DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2025, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY SINCE 1932 U.S. MARKETS BOUNCE BACK AFTER ANNOUNCEMENT Trump blinks with 90-day pause on tariffs but dials up China’s to 125% Before he moved, China hit back with 84% tariff, EU 25%; Treasury Secy says India among those willing to ‘sit at table’ SCHOOL TEACHERS PROTESTING JOB LOSS CLASH WITH POLICE IN KOLKATA, FACE LATHI CHARGE PAGE 3 Mamata tells minorities: Will protect you & your property SWEETY KUMARI KOLKATA, APRIL 9 WEST BENGAL Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday promised to resolve the concerns of minorities and assured them of her support in the wake of the recently passed Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025. Banerjeesaid,“If othersdon't have the right to take my property, similarly I have no right to take others’ property… They say I don't give protection for the Hindu dharma in Bengal. If I don't, then who does? I must alsogivecredittominoritiesthat they have nicely celebrated Hindus' festivals also in Bengal and I am proud to say that.” JOSH BOAK WASHINGTON, APRIL 9 FACING A global market meltdown, US President Donald Trump Wednesday abruptly backed down on his tariffs on most nations for 90 days, but raised the tax rate on Chinese imports to 125%. It was seemingly an attempt to narrow what had been an unprecedented trade war between the US and most of the world to a showdown between the US and China. The S&P 500 stock index jumped 8% after the announcement. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2,665 points, or 7.1%,asof 2pmEasterntime,and theNasdaqcompositewas10.3% hours after Goyal tells exporters not to panic RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, APRIL 9 Decided to pause because more than 75 countries reached out for trade talks, says Trump. Reuters higher. But the precise details of Trump’s plans to ease tariffs on non-China trade partners were CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EARLIER ANALYSIS EXPLAINED, PAGE 12 Stephen Miran heads US Council of Economic Advisers NEW DELHI, APRIL 9 E NOT MANY mayhaveheard of Stephen Miran. ● He is the man who US President Donald Trump selected as the chairman of his Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) — and also perhaps the most articulate defender of his INDIA’S STRATEGY of initiating talks for a bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with the US, along with its restraint in not retaliating against US tariffs, appears to have paid off, as US President Donald Trump Wednesday paused reciprocal tariffs on 75 countries, including India, while imposing a steep 125 per cent tariff on China in response to its retaliatory measures. The sharply high tariffs on China could provide a compara- policy of sweeping “reciprocal tariffs” that threaten to upend the existing international trading system and have triggered massive sell-off in stock markets across the globe. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 HITESH VYAS MUMBAI, APRIL 9 THE RESERVE Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) reduced the repo rate by 25basispoints(bps)to6percent Wednesday while the growth forecast for the current fiscal (FY2026) was lowered to 6.5 per cent from 6.7 per cent amid uncertainties arising from trade tive advantage for India, as businesses based in China may now look to shift operations to countries with lower tariff regimes, suchasIndia.However,concerns remain over the risk of dumping from the Chinese market into India. That said, the threat of reciprocaltariffsonIndiahasnotbeen ruled out. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, when asked whether the tariffs were always aboutChina,replieditwasabout “bad actors” and that Vietnam, Japan, South Korea and India could be next though he added, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra in Mumbai on Wednesday. Amit Chakravarty RELATEDREPORTS,PAGE11 wars following the reciprocal tariffs announced by the US. Announcing the monetary policy, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the trade tariff related measures have exacerbateduncertaintiescloudingthe economic outlook across regions,posingnewheadwindsfor global growth and inflation. He warned that tariffs will impede domestic growth and India hits back after Yunus N-E remark, halts transshipment facility for Dhaka She was addressing membersof theJaincommunity during a programme organised to celebrate Navkar Mahamantra Day. “I will say one thing to minorities… I know you are hurt... Trust me, in Bengal nothing