eye MCS/204/2020-22RNINO.MAHENG2002/21899 THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE The Summer Lookbook MUMBAI, LATE CITY APRIL6,2025 Designers are reinforcing ideas of versatility and fluidity this season 14+4PAGES,`6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA 10% BASELINE TARIFFS KICK IN Govt view on tariffs: No instant reaction, patience key as we negotiate trade deal Advantage India over rival nations in manufacturing, says top govt official NEW DELHI, APRIL 5 AS THE 10 per cent ‘baseline’ US reciprocal tariffs took effect Saturday, a top government official said India holds a comparativeedgeoverothermanufacturing competitors, and also benefits from a first-mover advantage having initiated trade negotiationswiththeUSearlyon. Theofficialsaidthatoveralldemand in the US may be affected bythenewtariffs,butsaidIndia’s low manufacturing costs and lowercommoditypricescurrently work in the country’s favour. While the 10 per cent baselinetariff tookeffectSaturday,individual tariffs on other countries,includingIndia,aresettobe effective from April 9. US 06/04/2025 82 110 135 64 THE CITY THE WORLD IT WON’T BE EASY, HANG TOUGH, SAYS TRUMP AS MARKETS REEL FROM TARIFFS PAGE 10 President Donald Trump announceda26percentreciprocal tariff on India, but higher tariffs onChina,Vietnam,Thailand,and Indonesia — key hubs of manufacturingactivityinAsia,triggering fears of dumping in India. Addressing concerns about dumpingduetoaglutinChinese exports and the potential diversionof ChineseproductstoIndia, the official said India is closely monitoringthesituationandwill MAHARASHTRA SANYAL REINSTATED AS CHANCELLOR OF GIPE PAGE 5 Pactssignedondefence,power,health; specialaidpackageforeasternLanka SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, APRIL 5 AS COLOMBO and Delhi signed pacts on defence cooperation, power,health,digitaltechnology and a special assistance package for the island nation’s eastern provinces, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who held bilateral talks Saturday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said the Sri Lankan government will not permit its territory to be used in any manner inimical to thesecurityof Indiaandregional stability. DissanayakehonouredModi, who headed to Colombo from Bangkok after the BIMSTEC Summit, with the Mitra Vibhushana, Sri Lanka’s highest civilian award to a foreign head of state. “I reaffirmed Sri Lanka'’s stand that it will not permit its territory to be used in any manner inimical to the security of India as well as towards regional stability.” Modi said, “We believe that we have shared security interests. The security of both countriesisinterconnectedandcodependent. I am grateful to President Dissanayaka for his sensitivity towards India’s interests.Wewelcometheimportant agreements made in the area of defence cooperation. We have also agreed to work together on the Colombo Security Conclave and security cooperation in the Indian Ocean.” Regarding the ethnic Tamil minorities, Modi said, “We also discussed ‘reconstruction and reconciliation’ in Sri Lanka. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Most hate speeches we come across are against minorities, oppressed classes: SC judge Oka EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE Prime Minister Narendra Modi is conferred with the 'Mithra Vibhushana' award by Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in Colombo on Saturday. PTI Marathi row: Raj Thackeray asks Campus suicides: IIT Delhi panel flags MNS activists to stop agitation toxic competition, caste bias, burnout EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE MUMBAI, APRIL 5 Calls for sweeping reforms: ‘Life lessons’ to more empathetic leaders; easing first-year academic pressure NEW DELHI, APRIL 5 PAGE 4 Won’t allow use of Lanka soil to target India: Dissanayake to PM CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 VIDHEESHA KUNTAMALLA DISMISSED POLICE INSPECTOR FOUND GUILTY IN ASHWINI BIDRE MURDER CASE ISLAND NATION’S HIGHEST CIVILIAN AWARD FOR PM FROMPOST-COACHINGburnout to a grading system that reinforces “toxic competitiveness”, relentless academic demands and a culture marked by caste and gender-based discrimination: these are among key triggers flagged by a committee set up by IIT Delhi last year to “study the institutional processes and environment” in the context of student suicides, The Sunday Express has learnt. To alleviate student distress, the 12-member committee has recommended