DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 2025, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES BY UNNY DELEGATION MEETS ELECTION COMMISSIONERS BJP ally TDP to EC: Define SIR scope, make clear there’s no citizenship link Party says any deletion from voter list must be preceded by a valid inquiry PUSHKAR BANAKAR INSIDE WHAT WILL NEW DELHI, JULY 15 INDIA: RECONSIDER DEMOLITION OF RAY ANCESTRAL HOME SC NOTICE TO U.P. ON QR CODE DIRECTIVE ON KANWAR ROUTE ODISHA STUDENT WHO SET HERSELF ABLAZE DIES P 6, 7, 8 `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES, `20 IN ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM ASQUESTIONSareraisedoverthe ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the ruling NDA’ssecond-largestconstituent, has sought clarity on “the scope of theexercise”andsaiditshould be made clear that it is “not related to citizenship verification”. Tesla cruises into India, with Mumbai as first stop for its Model Y variant Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the Model Y SUV at the first Tesla Experience Centre in Mumbai. ANI The TDP delegation at the EC office, Tuesday. X/@ECISVEEP In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NOT COUNTINBIHAR AN EXPRESS SERIES PART 11 10 days to go, Bihar CEO launches online form for residents outside state SANTOSH SINGH PATNA, JULY 15 WITH ONLY 10 days left for the submission and uploading of enumeration forms to be included as voters in the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive, Bihar Chief Electoral Office (CEO) has launched“aneasy,two-step”online form for the estimated one crore migrants living outside the state, amid concerns that they may be left out of the exercise. Bihar CEO Vinod Singh Gunjiyal told The Indian Express in an interviewearlierthattheElection CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Back on Earth Shukla & team return; he has inspired a billion dreams, says PM NEW DELHI, JULY 15 ELON MUSK’S Tesla, the global electric vehicle (EV) giant, made its official entry into India Tuesday, launching its first showroom in Mumbai and showcasing its Model Y SUV. Inaugurating the showroom in Mumbai, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said: “This is not just the inauguration of an experience centre butastatementthatTeslahasarrived, in the right city and state, that is Mumbai, Maharashtra. Mumbai stands for innovation and sustainability.” The entry marks a close to a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 KEY FEATURES Amit Ckakravarty `59.89 lakh STANDARD: 500 km `67.89 lakh LONG-RANGE: 622 km TOUCHSCREEN: 15.4 inch front row, 8 inch second row RELATED REPORT PAGE 13 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, NEW DELHI, JULY 15 LOCAL AUTHORITIES in Yemen are learnt to have postponed the execution of Kerala nurse NimishaPriya,whichwasscheduled for July 16. Government sources said that the Centre, which has been rendering “all possible assis- PAGE 1 ANCHOR Nimisha Priya was sentenced to death in 2018 for murder tance” in the matter, made concerted efforts in recent days to seek more time for the family to reachamutuallyagreeablesolution with the other party. The nurse’s family and supporters CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ● Moving to repair ties IN THE months after the disengagement of troops in eastern Ladakh, India and China have sought to repair ties. The resumption of the Mansarovar Yatra and discussions to restore direct flights are pointers to the efforts. Ministers. Conveyed the greetings of President Droupadi Murmu & Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Apprised President Xi of the recent development of our bilateral ties. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, JULY 15 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 have been trying to negotiate a “blood money” deal with the familyof themurdervictim,Talal Abdo Mehdi, so that Priya could be pardoned under Sharia law. Despite the “sensitivities” involved, sources said that Indian officials have been in regular touch with the local jail authorities and the prosecutor’s office in Yemen. The development comes a day after the Centre informed E MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL Shubhanshu Shukla exits the spacecraft that carried him and other Axiom-4 crew members back from the ISS, Tuesday. (Top left) After the splashdown off the California coast. PTI Breather for Kerala nurse as Yemen NCERT SOCIAL SCIENCE TEXTBOOK defers execution during countdown Class 8 new book flags ‘brutality’ of Mughals, with no-blame disclaimer SHAJU PHILIP & SHUBHAJIT ROY SHUBHAJIT ROY Pahalgam terrorists fired in air after the killings to celebrate, key witness tells NIA ONLY THE second Indian to travel to space, and the first from the country to visit the InternationalSpaceStation(ISS), Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla returned to Earth on Tuesday, after a 20-day landmark space journey that prepares the ground for India's own human spaceflight mission, Gaganyaan. Assisted by two people, and with a broad smile on his face, Shukla emerged from the space capsule, getting his first feel of Earth in almost three weeks PAGE 9 Raises Pahalgam attack, says it was done to sow religious divide in India IN HIS first visit to China since the start of the military standoff between Chinese and Indian troops along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh in 2020, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met President Xi Jinping in Beijing Tuesday and apprised him of the “recent development”inbilateralties—the twocountrieshavebeguntaking steps to repair relations. In a post on X after meeting Xi,Jaishankar,whoisattendinga gatheringof ForeignMinistersof the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Tianjin, said, “Called on President Xi Jinping this morning in Beijing along with my fellow SCO Foreign ANONNA DUTT EXPLAINED Jaishankar meets Xi, reminds SCO of need to combat terror, separatism NEW DELHI, JULY 15 NEW DELHI, JULY 15 SOUMYARENDRA BARIK External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Tuesday. PTI