eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE ‘MY LIFE IS A SCHOOL’ LUCKNOW,LATECITY MAY25,2025 Filmmaker Aparna Sen on why, despite OTT, she is still looking for a space to tell her stories 16+4PAGES,`6.00 DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA LeverageFTAs,remove obsoletelaws,PMtells statesinNITImeeting EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NOIDA, MAY 24 PRESS TRUST OF INDIA NEW DELHI, MAY 24 THE GOVERNMENT has ratified the rate of interest on employees' provident fund at 8.25 per cent for FY25, enabling retirement fund body EPFO to deposit the annual interest accumulationinthepost-retirementfunds of over 7 crore subscribers. EPFO, on February 28, had decidedtoretaintheinterestrate of 8.25 per cent on employees’ providentfund(EPF)depositsfor thefinancialyear2024-25,equal to the rate provided in the preceding fiscal. The approved rate of interest for 2024-25 was sent for concurrence of the Ministry of Finance. “Ministry of Finance has given concurrence to 8.25 per cent rate of interest on the EPF for 2024-25 fiscal year and labour ministry sent a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NETWORK TWO TOP MAOIST LEADERS KILLED IN JHARKHAND PAGE 8 MONSOON HITS KERALA, EARLIEST SINCE 2009 Clouds over Kerala’s Kovalam beach Saturday as the southwest monsoon hit the state eight days ahead of schedule. PTI PAGE9 THIS IS the earliest onset of monsoon over Kerala since 2009, when it arrived May 23. Normally, the onset is by June 1. THE IMD saidthesouthwestmonsoon hasalsoadvanced into parts of Karnataka, Mizoram and Tamil Nadu. IN APRIL, IMD forecast above-normal rainfall this year, expected to be 105% of the Long Period Average of 880 mm. ALERT CONTINUES IN OPERATION SINDOOR PAUSE To dial down, Army works on plan to ‘rebalance’ troops, equipment at border Pak will pull back; India had not ramped up mobilisation but will ease earlier restrictions on leave and movement AMRITA NAYAK DUTTA NEW DELHI, MAY 24 A FORTNIGHT into the pause of militaryactioninthewakeof the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, a proposedplanfor“rebalancing of troops” is being discussed within the military to avoid any fresh escalation at the borders, The Indian Express has learned. This even as Operation Sindoor is on pause and all alerts remainattheirheightenedlevels. While Indian and Pak armies are focusing on multiple confidence-building measures, plans for de-escalating troops and equipment from the borders within the next fortnight are being considered. EXPRESS NETWORK DELEGATION TELLS JAPAN: INDIA UNITED ON OP SINDOOR P 9 Sources said Pakistan, which carried out major reinforcements of troops and equipment over the last few weeks, will also pull them back to pre-April locations. Incidentally,Indiahadnotorderedlarge-scalemobilisationor deployment of offensive formations over the last month. Limited equipment and corresponding troops, which had been moved from their permanent locations to operational ones, are now planning to go back to their regular locations. During Operation Sindoor, the density of troops along the borders had increased but that Modi: Operation Sindoor ‘not one-off initiative’, must modernise civil defence preparedness AGGAM WALIA & SOUMYARENDRA BARIK NEW DELHI, MAY 24 PRIMEMINISTERNarendraModi Saturday said there is a need to increase the speed of development, and “if the Centre and states work together like Team India, no goal is impossible”. Addressing the 10th NITI AayogGoverningCouncil,which includes Chief Ministers and Lieutenant Governors of states andUnionTerritoriesbesidesthe think tank’s members and its ViceChairperson,Modisaid,“We shouldfocusononegoal,tomake BharatViksitby2047.Weshould have the aim of making each stateViksit,eachcityViksit,each Nagar Palika Viksit and each village Viksit. If we work on these lines, we will not have to wait till 2047 to become Viksit Bharat.” At a press briefing later in the evening, BVR Subrahmanyam, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MORE REPORTS PAGE 6 Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu and Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin during the NITI Aayog Governing Council meeting in New Delhi. PTI Stalin, Revanth focus on cooperative federalism; 3 Opp CMs stay away EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE CHENNAI,HYDERABAD,SHIMLA, CHANDIGARH, RANCHI, MAY 24 FROMTAMILNaduandTelangana in the south to Punjab and Himachal Pradesh in the north, chief ministers of OppositionruledstatesSaturdayusedtheNiti Aayog meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to