DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, JUNE 2, 2025, PUNE, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY ACTION ALONG BORDER IN TRIPURA, MEGHALAYA, ASSAM Over 2,000 illegal immigrants ‘pushed back’ into Bangladesh since Op Sindoor Fearing crackdown, about 2,000 also reached border voluntarily: Official DEEPTIMAN TIWARY NEW DELHI, JUNE 1 THE WORLD UKRAINIANATTACK TARGETSRUSSIA AIRBASES PAGE 14 `6.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 MORE THAN 2,000 alleged illegal Bangladeshi immigrants are estimated to have been “pushed back” across the border by Indian authorities since Operation Sindoor began in the early hours of May 7, following a nationwideverificationexercise, Government sources told The SIX STATES TAKE THE LEAD Haryana Indian Express. Duringthesameperiod,they said, a similar number of immigrantsshowedupneartheIndiaBangladeshbordervoluntarilyto cross over amid the fear generated by the crackdown. According to the sources, the Government action is taking place along the Bangladesh border in Tripura, Meghalaya and Assam. Gujarat was among the first to begin the round-up and Delhi ■ Gujarat accounts for nearly half of all such ‘pushbacks’, followed by Delhi and Haryana Assam ■ Illegal immigrants being ferried to borders in IAF aircraft and handed over to BSF Rajasthan INDIA BANGLADESH ■ BSF holds them in makeshift camps before pushing them back into their country Maharashtra Gujarat THE EDITORIAL PAGE PUSHING BACK Crackdown against illegal immigrants has to follow due process. Security imperative must be insulated from politics PAGE 11 has accounted for nearly half of allthosewhohavebeen“pushed back”, they said. Delhi and Haryana, too, have sent back immigrants in large numbers with CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 GST to staircase rules, Dharavi Rural beneficiaries in project seeks many exemptions NREGS dip, Ministry Developer flags LAND STATUS SUMMARY delays in state seeks 12% higher govt clearance outlay over next 5 yrs Land Parcel RURAL JOBS SCHEME: BUDGET, DEMAND Year Central release* Families availing the scheme 2020-21 `1,09,810 cr 2021-22 7.55 cr `96,812 cr 7.25 cr 2022-23 `88,290 cr 6.18 cr 2023-24 `88,217 cr 5.99 cr 2024-25 `85,680 cr 5.79 cr * Funds released by the Central Government; source: NREGA dashboard NEW DELHI, JUNE 1 THE MINISTRY of Rural Development (MoRD) has sought an outlay of Rs 5.23 lakh crore for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for five years until 2029-30 in its May 15 proposal to the ExpenditureFinanceCommittee, TheIndianExpresshaslearnt.EFC is a panel under the Finance Ministry that appraises all government schemes and projects. The outlay for five years until 2029-30 is about 12 per cent CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E E X P L A I NE D HARIKISHAN SHARMA Demand down, ● outlay up THE DEMAND for work under the MGNREGS and its budget peaked during the Covid pandemic. Since then it has seen a steady decline. The higher projection by the ministry for the next five years reflects inflationary expectations on the material component side and rise in wages, which is also linked to inflation. 127 Three days after bail, Gujarat Minister’s son held in another NREGS case 157 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE 02/06/2025 99 76 EXPLAINED AWOMANARMY CHIEF? WHYPATH IS EASIERNOW P12 VADODARA, JUNE 1 GUJARAT MINISTER Bachubhai Khabad’s elder son Balvantsinh Khabad was arrested Sunday in connection with a fresh FIR for alleged irregularities related to MGNREGS projects in Dahod district — just three days after he was granted bail in a separate case linked to works under the rural jobs scheme. Balvantsinh and his younger brother Kiran, owners of “unauthorised” agencies which were CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 KOLKATA, JUNE 1 Area* Status 269.3 Awaiting measurement by the superintendent of land records Kurla Dairy 21 In possession; sub-lease pending MUMBAI, JUNE 1 Jamasp Salt Pan, Mulund 58.5 42.5 acres in possession FROM TAX exemptions to waivers on charges for any deficiencies in staircase and open spacerules, theDharaviredevelopment project has sought several key exemptions that are pending government approval. These, along with other issues awaiting clearance, were flagged in a presentation by the Navbharat Mega Developers Private Limited (NMDPL) — the specialpurposevehicle(SPV) set up through a joint venture between Adani Properties Private Aksa and Malvani 140 Government resolution issued; demand notice pending Deonar 124.3 Allocation underway VALLABH OZARKAR Arthur & Jenkins 197.4 Transfer pending Salt Works *Area in acres **Net usable area of 269.3 acres of total 620.2 acres Union Home Minister Amit Shah at a party event at Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on Sunday. Partha Paul SWEETY KUMARI `5.23 LAKH CRORE SOUGHT UNTIL 2029-30 Dharavi Core Area** Mamata opposed Op Sindoor to appease votebank: Shah; TMC calls it ‘cheap’ attack ‘I was shocked when Rohit & Virat bhai retired. You want the seniors to stay for the big series’ KULDEEP