eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE The Supplements Health supplements are seen as magic pills that can eliminate need for doctors. But they are not without their side effects NEWDELHI,LATECITY July27,2025 18+4PAGES,`7.00 (`8 RAIPUR, ` 15 SRINAGAR) DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM Goyal: UK deal ‘gold standard’ for FTAs, will retaliate if their carbon tax hurts us FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT INDIA-MALDIVES RESET AsPMreiterates support,Muizzu callsIndiaa crucialpartner Says sensitive sectors, including dairy, rice and sugar, protected in agreement Modi attends Maldives I-Day; defining visit sets clear path for ties: Muizzu RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, JULY 26 COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY Minister Piyush Goyal Saturday said that the India-UK trade deal canserveas“agoldstandard”for trade negotiations with other partners, as it opens doors for business while protecting sensitive sectors. He also warned that New Delhi will retaliate if the UK’s carbon tax, set to come into effect on January 1, 2027, harms India’s interests. “Our effort is that the Indian industry gets preferential access overourcompetition,andIthink this (UK FTA) can become a gold standard to ensure that India protects its sensitive sectors and opens the doors, particularly in highly labour-intensive sectors, and allows high-quality goods, technology and other products to come to India,” Goyal said at a press briefing. The minister said most free trade agreements (FTAs) are THE WORLD with countries that do not compete with India on anything, and that under the deal, the UK will be sending products which are inshortsupplyinIndia.“Inevery respect, this is an agreement which opens far greater opportunities for India than any other agreement,” the minister said. UK carbon tax On concerns that the UK’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism(CBAM)couldnegate the tariff concessions received under the trade deal, Goyal said, “CurrentlythereisnoCBAMineffect. So it cannot be addressed in the FTA. But India is a sovereign country, and if our export interestsarehurt,wewillreactandretaliate,or‘rebalance’.Icanassure everyonethatnounilateralmeasure will go away without a proportionate response,” he said. “There is a lot of opposition to CBAM in the EU as well, as the EU’s cost of manufacturing and housing will become costlier, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DefenceMinisterRajnathSingh,Chief of DefenceStaff General AnilChauhan,Vice Chief of ArmyStaff Lieutenant GeneralNSRaja Subramani,Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi and Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal A P Singh pay tribute at the National War Memorial in New Delhi on the occasion of Kargil Vijay Diwas on Saturday. PTI RELATEDREPORT,PAGE6 Grave fraud… EC verification of citizenship defies SC rulings: ADR Petitioners respond to EC counter-affidavit in top court DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, JULY 26 THE ASSOCIATION for DemocraticReforms(ADR),inits reply to the Election Commission’s counter-affidavit in the Supreme Court, has argued that the poll panel's claim of having the constitutional authority to verifyelectors'citizenship during the ongoing Special IntensiveRevision(SIR)of Bihar’s electoral rolls flies in the face of past judgments.Italsocalled the exclusion of Aadhaar and ration WHAT WILL NOT COUNTINBIHAR cards from the list of acceptable documents “patently absurd”, notingthatAadhaariswidelyac- cepted when applying for passports, caste certificates and permanent residence documents. The petitioner further said the EC had failed to justify why the revision exercise must be rushed ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar, describing the manner in which it is being conducted as a “grave fraud” on the state’s voters. Announced on June 24, the SIRhassparkedcontroversyover both its timing and the requirement that voters enrolled after 2003 — when the last intensive CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Woman faints during Chirag targets Nitish: Bihar Home Guard test, ‘Sad to support govt... raped on way to hospital crime out of control’ HIMANSHU HARSH TRUMP SEEKS TO FACILITATE TRUCE AS THAI-CAMBODIA CLASH ESCALATES AT LEAST 25 PEOPLE KILLED BY ISRAELI GUNSHOTS, STRIKES IN GAZA PAGE 14 KARGIL VIJAY DIWAS PATNA, JULY 26 TWOAMBULANCEstaff werearrestedonFridayforallegedlyrapinganunconsciouswomaninside the emergency vehicle in Bihar’s Bodh Gaya. The woman was beingtakentoahospitalafterlosing consciousness during a Home Guard recruitment drive. According to the police, on July 24, during the physical