fridAY 1st Vande Bharat sleeper train to run between Guwahati and Kolkata 02 India’s first Vande Bharat sleeper train, equipped with world-class amenities, will run between the capitals of poll-bound Assam and West Bengal January, 2026 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard 12 Vande Bharat sleeper trains are expected to be put into service in 2026 O at h o n Q u r a n Mamdani sworn in as NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani took his oath of office on a centuries-old Quran—the first time an incoming NYC Mayor has used Islam’s holy text to be sworn in Page 9 Modi to flag off service later this month A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS Shah to chair crucial Manipur meeting today l New Delhi l J8.00 l PAGES 12 At least 47 dead in Swiss bar fire Could draw roadmap for political transition as Central rule is due to end on February 13 M u k e s h R a n j a n @ New Delhi Union home minister Amit Shah will chair a high-level review meeting on Manipur on January 2, as the state prepares for a possible political transition ahead of the scheduled end of Central rule on February 13. The meeting assumes significance as Manipur has seen relative calm after nearly twoand-a-half years of ethnic violence, raising expectations that the Centre may soon move towards facilitating a political solution and restoring elected government. Sources said the review will focus on assessing ground-level conditions and determining the roadmap for the coming weeks. The meeting will be attended by Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla, state gove r n m e n t a dv i s e r Kuldiep Singh, Chief Secretary P K Goel and Director General of Police Rajiv Singh, along with senior officials of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. All key state officials have already arrived in New Delhi for the deliberations. The agenda for the meeting includes law and order, the security situation and coordination among central and state forces, as well as progress on development initiatives in violence-affected areas. Particular attention is expected to be paid to the rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in regions im- Express read Hindu bizman attacked by mob in B’desh critical A Hindu businessman, Khokon Chandra Das, 50, was critically injured after being thrashed, stabbed, and doused with petrol and set afire by a group of assailants in Bangladesh’s Shariatpur on the New Year’s Eve. | p9 Cricketer summoned for wearing Palestine flag The police in Jammu and Kashmir have summoned a cricketer, Furqan Bhat, and the organiser of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket League after the player was seen wearing a helmet with the Palestinian flag during a match. pacted by prolonged unrest involving the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities. “The home minister will review recent developments on the ground, assess the prevailing security environment and evaluate coordinated deployment of forces. Discussions are also likely on development initiatives aimed at rebuilding infrastructure and restoring normalcy in affected areas,” a source said. President’s rule was imposed following the resignation of the then chief minister N Biren Singh amid sustained ethnic violence. Ever since, Manipur has been administered by the Governor. Parliament has approved multiple extensions of Central rule, with the latest in August 2025. Political parties have already begun informal consultations on the possibility of government formation. The outcome of the January 2 meeting will set the tone for the next phase, including decisions on whether to move towards an elected government or continue with administrative arrangements under Central oversight. Ensuring a stable and secure environment will be critical to facilitate the return of democratic governance, officials said, adding that peace-building and accelerated development remain the Centre’s larger objectives for the state. Ag e n c i e s Videograb of the fire at Le Constellation bar in the luxury ski resort town of Crans-Montana in Switzerland. Inset: Police officers and rescuers at the site | AFP Five warmest years on record Year Warmer by 2024 +0.65°C 2016 +0.54°C 2009 +0.40°C 2010 +0.39°C 2017 +0.38°C J i t e n d r a C h o u b e y @ New Delhi This winter from January to March would be warmer in most parts of the country, resulting in less rainfall and fewer cold waves, the Indian Meteorological Department has predicted. The weatherman expects below normal rainfall over Northwest, Northeast, and Peninsu- S L a l i t h a @ New Delhi After more than two years, regular flight operations between India and Israel resumed on Thursday Air India, the only . Indian operator in this sector, had stopped operations along with most