NEW DELHI 20 APRIL 2025 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 24  facebook/TheMorningStandard  X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in PLUS: 12 PAGES Untangling the Calcutta Chromosome MAGAZINE EXCLUSIVE VOICES THE GREAT NEW ADVENTURES Living Life with a Laugh Keep the Floodlighting Down Pushpesh Pant Devdutt Pattanaik Sheila Kumar Neha Sinha Shampa Dhar-Kamath Shankkar Aiyar Balbir Punj Madhavan Narayanan Stories Etched in Stone Of Smart Sisters and Misogynistic Misters THE GLOBAL INDIA STORY SWAMI SUKHABODHANANDA SPEAKS Why do We get Hurt? Putin springs a short Easter truce surprise Unilateral Russian gesture after US hard talk ceasefire. Zelenskyy wrote on X that the truce plan came as air raid alerts were announced in AMID growing frustration in Ukraine due to drone attacks. Washington over stalled peace The ceasefire announcement efforts, Russian President follows fresh Russian claims of Vladimir Putin announced a territorial gains, including the surprise Easter truce in the capture of another settlement conflict in Ukraine. near the Kursk border region. The truce will pause “all hos- President Putin suggested the tilities” from 6 pm truce would serve as a Moscow time on Sattest of Ukraine’s sinurday (11 am Eastern cerity about wanting Time) until midnight peace. US Secretary of on Monday (5 pm State Marco Rubio had ET Sunday). s i g n a l l e d g row i n g The announcement impatience with the came on the same day peace process. as Russia, Ukraine On Friday he warned , swapped hundreds of that the United States prisoners in the war’s is prepared to “move Our troops must largest exchange. Ruson” from its role in brosia said 246 Russian be ready to repel kering peace talks unservice members were violations of the less there are tangible truce and any returned from terrisigns of progress in provocations tory controlled by the coming days. “We Kyiv, and that ‘as a —Vladimir Putin can’t keep chasing a gesture of goodwill’ 31 breakthrough that isn’t wounded Ukrainian prisoners coming,” he said. of war were transferred in President Donald Trump, exchange for 15 wounded Rus- too, weighed in, saying that the sian soldiers. negotiations between Russia Putin said he expects Ukraine and Ukraine are “coming to to reciprocate: “We assume that a head.” the Ukrainian side will follow Ukraine had last month our example.” agreed to Trump’s proposal for Ukraine has been wary of a full and unconditional 30-day short-term truces, having pre- ceasefire, only for Vladimir Puviously rejected a January 2023 tin to reject it. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi Rescue operation underway after a four-storey residential building collapsed in Shakti Vihar area Mustafabad early Saturday, killing 11 people, including seven of a family, and injuring 11 others. According to the police, there were 22 people at the ill-fated building, most of them families | SHEKHAR YADAV 11 killed as 4-storey building collapses N I T I N R A W AT @ New Delhi A multi-storey residential building collapsed at Shakti Vihar in northeast Delhi’s Mustafabad early Saturday leaving 11 , people dead and 11 injured. A PCR call was made at the Dayalpur police station at 3.02 am about the building collapse. The cops rushed to the spot to find that a four-storey building, belonging to one Tehseen, had caved in and 22 people were trapped inside, a senior police officer said. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), fire services and ambulances were called for rescue operations. Tehseen and six of his family were among the 11 who died in the building collapse, the senior officer said. “We lost an entire generation EXPRESS READ Rains, thunderstorms in city next week likely A day after parts of Delhi-NCR witnessed thunderstorms and rain, providing much-needed relief, the weather department has predicted more storms and lightning on Sunday as well as coming week. The maximum temperature will be 38 degrees Celsius on Sunday, the weather department said. P3 Vaiko’s son quits, cracks wide open in MDMK In an indication of rift within DMK ally Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), Durai Vaiko, the Lok Sabha MP and son of party founder Vaiko, resigned from his post of principal secretary on Saturday, citing “persistent personal attacks” against him in the past four years. | P4 Deploy military in Bengal, says Mithun BJP leader and actor Mithun Chakraborty requested the Centre to impose President’s rule in West Bengal in the wake of violence in Murshidabad following Waqf Act protests and said the military should be deployed for two months during the elections. | P8 of our family in just a moment,” said Bhulan, brother of Tehsin, who along with his son, three grandchildren and two daughters-in-law was killed on Saturday Tahseen lost . his son during 2020 riots following the CAA protests. His son’s body was found from a Gokulpuri drain. On the possible cause of the collapse, sources said that construction work in “two-three shops” on the ground floor could have led to the cave-in. The MCD said that the building was built in an unauthorised colony After receiving in. formation, field staff from the building, maintenance and sanitation department rushed to the site, along with JCB machines, the MCD said. “The property is located in an unauthorised colony characterised by a densely populated area with narrow lanes. As per local inquiry and inputs from police sources, it was found that the property, with an around plot VICTOR AND RAMBO BRING OUT 4 BODIES Two dogs — Victor and Rambo — helped rescuers to take out at least four bodies from under the debris, said an NDRF official. “One of the injured women was traced by Victor. The dogs didn’t just find survivors, they gave hope when everything seemed lost,” the official said. First in-person trade talks with US next wk D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi AIMING to quickly wrap up the first phase of the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) with the US before the SeptemberOctober deadline, India is sending a small delegation of fivesix negotiators to the US on April 23. The delegation is likely to stay there for three days, commerce ministry sources told this newspaper. US vice-president J D Vance is due to arrive in India on Monday, April 21. The Indian delegation’s visit a couple of days later indicates the mutual urge to expedite the talks. Earlier, the ministry had indicated that physical negotiations will begin only in the first week of May “While virtual ne. gotiations have started, we thought we will send a small delegation to the US to carry forward the discussions,” a commerce ministry official told this newspaper. India’s chief negotiator — additional secretary in the Department of Commerce Rajesh Agrawal — will lead the team for the first in-person talks. Agrawal was appointed the next commerce secretary on April 18. He will assume office from October 1. Though some media reports suggest both sides have agreed to have the discussions covering 19 chapters, including tariffs, non-tariff barriers, and customs facilitation, the ministry official quoted earlier denied chapter-wise discussions would be held during the visit of the delegation. He said that chapter-wise discussion would begin in the second half of May. “The texts and contours of those discussions are being prepared currently,” the official said. “The September-October timeline is a deadline, not a target. If negotiations can be concluded earlier, it will benefit both countries. We are aiming to accelerate talks to avoid any adverse outcomes when the pause ends,” said a commerce ministry official. The Trump administration announced a 26% reciprocal tariff on India, but paused it for 90 days. area of 60 square yards, consisted of a ground floor plus three additional storeys. The structure was reported to be around 20 years old and was fully occupied,” the MCD said in a statement. The field staff in coordination with the police and rescue teams are engaged in clearing the debris from the site as well as surrounding properties, the statement added. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta ordered a probe into the incident and expressed grief over the incident. “Orders have been given to investigate the incident and strict action will be ensured against the culprits,” she wrote on ‘X’. AAP supremo and former CM Arvind Kejriwal also extended his condolences to the bereaved families. P3 ‘SYSTEMATIC PERSECUTION’: INDIA RAP ON HINDU’S MURDER IN B’DESH J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi IN a sharp escalation of tensions over attacks on Hindu minorities in Bangladesh, India on Saturday condemned the brutal killing of community leader Bhabesh Chandra Roy as part of a “systematic persecution” and fir mly urged Dhaka to protect its minorities without offering excuses or justifications. Bhabesh Chandra Roy 58, a , prominent Hindu leader and vice-president of the Biral unit of the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad, was mur“We have noted with disdered in Dinajpur, Bangla- tress the abduction and brudesh. Local media reports tal killing of Shri Bhabesh said Roy was abducted from Chandra Roy a Hindu minor, home by four men on ity leader in Banglamotorcycles half-andesh,” External Afhour after he receiving fairs Ministry a suspicious call spokesperson Ranaround 4.30 pm. They dhir Jaiswal said. took him to Narabari “This killing folvillage, where he was lows a pattern of syssavagely assaulted. tematic persecution Bhabesh C Roy of Hindu minorities The attackers later dumped the unconunder the