YADAV CRICKETER PAGE 9 Total allotted area: 810.5 acres Possession (as of May 2025): ~ 63.5 acres EXPRESS NETWORK UNION HOME Minister Amit Shah on Sunday accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of opposing Operation Sindoorto“appease”theMuslim votebank. Hitting back, Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress denied Shah’s accusation and called on theHomeMinistertoresign,takingresponsibilityfor “all the failures” that led to the Pahalgam terrorist attack. TheattackinsouthKashmir’s Pahalgam killed 26 civilians on April 22. As part of India’s response to the attack, the armed forces carried out Operation Seized, in bank vaults for years, 25 rare Husain works to be auctioned DHAKA, JUNE 1 THOUSANDS MOVED TO SHELTERS, SCHOOLS SHUT AS RAIN BATTERS N-E PAGE 5 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Bangla tribunal indicts former PM Hasina on mass murder charges PRESS TRUST OF INDIA CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Sindoor on May 7, striking terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and PoK. Addressing BJP workers in Kolkata, Shah linked the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections with national security. He hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “deciding to carry out Operation Sindoor” and came down heavily on the TMC and Banerjee for “appeasement”, which he also blamed for infiltration from Bangladesh. He alleged widespread corruption in the state and also called the recent unrest in Murshidabad a “state-sponsored riot". On “appeasement”, Shah said, “Didi started giving allowance to Imams, but court BANGLADESH’SINTERNATIONAL Crimes Tribunal on Sunday indicted former prime minister SheikhHasinaandtwootherson several charges, including mass murder, for their alleged role in the violent crackdown on student-led protests last year. Sunday’s proceedings Could face death penalty if convicted marked the start of Hasina’s trial in absentia nearly 10 months after theousterof hergovernment following the protests. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 M F Husain sketching the outlines for part of the OPCE series at Pundole Art Gallery in 2003. Pundole Art Gallery; (right) one of the paintings to be auctioned at the June 12 event. Pundole’s VANDANA KALRA NEW DELHI, JUNE 1 DADIBA PUNDOLE of the Mumbai-based Pundole Art Gallery vividly recalls the winter of 2003, when artist M F Husain spent weeks at their space, immersed in creating what he described as a series that would capture the essence of the 20th centuryashehadexperiencedit. “He was extremely excited and charged. It sounded ambitious and I wondered how he would paint an entire century, but at that stage, I had no indicationof theextentof thisproject,” saysPundole.Herecallstheartist spreading two rolls of canvas on twolargewallsatthegalleryand getting to work with acrylic paints, water, brushes, cotton rags and charcoal. Over two decades on, the works are among the 25 Husain canvases that have been taken outof thevaultsof aprivatebank in Mumbai, where they were keptaspartof theproceedsof an alleged loan default case, and will be auctioned. The June 12 auction, titled ‘MF Husain: An Artist’s Vision of the XX Century’, will be held by Pundole’s auction house at their space in Hamilton House in Mumbai. It will be the first time sinceHusainpaintedthem—initially at Pundole’s gallery and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 At 95, only woman director of AIIMS owns many medical firsts — plus a glimpse of Roger Moore PAGE 1 ANCHOR RINKU GHOSH NEW DELHI, JUNE 1 EVERY SATURDAY, 95-year-old Dr Sneh Bhargava, professor emeritus at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and its only woman director ever, reviewsfilmsof thelatestscientific breakthroughs — and AI, her latest obsession. “As a radiologist, I stillwanttolearnwithAIandsee the inside of a human body bet- Dr Sneh Bhargava’s autobiography, The Woman Who Ran AIIMS, is out now. Renuka Puri ter. AI certainly improves your diagnosis but without your patient’s history, it can’t help you. That’s why you still need to listen to your patient closely,” says the veteran who taught doctors to “humanise” technology. Living by herself at her New FriendsColony home,tendingto her bonsai in the garden and wearing her pearl strings and brooch, Dr Bhargava doesn’t mind learning new skills. Just three yearsago, she took to writing for the first time. Her autobiography, The Woman Who Ran AIIMS, is out now. And thanks to it, she has also learnt to do Zoom calls with help from her secretary.Infact,sheisalreadywriting her second book on the history of radiology, her mind sharp, her memory elephantine. “I write in longhand and my secretary feeds it into a computer,” says Dr Bhargavawhohasmarkedmany other firsts in her life. She was the first Indian woman radiologist in an allmale class at Westminster Hospital in the UK, got the first CT scan and ultrasound machines to India, elevated radiology from being a backroom photo division to a full scale CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Pune