THE SUNDAY Vol. 36 No. 30 | Sunday, April 20, 2025 30 Pages | `5 & for State `6 | Reg. No. MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 46955/1988 M.p.c.s. office Mumbai-400001 FREE PRESS JOURNAL Leader in E-paper circulation l www.freepressjournal.in ● EDITIONS: ● MUMBAI ● INDORE ● PUNE ● BHOPAL ● NASHIK ● KONKAN ● E-paper y app er H ast E JEE toppers’ secrets Twenty-four students scored a perfect 100 in JEE-Main 2025, with Rajasthan leading the tally with seven toppers. Maharashtra’s Aayush Ravi Chaudhari, Sanidhya Saraf, and Vishad Jain were among the perfect scorers. Their success mantras included avoiding phones, focusing on highyield chapters, and maintaining a backup plan to reduce stress. Odisha’s Om Prakash Behera credited his focus and discipline, while Rajasthan’s Rajit Gupta emphasized strong fundamentals developed since Class 9. Telangana’s Vangala Ajay Reddy highlighted the importance of staying calm during mock tests. The NTA clarified that the scores are normalized and not percentages. Top scorers now gear up for JEE-Advanced, the gateway to prestigious IITs. – See Nation PM to visit Saudi Arabia Prime Minister Narendra Modi will begin a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia on April 22, aiming to strengthen bilateral ties in energy, trade, and defence. Key agreements are expected following talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The visit seeks to deepen the strategic partnership between the two nations, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said. Efforts will be made to add a strategic dimension to energy cooperation. Putin declares Easter truce Russian President Vladimir Putin announced an Easter truce in Ukraine, starting Saturday at 6 p.m. and ending at midnight on Sunday. The ceasefire, he said, was a gesture of peace during the Orthodox Easter holiday. Putin expressed hope that Ukraine would reciprocate, though he instructed Russian forces to remain prepared for any violations. The announcement coincided with a U.S. peace proposal presented to European leaders by Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a visit to Paris. The Kremlin emphasised the humanitarian nature of the truce, while military readiness on both sides remains a critical concern amid the ongoing conflict. Musk to visit India this year Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Saturday said he is looking forward to visiting India later this year. His remarks came a day after he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke and discussed the potential for collaboration in technology and innovation. "It was an honor to speak with PM Modi. I am looking forward to visiting India later this year!" Musk said in a post on X. After their talk on Friday, Modi took to X and said, "Spoke to @elonmusk and talked about various issues, including the topics we covered during our meeting in Washington DC earlier this year. We discussed the immense potential for collaboration in the areas of technology and innovation." WEEKEND Why increasing number of Indian authors are opting for self-publishing Live Smart Overcoming vacay FOMO Sunday Read Censor certificate, CBFC, and cuts DOWNTURN IN TIES | New Delhi condemns killing, tells Dhaka to protect minorities Hindu leader abducted, killed in B’desh Agencies NEW DELHI India has condemned the killing of a Hindu leader in Dinajpur, Bangladesh. In a statement on Saturday, Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry of India, said the incident "follows a pattern of systematic persecution of Hindu minorities under the interim government even as the perpetrators of previous such events roam with impunity." Condemning the incident, he reminded "the interim government to live up to its responsibility of protecting all minorities, including Hindus, without inventing excuses or making distinctions." According to The Daily Star, Bhabesh Chandra Roy, 58, was a resident of Basudebpur vil- lage under Shatagram Union and was the vice-president of the Biral unit of the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad and was a prominent leader of the Hindu community in the area. Police recovered Bhabesh's body around 10:00pm on Thursday night. His wife, Shantana Roy, told The Daily Star that Bhabesh was at home in the afternoon when he received a phone call around 4:30pm. She claimed the call was made by the perpetrators to confirm his presence at home. Approximately 30 minutes later, four men arrived on two motorcycles and abducted Bhabesh. Witnesses reported seeing the men take him to Narabari village, where he was assaulted. Later that evening, the attackers sent Bhabesh's uncon- Indian IT’s moment of uncertainty By invitation K Giriprakash I ndian IT isn’t in crisis — not yet. But the signals flashing from the March quarter results of TCS, Infosys, and Wipro are hard to ignore. Growth is stalling, client spending is softening, and confidence — once a fixture of management commentary — has given way to caution. This isn’t just another muted quarter. It’s a convergence of structural and cyclical stress: a slowdown in the West, tariff shocks from Washington, and a rapidly shifting technology landscape led by generative AI. For an industry built on predictability, the current moment feels unusually opaque. What’s more concerning is not that growth has dipped, but that no one — not even the biggest players — seems sure when or how it returns. A slowdown made in America: Much of the current stress has its roots in the global economy — and specifically in the United States, which remains the biggest market for Indian IT exports. Elevated interest rates, inflation, and the spectre of a Trump-led tariff war have injected fresh volatility into corporate decision-making. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies — including re- ciprocal duties on tech equipment, data infrastructure components, and software services — are stoking fears of a trade war, one that could push the US into a recession. In this scenario, discretionary IT spending has become the first casualty. As Motilal Oswal notes in its April outlook: “The fallout from the Liberation Day tariffs has wreaked havoc on Indian IT service stocks, pushing the sector into the The Indian IT sector may well be at a crossroads. FY26 is unlikely to be a year of growth in the conventional sense. Still, it could become a transformational. Indian IT must navigate a climate of shrinking margins, cautious clients, and technological reinvention. eye of the storm. Discretionary spend is likely to be put on hold again.” Big Three, shrinking margins: The numbers tell their own story. TCS reported its slowest revenue growth in four years — ₹64,479 crore in Q4FY25 — and a marginal 1.7 per cent decline in profit after tax. Infosys fared worse, with an 11.75 per cent drop in net profit and revenue guidance for FY26 that ranged from flat to 3 per cent, its lowest forecast since the 2008 crisis. 4Contd on | Nation K Giriprakash is a Bangalore-based business journalist who covers the corporate sector. He is also the author of The Vijay Mallya Story, published by Penguin Random House. This killing follows a pattern of systematic persecution of Hindu minorities under the interim government even as the perpetrators of previous such events roam with impunity. We condemn this incident and once again remind the interim government to live up to its responsibility of protecting all minorities, including Hindus, without inventing excuses or making distinctions. — Randhir Jaiswal, Spokesperson, External Affairs Ministry of India File Briefs Weekend Decoding the spiritual essence of Easter in modern world scious body back to his home in a van. Family members, with the help of locals, rushed him to the Biral Upazila Health Complex. He was later transferred to Dinajpur Medical College Hospital, where onduty doctors declared him dead upon arrival. Police sent the body to the hospital morgue for an autopsy. "It is not yet known what the postmortem report contains," Abdus Sabur, officer-in-charge of Biral Police Station, told ANI over the phone. "We will take action after getting the postmortem report," he said, noting that no case had been filed by the family. "We are busy with our father's funeral. That's why no case has been filed," Bhabesh's SC inciting religious wars: Dubey ANI BJP DISTANCES ITSELF NEW DELHI BJP leader Nishikant Dubey on Saturday declared the Supreme Court is responsible for “inciting religious wars” in the country, saying Parliament should be closed down if the SC has to make the laws. “The top court has only one aim ‘Show me the face, will show you the law’. The SC is going beyond its limits. If one has to go to the SC for everything, then parliament and state assembly should be shut,” Dubey said. He blamed the CJI for the “civil wars” in the country after Trinamool leader Fast breeder N-reactor by 2026 FPJ News Service The BJP distanced itself from the statements by BJP MPs Nishikant Dubey and Dinesh Sharma on the SC. “The statements made by BJP MPs Nishikant Dubey and Dinesh Sharma regarding the judiciary and the CJI have no connection with the BJP. These are their personal remarks, and the BJP neither agrees with nor supports such statements. The party outright rejects them," party chief JP Nadda said in a post on X. Kalyan Banerjee sought the resignation of BJP leader and Chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Waqf Bill, Jagdambika Pal. “CJI Sanjiv Khanna is responsible for all the civil wars happening in this country,” the BJP neta from Jharkhand said. He said the SC want to take the country towards “anarchy”. “How can you give direction to the appointing authority? The President appoints the CJI. Parliament makes the law of the country. You will dictate Parliament?... How did you make a new law? In which law is it written the president has to take a decision within three months? It means you want to take this country towards anarchy. When Parliament sits, there will be a detailed discussion on this,” Dubey said. 4Contd on | Nation US TRADE DEAL: TERMS OF REFERENCE READY FPJ News Service NEW DELHI MUMBAI India’s first Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR), located in Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, is expected to be commissioned by 2026, nearly two years after receiving clearance from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), according to officials from the Department