DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, MAY 20, 2025, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES After cost overrun, Govt to send 100 teams to ‘inspect’ Jal Jeevan schemes HOUSE PANEL ON EXTERNAL AFFAIRS Misri to panel: India-Pak conflict conventional, no nuclear signalling HARIKISHAN SHARMA Ceasefire bilateral decision, no US intervention, says Foreign Secy NEW DELHI, MAY 19 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY The Indian Express report published on April 21 E EXPLAINED THE GOVERNMENT has decided to send 100 teams of Central Nodal Officers for “ground inspection” of the Jal Jeevan Mission schemes across the country. The move follows a meeting chaired by the Cabinet SecretaryonMay8toreviewthe mission’s schemes. The order issued by the Department of Personnel and TrainingonMondayidentified99 nodal officers to inspect as many as 183 schemes across 135 districts in 29 states and Union Territories. Of these schemes, learnt to have been selected randomly, Madhya Pradesh has the most—29,RajasthanandOdisha 21 each, Karnataka 19, Uttar Pradesh18,Kerala10,andGujarat and Tamil Nadu eight each. The decision for a review comes two months after an ExpenditureSecretary-ledpanel proposeda46percentcuttothe Water Resources Ministry’s proposal demanding Rs 2.79 lakh croreforcompletingthemission overfouryearsendingDecember Behind ● the review THE GOVERNMENT has taken note of the escalation in costs towards providing tap water connections across states ruled by different political parties. A ‘ground inspection’ of work orders in different places will give a picture not just of the costs involved in executing the job, but also the quality of work. 2028. The cut came following hardquestionsbytheMinistryof Financeovercostescalation,and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Pak targeted Golden Temple, all drones, missiles shot down: Army KAMALDEEP SINGH BRAR AMRITSAR, MAY 19 PAKISTAN TRIED to target the Golden Temple in Amritsar and several other places in Punjab with drones and missiles on the intervening night of May 7-8 shortly after India hit nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistanoccupied Kashmir under Operation Sindoor, the Indian ArmysaidMonday.Butthewave of attacksfromacrosstheborder was thwarted by India's air defence systems, it said. Major General Kartik C Seshadri, General Officer Commanding, 15 Infantry Division, told news agency ANI: “Knowing that the Pakistani Army does not have any legitimate target, we anticipated that they would target Indian militaryinstallationsandciviliantar- SC rejects MP minister’s apology, orders SIT probe into remarks NEW DELHI, MAY 19 TMC PULLS OUT OF GLOBAL OUTREACH DELEGATION PAGE 6 Army personnel display ammunition and weapons used by Pakistan to attack India, during a demonstration near the India-Pakistan border, in Punjab on Monday. PTI REMARKS AGAINST COL SOFIYA QURESHI ANANTHAKRISHNAN G GOVT & POLITICS `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 REJECTINGHISapologyandcalling it “only a pretence to wriggle out of the consequences”, the Supreme Court on Monday directedthataSpecialInvestigation Team (SIT) be set up to investigate the remarks made by Madhya Pradesh Tribal Affairs MinisterKunwarVijayShahthat were seen to be against Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, who was part of thearmedforcesmediabriefings Madhya Pradesh Minister Vijay Shah on Operation Sindoor. “Having gone through the contentsof thestatementattributed to the petitioner, also the contents of the apology said to have been tendered by him, we are satisfied that subject FIR requires to be investigated by an SIT comprising three senior, directlyrecruitedIPSofficersof MP cadre but who do not belong the state,” a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N K Singh said. The SIT, comprising three IPS officers,includingonefemaleofficer, shall be constituted before 10amonTuesday,thecourtsaid. It shall be headed by an officer gets, including religious places. Of these, the Golden Temple appeared to be the most prominent. We mobilised additional modernairdefenceassetstogive a holistic air defence umbrella cover to Golden Temple.” Although the government had previously stated that Pakistan targeted religious places, including gurdwaras, in India, this is the first time the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NETWORK RED FORT BARRACK TO HOUSE NEW ASI MUSEUM SC JUNKS LANKA MAN’S PLEA SEEKING REFUGE PAGES 7, 10 Latvia, Congo: India outreach to members of UNSC, now and future SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, MAY 19 Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri with the panel members. PTI ASAD REHMAN NEW DELHI, MAY 19 