DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 2, 2025, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES What India is hoping for on US deal: Up to 20% tariff differential vis-a-vis China rate NEW DELHI, JULY 1 AS THE India–US trade talks enter their final decisive phase in Washington DC, policy makers here hope that three implicit assumptions of New Delhi materialise,themostimportantbeinga steady differential between the US tariffs on China and India. Despite US President Donald Trump’s vacillations on trade policy, the government is confident that the administration in Washington DC will maintain a differential of 10-20 per cent in tariffs between China and countries such as India. “The deal needs to be clinched precisely for this gap to be maintained,” an official said. The official said the US is driving hard for market access in politically sensitive sectors such as BJP MPs walk out of House panel meeting over invite to Medha Patkar Medha Patkar and Prakash Raj were present at meet LIZ MATHEW & ASAD REHMAN NEW DELHI, JULY 1 A POLITICAL row erupted between the BJP and the Opposition on Tuesday after the ruling party’s MPs on the parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj boycotted its meeting in protest against the presence of activist Medha Patkar and actor-turned-activist Prakash Raj who had been invited todepose before thepanel. The meeting, which was eventually cancelled, had been convened to discuss the implementation and effectiveness of the “Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013”. While the BJP MPs alleged that the committee’s chairman Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, a Congress MP from Odisha, had kept the members in the dark aboutthe witnesses summoned for deposition and had summoned“anti-nationals”and“urban Naxals”, Ulaka said the Lok Sabha Speaker’s office had cleared the names but the BJP leaders were “not ready to listen”. Of the 29 members of the parliamentary panel, 14 were present on Tuesday, and with eight MPs of the BJP-led NDA boycotting, Ulaka had to cancel the meeting as there was no quorum. BJP sources said apart from their party’s MPs, ally Janata Dal (Secular)’s leader and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 FIRST QUAD FOREIGN MINISTERS’ MEET AFTER OP SINDOOR WeexpectQuadtounderstand ourpositiononterror:Jaishankar ‘India has right to defend, will exercise that right, don’t equate victims & perpetrators’ SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, JULY 1 AT THE first Quad foreign ministers’ meeting after Operation Sindoor in May, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Tuesday that India expects its Quad partners to understand and appreciate that the country haseveryrighttodefenditspeople against terrorism, and it will exercise that right. “A word about terrorism in thelightof ourrecentexperience — the world must display zero tolerance. Victims and perpetrators must never be equated. And India has every right to defend its people against terrorism, and we will exercise that right. We expect our Quad partners to CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 From left: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with counterparts Penny Wong (Australia), Takeshi Iwaya (Japan) and Marco Rubio (US) in Washington on Tuesday. AP Little or zero recovery: Why money lost in a digital scam falls down a black hole DOS AND DON’TS For victims, recovery hampered by delayed reporting, traceless withdrawals, fictitious mule addresses — and redressal process of ‘first-come-first-serve’ To prevent digital arrest, ‘firewall has to be in your head’ RITU SARIN NEW DELHI, JULY 1 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY RITU SARIN NEW DELHI, JULY 1 Cyber arrest warrants by this newspaper reveals, is a combinationof time-criticalfactors that make the digital trail hard to re-trace. Consider: ■ Digital arrests take place CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 ■ Block unknown numbers on messagingapps,usecallerID.Do not engage with unknown callers for long. ■Use a separate phone number for bank and other financial transactions, and do not share it with others. ■ Consider taking cyber insurance against online fraud for moneyinthebankorinvestedin fixed deposits or mutual funds. ■ If you receive a request from a relativeoverthephoneformoney, NEW DELHI, JULY 1 5 KILLED, 16 MISSING IN HIMACHAL FLASH FLOODS PAGE 8 evenifthereisacallwithasimilar voice,alwaysdisconnectandcontact the person separately. THESE ARE some of the key suggestions from cyber security expertstoprotectthose vulnerable from online scams, such as digital arrest. According to Sundareshwar Krishnamurthy, PartnerCybersecurity,PwCIndia,several other measures are needed, too, tostrengthensystemicdefences. “Banks have already implemented safeguards, such as setting third-party transfer limits CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 Poaching alarm near Ranthambhore: Seized bones show three tigers killed JAY MAZOOMDAAR EXPRESS NETWORK Minister Anirudh Singh was visiting site of a building collapse SHIMLA, JULY 1 AN EXPRESS INVESTIGATION - PART 3 A 78-YEAR-old IAF veteran who is a flying instructor with Boeing in Gurugram; a 64-year-old former Deputy Nursing Superintendent in Delhi; a 62year-old publishingprofessional in Noida; and an 82-year-old industrialist in Ludhiana. Among all the victims of digital arrest tracked down by The IndianExpress,onlyonehasbeen able to recover more than 75 per cent of the stolen money. Most of the other victims ended up losing a major part of their savings with little hope in sight of even a 10 per cent recovery. Behind this, an investigation FIR against Himachal minister for assaulting NHAI officials; Gadkari seeks ‘exemplary action’ SAURABH PARASHAR CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE SPECTRE of poaching may return to haunt Ranthambhore after lab analyses of samples from 225 pieces of bones seized from poachers near Sheopur, Madhya Pradesh, earlier this month concluded that the seizure accounted for three tigers and one leopard. The big cats, say sources in the MP forest department, were killedatdifferentlocationsinthe Chambal landscape — between Rajasthan’s Ranthambhore and The bones were seized near Sheopur, Madhya Pradesh MP’s Madhav tiger reserve. Sheopur is 30 km from the southern boundary of Ranthambhore,andover100km from Madhav, a new reserve with a tiger population of five. Over 300 km to the east of Sheopur,Pannaisthethirdnearest tiger reserve. “We have seen occasional movement of tigers from Panna towards Chambal but the area where these poachers were operating is more than 250 km away. The migratory tigers they took out are almost certainly fromRanthambhore,”saidasenior forest officer in Bhopal. In a joint operation with the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Strawberry & pomegranate up, cereals down: Agri output report SIDDHARTH UPASANI NEW DELHI, JULY 1 REFLECTING CHANGING food habits and consumption patterns, and how farmers are adjustingtothis,newdatareleased by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) shows that the Gross Value of Output (GVO) of fruits likestrawberriesandpomegranates and vegetables like parmal (parwal) and mushrooms recorded the biggest increase over the last decade or so. Also, while the share of meat in the GVO of agriculture and allied sectors rose from 5 per cent in 2011-12 to 7.5 per cent in 2023-24 (at constantprices),the share of cereals fell from 17.6 per cent to 14.5 per cent during the same period. Gross Value of Output, or GVO, is a measure of production that refers to the total value of the items produced before subtracting the value of inputs used in production. According to the ministry's report on ‘Value of Output from Agriculture and Allied Sectors’ released on June 27, for the periodbetween2011-12and202324, production of strawberries E CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E X P L A I NE D RAVI DUTTA MISHRA & ANIL SASI agriculture and dairy, and there are strong red lines here. But a section of officials also reckon it isimportanttoensureagooddifferential between the US tariffs on India and China, for which a deal is vital. “The question is whether the Indian negotiators would have to settle for a limited earlyharvest type of deal, or would they have to turn away from the negotiations for now, let the July 9deadlinepass,andthenrebuild efforts to bridge the gaps. A fullscale deal looks out of the question for now,” another official with experience of trade negotiations said. Second, there is now a realisation that cutting tariffs across segments, especially intermediate goods, might be a net positiveforIndia.NewDelhididback out at the last minute from signingthe Regional Comprehensive `7.00 (`8 RAIPUR, `15 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 ● Changing pattern THE DATA reveals a structural shift in Indian agriculture, from traditional staples like cereals toward high value crops like fruits, vegetables and spices. This transition, according to MoSPI, reflects technological shift, changing consumer preferences, market opportunities and policy orientation toward nutritional security and export potential. HIMACHAL PRADESH Minister Anirudh Singh has been booked for allegedly assaulting two National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials during a visit to the site of a building collapse in Shimla district, police said Tuesday. The FIR was lodged Monday night on a complaint filed by Achal Jindal, 35, a manager at a four-lane project of the NHAI in Shimla, who alleged that he and his site engineer, Yogesh Verma, 27, were called to a room by Singh and assaulted. Both NHAI officials were admitted to Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla, for treatment. Singh, who is the state Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister, was unavailable for comments. Calls and messages to his office remained unanswered. The issue snowballed on Tuesdaywith Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari condemning the “heinous assault” on Jindal. In a post on X, Gadkari said the act was deeply reprehensible and an affront to the rule of law. “Such a brutal attack on a publicservantperforminghisofficial duties not only endangers individual safety but also erodes institutional integrity. I have taken serious cognizance of the matter and spoken with Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, urging immediate and exemplaryactionagainstallperpetrators,” he said, adding that “accountability should be ensured and justice must be delivered without delay”. Later in the evening, Chief Minister Sukhu, in a 14-second CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 VIOLATES COURT VERDICT Ban to 7-yr jail: Fears of abuse over Karnataka Bill to curb fake news Bill casts wide net: ‘Anti-feminism to disrespect of Sanatan’ content APURVA VISHWANATH NEW DELHI, JULY 1 DEFINING FAKE news in sweepingtermstoincludecontentthat is deemed “anti-feminism” and “disrespectof Sanatansymbols”; prescribing a seven-year jail term for social media users held guilty of posting “fake news” as decided by a committee headed by the state Information & Broadcasting Minister; setting up special courts to deal with cases under the law — Karnataka’s Bill to curb fake news raises several questions of free speech and state overreach. The Karnataka MisInformation and Fake News (Prohibition) Bill, 2025, in the name of prohibiting misinformation and fake news, empowersacommitteeof lawmakersto identify and label content on socialmediaas“fakenews.”Itisthe first of its kind state legislation to deal with digital platforms and free speech. “Any social media users, if found guilty by the Authority for posting fake news on the social media platform shall be punishedwithimprisonmentwhich may extend up to seven years andfinewhichmayextendupto Rs 10 lakh or with both,” the Bill states. That “Authority,” under Section 5 of the Bill, includes the MinisterforKannadaandCulture InformationandBroadcastingas the ex-officio Chairperson; one member each from the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council to be nominatedbytheirrespectiveHouses; two representatives from social media platforms appointed by the state government and a senior bureaucrat as Secretary. This Authority’s mandate is CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Telangana factory blast toll up to 36, long wait for families of those missing PAGE 1 ANCHOR NIKHILA HENRY PASHAMYLARAM (SANGAREDDY), JULY 1 AS THE death toll in the explosion at the Sigachi pharma factoryin Telanganamounted to36 on Tuesday, family members and relatives of those reported missing since the blast Monday spent anxious hours, hoping for some news about their loved ones. Among them is 25-year-old Sajana,arelativeof Rameshwho has been missing since the explosion. “No one is able to tell us if he is alive or dead. We have been waiting for hours to get some news,” she told The Indian Express.Rameshhadbeenworking at the factory for the past five years. At the government hospital in Sangareddy, a family member of another missing worker, Akhilesh Kumar, said, “It has beenonly threemonthssincehe joined work. He moved to this factory because they were paying him well. We are eagerly waiting for some news.” While the death toll was 14 Monday night, more bodies were recovered from the rubble Tuesday as rescue operations progressed.Hugeportionsof the three-storey factory were reduced to debris because of the explosion. Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who visited the site Tuesday morning, announced a compensation of Rs 1 crore to be paid jointly by Sigachi and the state governmenttofamily membersof each of those dead. A compensation of Rs 10 lakh will be given to those critically injured and Rs 5 lakh to those who suffered partial burns. According to rescue Family members of one of the dead outside Patancheru government hospital in Sangareddy district, Tuesday. PTI teams, several people suffered up to 50% burn injuries. The Chief Minister, who met family members of the dead, saidthatinspectionswillbeheld at various industrial units to check whether they have complied with safety standards. “A report will be submitted and action will be taken against those responsible for this mishap,” Reddy said. According to officials of the labour department, the factory where the explosion took place was last inspected in December 2024. “At the time of inspection, we found no fault at the facility. They had fulfilled all the param- eters,” said B Raja Gopal Rao, Director,Factories.Whatappears to have caused the explosion is pressure building up inside the spray dyer which was being operated in the ground floor of the factory. Sigachi Chemicals manufactures MCC or Microcrystalline Cellulose from wood pulp. MCC is used in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical capsules. A case hasbeen registeredby Telangana police against the company management under sections for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and voluntarily causing grievous hurt. At the factory, earthmovers were used to remove debris, apart from shovels used by State Disaster Response Force rescuers. Not far from the site, at a government facility in Patancheru, a crowd of relatives searched for those missing. While 11 people have been declared missing, several people told The Indian Express that they arestilloscillatingbetweenhope and despair because 25 bodies areyettobeidentified.“Wehave CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MALFUNCTIONS, RED FLAGS PAGE 9