saturdAY Govt panel to check fairness of entrance exams, need for coaching 21 The Ministry of Education has set up a panel to suggest ways to reduce students’ dependency on coaching centres for transition to higher education june, 2025 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard r e s i g n at i o n c a l l s Thai PM visits Cambodia border To plug Gaps in current schooling system Paetongtarn Shinawatra visited the border with Cambodia on Friday as she faced resignation calls following a leaked phone call. A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS Page 9 l New Delhi l J8.00 l “The committee will examine the gaps in the current schooling system that contribute to students’ reliance on coaching centres, particularly the limited focus on critical thinking, logical reasoning, analytical skills and innovation and prevalence of rote learning practices,” news agency PTI quoted a senior Ministry of Education official as saying on Friday | P7 PAGES 12 Iran eases curbs to fly out 1,000 stranded Indians Declined Trump’s invite to US to be in the land of Mahaprabhu, says Modi J ayan t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said he declined US President Donald Trump’s invitation for a visit to Washington since he did not want to miss being in Odisha, the sacred land of Mahaprabhu Jagannath. Addressing the gathering here to mark the first anniversary of the BJP government in the state, Modi said it was more important for him to be in the land of Jagannath. “Two days ago, I was in Canada for the G7 Summit when I received a call from Trump. He said since you are already in Canada, why don’t you come down to Washington... I told him it was very important for me to visit the land of Lord Jagannath and declined his offer,” Modi said. IN a major diplomatic move, Iran has eased its airspace restrictions to facilitate the evacuation of Indian nationals stranded there amid escalating conflict. The decision, described as a special gesture by Iranian authorities, allows India to operate emergency evacuation flights to bring its citizens home safely . Three special flights operated by Iran’s Mahan Air will carry 1,000 Indians, including a large number of students, pilgrims, and others, from Iran’s Mashhad and Ashgabat to New Delhi, diplomatic sources said. The first flight will reach India on Friday at 11.30 pm. The other two flights will land at 3.00 am and 4.30 pm on Saturday . The evacuation effort comes under Operation Sindhu, which successfully brought back 110 Indian students from Iran. The students were first moved to Armenia, from there flown to Doha, and finally arrived in Delhi on Thursday morning. Iran’s deputy chief of EU-Iran talks in Geneva mission in New Delhi, Mohammad Javad HosIranian Foreign seini, on Friday reiteratMinister Abbas ed Tehran’s commitment Araghchi on Friday to the safety of foreign held talks with his nationals and highlighted British, French, the cooperation between German, and Iran and India in times of European Union crisis. He said about counterparts, in 10,000 Indians are living Geneva, marking a in Iran and those wishing fresh bid by Europe to return are being evacuto revive dialogue ated, hinting at more on Tehran’s nuclear evacuation flights ahead. programme The evacuation comes amid mounting regional instability as the conflict between Iran and Israel entered the eighth day on Friday Iran . continued to launch ballistic missiles at Israel, hitting buildings in Haifa and injuring 31. Israel said it carried out air strikes targeting Iran’s missile launchers. Meanwhile, several Indians remain stranded in both Iran and Israel. Journalist Raavish Zaidi, a Lucknow native, had a narrow escape when an Israeli missile struck his office inside the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting headquarters in Tehran. His father Amir Abbas Zaidi rued that Raavish could not attend the last rites of his mother, who passed away a few days ago in Lucknow. Shia cleric Maulana Saif Abbas said he was approached by several families whose relatives are stranded in Iran. He said many families travelled to Iran for pilgrimage. “Unfortunately war broke out. Thousands are stuck... , and running out of essentials,” he said.  