THURSDAY BHARTI, WARBURG PINCUS BUY 49% STAKE IN HAIER INDIA FOR $2 BN 25 DECEMBER, 2025 Bharti Enterprises and Warburg Pincus said in a statement on Wednesday that they are making a strategic investment in Haier India epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard UKRAINE `17,955 CR ZELENSKYY’S PROPOSAL Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is willing to withdraw from the eastern industrial heartland of Donbas as a plan to end war with Russia. PAGE 9 THE SIZE OF THE DEAL AS PER INDUSTRY SOURCES Management control in Chinese hands A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI  J8.00 The management control will continue to remain with China-based Haier Group, which will retain 49% stake in Haier India after the deal, down from 100%. The deal may provide reprieve from Press Note 3. Through PN3, the Centre had made its prior approval mandatory for investments from countries that share a land border with India, which includes China | P10 PAGES 12  Two new airlines get wings from govt S L A L I T H A @ New Delhi AIR travellers are set to have more options as three new domestic airlines prepare to launch operations. Two carriers—Al Hind Air and FlyExpress—received their No Objection Certificates from the civil aviation ministry this week, while Uttar Pradesh-based Shankh Air, which already has an NOC, is likely to begin flights in 2026. The development gains significance following IndiGo’s operational meltdown in early December, which drew sharp criticism over the appar- ISRO LAUNCHES HEAVIEST SATELLITE B O S K Y K H A N N A @ Bengaluru THE Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday launched the 6.10-tonne BlueBird Block-2 communications satellite, the heaviest it has launched to date. Isro’s Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3)-M6 rocket, nicknamed ‘Bahubali’, lifted off with the satellite belonging to US-based AST SpaceMobile (AST and Science, LLC) and released it accurately into the 518.50 km altitude circular Low Earth Orbit. The launch took place at 8.55 am and the satellite was released into its orbit at 9.11 am in what ISRO scientists described as a case of “textbook launch”. Till now, the heaviest satellite that ISRO had launched was the 4.40-tonne Communication Satellite 03, also known as GSAT-7R on November 2. The LVM3M6/BlueBird Block-2 Mission was executed from the second launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota. The launch was the result of a commercial deal between ISRO’s business arm NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL) and US-based AST SpaceMobile. ent duopoly in India’s domestic aviation market. The aviation ministry is keen to have more airline operators in the country, which is one of the world’s fastest growing domestic civil aviation markets. “Over the last one week, pleased to have met teams from new airlines aspiring to take wings in Indian skiesShankh Air, Al Hind Air and F lyExpress. While Shankh Air has already got the NOC from the Ministry Al Hind , Air and FlyExpress have received their NOCs this week,” Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said on X. The ministry wants to encourage more airlines in Indian aviation sector, which is amongst the fastest growing international aviation markets. Over the last one week, pleased to have met teams from new airlines aspiring to take wings in Indian skies—Shankh Air, Al Hind Air and FlyExpress Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu on X To challenge Sengar’s bail Meets Rahul, gets promise of top lawyer Unnao survivor to approach SC seeking justice safe? For us, this decision is no less than kaal,” she said. A day after the Delhi High In its order on Tuesday, the Court suspended the life sen- HC granted bail to Sengar with tence awarded by a trial court conditions. It directed him not to former BJP MLA Kuldeep to come within a 5-km radius Singh Sengar in the 2017 Unnao of the survivor’s residence. rape case, the survivor on Sengar, who is currently in jail, Wednesday said she would will not be immediately remove the Supreme Court. leased as he is also serving a 10On Wednesday, she and her year term in the custodial mother staged a protest death case of the survinear Mandi House vor’s father. He is yet to against the HC verdict. get bail in that case. Earlier in the day, the The survivor was a miWe will go to duo met Congress lead- the Supreme nor when she was kiders Rahul Gandhi and napped and raped by Court and Sonia Gandhi after alleg- have sought Sengar in 2017. ing ill-treatment by Delhi Rahulji’s help Deploring the alleged Police. On Tuesday night, ill treatment meted out Unnao rape the survivor and her to the survivor during survivor mother were reportedly her protest in Delhi, Raforcefully removed by pohul Gandhi said she is lice from a protest site near In- being punished for seeking jusdia