SATURDAY 15 AUGUST, 2026 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard The Morning Standard wishes its readers a Rescue personnel at the under-construction tunnel in Chamoli | PTI 7 DEAD IN CHAMOLI TUNNEL TRAGEDY A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI  EXPRESS ILLUSTRATION Expanded questionnaire includes Aadhaar, voter ID, bank a/cs, DL Caste to debut in Census as open-ended question M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi THE Centre on Friday notified a 40 questions for the second phase of Census 2027, including for the first time an openended caste question for every respondent, in addition to the enumeration of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The notification, issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs under the seal of Registrar General and Census Commissioner Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, lists “Scheduled Caste (SC)/Scheduled Tribe (ST)/Caste” as Question No. 10 in the population enumeration schedule. Of ficials said the caste column will remain open-ended, with enumerators recording the exact caste or sub-caste declared by the respondent. The format was retained after a pre-test conducted from July 1 to 20 across 16 states and Union Territories, during which nonSC/ST respondents were also asked to state their caste. The expanded questionnaire significantly widens the data No drop-down list The questionnaire is unlikely to carry a list of castes, and responses will be recorded as shared by respondents. The decision to include caste enumeration was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on April 30 last year net. Besides basic demographic and socio-economic particulars, enumerators will collect identification and service details, including Aadhaar numbers, mobile numbers, voter ID, passport and driving licence infor mation where applicable. Enumeration will begin on August 17 in Ladakh and the snow-bound regions of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, ahead of the nationwide exercise scheduled for February 2027. The expanded questionnaire is expected to make Census 2027 one of the most compre- hensive population data-collection exercises undertaken in the country officials said. , The 40 questions cover name, a g e, sex, marital status, spouse’s name, nationality, religion, caste or tribe and parents’ details. Education-related queries include literacy digital , literacy, institutional attendance and the highest level attained. Language data will record mother tongue and other languages known. Employment questions will capture work status in the preceding year, occupation, industry or service sector, class of worker, job-seeking status and travel to the workplace. Migration particulars will include place of birth, previous residence, reasons for migration, duration of stay and permanent address. Among the notable additions for population enumeration are questions on the place of Covid-19 vaccination, the total number of bank accounts and the availability of Aadhaar, mobile, digital literacy voter I, card, passport and driving licence details. Enumerators will ask for birthplace of respondents, place of last residence, reason for migration, duration of stay in a village/town, and permanent residential address Note from Registrar General CENSUS: 2027 PHASE II QUESTIONS Name of the person Relationship to family head Sex Date of birth and age (in completed years) Current marital status Age at marriage (in completed years) Spouse name Nationality as declared Religion Scheduled Caste (SC)/ Scheduled Tribe (ST)/Caste Father’s particulars Mother’s particulars Disability Mother tongue and other languages known Literacy and digital literacy status Highest educational level attained and Stream/Discipline Permanent residential address Total bank accounts Mobile number Aadhaar number Voter ID number Driving licence S L A L I T H A @ New Delhi ALL DECKED UP EXPRESS READ 12-minute ad cap for TV channels removed The government has removed the 12-minute advertisement duration cap for TV channels. The cap was introduced in 2006 under the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994. “In view of the changes that have occurred in the TV broadcasting sector, a need was felt to revisit the stipulations...,” said officials. UGC-NET results to be declared on Sunday The National Testing Agency on Friday said that the provisional answer keys for the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) would be published on Sunday. The computer-based UGC-NET is held twice in a year and decides admissions to PhD programmes and junior research fellowships. IN the second instance of a hydraulics glitch on board an Air India flight within 10 days, pilots of an A320 flight from Bangkok to New Delhi were forced to abort the takeoff on Thursday (August 13) evening when they detected the malfunction while taxiing to the runway at the Bangkok airport. The pilot announced it over the public address system to keep the fliers in the loop. An airline source conceded “a hydraulic malfunction” took place on Flight AI 2335 but added that the pilot was not supposed to announce it. On August 4, a cruising A320 Phuket-Delhi flight suffered three hydraulic failures with- E X C L U S I V E in two seconds. It led to a steep descent resulting in injuries to 24 flyers, the initial analysis report of Airbus revealed. A hydraulic malfunction refers to a loss of pressurised fluid power used to move flight controls, landing gear, brakes, or in some cases, a total shutdown of the equipment. The AI 2335, with over 250 passengers, was scheduled to take off at 6.25 pm Bangkok time (4.55 pm IST) on Thursday It finally took off at . 