NEW DELHI 25 MAY 2025 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 24  facebook/TheMorningStandard  X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in PLUS: 12 PAGES A Conversation with Mediums MAGAZINE The Shape of Your Face STADIUM TO SCREEN The Consciousness of Metaphysical Guilt EXCLUSIVE VOICES Anand Neelakantan S Vaidhyasubramaniam Ravi Shankar Anu Aggarwal Debashis Chatterjee Prabhu Chawla Shankkar Aiyar Namrata Joshi An Old City in the New World Into the Mystical World of Kullu AMMA SPEAKS ‘Grateful to be a Part of this Story’ The Path to True Freedom MISS WORLD Performing like monkey, says Miss UK, leaves Group photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Union ministers, chief ministers and administrators of various states and Union Territories at the NITI Aayog Governing Council meet in New Delhi on Saturday | PTI Modi chants Centre-state unity mantra to achieve Viksit goal M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi 31 states/UTs participated in the meet GUPTA SLAMS AAP, BATS FOR VIKSIT DELHI E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi ON MEDIA AT THE PENTAGON US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a series of restrictions on the media that include banning them from wide swaths of the Pentagon without govt escort | P9 PRESSINTAKE India rebutts Pakistan claims at UN on Indus Waters Treaty | P7 Intruder shot dead, 1 arrested for Pakistan spying in Gujarat | P8 Made-in-Philippines rice variety rolled out in eastern India | P7 Modi also sought to expedite the pace of development. “We have to increase the speed of development,” he added. “This is the century of technology and it should be integrated in every field from governance to agriculture,” he said, adding: “Atmanirbhar Bharat and Vocal for Local are the strategies through which the vision of Viksit Bharat can be achieved. We should encourage it wholeheartedly .” The theme of this edition of the meeting was ‘Viksit Rajya for Viksit Bharat@2047’. “Viksit Bharat is the goal of every Indian. When every state is Telugu lesson for Punjab students in summer break CURBS PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday urged all states to develop at least one tourist destination at par with global standards by providing the full range of facilities, including infrastructure, while addressing the Gover ning Council of NITI Aayog. Giving special emphasis to tourism, he said, ‘One State, One Global Destination’, would lead to the development of neighbouring towns as well as tourist places. Chairing the 10th edition of the NITI Aayog’s Governing Council meeting, Modi said if the Union government and states work together like Team India, no goal is impossible to achieve. He urged all chief ministers to make the spirit of solidarity trickle down to the district and village levels. Noting that India collectively should work in a manner so as to bring change in the lives of common people, Modi said, “Only when people feel the change, it will transform into a national movement.” Viksit, then Bharat will be Viksit. This is the aspiration of its 140 crore citizens,” Modi said, adding that India is getting rapidly urbanised. The prime minister issued a call to work towards future ready cities. Growth, innovation and sustainability should be the engine for the development of our cities, he added. Modi recommended reforms in public and private sectors for working women with focus on their ease of working. “We must work towards inclusion of women in our work force. We must make laws, policies so that they can be respectfully integrated in the workforce.” The Governing Council includes all state chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union Territories, and several Union ministers. The PM is the chairman of Niti Aayog. This was the first national meeting of chief ministers after Operation Sindoor. According to officials, there was complete unanimity in praising the armed forces for their precision strikes against terror tarP4 & 7 gets in Pakistan. Drug bust near North Campus of DU, med representative among 5 nabbed HEALTHCARE DELIVERY FOCUS The prime minister emphasized the need to focus on health services delivery. He urged the CMs to check if oxygen plants are functional in the context of possible Covid-related challenges. He also asked states to expand telemedicine coverage H A R P R E E T BA J WA @ Chandigarh In Kozhikode, restoration work underway after a high tension tower collapsed following heavy rain on Saturday. IMD has sounded red alert in the district | PTI Monsoon arrives in Kerala eight days ahead of schedule E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ T’puram TWO people died in Kannur while widespread damage was reported from across the state, especially in the northern districts, as the Southwest monsoon made an early onset over Kerala on Saturday Bayas Oroyana, a Jharkhand native, died in a landslide . while working on the NH 66. Earlier in the day another landslide , claimed the life of Ratheesh, 52, at Azhiyur in Kannur. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has sounded red alert for Malapppuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod on Sunday On Monday all districts, barring Thiru. , vananthapuram, Kollam and Alappuzha, will be under red alert. In view of the landslide threat, the Idukki and Wayanad administrations have imposed restrictions on entry into tourist spots. In Wayanad, where a minor landslip was reported, the collector has ordered a halt to operation of quarries. This marks the earliest onset of the Southwest monsoon in Kerala in the last 16 years. The IMD said this year’s onset was eight days ahead of the normal schedule of June 1, and was the earliest after 2009, when it set in on May 23. The monsoon this year will be above normal, IMD said. Across the state, uprooted trees, falling of billboards, snapping of power lines and waterlogging were reported as heavy rain continued to lash the state, especially northern districts, on Saturday . The state government has opened 24-hour control rooms in all districts. They can be reached at 1077 and 1070. STUDENTS from Classes VI to X at government schools in Punjab will be learning Telugu during the week-long ‘Bharatiya Bhasha Summer Camp’ from May 26 to June 5, as per a direction issued by the Department of School Education and Literacy in the Ministry of Education. The State Council of Educational Research and Training has already issued instructions to all district educational officers in this regard. The move is aimed at encouraging students to learn one more Indian language of their choice. The Telugu classes — which will be conducted after the half-holiday on working school days and from 8 am to 11 am during the summer vacation — will cover the basics. As per a circular, the students will be taught the Telugu alphabet and common expressions in the language, among other things. The step, however, has drawn the ire of the Democratic Teachers’ Front, which said the initiative is unlikely to yield any positive result as many Class X and XII students can’t even pass Punjabi exams. EXPRESS READ Flash floods in Kullu, alert for 12 HP districts Around 20-25 vehicles parked on the roadside were damaged in Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu district on Saturday evening following flash floods triggered by heavy rains, officials said. The weather department issued a warning for thunderstorms accompanied with lightning and gusty winds in 12 districts on May 27 and 28. E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi FIVE people, including a medical representative of a company have been arrested for alleg, edly being involved in supplying drugs without any bill or prescription in North Campus of Delhi University, police said on Saturday . The accused have been identified as Manish Bhatle (26), Devender (57), Nikhil (28), Ankit Gupta (40), and Kapil (28). A total of 2,360 capsules of Tramadol and 135 bottles of Codeine-based cough syrup have been recovered. Acting on a tip-off regarding Bhatle, who was allegedly involved in the supply of Codeinebased syrup and Tramadol cap- The meeting was attended by CMs and Lt Governors representing 24 states and 7 UTs, out of a total of 36. There was no-show from Karnataka, Kerala, West Bengal, Bihar and Pondy, Niti Aayog CEO B V R Subrahmanyam said Op Sindoor not one-off initiative Modi said Operation Sindoor against Pakistan should not be treated as a oneoff initiative, adding “we must adopt a long-term approach.” He urged all states to modernise their approach to civil preparedness CHIEF Minister Rekha Gupta participated in the 10th Governing Council Meeting of the NITI Aayog on Saturday where she , presented a roadmap for “Viksit Delhi” aligned with “Viksit Bharat” by 2047. Ahead of the meeting, Gupta took to ‘X’, stating that for years, Delhi’s interests were overlooked due to what she termed the “irresponsible behaviour” of the previous AAP-led administration. She asserted that The issues of with the arrival of a “dou- Delhi interest were not ble-engine government,” raised in Niti Delhi is now firmly on the meet due to path to development. the behaviour “The issues of Delhi’s in- of previous terest were not raised in irresponsible the Niti Aayog meet due to government the behaviour of previous Rekha Gupta, irresponsible governments. Chief Minister But now a double-engine government is on track,” she said, signalling a shift in Delhi’s participation in national policymaking. Following the meeting, Gupta said, “ All the CMs praised Operation Sindoor and our Armed Forces. They congratulated the Prime Minister. It was heartening to see the unity across India. I regret that due to those who skipped such crucial meetings earlier, Delhi was left behind.” sules, a trap was laid and Bhatle was nabbed from near University Road with two plastic sacks, with one containing 10 boxes of 2,360 capsules (Dicyclomine HCI, T ramadol