Gate. tice. “Is such treatment of a Speaking to the media, she gang-rape survivor approprisaid no one from the govern- ate? The fact that her perpetrament came forward to help her tor has been granted bail is exwhile Rahul Gandhi promised tremely disappointing and to get a top lawyer to fight the shameful—especially when the case in the Supreme Court. survivor is being repeatedly The survivor said the HC’s harassed and is living under decision to suspend Sengar’s the shadow of fear,” he said in jail term is kaal (death) for her a social media post. “Bail for family “If the convict gets bail rapists and treating survivors . in a case like this, how will the like criminals—what kind of country’s daughters remain justice is this?” he asked. EXCEPT the momo cart, everything shall be removed,” the Chief Justice remarked. It was said on a lighter note, but it was a telling aside as the Delhi High Court flagged serious safety lapses in one of the capital’s most crowded student hubs, Majnu ka Tila. The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Delhi government, the DDA, and the MCD to act against cafes and restaurants operating in Majnu ka Tila without requisite permissions and in violation of safety norms. Disposing of a PIL filed by Arnav Singh, a bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela stressed the urgency of enforcement, noting the heavy student rush in the area. “Ensure that it’s done. Half the Delhi University students are there most of the time,” Justice Gedela remarked. P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi File photo of Kuldeep Singh Sengar being taken away from the CBI court in Lucknow on April 14, 2018 | PTI Survivor seeks relocation to a Congress-ruled state Sources said the Unnao rape survivor told Rahul and Sonia Gandhi that she, along with her family, would like to relocate to a Congress-ruled state as they fear persecution in Uttar Pradesh. The Gandhis assured her family that they will do everything in their capacity to ensure that they get justice and security, sources said We may be turning into a dead society, says Rahul Deploring the ill-treatment meted out to the rape survivor during her protest in Delhi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said she deserves respect, safety and justice. “We are not just becoming a dead economy—with such inhuman incidents, we are also turning into a dead society,” he said ‘Half the DU students are there most of the times’ The high court said Majnu ka Tila was popular with Delhi University students and eateries needed to operate with safety precautions. The DDA submitted that it had registered a suo motu complaint. The court asked authorities to act within three months. The PIL pointed to illegal commercial activity on the Yamuna floodplains and cited a recent deadly nightclub fire in Goa as a warning of what could happen under similar conditions. It alleged that several buildings in Majnu ka Tila rise to seven or eight floors, with illegal basements and rooftop extensions, often without sanctioned plans. According to the petition, many structures lacked staircases beyond the third or fourth floor, relying instead on small lifts, while existing staircases were narrow and poorly lit. Over `12K cr for metro expansion okayed; network to cross 400 km M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi HC tells govt to act against eateries violating safety norms in Majnu ka Tila E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi Al Hind Air is being promoted by Kerala-based alhind Group, which was founded in the 1990s. Schemes like UDAN have enabled smaller carriers Star Air, India One Air and Fly91 to play an important role in the regional connectivity within the country and there is scope for further growth, he added. Currently there are nine oper, ational domestic carriers in the country: Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, Alliance Air, Akasa Air, SpiceJet, Star Air, Fly91 and IndiaOne Air, as per data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. BROTHERS IN ARMS Ending a 20-year political feud, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and MNS president Raj Thackeray forged an alliance on Wednesday for BMC polls | PTI | P8 THE Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared the expansion of Delhi Metro’s Phase V-A, approving three new corridors at a cost of `12,015 crore. The projects will cover around 16 km across three routes with 13 stations—10 underground and three elevated— and are scheduled for completion within three years. Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the approved corridors are Ramakrishna Ashram Marg–Indraprastha, Aerocity–Airport Terminal 1, and Tughlakabad–Kalindi Kunj. “There are 12 lines so far, and six new projects are already under construction to extend existing lines,” Vaishnaw said. With the Phase V-A expansion, he added, Delhi Metro “will cross 400 kilometres and will be Total Estimated Cost `12,015 CR The Projects Completion time 3 YEARS TOTAL LENGTH 16 km with 13 stations – 10 underground, 3 elevated Delhi Metro network to cross 400 km among the top five in the world, catering to over 65 lakh commuters every day”. Highlighting the impact of the Tughlakabad–Kalindi Kunj stretch, the minister said, “Kalindi to Tughlakabad extension will give direct Gurugram connectivity to commuters from Noida and Faridabad. This will save a significant amount of COMPLETE BAN NO FRESH LEASE FOR MINING IN ARAVALLI REGION J I T E N D R A C H O U B E Y @ New Delhi THE Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has directed states to completely ban new mining leases in the Aravalli Range, stretching from Delhi to Gujarat, to save them from unbridled mining activities. The move follows reports that the Central Empowered Committee—established by the Supreme Court in 2002 and reconstituted in December 2023 — had contradicted a government-headed committee’s recommendations on definition of the Aravallis. The controversy centers around the Supreme Court accepting an Environment Ministry committee’s proposal that landforms over 100 meters constitute “Aravalli hills”. Critics argue this new definition increases the range’s vulnerability to mining. It is also believed the Forest Survey of India and the SC’s amicus curiae had opposed this definition. Despite this, the Supreme Court accepted the ministry’s 100metre proposal on November 20. The Ministry has now asked the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education to identify additional no-mining zones and preparing a management plan for “sustainable mining. Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the Centre “is misleading the public.” 1 held for duping US nationals, `100 cr asset seized E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi THE Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested a key accused in a sophisticated call centre racket that defrauded US nationals of $15 million between November 2022 and April 2024, the agency said on Wednesday . The illegal call centres operated from Noida and Gurugram, and the accused, charged with money-laundering, has been identified as Chandra Prakash Gupta. Scammers used fake Microsoft security pop-ups to trick victims into calling fraudulent support numbers. Using remote access software like TeamViewer, the scammers gained control of victims’ computers, extracted banking cre- dentials and coerced them to wire-transfer funds under false Federal Reserve protection claims, the ED said. “The proceeds were laundered through Hong Kong accounts and cryptocurrencies. ED seized assets worth over `100 crore, including jewellery vehicles, and luxury , watches, with key accused still absconding,” the agency said. Gupta had been absconding since July 2024, leading to the issuance of a non-bailable warrant against him. ED initiated investigation on the basis of a CBI FIR. Further investigation led ED to conduct searches on December 19 and 20 at 10 locations across the NCR, linked to the masterminds and associates of the scam. UNDER THE PROJECTS 3 LINES ARE PROPOSED 1 Ramakrishna Ashram Marg to Indraprastha corridor: 9.9 km costing `9,570.4 cr 2 Aerocity to Airport Terminal-1 corridor: 2.3 km costing `1,419.6 cr 3 Tughlakabad to Kalindi Kunj corridor: 3.9 km costing `1,024.8 cr time for commuters.” The Ramakrishna Ashram Marg–Indraprastha corridor will span 9.9 km at a cost of `9,570.4 crore. The Aerocity– Airport Terminal 1 corridor will be 2.3 km long with a projected cost of `1,419.6 crore, while the 3.9 km Tughlakabad– Kalindi Kunj corridor will cost about `1,024.8 crore. P4 CHINA LIKELY TO WOO INDIA WITH US IN THE MIND A US defence department report has cautioned about Beijing’s intent to stabilise relations with New Delhi to affect India-US ties | P7 VIJAY HAZARE TROPHY For the record, this is big On any other day former India captains Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli scoring hundreds in Vijay Hazare ties would have been the talking points. But not on Wednesday as three of the four fastest List A ton were scored. 22 CENTURIES As many as 22 centuries were scored on Day 1, the most in VH history. Previously, 19 tons were scored on Dec 12, 2021 and Jan 3, 2025 38 TOTAL SIXES Hit by Bihar is by far the most in a men’s List A innings as they posted 574/6, the highest ever List A total FASTEST HUNDREDS Ishan Kishan followed his T20 World Cup callup with a 33ball 100 against Karnataka as Jharkhand post 412. Karnataka raced to a five-wicket win. Sensational Vaibhav Suryawanshi hit a 36-ball 100 against Arunachal Pradesh. But his teammate Sakibul Gani eclipsed all with a 32-ball 100 to help Bihar post 574 for 6 14 YR, 272 DAYS Suryawanshi became the youngest to score a List A hundred