SATURDAY 22 NOVEMBER, 2025 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard GOVT REOPENS TOURIST VISA ACCESS FOR CHINESE NATIONALS MOSCOW TO KYIV ‘NEGOTIATE NOW OR LOSE MORE’ In further signs of thaw, Chinese nationals will now be able to apply for tourist visas through Indian missions and consulates around the world People-centric steps key to strong ties The Kremlin on Friday warned Zelenskyy to enter negotiations “now” or lose more territory after the US sent Kyiv a peace plan heeding to Moscow’s demands. A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS PAGE 9 Unions growl, India Inc weighs 4 Labour Codes’ notification THE Centre on Friday notified the four Labour Codes pending since 2020, ushering in several workerfriendly measures such as universal social security and timely minimum wage, while also trying to make life easy for companies in terms of compliance and paper work. In all, 29 older labour laws were streamlined into four Labour Codes—the Code on Wages, 2019; the Industrial Relations Code, 2020; the Code on Social Security 2020; and the , Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020. According to the government, these codes will bring improvements in wages, workplace safety social se, curity equality and employee rights , , across several sectors. In a first, gig workers have been formally brought under the social security framework. Towards this, aggregators such as Zomato, Swiggy, and Uber will have to contribute 1-2% of their annual turnover. Among the other key reforms are mandatory appointment letters to workers to ensure formalisation and job security, expanded rights and safety for women, including nightshift work and mandatory grievance committees, and free annual health check-ups for workers above 40. Migrant workers in the textile sector, will get equal wages and welfare benefits. They can raise claims for up to three years to settle pending dues, and overtime must be paid at double the wage rate. As for companies, their compliance burden has been eased with the number of returns to file, number of records to keep, and the number of licences to obtain being cut down to size. Also, the retrenchment rules have been relaxed, triggering angry reactions from trade unions. A joint platform of 10 central trade unions called for a nationwide protest on November 26 demanding the withdrawal of the codes, terming them “anti-worker” and “pro-employer”. Some trade unions welcomed the reforms. While the government claims the move will go a long way in ease of doing business, it will also increase the operating costs for companies 1 29 CODE OF WAGES 4 2 J8.00  PAGES 12 Combo videograbs of IAF’s Tejas Mark 1 Light Combat Aircraft crashing in a ball of fire during an aerial display at the Dubai Air Show on Friday | PTI TEJAS CRASH AT DUBAI SHOW M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi A showpiece Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mark 1 of the Indian Air Force crashed during an aerial display on the last day of the Dubai Air Show-2025 on Friday. The pilot, identified as Wing Commander Namansh Syal, sustained fatal injuries in the accident. The IAF mourned his untimely loss. A court of inquiry is being constituted to ascertain the cause of the accident. The plane crashed around 2.10 pm local time (3.40 pm IST) during the demonstration flight. The aerial display of Tejas was scheduled to last eight minutes. Videos the accident showed the Tejas suddenly dropping height after a low-altitude manoeuvre. It failed to recover from the dive, hit the ground and was comprehensive Labour Codes Establishes a statutory right to minimum wages for all, including those in unorganised sector Review of minimum wages every 5 years  Equal remuneration to male and female workers CODE ON SOCIAL SECURITY Benefit of pension scheme to all workers of organised, unorganised and self-employed sectors Employees engaged on fixed term (contract) to get same social security benefit as permanent employees Social security fund for the unorganised sector engulfed in a ball of fire within the airfield of the Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central. A post from the @PIBFactCheck handle on Thursday had dismissed claims that a Tejas at the DubaiAirshow 2025 had suffered an oil leak. The post said “intentional draining of condensed water from the aircraft’s Environmental Control System (ECS) and OnBoard Oxygen Generating System (OBOGS)” was erroneously interpreted as an oil leak. At the time of going to print, it was not clear whether the plane in question was the same one that crashed on Friday . There were two Tejas planes in Dubai, one static and the other for aerial display . Manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, the Tejas is a platform for air combat and of- fensive air support. Reconnaissance and anti-ship operations are its secondary roles. Friday’s accident is the second involving Tejas in two years. The first one crashed in Jaisalmer in Rajasthan on March 12, 2024 while returning from a triservices exercise in the Pokhran desert. However, that pilot managed to eject safely . Tejas are set to be the mainstay of the IAF, which has already inducted 36 of the 40 LCA Tejas Mk1 that were initially ordered. In 2021, the IAF ordered 83 more LCA Tejas Mk 1A at a cost of `46,000 crore. In November 2023, the defence ministry gave initial approval to procure an additional batch of 97 Tejas jets for the IAF. The Congress mourned the tragedy with Rahul Gandhi posting on X: “Deeply saddened by the loss of our brave IAF pilot in the Tejas crash in Dubai.” Deeply anguished at the loss of a brave and courageous IAF pilot during an aerial display in Dubai Air Show. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family. The nation stands firmly with the family in this tragic hour Rajnath Singh, Union defence minister No respite from traffic jam near SC for 2 weeks 3 OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY, HEALTH, AND WORKING CONDITIONS CODE Creating safe working conditions in businessfriendly environment Mandatory, free annual health check-up of workers Database of migrant workers 4 SUICIDE DEATH Four students quizzed, cops to question teachers today BIG-BANG LABOUR REFORMS labour laws streamlined into NEW DELHI WING COMMANDER NAMANSH SYAL SUSTAINS FATAL INJURIES Minimum wage and social security for all, including gig workers; retrenchment rules eased for employers E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi  Issuance of visas to Chinese nationals was suspended following the start of a military stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh that began in May 2020. This follows efforts by India and China to rebuild ties after the resolution of the eastern Ladakh military stand-off. The two nations have agreed on several people-centric steps of late. P7 INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS CODE Allows direct, time-bound contracts with full parity in wages, benefits; gratuity eligibility after one year Re-skilling fund to train retrenched employees; amount equal to 15 days’ wages for every worker retrenched due to higher minimum wages and greater accountability on safety and working conditions. The next step is framing the rules. As labour is a concurrent subject, the Centre and states have to frame laws and rules. P10 Road damage caused by a burst pipeline on Mathura Road near Supreme Court on Friday | PARVEEN NEGI A burst pipeline on Mathura Road near the Supreme Court has been causing major traffic congestion for at least 15 days now. The already traffic-heavy area is seeing an increase in vehicles on the road due to the ongoing Trade Fair at the Bharat Mandapam. This situation has led to reckless driving and potential risk of accidents. This pot-hole-like situation remains unaddressed despite the confusion and chaos caused on the road especially during peak hours. E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi DELHI Police on Friday questioned four students of a private school after a Class X student leaped to his death from Rajendra Place metro station. Police said that they have questioned four classmates of the deceased. They were asked if they are aware of the issues the boy had been facing and other things related to him. The deceased’s father submitted a complaint, following NHRC which a case unseeks der relevant secreport tions was lodged. He named the NHRC has headmistress and issued a notice three teachers in to the district magistrate and his complaint. “We will ques- the deputy tion the headmis- commissioner tress and three of police of the teachers, who are Central Delhi named in the FIR, asking them to on Saturday. We investigate and have also pre- submit an served the CCTV action footage of the taken report school as well as within 10 days. other areas, including metro premises, where the boy had gone that day. We have already spoken to the family members,” the officer said. The incident took place on Tuesday. The student jumped from the platform of Rajendra Nagar metro station onto the main road around 2.30 pm. Police reached the spot and rushed him to a hospital where he was declared dead. The headmistress and three teachers of the school were suspended on Thursday following registration of the FIR. The boy had left behind a note alleging prolonged harassment by the teachers. The student’s well-wishers staged an angry protest outside the premises on Thursday seeking , action against the school staff. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the district magistrate and the deputy commissioner of police of the Central Delhi asking them investigate and submit an action taken report within ten days. P3 SCAN AMMONIUM Haryana to set up ATS after Ashes, Bradman and power of imagination NITRATE SALES & Faridabad univ’s ‘links’ with USED CAR BUY: L-G Red Fort explosion surface LEGEND OF THE DON R R A J E S H K U M A R @ Sydney T HE Ashes is upon us. Cricket’s most storied rivalry inevitably brings to mind the greatest batter the game has known. Donald Bradman—whom even Nelson Mandela regarded as “one of the divinities”— made an unparalleled 5,028 runs in these Tests. This included, of course, that famous second-ball duck in his final innings. That small failure meant that the rarest of Nature’s creatures, a genius with an eye for business—as R.C. Ro b e r t s o n - G l a s g o w summed him up—finished with 6,996 runs at an average of 99.94. Another four runs and the Don’s average would have read an even 100. The travesty! What many Indian readers may find heart-stirring is how the destiny of the cricket’s champion bat was forged far from the grand stadiums we know today—in Bowral, a quiet, almost meditative town around 116 km from Sydney. Walking through Bowral recently one could sense how , the rhythms of the place shaped the boy who would make batting immortal. At 52 Shepherd Street, lovingly restored by a former owner to recre- ate the Don’s early life, Bradman honed his skills in the most homegrown of ways. He practised by throwing a golf ball at the curved water tank in the backyard and hitting it on the rebound with a cricket stump he had fashioned into a bat. “The golf ball came back at him at lightning speed and it helped him develop amazing reflexes,” Australian cricketer Arthur Mailey observed of the Don’s childhood. Bowral was also where his mother, Emily Bradman, sent down leftarm deliveries to her young son— an image that feels instantly familiar to countless Indian households where cricket dreams begin in bylanes and backyards. CONTINUED ON P11 E X P R E S S R E A D HC judge recuses self ‘Vote theft’: Delhi cops Fest marred by stir as from Azam Khan case arrest MP Congman Manipur MP, SP spar Justice Sameer Jain of the Allahabad High Court on Friday recused himself from hearing Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mohammad Azam Khan’s case regarding forcible eviction in 2016 from Yatim Khana at Rampur. P4 Delhi Police arrested a Congress worker from his village in MP’s Narsinghpur on Friday over a tweet. The Cong man had posted a video of a procession in Rajasthan and falsely called it as protest against vote theft. The Sangai Festival in Manipur began on Friday amid protests even as the Rajya Sabha member and titular king Leishemba Sanajaoba accused an IPS officer of barging into his residential complex, a charge dismissed by cops. P8 A N U P V E R M A @ New Delhi H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR V K Saxena has asked the police commissioner and the chief secretary to carry out a series of preventive measures after the November 10 Red Fort blast that killed 13 people. The attack, carried out by a “suicide bomber”, involved ammonium nitrate among the explosives used. In written directions issued on November 19 to Police Commissioner Satish Golcha and Chief Secretary Rajeev Verma, Saxena called for stricter monitoring of ammonium nitrate, security audits across crowded public places, and consultations with social media platforms to track radicalised content. According to the communication, the police were to “maintain a digital record of entities purchasing and selling Ammonium Nitrate beyond a certain threshold, including photographs of buyers and sellers”. He has asked the police chief to revisit the Standing Order of 2022, which governs the licencing, sale, storage, and transport of the chemical under the Delhi Police Act, Explosives Act, and the Ammonium Nitrate Rules. Saxena has also directed cops to hold consultations with Meta and X to enable “scientific tracking of radicalised content aimed at brainwashing citizens”. The administration has been asked to build a central database of doctors and paramedical staff employed in hospitals, especially private facilities, along with their medical degrees. P3 FOLLOWING the November 10 Delhi blast and the discovery of Faridabad “white-collar terror module” linked to it, the Haryana Police has fast-tracked its plan to establish an anti-terrorist squad (ATS) with focus on Islamic extremists and Khalistani separatist networks. Sources said that the new ATS structure will rest on three coordinated wings—intelligence gathering, complex investigations, and field operations modeled after the units across the country . The ATS will mainly focus on the NCR, which comprises 14 districts of Haryana, including Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonepat and Jhajjar—a belt that has repeatedly figured in national security alerts. A senior official indicated that the headquarters of ATS might be set up either at Panchkula or Gurugram. The ATS, officials say marks a generational shift in state’s approach to counter-terror ops: integrat- ing intel, investigation, and operational capacity within a singular, high-tech framework. “The commandos at ATS disposal will be trained for precision operations based on information from field and digital surveillance,” said a senior police officer. Haryana DGP, OP Singh said, “Our effort is to scan every layer—analogue and digital—for the earliest signs of mobilisation. We want to transition from reactive policing to proactive, intelligenceled disruption of threats.” Sources added that each of over 150 police stations in NCR districts will dedicate at least one “security agent” solely for the purpose of terror-intelligence collection.