EXPLAINED BUSINESS AS USUAL SINCE 1932 ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND NEW DELHI, JULY 15 DESCRIBING BABUR as a “brutal and ruthless conqueror, slaughtering entire populations of cities”, Akbar’s reign as a “blend of brutality and tolerance”, and Aurangzeb who destroyed templesandgurdwaras,theNCERT’s new Class 8 Social Science textbook,whichintroducesstudents to the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals, points to “many instances of religious intolerance” during the period. The NCERT says the rationale for including them has been explained in a “Note on Some Darker Periods in History” and one of the chapters in the book includes a cautionary note that “nooneshouldbeheldresponsible today for events of the past”. Part 1 of the Social Science book for Class 8 — ‘Exploring Society:IndianandBeyond’—was released this week for use in the ongoing academic session. Of the new NCERT books, this is the first to introduce students to the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals. Although this period was introducedtostudentsinClass7in earlieryears,theNCERTsaysthat the period of Indian history that CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 A KEY eyewitness to the Pahalgam terror attack has told investigatorsthathesawthegunmen fire four rounds in the air in “celebration”afterkilling26civilians in the meadows on April 22, The Indian Express has learnt. The “star protected eyewitness”, who the National Investigation Agency tracked with help from the Jammu and KashmirPoliceandcentralintelligence agencies, had been confronted by the three Pakistanbased terrorists in the Baisaran meadow minutes after the attack, it is learnt. Last month, the NIA had arrested two locals — Parvaiz AhmadJotharandBashirAhmad — for allegedly harbouring the attackers. “They disclosed the identitiesof thethreearmedterrorists and confirmed that they were Pakistani nationals affiliated to the Lashkar-e-Toiba,” an NIA spokesperson had said. As its probe proceeded, the Twenty-six civilians were killed in the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, J&K NIA found a local — now the star witness—whowasabletoshare key details of what transpired in the minutes after the attack. He is learnt to have told investigators that the gunmen stopped him while they were leaving Baisaranaftergunningdownthe civilians. “He was asked to recite the kalma, and once he started speaking in his local accent, they spared him. They started celebratory firing — four rounds were shot in the air,” said a source, who is familiar with his statement. Onthebasisof hisstatement, the investigation team seized CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Before 114-yr-old’s run ended: ‘Life is beautiful, I don’t wish to die’ ANJU AGNIHOTRI CHABA & MANRAJ GREWAL SHARMA JALANDHAR, CHANDIGARH, JULY 15 AT 114, Fauja Singh died too soon. For a man who led a remarkable life, the end was abrupt, almost staccato — hit by an unidentified vehicle while crossing the road. FaujaSinghwas100whenhe became 'the oldest man to run a marathon' — clocking 8 hours and 11 minutes at the Toronto Marathon in 2011. Some years earlier, when he was a sprightly 95, and soon after he had finished a marathon, Fauja Singh, resplendent in a big, black turbanpairedwithamatchingsatin shirt,hadtoldagroupof journalists gathered around him in Chandigarh: “Zindagi inni sohni hai ki maran nu te jee hi nahin karda (Life is so beautiful that I just don’t feel like dying).” His eyes twinkled and his face creased into a wide smile. He ran some more, before he finallyhunguphisbootsin2013, when he turned 102. But Fauja Singh never gave up on life — or his shoes. He collected at least 100 pairs and much later in life, ditched his kurta-pyjama for joggers and fancy suits. “I love clothes too,” he told The Indian Express that afternoon in Chandigarh, volunteering to open his suitcase to display his collection. Chandigarh-based writer Khushwant Singh, who wrote a 2011 biography of the marathoner, recalls that when he first met him in 2005, Fauja waswearinganelectricbluesuit, a tie that read “Marathoner” and a pair of shoes with “Fauja” on one and “Singh” on the other. If Fauja first ran, it was to escape a personal tragedy. Villagers in his Beas village in Jalandhar district say Fauja was Marathoner Fauja Singh died Monday after being knocked down by a vehicle near an eatery named after his late son. File building a dhaba for his son Kuldeepwhentheroof collapsed andkilledtheyoungster,thefifth of his six children. That was in August 1994, just two years after his wife, Gian Kaur, died. Devastated, Fauja lost all will to live. His youngest son Harvinder Singh remembers seeing him mourning for hours at the cremation ground. That’s when Sukhjinder,theeldestof hissons who lived in England, took him along. In London, he went on long walks. “I had nothing to do at home. My son told me to take a bus to the local gurdwara, but I decided to walk instead,” he would recount. A chance encounter with Harmander Singh, a marathon coach who met Fauja at a neighbourhood park just six months earlier, would lead to the 89year-old running his first marathon in April 2000, at age 89. He ran 6 hours, 54 minutes to finish the 26-mile (41-km) run. And soon, he was famous. Adidas appointed him as its brand ambassador and his billboards appeared across London. Hewasalsoatorchbearerforthe 2012 London Olympics. Khushwant Singh says Fauja was once invited by Queen Elizabeth II, a meeting for which he was briefed extensively for two days. “They told him, ‘Don’t try to hug her, just shake her hand’,” he says. “The best part was the affection that came my way,” Fauja told The Indian Express in an earlier interview. “Even the memsahibs would call me grandad.” Soon, Fauja was a jet-setting marathoner, greeted aboard flights with public announcements. A British Airways crew even printed “World traveller, centurion marathoner” on his boarding pass, and Fauja beamed. In 2011, after running nine CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata