The New Indian Express wishes its readers a tirupati l monday l january 26, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late city EDITION A demonstrator weeps during a candlelight vigil during a protest in response to the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday | ap | P11 CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI CPI overhaul New inflation basket to track OTT fees, rent D IPA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi THE basket for Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures retail inflation, is set for a makeover. Digital consumption will assume greater significance in the new CPI basket with online media and OTT platforms being tracked. Rural house rent will be included, making the housing index more representative. Coverage of house rent has also been expanded in urban areas. Saurabh Garg, secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme implementation, said the new CPI basket—based on Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023–24—will see significant expansion. “At all-India level, the number of weighted items will increase from 299 in the 2012 series to 358 in 2024 series,” he said, adding the revamped CPI basket will be more contemporary . VS, Dharmendra awarded Padma Vibhushan Actor Mammootty, banker Uday Kotak, cricketers Rohit Sharma & Harmanpreet Kaur among awardees Ashok Chakra for Shubhanshu Shukla E x p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi FORMER Kerala chief minister V S Achuthanandan and actor Dharmendra were among awardees to posthumously receive the second-highest civilian honour, Padma Vibhushan, for 2026, the government announced on Sunday . The Union government announced 131 Padma awards for 2026, including five Padma Vibhushan, 13 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri on the eve of the Republic Day. Ninety awardees are women, six foreigners/NRIs/OCIs, and 16 posthumous recipients. Other Padma Vibhushan awardees include former Supreme Court Justice K T Thomas (public affairs), Hindustani classical violinist N Rajam (art), and eminent Malayalam journalist P Narayanan (literature and education). Padma Bhushan recipients e x p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi Dharmendra, actor V S Achuthanandan former Kerala CM feature playback legend Alka Yagnik, Malayalam superstar Mammootty, tennis icon Vijay Amritraj, and banker Uday Kotak. Senior BJP leader VK Malhotra, JMM founder and former Jharkhand CM Shibu Soren, and advertising maverick Piyush Pandey were awarded posthumously . Among the 113 Padma Shri awardees are Indian cricket captain Rohit Shar ma and women’s cricket captain Harmanpreet Kaur. Hockey stars Savita Punia and Baldev Singh, Uday Kotak, banker Mammootty, actor and para-athlete Praveen Kumar also feature on the list. Bollywood actors R Madhavan, Prosenjit Chatterjee, and Satish Shah received Padma Shri, alongside former JNU V-C Jagadesh Kumar and whistleblower R V S Mani, a former MHA official who exposed attempts to suppress information in Ishrat Jahan case. ISRO scientist A E Muthunayagam, DRDO’s Chandramouli Gaddamanugu, and former CRPF DG K Vijay Kumar were also honoured. | P 9, 13 2 Tollywood actors among 4 from AP get Padma Shri E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Four eminent persons from Andhra Pradesh have got Padma Shri Award. They include Gadde Babu Rajendra Prasad (Art), Garimella Balakrishna Prasad (Posthumous, Art), Maganti Murali Mohan (Art), and Vempaty Kutumba Sastry (Literature and Education). Veteran Tollywood actor Ra- G Babu Rajendra Prasad BalakrishnaPrasad (Posthumous) jendra Prasad has been honoured for his outstanding contribution to the field of cinema. With a career spanning nearly M Murali Mohan Vempaty Kutumba Sastry five decades, he has acted in over 240 films, earning acclaim for his versatility and ability to portray a wide range of charac- ters. Widely admired by audience and critics alike, Rajendra Prasad remains one of the most respected, and enduring figures in Telugu cinema. Murali Mohan is also an accomplished actor. He has acted in more than 350 films during a career spanning six decades. Beyond cinema, he is known for his extensive philanthropic activities, reflecting his commitment to social welfare. P4 GROUP Captain Shubhanshu Shukla has been approved for the Ashok Chakra to be awarded by President Droupadi Murmu on the eve of the 77th Republic Day, for his role in India’s return to the human spaceflight through the International Space Station (ISS) mission last year. Group Capt ShukShubhanshu Shukla la became the first Indian to visit the ISS during the Axiom-4 mission, completing an 18-day stay in orbit. The mission marked India’s return to human spaceflight after four decades, following Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma’s historic spaceflight aboard Soyuz mission in 1984. E x p r e s s Re a d Modi lauds water revival efforts in Anantapur Vijayawada: Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the restoration of water bodies in Anantapur district. During the Mann Ki Baat programme on Sunday, Modi said the soil in Anantapur is red and sandy, which is why people face water shortages. He said more than 10 water bodies were revived with the collective efforts. This apart, more than 7,000 trees have also been planted improving the green cover in the district, he said I P4 Veteran journalist Mark Tully dies at 90 E x p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi Veteran journalist and acclaimed author Mark Tully passed away at a private hospital in Delhi on Sunday . He had been unwell for some time and was admitted to Max Hospital in Saket, south Delhi, on January 21. Born in Calcutta (now Kolkata) on October 24, 1935, Tully served as the BBC’s bureau chief in New Delhi for 22 years. His work with the British broadcaster included coverage of several defining moments in post-Independence Indian history, such as the 1971 India-Pakistan war, the Emergency of Mark Tully 1975–77, Operation Blue Star, the assas1935–2026 sination of Indira Gandhi and the antiSikh riots in 1984, the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, and the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992. He authored several books on India, including No Full Stops in India, India in Slow Motion, and The Heart of India. He was knighted in 2002 and received the Padma Bhushan from the Government of India in 2005. | P9