will be done that leads to divide and rule,” Banerjee said, adding, “Don’t get restless. Look at the border situation in Bangladesh. If you do something hurriedly, it sometimes causes problems. Nearly 33 per cent of our population in Bengal comprises CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 22 ARRESTED OVER VIOLENCE, DURING PROTESTS OVER WAQF ACT IN MURSHIDABAD PAGE 3 Kathmandu Siliguri corridor BHUTAN Meghalaya Bihar INDIA Assam Manipur West Bengal Tripura Dhaka BANGLADESH BAY OF BENGAL RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, APRIL 9 DAYS AFTER Bangladesh Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, seeking “extension of the Chineseeconomy”,calledIndia's Northeast “landlocked”, New Delhi decided to terminate the transshipment facility for Bangladesh’s export cargo, a move that can disrupt Dhaka's trade with several countries. Thedecisionwasannounced late Tuesday night through a no- MYANMAR Mizoram tification issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Wednesday that the transshipment facility extended to Bangladesh had over a period of time resulted in significant congestion at India's airportsandports.“Logisticaldelays and higher costs were hindering our own exports and creating backlogs. The facility, therefore, has been withdrawn w.e.f. April 8, 2025. To clarify, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL Tahawwur Rana sent LeT scout Headley to Mumbai NEW DELHI, APRIL 9 INDIAN SECURITY agencies braced for the arrival Thursday of Tahawwur Rana, being extraditedfromtheUSnearly16years after his arrest for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. On Wednesday evening, the Nayayik Abhiraksha Vahini of Delhi Police was asked by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to send a jail van, along with pilot escorts, to the airport around 7 am Thursday, ahead of Rana’s arrival. The Delhi Police Special Cell has been placed on alert and SWATcommandoshavealready been deployed at the airport. A team of three senior officers of the NIA, along with three intelligenceofficials,reachedthe US Sunday to obtain custody of Rana, sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs said. The source said the team obtained Rana’s custody and he would be reaching Delhi Thursday. It is likely that he will be placed under judicial custody in Tihar Jail. “The Nayayik Abhiraksha Vahini,whichferriesjailinmates from prison to courts, has been askedtosenditspersonneltothe airport. Initially, it was told to send a team around 4 am, but that was later changed to 7 am,” the source said. “Ajailvanalongwithpilotescorts, comprising police personnel,havebeenaskedtoreachthe airport by 7 am. The South District police have made extra security deployment near the NIA headquarters in Pragati Vihar,” the source said. Also Wednesday, Union HomeMinisterAmitShahhelda meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Dovaltodiscussthepreparations. A source said Director of Intelligence Bureau Tapan Deka, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri andNIADirectorSadanandDate werealsopresentatthemeeting. In the evening, Shah, speaking at the News18 Rising Bharat Summit,calledtheextraditionof CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD AHEAD OF TALKS IN OMAN, IRAN SAYS NOT SEEKING NUKES CHINA IS A THREAT TO PANAMA CANAL, SAYS U.S. PAGE 10 AIIMS researchers develop blood test to monitor cervical cancer treatment CHINA (TIBET) NEPAL He will face trial and punishment, extradition big success of Govt: Shah CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Due to congestion at ports, airports: MEA West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Wednesday. Express TIHAR READIES CELL, PROSECUTOR NAMED Tahawwur Rana, extradited from US for his role in 26/11, India gets a breather, reaches Delhi today No knee-jerk this, meet POLICY STANCE NOW ‘ACCOMMODATIVE’ economist behind tariffs RBI cuts key rate by 25 basis points, growth projection lowered to 6.5% HARISH DAMODARAN EXPLAINED WEST BENGAL `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES, `20 IN ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM ANONNA DUTT AT THE AICC SESSION NEW DELHI, APRIL 9 Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge with party leaders Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and others at the AICC session in Ahmedabad, Wednesday. Bhupendra Rana REPORT,PAGE5 Singapore court sets aside ‘copied, pasted’ arbitral award by ex-CJI APURVA VISHWANATH NEW DELHI, APRIL 9 THESINGAPORECourtof Appeal on Tuesday set aside an international arbitral award