interim scious Roy at his home in a government even as the pervan. He taken to a hospital, petrators of previous such where he was declared dead. events roam with impunity .” Remove Azhar’s name from stand of Uppal stadium, says Ombudsman EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad CITING conflict of interest, Ethics officer and Ombudsman (additional charge) of Hyderabad Cricket Association Justice V Eswaraiah on Saturday directed the cricket body to remove the name of former cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin from the North Pavilion Stand of the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium and ensure that no tickets are printed with the name of the former India captain henceforth. In his orders, the Ombudsman said that the former cricketer could have made the decision to rename the stand after himself in the meeting that he himself presided over and subsequently implemented the decision at the HCA expense. Justice Eswaraiah was hearing a petition against the renaming of the stand after Azharuddin, a former HCA president. The orders said that it is seen that the meeting in which the decision to name the North Stand as Azharuddin Stand was presided over by the former cricketer in his capacity as HCA president. JEE-Main: Raj leads with 7 toppers, 2 from Delhi K A V I TA B A J E L I - D AT T @ New Delhi TWENTY-FOUR candidates scored a perfect 100 in the engineering entrance JEE (Main) 2025, the results of which were announced by the National Testing Agency on Saturday . Rajasthan has the highest number of candidates with a perfect score with as many as seven scoring 100 percentile. Two female students — Devdutta Majhi from West Bengal and Sai Manogna Guthikon- 24 GET 100 PERCENTILE IN JEE-MAIN EXAM IN APRIL ACROSS 300 CITIES Twenty-four candidates scored a perfect 100 in JEE (Main), results of which were announced by the National Testing Agency on Saturday 9,92,350 APPEARED IN THE SECOND EDITION OF JEE MAIN EXAM 2025 da from Andhra Pradesh — are among the top scorers, who appeared for the JEE main paper 1 BE/BTech exams. Unlike last year, when students from Delhi topped the results, this time fewer than half of the students have achieved a 100 percentile score. In 2024, 56 students scored 100%. However, in the JEE Mains exam of 2024, six candidates from Delhi achieved a 100 percentile score. This year, only two students achieved a 100 percentile. While seven toppers are from Rajasthan, three each are from Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. It is followed by two each from Delhi, West Bengal and Gujarat. One topper each is from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. SUNDAY SPECIAL Game-changer: Zeeshan gives family a better life through cricket F I R O Z M I R Z A @ Mumbai The old house where Zeeshan and his family lived in Lucknow | FIROZ MIRZA AT the age of 25, Uttar Pradesh leg-break googly bowler Zeeshan Ansari is looking after a family of 19 including his parents, siblings, uncles and their families. His father Mohammed Naeem and uncles - Mohammed Chand and Mohammed Gayas — work as ladies tailors and before Zeeshan started earning through the sport, the family had often found it difficult to make ends meet. Despite difficult times, Naeem and his brothers never let Zeeshan feel the pinch while on his quest to glory . The old house in the narrow lanes of Chaudhary Tola locality of Aliganj in Lucknow still stands as a witness to the struggles the family had to go through in tougher times. The new house Zeeshan built is a symbol of their resilience and hope. That jour ney started when Zeeshan made it to the India U19 squad for the 2016 World Cup. Former national level footballer Kanhaiya Lal, coaches Abhay SIngh, Ajay Verma and Gopal Singh played their part as well. “Zeeshan got the house constructed soon after returning from the U19 World Cup,” father Naeem told this daily during a visit to the locality earlier this week. Not only the house, Zeeshan also got the tailor shop, the family owns at IT Chauraha renovated for rent at a decent sum to en- Zeeshan Ansari sure steady source of income for the family of 12 children including seven daughters. “He always wants to make some arrangements for a steady source of income and the rent above `30,000 has come as a big relief. We rented another shop in the basement for a minimal sum. These days tailoring work has not been generating enough income,” uncle Mohammed Ga- yas, who played a key role in Zeeshan’s cricketing career, said. Zeeshan, who played five first class matches for UP got a , chance to showcase his talent in the inaugural UP T20 League last year. He topped the wickets chart. Sunrisers Hyderabad bought him for `40 lakh. He had a debut figure of 3/42. His next aim with the SRH sum is to marry off his sisters. P11