FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms Vol. XLII No. 162 | INDORE | TUESDAY | NOVEMBER 18, 2025 | Pages 14 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. 38281/83 FREE www.freepressjournal.in iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: INDORE UJJAIN MONEY Sports WC lineup swells as Europe’s giants join global parade ESTD-1983 P.12 PRESS PUNE BHOPAL NASHIK MUMBAI E-paper Edit Menstrual leave not anti-feminist P.6 First phase of India-US trade deal nearing closure: Official Cinema Craft with purpose P.14 Simhastha: CM revokes land pooling scheme Yadav brought the Land Pooling Act last year Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL The government has revoked the land pooling scheme for permanent constructions for Simhastha. Soon after coming from Delhi, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav revoked the decision SCHOOLS NOW START AT 9 AM All schools in Indore will begin classes at 9:00 am from Tuesday due to a sharp temperature drop and a cold-wave alert Full report on Page2 fp Briefs on the land pooling scheme at a meeting at his residence with public representatives from Ujjain and farmers’ representatives late Monday evening. The decision came on the heels of opposition by the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh. The BKS, which has been protesting the Land Pooling Act, was set to launch ‘Ghera Dalo, Dera Dalo’ agitation outside the Ujjain collectorate on Tuesday. The BKS has been protesting the government’s No provision for cancelling scheme There is no provision for postponing the land pooling scheme according to section 52 of the Urban Development Act, which can either be revoked or be modified. To make amendments in it, the proposal can be sought from the authority level. plan to acquire land for Simhastha. Besides farmers staging sit-ins and organising tractor rallies, the women held protests by giving memorandums. The collector of Ujjain assured the farmers that the land pooling scheme would be held back. The collector also announced that land would not be acquired without the farmers’ consent, but the farmers were not ready to buy the assurances by the government. The administration said it would start the sewage and 45 Indian pilgrims lose lives in Madina collision PM, leaders condole deaths KOLKATA No OTP system in SIR: ECI The Election Commission of India, on Monday, has clarified that neither the commission nor the office of the Chief Electoral Officer of any state ever asks for any one-time password in any mobile number for the work related to the ongoing special intensive revisionconducted in 12 Indian states and Union Territories, including West Bengal. KOLKATA 26 B’deshi fishermen held The Indian Coast Guard on Monday once again detained Bangladeshi fishermen for violating Indian waters in the Bay of Bengal. This time Indian Coast Guard detained a trawler with 26 fishermen. They were handed over to Fraserganj Coast Police Station in the South 24 Parganas district. They will be produced in the Kakdwip Sub-divisional court on Tuesday. At least 45 Indians, majority of them Umrah pilgrims from Telangana capital Hyderabad, were killed in Saudi Arabia's Madina after their bus collided with an oil tanker, officials said on Monday. Citing preliminary information, Hyderabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar put the toll at 45, saying a total of 54 persons from the city had left for the pilgrimScan & Watch age recently. India signs 1-yr deal to import 2.2 mn tonnes of LPG from US PTI NEW DELHI is underway," officials said. The Telangana Hajj Committee said 10 children were among the deceased. 4Continued on | P8 4Continued on | P8 One person survived the horrific bus accident that killed 42 Indian Umrah pilgrims near Medina on Monday. Mohd Abdul Shoiab, 24, was reportedly sitting near the driver when the bus collided with a diesel tanker, according to sources. He is a resident of Hyderabad. He has been admitted to a hospital, but his condition is unknown, sources said. PTI said. The Chief Minister brought the land pooling scheme last year for permanent construction for Simhastha. The Ujjain Development Authority has also issued notification for carrying out the scheme under which some plots of land have been acquired from the farmers. The BKS has been opposed to the scheme since the day the government conceived the idea of land pooling. See pg4 Indian state-run oil companies have signed a one-year deal to import cooking gas LPG from the United States in 2026, marking a push by New Delhi to expand energy purchases from Washington. The move is seen as an attempt to narrow India's trade surplus with the US - a sticking point for President Donald Trump, who has slapped a 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods entering America. "Indian PSU oil companies have successfully concluded a one-year structured contract to import around 2.2 million tonnes of LPG from the US Gulf Coast for the contract year 2026," an official statement said on Monday. Lone survivor HYDERABAD/JEDDAH Less than two months after he was released from Sitapur jail, SP leader Mohammed Azam Khan went back behind bars on Monday when a court convicted and sentenced him to seven years' imprisonment in a 2019 case related to obtaining two PAN cards using different dates of birth. The special MP-MLA court here also sentenced Azam Khan's son Abdullah Azam to seven years' imprisonment in the same case. road work by holding up the land pooling scheme. On the other hand, the farmers said the scheme had just been held up, but not cancelled. So, the scheme may see a backdoor entry, the farmers SAUDI INFERNO | 10 kids, 18 women among victims RAMPUR Azam Khan, son convicted Decision comes on