international airlines after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, considering passenger safety . A Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft, which can carry a maximum of 344 passengers, has been deployed for the operations. Flight AI-139 took off from Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi International Airport with 190 passengers at 7.19 am and reached Tel Aviv at 10.15 am (local time). The return flight reached Delhi the same day at 9.42 pm. The flight will have a fiveday-a-week frequency . An airline source said, “After October 7, we tried twice to resume operations, but they had to be stopped again due to the unrest in the region. The last time we stopped operations was in May 2025.” The Embassy of India in Israel said on X, “Direct connectivity is back! Air India resumes nonstop flights between Tel Aviv and New Delhi today The . Embassy of India wishes Air India great success.” lar India in winter. It could lead to higher temperatures in most parts of India. The reduced rainfall and early temperature rise could impact the flowering of the wheat crops, which are predominantly grown in the Northwest. Regarding the monthly forecast, the IMD indicated that nights will be colder while days will be relatively warm, with normal rainfall expected in January Additionally a higher . , number of cold wave days are expected in some areas of Central India, easter n Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar this month. As for the year that just went by 2025 was the eighth warmest , year in the last 125 years of IMD’s recorded history, while the Northwest region experi- enced its fourth warmest December during the same period. Besides, December 2025 was among the driest winter months, with Central India recording the lowest rainfall ever in the history of the IMD. The warmest year on record was 2024, when mean temperature across India was 0.65°C above the long-term average (see table). In reputation war with Kanpur, IIT-Delhi alumni pledge `70 crore in philanthropy I f r a h M u f t i @ New Delhi In the span of three days, two of India’s most storied engineering campuses found themselves in an unusual face-off, not over rankings or research papers, but over crores pledged by graduates from the Class of 2000, turning alumni philanthropy into a measure of institutional pride. At its Silver Jubilee celebrations on Thursday IIT-Delhi an, nounced that the Class of 2000 had pledged over `70 crore, the biggest endowment ever raised by a single batch in the institute’s history. The figure was the result of months o f q u i e t o u t re a c h among classmates working across geographies worldwide. The giving wave had started three days earlier at IIT-Kanpur. At its Silver Jubilee reunion, the institute revealed that the Class of 2000 had pledged `100 crore. It was the first time a single batch at IIT-Kanpur had committed such a large amount in a year. Institute officials said the pledge reflected how far the alumni had come and the institute’s growing standing on the global stage. At IIT-Delhi, donations were structured across eight categories. The “Founder” category, for gifts of `10 crore plus, included India Quotient founder Mohit Mittal, General Catalyst managing director Neeraj Arora, and an anonymous. All set for RNG Sahithya Samman today The Ramnath Goenka Sahithya Samman (RNGSS) 2025 is homebound. In the 1930s, Ramnath Goenka, a doyen of the Indian print industry and the visionary behind The New Indian Express (TNIE) Group, conceived the idea of a newspaper in Chennai that would be synonymous with fearless journalism. He also seeded the idea of an award for timeless literature, and for giving a platform to young writers who were thinking outside the grid, building new worlds with the power of imagination, with new ideas, styles, narratives and courage. Announced at the Odisha Literary Festival 2023, and after a AT least 47 people were killed and 115 others seriously injured after a massive fire ripped through a crowded bar in the upscale Swiss ski resort town of Crans-Montana during a New Year’s party reports , said on Thursday . The fire broke out at 1.30 am local time in a luxury bar called Le Constellation in the resort in southwestern Switzerland, which locals said was popular with teenagers. The cause of the blaze, which was initially reported as an explosion, remains unclear but authorities said it appeared to be an accident rather than an attack. Reports said there were around 200 people, mostly youngsters, in the basement venue at the time. The fire intensified into a flashover, when extreme heat caused everything inside the enclosed space to ignite all at once, leaving people little chance to escape. Many perished in the crush to get up the single staircase to the exit, The Daily Mail