DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 2025, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES BY UNNY BIG PICTURE PAGE 13 A KERALA CRISIS THE DRUG CHALLENGE Karnataka accepts caste survey report, Cabinet to take it up on April 17 Survey commissioned in Siddaramaiah’s first tenure as CM from 2013 to 2018 EXTRADITED FROM U.S. FOR ROLE IN 26/11 US: Rana said 26/11 terrorists should get Pak’s highest gallantry award India keen on interim trade deal with US in pause period MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL Trying to get US, EU and UK to speed up trade talks, says Jaishankar Headley disclosures, testimony with FBI, Pak contacts: Rana questioning intense NIA, IB officers conducting his interrogation after obtaining 18-day custody DEEPTIMAN TIWARY NEW DELHI, APRIL 11 THE NATIONAL Investigation Agency (NIA), which has been granted 18-day custody of Tahawwur Rana, the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack conspirator extradited to India from the US, is to be confronted with disclosures about his role by Lashkar-e-Taiba scout David Coleman Headley. Rana is being questioned by investigators of the NIA and officials of the Intelligence Bureau at the NIA headquarters. Sources in the NIA told The Indian Express Friday that Rana, who was brought to Delhi Thursdayevening and produced before a court for grant of custody, will also be confronted with his own testimony given to the Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) and the Northern District CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, APRIL 11 A photograph released by the US Department of Justice shows US marshals escorting Tahawwur Rana before transferring his custody to the NIA team, in California. PTI The South India link: 2008 Bengaluru blasts, Kerala terror recruitment plot JOHNSON T A BENGALURU, APRIL 11 BESIDES THE 26/11 Mumbai attacks,TahawwurRana’sextraditionisalsolikelytothrowlighton hisassociationwithkeyLashkare-Taiba operatives linked to terrorism in South India. Rana is known to have been associated with a key Lashkar commander who handled operations in South India around the time of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks,includingtheBengaluruserial blasts on July 25, 2008, and a terror recruitment plot in Kerala. Since the 26/11 attacks, the uncovering of the Lashkar’s ter- ror network by agencies in India and the US — reported through court filings in the two countries — has revealed that Rana was linked in some way to Lashkar’s top operatives behind operations in South India. Documentaryevidencefrom these court filings over the last CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 A DAY after his extradition to India, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) Friday said that following the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks Tahawwur Rana told his co-conspirator David Coleman HeadleythatthenineLashkar-eTaiba terrorists killed during the assault “should be given the Nishan-e-Haider” — Pakistan’s highest award for gallantry in battlereservedforfallensoldiers. More than 16 years after the Mumbai attacks in which 166 peoplewerekilled,RanawasextraditedtoIndiaandformallyarrested by the NIA Thursday. On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on X: “We extradited Rana to India to face charges for his role CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 TAMIL NADU ASSEMBLY POLLS NEXT YEAR It’s final: With EPS as face, common agenda in works, AIADMK and BJP form alliance PAGE 1 ANCHOR RAVI DUTTA MISHRA & SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, APRIL 11 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BENGALURU, APRIL 11 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal with Italy’s Deputy PM Antonio Tajani. Anil Sharma TOMAKEGOODthepauseonreciprocal tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump, India isaimingtosignaninterimtrade agreement with the US during the 90-day window, a senior government official said. “An agreement is possible within 90 days if it’s a win-win for both sides. By then, the broad contours will be finalised. The Terms of Reference (ToR) have been signed, and India is significantly ahead of other countries seeking a deal with the US,” said the official, who did not wish to be identified. AKRAM M OVER a year after it was submitted to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in February 2024, the Karnataka Cabinet Friday accepted the Socio-Economic and Educational Survey report, popularly referred to as caste survey. The 50-volume report, submitted by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward ClassesinFebruary2024,isscheduled to be discussed at a Special Cabinet meeting on April 17. Briefing the media on the report, Backward Classes Welfare Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi said the survey assessed 54 parametersonthesocialandeducational status of Karnataka households. “Of the 6.35 crore population in the state, 5.98 crore people from 1.35 crore families were surveyed,” he said, making it 94.17% of the population. Around 37 lakhfamilies,or5.83%of thetotal population, were not surveyed. 