NEW DELHI 07 DECEMBER 2025 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 24  facebook/TheMorningStandard  X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in PLUS: 12 PAGES MAGAZINE Looming Large RAK ‘n’ Roll EXCLUSIVE VOICES Sleeping Like a Soldier Street of the Art Maintaining pricing discipline `7,500 500-1,000 KM `12,000 Fare caps exclude User Development Fee, Passenger Development Fee & other taxes 1,000-1,500 KM `15,000 They do not cover Business class tickets and flights operated under UDAN scheme Airlines must maintain ticket availability across all fare buckets. They may increase capacity on high-demand sectors, govt said OVER 1,500 KM `18,000 Ticket price before fare cap kicked in No clarity yet on whether the caps for economy class tickets apply for premium economy as well Govt caps fares, wields whip IndiGo CEO gets DGCA show-cause notice; 800 cancellations on Sat; ticket refund by Sun S L A L I T H A @ New Delhi Omar-Sinha face-off over age norms for JKAS hopefuls F AYA Z W A N I @ Srinagar THE fate of thousands of aspirants, who are scheduled to appear in J&K Administrative Service (JKAS) exam on Sunday hangs in the bal, ance due to a face-off between Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over age-relaxation of the aspirants. The aspirants, especially in the open merit category, have been demanding the upper age limit be raised from 32 to 37. The aspirants in both divisions have been staging protests. Last week, CM announced that he had approved age relaxation and forwarded the file for final approval to the L-G. In a post on X, CM expressed concern over the uncertainty resulting from Lok Bhavan’s delay in approving age relaxation. The L-G office responded on X, “Lok Bhavan had received the file on 2 Dec 2025 which was categorically related to Age Relaxation only . File was returned the same day ... with a query whether it is logistically possible to conduct exam on 7th Dec.” The LG said despite a lapse of 4 days, Lok Bhavan did not receive any response. It said, “I fully sympathize with young aspirants.” EXPRESS READ Infra boost: Rajnath to unveil 125 projects Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will inaugurate 125 projects of the Border Roads Organisation on Sunday from the Shyok Tunnel in Ladakh. These vital projects cover 28 roads, 93 bridges, and four miscellaneous strategic facilities across seven states and two UTs. | P7 THE Ministry of Civil Aviation on Saturday stepped in to address the greed of some airlines exploiting the IndiGo mess as fares went beyond 8X on some sectors. It imposed strict caps on domestic fares with the maximum of `18,000 for an economy class ticket. Later in the day the , Director General of Civil Aviation slapped a show-cause notice on IndiGo’s CEO to respond within 24 hours why action should not be taken against him for the massive chaos. The ministry also directed IndiGo to clear all pending passenger refunds for all cancelled or disrupted flights by 8 pm on Sunday 7 December. , The fare cap of `7,500-18,000 (see graphic) prescribed by the ministry was still on the higher side, with fliers being made to pay for the needless chaos. These caps will remain in place “until fares stabilise or till further review”, the ministry said. The caps exclude levies like Airlines have also been instructed not to levy any rescheduling charges for passengers whose travel plans were affected by cancellations —Ministry of Civil Aviation’s order A passenger rests while waiting at Terminal 1 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport for her flight, in New Delhi on Saturday | PTI User Development Fee, Passenger Development Fee and other taxes. They do not cover Business class tickets and flights operated under the regional connectivity scheme (UDAN), the order stated. As for refunding, the ministry cautioned that any delay or non-compliance by Indigo would l invite immediate regulatory action. The system of automatic refunds will remain active until operations stabilise completely . Indigo quickly responded with a “No questions asked. All refunds for your cancellations will be processed automatically to your original mode of payment.“ The airline also announced full waiver on all cancellations/reschedule requests of bookings made between De- ‘A Story Makes an Actor a Star’ The Empire Becomes a Colony cember 5 and December 15. In another directive, the ministry directed IndiGo to ensure that all baggage that was separated from passengers due to cancellations or delays be traced and delivered to each passenger’s residential or chosen address within 48 hours. IndiGo for the first time obliquely quantified the day’s cancellations — around 800. “By the end of day, we would have operated over 1,500 flights. With regards to destinations, over 95% of network connectivity has already been re-established as we are able to operate to 135 out of the existing 138 destinations in operations. There is a recovery IndiGo said. P3 & P7 ,” EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi THE UK Treasury imposed sanctions on a British national and an organisation for alleged terrorist activity in India and support for the Sikh extremist group Babbar Khalsa. This is the first time London has used its domestic counter-terrorism framework to target the pro-Khalistan group, officials said. The measures include an asset freeze and director disqualification against Gurpreet Singh Rehal, who is suspected of involvement in organisations carrying out terrorist activities in India. The Treasury also imposed an asset freeze on Babbar Akali Lehar, an organisation accused of promoting a n d s u p p o r t i n g B abb a r Khalsa. According to the UK Treasury Rehal is involved in Bab, bar Khalsa and Babbar Akali Lehar’s activities, including recruitment, financial support, and procurement of weapons and military material. Babbar Akali Lehar, the Treasury said, engages in similar activities by promoting, encouraging, and recruit- EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi A N U P V E R M A @ New Delhi FOUR friends in Gurugram would often take out their Suzuki Fronx car at night, roam about the city to look for unattended cars outside posh hotels and residential areas, and run away with their tyres, leaving the targeted skeletons standing on bricks. All they wanted to do with stolen tyres was sell them to fund their partying in city clubs after their monthly pocket money dried up. Gurugram Police has arrested the childhood friends, one of whom was studying to be a chartered accountant and another a lawyer. The accused confessed to have committed 14 such thefts in the past two months, of ficials said on Saturday . The police got active after, on November 16, a person filed a complaint at Sector 40 police station in Gurugram, stating that all four tyres of his car parked in C Block, Udyog Vihar, ing for Babbar Khalsa. All funds and economic resources in the UK owned, held, or controlled by Rehal or Babbar Akali Lehar are now frozen. UK individuals and entities were prohibited from dealing with these assets or providing financial services to them without a licence from the Treasury. Rehal was also barred from acting as a company director or participating in company management, directly or indirectly . Economic Secretary to the Treasury Lucy Rigby said: “We will not stand by while terrorists exploit Britain’s financial system. This landmark action shows we are prepared to use every tool at our disposal to choke off funding for terrorism -- wherever it occurs and whoever is responsible. The UK stands firmly with peaceful communities against those who promote violence and hatred.” The sanctions were imposed under the Counter-Terrorism (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, which empower the Treasury to freeze assets and restrict individuals or entities suspected of involvement in terrorism, safeguarding the UK’s financial system. Try mediation, says SC in case of sexual abuse India team celebrates 2-1 ODI series win against South Africa in Visakhapatnam on Saturday | G SATYANARAYANA ODI BALM FOR TEST SCAR G O M E S H S @ Chennai AFTER the famine, the feast? Not quite but Indian cricket, after enduring a shambolic 0-2 Test series defeat against the visiting South Africans, has something to smile about after a 2-1 ODI series win. After sitting through the disappointments of Kolkata and Guwahati, Indian fans would have welcomed the familiar rhythms of watching Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma playing pivotal roles in the wins. Of course, this is nothing new. India continues to enjoy unparalleled dominance in white-ball cricket at home. Sure, one can argue that the three-match ODI series was almost devoid of context as the 50-over World Cup is two years away in very different conditions. But this win is a reminder of the talent that exists in India across formats even if they were missing multiple players either through rest or injury . Question marks will persist over the medium-term futures of Kohli and Sharma but they know that as long as they perform, they will be undroppable whatever the manage- ment and the selectors think about them keeping in mind the World Cup in 2027. If the seniors led the way, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal staked their claim in the team with a century each. The former was asked to bat at No 4 by the management and he delivered with a ton in the second match. Jaiswal’s hundred came as the icing on the cake on Saturday Kohli and Shar. ma have three more ODIs to look forward to before disappearing from the national setup for at least six months. As of now, it’s over to the T20Is for India. Moving in `10L car, 4 Gurugram boys steal tyres for clubbing S AFRICA 11 DEAD AS GUNMEN E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi Accept Everything as God’s Gift In a first, UK goes after terror outfit Babbar Khalsa Unified command to take care of city transport, task force report within 3 wks cies, with recommendations to be submitted to the lieutenant AIMING to rationalise traffic governor within three weeks. It movement in the capital by will also help draft a DUMTA ending multiplicity of agencies bill for the Delhi Assembly . in the transport sector, the DelAccording to a government hi government has denotification, the addicided to establish the tional chief secretary Delhi Unified Metroof the Department of politan Transport AuUrban Development thority (DUMTA). will serve as the memOnce approved, bodies ber secretary of the such as the Delhi task force. Its memTransport Corporabers will include the tion, Public Works Deadministrative secrepartment, Transport EXPERT INPUT taries of the departDepartment, and Delments of transport, The DUMTA task hi Traffic Police will finance and planning, force will also function under a sinand the Public Works include two or gle umbrella for their Department. three subject transport-related The new body will matter experts functions. also accommodate the who specialise in The Delhi governvice chairman of the urban ment has also anDelhi Development transportation, a nounced the creation Authority, commisgovernment of a 21-member task sioners of the Delhi notification force to chalk out a Police and the Municistated strategy for the creapal Corporation of tion of DUMTA. HeadDelhi, the tourism seced by the chief secretary it will retary, the chief executive of, design the body’s framework. ficer of the Delhi Jal Board, Its key responsibilities include and representatives from the drafting a strategic mobility National Highways Authority plan and ensuring effective co- of India and New Delhi Municordination among state agen- ipal Council among others. AMMA SPEAKS SANCTIONS SIKH TIED TO IT T I C K E T AVA I L A B I L I T Y The objective is to maintain pricing discipline, prevent any exploitation of passengers in distress, and ensure that citizens who urgently need to travel are not subjected to financial hardship, the Union govt said UP TO 500 KM Devdutt Pattanaik Prabhu Chawla Anuja Chandramouli Santwana Bhattacharya Dinesh Singh Shankkar Aiyar Ravi Shankar A Poet Between Civilisations were missing. A police team star ted the investig ation promptly and arrested the four friends on Friday from Sector 49 of the city . The police said that the accused friends had been stealing tyres and rims from cars parked outside hotels and in residen- Two accused pursuing professional courses The four friends have been identified as Rishikesh, Arjun, Piyush Rana, and Tushar Kumar. Rishikesh is studying to be a chartered account and Arjun is studying law, while Rana and Kumar are BCom students. tial areas during the night, the officer said. They would then load the stolen tyres and rims into their car and escape. The accused are all residents of Jharsa in Gurugram. The car they used to do recce of potential targets belongs to Arjun Kumar. The police said that the accused will be produced before a court and taken on remand, after which they will be interrogated for involvement in other such incidents. OPEN FIRE AT BAR A mass shooting carried out on Saturday by multiple suspects in an unlicensed bar near the South African capital of Pretoria left at least 11 people dead, police said. The victims included three children aged 3, 12 and 16 | P9 THE Supreme Court on Friday urged parties involved in a sexual harassment case against Venu Gopalakrishnan, CEO of Kochi’s Litmus 7 Systems Consulting, to explore mediation to resolve their dispute. A bench comprising Justices B V Nagarathna and K V Viswanathan said, “...We find that in the interest of all parties, there ought to be a settlement. The matter is referred to the Supreme Court Mediation Centre. The parties are directed to appear before the Centre on 07.01.2026 in person or through videoconferencing.” On September 11, the Kerala High Court had denied anticipatory bail to Gopalakrishnan, citing the “very serious” nature of allegations. The other accused in the case — Jacob P Thampy, Eby Paul, and Bimalraj Haridas — were granted anticipatory bail. Gopalakrishnan had approached the Supreme Court, which on September 26 stayed all coercive actions against him. Senior counsels Mukul Rohatgi and Raghenth Basant, representing the petitioner, said the complainant, a former employee, had filed the charges after getting bail in an extortion case initiated by Gopalakrishnan. Justice Nag arathna expressed skepticism about the harassment claims. The accused alleged the woman and her husband had demanded `30 crore during a hotel meeting on July 23, including an immediate `10 crore transfer, with `50,000 transferred from Venu’s account on July 28. The couple was arrested for extortion soon after. The woman denied knowledge of the `50,000 transfer and alleged sexual harassment. The next hearing is on February 2.