DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2025, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES BY UNNY FIRST VISIT BY MODI TO SANGH HEADQUARTERS SINCE 2014 RSS is the modern Akshayvat and it is energising nation’s consciousness: PM At Deekshabhoomi, says committed to work harder for Babasaheb’s India Maharashtra: Explosion in Beed mosque, two arrested ANKITA DESHKAR & SHUBHANGI KHAPRE NAGPUR, MUMBAI, MARCH 30 DESCRIBING THE RSS as a “vatvriksh” (banyan tree) and an “Akshayvat” (eternal, sacred banyan tree), Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his first visit to the Sangh headquarters in Nagpur after entering office 11 years ago, said Sunday that it is “continuously energising Indian culture and the consciousness of our nation”. The Prime Minister, who also visited Deekshabhoomi where Dr B R Ambedkar embraced Buddhism in 1956, hailed it as “a symbol of social justice and empowering the downtrodden”. “Generations of Indians will remain grateful to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar for giving us a Constitution that ensures our Collegium substitute yes, but control MAOISM SURGED DUE must not be in hands of Govt: Leaders EXPRESS NETWORK TO CONG’S POLICIES, OUR GOVT SCHEMES BROUGHT PEACE: PM Prime Minister Narendra Modi with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in Nagpur on Sunday. PTI dignity and equality. Our Government has always walked on the path shown by Pujya Babasaheb and we reiterate our commitment to working even harder to realise the India he CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MUMBAI, MARCH 30 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 11 coaches of Bengaluru-Kamakhya Mohanlal apologises as ‘Empuraan’ row rages, train derail in Odisha, one killed CM slams Sangh Parivar SUJIT BISOYI BHUBANESWAR, MARCH 30 SHAJU PHILIP AT LEAST one person died and several people were injured on Sunday after 11 coaches of the Bangalore-Kamakhya Superfast Express derailed near Nergundi station in Odisha’s Cuttack. Sources in the East Coast Railway (ECoR) said the derailment occurred at 11.54 am. ECoR officials identified the dead passenger as West Bengal resident Subhankar Roy. A woman passenger suffered serious injuries and two men were being treated for minor injuries, officials said. Several others who were injured were given first aid at the site of the derailment. The Railways announced ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh for the next of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MARCH 30 Derailment took place at 11.54 am in Cuttack dist ChennaiKolkata Hwy Nergundi station Cuttack junction Mahanadi river Rescue work at the site of the train derailment in Cuttack district, Sunday. PTI kin of the deceased, Rs 2.5 lakh for those who suffered serious injuries and Rs 50,000 for those with minor injuries. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 As Smart Cities winds up today, a dashboard from Agra and questions on the road ahead selected municipal corporations is, how ‘smart’ are their cities? And with the Rs 48,000 crore Central funding earmarked for the project almost over, where do the cities go from here? DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, AGRA, MARCH 30 AROUND 10 km separates Agra’s Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) from the narrow lanes of Tajganj, the historic neighbourhood next to the Taj Mahal. Though the two share little in common — the ICCC with its wall of screens displaying seemingly every datapoint the city creates in real time, from traffic challans to the amount of garbage collected, and Tajganj with its gaping potholes, open drains and overhead wires — a prominently displayed logo gives away their bond: both are part of Agra Smart City Ltd. Nearly a decade ago, Agra was The launch of the Mission With live feeds from 1,530 CCTVs, the Integrated Command and Control Centre is the nerve centre for Agra. Gajendra Yadav chosen as one of the 100 cities selected by the Centre for its flagship urban development scheme, the Smart Cities Mission. The city had ranked third in the national Smart Cities Awards in 2023, behind Indore and Surat. As the Mission nears its end on March 31, nearly 10 years since it started, the question facing the Ahead of the 2014 general elections, then Gujarat Chief Minister and the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, had at an election rally in January pitched the idea of developing “100 new cities”. “Kyun na hamare desh mein 100 naye sheher bane? Adhunik sheher bane, walk-to-work concept ke roop mein bane, smart city bane (Why can’t 100 new cities be developed in India? Modern CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Before rolling out Green Credits, MoEF sidestepped Law queries NIKHIL GHANEKAR The Indian Express Wishes Its Readers Happy Eid-Ul-Fitr We are closed today. There will be no edition of the newspaper on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. NEW DELHI, MARCH 30 THE ENVIRONMENT Ministry’s ambitious Green Credit Programme (GCP), which aims to enhance the country’s forest and tree cover and encourage “pro-planet actions”, was rolled