● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 2025, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 CASH AT HOME ROW: ALLAHABAD BAR ASSOCIATION CALLS STRIKE SCshuntsJusticeVarmatoAllahabadHC;Bar opposes,callsforFIRandmovetoimpeachhim Even if Govt clears his transfer, Justice Varma, who will be No. 9 there, won’t sit in court as judicial work is withdrawn SOHINI GHOSH NEW DELHI, MARCH 24 EVEN AS the Allahabad High Court Bar Association protested Monday, the Supreme Court Collegium stood firm on its decisiontorepatriateDelhiHighCourt judge Justice Yashwant Varma, caught in the eye of a storm after wads of burnt currency were allegedlyfoundathishomeduring a fire, to his parent High Court. OnMonday,theSCCollegium published its recommendation: 25/03/2025 82 110 135 Justice Yashwant Varma “The Supreme Court Collegium, in its meetings held on 20th and 24th March, has recommended repatriation of Justice Yashwant Varma, Judge, High Court of Delhi, to the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad.” JusticeVarmawillbeninthin ANONNA DUTT NEW DELHI, MARCH 24 BY UNNY CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IMAGINE A quick strip test that reveals whether a patient has been taking their tuberculosis (TB) medicines regularly or not. Or a simple test that can detect the infection in blood, saliva or even stool samples. Picture drones flying across remote areas, delivering life-saving medicines and transporting patient samples with ease. These aren’t just ideas. These innovations,selectedbynational experts recently, could soon become part of India’s fight against TB. At last week’s India InnovationSummit,whichlooks for pioneering solutions to end TB, the country’s top experts chose five innovations from 228 cutting-edge ideas from across the globe. Each innovation was scored basedonitsreadinessforhuman use, whether it was cost-effective or not, and if it could be implemented in India, particularly within the country’s national TB elimination programme. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WHY THIS MATTERS SC sets up task force to curb student suicides ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, MARCH 24 NOTINGTHATthenumberofstudent suicides has surpassed instances of farmers killing themselvesduetoagrariandistress,the SupremeCourtonMondaysetup a national task force to address students’mentalhealthconcerns andprevent suicidesinhighereducational institutions. The 10-member task force will be headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice S Ravindra Bhat. “The recurring instances of student suicides in higher educational institutions, including private educational institutions, serve as a grim reminder of the inadequacy and ineffectiveness of the existing legal and institutional framework in addressing mental health concerns of studentsoncampusesandpreventing them from taking the extreme step of committing suicides,”saidabenchof Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PAGE 1 ANCHOR MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL NEW DELHI, MARCH 24 FIVE POLICE personnel who wereamongthefirstresponders during a fire at the residence of Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma on the night of March 14 have submitted their phones to the Delhi Police headquarters, The Indian Express has learnt. The devices, highly placed sources said, will be used in the inquiry being conducted by a three-member committee of judges set up by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna in the wake of cash allegedly being found during the blaze. OnMondaymorning,thefive police personnel, including the station house officer of Tughlaq Road police station, were called by Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora to his office. It is learnt that Arora asked them to cooperate with the inquiry and not to hesitate in divulging any information. The five personnel include the SHO, a sub-inspector, two head constables and a constable. One of the head constables is also the investigating officer (IO). CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPLAINED PAGE 11 Test to check regular intake of medicines, AI to read slides: Tech may join TB fight 60 BUSINESS AS USUAL seniorityatAllahabadHCbutitis likely that he will not sit in court. CJI Sanjiv Khanna on March 22 had instructed the Delhi HC Chief Justice “not to assign any judicial work” to Justice Varma. On Monday, the Delhi HC Registrar of listing division had notified that judicial work from Justice Varma stands “withdrawn with immediate effect”. TheAllahabadHighCourtBar Association, in its general house meeting Monday, passed a resolution, opposing Justice Varma’s To ‘aid inquiry’, 5 cops who reached fire site submit phones to police HQ India accounts for 26% of the global TB cases It accounts for 29% of deaths due to TB INDIA TB