sweeping structural campus reforms that include: a clear anti-discrimination policy; rethinking CGPA (or Cumulative Grade Point Average)asthesolesuccessmetric; choosing more empathetic E EXPLAINED RAVI DUTTA MISHRA FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT ● Echo in SC task force THE FINDINGS of the IIT Delhi panel gain significance in light of the SC directive on March 24 to set up a National Task Force to examine rising student suicides in higher education. The order came in response to an appeal by the parents of two deceased IIT Delhi students against a January 2024 Delhi HC ruling that declined to direct the police to register an FIR. campus leaders; strengthening faculty-student ties; mandatory civiclearningtoreducebias;and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DAYS AFTER Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) activists wentontherampage,beatingup bank staff for not speaking in Marathi, party chief Raj ThackerayonSaturdayappealed to them to stop the agitation while praising them for drawing attention to the issue. The appeal comes in the wakeof widespreadcondemnation from bank officials and a second warning from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday that action will be taken againstthosewhobreakthelaw. In an open letter to MNS Raj Thackeray workers,Thackeraywrote:“First of all, I congratulate you for once againraisingyourstrongvoicefor the Marathi issue in Maharashtra. I had ordered you at the Gudi Padwa gathering to check whether transactions are being done in Marathi in banks inMaharashtra,andifnot,inform thebankadministrationaboutit. From the next day, you went to banks across Maharashtra and insisted on the use of Marathi, which was a good thing.” “This not only sent the messagethatnoonecantakeMarathi languageandMarathipeoplefor granted, but also showed the organisationalstrengthof theMNS, which is present everywhere,” Thackeray wrote, adding: “Now wecanstoptheagitationbecause we have created enough awareness on these issues, and have shown a glimpse of what can happen if this (use of Marathi) does not happen,” he said. Earlier,onSaturdaymorning, ShivSenaleaderandMinisterfor IndustriesandMarathilanguage, Uday Samant, met Thackeray. “He has made some suggestions on the use of Marathi language. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Maharashtra residents spend more time at work, less on socialising & self-care: Survey ZEESHAN SHAIKH MUMBAI, APRIL 5 THE TIME Use Survey (TUS) 2024,conductedbytheMinistry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, reveals that residents of Maharashtra are dedicating significantly more time to work, resulting in a decline in the time spent on social- ising, learning and self-care. According to the survey, the average time spent by the state’s residentsonemploymentandrelatedactivitiesis469minutesper day.Thisismuchhigherthanthe national average of 440 minutes and marks a substantial increase fromthe440minutesreportedin the 2019 Time Use Survey. Thesurveyhighlightsasignificantgenderdisparityinthetime spent on “employment and related activities”, which encompasses jobs, farming, fishing, mining and other economic activities.Onaverage,mendedicate 500minutestothesetasks,while womenspendonly395minutes. However, this gap reverses when it comes to “unpaid domestic services”. Women spend an average of 281 minutes on CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, APRIL 5 SUPREME COURT judge Justice A S Oka has said that in cases of hate speech that come to the top court most are against “religious minorities or castes which are in minority, oppressed classes like Scheduled Castes”. Speaking via virtual mode at aneventorganisedFridaybystudents of the Columbia Law School, Justice Oka said, “It’s 75 years of the existence of the Constitution, we celebrated that eventonJanuary26thisyear.But after 75 years also, there are manyinstancesof hatespeeches. Most of the hate speeches in India.. I may be wrong there becauseIhaveonlytheperspective of cases which come before the court… At the grassroots level, ‘Matter of concern if political elements use hate speeches’ what really happens, activists likeColinGonsalves(referringto SeniorAdvocateColinGonsalves who also addressed the gathering) will be able to tell you more effectively. But in the court, we come across cases where mostly these hate speeches are against the religious minorities or castes whichareinminority,oppressed classes like Scheduled Castes.” “There are