HCI, and Acetaminophen) and another 120 bottles of 100 ml codeine-based syrup, DCP (Crime Branch) Apoorva Gupta said. The drug inspector said the recovered items without carrying bills or prescription were illegal as per the NDPS Act, the DCP said. Bhatle revealed that he procured the contraband from his uncle Devender, owner of a medical shop in Malkaganj, and the same was to be supplied as per his directions. Lat- er, Devender was nabbed. He disclosed that he procured Tramadol from Nikhil, a mediator in the illegal drug supply chain. After arrest, Nikhil told cops that he had procured the Tramadol tablets from Ankit. Ankit was rounded up during a raid at his godown at GT Karnal Road Industrial Area on May 14. He said he had supplied Tramadol to Nikhil without any bill or prescription. Fifteen bottles of codeine syrup were recovered from his godown, the DCP said. Ankit disclosed that Kapil supplied him six packets of Tramadol capsules and codeine syrup. Kapil, a medical representative with a renowned firm, was arrested on May 15. S H R E YA V E R O N I C A @ Hyrderabad TILL Saturday the 72nd edi, tion of Miss World was progressing as planned: A polite parade of poise, sequins and diplomatic smiles. Then came an unscheduled firework display by none other than Miss England 2024, Milla Maggie. Having left the competition on May 16, allegedly due to “personal reasons”, Maggie re-emerged in tabloid The Sun with claims that make Bridgerton look like a documentary . “I went there to make a difference, but we had to sit like performing monkeys,” The Sun quoted her as saying, suggesting the Miss World experience was less about world peace and more about looking glamorous. Maggie, 24, didn’t stop there. In tones more suited to exposés than tiaras, she claimed the whole affair resembled a sort of high-end cattle fair, where women were “paraded to impress wealthy individuals” and she was made to feel “like a prostitute being farmed out for entertainment.” Understandably, this did not go down too well in Hyderabad which is hosting the pageant. The state government was swift in its response. Jayesh Ranjan, Special Chief Secretary for Youth Advancement, Tourism and Culture, said, “This is just an exaggerated situation.” The Miss World Organisation (MWO) said Maggie cited health reasons for her departure. Meanwhile, the show goes on. England has now dispatched a replacement contestant, Charlotte Cox, to Hyderabad. Julia Morley, chairperson and CEO of MWO, attempted to close the chapter with a terse message: “We responded to Maggie’s departure with compassion.” Miss England 2024 Milla Maggie said they had to sit like monkeys | PTI ENGLAND SERIES Touch of hinterland as Gill set to lead Test team F I R O Z M I R Z A @ Chennai SHUBMAN Gill, the first India Test captain from Punjab since Bishan Singh Bedi (1976-78), will usher Indian cricket into a new era. Unlike Bedi, who though was born in Amritsar but played domestic cricket for Delhi, Gill, in fact, will be the first to have represented Punjab in age group cricket before being made the Test captain. With the England tour, Gill, who doesn’t hail from a cricketing power centre, is set to lead a squad of 18 mostly comprising players like him. Among the players for the five-Test series starting June 20, only five were born in metro cities like Chennai, Beng alur u and Hyderabad, considered hubs of Indian cricket. It can be argued that Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal represent Delhi and Mumbai, the two cities known for their cricketing culture, in the domestic circuit but even they shifted their base to pursue the game. Pant was born in Haridwar, Uttarakhand while Jaiswal’s birth place is Bhadohi in Uttar Pradesh. Similarl y, S h a r d u l Thakur, who is making a comeback, plies his trade for Mumbai but he was born in Palghar, a town in the Konkan division of Maharashtra. In the last 25 years, it was MS Dhoni from Ranchi, Jharkhand, who set the trend when he took over the Test captaincy from Bengaluru-born Anil Kumble. Before Kumble, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly led the side. In fact, Dravid was born in Indore, Madhya Pradesh but shifted his base to Bengaluru. The 25-year-old Gill will succeed Mumbai’s Rohit Sharma, who in turn took the mantle from Delhi’s Virat Kohli. As many as three players selected were born in Uttar Pradesh — Yashasvi, Dhruv Jurel and Kuldeep Yadav. A couple of them were born in Gujarat — Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja. Besides, six were born in states like Punjab (Gill), Rajasthan (Karun Nair). Maharashtra (Thakur), Bihar (Akash Deep), MP (Arshdeep Singh) and Andhra Pradesh (Nitish Kumar Reddy). Though most of the cricketers headed to big centres but there seems to be a pradigm shift, a trend where players from non-metros have started shining. P7 AND 11 Last year or so we have looked at Shubman. We are hopeful he is the guy who is going (to take team forward) — Ajit Agarkar, chief selector