WEDNESDAY 09 JULY, 2025 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE ONLY 53% OF CLASS 6 STUDENTS KNOW TABLES UP TO 10: GOVT N - FAC I L I T I E S DON, BIBI TAKE VICTORY LAP The findings were a part of a survey by Education Ministry covering 21,15,022 students in Grades 3, 6 and 9, spread across 74,229 schools in India Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu told President Donald Trump he was nominating the US leader for a Nobel Peace Prize as they hailed their joint strikes on Iran. HALF OF CLASS 3 KIDS KNOW SUBTRACTION A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS PAGE 9 NEW DELHI   J8.00  Only 55% of students in Class 3 can arrange numbers up to 99 in ascending or descending order while 58% can perform addition and subtraction of two-digit numbers. In Class 6, 53% of students know addition and multiplication tables up to 10 and can apply four basic operations on whole numbers to solve problems. | P7 PAGES 12 Ahead of election, Nitish tweaks job quota for women Restricts 35% reservation for women in govt employment to only those who hail from Bihar too, were appointed as teachers in government-run schools in Bihar WITH Bihar assembly elections under the quota. less than four months away the Ni, The decision to restrict the quotish Kumar government on Tues- ta came amid intense push for imday restricted the 35% quota in plementing the domicile policy by place for women in all government the Opposition. Leader of Opposijobs since 2016, to only those who tion Tejashwi Prasad Yadav had hail from the state. supported the domicile demand of The decision was seen as an at- job aspirants for teaching positempt by Nitish to further consoli- tions in government schools, who date his already strong female took out a protest march and held vote-bank. a demonstration in Patna A final call to enforce the recently . domicile criteria was taken This is the first instance at a meeting of the state of domicile policy being cabinet chaired by Chief implemented by the state Minister Nitish Kumar. government in the recent “Only women native of past. Union minister NityBihar will be eligible for anand Rai said, “The deciNitish Kumar 35% horizontal reservation sion will ultimately make in direct recruitment women from the state selfacross all government service cad- reliant and embolden them.” res in Bihar,” said S Siddharth, adIn another pre-poll sop, the the ditional chief secretary after the cabinet decided to set up a Bihar , meeting. Youth Commission to enhancejob Till now, women from outside opportunities for them. JD(U) the state, too, were beneficiaries of spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said the 35% reservation in govern- it will make the youth self-reliant, ment jobs. skilled and job-oriented. Siddharth said, “Women from However, Tejashwi accused the other states applying for Bihar Nitish government of ‘stealing’ government jobs will be treated as the promises made by the RJD. general category They will not get “The 20-year-old tired government . the benefit of 35% women’s reser- has no vision of its own. People vation.” Earlier, candidates from want to get rid of the government,” neighbouring UP and elsewhere, he told the media. R A M A S H A N K A R @ Patna MEMORABLE WELCOME PM Narendra Modi being welcomed upon his arrival in Brasília. The PM has been conferred with Brazil’s highest civilian award by President Lula da Silva for his contributions to strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries | PTI Fuel ban on old vehicles deferred in city until Nov 1 A S H I S H S R I V A S TA V A A N D P R A B H AT S H U K L A @ New Delhi CITING enforcement gaps and rising concerns over cross-border fuel misuse, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has deferred its directive to deny fuel to end-oflife (EoL) vehicles in Delhi. Originally scheduled to take effect on July 1, the restriction will now come into force on November 1, 2025. The decision was made at the 24th meeting of the full commission on Tuesday, following detailed deliberations with officials from the Delhi government and NCR states. The key reasons cited were addressing technological shortcomings in the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system and enabling simultaneous implementation in Delhi and five high-vehicle-density districts in the NCR—Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Gautam Buddha Nagar, and Sonipat. In a written communication dated July 3, Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa flagged operational issues, including faulty camera placement, malfunctioning sensors, and lack of integration with neighbouring states’ databases. He also warned that the stage-wise rollout could foster an illegal crossborder fuel economy as owners , of banned vehicles were bypassing the system by refuelling in NCR border areas. Backing the minister’s concerns, the Delhi chief secretary, in a letter to the CAQM, questioned the legal and constitutional fairness of enforcing TECH GLITCH, NCR DISTS WITH HIGH CAR DENSITY The Commission of Air Quality Management held deliberations with officials from Delhi govt and NCR states and cited tech shortcomings in the Automatic Number Plate Recognition system and enabling simultaneous implementation in Delhi and five high-vehicle-density NCR districts—Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Gautam Buddha Nagar, and Sonipat. geographically restricted EoL thresholds. He argued that defining EoL solely based on age without considering vehicle fitness or emissions performance was contrary to the spirit of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and would disproportionately impact middle-class owners. According to the original plan, Delhi was to be the first to deny fuel to old vehicles—diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years—using ANPR camera technology at fuel stations. The restriction was then to be extended to the high-vehicle-density districts of Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Gautam Buddha Nagar, and Sonipat by November 1, 2025, and to the rest of the NCR from April 1, 2026. However, other enforcement measures, including the impounding of banned vehicles, will continue to be implemented. “Strict action must be taken against such vehicles irrespective of whether they are identified via ANPR systems, manual checks, or any other method,” the CAQM noted. NCERT core books missing in city schools I F R A H M U F T I @ New Delhi FOUR months into the academic year, students from Classes 5 to 8 in Delhi government schools are still without NCERT textbooks— neither in classrooms nor online. Science and Yoga books for Class 5 have not reached the schools, while the books for Science, Maths, Yoga, and all vocational courses are still missing, sources said on Tuesday . The sources stated these books have not been published yet and will take another three weeks for publication, followed by another week to reach the schools. As parents scramble for answers and send desperate emails to the NCERT, the situation has turned into a full-blown crisis. The irony hit a peak on Monday when NCERT took to social media to celebrate the launch of a few Hindi and art books, only to be met with a barrage of criticism. Educators and parents alike accused the council of not even making the books available online so that children could get print outs. In 2024 too, the first two months of the academic year passed without the distribution of books to students. EXPRESS READ Cabinet nod to `900 cr for smart classrooms The Cabinet, chaired by CM Rekha Gupta, on Tuesday approved a digital classroom expansion plan, beginning with the installation of 2,446 smart blackboards in 75 CM Shri Schools. It also cleared an investment of `900 crore to upgrade infra and ensure NEP 2020 implementation. | P3 TRADE DEAL BALL IN U.S. COURT: INDIA D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi WITH the US government sending letters to over a dozen countries informing them of the reciprocal tariff they are likely to attract on exports to the US, the suspense over the trade deal with India continues. Even as President Donald Trump on Monday hinted that the US is hours away from announcing a deal with India, back home the government is in a wait-and-watch mode. “The ball is in the US court, we negotiated with the US officials, now it is up to them,” said an official, who refused to be identified. Citing the Vietnam trade deal announced by the US, the official said Trump has been unilaterally making a lot of announcements, which are later refutDonald Trump ed by the respective countries. The Indian government was confident of signing a limited deal by July 9, but with the US issuing a new deadline of August 1, the announcement may get delayed. The Indian government has maintained that it is not desperate for an early trade deal at the cost of the country’s interest. Dassault rubbishes Pak propaganda, says only one IAF Rafale crashed FATF: TERRORISTS ABUSED E-COMM SITES EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi THE protracted debate on loss of the Indian Air Force’s Rafale combat jets, which Pakistan claimed to have shot down, was debunked by the CEO of Dassault, which manufactures the fighter aircraft. Dassault Aviation Chairman and CEO Eric Trappier was quoted as saying that no Rafale was shot down in combat, but India had lost one aircraft due to technical failure, and a probe into it is currently on. Trappier was quoted by French website Avion De Chasse as saying that there was no enemy engagement in the loss of a Rafale. The incident “occurred at an altitude of over 12,000 metres during an extended training mission, with no enemy involvement or hostile radar contact,” the report said. Terror financing watchdog FATF cited the February 2019 Pulwama terror attack to point out that e-commerce platforms were misused by terror outfits. FATF said