WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM Artist, Uninterrupted, Unbroken & Present AHMEDABAD, DECEMBER 7, 2025 US-based Marina Abramović, a pioneer in performance art, on using the body to confront vulnerability, and how art can be spiritual LATE CITY 14+4 PAGES ₹6.00 SCReeN Shefali Shah and Huma Qureshi on the latest instalment of popular Netflix series Delhi Crime D A I L Y F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , C H A N D I G A R H , D E L H I , J A I P U R , K O L K A T A , L U C K N O W , M U M B A I , N A G P U R , P A T N A , P U N E , V A D O D A R A FARe CAPS TO PROTeCT PASSeNGeRS FROM OPPORTUNISTIC PRICING: MINISTRY Govt imposes airfare caps, asks IndiGo CEO to explain in 24 hrs E. Operational failures indicate planning lapses: Show-cause notice to CEO Govt firefights Indigo-induced pain Poor planning by the country’s largest airline has resulted in an unprecedented crisis. Warning signals were visible through November, but before the government acted, it descended upon passengers with flight cancellations and skyrocketing fares. The government is firefighting now. Sukalp Sharma New Delhi, December 6 WITHAIRFARESskyrocketing due to large-scale cancellation of flights by domestic aviation market leader IndiGo, the government on Saturday stepped in to regulate fares for all airlines by prescribing caps. As widespread disruptions in operationsenteredthefourthday, the government also issued a show-cause notice to IndiGo CEOPieterElbersaskinghimto respond within 24 hours why no action should be taken against him. Elbers has been the CEO of IndiGo since September 2022. The Ministry of Civil Aviation(MoCA)Saturdayinvoked its regulatory powers in an otherwise free market aviation sector “to ensure fair and rea- EXPlAINED At Terminal 1 of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Saturday. AMIT MEHRA sonablefaresacrossallaffected routes” and protect passengers from “any form of opportunistic pricing”. The airfare caps are: Rs 7,500 for a stage length of up to 500 km (Delhi-Jaipur/ Chandigarh), Rs 12,000 for 500-1,000 km(Delhi-Bhopal/Jammu),Rs 15,000 for 1,000-1,500 km (Delhi-Mumbai/ Kolkata), and Rs18,000forover1,500km(say Delhi-Chennai/ Bengaluru). These caps are exclusive of airportleviesandtaxes,andare l Maximumdomesticfare Rs 7,500 500km FOR ROUTES UP TO (E.G. DELHI TO CHANDIGARH) Rs 15,000 FOR 1,000-1,500km (E.G. DELHI TO MUMBAI) lLimits exclude airport levies and taxes; do not apply to business class or flights under the UDAN scheme Rs 12,000 FOR 500-1,000km (E.G. DELHI TO PATNA) Rs 18,000 1,500 km FOR ROUTES ABOVE (E.G. DELHI TO CHENNAI) lFare caps apply to all bookings, whether made directly with airlines or through online travel agents not applicable for business class fares and on flights operated under the regional connectivity scheme, the MoCA order stated. The fare limits are applicablefortravel“untilfares stabilise or till further review”, it said. The show-cause notice to Elbers said that “such largescale operational failures indicate significant lapses in »CONTINUeD ON PAGe 2 RElATEDREPORTS,PAGE9 happening today l UNION HOMe and Cooper- atives Minister Amit Shah will inaugurate several civic projects by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation on Sunday. He will also launch a Gujarati edition of a book on the life of UP Governor Anandiben Patel. elect new lawmakers, in a test of legitimacy for the government as it tries to soothe public anger over the recent high-rise fire that killed at least 159 people. lTHe IAF wILL present a grand ‘Surya Kiran Air Show' in Rajkot, Gujarat, to encourage the youth to join the service. Out of Jail After 5 Years Gujarat ex-IAS officer Pradeep Sharma gets five-year jail term in money laundering case POLITICS BMC POllS: fOUR wARDS SEE OVER 50% INCREASE IN VOTERS PAGE 8 NATION NEw NCERT BOOk fOR ClASS 7 HAS BIGGER SECTION ON GHAzNI PAGE 2 l Shubhajit Roy New Delhi, December 6 AS RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin concluded his twoday visit to India December 5, New Delhi was preparing the next steps in a careful diplomatic balancing act: moves are afoot to schedule a possible visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to India in the coming months, The Indian Express has learnt. The visit could take place as early as January 2026. A Zelenskyy visit would reinforce Delhi’s effort to stay engaged with both sides of the Russia–Ukraine war, following the same calibrated approach adopted last year. In July 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelled to Moscow and met Putin; a month later, in August, he had visited Ukraine. SourcessaiddiscussionsbetweenIndianandUkrainianofficials have been ongoing for several weeks, with New Delhi intouchwithZelenskyy’soffice even before Putin arrived in India. The timing and scope of the proposed visit will depend on multiplefactors,includinghow former US President Donald Trump’s peace plan unfolds and developments on the battlefield.Domesticpoliticsin Ukraine, where Zelenskyy’s government is currently under pressure embroiled in a sweeping corruption scandal, could PM’s ‘not-neutral’ remark Friday echoes what he told Zelenskyy last year PM Modi with President Zelenskyy in Kyiv in August 2024. AP FILE ThE wORlD PAGE 12 RUSSIA TARGETS INfRA, ENERGy SITES IN UkRAINE also influence the outcome. Notably, Ukraine has sent Presidents to India only three times: 1992, 2002 and 2012. US deputy trade representative, chief negotiator to meet Commerce Secy Former Delhi University associate professor Hany Babu, who was granted bail in the Elgaar Parishad case Thursday, with his wife, Prof Jenny Rowena, and their daughter Farzana after his release from Taloja Jail in Navi Mumbai on Saturday. NARENDRA VASKAR INSIDE Diplomatic tightrope: Red carpet for Putin, Delhi works on dates for Zelenskyy visit US negotiators to be in Delhi next week, trade talks may get fresh impetus lHONG KONG VOTeS to TRACK THESE AND MORE ON www.INDIANEXPRESS.COM wILL Be FIRST VISIT BY UKRAINIAN PReSIDeNT SINCe 2012 Aditi Raja Vadodara, December 6 A SPECIAL court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Saturday convicted and sentenced retired IAS officer Pradeep Sharma to five years' rigorous imprisonment in a case of money laundering in lieu of allotment of governmentlandatcheapvaluationto Welspun India Ltd and its group of companies in Varshmedi village of Anjar Taluka Sharma is a former Kutch district collector in Bhuj, while Sharma, now 71, served as the Kutch District Collector and chairman of the District Land Pricing Committee (DLPC) from 2003 to 2006. The court also rejected a plea by Sharma's counsel to allow the sentences to run concurrently, saying that the court could “not find any justifiable reason to direct concurrency” of the sentence with a previous sentence handed down to him by the PMLA court for another offence in January this year. The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Sharma. SpecialPMLAjudgeKMSojitra convicted Sharma under sections of the Act on the basis of a criminal case registered againsthimbytheAhmedabad zonalofficeoftheEnforcement Directorate in March 2012. Sharma was arrested first in July 2016 and released on bail in March 2018 in the case. The court stated, “The court has cometotheconclusionthatthe »CONTINUeD ON PAGe 2 Ravi Dutta Mishra New Delhi, December 6 A US trade team led by Deputy US Trade Representative Rick Switzer is set to visit India next week to iron out differences such that the long-pending bilateral trade agreement (BTA) issignedbeforeDecember-end, a source aware of the developments said. SwitzerandBrendanLynch, the US chief negotiator for the trade deal with India, are expected to meet Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal for the final talks ahead of the agreement.NegotiationswiththeUS had commenced after Prime MinisterNarendraModivisited the US in February this year. Themeetingcomescloseon the heels of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two-day visit toIndiawhenthetwocountries decided to boost bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2030 from $64 billion now, and increase domestic currency trade. Sourcesdidnotprefertodescribe the US officials’ visit as a formal round of negotiations. They said differences are expectedtoberesolvedatapolitical level. India had last month sent across its final proposal to the US for the agreement. A government official told The Indian Express that the Indianteamhasnothadtechnical negotiations with the US team during the last one month and that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) wingofthecommerceministry has begun working on the deal with Canada. In the recent months, India has increased oil imports from the US. This has helped the bilateral trade gap between US and India to reach $1.5 billion »CONTINUeD ON PAGe 2 Putin’s visit has drawn close scrutinyfromEurope,withseveral European envoys urging India to use its influence to push Moscow towards ending the war. Delhi, however, consistently maintained that dialogue and diplomacy remain the only viable path forward with Modi framing it as: “India is not neutral, India is on the side of peace.” India has stayed in touch with both Putin and Zelenskyy sincethewarbeganinFebruary 2022. Modi has spoken to Zelenskyy by phone at least eight times,andthetwoleadershave met on at least four occasions. Theirmostrecentconversation was on August 30, when »CONTINUeD ON PAGe 2 India’s freedomof choice,Putin’s visit won’taffectUS ties:Jaishankar Divya A New Delhi, December 6 UNDERLINING INDIA’S “freedom of choice” in its relationships, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said RussianPresidentVladimirPutin’s two-day visit won’t complicate India’s ties with the United States. Defining India's ties with Russia as “among the steadiest big relationships” in the world, he said Putin's visit was about “re-imagining” the ties with a focus on economic engagement. Emphasising “strategic autonomy”,Jaishankar,duringan interactive session at the HT Leadership Summit in New Delhi, said, “Everybody knows that India has relations with all the major countries of the world. And for any country to expecttohaveavetoonhowwe develop our relationships with others, is not fair.” He was responding to a question on Putin's visit amid trade tensions with the US, after the Donald Trump administration imposed an additional 25% penalty tariff on India for importing Russian oil. »CONTINUeD ON PAGe 2 21-YEAR-OLD GOALKEEPER POWERS INDIA'S WIN IN qUARTER-FINAL SHOOTOUT AGAINST BELGIUM AT FIH JUNIOR WORLD CUP No. 16 on his jersey, idol Sreejesh as his coach, Hockey India’s Prince in waiting Vinayakk Mohanarangan inthepenaltyshootoutasIndia defeated Belgium in the thrilling quarter-final of the FIH PRINCEDEEP SINGH grew up Junior World Cup in Chennai. wanting to be like P R Sreejesh. The number 16, made faSomuchsothattherookiegoal- mous by Sreejesh, has a special keeper even got the legendary place for Princedeep. “I started Indian custodian’s playing hockey PAGE 1 jersey number — 16 around2015atChee— on his back. And ma Academy in Banow, in the team tala and I actually coached by Sreejesh, Prince- played fullback for a year... I deephasemergedasastandout usedtoalsoplayfootballduring performer. the weekends, and I was good On Friday, the 21-year-old at goalkeeping because of my goalkeeper shot into the lime- height, which is how my interlight with a sensational display est developed. Then I took up Chennai, December 6 anchor hockey goalkeeping in 2016,” PrincedeeptellsTheIndianExpress. “At that time, I used to watch the Indian team at the 2016 Olympic Games and I wanted to be like P R Sreejesh.” “Right from when I took up goalkeeping after watching Sreejesh, I was obsessed about wearing the No. 16 jersey,” he says. “I used to watch his Hockey India League (HIL) matches, and once went for the K D Singh Babu tournament in Lucknow where I got a chance to watch Sreejesh bhai live. I didn’t meet him that day, just Princedeep Singh (left) thwarted Belgium twice in the shootout on Friday; working with coach P R Sreejesh (above) is a dream, the 21-year-old says. HOCKEY INDIA saw him from outside, where we were chanting his name. Now, I get to work directly with him. It’s a dream,” he says. The boots are obviously too big to fill, but Princedeep’s potential was evident in Chennai as he thwarted Belgium twice in the shootout. The standout moment of the night was when Nicolas Bogaerts dribbled forward into the circle and was first prevented from getting a shot away by Princedeep's stick. The Belgian player, however, still managed to get to the loose ball, and his shot was heading into goal when Princedeep sprang back up from the turf,tookacoupleofstepstohis leftandputinafull-lengthdive to block the ball with his stick for the second time. Earlier, after India’s 5-0 win against Switzerland, Sreejesh, the now-retired No 16, had spoken highly of Princedeep. “For me, he was the man of the match, because of how well he played in the third quarter and savedthatstroke,”Sreejeshhad said. “He(Sreejesh)ishelpingme correct my weaknesses in a short time. Things that seemed verydifficultearlierarebecoming easier,” says Princedeep. “The main thing he has helped me understand is how to go into a match with confidence. He insists on communicating as much as possible with the defenders and bringing match situations into practice sessions... imagine that I am playing a match when I train. He has also helped me understand how to handle the pressure. Earlier, I didn’t have much confidence while playing a »CONTINUeD ON PAGe 2 Ahmedabad