REPORT 2023 2024 Estimated TB cases 27.4 lakh 27.8 lakh Number of cases reported 24.2 lakh 25.5 lakh 3.2 lakh 3.2 lakh Estimated mortality 100-DAY CAMPAIGN ■ Total number of vulnerable people screened: 12.97 crore ■ Number of patients diagnosed: 7.19 lakh ■ Number of asymptomatic patients diagnosed: 2.85 lakh ■ Number of chest X-rays conducted (technology recently included in the programme): 80.31 lakh Source: Global TB Report, India TB Report, Report on 100-day campaign NAGPUR, MARCH 24 THE NAGPUR bench of the Bombay High Court Monday stayed the demolition of houses of the accused in the recent violence in the city, hours after the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC)razedthehouseof keyaccused Fahim Shahim Khan. The high court issued the order at around 2.30 pm but the civic body had already razed the house of Fahim Khan, who was booked for sedition in connection with the Nagpur violence, due to alleged illegal encroachment. Fahim Khan was earlier issued a notice regarding certain unauthorised portions of the structure in Sanjaybag Colony. Officials said they also demolished a room and two balconies constructed illegally at the house of another accused, Yusuf Sheikh, later on Monday. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Focus on bilateral trade agreement during meetings over four days RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, MARCH 24 WITH INDIA indicating its willingness to offer tariff cuts on a range of American products underthebilateraltradeagreement (BTA),ahigh-levelUSdelegation, including the Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, Brendan Lynch, is set to begin a four-day visit to India starting Tuesday. The visit comes days before the US plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on April 2, which are feared to affect Indian exports of keyproductssuchasagriculture, meat and processed food, automobiles, diamonds, gold products, chemicals and pharma products, where tariff differentials range between 8 and 33 per cent. Indicatingabroad-baseddiscussion with India, the US Embassy on Monday stated that “trade” as well as “investments” would be partof the four-day bilateralmeetingstartingTuesday. India’s trade agreements, especially with developed countries, are increasingly being modelled on investment commitments in exchange for tariff cuts. However, government officials have told industry executivesthatIndiaisplanningtoset- E ● Key US visits FROM US Vice President J D Vance to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, a series of high-level visits to India are scheduled in the coming months, seeking to boost the strategic partnership between the two sides. These visits will prepare the ground for President Donald Trump’s likely visit for the Quad Summit later this year. tlemosttradeissuesduringtalks with the US team on a bilateral trade deal. “Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch, along with a team of US government officials, will be in India from March 25 to 29 for meetings with Indian interlocutors as part of ongoing bilateral trade discussions,” the US Embassy said in a statement. On the US delegation’s visit, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD Police outside Mumbai’s The UniContinental hotel on Monday, a day after it was vandalised over stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra’s video on Deputy CM Eknath Shinde. Sankhadeep Banerjee U.S., RUSSIA DISCUSS UKRAINE WAR IN SAUDI MEET, EYE MARITIME CEASEFIRE ISRAEL POUNDS GAZA AGAIN AS EGYPT OFFERS NEW TRUCE PROPOSAL PAGE 12 Kamra booked, BMC team lands at hotel where Shinde video was shot Won’t apologise, don’t fear mob, says Kamra THE EDITORIAL PAGE AJOKE Target Kunal Kamra, shrink space for irreverence — and hope India will be a creative superpower PAGE8 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE MUMBAI, MARCH 24 A DAY after comedian Kunal Kamrapostedavideoofhisstandupshowinwhichhetakesajibeat Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde among others, the Mumbai Police Monday booked him for defamation. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Kamra posted a photo with the Constitution on Monday. RELATEDREPORTS,PAGE4 alsosentateamtothehotel(The UniContinental) in Khar area whichhousesthestudio(Habitat Studio) where the video was shot. The team carried out an in- HC stays demolitions after civic body razes house of key accused in Nagpur violence ANKITA DESHKAR Ahead of reciprocal tariffs, US trade delegation to begin India visit today E X P L A I NE D DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA spection of the site and got an unauthorisedshedpulleddown. Meanwhile, police also registered an FIR against some members of Shinde's Yuva Sena for vandalising the studio on Sunday. While 12 Shinde Sena workers were arrested, they were later released on bail. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INSIDE 2 HELD FOR MURDER OF MAN DURING UNREST IN NAGPUR DEMOLITION IN MALVAN: SC NOTICE TO CIVIC BODY ON CONTEMPT PLEA Demolition of the house underway in Nagpur on Monday. PTI PAGES 5, 7 BJP stalls House over Shivakumar remarks, Cong says another bid to dodge discussions LIZ MATHEW & DIVYA A NEW DELHI, MARCH 24 PARLIAMENT proceedings remaineddisruptedonMondayas the BJP alleged that senior Congress leader and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar had spoken of “changing the Constitution” to implement a Muslim quota. Dismissing the BJP’s claims, the Congress called it another tactic bytherulingpartyto avoidadiscussion on serious issues in the House,includingallegedcashrecovery from Delhi High Court Judge Yashwant Varma’s house. At the same time, Congress leaders are wary of the BJP using its claims regarding Shivakumar to weaken the party’s campaign around the Constitution against the BJP. On Monday morning, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Union Minister Kiren Rijiju in Rajya Sabha, Monday. PTI KirenRijijuledthechargeagainst Shivakumar, with BJP leaders saying they could not remain quiet on an “extremely serious” statement by a person “who is holding a constitutional post”. Rijiju demanded that the CongresssackShivakumarorthe party clarify whether it would indeed change the Constitution CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IN PARLIAMENT PAGE 10 After Nalanda, another Bihar university set to rise from the ruins SANTOSH SINGH ANTICHAK (BHAGALPUR), MARCH 24 A DECADE after Nalanda University came up in the foothills of Rajgir, work is on to revive another ancient centre of learning in Bihar — Vikramshila. While the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has, since December last year, been developing the site of the ancient VikramshilaUniversitytoattract more tourists, the Bihar government recently identified 202.14 acres at Antichak village in BhagalpurdistrictfortheCentral university. Though the Centre had approved the project in 2015 and sanctioned Rs 500 crore, with the state government unable to identify a suitable land for the project, there had been little progress until now. Speaking in Bhagalpur on February 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Atitspeak, Vikramshila University was a centre of knowledge for the world. We have already fused ancient Nalanda university’s glory with the new Nalanda University.AfterNalanda,itisthe turn of Vikramshila as we are opening a Central university.” On a weekend morning, workers at the site of the ruins of the ancient Vikramshila Mahaviharweededoutvegetationand carefullybrushedoffthesoiltoexpose the underlying features. As part of the conservation and preservation process, the entire site has been divided into grids. Risingabovetheruins,glisteninginthesun,isacruciformbrick stupa, the centrepiece of the Vikramshila site. All around the stupaarethecells—208of them, 52oneachside—wherestudentmonks of one of the most splendid universities of its times practised Tantrayana, the last of the three great vehicles of Indian Ruins of the ancient Vikramshila University in Bhagalpur. ASI Buddhism after Hinayana and Mahayana.Tantrayana,whichincorporated tantric practices and rituals, is what the scholars at Vikramshila excelled in. Founded by king Dharmapala of the Pala dynasty in the late 8th to early 9 Century AD, Vikramshila Mahavihar existed and flourished at the time of Nalanda. “While Nalanda university flourishedfromtheGuptaPeriod (320-550 AD) to the 12th Century, Vikramshila thrived during the Pala Period (8th to 12thcentury).WhileNalandagot more international fame for teaching varied disciplines, Vikramshilawastheonlyuniversitythatspecialisedintantricand occult studies. In fact, during Dharmapala’sreign,Vikramshila reigned supreme and is known to have controlled Nalanda’s affairs as well,” said ASI Superintending Archaeologist (Patna Circle) Sujit Nayan. While Nalanda is the older of thetwouniversities,atonepoint, the two centres of learning, which had a common patron in king Dharmapala, exchanged knowledge and even teachers, who were called Acharyas. At its peak, subjects such as theology, philosophy, grammar, metaphysics and logic were taught at Vikramshila. But the most important branch of learning were the tantras because Vikramshila flourished in the days of tantricism, when occult sciences and magic were subjects of study both in Buddhism as well as Hinduism. Theuniversityproducedseveral eminent scholars, among them, Atisa Dipankara, who playedakeyroleintheestablishment of Buddhism in Tibet. The institution prospered for about four centuries before fading out along with Nalanda around the 13th century — a decline that experts attribute to a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2