wednesdAY 08 october, 2025 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard ISRAEL John Clarke Peace efforts resume in Egypt A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS Page 9 Haryana IGP shoots self with service weapon, probe launched H a r p r e e t B a jw a @ Chandigarh The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Haryana, Y. Puran Kumar, allegedly took his life with his service revolver at his private residence in Sector 11 on Monday His wife, Amneet P Kumar, a . . senior IAS officer, was not at home at the time. She is currently in Japan with an official delegation led by Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini. According to sources, the 2001-batch IPS officer was found dead by his daughter in the basement of the house, which was reportedly soundproof. Amneet Kumar, also a 2001-batch IAS officer, is posted as Commissioner in the Secretary of the Foreign Cooperation Department and is expected to return home on Wednesday morning. Puran Kumar, a respected officer in the Haryana cadre, held several key positions during his career. His death has sent shockwaves through the police and administrative circles. Senior Superintendent of Police, Chandigarh, Kanwardeep Kaur, said, “The police received information regarding a reported suicide at House No. 116, Sector 11, around 1:30 pm today The . deceased has been identified as Puran Kumar, an IPS officer of the Haryana cadre.” The police are also examining whether recent professional developments or personal reasons may have contributed to the incident. An engineering graduate, Kumar was earlier posted as ADGP of the Rohtak range and was transferred to the Police Training Centre, Sunaria, in Rohtak, as Inspector-General on September 25. Born on May 19, 1973, in Andhra Pradesh, he was due to retire on May 31, 2033. Ex-judge panel’s terms Justice Aruna Jagadeesan committee probing the Karur stampede will examine the extent of TVK’s compliance with conditions imposed by authorities for holding Sept 27 event | P5 New Delhi l J8.00 PAGES 12 l Seeks to build a modern framework for safe, legal and orderly overseas employment for Indians H a r p r e e t B a jw a @ Chandigarh The Union government is set to introduce the Overseas Mobility (Facilitation and Welfare) Bill, 2025 in Parliament, aiming to replace the outdated Emigration Act of 1983. A draft of the proposed legislation, currently circulated for stakeholder feedback, seeks to build a modern framework for safe, legal and orderly overseas employment for Indian citizens, amid growing concerns over irregular emigration and a spike in deportations, particularly from the US. It provides for the creation of an Overseas Mobility and Welfare Council, chaired by the Secretary , Ministry of External Affairs, with up to 10 nominated members, including senior officials from the Ministries of Skill Development and Labour. The Council will to The bill mandates the developmaintain a central registry of em- ment of an Integrated Informaigrants, overseas placement agen- tion System to streamline data cies, and foreign employers, con- collection and improve policy duct periodic global labour market planning. It also enables the govstudies, and develop policies to ernment to accredit overseas support migrant welfare and placement agencies, prescribe reintegration. operational rules, A key provision and impose penalpress includes the apclusive ties up to `20 lakh pointment of a Difor violations. rector General of To curb human Overseas Mobility (DGOM) and trafficking, the Council will work Regional Overseas Mobility Of- to devise international agreeficers to oversee implementation, ments, awareness campaigns, support emigrants, and set up and legal pathways for safe miMobility Resource Centres with- gration. It will also manage welin and outside India. fare funds, promote mutual rec- Jaishankar calls for complete revamp “Times have changed, and our vistas have expanded,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had said in March, stressing the need to promote legal migration and prohibit non-legal channels, citing national security concerns and exploitation risks tied to irregular migration ognition of qualifications, and oversee universal insurance for Indian workers abroad. The move comes amid growing global demand for skilled Indian workers and follows months of inter-ministerial consultations. In March, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had called the 1983 Act “outdated”, highlighting that it was designed for a limited purpose no longer relevant in today’s globalised labour market. The bill complements broader efforts such as the Global Access to Talent from India (GATI) initiative, aimed at improving the global competitiveness of Indian workers through skill development and international placement facilitation. Once enacted, it will mark a significant shift in overseas labour mobility policy, aligning it with contemporary migration dynamics. Himalaya snowfall forces evacuations, kills S korean climber Early-season snowfalls stranded hikers in two mountainous areas in western China, and claimed the life of South Korean climber in Nepal. | P9 SC seeks details of 3.66L excluded voters S U C HITRA KALYAN M OHANT Y @ New Delhi Rescue personnel try to evacuate passengers from the mangled remains of the bus that was headed to Ghumarwin in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh| PTI At least 15 killed after landslide hits private bus in Himachal, 3 rescued e x p r e s s n e w s s e r v i c e @ Chandigarh AT least 15 people were killed while two others were rescued as a private bus they were travelling in was struck by a massive landslide in Himachal Pradesh’s Bilaspur district on Tuesday evening, officials said. The two passengers rescued were children. Another person who was not a passenger but happened to be at the avalanche site was also rescued, government officials said. The area has been witnessing intermittent rainfall since Monday. The accident occurred in the Bhalughat area in the Jhandutta Assembly segment following a landslide. Around 35 passengers were travelling in the bus that was on its way from Marotan to Ghumarwin. The bus was completely crushed by debris and stones fall- India blasts Pakistan at UNSC over Kashmir India launched a fierce counterattack against Pakistan’s attempts to internationalise the Kashmir issue, accusing Islamabad of hiding behind what it called “misdirection and hyperbole.” During a debate on ‘Women, Peace and Security,’ at the UNSC, India also invoked one of the darkest chapters in South Asian history, the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, to spotlight Pakistan. India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Parvathaneni Harish, dismissed Pakistan’s Kashmir rhetoric as another “delusional tirade.” He asserted that India’s record on the Women, Peace and Security agenda is “unblemished and unscathed.” | P7 An encounter broke out between terrorists and a police party in a remote area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district on Tuesday evening, a senior police officer said. Inspector General of Police IGP, Jammu Bhim Sen Tuti, said a joint search operation is underway following the encounter in the Beeranthub area of Kandi. “Exchange of fire took place between terrorists and police in Beeranthub area, Police Station Kandi, Rajouri. l John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M Martinis won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for their outstanding esearch on the weird world of sub-atomic quantum tunnelling that advances the power of everyday digital communications and computing. One of the winners said that quantum mechanics research has wound up in our everyday communications. | P9 New Overseas Mobility Bill coming e x press rea d Terrorists, J&K police engage in gunfight John M Martinis Physics nobel for quantum tech Peace talks between Israel and Hamas resumed at an Egyptian resort city on Tuesday, the twoyear anniversary of the militant group’s surprise attack on Israel. shockwaves Michel H Devoret Gangster from Nepal shot dead in encounter A wanted gangster carrying a reward of `50,000 was shot dead by a joint team of Delhi Police’s Special Staff and Gurugram Crime Branch during an encounter near the Astha Kunj Park in southeast Delhi, an official said on Tuesday. Bhim Mahabahadur Jora (39), a native of Nepal, was wanted for the murder of 63-year-old general physician Yogesh Chander Paul during a robbery at his residence in Jangpura in May 2024. | P4 THE Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Election Commission to provide details of 3.66 lakh voters who were part of the draft voter list but were excluded from the final electoral roll prepared after Bihar’s voter roll revision, saying there is “confusion” over the matter. The bench asked ECI to submit the list of excluded voters by Thursday . Noting that there were 65 lakh deletions when the draft list was prepared but names were added in the final list, the court asked whether the add-ons are “deleted names or new names”. Senior counsel Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for ECI, informed the court that most of the names added in the final list after the publication of the draft list on August 30 were of new voters and that no complaint or appeal has been filed till now by any excluded voter. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi passed the directions after some petitioners, including political leaders from RJD, Congress and CPI (M), said the ECI has not given any notice or reasons to the deleted voters for their exclusion from the final electoral list. After hearing EC, the court said that there was some confusion as to whether the voters added in the final electoral list were from the list of voters who were previously deleted from the draft list or totally new names. “... The final list appears to be an appreciation of num- Road rage ing on its roof. State officials and machinery have been deployed to clear the debris, and a rescue operation has been underway to trace the missing passengers. Officials said that 15 bodies have been recovered so far from the mangled remains of the bus. Eyewitnesses said the mountain came crashing down on the bus, and the chances of survival for passengers are bleak. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex-gratia of 2 lakh to the kin of those dead. Union health minister J P Nadda, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri expressed grief over the accident. Sub Divisional Magistrate Arshiya Sharma said the injured were rushed to a nearly hospital. Rescue operations are on, said Bilaspur SP Sandeep Dhawal. Deaf-mute club manager held for killing man NITIN RA W AT @ New Delhi devotional fervour A participant during a ‘Nagar Kirtan’ procession ahead of Sikh Guru Ramdas’ birth anniversary in Amritsar on Tuesday | PTI ACB to probe Barapulla extension project delay Fixing onus on officers AN U P VER M A @ New Delhi Delhi L-G VK Saxena has ordered an Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) probe into the more than a decade delay in the construction of the Barapulla flyover. This delay has also caused loss of hundreds of crores to the government exchequer by way of cost overruns and payment of arbitration penalty due to the delay to , the private contractor, L&T. Approving the proposal of the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) of the Cabinet headed by CM, Rekha Gupta, the L-G noted on file that the extraordinary delay in this project has raised some fundamental policy issues which must be addressed like whether large projects of this nature should have arbitration clauses embedding in them which provides incentive to contractors bers, and there is confusion in the general democratic process -- what is the identity of the add-ons, are they of deleted names or new names. You have the draft and the final list. Just cull out these details and give us the information,” Justice Bagchi said. Lawyer Prashant Bhushan appearing for one of the petitioners, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), demanded that ECI publish the names of 3.66 lakh voters deleted from the final list, and names of 21 lakh voters who were included in it after the voter roll was finalised. The Expenditure Finance Committee had decided that a thorough inquiry be initiated by the ACB, Directorate of Vigilance, for approval and acceptance of arbitration awards by authorities not competent to accept; delay in execution of the project and fixing responsibility of erring officers. for making exorbitant claims as has been seen in other matters as well, even when the contractor is at fault. He added that similar instance was seen in the construction of the underpass near Bharat Mandapam by the same construction agency in the face , of glaring engineering defects which should have caused national embarrassment ahead of G20 Summit and all executing department should be directed to ensure that necessary regu- latory approvals are in place prior to award of construction to avoid any such delays. The matter pertaining to the previous Arvind Kejriwal government that had first started the project was earlier discussed in the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) meeting held in July under the CM’s , chairpersonship. The EFC had decided that a thorough inquiry be initiated by the ACB, Directorate of Vigilance (DoV), Delhi govern- ment, for approval and acceptance of arbitration awards by authorities not competent to accept; delay in execution of the project and fixing responsibility of the erring officers. Subsequently, the file was referred to DoV by PWD for onward referral to ACB as per EFC decision and direction of Chief Minister. The CM had observed that “Action may be taken as per the decision taken in EFC meeting” Accordingly a proposal of , DoV was placed before Lt. Governor for approval and direction to PWD for referring the case to the ACB for an inquiry . Accordingly in pursuance of , directions of CM Gupta and decision taken in EFC meeting, a proposal of DoV was placed before Lt. Governor for approval and direction to PWD for referring the case to the ACB to conduct thorough inquiry . A 24-year-old specially-abled manager of a club was arrested for allegedly fatally assaulting a person during a road rage incident in southwest Delhi’s Palam village area. The deaf and mute accused claimed that the victim showed him derogatory signs, following which he attacked him repeatedly on his chest, police said on Tuesday. Karan Arora, a resident of Najafgarh, works as a manager in a club of Gurugram, Haryana. He is 65% disabled since birth and is unable to hear or speak properly due to this inability . A PCR call was received on Saturday in Palam Village police station regarding a person lying unconscious on the road. After reaching the spot, police found a scooter lying there. It was learned that the vehicle belonged to an injured person who was taken to Indira Gandhi Hospital in Dwarka where he was declared brought dead. Accordingly a case was filed , on the statement of a witness and probe was taken up, a police officer said. During probe, a witness informed the number of a car in which the unknown person was sitting. He said the person got involved in an altercation with the deceased and he started beating him on the issue of constraining their vehicles against each other. After the assault, the accused fled the scene in his car. Police identified the owner of the offending vehicle, who said that the car was being used by his brother-in-law Karan Arora. Thereafter, police nabbed Arora from Najafgarh area, DCP (southwest) Amit Goel said.
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