P9 (With inputs from Namita Bajpai in Lucknow) Axiom-4 put off launch date given, yet again No new ISRO decides to recall Gr Captains Shukla and Nair Two days before the launch of the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) Space Mission on June 22, Axiom Space on Friday announced its indefinite postponement. The Axiom Space, which is spearheading the 14-day Ax-4 Space Mission to the International Space Station with four astronauts from the US, India, Poland and Hungary, has not given the next launch date. After this, the ISRO decided to recall Ax-4 mission pilot Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and reserve crew Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair. | P7 E x p ress N e w s S erv i c e @ Bhubaneswar leeds from front India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and captain Shubman Gill score hundreds in the first Test against England at Leeds on Friday. Gill became the fifth Indian to score a hundred in the first Test as leader. India scored 359 for 3 on Day 1 | AP | P11 Tharoor on fresh diplomatic push, leaves for Russia 2-week assignment handed by Modi comes at a time when Pak-US axis is building up Pree t ha N a i r @ New Delhi Days after wrapping up a multi-nation tour on Operation Sindoor, the Centre has assigned Congress MP Shashi Tharoor a second round of diplomatic outreach to countries such as Russia, the UK and possibly Greece, said sources. The Thiruvananthapuram MP who left for Moscow on Fri, day, is on a two-week mission, said sources familiar with the developments. The mission aims to further bolster India’s position among all-weather allies and to amplify the country’s voice, said sources. During the twoweek trip, Tharoor will be liaising with Indian diplomatic missions in various countries. His visit to Russia assumes significance amid the softening of the ties between the US and Pakistan. India has reasons to worry after Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, recently held a one-on-one meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House for more than two hours. Sources said that the government was keen on sending Tharoor for another round of diplomatic push as the all-party delegation led by him was considered as one of the most im- pactful ones. The team led by Tharoor has also visited the United States, where they met Vice President J D Vance and Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. During the meeting with Landau, the Tharoor-led delegation explained to him India’s stance against terrorism, with Operation Sindoor being launched in response to the brutal April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Tharoor and all the other members of the all-party delegations of Operation Sindoor at his residence, 7 Lok Kalyan Marg last Tuesday, sources said that the PM held a separate meeting with Tharoor the next evening. “T he PM spoke with Tharoor for an hour on the new assignment and his responsibilities,” said the source. During his meeting with the MPs, the PM is learnt to have said that such endeavours could be institutionalised in future. Tharoor, who is the head of the standing committee of the External Affairs Ministry, has also chaired the meeting of the panel on June 17. It was not clear whether Tharoor had informed the Congress leadership about the new diplomatic mission. succession Dalai may name reincarnation on July 2 Ba l a Chauhan @ Bengaluru The ageing Dalai Lama, Tibet’s highest spiritual leader, will make an important announcement, most likely on his reincarnation on July 2, four days before he turns 90. Speaking to this paper, Penpa Tsering, president of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) revealed that the Dalai will make an “important announcement on July 2. It is likely to be on his reincarnation.” The Dalai is scheduled to meet senior leaders of the four Buddhist sects - Sakya, Kagyu, Nyingma and Gelug between July 2 and 4 at Dharamshala, the headquarters of the CTA. The identity of the Dalai’s reincarnation is keenly awaited not only by Tibetans but by people in the Himalayan region as well, from Lhasa to Arunachal Pradesh, as they look up to him as their spiritual guide. China, too, wants to know, as it sees the Dalai as a separatist leader and symbol of Tibetan resistance. In March 2011, the Dalai relinquished his role as the political head of the Tibetans in exile and handed it over to the CTA. He had said that his successor will be born in a free world, in a clear message to China on claim on having the sole right to choose the next Dalai Lama. “It is important to remember that the Dalai is not only the leader of all the Tibetans, but also of one million Indian Himalayans,” noted Tibetologist Claude Arpi said. It is not up to a Marxist govt in China to decide on the highly esoteric and spiritual issue of the Dalai Lama’s successor... But the succession has important implications for Beijing’s control over Tibet Claude Arpi, Tibetologist 300 passbooks linked to classroom scam seized M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized more than 300 passbooks, linked to mule bank accounts opened in the names of labourers, which were allegedly used for diverting Delhi government funds sourced from the classroom-construction scam during the previous AAP government, officials said on Friday . ED officials had conducted searches in connection with the case at 37 locations in Delhi on June 18, as AAP termed the move as an attempt to divert attention. The ED registered Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), which