FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms Vol. 14 No. 341 | BHOPAL | SUNDAY | MAY 25, 2025 | Pages 16 ` 4 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 FREE www.freepressjournal.in ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: BHOPAL UJJAIN WORLD Nation RaGa meets victims of Pak shelling in Poonch P.7 PRESS PUNE INDORE NASHIK Good Life Biohacking everyday P.11 NITI AAYOG MEET | Modi says India signed trade agreements with UK, UAE, Australia, and states should utilise opportunity With Team India spirit, no goal is impossible: PM Gill to lead India’s Test Renaissance PTI Four CMs skip meet NEW DELHI PTI Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the global investors are hugely interested in India and the states should utilise this opportunity to attract investments by removing policy bottlenecks, as he stressed that if the Union government and states work together like Team India, no goal is impossible. Addressing the 10th Governing Council meeting of Niti Aayog, Modi said India has signed trade agreements with the United Kingdom, UAE and Australia, and states should utilise the opportunity to the optimum. Briefing reporters about the MUMBAI It is a high-pressure job, but he is a terrific player. We’re hopeful he’s the guy to take the team forward.” Ajit Agarkar, chairman of selectors Joining Gill in leadership is the mercurial Rishabh Pant, whose comeback from a life-threatening car accident to vice-captaincy is the stuff of cricket folklore. With 43 Tests and an average over 42, Pant’s game awareness and fearless strokeplay make him an ideal foil to Gill’s composed approach. RANCHI NBW issued against Rahul The MP-MLA Special Court in Chaibasa, Jharkhand, has issued a nonbailable warrant against senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in connection with a 2018 defamation case. The court has directed Rahul Gandhi to appear in person on June 26. The case stems from alleged derogatory remarks made by Rahul Gandhi during a Congress party event in 2018, in which he is accused of making disparaging comments about the then-BJP National President, Amit Shah. (See Nation) LATEHAR Rs 10L bounty Maoist killed Two Maoists, including JJMP supremo Pappu Lohra were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Jharkhand's Latehar district on Saturday morning, police said. A Maoist and a police personnel were also injured in the encounter. Awadh Singh, the injured policeman, was airlifted to Ranchi for better medical care, officials added. Jharkhand Jan Mukti Parishad (JJMP) chief Lohra, who was carrying a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on his head, and Prabhat Ganjhu, the subzonal commander of the organisation who carried a reward of Rs 5 lakh, were killed during the operation, police said.(See Nation) EPF interest rate at 8.25% PTI NEW DELHI The government has ratified the rate of interest on employees' provident fund at 8.25 per cent for FY25, enabling retirement fund body EPFO to deposit the annual interest accumulation in the post-retirement funds of over 7 crore subscribers. EPFO, on February 28, had decided to retain the interest rate of 8.25 per cent on em- Wanted for fraud, Indian national deported from US Agencies NEW DELHI ployees' provident fund (EPF) deposits for the financial year 2024-25, equal to the rate provided in the preceding fiscal. The approved rate of interest for 2024-25 was sent for concurrence of the Ministry of Finance. "Ministry of Finance has given concurrence to 8.25 per cent rate of interest on the EPF for 2024-25 fiscal year and labour ministry sent a communication regarding this to the EPFO on Thursday," a labour ministry official told PTI. The southwest monsoon hit Kerala on Saturday, marking its earliest arrival over the Indian mainland since 2009 when it reached the southern state on May 23, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. Normally, the southwest monsoon makes its onset over Kerala by June 1 and covers the entire country by July 8. It starts retreating from northwest India around September 17 and withdraws completely by October 15. The monsoon had set in over the southern state on May 30 last year; June 8 in 2023; May 29 in 2022; June 3 in 2021; June 1 in 2020; June 8 in 2019; and May 29 in 2018, IMD data showed. Data available since 1975 showed that the monsoon reached Kerala the earliest in 1990 (on May 19), 13 days be- Agencies NEW DELHI should not be treated as a oneoff initiative and we must adopt a long-term approach," said a Niti Aayog statement. 