reported. Valais Canton police commander Frédéric Gisler said work was underway to identify the victims, who may include foreign nationals as Crans-Montana is an international ski and golf venue. Axel Clavier, a 16-year-old from Paris who survived the blaze, described “total chaos” inside the bar. One of his friends died and “two or three were missing,” he told The Associated Press. He said he saw waitresses arrive with Champagne bottles with sparklers. Two women told French broadcaster BFMTV that they were inside when they saw a male bartender lifting a female bartender on his shoulders as she held a lit candle in a bottle. The flames spread, collapsing the wooden ceiling, they told the broadcaster. Officials said the blaze likely triggered the release of combustible gases that ignited violently . Swiss President Guy Parmelin said that the government’s ‘thoughts go to the victims, to the injured and their relatives, to whom it addresses its sincere condolences’. After two bids, regular flights to Israel resume Expect warmer winter, lesser rainfall this year Li t e r a r y a w a r d s Pa r a m i ta G h o s h @ New Delhi The services are expected to become operational in the next 15–20 days, possibly around January 18 or 19, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said. “We have requested the Prime Minister (to flag off the service). I will announce the exact date in the next two to three days,” the minister said, adding that the final date is being worked out with the Prime Minister’s Office | p8 strong launch in Delhi in 2024, the RNGSS heads to Chennai, the TNIE group’s headquarters. Four awards—for Lifetime Achievement, Best Fiction, Best Non-Fiction and Best Debut – will be given at a prestigious ceremony in Chennai on Friday. Vice President of India, C P Radhakrishnan, will grace the occasion as Chief Guest, at a function to be attended by the city’s intelligentsia and who’s who. This year, Manoj Kumar Sonthalia, Chairman and Managing Director of TNIE Group, proposed combining Debut Fiction and Non-Fiction into a single Debut category while main, taining separate Fiction and Non-Fiction categories for more established writers. For the third edition of RNGSS, the TNIE team began curating the longlist in July. Submissions poured in from senior editors across TNIE centres in New Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha. Publishers also sent in their recommendations. Books released between July 2024 and June 2025 were considered for nomination. The winners were shortlisted at a meeting in Delhi in October, attended by the internal and external jury. Each book was closely studied, discussed and fought for to arrive at the winners. The jury was chaired by author and former diplomat Pavan Varma; author Githa Hariharan and economist Sanjeev Sanyal were the other external jury members. From books on lesser-known public figures such as Irawati Karve, the Partition, the story of everywoman who struggles to find a foothold in the city to a study of rage and true crime— the mix this year showed Indian authors writing about India, the neighbourhood, the borderlands, and the urban sprawl with young and wise eyes, critical and social conscience, and a mature handling of their material. To us, all these books are winners. Practice makes A band perfect A CISF band during a rehearsal ahead of Republic Day at Kartavya Path in New Delhi on Thursday | PTI City drank, drove and parked wrongly like never before on New Year eve; 8,400 fined N i t i n R a w at @ New Delhi The Delhi Police issued over 8,400 challans this New Year’s Eve—over 191 per cent more than the previous year. The traffic police have slapped 857 fines this time for drunk driving, marking an increase of over 200 per cent from earlier. A total of 680 traffic police personnel were deployed in the national capital during the night. According to a senior police officer, the Delhi Police had made special traffic arrange- ments all over the city for the occasion, with special focus on Connaught Place and its surrounding areas. These measures were undertaken to ensure safe and smooth movement of Sharp rise from last year Cases of drunken driving rose to 857 this New Year’s eve, compared to the last year’s 272, wrong-side driving to 1,630 from 240, improper parking to 5,783 from 2,312, and triple riding to 191 from 77. traffic. The traffic management division of the Delhi Police had launched a drive in coordination with local police units to ensure the enforcement of norms across Delhi. DCP (traffic) Shashank Jaiswal said checks were held at strategic locations, vulnerable stretches and major junctions. The step was aimed at checking offences like drunken driving, triple riding on two-wheelers and driving on the wrong side, among others, to prevent lifethreatening accidents.