the heels of farmers’ proposed agitation in Ujjain today The Supreme Court has directed all States to actively consider classifying humanwildlife conflict as a "natural disaster" and to ensure payment of Rs 10 lakh ex gratia for every death caused in such incidents. The Court said this uniform compensation is man- Bangladesh's deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina was on Monday sentenced to death in absentia by a special tribunal for "crimes against humanity" over her government's brutal crackdown on student-led protests last year. In its verdict that followed a months-long trial, the country's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) described the 78-year-old Awami League leader as the "mastermind and principal architect" of the violent repression that killed hundreds of protesters. It also handed the death sentence to former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on similar charges. Hasina has been living in India since she fled Bangladesh on August 5 last year in the face of the ‘Rigged tribunal’ A defiant Sheikh Hasina charged that the judgement has been made by a "rigged tribunal" established and presided over by an "unelected government with no democratic mandate". She said the "politically motivated" verdict reveals the "brazen and murderous intent of extremist figures within the interim government" against her and her party massive protests. 4Continued on | P8 India committed to interests of B’desh Bangladesh on Monday urged India to immediately extradite deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, hours after a special tribunal sentenced them to death in absentia for "crimes against humanity" Hours after a special tribunal in Bangladesh sentenced ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina to death, India on Monday said it noted the verdict and that it will engage constructively with all stakeholders considering peace, democracy and stability in the neighbouring country ICE BREAKER: Trump warns Russian trade allies of sanctions 14 convicted in poisonous liquor scandal get 10-year RI However, there was no official word from Saudi authorities or the government of India over casualties. The Indian mission in Jeddah has rushed officials to the 3-a-day LAC meets FP News Service MUMBAI For the first time since the violent clashes of 2020 pushed India–China relations into a deep freeze, New Delhi is signalling a genuine thaw — not through grand diplomatic theatrics, but through three modest conversations held every single day along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi revealed at the Chanakya Defence Dialogue curtain-raiser in New Delhi that Indian and Chinese troops have met 1,100 times over the past year, a remarkable cadence averaging three ground-level interactions a day. These exchanges, quiet and routine, have become the backbone of a slow but steady normalisation process between Asia’s two largest armies. “There has been a lot of improvement in our relations since last October,” Dwivedi said during a live conversation at the Manekshaw Centre. “The cooperation at the ground level is very good. Both sides are showing flexibility.” This shift did not happen in isolation. The year-long turnaround was rooted in political signalling at the very top. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping met first in Kazan in October 2024 and again on the side- Daily frontline talks ease India–China tensions. 1,100 quiet meetings in one year signal a genuine thaw lines of the SCO Summit in Tianjin in August 2025 — their first sustained engagement after troops disengaged from Depsang and Demchok, the last of the friction points in eastern Ladakh. Those meetings injected the “political direction” that the Army Chief says had been missing since 2020. Thousands of Indian and Chinese troops had been stationed eye-to-eye across the 832-km stretch in Ladakh after the Galwan clash, where at least 24 soldiers from both sides lost their lives. The standoff hardened diplomatic lines and froze military communication. “Once the political directions became clear, it benefited everyone,” Dwivedi noted. The new understanding led to an agreement on border patrolling on October 21 last year, followed by direct conversations between National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and parallel discussions between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Wang. 4Continued on | P8 site of the accident to assess the situation. "At this point, we cannot provide any details of the casualty figure as the process to identify the deceased PTI NEW YORK/WASHINGTON US President Donald Trump has warned that any country that does business with Russia will be "very severely sanctioned", as his administration and Republican lawmakers push ahead with tough legislation targeting Moscow. Responding to questions Swearing-in of new Bihar govt likely on Nov 20 PTI PATNA from reporters on Sunday on whether it was time for Congress to pass measures aimed at pressuring Russia and President Vladimir Putin, Trump said, "I hear they're doing that, and that's okay with me." "They're passing legislation... the Republicans are putting in legislation... very tough sanc- tioning... on any country doing business with Russia. They may add Iran to that... I suggested it," he said. "So any country that does business with Russia will be very severely sanctioned. We may add Iran to the formula," Trump reiterated. 