run at Bodh Gaya, the woman collapsed and fell unconscious. She was immediately taken to an ambulance stationed at the site. “The woman later alleged that en route to the hospital, she wassexuallyassaultedinsidethe ambulance by the driver and accompanying staff,” said a police officer. Accordingly, the details were relayed to police, and the Gaya Senior Superintendent of Police CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 HIMANSHU HARSH PATNA, JULY 26 CHIRAG PASWAN, whose party, the LJP (RV), is an NDA constituent, Saturday tore into the Bihargovernmentoveraseriesof crimesthathavemadeheadlines of late, including an unconscious woman’s alleged rape inside an ambulance. “I feel sad that I am supporting a government here CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Union minister Chirag Paswan during a rally in Gaya. X/ @iChiragPaswan The 7 lives cut short in Rajasthan school roof collapse From inseparable siblings to a girl who wanted to be a teacher and a boy who loved playing cricket PARUL KULSHRESTHA PIPLODI (JHALAWAR), JULY 26 FROM A boy who loved playing cricket to a girl who hoped to leave her village to study further — the seven children who died onFriday,whentheroof atagovernment school in Rajasthan caved in, were full of big dreams and bigger ambition. Astheirfamiliesgrapplewith griefandanger,TheIndianExpress Payal (14), Priyanka (12), Kundan (10), siblings Meena (8) and Kanha (6), Kartik (8), Harish (8) looks at the lives that were lost. Payal, 14: Always passionate about education, all Payal wanted to do was become a “government official”. “She kept asking my parents to send her to a private school,” her sister Sunitasaid.“Shewantedtoleave the village and go outside for higher education eventually.” Her parents were thinking of sending her to a private school nextyear.“Nowit’stoolate.Iwish I had listened to her,” said her mother, Sapna. Priyanka, 12: One of eight sisters, Priyanka never missed school, even when it rained, said herauntManoriBai,withwhom shewasstaying.“Shewasenthusiastic about education and dreamt of becoming a teacher,” CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 Ministry asks JNU V-C why she skipped meet, views it ‘seriously’ JNU V-C Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit VIDHEESHA KUNTAMALLA & ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND NEW DELHI, JULY 26 INANunusualmove,theMinistry of Education (MoE) has sought a formal explanation from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)Vice-ChancellorSantishree Dhulipudi Pandit for skipping a recent conference of Central Universities'Vice-Chancellorsorganised by the Centre in Gujarat, saying her absence was being “viewed seriously”, The Indian Express has learnt. In a letter sent to Pandit this week, a senior official of the Departmentof HigherEducation noted that she had skipped both days of the conference “without formal approval”, despite being “formally invited well in advance”. Saying that her absence was being “viewed seriously”, the letter said her “valuable contributions to deliberations on various themes were missed.” The Vice-Chancellors’ Conference was held in Kevadia, Gujarat, on July 10-11. It was attended by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Vice-Chancellors of Central Universities, officials from the Ministry of Education, the University Grants Commission, and other academicians. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SPORT ASIA CUP TO BE HELD IN UAE FROM SEPT 9, INDIA-PAK MATCHES ON SEPT 14 AND 21 PAGE 17 Prime Minister Narendra Modi with President Mohamed Muizzu during the Maldives’ 60th Independence Day celebrations in Male on Saturday. PTI DIVYA A NEW DELHI, JULY 26 MARKING THE reset in bilateral ties between India and the Maldives, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the Independence Day celebrations of the island nation as the guest of honour on Saturday. As Modi left for India in the evening, President Mohamad Muizzu said it was “a defining visit that sets a clear path for the future of Maldives-India relations”. Earlier in the day, Modi was welcomed by Muizzu at the iconic Republic Square, the venue of the ceremony at the heart of the Maldivian capital. Modi sat next to Muizzu and watched the over 50-minute eventmarkingthe60thanniversary of the independence of the Maldives, which included a military parade and colourful cultural performances by children and traditional artistes. “This is the first time that an Indian Prime Minister is attending the Independence Day celebrations in Maldives. Prime Minister Modi is also the first foreign leader at the level of head of state or government to be hosted by President