draw theCentre’sattentiontotheirde- mands. Three of the nine Opposition CMs — West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee,Kerala’sPinarayiVijayan and Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah — stayed away from Saturday’s Governing Council meeting. Duringhispresentation,Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin highlighted his state’s developmental strides while raising concerns over the Centre’s fiscal policies. Both he CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 FROM PRE-PRIMARY TO CLASS 5 Shubman Gill picked BNP WANTS ROADMAP FOR DECEMBER POLLS Dhaka churn: Army for polls, Yunus CBSE sets stage for as India’s new Test threatens to quit, signals he’s ‘staying’ teaching in mother captain, his village Need elected govt…we must return to barracks: Bangla General tongue, asks schools on border celebrates to map languages SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, MAY 24 MIHIR VASAVDA & NITIN SHARMA MUHAMMAD YUNUS will remainasheadof Bangladesh'sinterim government, an adviser in his cabinet said Saturday, two days after a key ally said he had threatened resignation. “He(Yunus)didn’tsayhewill MUMBAI, FAZILKA, MAY 24 SHUBMAN GILL has been picked toleadIndia’sTestteamintoanew era, steering through a transition phase following the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, starting with the five-match series in England from June 20. At 25 years, Gill is India's youngest Test captain since Sachin Tendulkar, who was 23 whenhehelmedtheteam—and the fifth youngest ever, after Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi (21), Kapil Dev (24), Ravi Shastri (also 25, but 55 days younger), and Tendulkar. While Jasprit Bumrah (31) has played the role of stand-in captain in the past, the selectors did not hand him the reins for the long term, citing “workload management”. Chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar confirmed on Saturday that Bumrah would not play all five Test matches in England. At 25, Gill is India’s fifth youngest Test captain. PTI MORE REPORTS PAGE 14 With Ravichandran Ashwin hanging up his boots after the thirdTestof theBorder-Gavaskar series in Australia last year, fast bowler Mohammed Shami ignored because of fitness CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Muhammad Yunus; General Waker-Uz-Zaman leave. He said that while we face many obstacles in carrying out theworkandresponsibilitiesassigned to us, we are overcoming them…He (Yunus) is definitely staying,” Planning Adviser WahiduddinMahmudsaidafter ameetingoftheadvisorycouncil. He said none of the advisers were going anywhere as “the CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 Adani to Ambani: Sibal gets India Inc to pay `50 cr for lawyers’ health cover New SC Bar president wants it scrapped or renegotiated ANANTHAKRISHNAN G & MANOJ CG NEW DELHI, MAY 24 SENIOR ADVOCATE Kapil Sibal, formerpresidentof theSupreme Court Bar Association, who has raised Rs 50 crore from a few big industrialists to fund a group medical insurance policy for the Bar’smembers,hasmetwithop- position from a section within the association. “As the new SCBA president, my first endeavour will be to discuss this policy in the Executive Committee meeting... My personalviewisthatthispolicydefinitelyneedstoberenegotiatedor scrapped, because the premium that we are paying for a Rs 2 lakh cover is highly disproportionate to the premium that we pay for a Rs 5 lakh cover,” Senior Advocate VikasSingh,whowaselectedthe newpresidentoftheBarbodylast week, told The Indian Express. At a General BodyMeeting of the SCBA on May 5, Singh had expressed his opposition. To a question on whether Sibal’s endeavour raised issues of conflict of interest, Singh said it depends on whether these are CSR funds. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND NEW DELHI, MAY 24 SIGNALLING THE Centre’s intent to make teaching in the mother tongue mandatory at the primary level in the future, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has asked all affiliated schools to map students’ mother tongues “at the earliest” and align instructional materialsaccordingly before the end of the summer break. Currently, English is the dominant language of instruction in primary classes in CBSE schools across the country. The CBSE is the largest national school board with over 30,000 schools affiliated to it. The CBSE circular states that from pre-primary to Class 2 — called the ‘foundational stage’ under the National Education Policy 2020 — teaching should be in the child’s home language, mother tongue, or a