7 pm local time on Friday . Rajiv Gambhir, a Delhi-based businessman, who also owns an aircraft, told this paper, “The flight was moving for take-off when we heard a loud screeching halt. The pilot announced there was a hydraulic failure. It worried us.” The flight was left standing on one of the side bays near the runway P8 . JNU professor’s talk at city school called off I F R A H M U F T I @ New Delhi A scheduled lecture by political scientist Zoya Hasan at Sardar Patel Vidyalaya was cancelled on Friday after members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad allegedly gathered outside the school campus to protest. The lecture was part of an Independence Day event, during which she was scheduled to speak on pluralism at 10 am on Friday . The school has not issued any official public statement on the cancellation. Its principal did not respond to calls. The school had not made the event announcement public, but an invite was shared with parents. Hasan had also con- sented to be the chief guest for the Independence Day event and hoist the national flag. As per the invite, students were to be awarded scholarships during the event. The decision was reportedly taken after the school received input from the police about the potential law and order issues. Speaking t o t h i s newspaper, Hasan said, “Last night, I had received a message that a car would come to pick me up and there would be two teachers who would escort me at 8:45 am. But, the car didn’t come, and instead, at 9:30 am, the school manager came to my house to tell me that my lecture had been cancelled.” PAGES 12 SATELLITE IMAGERY Drought stress in 64% of farmland J I T E N D R A C H O U B E Y @ New Delhi Second instance of AI flight hydraulic fault in 10 days Visitors walk down the Kartavya Path overlooking the illuminated India Gate on the eve of the 80th Independence Day in New Delhi on Friday | PTI | P3  J8.00 Rescue teams on Friday raced against time to reach three workers who went missing after debris and water flodded a tunnel under construction at a hydroelectric project site in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, killing seven others. Survivors recalled hearing a blast-like sound before a surge of water and debris on Thursday | PTI | P8 ‘Cap daily screen time of students in Noida’ E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi THE district administration of Gautam Budh Nagar has asked schools in Noida and Greater Noida to cap daily screen time for students during teaching. It said only 30 minutes should be allotted for students at the primary level and 60 minutes for upper-primary students. The decision came following complaints that children in several schools were exposed for four to five hours a day to smart and digital boards. The directions apply to all government, government-aided and private schools. The administration said that parents’ associations had complained that smart and digital boards were being used continuously for teaching, including for displaying textbooks. THE latest satellite imagery from the ICARIndian Agricultural Research Institute’s CREAMS Lab indicates that as of August 12, as much as 64% of the country’s agricultural area is experiencing drought stress due to insufficient rainfall. India has completed 92% of its normal kharif sowing in the ongoing monsoon season, which means the standing crops are at risk as the rainfall deficiency increases. A significant portion of the country is experiencing mild drought, with regions also affected by moderate, severe, and extreme drought. The CREAMS Lab’s report highlights that the major food-producing states of Punjab, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, and Tamil Nadu fall in the extreme drought category . The area affected is currently 38% more than it was in the same period last year, reflecting increased agricultural stress. Despite some improvement in rainfall during the month of August, the country has recorded a total rainfall deficiency of 13% since June 1, with South and East India facing the highest levels of deficiency . According to the report, rainfall deficits and soil-water shortages are major contributors to dryness, particularly across parts of Central, Western, and Peninsular India. Satellite imagery also shows emerging vegetation and signs of evaporative stress, suggesting localised crop moisture deficiency . East, NE worst off As of August 14, rainfall deficiency was 12.6%. Highest deficiencies are in East and Northeast regions (-27%), followed by Southern Peninsula (-20%), whereas the Northwest recorded -11% rain deficiency Most hit crops Deficient rains pulled down kharif area by 2.1 million hectares. The biggest fall in sowing was in ragi (-34%), followed by tur (-4.03%), rice (-3.65%), and soybean (-1.44%) City brought under tight security cover EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi THE Delhi Police has made tight security arrangement for the 80th Independence Day The . police, working in conjunction with paramilitary forces and the National Security Guards, has created multiple rings of security around the Red Fort and nearby areas, deploying up to 20,000 personnel. This year, security agencies are taking special care, given that a bomb blast took place in a car outside the Red Fort last November, killing 13 people. Senior of ficials said that smooth crowd management has been factored into the security plan. Police are using artificial intelligence (AI) for tracking movement of people inside and outside the Red Fort premises and installed more than 1,000 CCTV cameras. The police held detailed discussions with concerned agencies to advance the security arrangements. Dedicated response teams have been placed at strategic locations to offer quick response in case suspicious activities are detected either through human observations or AI analysis. P3