instances in India where there are hate speeches against the religious minorities and attempts are made to provokemembersof themajorityto CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Organiser pulls down article on Church, Rahul & Vijayan say Christians targeted after Waqf push DEEPTIMAN TIWARY & SHAJU PHILIP NEW DELHI, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 5 SEIZING ON a row over a nowdeleted article published by the RSS-linked magazine Organiser on its website, which claimed that the “Catholic Church is the largest non-governmental land owner” in the country, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday hit out at the Sangh Parivar, alleging that it has now shifted its focus to Christians after pushing the “anti-Muslim” Waqf Amendment Bill through Parliament. In response, BJP national spokesperson Tom Vadakkan claimed that “somebody downloaded an old article and pushed it” and that “it was immediately cross-examined and deleted”. The article titled “Who has more land in India? The Catholic Church vs Waqf Board debate”, publishedontheOrganiserwebsite Thursday, claimed that the Catholicinstitutionsheld7crore hectares of land, making them “the largest non-governmental CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Neeraj’s latest launch: Dials competitors to bring home big-ticket athletic action PAGE 1 ANCHOR MIHIR VASAVDA MUMBAI, APRIL 5 FROM BEING the country’s firstevertrackandfieldOlympicgold medalist to inviting the world’s top javelin throwers for an internationally-recognised event near his home, Neeraj Chopra continues to put Indian athletics on the global map. While training at his base in South Africa, Chopra, 27, has spent the last couple of years pulling strings and making calls to fulfill his long-time dream of bringing big-time athletics action to India and give his fans a chance to see him compete against the best. The result is the eponymously-named NC Classic, scheduled to take place on May 24 at the Tau Devi Lal StadiumatPanchkula,aHaryana town that is not too far from Chopra’s village. “Neeraj is very, very handson,” said Manisha Malhotra, the president of Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) and a key member of Chopra’s entourage who is in- volvedintheorganisationtheNC Classic. “He's involved in approachingathletes,invitingthem, overseeing how the tournament is run technically… With his experience now, he’s seen various formats of the tournament.” Convincing the big stars to makethetriptoIndiagotashade easierlastThursdaywhenWorld Athletics gave NC Classic a ContinentalTour‘A’categorystatus, which is second only to the Diamond League, the top-tier competition. The ranking points accumulatedherewouldbecrucial in the World Championship qualification race, lending the Neeraj Chopra/Instagram Neeraj Chopra at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula in February. Next month, the venue will host the NC Classic. tournament more significance. While it is currently believed to be a pure javelin throw event, Chopra is learnt to be exploring the idea of expanding it to other events,if notimmediatelyforthe inaugural edition then for the subsequent ones. High jump national record holder Tejaswin Shankar, now a decathlete, said “events of this kind will open the door for the sport in India to grow”. ishowyoupopularisesomething! Way to go,” Shankar, the Hangzhou Asian Games silver medallist, wrote on X. The tournament has been years in the making and has involved multiple parties — the World Athletics, the Athletics Federation of India, Chopra’s backers JSW Sports and the Haryana government. And Chopra, as a leading member of the organising committee, has been involved in every stage of planning. This is the case of India’s greatest track-and-field athlete setting up his legacy project, a “way to give something back to the sport”, Malhotra said. “It was Neeraj's idea in terms of different things that he’s been wanting to do with athletics in India. Neeraj wants to be more and more involved in the developmentof thesport,”Malhotra,a former India tennis player, told TheIndianExpress.“He'salready an ambassador and has spent a lot of time now out (of India), kindof understandingwhathappens (abroad), what other internationalathletesdo,howtheygo about their careers and kind of preparinghimself tobealigned.” Since2020,Choprahasspent most of his time outside India training and competing. As he crisscrossed the world, the twotime Olympics and World CONTINUED ON PAGE 2