FRIDAY 13 FEBRUARY, 2026 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard SEATTLE TO PAY $29 MILLION TO KIN OF INDIAN STUDENT WHO DIED IN 2023 DAUGHTER RISING KIM JONG CLOSE TO HAVING SUCCESSOR South Korea’s spy agency has said it believes North Korean leader’s teenaged daughter Kim Ju Ae could be named his successor in the coming days PAGE 9 HAD GONE TO US ON STUDENT EXCHANGE A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI  J8.00  PAGES 12 Jaahnavi, 23, was struck by a police car driven by officer Kevin Dave as she was crossing a street in Seattle on January 23, 2023. Dave was driving at more than 119 kmh when he fatally hit Jaahnavi. The student hailed from Adoni in Andhra Pradesh, and was studying in a Bengaluru college from where she was sent to the US on a student exchange programme | P9 Inflation cools to 2.75% Govt green light to procure 114 Rafales as govt overhauls index J A V A R I A R A N A @ New Delhi Veg prices tumble under new CPI series with 2023-2024 as base year P U S H P I TA D E Y @ New Delhi RETAIL inflation eased to 2.75% year-on-year in January , helped largely by a sharp fall in prices of key vegetables and pulses, even as jewellery and select food items registered price rise, government data released on Wednesday showed. The latest inflation print also marks the first release of the Consumer Price Index with a revised base year of 2023-2024, replacing the 2011-12 series. The revision, based on the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023–24, expands the basket to reflect current consumption patterns, especially the growing role of services and digital spending. The data, released by the Ministry of Statistics and Prog ramme Implementation, showed that inflation in rural areas stood at 2.7% while urban inflation was marginally higher at 2.77%. Food inflation, measured by the Consumer Food Price Index, was 2.13%. A steep fall in prices of essential kitchen staples played a major role in keeping headline inflation contained. Garlic FOOD SHEDS WEIGHT; HOUSING GAINS Categories Food and beverages Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels Transport Clothing and footwear Health Personal care, social protection & miscellaneous goods and services Furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance Information and communication Education services Restaurants and accommodation services Paan, tobacco and intoxicants Recreation, sport and culture prices fell 53.05%, onion 29.27%, potato 28.98%, arhar (tur) dal 24.90% and peas slipped 15.56% on an annual basis. At the same time, some items witnessed extraordinary inflation. Silver jewellery soared 159.67%, tomato prices 64.80%, copra 47%, gold, diamond and platinum jewellery 46.77%, and coconut oil shot up 40.44%. The revised series expands the basket from 299 items to 358. Rural house rent has been CPI 2012 Weight (%) 42.617 16.888 6.394 6.527 5.9 CPI 2024 Weight (%) 36.753 17.665 8.796 6.383 6.1 4.006 5.038 3.656 4.469 3.323 3.513 3.246 2.38 1.547 3.609 3.333 3.348 2.989 1.516 included, as have modern consumption elements such as OTT subscriptions, online services, and CNG/PNG. Outdated items like VCRs and cassette players have been removed. The updated series also incorporates e-commerce prices in 12 major cities. “New items have been added to capture changes in the economy and consumer behaviour,” MoSPI secretary Saurabh Garg recently told this newspaper. @ New Delhi 11 am: Australia vs Zimbabwe (Colombo), 3 pm: Canada vs UAE (New Delhi), 7 pm: USA vs Netherlands (Chennai) New Delhi: The DAC also approved the acquisition of six more P-8I long-range reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft for the Indian Navy, for `28,000 crore, to strengthen surveillance `2,700 crore. The missile was used during Operation Sindoor to strike targets in Bahawalpur and Muridke in the early hours of May 7. The contract will incorporate provisions for upgrading CRASH PRIME ACCUSED HELD Shivam Mishra, 26-year-old son of tobacco baron K K Mishra, was arrested on Thursday in the Lamborghini crash case which left six injured in Kanpur on Sunday. He was granted bail later | P8 Polling officials begin the counting of votes cast in Bangladesh’s national parliamentary election, in Dhaka, on Thursday | AP Counting begins after peaceful B’desh polls Yunus call to uphold democratic decency “I call upon political parties and candidates to uphold democratic decency, tolerance and mutual respect even after the final results are announced. Differences of opinion will exist, but in the national interest, we must remain united,” Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus said The first significant results may be available overnight... Voting was peaceful though there were a few minor disruptions in some districts —Bangladesh Election Commission C OUNTING of votes began in Bangladesh on Thursday evening after peaceful polling earlier in the day for the crucial general elections to elect Parliament members and decide on a referendum on constitutional reforms. While the interim gover nment and the election commission hailed the process, deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina called the polls “a well-planned farce” and demanded a “free, fair and inclusive elections BAYEZID MILKY under a neutral careSenior journalist taker