out despite apprehensions from YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW E AN XPRESS RTI APPLICATION the Law Ministry, records obtained by The Indian Express under the Right to Information (RTI) Act show. A week before the Environment Ministry notified the Green Credit Rules on October 12, 2023, the Legislative Department under the Ministry of Law and Justice cautioned that provisions of the Environment Protection Act, 1986, “perhaps” did not support the business CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Patna women send powerful message, win key posts in students’ union polls PAGE 1 ANCHOR SANTOSH SINGH PATNA, MARCH 30 ONE WINNER wants to ensure “quality education”; another wants to fight against “favouritism and corruption”; and, the third wants “digital libraries” to be established in “every department”. Their goals may be different (Left) ABVP’s Maithily Mrinalini elected PUSU president; (top left) Independent Saloni Raj is general secy; NSUI’s Soumya Srivastava is treasurer MANOJ C G NEW DELHI, MARCH 30 PAGE 3 SAGAR RAJPUT TWO PERSONS were arrested on Sunday, hours after they allegedly planted gelatin sticks inside a mosque in Maharashtra’s Beed district triggering an explosion. Although no one was injured in the incident, the low-intensity explosion caused cracks in the structure. Police identified the two suspects as Vijay Rama Gavhane and Shriram Ashok Sagde. They said that after the blast occurred around 2.30 am, Gavhane posted a video of him holding gelatin sticks on his Instagram account, leading to his and Sagde’s arrests. According to the FIR, a procession was organised in Beed’s Ardhamasla Saturday evening in which people from all communities participated. However, around 9.30 pm, the two suspects arrived at the spot and started making communal remarks, the FIR said. They also raised questions over the construction of the mosque and tried to incite communal tension. But the situation was soon Amid judge row, Cong for a Bill on judicial accountability, but wary of NJAC revival but together, they have already delivered a powerful message. It’s for the first time that three women have won top posts in elections held for the Patna University Students’ Union (PUSU). In the results declared Saturday, ABVP’s Maithily Mrinalini was elected as PUSU president, independent candidate Saloni Raj as general secretary and NSUI’s Soumya Srivastava as treasurer. The other top posts went to independent CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ACTOR MOHANLAL on Sunday expressed “sincere regret for the mental distress caused to many I hold dear” by the political and social themes of his latest movie, Empuraan, which has caused a political storm in Kerala. The Malayalam movie, which hit screens worldwide on Thursday, has angered several Hindutva organisations and leaders, who accused it of maligning Hindutva and trying to please “anti-national elements” with its references to the 2002 Sincere regret: Actor Mohanlal Gujarat riots and other scenes. At the same time, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a Facebook post that he had seen the movie and accused the Sangh Parivar of threatening the filmmakers into making changes in the film. “It has come out that the filmmakers were forced to edit the film under pressure. This atmosphere of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AMID THE furore over the alleged discovery of wads of currency notes at the New Delhi home of a High Court judge which rekindled the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) debate, the Congress leadership has signalled that it is in favour of a Bill on judicial accountability. At the same time, it is wary of backing any piece of legislation that gives the government control over judicial appointments. The Congress backed the NJAC Bill in 2014, when Parliament passed it. However, the Supreme Court struck down the Act in October 2015. This March 21, after Congress MP Jairam Ramesh raised the issue ofthe alleged discovery ofcash from the residence of Justice Yashwant Varma, VicePresident and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar referred to the NJAC Act, saying, “That historic legislation endorsed by this Parliament with unprecedented consensual sup- EXPLAINED BUSINESS AS USUAL `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 E ● The Cong dilemma THERE WAS near unanimity in Parliament on the Bill to create the NJAC and replace the Collegium system which parties said was not so transparent on appointments to higher judiciary. But given their hostility now with the BJP, the Congress and others in the Opposition are wary of replacing the Collegium with a system whose controls are with the party in power. port unknown to parliamentary history of this country dealt with the malaise very severely.” Justice Varma has since been transferred from the Delhi High Court to his parent High Court in Allahabad. On March 25, Dhankhar ‘Corruption, misconduct, partisanship: Judiciary hasn’t responded to these issues institutionally... that’s disturbing’ KAPIL SIBAL, RAJYA SABHA MP PAGE 12 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2