Muizzu,” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 K-shaped market: Small cars in slow lane as first-time buyers seek premium SUVs SOUMYARENDRA BARIK & ANIL SASI NEW DELHI, JULY 26 AMID DWINDLING CAR sales at theentrylevel,themarketiswitnessing a remarkable transformation as it sees a sharp uptrend in favour of premium models at themid-levelsegmentandabove. Hyundai Creta, a premium feature-ladenmid-segmentSUV withpricesstartingatRs11lakhplus, has emerged as the country’s top selling car in June 2025. With Maruti’s Ertiga, a MultiUtility Vehicle, the two accountedforalmosttwo-thirdsof all cars sold in the month. What is also remarkable is that nearly one in three Creta buyers is a first-time car owner. OfficialsinHyundaisaidthecontribution of first-time buyers in Creta’s customer base has gone upsharplyto29per centin2024 from just 12 per cent in 2020. E E X P L A I NE D Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal addresses reporters in New Delhi on Saturday. ANI ● Mixed signals OVER THE past decade, sales of small cars have steadily declined, and in recent years, more and more consumers are opting for the more expensive mid-segment cars. This could reflect rising aspirations of first-time buyers, but also erosion of purchasing power at the lower end of the consumer pyramid. Car companies are figuring it out. The car market has had a mixed year in 2024-25. While it hit a new sales peak at 4.3 million, the growth was sluggish at just around 3 per cent, primarily CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Meet the ‘Pookie professor’ who won hearts on IIT Ropar’s graduation day PAGE 1 ANCHOR DIVYA GOYAL GOPAL ROPAR, JULY 26 LIONEL MESSI’S slow-mo walk and victory pose, Korean finger hearts, fist bumps, the dab pose. By the end of a three-hour convocation ceremony, Professor Rajeev Ahuja, 60, had mastered manycomplexGenZmovesand done the seemingly impossible task—of walkingacrossthegenerational aisle and meeting his students where they are. OnJuly16,attheconvocation ceremony of the Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar, as student after student went up on stage to receive their degree certificates, Ahuja, Director and professor of computational materials science at the institute, obliged them by striking the most playful of poses. In his white kurta andyellow graduation sash, Ahuja fumbled through some of the moves, but did them alright — turning the affable professor and his act into a viral social media sensation, and earninghim the title‘Pookie Professor’, with ‘pookie’ a Gen Z term of endearment. Videos of Ahuja and his students at the convocationceremonyhavegarnered over 30 million views on Instagram alone. “Convocation is a day of celebration in the lives of students. A student spends 5-7 years of his life dreaming, preparing and working hard to be an IIT graduate. And when that moment comes,ithastobecelebratedthe way students want. We need to bridge this gap that exists in India between teachers and students,” says Ahuja, who taught at Uppsala University, Sweden, Tanisha Daharwal, a BTech grad from Bhopal and a BTS fan, got Prof Rajeev Ahuja to strike a ‘Korean hearts’ pose. Express before he joined as Director of IIT-Ropar in 2021. He says it was in Uppsala, Sweden, where he started off in 1992 as a post-doctoral fellow beforejoiningthefaculty,thathe noticed how convocations are community events, where “the entirefamilyandeventhevillage cometogethertocelebrateastudent’s degree”. “Herewemakeconvocations tenseandmonotonousevents.In Sweden, everyone joins in, not justforconvocationsbutevenif a student has to appear for a PhD vivavoce.It’saonce-in-a-lifetime celebration for a student. The least I can do is to make students feel at home, so I just listen to them,”saysAhuja,whohasmore than1,200scientificpaperstohis credit. His main area of interest is materials science with a focus onenergytechnologiesandhighpressure physics. With his roots in Pakistan's Sargodha,fromwherethefamily moved to India during Partition, they eventually settled down in Haridwar in Uttarakhand. A science graduate from Gurukula Kangri, a deemed-to-be university in Haridwar, he did his MSc and PhD in Physics from IIT Roorkee, before moving to Sweden and finally returning to India in 2021. While the internet may have just discovered “Pookie Professor”, students and alumni of IIT-Ropar,oneof theeightnew IITs set up in 2008, say they have been feeling the shift since 2021, when Ahuja joined the institute. From several new initiatives to ensure the physical and mentalwell-beingof studentsto“beingaguardian-likefigure”onthe campus, from “never saying no to justified demands” of students to writing reference mails and promoting innovative CONTINUED ON PAGE 2