90-DAY OPPORTUNITY E EXPLAINED BUSINESS AS USUAL `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Win-win dealmay ● be possible WITH A three-month pause before 26% US reciprocal tariffs kick in, New Delhi is keen to push through an interim trade deal. The Terms of Reference for a bilateral trade agreement have already been signed, and India believes a win-win interim deal is possible within 90 days. CHINA IMPOSES 125% TARIFFS ON U.S. PAGE 12 Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Varanasi, Friday. PTI US Vice President Vance, PM: Varanasi became focal point on NSA Mike Waltz likely Purvanchal’s economic map in 10 yrs to visit India this month INAUGURATES PROJECTS WORTH `3,880 CR Union Home Minister Amit Shah with AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and Tamil Nadu’s outgoing BJP chief K Annamalai in Chennai on Friday. PTI ARUN JANARDHANAN CHENNAI, APRIL 11 UNION HOME Minister Amit Shah formally announced an alliance between the BJP and AIADMKforthe2026TamilNadu Assembly elections here Friday, addingthatAIADMKgeneralsecretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS)willleadit.Healsosaidthat the two parties will have a common minimum programme. “The alliance between the AIADMK and BJP in Tamil Nadu is under the leadership of EPS… We will have a common minimum programme before we get into the elections. We will all work together to make the alliance stronger,” Shah said, sharing the stage with EPS and BJP state president K Annamalai, whose exit from the post is being widely seen as a strategic reshuffletocementtiesbetween the two parties. Shah dismissed suggestions that the AIADMK had made any demands or set conditions for the alliance. Asked specifically about expelled AIADMK leaders CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Takes jibe at Opp: ‘Parivar ka saath, parivar ka vikas their motto’ MAULSHREE SETH LUCKNOW, APRIL 11 PRIMEMINISTERNarendraModi asserted on Friday that Varanasi has undergone a massive transformation in the past 10 years and became the focal point on theeconomicmapof Purvanchal (eastern Uttar Pradesh) as funds worth crores of rupees were sanctioned for the Lok Sabha constituency during this period. Speaking on the sidelines of INSIDE GANGRAPE: PM TELLS POLICE TO TAKE STRINGENT ACTION PAGE 3 the inauguration and stone layingof 44projectsworthRs3,880 crore in Varanasi, the Prime Minister said, “Kashi (Varanasi) is mine, and I belong to Kashi... Whoever preserves Kashi, pre- servesthesoulof India.Wemust continue to make Kashi strong and dreamlike. Having been elected for the third time from theconstituency,Iamconstantly trying to work as your “sevak” (servant). You can see how it has been transformed with funds worth crores of rupees in the past one decade.” He also took a swipe at the Opposition parties saying those hankeringforpowerfocussolely onpromotingtheirownfamilies CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, APRIL 11 PREPARATIONSAREbeingmade to schedule separate visits by US Vice President J D Vance and US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz later this month. Sources said there is a possibility that both visits may happen in the last week of the month,betweenApril21and25. The visits, if confirmed, will comeattimewhenthetwosides are working on a trade deal. Vance is expected to under- US Vice President J D Vance; NSA Mike Waltz takeanofficialmeetingandthen head for a private visit to meet his wife’s family. His wife, Usha Vance, is of Indian origin and has CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 In TN village named as case study for Waqf law, support for new Act NIKHILA HENRY THIRUCHENDURAI (TIRUCHIRAPPALLI), APRIL 11 RETIRED SCHOOL teacher T K Balasubramaian, 84, says the local festival at the 1,500-year-old ChandrasekharaSwamyTemple at Thiruchendurai village in Tiruchirappalli district was celebrated with more “gusto” than usual this year. Sitting on the thinnai (porch) at his house in an agraharam (a Brahmin settlement) in the village,Balasubramaiansays,“Now that we are sure that temples in the village will no longer be claimed by the Waqf Board, the temple festival was celebrated with more excitement this time. The Waqf law has breathed a new life into this area.” Spread over 900 acres, Thiruchendurai village shot to fame after Union Minority AffairsMinisterKirenRijijumentioned it as a “case study” while speaking in support of the Waqf BillinParliamentinAugust2024. He had said the entire village, including the temple, was being claimed as Waqf property. Passed by Parliament on April 4, the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, came into force on April 8. Even as the Opposition has criticised the Act as “unconstitutional” and an attack on the constitutional rights of the Muslim community, agraharam residents say they are in favour of the new law. To a query by The Indian Express onthedispute,anofficial withtheTamilNaduWaqf Board says “it had not claimed the entire village”. The official adds, “Only the part of the village that was do- The agraharam lane at Thiruchendurai village in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchirappalli district. Nikhila Henry natedbyRaniMangammaltothe Muslims in the 18th century is considered a part of Waqf land. The village is considered as inam gramam (villagegrantedasagift) aspera1954Gazettenotification.” Disputing this, Kannan Venkataraman,anotherresident of the agraharam, says, “I have been living at the agraharam for generations. All this time, the issue of the village being an inam gramam was never raised.” Thiruchendurai village is dominatedbyHindus,fromboth the dominant and historically marginalisedcastes.Itsresidents includethenearly40familiesresiding in the agraharam. Protests against the Waqf Board’s claims over the village land have been centered at the agraharam. The issue at Thiruchendurai villagefirstcametolightin2022, after Rajagopal, a farmer from the OBC community, decided to sell his 1.2-acre land. Locals say the village revenue officials told him to get a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Waqf Board “since the land belonged to them”. The Indian Express reached out to the district revenue officials, but they were un- available for comment. Kannan Venkataraman, another resident of the agraharam, says, “Rajagopal’s case soon became a rallying point. The agraharam residents too supported the cause.” Rajagopal eventually sold his land, after the Tamil Nadu government intervened in the dispute in 2022 and its revenue department said that an NOC was not required from the Waqf Board for land transactions. “When I bought property in the agraharam nearly 25 years CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow