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 `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 SINGH FLAGS PAK SUPPORT TO TERROR IN CALL WITH SECY HEGSETH POST PAHALGAM TERROR ATTACK Rajnath names Pak in call with US, says Washington backs Delhi’s right to defend India works to throttle Pak terror funding, get it back in FATF ‘grey list’ Jaishankar tells Rubio: Perpetrators, backers must be brought to justice; US calls for de-escalation by India, Pak New Delhi to also raise objections on IMF aid flow to Pak AANCHAL MAGAZINE NEW DELHI, MAY 1 (From left) Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio EXPRESS NETWORK SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, MAY 1 UNDERLININGTHE“strongsupport” of the US government in India’sfightagainstterrorism,US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told Defence Minister Rajnath SinghThursdaythatWashington stands in solidarity with New Delhi and “supports India’s right todefenditself”,accordingtothe Indian government. Singh told Hegseth that “Pakistan has a history of supporting, training and funding terrorist organisations”. This is the first time that Pakistan has been named by a seniorIndianministerinthecontext of the Pahalgam terror attack. And the most clear and unequivocal support for the Indian government, at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told the top military leadership that the armed forces have “complete operational freedom to decide on the mode, targets and timing of our response” to the Pahalgam terror attack in whichterroristskilled25tourists and a local resident. PAGE 6 The call between Singh and Hegseth came hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to External Affairs MinisterSJaishankar.Inthatcall, Jaishankar said that “the perpetrators, backers and planners of the Pahalgam terrorist attack must be brought to justice”. Statements from both the Jaishankar-Rubio and the Hegseth-Singhcallssuggestsupport from the US, in tune with Trump’s initial remarks on both sides figuring it out. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Pahalgam terror attack victim Lt Vinay Narwal's wife Himanshi Narwal pays tribute to her husband on his birthday, in Karnal, Haryana on Thursday. Manoj Dhaka REPORT,PAGE6 ‘Chun, chun ke jawab diya jayega’: Shah promises strong response to terror attack EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, MAY 1 UNDERLINING THE government’s resolve to go after terrorists and their backers, Union Home Minister Amit Shah Thursday promised retribution for the Pahalgam terror attack, saying “har vyakti ko chun chun ke jawab bhi milega, jawab bhi Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi, Thursday. Tashi Tobgyal diya jayega” (each person will be given a befitting reply). Speaking at an event in New Delhitounveilastatueof thelate Bodo leader Upendranath Brahma and name a road after him, Shah said, “I want to tell the citizens of the country that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a zero-tolerance policy against those behind terrorism in Kashmir since the 1990s. We havefoughtstrongly.Today,they (the terrorists and their backers) should not think that they have won the war by killing 26 of our citizens. I want to tell all those spreading terror… Har vyakti ko chun chun ke jawab bhi milega, jawab bhi diya jayega.” “This is the Narendra Modi government, no one will be spared. It is our resolve to uproot CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Create in India, create for the world, PM Modi tells global creators at WAVES 2025 02/05/2025 86 114 140 62 Will look at contempt: HC pulls up Ramdev on ‘sharbat jihad’ SOHINI GHOSH NEW DELHI, MAY 1 THE DELHI High Court Thursday pulled up Baba Ramdev, warning that it would consider issuing a contempt notice to him, after the yoga guru released a new video in which he purportedly disparaged pharmaceutical and food company Hamdard and its products with communally divisive undertones. Ramdev later told the High Court that he would take down the relevant portion from all social media platforms. This is the second time in a span of 10 days that Ramdev has offered to take down a video purportedly CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE MUMBAI, MAY 1 PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi on Thursday appealed to the entertainment industry across the globe to choose India to create content for the world. Inaugurating the World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit (WAVES 2025) at JIO World Center in Mumbai, Modi said,“Thisistherighttime.Right time to create in India, create for the world. When the world is searching for new modes of storytelling, India has a treasure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the World Audio Visual Entertainment Summit 2025, in Mumbai on Thursday. PMO via PTI stories of thousands of years whicharetimeless,thoughtprovoking and truly global.” “It (stories) is not only about culture, but also about science, sports, valour, fiction, courage. India’s storytelling landscape blends science with fiction, and heroism with innovation, forming a vast and diverse creative ecosystem. Our treasure is huge and to take it to every corner of theworld,presentittoanewgeneration is a responsibility of the WAVES platform,” the PM said. WAVES2025,afour-daysummit with tagline “Connecting Creators, Connecting Countries”, Pasmanda Muslims likely to be counted as OBCs in caste census NIKHILA HENRY HYDERABAD, MAY 1 IN THE enumeration of castes to be done in the forthcoming Census,asannouncedbythegovernmentWednesday,Pasmanda Muslimsasawholemayfigurein the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) category. “Pasmanda Muslims will be given their due share in the national caste census,” said a sen- EXPRESS NETWORK CHIRAG HAILS CASTE CENSUS MOVE PAGE 7 ior BJP leader. Leaders of the BJP Minority Morcha and OBC Morcha confirmed the same. “As per the Mandal Commission recommendations, some groups among Muslims are includedinthestateandCentrallist of Backward Classes. These Muslims will be enumerated as such in the caste census (among OBCs),” K Laxman, the national president of the BJP’s OBC Morcha, told The Indian Express. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUSINESS AS USUAL is poised to position India as a global hub for media, entertainment and digital innovation by bringing together creators, startups,industryleaders,andpolicymakers from across the world. PM Modi said that WAVES is merelynotanacronymbutareal wave of culture, creativity and universal connectivity. Films, music,gaming,animation,storytellingandeverythingthatispart of creativity, further underlining THE CITY CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BMC TO IMPLEMENT UTWT METHOD TO REPAIRROADS PAGE 3 RELATED REPORTS PAGE 4 A strike at terror ● funding THE FATF move is the latest in a raft of measures taken by India against Pakistan following the terror attack in Pahalgam. It also directly confronts the spectre of cross-border terror and aims to strike at its financial sources. The next step would be to rally support within the task force — 23 of the 40 members had sent condolence messages over the attack that killed 26 people. said this had helped curtail illicit fund flows from Pakistan into India, especially into J&K. The second is to raise objections to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) continued financing of a $7-billion aid package that commenced CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Use your power to arrest sparingly, and not at an early stage: ASG to ED Says hasty arrest leads to default bail, courts faulted grounds many times DEEPTIMAN TIWARY & MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL NEW DELHI, MAY 1 BY UNNY ADDITIONALSOLICITORGeneral S V Raju, who has appeared in courts for the Enforcement Directorateinmanyhigh-profile cases of alleged money laundering, cautioned the agency Thursday against hasty arrests, saying “use your power to arrest not liberally, but sparingly” and do “not use it at an early stage” of a case. Addressing ED officials at an eventtomarktheagency’sfoundation day at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, Raju suggested that arrests made in the early stages of a case were not only counterproductive to investigation but also to the outcome of the case in courts. Additional Solicitor General of India S V Raju at the ED Day event in Delhi. PTI “Arrest is very crucial for all agencies.Butitisthethreatof arrest that makes people disclose detailsinacase.Aftertheyarearrested, their conduct changes because the threat is over. You must use your power to arrest not liberally but sparingly. And you must not use it at an early stage of the case,” he said. According to Raju, the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Yamuna clean-up: Clearing drains to razing encroachments, Govt readies four-year plan KEY MEASURES HARIKISHAN SHARMA NEW DELHI, MAY 1 ■ Solid waste management FROM ENHANCING environmental flow of the river to managing drains and removing encroachments from floodplains throughadedicatedSpecialTask Force, the Government has finalised a 30-point action plan to rejuvenate the Yamuna, The Indian Express has learnt. The plan, which involves the ■ Sewage management ■ Governance, enforcement ■ Surveillance ■ Public outreach ■ Drain management ■ Flood plain protection Central and Delhi governments, was drawn up following a highlevel meeting chaired by Prime MinisterNarendraModionApril 16 to review the clean-up and address the capital’s drinking water concerns. Sources said that a detailed presentationontheinitiativewas shared during the meeting, which was also attended by UnionHomeMinisterAmitShah, UnionJalShaktiMinisterCRPatil, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 It’s a Himalayan task as India’s longest rail tunnel races to finish line DHEERAJ MISHRA DEVPRAYAG, MAY 1 “DHYAAN SE (Be careful),” Vivek Kumar’s words of caution, shouted from atop a telehandler machine that is used to carry heavy loads, echo around the quartzblacktunnel,whereworkers are installing explosives to make way for an electric room. Inside what is slated to be India’s longest transportation tunnel in Uttarakhand’s Devprayag,the14.57-kmJanasutun- nel, also known as tunnel no 8 (T-8), workers race against time and the uncertainty of Himalayan geology to complete theexcavation.Apartof the125km Rishikesh-Karnaprayag line, T-8 is located on the DevprayagJanasu stretch. Moving ahead with a box of explosive fuse, Kumar, a blaster fromBihar,tellsTheIndianExpress, “Only some work like electric rooms is pending. Track work in the tunnel will start after that.” A few minutes and a big boom later, the explosives have RISHIKESH-KARNAPRAYAG RAIL LINE DEV NAGARI RISHIKESH Maletha Janasu Dhari Devi Shivpuri Byasi Srinagar Existing railwayline Devprayag Haridwar The 14.57-km Janasu tunnel or T-8 is located on the banks of the Ganga in Uttarakhand’s Devprayag. Abhinav Saha 125km Totallength oftheproject Tilani Line Gholtir Gauchar KARNAPRAYAG 14.57-kmtunnel between Devprayag and Janasu stations 104km Source: Indian Railways PAGE 1 ANCHOR ATTARI-WAGAH CHECKPOINT SHUT THIS TIME, ENTER AND STAY: OWAISI AS PART of its escalatory matrix againstPakistanfortheterrorattack in Pahalgam on April 22, India is considering two specific moves aimed at curbing financial flows that aid the neighbour fund terror activities. The first is to make a concerted effort to try and bring back Pakistan into the ‘grey list’ of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global money laundering and terror financing watchdog, two people in the know told The Indian Express. Pakistan was put in the ‘grey list’ in June 2018, and faced “increased monitoring” till it was removed in October 2022. Being in this list adversely impacts FDI and capital flows as businesses havetoundertakeenhanceddue diligence. Government officials E EXPLAINED FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2025, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES (83%)Totallength ofthetunnels blown a clean, 1.5-metre hole in the quartzitic phyllite rock. The cleared space will house one of the five electric rooms that will powerelectricequipmentinside the tunnel. From mobilising a “factorysized” 2,200-tonne tunnel boring machine (TBM) that excavates hard rocks to using three types of technologies to dig through the fragile Himalayan rocks — the making of T-8 has been one of Indian Railways’ most challenging projects so far. On April 16, T-8 completed the critical tunnel breakthrough phase (when a tunnel under excavation from both ends connects), witnessed by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. While the project is a singleline broad-gauge network, consideringfuturerequirements,the plannershaveadoublelineinthe tunnel.Theexcavationof thesecond tunnel by TBM has reached upto8.70kmandisscheduledto be complete in June. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2