MONDAY CCTV CAMERAS IN TRAINS TO ENHANCE PASSENGER SAFETY 14 JULY, 2025 74,000 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard In a first, the Ministry of Railways has decided to install CCTV cameras in all passenger train coaches and locomotives COACHES AND 15,000 LOCOMOTIVES WILL BE FITTED WITH CCTV CAMERAS X.com/TheMornStandard ISRAEL STRIKE KILLS AT LEAST 30 IN GAZA VAISHNAV ASKS OFFICIALS TO MAKE USE OF AI Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip killed at least 30 people on Sunday, including six children at a water collection point, local health officials said. A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS PAGE 09  NEW DELHI  J8.00 Khalistani terrorist Batala, 7 others arrested in US H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh IN a major crackdown on international terror network, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested eight Khalistani terrorists across the US, including Pavittar Singh Batala—a gangster from Punjab wanted by the National Investigation Agency for terror activities linked to the banned Babbar Khalsa International. The eight men were picked up from San Joaquin County during an investigation into a gang-related kidnapping and torture case. During the raid, a been charged with various ofcache of arms including a fully fences including kidnapping, automatic Glock, hundreds of torture, unlawful confinement, rounds of ammuniwitness intimidation, tion, several high-caassault with a semipacity magazines, and automatic firearm, isover $15,000 in cash suing criminal were seized. threats, and gang-reBatala had an Interlated enhancements. pol Red Corner Notice “On July 11, the San against him. The othJoaquin County Sherer arrested men are iff ’s Office AGNET Amritpal Singh, Dil- Pavittar Singh Batala Unit—alongside the preet Singh, ArshStockton Police Depreet Singh, Manpreet Rand- partment SWAT, Manteca Pohawa, Gurtaj Singh, Sarabjit lice Department SWAT, StanisSingh, and Vishal. They have laus County Sheriff ’s Office SWAT and FBI SWAT—executed five coordinated search warrants across San Joaquin County as part of a gang-related kidnapping and torture investigation,” the San Joaquin County Sheriff ’s Office said. NIA sources said they are in touch with their US counterparts for Batala’s extradition. The accused used virtual numbers and encrypted apps to promote a pro-Khalistan network. The module was reportedly operating under the instructions of terrorist Harwinder Singh Rinda. Missing for a wk, student found dead in Yamuna N I T I N R A W AT @ New Delhi THE body of a 19-year-old Delhi University student, who went missing a week ago, was found floating on the Yamuna River near Geeta colony on Sunday evening, police officials said. DCP (South) Ankit Chauhan said that on July 7, Sneha Debnath went missing from Paryavaran Complex. A note recovered by the family indicated her intention to jump from the Signature Bridge. A cab driver confirmed dropping her at the bridge, where her last known location was found. Some eyewitnesses stated that they saw a girl standing on the bridge, and she was later found missing, the DCP said, adding that a search was conducted from Nigam Bodh Ghat to Noida. Sneha’s friends said that she had been upset for the past few months and had dropped an email and WhatsApp messages that morning, police said. She had left the house on the morning of July 7 claiming to drop her friend Pitunia off at Sarai Rohilla Railway Station. Her mother’s last contact with her was at 5:56 am. “When we called again at 8:45 am, her phone was found switched off. We learned that Pitunia had not met Sneha that morning,” the family said in a statement. They also learned that a cab driver had dropped her off at the Signature Bridge. SURGING RIVERS An aerial view of the swollen Ganga and Yamuna rivers at the Sangam in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, on Sunday | PTI Punjab to hire retired doctors amid shortage in govt hospitals H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh THE Punjab government has decided to hire 100 retired medical specialists as consultants through walk-in interviews in district hospitals, sub-divisional hospitals and community health centres (CHCs). According to sources, the decision has been made in response to the severe shortage of medical specialists in government hospitals across the state. Approximately 47% posts of sanctioned specialists are lying vacant across the state, they added. Out of 2,098 of sanctioned specialist posts, 990 remain va- cant. Additionally, there are vacancies among general medical officers. Around 1,962 posts are yet to be filled out of the 3,847 posts. As per the notification issued by the state health department, the available posts include: 21 in paediatrics, 20 in general medicine, 20 in gynaecology 15 , in general surgery 13 in anaes, thesia, seven in radiology, and four in psychiatry . Only retired specialist doctors between 58 and 64 years of age will be eligible to apply. The contract will initially last for one year and may be extended annually based on performance and subject to ap- proval of finance department. Selected doctors will remuneration equivalent to the last salary (minus their pension) along