familiar re- E E X P L A I NE D Govt ratifies 8.25% interest rate on EPF for 2024-25 FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT IF CENTRE, STATES A TEAM, NO GOAL IMPOSSIBLE: PM 4 men beaten up, their truck torched over ‘transporting beef’ in Aligarh FOUR MEN were injured after they were beaten up and their truck, which was purportedly “laden with meat, suspected to be beef”, allegedly set on fire by a group of persons near Alhadadpur village in Aligarh on Saturday, police said citing local residents. The meat samples would be sent for testing and an FIR would be registered in the matter once a complaint is received, police said. Superintendent of Police (Rural), Aligarh, Amrit Jain said the police were informed that some people were allegedly “transporting beef” and that a group of villagers intercepted and allegedly assaulted them. “A police team soon reached the spot. We rescued the four men and sent them to a hospital,” said Jain. “We are investigating the allegations levelled by local residents. We have demanded a complaint from them and an FIR is being registered in the matter. As we get more information as the investigation proceeds... On that basis, legal action will be taken,” the officer added. Avideoof thepurportedincident surfaced on social media in whichfourmencanbeseenpurportedly being assaulted with sticks. WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM ● The challenge IMPLEMENTING THE CBSE’s instructions may prove to be a challenge in cities with mobile populations like Delhi, where people have migrated from across the country. Finding a common mother tongue — or even a common regional language — for a classroom with children from diverse linguistic backgrounds will not be easy. gional language. This language, referred to as ‘R1’, should ideally be the mother tongue. If that’s not practical, it can be the state language, as long as it’s familiar to the child, the circular adds. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 General no longer so general: 36 hours on board an Amrit Bharat train Seats with air-spring suspension to vacuum toilets and LED display — The Indian Express boards an Amrit Bharat, one of 50 upgraded express trains for migrant routes PAGE 1 ANCHOR DHEERAJ MISHRA SAHARSA TO MUMBAI, MAY 24 SANJAY KUMAR, 38, puts train travel in perspective — no romanceof therails,justpurestrategy. “Agar aap dabdaba nahi dikhaiyega toh baithane ko bhi nahi milega (If you don't show yourmight,youwon'tevengeta place to sit). This is the reality of thegeneralclasscompartment.” Sitting by an open window, legs folded, he says, “This time, I am lucky. I usually don’t get the window seat… I don’t even get to sit.” Sanjay, a mechanic from Gopalganj in Bihar, is on board the Saharsa-Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Amrit Bharat, one of a series of 50 affordable express trains for general- and sleeperclasspassengersthatthegovernment plans to run on routes that see high movement of migrant workers. While the Saharsa-Mumbai trainisthethirdAmritBharatexpress (after Darbhanga-Delhi and Malda-Bengaluru), it is the AMRIT BHARAT 2.0: WHAT’S NEW The train has 11 general coaches and 8 reserved sleeper coaches for passengers. Ashutosh Kumar Pandey ■ Charging sockets with multiple ports ■ Emergency talk-back unit ■ Radium-illuminated flooring strips ■ LED displays with realtime info on train speed, next station ■ Toilets with vacuum evacuation, odour control ■ Electro-pneumatic assisted brake system first in the Amrit Bharat 2.0 series — non-AC trains with upgraded facilities, which, the government says, will “provide affordable service and highquality travelling experience for people in the lower-income and lower-middle-incomecategory”. The trains are part of the Railways’ larger Amrit Bharat project to modernise trains and railway stations. On May 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated 103 Amrit Bharat railway stations through video conference. With 11 general coaches, eight reserved sleeper coaches, two second-class luggage-cumguard coaches, and one pantry car, the Amrit Bharat trains promisetorevolutionisetheway much of India travels. Kumar, who is on his way to Mumbai for an interview that he hopes will land him a job in the Middle East, says, “For AC class passengers, travelling can be a leisure activity. You can sit by the window and watch the passing landscape, but for us, most of the time, we barely get to move or look outside — the whole coach issojam-packed.Peopleoftenask howwemanagetotravelinsuch CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 Lucknow