4Continued on | P8 datory, as fixed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change under the CSS Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats scheme. A bench comprising CJI BR Gavai, Justice AG Masih and Justice AS Chandurkar passed the directions while considering the issues related to the Jim Corbett tiger park in Uttarakhand. Agencies NEW DELHI The swearing-in ceremony of the new government in Bihar is likely to take place in Patna on November 20, official sources said on Monday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several other top leaders of the NDA, including union ministers, are expected to take part in the oath-taking event, they said. Earlier in the day, Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal told reporters that the newly elected legislators will meet on Tuesday to elect their legislature party leader. "Most likely, the oath-taking ceremony of the new government will take place either on November 20 or November 21," he said. Preparations are underway at Patna's Gandhi Maidan for the swearing-in event. 4Continued on | P8 In another significant breakthrough in the Delhi car bombing case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday said to have arrested another key associate of the terrorist involved in the blast who had allegedly "provided technical support for carrying out terror attacks by modifying drones and attempting to make rockets" ahead of the terror attack. Jasir Bilal Wani alias Danish, also a Kashmiri resident, was arrested from Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir by an NIA team that was in the Valley in the case. In a statement, the NIA said its investigations have revealed that "Jasir had al- Scan & Watch Top court bars safari in core tiger habitat Directing all the states to prepare a tiger conservation plan, the Supreme Court Monday ruled that tiger safaris shall not be permitted in the core or a critical tiger habitat area. However, tiger safaris shall be established on 'non-forest land' or 'degraded forest land' in buffer areas provided that is not part of a tiger corridor, said a bench led by Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai. The top court directed all states to notify the buffer and core areas of the tiger reserves within six months The Court has directed the National Tiger Conservation Authority to frame Model ‘Trade deal soon’ India and the US are “nearing closure” of their talks for signing the first tranche of the proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal indicated on Monday. Agrawal told journalists that the two countries have been holding regular virtual rounds of talks on the BTA NIA arrests 2nd aide of Delhi blast perpetrator from Kashmir Suicide bomber used TATP ‘shoe bomb’ Investigators digging into the Red Fort bombing that claimed 13 lives have just hit a chilling new angle; the Jaish-e-Muhammad suicide attacker, Dr Umar Muhammad Nabi, might have pulled a classic “shoe-bomber” move straight out of a terrorist playbook. Deep inside the charred remains of Dr Umar’s Hyundai i20, tucked under the driver’s seat near the right front wheel, cops found a lone shoe. Forensic teams discovered a weird metallic residue inside it -- something that looks an awful lot like the trigger component for the bomb legedly provided technical support for carrying out terror attacks by modifying drones and attempting to make rockets ahead of the deadly Treat human-wildlife conflict as natural disaster: SC Online Report PTI DHAKA B’desh extradition request offgrid NEW DELHI Hasina sentenced to death for ‘crimes against humanity’ Guidelines on Human–Wildlife Conflict within six months. All States must implement these guidelines within six months of their issuance. The judgment highlights the need for close coordination between Forest, Revenue, Police, Disaster Management and Panchayati Raj departments. The Court noted that delays in crisis situations often arise due to confusion over responsibilities and stated that each State must ensure swift and coordinated response mechanisms to manage conflict incidents. car bomb blast which killed 15 persons and left over 30 persons injured." 4Continued on | P8 FP News Service MORENA In a major development four years after the tragic incident, all 14 accused in the infamous Chhaira village poisonous liquor scandal have been sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI). The verdict was pronounced on Monday, by Second Additional Sessions Judge Indrajit Singh Raghuvanshi at Jaura court. The case pertains to the illegal manufacturing and sale of spurious liquor that led to the deaths of 24 people in January 2021. According to Assistant District Prosecution Officer, the court accepted the prosecution's arguments, finding the 14 accused guilty of causing death by selling poisonous liquor. The charges included Section 304 of the IPC and relevant sections of the Excise Act, among others. A massive crowd, including the victims' families, gathered outside the court to hear the judgement. The prosecution has been lauded for meticulous investigation, leading to the conviction of the accused who sold the deadly brew at a lower price than the market rate. The court sentenced the accused to 10 years each under 24 heads of Section 304 and also imposed fines of Rs 1.32 lakh on 11 accused and Rs 1.07 lakh on three others. A heavy police force was deployed in court during the verdict. Liquor tetra packs under SC scanner PTI NEW DELHI What is this -- a juice packet? Should liquor in tetra packs be permitted at all? the Supreme Court wondered on Monday, noting that such packaging was "dangerous" and deceiving, as it heard a trademark dispute between two liquor giants of the country. After a counsel produced the tetra packs of both companies, pointing out the similarities in branding of their products, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi expressed surprise that the government had allowed liquor to be sold in such packets and said it was a "serious issue". 4Continued on | P8