involving a governmentrailwaycontractafter finding that the award had significant portions that were “copied and pasted” from two similarIndianarbitrationawards. Significantly, the Court of Justice Misra was the Presiding Arbitrator in all 3 awards Appeal in a 40-page ruling said the Presiding Arbitrator in all three awards in question was former Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. “Outof the451paragraphsin theAward,itwasundisputedthat at least 212 paragraphs were copied and pasted from the ParallelAwards,”therulingnoted. ParallelAwardsisananonymised reference to two Indian arbitrationsthatwereheldparalleltothe Singapore arbitration involving the same parties. The Court of Appeal is the highest Court in Singapore and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 A SIMPLE blood test may help determinewhetherthepatient’s cervical cancer is responding to treatment or whether it has relapsed, shows early research by doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi. The study found that the levels of DNA fragments of human papillomavirus (HPV) — the virus responsible for the vast majority of cervical cancer cases — in the blood closely mirror the size of the tumour. As patients began treatment, the viral DNA levels dropped, offering a realtimesnapshotof howthecancer was responding. The findings, published in Scientific Reports, a journal from Nature, could be a gamechangerinhowIndiatacklescervical cancer — the second most common cancer among women HOW IT WORKS ■ A blood sample is collected ■ It’s separated into components like plasma, red blood cells ■ Circulating DNA is extracted from the plasma ■ DNA is amplified and tested using a precise PCR technique in the country. According to data from the World Health Organisation’s GlobalCancerObservatory,India reported1.27lakhcervicalcancer cases and 79,979 deaths in 2022. The overall survival rate of cervical cancer in India is around 46 per cent, according to the study. With over 95% of cervical cancer cases linked to high-risk CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘Support caste census, not caste politics... also have MY (Mahila, Yuva) formula’ PAGE 1 ANCHOR EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, APRIL 9 UNION MINISTER of Food Processing Industries and Lok JanshaktiParty(RamVilas)president Chirag Paswan believes that a caste census would offer data to the government for tailoring various welfare schemes for people, but says that such data should not be made public as that could fuel casteism. It may sound paradoxical “that I don’t support caste politics but support caste census”, Paswan said at the Express Adda on Tuesday night, adding that caste is a harsh reality in the country. Underlining that both discrimination and various government schemes for people’s uplift were based on caste, he said the state governments should have the caste data but refrain from making it public. Paswan, 42, was in conversation with Anant Goenka, Executive Director, The Indian Express Group, and Vandita Mishra, National Opinion Editor, The Indian Express. Asserting that he believed in the concept of “Bihar First” and “BihariFirst”,Paswansaid,“Ialso have MY (Mahila and Yuva) formula. Out of my five MPs, two are women. I talk about 14 crore Biharis... The moment Biharis come out of Bihar and outside caste, they do so well in every field — media, corporates and Union Food Processing Industries Minister Chirag Paswan at Express Adda in New Delhi on Tuesday. Renuka Puri bureaucracy.” He said the need of the hour is to work for Bihar’s development — something that having thesameallianceinpowerinthe state and at the Centre, he said, should help achieve — expressing confidence that the incumbentNDAwouldreturntopower in Bihar by clinching the state Assembly polls later this year. Asked whether he was concerned about doles being handed out by various parties to come to power, Paswan said, “Of late,yes,itisaconcern.(Iam)not talking about cash, but as a taxpayer, I would say services are more important than putting money in banks. Education and health should be free. I hope after 2047, when we become a developednation,thesethingswill be used on services.” Defending the enactment of the amended Waqf law, the LJP(RV)chiefsaidtherewasatendency in some circles to spread distrustamongMuslims,beiton the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)oronArticle370.Heunderlined that while the CAA was to give citizenship to people from persecuted minorities in a few neighbouring countries, the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata