tuesdAY 26 august, 2025 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard SC asks Samay Raina, 4 others to apologise for disability jokes J e f f re y E p s t ein Accuser memoir to be out this Oct Supreme Court asked 5 social media influencers to display their apology in their shows for ridiculing persons with disabilities and rare genetic disorders A posthumous memoir by Virginia Giuffre, who accused disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse, will hit the shelves in October. Penalty to be considered later, says court A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS Page 9 Amazon, Flipkart data to help govt assess inflation l New Delhi Given the rise in household spending on e-commerce platforms, capturing the latest online prices can improve the quality of retail inflation data. Around 27 crore Indians shopped online in 2024. The number is projected to rise 22% every year Spending trends A recent consumption survey showed that Indians were spending a lower share of their budget on food expenses. To capture the new trend in consumption, the revamped CPI index could include airfares and streamingmedia prices, reports said l PAGES 12 India alerts Pak on possible flash floods J itendra Ch o ube y @ New Delhi With the weather office issuing a red alert on Sunday predicting extreme rainfall over the next two days in J&K, India formally notified Pakistan about the potential risk of flash floods in the Tawi and Sutlej rivers as a gesture of good neighbourliness. The alert was sent through diplomatic channels rather than the Indus Waters Treaty framework, since India placed the Treaty in abeyance shortly after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22. For its part, the Pakistan Foreign Office confirmed India’s two alerts: on Sunday about the Tawi flooding, and on Monday on possible flash floods in the Sutlej. Sources said that the alert was directly communicated to the Pakistani government through the Indian High Commission (IHC) D i pa k M o nda l @ New Delhi How will it work? J8.00 A m i d I n d u s w a t er s t rea t y c h i l l Statistics ministry to overhaul the way retail inflation data is collected and measured IN a bid to make the official retail inflation data more updated and cognizant of the changes in household consumption patterns, the government is planning to effect major changes to the way the data is captured and measured. As part of the overhaul, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), which publishes inflation data, will source data directly from e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart. The ministry will also update the inflation basket and base year. Speaking to this newspaper, MoSPI Secretary Saurabh Garg confirmed that the ministry will track prices from e-commerce platforms across 12 cities. He did not specify the criteria for selecting these cities but said they would be chosen on a random sampling basis. “Our effort is to collect data in a way that better represents the economy today he said. ,” Earlier in the day a Reuters report said the , ministry plans to scrape prices from e-commerce sites in 12 cities with populations above 2.5 million. According to the report, e-commerce firms were told to share weekly average prices of goods with the government. These figures would be cross-checked against a broader dataset to guard against distortions. The objective is to build a more robust system for tracking retail inflation, given the rising share of e-commerce in household consumption. Estimates suggest that e-commerce sales touched $125 billion in FY24 and are projected to rise to $350 billion by FY30. The government will also revise the base years. CPI’s base year will shift to 2023-24, while the GDP’s will be updated to 2022-23. Currently , both the GDP and CPI are calculated using 2011-12 as the base year. The CPI product basket is also set for expansion and rebalancing. The weight of food in the new basket will decline, as household consumption surveys from 2022-23 and 2023-24 show a smaller share of food in monthly expenditure compared to 2011-12. The number of items tracked will rise from 300 to 400. l A damaged bridge following heavy rainfall in Jammu on Monday | PTI Heavy rainfall warning The IMD forecast extremely heavy rainfall across all regions of India for the next five days, following the monsoon trough’s shift to its normal position there. The IHC reached out to the Pakistani Foreign Office, instead of routing the infor mation through the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi. The Jammu region experienced record rainfall on Sunday , significantly increasing water levels in the Tawi, which could lead to a flood disaster in Pakistan. The Tawi in Jammu is a tributary of the Chenab, flowing through Jammu city before joining the Chenab, which eventually flows into Pakistan. The Sutlej, on the other hand, flows entirely within India and joins the Indus in Pakistan. On Sunday, Jammu experienced the second-highest rainfall in 99 years — about 191 mm of rainfall in 24 hours. The previous record was 228.6 mm on August 5, 1926, while the previous second-highest was 189.6 mm on August 11, 2022. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has announced a revision in passenger fares effective from Monday, after a gap of nearly eight years. The fare hike, described as “minimal” by the DMRC, ranges between `1 and `4 depending on the distance travelled. According to the new fare structure, passengers travelling up to 2 km will now pay `11 instead of `10, while those covering more than 32 km will pay `64, up from the earlier `60. For intermediate slabs, fares have increased by `1 to `4. Fares have also been revised on national holidays and Sundays. A journey between 2 and NCW seeks strict action against accused N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow Taking serious note of the incident, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has demanded strict action in the matter. NCW Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar said that she has requested the UP DGP to punish the accused under relevant laws. AMID massive outrage over the alleged dowry death of Nikki Bhati, 28, in Greater Noida last week, the police have arrested all four people from her in-laws’ family, including her husband, brother-in-law, father and mother-in law. While the victim’s husband, Vipin, 30, was held on Saturday and is in 14-day judicial custody, her mother-in-law, Daya Bhati, was held on Sunday, her brother-in-law, Rohit Bhati, and father-in-law, Satyaveer Bhati, were nabbed on Monday . Nikki’s brother-in-law Rohit is married to her sister Kanchan. Notably, Nikki was set ablaze by her husband at home on August 21 following an altercation over her posting reels on Instagram and wanting to reopen the beauty parlour, she ran with her sister. Sources claimed that despite lavish dowry gifts (a Scorpio, Royal Enfield, cash, gold), the cruelty escalated, culminating in a deadly dowry demand of `36 lakh more. Based on Kanchan’s complaint, the Noida police lodged a case under Section 103 (mur- der), Section 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), and Section 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the BNS at Kasna police station, naming four people. “Around 3.30 pm on August 21, Vipin told Nikki that posting reels and running a beauty parlour were “not allowed” in his family. The argument led to Vipin assaulting Nikki, said Kasna station house officer Dharmendra Shukla. Vipin then doused her with inflammable liquid and set her 5 km, which earlier cost `20, will now be charged at `21, while for long-distance travel above 32 km, the fare has gone up from `50 to `54. However, the DMRC clarified that passengers using smart cards will receive a 10% rebate, with an additional 10% discount during of f-peak hours — before 8 am, between 12 noon and 5 pm, and after 9 pm. The Airport Express Line fares have also been revised, with an increase ranging from `1 to `5. However, many commuters complained that the fare hike came without prior notice. Students, in particular, recalled how they have been protesting against “already unaffordable” metro fares. THE corridors of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are no stranger to their sponsors facing significant headwinds. But they find themselves in the curious position of having to bring on board a sponsor for one of the most visible slots — title sponsor for all Indian teams embossed on the Tshirts — within a two-week period. With the men’s team set to afire inside their home and fled. After being rushed from hospital to hospital by her sister Kanchan and her in-laws, Nikki was declared dead at Safdarjung Hospital. “ T h e i r d e m a n d s we r e increasing by the day,” said Bikhari Singh, a distraught father of Nikki Bhati. “They demanded a bullet, which was given. They then began demanding `36 lakh or a Mercedes car parked at our house.” He demanded that UP CM Yogi Adityanath get the killer eliminated in encounter and their house bulldozed. “If this does not happen, we will sit on hunger strike,” he added. Meanwhile, Vipin showed no remorse. E x p re s s N e w s Ser v i c e @ New Delhi Passengers using smart cards will receive a 10% rebate, with an additional 10% discount during off-peak hours, according to Delhi metro | pARVEEN NEGI Min `11, max `64; rise after 8 yrs Described as “minimal” by DMRC, the fare hike ranges between `1 and `4 according to distance travelled Journey between 2 and 5 km, which earlier cost `20, will now be charged at `21 Instead of making public transport more affordable, this govt is pushing it out of the reach of common people. For long-distance travel above 32 km, the fare will go up from `50 to `54, as per new guidelines Rajesh Gupta, a regular metro user Passengers travelling up to 2 km would now pay `11 instead of `10. For more than 32 km, it would be `64 BCCI faces `1,000 cr shortfall as smaller leagues suffer most feature in the Asia Cup and the women’s