THERECENTmilitaryconflictbetween India and Pakistan was in the conventional domain and there was no nuclear signalling by Islamabad, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri is learnt to have told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs on Monday. Briefing the committee nine days after a ceasefire was announcedbetweenthetwocountries on May 10, Misri is learnt to have conveyed that the decision to stop military actions was CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INDIA’S MULTI-PARTY outreach to rally global support for its war against terror emanating from Pakistan is not just aimed at major countries and the West Asian region, but also at countries that will be members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) next year. Latvia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Bahrain, Liberia and Colombia will be part of the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 As Rahul and Congress raise heat on Jaishankar, not all in party on board MANOJ C G & ASAD REHMAN NEW DELHI, MAY 19 ON A day Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri briefed the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs headed by the Congress’s Shashi Tharoor on foreign policy devel- Minister acted like informant: Khera opments regarding India and Pakistan, the Congress doubled down on External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. In a fresh attack, Rahul Gandhi asked him to again clarify whether India had informed Pakistan about targeting the terrorist infrastructure on its soil, and what it had meant in terms of aircraft “lost” by India. Congress media department head Pawan Khera used an AICC CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SC AGREES TO HEAR ASHOKA PROF’S PLEA PAGE 7 ‘No error in Sambhal court In-house probe has no legal sanctity: V-P order’: HC dismisses plea on Justice Varma case against survey of mosque EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE ANANTHAKRISHNAN G LUCKNOW, MAY 19 NEW DELHI, MAY 19 QUESTIONING THE in-house probe by a panel of three judges into allegations of discovery of unaccounted cash at the official residence of Justice Yashwant Varma during a fire incident in March this year, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar Monday said it “does not have any constitutional premise or legal sanctity but most importantly it will be inconsequential”,andwondered why no FIR has been registered in the matter yet. Stressing on the need for an FIR, Dhankhar said, “People are waiting with bated breath... The money trail, its source, its pur- Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar at a book launch in New Delhi, Monday. PTI pose, did it pollute the judicial system? Who are the bigger sharks? We need to find out.” “Already two months have gone by... investigation is CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE ALLAHABAD High Court on Monday rejected a petition filed by the Mosque Committee of Sambhal’s Shahi Jama Masjid challenging the trial court order of survey of the Mughal era mosque following claims by Hindus that it was built by destroying a temple. Upholding the November 19 order of the court of Civil Judge (Senior Division) of Sambhal, Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal of the High Court said: “The court below had not committed any error, irregularity or illegality in granting leave to institute the suit before the expiry of period of notice under Section 80(2) Police near the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal on Monday. PTI CPC, as it was never objected by the Government or its officials defendants...” It said the suit was "not prima facie barred" by the provisions of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 3 students killed in Pak shelling, Poonch school opens with tears — and a prayer PAGE 1 ANCHOR AISWARYA RAJ POONCH, MAY 19 “ITISnotagoodmorning;notfor our school, not for Poonch,” beginsFr.ShijoKanjirathingal,principal of Christ School, Poonch, as headdressesthethinlyattended morning assembly — the first since the school reopened on Monday following last week’s shelling by Pakistan that left at least 13 civilians dead and 60 injured in Poonch. Three students of the school are among the dead: Urwa At Christ School on the LoC, only 400 of the 1,800 students turned up on Monday. Aiswarya Raj Fatima and her twin Zain Ali of Class 5, and Vihaan Bhargav of Class 8. “This ground belongs to themandtheyweresupposedto be standing here,” the principal continues. Heads bowed, tears streamingdownsomefaces,theassem- blydispersesafterasilentprayer. Set up in 1990, the school has 1,200 students from pre-school CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 Lucknow