood,” Lakra says. With 11 helplines — six landlines and five WhatsApp num- bers — SMCR provides migrant workers and their families around-the-clock counselling, legal guidance, and help with labour law violations. “The lines are multilingual, offering help in Hindi as well as localdialectssuchasSanthaliand Angika. In addition, one can also register their grievances with us via email or Twitter,” she says. Apart from spearheading rescueoperations,theSMCRalso deals with trafficking, child labour and bonded labour cases and helps migrants tackle wage disputes. “It’s also a hub for information on labour laws and government schemes for migrants and unorganised workers,” Lakra says, adding that its skill training programmes are tailored to suit market demands. The Safe and Responsible Migration Initiative (SRMI), launched under the SMCR in December 2021, is aimed at increasing social security and welfare coverage for migrant workers. “It systematically registers migrant workers,monitors their CONTINUED ON PAGE 2