of Atomic Energy. Developed by Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd (BHAVINI), the 500 MW PFBR marks the second stage of India’s three-stage nuclear programme, which aims to recycle spent fuel and significantly reduce radioactive waste. Unlike conventional reactors, the PFBR uses a plutonium-based mixed 4Contd on | Nation The long-awaited, tough, but workable Terms of Reference (ToR) for the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA) between India and the US, has been finalised, Washington sources revealed on Saturday. The ToR is based on a blueprint prepared early February to enhance the bilateral trade from the current $190 billion to $500 billion by 2030. The ToR, part of the proposed BTA has 19-25 chapters on goods, services, and customs. India and the US have been conducting top level meetings on closer trade co-operation since March this year. To secure a trade deal by August, a top-ranking Indian delegation is expected to visit Washington, DC next week, from April 23 to iron out differences, if any. “India hasn’t been set for ‘guinea pig’ trade talks with US. India is not at the head of the queue for talks, as our leaderships are friendly and for mutually beneficial negotiations. Indeed, initially, we have been examining how to stave off the onerous “Liberation Day” tariffs that US has imposed on coun- tries, including our key trade partners,” sources in New Delhi said. “No more false dawns on trade deals or weaponization of reciprocal tariffs. Trade discussions were going “very well”, and a workable accord could be reached in the coming months,” according to a Washington official. 4Contd on | Nation JUNIOR I-T OFFICER HANGS SELF Prashant Nikale NASHIK A junior income tax official has commited suicide on his wedding day over dowry threats. During the officer's engagement, his prospective bride hugged her alleged boyfriend., thereby revealing her love affair. Tension followed, and the young woman started pressuring him for marriage and threatened to bring dowry harassment charges if he didnt marry her. The name of the Income Tax officer who committed suicide is Harekrishna Pandey. He was working in Nashik. His marriage was fixed with a young woman from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and they were engaged in Varanasi. It was at his engagement engagement ceremony that the bride to be hugged her alleged boyfriend in front of everyone. After this, Harekrishna Pandey refused to marry her. In reaction to his refusal, the girl allegedly started pressuring him. "Marry me or I will get you arrested for dowry crime," she had apparently threatened. Pandey ended his life by hanging himself in Uttamnagar area of Nashik. A case has been registered in Ambad police station. UKRAINE WAR US seeking freeze of status quo as they prepared to depart. One smaller-sized android, which fell over and lay on the ground for several minutes, got up by itself to loud cheers. Another, powered by propellers and designed to look like a Transformer, veered across the starting line before crashing into a barrier and knocking over an engineer. The United States has put forward potential peace proposals aimed at ending the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which include a halt to hostilities and a gradual rollback of sanctions on Moscow, according to Bloomberg News. European Union officials familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the proposals were presented during meetings in Paris on Thursday. French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly met with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff as part of the discussions, while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other national security officials held talks with foreign negotiators. 4Contd on | Nation 4Contd on | Nation Agencies The winning robot was Tiangong Ultra, from the Beijing Innovation Centre of Human Robotics, with a time of two hours and 40 minutes. The men’s winner of the race had a time of 1:02. Tiangong Ultra DOWRY THREAT MUMBAI Giant step for robotkind as they join half-marathon Dozens of humanoid robots took to the streets of Beijing on Saturday, joining thousands of their flesh-andblood counterparts in a world-first half-marathon showcasing China’s drive to lead the global race in cutting-edge technology. The 21km (13-mile) Yizhuang half-marathon in the Chinese capital’s E-Town – a state-backed hub for hi-tech manufacturing – was billed as a groundbreaking effort to test the limits of bipedal robots in real-world conditions. At the crack of the starter’s gun, as many as 21 robots 4Contd on | Nation FPJ News Service offgrid BEIJING son, Sapan Roy, told ANI. Sapan said , "Four young men from the area came on motorcycles and took Bhabesh Roy away from home." He added, "My father [was] brought home unconscious and admitted to the hospital. The doctors declared him dead." queued up one by one and took their first tentative steps, report the South China Morning Post and Reuters. They ranged from 75 to 180cm (about 2½ to 6ft) tall and weighing up to 88kg (194lbs). Curious human runners lined up on their side of the road and waited patiently with mobile phones at the ready to shoot each machine