government”. based in Dhaka At the time of going to the press, there was no official word on the polling percentage, though the poll rolls had nearly 13 crore voters. What was visible though was a good turnout in the morning, but no subsequent voter rush at polling booths for the rest of the day. People just came in ones and twos to cast their ballots. Without going into the numbers, the election commission claimed the turnout was satisfactory . This is a straight fight between the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by Tarique Rahman, 60, and an 11-party alliance led by the Bangladesh Jamaat e Islami and the nascent National Citizen Party (NCP). As per initial trends, BNP candidates appeared to be leading the race with Jamaat struggling to put up a decent show. In the early rounds of counting for the referendum, negative votes were more than the ‘yes’ votes. Top BNP and Jamaat and NCP leaders said they would accept the verdict if the CONTINUED ON P9 process is not rigged. INDIA is set to host one of the most consequential technology gatherings of the decade as the AI Impact Summit kicks off at Bharat Mandapam here from February 16. Marking the first global AI summit to be held in the Global South, the five-day event is expected to bring together world leaders, policymakers, and the biggest names in artificial intelligence under one roof. The scale of political participation underscores the growing geopolitical weight of artificial intelligence. Seven presidents, two vice-presidents, and nine prime ministers have confirmed their presence, signaling that AI governance and innovation are now at the cen- Indian Rafales to the future F5 standard once available, while the existing fleet would be brought up to the F4 configuration, which includes enhanced sensor fusion, improved connectivity and expanded weapons capability . The DAC also approved procurement of additional longrange surface-to-air missiles for Project Sudarshan Chakra. The proposal pertains to replenishment of missile stocks for the S-400 air defence system, with around 280 missiles estimated to be worth approximately `3,000 crore. Among other approvals, the DAC cleared buy of Air-Ship Based High Altitude Pseudo Satellites for Air Force. Kapur will: Priya in HC seeking `20 crore from sister-in-law KANPUR LAMBORGHINI JAYA N T H JACO B @ New Delhi S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y Today’s Matches More anti-submarine P-81s for Navy cleared U DAYA N K I S H O R E @ New Delhi OPENER’S ONSLAUGHT Ishan Kishan starred in win against Namibia during T20 WC match in Delhi | PTI | P11 Star power: 7 Presidents, 2 Veeps, 9 PMs to attend AI impact summit SC allows TN to submit proposal to UPSC for a new DGP panel THE Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Tamil Nadu government to submit a revised proposal to the UPSC for constituting a fresh Empanelment Committee for selecting a permanent DGP for Tamil Nadu within a week. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi said the UPSC should make its final recommendation within two weeks thereafter. The court also said the appointment must be made forthwith after the UPSC’s recommendation. Senior advocate P Wilson, who argued for the Tamil Nadu government, said that the UPSC had constituted a five-member selection committee for the DGP examination as per the Supreme Court guidelines and that two representatives of the state government, namely the DGP and the Chief Secretary, were included in it. Wilson argued that since G Venkataraman, the DGP in charge, is also a candidate under consideration, the Tamil Nadu government requested the UPSC to substitute the home secretary, who is at the rank of additional chief secretary in his place. However, the , UPSC rejected the request. Wilson contended that the subject of Law and Order is with the State List of the Constitution, and Tamil Nadu has the right to be adequately represented before the Empanelment Committee and to have the best DGP . AHEAD of French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to India next week, the defence ministry on Thursday accorded acceptance of necessity (AoN) for capital acquisition proposals worth around `3.6 lakh crore, including the much awaited gover nment-to-gover nment deal for 114 Rafale multi-role fighter aircraft estimated at about `3.25 lakh crore. The final contract for the jets is unlikely to be signed before early 2027, sources said. The AoN marks the first formal step in the procurement process, after which commercial negotiations and contract finalisation follow. The time- line for conclusion varies depending on the negotiations. Under the proposal, the Indian Air Force is expected to receive 88 single-seat and 26 twin-seat Rafale fighters. Around 18 aircraft are likely to be delivered in fly-away condition, while the remaining 96 will be manufactured in India with up to 60 per cent indigenous content. Sources said the overall Rafale package includes an estimated `2.5 lakh crore for the aircraft and associated systems, with weapons and support elements taking the total value to around `3.25 lakh crore. This includes procurement of 100-120 SCALP airlaunched cruise missiles, for tre of global diplomacy Sourc. es said among the presidents are Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Estonia’s Alar Karis, Slovakia’s Peter Pellegrini, Sri Lanka’s Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Serbia’s Aleksandar Vucic, and Switzerland’s Guy Par melin. Their participation reflects a broad cross-continental engagement, spanning Europe, South America, and Asia. Representing vice-presidential leadership will be Guyana’s Bharrat Jagdeo and Seychelles’ Sebastien Pillay . The summit will also see PMs from nine countries—Armenia’s Nikol Pashinyan, Bhutan’s Tshering Tobgay Croatia’s , Andrej Plenkovic, Finland’s Petteri Orpo, Spain’s Pedro Sánchez, Greece’s Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Netherlands’ Dick Schoof, Kazakhstan’s Oljas Bektenov, and Mauritius’ Navinchandra Ramgoolam. Beyond political leadership, CEOs from almost all major AI companies are expected to attend the summit. Confirmed industry leaders include Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch. The summit aims to serve as a common platform for discussions on AI policy, research collaboration, industry standards, safety frameworks and public engagement. EXPRESS READ Lower toll for partially opened expressways Madras HC asks Dhoni to pay for translation The government has amended the national highways fee rules to lower toll fees for the users of partially operational national expressways. The amended rules will come into effect on February 15. Madras HC has directed former Indian captain M S Dhoni to pay `10 lakh for translation of documents, relating to the 2014 defamation suit he had filed against two TV channels and a retired IPS officer. Khel Mahakumbh to begin in city today Delhi government will organise “Khel Mahakumbh” on the lines of Khelo India from today. The competitions will be conducted in 17 major stadiums in Delhi. Delhi minister Ashish Sood that city has no dearth of talent. P3 PRIYA Kapur, late businessman Sunjay Kapur’s wife, has moved the Delhi High Court seeking `20 crore in damages from her sister-in-law Mandhira Kapur Smith for allegedly defaming her. Priya, who earlier filed a criminal defamation complaint against Smith before a city court, has filed the separate civil suit before the high court, which is likely to come up for hearing in the coming days. In the suit, filed on February 1, Priya has claimed that Smith made the statements and allegations “injurious to her reputation” on a podcast “in the public domain”. The suit has also arrayed host Pooja Chaudhari of InControversial podcast as a respondent in the suit. As per the suit, Smith allegedly made statements in the podcast portraying Priya as an outsider who had no legitimate right to represent or control the Kapur family legacy, estate, or business affairs. The suit claimed that Smith allegedly asserted that the family’s wealth and inheritance belonged exclusively to the “bloodline” and her children, while accusing Priya of attempting to “take over” the legacy and sidelining Sunjay’s family members. The suit states that Smith alleged that Priya had improperly gained financial benefits and influence after Sunjay’s death and repeatedly framed Priya as someone dishonestly asserting authority over the family’s assets and identity . The suit has come despite the high court earlier suggesting to all parties involved in Sunjay’s estate dispute to consider resolving the issue through mediation. Maha village rejects caste, to live by the Preamble S U D H I R S U RYAWA N S H I @ Mumbai IN a bold move, Soundala village in Maharashtra’s Ahilyanagar district has declared itself caste-free. The village aims to ensure there would be no caste-based discrimination or caste-based identification of individuals in the village. On February 5, the Gram Sabha passed a resolution reminding villagers of the Constitution and its Preamble and stating, “From now onwards, in Soundala village, no one will follow caste or indulge in any form of caste practices. We will follow humanity as religion, as that is the only religion that the villagers should follow.” The resolution reads, “My ‘My caste is humanity’: Ahilyanagar resolution Soundala has earlier passed resolutions promoting gender sensitivity, banning child marriage, allowing widow remarriage, acting against domestic violence and dowry, ensuring girls pursue higher education, and increasing women’s participation. The move is significant in a district long marked by caste violence. Ahilyanagar has remained on the “Atrocity Prone District” list for years. caste is humanity The govern. ment and community services will be open to all people, not discrimination on the basis of caste. Schools, community hall, temples, well and crematoria will be open to all. No one will write any post on social media that will divide the society. If someone does it, village panchayat will take action. Henceforth, this village is a caste-free.” It adds that it is inspired by BR Ambekar, Jyotibha Phule, Shahu Maharaj, Chhatrapati Shivani Maharaj and Mahatma Gandhi to establish a caste-free society. The resolution was proposed by Sarpanch Sharad Argade and seconded by resident Babasaheb Bhodak. The proposal was approved with a majority vote. It includes a penalty for behaviour that violates the Constitution’s ethos. The sarpanch said everyone must follow the new rule. He explained: “These rules are in no way in contravention of laws and the Constitution.”