aluminium used in IED used in the 2019 attack was procured through Amazon by terror outfits Speaking specifically on Pakistan’s allegations that three Indian Dassault Rafales were reportedly shot down during the four-day Operation Sindoor launched by India, Trappier said the allegations were “inaccurate and unfounded”. Trappier took on Pakistan for false claims in a press conference on June 15, which Avion De Chasse reported. During the press conference, Trappier formally refuted the idea of an operational failure, quoting the Spectra electronic warfare systems that had not recorded any hostile engagements during the time slot in question. Further, the friend/foe identification devices and the flight logs transmitted to Dassault indicated no losses in actual combat, he said. As per the French Intelligence and military officials, it was China which was behind the smear campaign against the Rafale fighters. RCB PIP MI IPL’s business value worth over `155,000 cr S W A R O O P S W A M I N AT H A N @ Chennai THE business value of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has jumped by over 10 per cent in the last year, according to the global investment firm, Houlihan Lokey HL, who have come . out with yearly IPL brand valuation studies, held that IPL’s current business value stands at $18.5bn (over `155,000 cr; in 2024, it was $16.4bn). The firm said that the IPL’s brand value has also surged from $3.4bn to $3.9bn (over `32,000 cr). “This g r ow t h u n d e r s c o r e s t h e league’s expanding commercial appeal, global reach and deepening fan engagement,” the report said. The 18th edition of the league, won by Bengaluru franchise for the first time last month, helped the franchise become the No. 1 in terms of brand value in the 10-team league. Its brand value in 2025 stands at just under $270mn, up by 18.5% in the last 12 months. Chennai Super Kings, who had a blowout season, fell down to third place. In fact, out of all 10 teams, the franchise registered the lowest percentage gain (less than 2%) on a year on year basis. Punjab Kings, who advanced to the final, registered a whopping Brand values have increased for all 10 teams IPL CONTINUES TEAMS 2025 2024 CHANGE TEAMS 2025 2024 RCB MI CSK KKR SRH 18.5% 18.6% 1.7% 5.1% 16.7% DC RR GT PBKS LSG 269 227 242 204 235 231 227 216 154 132 152 146 142 141 122 CHANGE 131 16% 133 9.8% 124 14.5% 101 39.6% 91 34.1% All figures in $mn All data from Houlihan Lokey’s IPL Valuation Study 2025 (a copy of the report is with this daily) TO SHOW INCREASED BRAND AND BUSINESS VALUES (in $bn) 3.2 3.4 3.9 15.4 16.4 18.5 2023 2024 2025 Business Brand 39.6% jump in brand value. The IPL’s principal stakeholders like to compare themselves with the US’ Big Four and the EPL and HL maintain that they are expected to become bigger in the years to come as there are several built in advantages. “When benchmarked against global peers like EPL and NBA teams,” the report added, “that wrestle with high player transfer fees, variable wages and high stadium operating costs (including servicing stadium debt), IPL franchisees operate with an asset-light, revenue-guaranteed model, a structure that not only cushions downside risk but also amplifies operating leverage on the upside.” BALANCING ACT People use a raft made of banana stems to shift to a safer place from a floodaffected area at Dighal Jarani village in Hojai district, Assam, on Tuesday | PTI Indian nurse in Yemen to be executed on July 16 J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi INDIAN nurse Nimisha Priya, who was handed a death penalty in Yemen, will reportedly be executed on July 16, but her family said they have not received any information yet. Human rights activist Samuel Jerome who is part of the team to save her, told this paper, “a letter of execution has been issued and jail authorities have officially informed me of the date. I am now back in Yemen ... there is still hope if the victim’s family accepts the blood money Some people . have come forward again to help her.” There was no official word on the development. But sources told this newspaper, “Nimisha Priya was convicted for murder in Yemen in June 2018 and a local court handed out death sentence to her. We have been closely following the matter since then.” To my T h o mas, Nimisha’s husband, said Nimisha Priya “We haven’t received any official communication. We only learned about it through media reports and are waiting.” Samuel is involved in negotiations with Yemeni authorities and the family of the vict i m , Ta l a l A b d o M a h d i . According to reports, the Yemeni public prosecutor has issued an order scheduling the execution for July 16. The death sentence was upheld by Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council in November 2023. The ruling allowed for possibility of clemency by paying blood money to the victim’s family This aspect . is the focus of Nimisha Priya Action Council, which is working to save her life.