FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms FREE PRESS Vol. XLII No. 179 | INDORE | FRIDAY | DECEMBER 5, 2025 | Pages 18 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. 38281/83 www.freepressjournal.in Sports Meet Deeya Yadav, a 16-year-old prodigy ready to light up the WPL P.16 fp ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: INDORE UJJAIN MONEY PUNE BHOPAL NASHIK MUMBAI E-paper Edit Justice restores teachers’ dignity P.8 Fitch raises India FY’26 growth forecast to 7.4% on GST reforms Cinema Gulshan joins Samantha P.18 FRIEND PUTIN ARRIVES | In a special gesture, Modi receives Russian Prez at Delhi airport Briefs NEW DELHI Cooperation in agri sector India and Russia on Thursday discussed ways to boost bilateral cooperation in the agriculture sector to strengthen farm trade and tap modern farming opportunities. Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, India's Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan met his Russian counterpart Okasa Lut in the national capital. Expanding meat, dairy trade India and Russia on Thursday held discussions on expanding bilateral trade of fisheries, meat and dairy products as well as address market access issues. According to an official statement, Russia expressed willingness to import fishery and meat products from India. PM SHUNS PROTOCOL FOR PUTIN FP News Service NEW DELHI Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi on Thursday evening for a tightly choreographed 27-hour visit aimed at recalibrating India–Russia ties at a moment of profound geopolitical strain. PM Narendra Modi broke protocol to personally receive him at Palam Air Force Station, greeting him with an unmistakably warm embrace before the two leaders drove off in the same vehicle — a gesture underscoring their intent to project steadiness and continuity in a world marked by shifting alliances and escalating uncertainty. Modi took to X to frame the visit in deliberately warm, personal terms. He posted that he was “de- lighted to welcome my friend Putin” and noting that their interactions would continue “later this evening and tomorrow”. He added that India–Russia friendship remained a “time-tested relationship” that had “consistently benefitted people of both nations”, signaling New Delhi’s intent to project continuity even as the global strategic environment grows more volatile. Putin’s last trip to India was in 2021, months before the Ukraine war fundamentally reshaped Moscow’s global standing. Since then, Russia has entered the third year of a costly conflict, its economy is operating under sweeping Western sanctions, and much of its trade has been forced into new, alternative channels. India, meanwhile, is navigating its sharpest trade confrontation with the United States in nearly two decades Putin opened his visit with a private dinner at the Prime Minister’s residence, continuing the personal rapport he and Modi displayed earlier this year at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Tianjin. The infor- mal engagement was meant to set the tone for Friday’s packed agenda. On Friday morning, Putin will receive a ceremonial guard of honour at Rashtrapati Bhavan, followed by a wreath-laying at Rajghat. Formal summit talks with Modi will be held at Hyderabad House before a joint press appearance scheduled for 1:50 p.m. A business engagement will follow at 3:40 p.m. He is also slated to meet President Droupadi Murmu in the evening before attending a 4Continued on | P10 PUTIN PREFERS MODI’S CAR PM Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin travelled in the same official car as they came out of the airport in Delhi. PM Modi and Putin had also travelled in the same vehicle to the destination of their bilateral meeting after the proceedings at the SCO summit venue in China's Tianjin in September 2025. ‘MODI NOT ONE TO PM: DELIGHTED TO GIVE IN TO PRESSURE’ WELCOME MY FRIEND MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a leader who “is not one to give in to pressure”, responding to a question on whether the US is trying to push India with tariff tactics. Putin made the remarks ahead of his two-day visit to India. Putin said the world has witnessed India’s firm international stance and that the country can be proud of its leadership. He also noted that more than 90 per cent of financial transactions between the two countries have been successfully completed. The Russian President said he was “very happy” to travel to meet his “friend, Prime Minister Modi” in Delhi. “There is a lot to discuss,” he said, referring to the wide scope of cooperation between the two countries. state banquet in his honour. Putin departs for Moscow around 9 p.m. Behind this routine-seeming programme lies a dense and complicated agenda. Moscow has brought with it a heavyweight delegation of economic ministers and industrial leaders, signalling that Russia is urgently seeking dependable commercial partnerships as its traditional markets shrink. NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday warmly welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin as he kick-started a nearly 27-hour visit to India to further shore up an eight-decade bilateral partnership that remained in firm footing notwithstanding fractious geopolitical upheavals. "Delighted to welcome my friend, President Putin to India. Looking forward to our interactions later this evening and tomorrow. India-Russia friendship is a time tested one that has greatly benefited our people," the prime minister said on social media. In reflection of the importance India attached to the Russian leader's first visit to India in four years, Modi received him at New Delhi's Palam airport with a hug amid a group of artistes performing traditional dances. Pak formally appoints Munir as first CDF PTI ISLAMABAD President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday approved the appointment of the army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, as Pakistan's first Chief of Defence Forces for a period of five years. President Zardari approved the summary submitted by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formally asking him to appoint Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Munir as the first CDF of Pakistan. Last month, the parliament passed the 27th Constitutional Amendment providing to create the post of CDF with the objective to create unity of command and expedite the decision making in any critical situation. The CDF replaced the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), the post for which was abolished. The President extended his best wishes to Munir, a release from President's office said here. Zardari also approved a twoyear extension in the service of Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmad Babar Sidhu, Chief of Air Staff, 4Continued on | P10