4Continued on | P8 4Continued on | P8 ‘50% share in central taxes’ Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin made a strong pitch for enhancing the state's share in central taxes to 50 per cent and underscored the necessity for urban transformation mission Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday proposed forming three sub - groups on GDP growth, population management and leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) the meeting unanimously supported Operation Sindoor, undertaken by India to destroy terror infrastructure in Pakistan. "Prime Minister mentioned that 'Operation Sindoor X faces outage, users unable to access platform Elon Musk-owned X (formerly Twitter) suffered a major outage with users across India and some other countries reporting difficulties in accessing the social media platform, according to Downdetector.com. Many users, attempting to use the microblogging platform, came across notification that read: "Cannot retrieve posts at this time. Please try again later." According to Downdetector.com, a website performance tracking tool, more than 2,000 users in India reported issues with the platform. The number of users complaining about the issues peaked at 06.18 pm with 2,151 users reporting issues. The outage later ended. Users in the United States and Canada also reported issues. Naidu proposes sub-groups MONSOON LIKELY TO MAKE WAY TO STATE BY JUNE 15 Agencies NEW DELHI (Detail on Sports Page) fp meeting, Niti Aayog CEO B V R Subrahmanyam said the meeting was attended by 31 states and Union Territories of a total of 36, adding those who could not make it had prior commitments and informed the Council. The states which did not attend the meeting were Karnataka, Kerala, West Bengal, Bihar and Puducherry, he said, adding the 10th meeting of the Council saw maximum attendance. Subrahmanyam further said that everyone present at Three southern CMs—Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, and Puducherry CM skipped the meeting. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee too gave it a miss MONSOON HITS INDIA IN EARLIEST ONSET SINCE 2009 Pant named vice-captain Briefs E-paper Readers’ Corner A Heart in Two Places P.6 Zelenskyy calls for new sanctions after attack PRINCE RISE Shubman Gill, the suave and stylish right-hander, was on Saturday handed the reins of the Indian Test team, marking the dawn of a bold new era in Indian cricket as it enters a "massive transition" following the retirement of giants Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. At just 25, Gill becomes India’s fifth youngest Test captain, carrying the baton through a period of uncertainty and high expectations. His first challenge? A gruelling five-Test series in England starting June 20 — a trial by fire for a squad heavy on promise but light on experience. MUMBAI Yunus to stay as B’desh interim chief: Adviser amid resignation chatter PTI DHAKA People enjoy boating in Upper Lake as weather turns pleasant in Bhopal on Saturday Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL The Southwest monsoon, which arrived early in Kerala on Saturday, is expected to reach Madhya Pradesh by June 15—two days ahead of its normal date of June 17, according to the meteorological department. The early onset over Kerala and advancement into parts of the Northeast is already triggering pre-monsoon showers across Madhya Pradesh. Cloudy skies and rainfall ranging from light to moderate have been observed in several regions of the state. A cyclonic circulation over West Rajasthan and a trough extending to West Vidarbha is contributing to rain and thundershowers in MP. 4Continued on | P8 Muhammad Yunus will remain as the head of Bangladesh's interim government, an adviser in his cabinet said on Saturday, two days after a key ally said he had mulled resignation. "He (Yunus) didn't say he will leave. He said that while we face many obstacles in carrying out the work and responsibilities assigned to us, we are overcoming them," Planning Adviser Wahiduddin Mahmud told reporters after an unscheduled meeting of the advisory council. "He (Yunus) is definitely staying," Mahmud said. He said none of the advisers were going anywhere as "the responsibility entrusted to us is a significant one; we cannot abandon this duty". The chief adviser's decision Ship capsizes off Kerala Pak violated IWT spirit by coast; hazardous cargo waging 3 wars: India tells UN spillover suspected PTI to stay in office came two days after he told student-led National Citizen Party (NCP) leaders that he was mulling resignation as he felt "the situation is such that he cannot work", citing difficulties in working amid the failure of political parties to find common ground for change. Yunus reportedly expressed an identical desire to quit in a cabinet meeting earlier on Thursday, where his colleagues persuaded him not to relinquish. As many as 19 advisers, effectively ministers, joined the abruptly called closed-door meeting, 4Continued on | P8 IMF likely to review Pak funding in 2025 2nd half UNITED NATIONS Angad Singh Chandhok, who was wanted for alleged fraud in India, was brought here after his deportation from the US in an operation c o o r dinated by the CBI, officials said on Saturday. A US court convicted Chandhok in 2022 for being part of an international tech support scam that defrauded Americans, many of them elderly, of their life savings, the US Department of Justice had said in a statement after his conviction in 2022. 