team featuring in a home 50-over World Cup within the next two months, they will not be short on offers (they are expected float a tender soon). What, though, remains to be seen is if they will be able to make up for the shortfall on an immediate basis. The loss, brought about because of a policy change at the Centre related to real Gaza’s civil defence agency said five journalists were among the 20 people killed on Monday when Israeli strikes hit a hospital in the south. Among the victims were contributors of Reuters and AP. | P9 E x p re s s rea d 10 pilgrims killed, 41 hurt in Bulandshahr accident Ten people were killed and 41 injured when a truck rammed into a tractor-trolley carrying pilgrims in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district early on Monday. Two of the deceased were minors, and 12 of those injured and hospitalised are also below the age of 18. | P4 Army foils infiltration attempt in J&K’s Uri The Army on Monday foiled an infiltration bid along the LoC in the Uri sector of north Kashmir’s Baramulla. Notably, this comes 12 days after a jawan was killed in a gunfight along the LoC, the first death of a soldier in an exchange of fire with terrorists since the launch of Operation Sindoor. HC says ‘personal info’, chucks CIC’s ’16 fiat to disclose PM’s degree d rea m t u rn s nig h t m are G o me s h S & S w ar o o p S w aminathan @ Chennai 5 Journalists among 20 dead in Israeli strikes 4 held in Gr Noida dowry death case Metro travel to cost more as DMRC increases fares I F R A H M U F T I @ New Delhi A bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said the degree of repentance should be higher than the degree of offending and made it clear that the court would later consider imposing a penalty on the influencers—Samay Raina, Sonali Thakkar, Vipul Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, and Nishant Jagdish Tanwar—for offending disabled persons. money gaming, could run into `1,000 crore. But the real loss will be known once the board ropes in new sponsors. On Monday, board secretary Devajit Saikia confir med to this mast that they have ceased associations with Dream11 or ‘any other gaming agencies’. “BCCI cannot go with Dream11 or any other Devajit Saikia gaming agen- cies,” he said. “They will not be part of the BCCI under the current legal system. We are deliberating what can be done to substitute their sponsorship slots. We will take a call soon.” Saikia was fairly intimate when asked if a communique has been sent out to all contracted players about the change in law, vis-a-vis endorsing real money gaming firms. “Everybody should be aware of the ex- isting laws. Do I have to tell any player that they can’t go and commit any murder? It is the same situation.” While the top level of Indian cricket may cope with the headwind, all state-level T20 leagues are in a perilous situation. Several real money gaming firms sponsors these events at some level and they are struggling to find alternatives. It’s in BCCI’s interest to keep these leagues, which have unearthed several gems over the past few years, afloat.  P11 The Delhi High Court on Monday set aside a 2016 order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) that had directed the University of Delhi (DU) to disclose and allow inspection of records relating to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bachelor’s degree. Justice Sachin Datta had reserved the judgment on February 27, pronounced the verdict on DU’s plea challenging the CIC directive. The dispute goes back to December 21, 2016, when the CIC permitted inspection of the records of all students who cleared the BA examination in 1978, the year the prime minister passed on applications filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by applicants, including RTI activist Neeraj Kumar and Mohd Irshad. Following DU’s challenge, the high court stayed the CIC order on January 23, 2017. Justice Datta, in his verdict, found no implicit public interest in the informa- ‘Not to provide fodder for sensationalism’ “The RTI Act was enacted to promote transparency in government functioning and not to provide fodder for sensationalism,” Justice Datta said in his order tion sought under RTI, adding educational qualifications were not in the nature of any statutory requirement for holding any public office or discharging official responsibilities. “It is unambiguously clear that the ‘marks obtained’, grades, answer sheets, etc., are in the nature of personal information and are protected under Section 8(1)) of the RTI Act, subject to an assessment of overriding public interest. The mere act of publishing certain infor mation on some occasions does not dilute the legal protection accorded to personal information under Section 8(I) of the RTI Act,” the court held. freedom of speech Freedom of speech and privilege of members of legislative bodies should not be construed as the freedom to lower the dignity of the House, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said | p3