is equivalent to a police FIR, under PMLA and it was based on an FIR registered by the Anti-Corruption Branch of Delhi on April 30 against AAP leaders and former ministers in the cabinet of Arvind Kejriwal, including Manish Sisodia, Saty- ` endar Jain and others. Later in a statement, a copy of which is with this newspaper, ED said, “It has unearthed incriminating evidence from the premises of a private contractor. Among the materials seized were original departmental files belonging to the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, as well as rubber stamps bearing names and designations of PWD officials.” The officials also found that “322 bank passbooks linked to mule accounts (used for transacting illicit funds) opened in the names of labourers used to divert government funds under the guise of legitimate transactions”, the ED said in the statement. ED said the case pertains to financial misappropriation exceeding `2,000 crore in the construction of 12,748 classrooms by PWD between 2015 and 2023. ACB grills Sisodia for 3 hrs |P4 moving moment President Droupadi Murmu gets emotional as visually impaired kids sing a song on her 67th birthday at the National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Visual Disabilities in Dehradun. | PTI express read Recovery agents take away 7-yr-old K’taka girl A seven-year-old girl from a village in Karnataka’s Mandya district was allegedly taken away by microfinance recovery agents over a pending loan installment of `1,280. The child’s parents had taken a `30,000 loan from the microfinance firm. The parents were repaying loan for 13 months, but delayed the latest one. | P5 5 arrested in fake marksheet and degree rackets e x p ress ne ws serv i c e @ New Delhi DELHI Police on F riday claimed to have busted a fake degree racket by arresting five people and recovering over 200 documents from their possession. According to the police, they received a tip-off regarding a group of educational institutions in Delhi-NCR issuing fake degrees by charging hefty amounts from students. These degrees, often backdated, were claimed to be from various universities across the country. Preliminary inquiry revealed the involvement of several coaching centre owners and university staff. Police apprehended Vicky Harjani, the owner of an institute in Netaji Subhash Place. A search of his vehicle and office yielded 75 forged documents from universities across UP Ut, tarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Sikkim, Meghalaya, and Tamil Nadu, Special Commissioner of Police (Crime) DC Srivastav said. Following Harjani’s interrogation, four more people— Vivek Gupta, Satbir Singh, Narayan Jee, and Avnish Kansal—were also held. Delhi may study Mumbai Dharavi model for slum redevelopment in city, says CM ‘Razing houses not my govt aim’ On the ongoing demolitions in parts of the city, CM Rekha Gupta said that in some places, razing structures becomes unavoidable to settle residents in an orderly manner. The CM said that demolishing houses is not her govt’s aim. A nu p V erma @ New Delhi As slum demolitions sparked a political tussle between the ruling BJP and opposition parties, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Friday said that the government is studying Mumbai’s Dharavi model to draw up plans for the national capital’s slum redevelopment. The CM described the court-ordered demolitions as a part of the orderly settlement of slum dwellers. Speaking to reporters in Shalimar Bagh, she said, “We will not let anything happen to the slum dwellers of Delhi who have been permanent residents here for years.” However, she cautioned, “If you construct a house near a railway line, the CM will not save you. I urge people to think about safety and security. If a railway accident happens or If you construct a house near a railway line, the CM will not save you. I urge people to think about safety and security. Rekha Gupta, Chief Minister someone dies on the railway track, who’ll be responsible?” Explaining the demolitions in parts of the city she said that , in some places, razing structures becomes unavoidable to settle residents in an orderly manner. Gupta asserted that demolishing houses was not her government’s aim. “But it should not be that we keep on giving homes and people do not vacate slums,” she added. The CM also criticised the previous AAP government for doing little to support the rehabilitation of slum dwellers. “Slum dwellers were not shifted to 50,000 flats that were built for their rehabilitation. The flats remained vacant even after residents deposited money for alternative accommodation,” Gupta said. The AAP has, however, claimed that its government never disturbed any slum dweller without making alternative arrangements. It had built thousands of flats under Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board, the AAP claimed.