Saturday, June 28, 2025 | 35 Pages | `5 & for State (+4 pages) `6 Reg.No MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 400001 THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL Vol. 68 No. 228 | www.freepressjournal.in ● EDITIONS: ● MUMBAI ● INDORE ● PUNE ● BHOPAL ● NASHIK ● KONKAN ● E-paper ● Member: Audit Bureau of Circulation (July to December 2024) GAMES NATION Assault on Constitution’s soul: Opposition parties slam RSS view on Preamble Cinema 44 years later, Umrao Jaan sets stage on fire Carlos Alcaraz will lock horns with Fabio Fognini in his Wimbledon first round match PTI Edit Is the world headed towards a nuclear conflagration? INDO-US TRADE DEAL | Though ‘unthinkable’, all trade barriers against US must be dropped; a ‘very big’ agreement is on the cards, says President Trump ‘We are going to open up India’ Agencies WASHINGTON Chariots of the Gods People pull the chariots of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra during the annual ‘Rath Yatra’, at the Jagannath Temple, in Puri. A stampede left at least 40 injured, according to initial reports. See also, Nation Get water connection in 7 days Ravikiran Deshmukh Guidelines set for crèches in state Ravikiran Deshmukh MUMBAI MUMBAI From now on, you can expect time-bound service delivery offered by the Municipal Corporations and Councils, thanks to Maharashtra's decision to reduce the waiting period. As a result, 25 services offered by the civic bodies for which most of the citizens make rounds of the municipal offices will be done online. The state promises that a water connection will be provided within 7 days instead of the 15 days prescribed earlier. To register property transactions or submit inheritance certificates, the period has been reduced to 12 days instead of 15. 4Contd on | Nation For the first time, all crèches across Maharashtra—whether privately run or governmentaided—will be brought under a formal monitoring framework. The state government on Thursday issued guidelines based on the National Minimum Standards and Protocol for Crèches, laying down clear rules on safety, hygiene, infrastructure, and staffing. Crèche operators will now be required to follow mandatory protocols if they wish to start or continue operations. These guidelines are in response to a directive from the central government, following which the Commissioner for Integrated Child Development Services submitted a detailed proposal to Maharashtra issues guidelines for safety, hygiene, and monitoring of all daycare centres US President Donald Trump said a "very big" trade deal is on cards with India, hinting at significant progress in the negotiation process of a long-awaited bilateral trade agreement between the two countries. "We are having some great deals. We have one coming up, maybe with India. Very big one. Where we're going to open up India," said Trump while speaking at the "Big Beautiful Bill" event at the White House on Friday. The president said the US India wants China border demarcation Agencies QINGDAO & NEW DELHI the state. At present, there is no official data on the number of crèches operating in the state. A senior official admitted that local bodies were responsible for granting permissions, but due to the absence of uniform regulations, many crèches were operating under self-defined rules. That will now change. The new norms will be enforced through monitoring committees at both the district and state levels. On the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Qingdao, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met his Chinese counterpart, Admiral Dong Jun. There, Singh called for a structured roadmap to address complex issues, emphasising the need for permanent engagement and de-escalation. He also stressed the importance of finding a lasting solution to border demarcation by rejuvenating the established mechanisms. Singh acknowledged efforts from both countries to normalise relations following the 2020 border standoff in eastern Ladakh. 4Contd on | Nation 4Contd on | Nation Biswajeet Banerjee NOIDA Prada admits to Kolhapuri connection Ravikiran Deshmukh MUMBAI covered was a house of horrors. Many elderly residents were found locked in small, stinking, dungeon-like rooms, their clothes soaked in urine and faeces, some wearing no clothes. “Some of the male inmates were kept in what looked like basement cells, completely unclothed and covered in filth. The women were in equally bad shape — barely dressed, with no access to toilets or 4Contd on | Nation caregivers. We found people tied up like animals,” said Meenakshi Bharala, a member of the Women’s Commission who led the inspection. 4Contd on | Nation US dangles $30bn deal on N-energy for Iran Agencies Prada has issued an acknowledgement on using the Kolhapuri chappal shown in its spring/summer footwear collection. Responding to a communication from the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (MCCIA), Prada has said that the sandals featured in the recent Prada Men’s 2026 Fashion Show are inspired by traditional Indian handcrafted footwear, with a centuries-old heritage. WASHINGTON The Trump administration has discussed helping Iran access as much as $30 billion to build a civilian-energy-producing nuclear program, easing sanctions, and freeing up billions of dollars in restricted Iranian funds – all part of an intensifying attempt to bring Tehran back to the negotiating table, four sources familiar with the matter said. Players from the US and the Middle East have talked with Iranians behind the scenes even amid the military strikes over the past two weeks, CNN reported quoting sources. Those discussions have continued this week after ceasefire as well. Trump administration officials emphasized that several propo- "We're not gonna make deals with everybody. Some we are just gonna send a letter saying thank you very much, you are gonna pay 25, 35, 45 per cent. That's an easier way to do it," the president said. Trump's remarks come as an Indian team headed by chief negotiator Rajesh Agarwal on Thursday arrived in We’re not gonna make deals with everybody. Some we are just gonna send a letter saying thank you very much, you are gonna pay 25, 35, 45 per cent. – Donald Trump, US President Washington for the next round of trade talks with the US. Both countries are engaged in negotiations for an interim trade deal and are trying to finalise the pact before July 9. The high tariffs Trump calls off trade talks with Canada, citing digital services tax, says Ottawa will learn of tariff rate within a week sals have been floated. They are evolving with one consistent non-negotiable: zero Iranian enrichment of uranium, which Iran has consistently said it needs. But at least one preliminary draft proposal, described to CNN by two sources, includes several incentives for Iran. Some details were hashed out in a secret, hours-long meeting between US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Gulf partners at the White House last Friday, the day before US military strikes. 4Contd on | Nation announced by the US on April 2 were suspended by the Trump administration till July 9. Agriculture and dairy sectors are difficult and challenging areas for India to give duty concessions to the US. India has not opened up dairy in any of its free trade pacts signed so far. The US wants duty concessions on certain industrial goods, automobiles - especially electric vehicles, wines, petrochemical products, dairy, and agricultural items like apples, tree nuts, and genetically modified crops. 4Contd on | Nation India junks Court of Arbitration’s ruling KISHANGANGA & RATLE PROJECTS FPJ News Service MUMBAI OLD-AGE HOME OF HORRORS In a disturbing case that has sent shockwaves across Uttar Pradesh, 39 elderly men and women were rescued from Anand Niketan Vridha Ashram, a privately run old-age home in Noida’s Sector 55, after a video exposing their inhumane living conditions went viral on social media. The short clip, which surfaced online earlier this week and was forwarded to the Social Welfare Department in Lucknow, showed an elderly woman lying on the floor, her hands tied, in a dark room. The footage triggered an immediate response from the Uttar Pradesh State Women’s Commission and Noida police, who raided the facility on Friday. What the officials un- signed a trade deal with China. However, he did not elaborate on the details of the deal signed with China. "Everybody wants to make a deal and have a part of it. Remember a few months ago, the press was saying, 'You really have anybody of any interest? Well, we just signed with China yesterday. We are having some great deals," he said. India has strongly dismissed the latest ruling by a so-called Court of Arbitration on the Kishanganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects in Jammu and Kashmir, branding it an illegitimate body acting in violation of international norms. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Friday that the "supplemental award" on the court’s competence was “categorically rejected” and called it the “latest charade” by Pakistan to distract from its status as the “global epicentre of terrorism.” “Today, the illegal Court of Arbitration, purportedly constituted under the Indus Waters Treaty 1960, albeit in brazen violation of it, has issued what it characterizes as a ‘supplemental award’ on its competence concerning the Kishanganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects in the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement Friday. 4Contd on | Nation