4Continued on | P8 IANS IANS THIRUVANANTHAPURAM The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) on Saturday has sent out a warning that the Indian Coast Guard authorities have informed about a spillover of hazardous materials from a ship in the deep sea off the Kerala coast, an official said on Saturday. Notably, a container ship capsized while sailing towards Kochi. The incident took place on Saturday about 38 nautical miles (around 70 km) off Kochi Coast when the ship with a Liberian flag was on its way from Vizhinjam to Kochi. The ship was expected to reach Kochi by Saturday evening. The ship was carrying marine gas oil and very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) capsized and due to it about 10 containers containing these oil got thrown into the sea. 4Continued on | P8 India ripped through Pakistan's "disinformation" at the UN on the Indus Waters Treaty, asserting that Islamabad violated its spirit by inflicting three wars and thousands of terror attacks on India that seek to hold hostage lives of civilians, religious harmony and economic prosperity. "We are constrained to respond to the disinformation being carried out by the delegation of Pakistan with regard to the Indus Waters Treaty. India has always acted in a responsible manner as an upper riparian state," India's Permanent Representative to UN Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish said on Friday. Harish was addressing the UN Security Council Arria Formula meeting organised by the Per- NEW DELHI All these videos were made in-house, by the Social Media Section of the Indian Army's Additional Directorate General of Strategic Communication, sources in the military establishment said. The songs were carefully chosen, each based on the content and theme, they added. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to conduct the next funding review for Pakistan in the second half of 2025. According to an official IMF statement, it would maintain ongoing discussions with Pakistani authorities to reach an agreement on the 2026 fiscal year budget terms. "The next mission associated with the next Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) reviews is expected in the second half of 2025," according to the IMF. An IMF mission, led by Nathan Porter, has concluded its staff visit, which focused on recent economic developments, programme implementation, and the budget strategy for fiscal year (FY) 2026. "We held constructive discussions with the authorities on their FY2026 budget proposals and broader economic policy, and reform agenda supported by the 2024 EFF and the 2025 RSF," said Porter. The authorities reaffirmed their commitment to fiscal consolidation while safeguarding social and priority expenditures, aiming for a primary surplus of 1.6 per cent of GDP in FY2026, he added. 4Continued on | P8 4Continued on | P8 India too a terror victim: Tharoor at 9/11 Memorial ongress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is leading a multi-party Indian parliamentary delegation on a diplomatic tour, emphasised the symbolic significance of beginning their journey with a visit to the 9/11 Memorial in New York. Tharoor remarked, "As you know, we're all heading out on this trip. Our first stop is Georgetown, Guyana, but since there's no direct flight, we'll be transiting through New York. This gives us an opportunity to visit the 9/11 Memorial and remind the world that we, like those being remembered there, have been victims of terrorist attacks, not just one, but a repeated series over the past four decades.” C manent Mission of Slovenia on 'Protecting Water in Armed Conflict - Protecting Civilian Lives.' Harish highlighted four aspects to expose the "disinformation" by Pakistan, 4Continued on | P8 offgrid Poetry & music power Army’s Op Sindoor message PTI NEW DELHI It is the message delivered that matters. While Operation Sindoor showcased India's military prowess and firm stand against terrorism, the armed forces put out sleek social media posts and videos, one with rock renditions of lines from Dinkar's ballad 'Rashmirathi', to drive home the point. India decimated nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir under Operation Sindoor with precision strikes early on May 7 in response to the dastardly April 22 Pahalgam massacre. At 1:44 am that day, the government, in a statement, underlined that India has demonstrated "considerable restraint" in the selection of targets and method of execution and that "no Pakistani military facilities have been targeted". Shortly after, the Indian Army's social media handles carried a poignant message with a poster that has now become a defining image of Operation Sindoor. Along with the message "#PahalgamTerrorAttack Justice is Served. Jai Hind!" the Indian Army's 1:51 am X post carried a poster that was concise in words but heavy on symbolism. The poster had 'OPER- ATION SINDOOR' written on it with a small bowl carrying vermilion (worn by married Hindu women) forming the first 'O' of the second word while the second 'O' had a dash of the powder around it. Since then, the Indian Army has come up with several thematic short videos on social media platforms that have been widely shared and appreciated.