with dearness allowance as admissible at the time of appointment, says the notification. Additionally, the doctors must be free of disciplinary proceedings. During their contract period, they doctors will not be allowed to engage in private practice. Their responsibilities will be limited to clinical duties (outpatient, inpatient, and emergency care) and will be exempted from medico-legal, administrative, or postmortem responsibilities. EXCITEMENT UNLIMITED Shoulder nudge, fiery spells and 14 wickets set up tantalising final day F I R O Z M I R Z A @ London RISHABH Pant. Washington Sundar. Gabba 2021. Two of the architects of one of India’s most thrilling Test wins may have to channelise that energy again if India are to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. On a thrilling Day Four at Lord’s between India and England, both sides stretched every sinew, spent every ounce of energy and left it all out in unrelenting heat. Fourteen wickets fell, shoulders were barged, visceral celebrations was a dominating theme, fours and sixes went out of fashion and stumps were uprooted multiple times but it barely begins to tell a story of what will go down as one of the greatest days of longform format cricket in recent times. The visitors need 135 runs to script a famous win. The hosts need six wickets to engineer a thrilling heist. Two hours into Sunday, the atmosphere was crackling, like a heavy discharge of industrial grade current. The ground was heaving even if the hosts were under the pump. The feisty Mohammed Siraj had made con-  Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav has encouraged officials to explore the use of AI on the data captured by the CCTV cameras” PAGES 12 The decision follows positive outcomes from experimental installations of CCTVs in Northern Railway. Railway officials said the move is expected to bolster passenger safety and help deter miscreants and gangs who exploit travellers. To preserve privacy, CCTVs will be installed in the common area near the doors | P7 Now, EC mulls pan-India revision of electoral rolls Move follows SC view that SIR is a ‘constitutional mandate’ M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi UNDETERRED by the controversy over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar, it is learnt that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has sent a communication to chief electoral officers (CEOs) of all states to activate poll machinery for a possible rollout of the exercise on a pan-India basis. The ECI’s decision comes in the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s observation last week that SIR is a “constitutional mandate” and that ECI can go ahead with the revision exercise in Bihar. Several opposition parties and civil society organisations had moved the Supreme Court challenging the intensive revision, saying it deprived eligible citizens of their right to vote for want of documents specified by the poll panel for inclusion in the voters’ list. Union Home Minister Amit Shah in an interview with this newspaper on Saturday had said, “I believe that if anyone has any concerns about the process, he/she should approach the Election Commission. Not with presumptions, but with examples of the outcomes of the process. Roll revision is not happening for the first time. It happened in 1991, too. Also, it’s not being done only in Bihar. I think it will be done across India. Anyway, the DELHI DARK BELLY OF SPURIOUS MEDS Behind the city’s reputation for world-class healthcare lies a dangerous racket in fake cancer drugs. | P4 ITALIAN RHAPSODY The top two players in the world have shared the last seven titles with Sinner winning four PROPER RIVALRY Jannik Sinner downed Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday to win his first Wimbledon title, gaining sweet revenge for his painful defeat in last month’s French Open final. The No 1 is the first Italian man to win a singles title at the All England Club and in the process broke Alcaraz’s 20-match winning streak at Wimbledon ‘WILL DETER MISCREANTS, ORGANISED GANGS’ Jannik Sinner lifts the trophy after beating Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final on Sunday | AFP matter is before the Supreme Court.” On the opposition calling it a shadow CAA-NRC, Shah had said, “They opposed everything the EC does. They need to justify their poll defeats, so they present fake narratives.” In the communication to the CEOs, the ECI asked them to prepare for conducting SIR in their respective jurisdictions with January 1, 2026 as the qualifying date, which means that above 18 years on Sibal says SIR is unconstitutional Election Commission has always been a “puppet” in the hands of the BJP government, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal alleged, adding that the poll body’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar is “unconstitutional” that date would be included in the voters’ list. According to sources, a few CEOs have already started putting out voters’ list published after the last SIR held in their states. The website of Delhi CEO has the 2008 voters’ list when the last revision took place. According to sources, ECI will take a final call on nationwide exercise after July 28 when the Bihar SIR case will come up again for hearing in the top court. ‘People from Nepal, B’desh, in Bihar list’ EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi BOOTH-level officers of Election Commission of India (ECI) conducting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar have found a number of individuals from Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar possessing Indian documents such as Aadhaar, domicile certificates, and ration cards, sources said on Sunday . According to ECI officials, ground-level officials have so far established direct contact with nearly all voters in the state as part of the exercise. “During house-to-house visits, a large number of people from Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar have been found. They have got Aadhaar, domicile certificates, ration card,” said an official. Sources said a thorough verification will be carried out between August 1 and 30, and names found not eligible will be excluded from the final voter list to be released on September 30. The ECI had said SIR was necessary in Bihar due to a number of reasons, including inclusion of foreigners in the current list. Delhi gears up to host first Int’l film festival in Feb ‘26 A S H I S H S R I V A S TA V A @ New Delhi AFTER a delay of two years, the Delhi government is finally set to host the city’s first International Film Festival in February next year. Officials from the tourism department confirmed that preparations have begun with the initiation of the process to hire a consultant, who will be designing the roadmap for the much-anticipated event. “The consultant will oversee all aspects of the festival’s execution, including coordinating with stakeholders, securing sponsorships, curating events, managing promotions, and handling the overall administration of the festival,” a senior official from the department said. The idea is to launch a festival modelled on the lines of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which is held annually by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the official added. Initially planned for 2023, the festival was deferred due to the unavailability of venues during the G-20 summit and subsequent administrative delays under the previous gover nment. The international film festival was among the key announcements in the Delhi Government’s Budget for 2022–23 and part of the broader Delhi Film Policy launched in 2022 to promote the capital as a production-friendly destination for filmmakers. Sharing the details, the official said that the festival will feature awards and competitions across various categories, with a focus on independent and foreign films. Shringla, Nikam among 4 nominated to Rajya Sabha Mohammed Siraj celebrates England opener Ben Duckett’s wicket on Sunday | AFP EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE tact with Ben Duckett’s shoulder after a mistimed pull didn’t clear mid on. Nitish Reddy screamed in the general direction of Zak Crawley after the opener found one of the two gullies. Siraj was in happy rage after finding Ollie Pope plumb and Akash Deep, who opened up about his sister’s fight with cancer, had let out a visceral scream after spread-eagling Harry Brook’s middle-stump. When the players walked off for lunch, it was ironic because what could on the menu that PRESIDENT Droupadi Murmu has nominated former foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, lawyer Ujjwal Nikam, Kerala BJP leader C Sadanandan Master, and historian Meenakshi Jain. In a notification issued late Saturday night, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that the President has nominated the four eminent persons to the Rajya Sabha to fill vacancies necessitated by the retirement of nominated members. was going to better two hours of cricket in excelsis? Post lunch, Washington burst into life as he targeted the stumps on a surface doing bits and bobs for all bowlers. He smashed through England’s spine to halt the Bazballers. But Ben Stokes, Brydon Carse and Co. smell blood after a raucous end to another sunkissed day If the visitors are to . feel at home in Home of Cricket on a sold out Monday, Pant, Washington and KL Rahul will likely have another big day P11 . @ New Delhi Harsh Vardhan Shringla Ujjwal Nikam A 1984 batch Indian Foreign Service officer, Shringla had served as India’s Ambassador to the US and Thailand and as high commissioner to Bangladesh. He was foreign secretary from 2020 to 2022. Sadanandan Master Meenakshi Jain Maharashtra lawyer Nikam was the special public prosecutor in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case. Sadanandan Master, a retired school teacher from Kerala, lost both his legs in an attack alleg- edly carried out by CPM workers in 1994. Historian and author Jain served as a lecturer at Delhi University’s Gargi College. In 2020, she was awarded the Padma Shri in recognition of her contributions to the fileds of literature and education. The President of India can nominate 12 people to the Rajya Sabha. These are well-known individuals from diverse backgrounds including art, literature, and public service. Four of the 12 nominated seats were vacant; the latest nomination fills those vacancies. P7