MONDAY MASSIVE PROTESTS IN US CITY AFTER IMMIGRATION AGENTS KILL MAN 26 An angry crowd gathered in Minneapolis on Saturday to demand that the federal agents leave the city after a man was shot JANUARY, 2026 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard The Morning Standard wishes its readers a Crowds gather in New York, Washington too A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI  J8.00  People braved harsh weather and converged at the site of the shooting. There were reports of clashes between protesters and federal officers. Senior Democrats have backed the protesters’ call for federal agents to leave the city. Protests also broke out in several other US cities, including New York, Washington DC, and Los Angeles | P9 PAGES 12 VS, Dharmendra awarded Padma Vibhushan Former J’khand CM Soren, actor Mammootty, banker Uday Kotak, cricketers Rohit & Harmanpreet among awardees Ashok Chakra for Shukla for ISS mission EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE DHARMENDRA Actor V S ACHUTHANANDAN Former Kerala CM EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi FORMER Kerala chief minister V S Achuthanandan and actor Dharmendra were among awardees to posthumously receive the second-highest civilian honour, Padma Vibhushan, for 2026, the government announced on Sunday . The Union government announced 131 Padma awards for 2026, including five Padma Vibhushan, 13 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri on the eve of the Republic Day. Ninety awardees are women, six foreigners/NRIs/OCIs, and 16 posthumous recipients. Other Padma Vibhushan awardees include former Supreme Court Justice K T Thomas (public affairs), Hindustani classical violinist N Rajam (art), and eminent Malayalam journalist P Narayanan (literature and education). Padma Bhushan recipients feature playback legend Alka UDAY KOTAK Banker MAMMOOTTY Actor Yagnik, Malayalam superstar Mammootty, tennis icon Vijay Amritraj, and banker Uday Kotak. JMM founder and former Jharkhand CM Shibu Soren, and advertising maverick Piyush Pandey were awarded posthumously . Ninety awardees are women, and the list includes six persons from the category of foreigners, NRI, PIO and OCI, and 16 posthumous awardees. People from different walks of life have been honoured. Among the 113 Padma Shri awardees are cricketers Rohit Shar ma and Har manpreet Kaur. Hockey stars Savita Punia and Baldev Singh, and paraathlete Praveen Kumar also feature on the list. Bollywood actors R Madhavan, Prosenjit Chatterjee, and Satish Shah received Padma Shri. ISRO scientist A E Muthun aya g a m , D R D O ’s C h a n dramouli Gaddamanugu, and former CRPF DG K Vijay Kumar were also honoured. P3, 7 & 11 BJP veteran V K Malhotra given Padma Bhushan U D AYA N K I S H O R E & A N U P V E R M A @ New Delhi @ New Delhi GROUP Captain Shubhanshu Shukla has been approved for the Ashok Chakra to be awarded by President Droupadi Murmu on the eve of the 77th Republic Day for his role in India’s , return to the human spaceflight through the International Space Station (ISS) mission last year. G r o u p Capt Shukla became the first Indian to visit the ISS during the Axiom-4 Shubhanshu Shukla m i s s i o n , completing an 18-day stay in orbit. The mission marked India’s return to human spaceflight after four decades, following Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma’s historic spaceflight aboard Soyuz mission in 1984. Gp Capt Shukla becomes only the second Indian citizen to travel to space. The award also follows a rare precedent where Wg Cdr Sharma was conferred the Ashok Chakra. LATE BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra and three other personalities from Delhi were selected for the prestigious Padma awards on the eve of the Republic Day . Malhotra got the Padma Bhushan, highest for any personality in the city posthumously in the “pub, lic affairs” category Besides, three . other public figures got the awards, all of them in the Padma Shri. They include former JNU vice chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar in the “literature and education” category, R V S Mani for “civil services”, and Prof R Sreedher for radio broadcasting. Malhotra had a long active career in politics, that included the post of chief executive councillor of Delhi’s Metropolitan Council, which was the chief minister equivalent in 1967, and president of Janata Party Delhi, in 1977. He , was also the Delhi president of the BJP from 1980 to 1984. In the 45year-long career, he was elected to Parliament five times and went to the Assembly twice. M Jagadesh Kumar, on the other hand, served as the vice chancellor of JNU. As the VC, he was often in the news for controversial reason. V K MALHOTRA Padma Bhushan R V S MANI Padma Shri M JAGADESH KUMAR Padma Shri R SREEDHER Padma Shri He is currently the chairman of the governing body of National Council of Science Museums. Mani is a former under secretary in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and is known for authoring books on terrorism. Sreedher has had a long career in broadcasting. Known as the father of community radio in India, he has played a pivotal role in shaping how communities use the airwaves to amplify their voices, preserve their cultures, and solve local problems. CPM woos Tharoor with talk of new party 90° TURN K S S R E E J I T H @ T’puram IN a development that carries the potential to significantly reshape Kerala’s political landscape, the CPM has reportedly opened channels of communication with Congress’ Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor amidst his deepening rift with party leader Rahul Gandhi. The CPM leadership is said to be exploring the possi- bility of Tharoor joining or associating with the Left Front by floating a new political party . Sources close to Tharoor said that he has not taken a final decision. “It’s only natural that other political parties would approach a leader like Tharoor, when his own party humiliates him and the issue becomes a national talking point,” said a close associate. A final decision is expected to be taken after Tharoor meets Rahul Gandhi. This newspaper reached out to CPM’s Kerala state secretary M V Govindan and national general secretary M A Baby, but they were unavailable for comment. Meanwhile, BJP Kerala president Rajeev Chandrasekhar also sent feelers to Tharoor, saying “The BJP can accommodate all patriots.” The Left Front outreach comes against the backdrop of Tharoor skipping a key meeting convened by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Gandhi on January 23 in Delhi, following allegations that he was snubbed by Gandhi at the party’s mahapanchayat in Ernakulam. Tharoor left for the UAE on Sunday where, accord, ing to sources, a Dubai-based businessman is acting as an intermediary in his talks with the CPM. ED flags Goa club crime proceeds The entities running the Goa-based nightclub, where 25 people were killed in a fire last year, generated revenue of `22 crore in the last two fiscals, an amount suspected to be “proceeds of crime” under the antimoney laundering law, the ED said on Sunday. Supporters of West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress and Opposition BJP reportedly clashed on Sunday evening at Sakherbazar on the southwestern outskirts of Kolkata over the use of microphones by a local club allegedly in high volume. THE voice of the Englishman from Tollygunge has fallen silent. Mark Tully passed away at a Delhi hospital at 90 on Sunday He leaves behind a formidable legacy as one of . BBC’s most trusted chroniclers: for decades, listeners across South Asia grew into the habit of tuning in to Tully awaiting his voice to confirm events and trusting , his account as the measure of truth. Born in Kolkata to British parents, Tully spent his early years in India before being sent to England for his education. He returned in 1964 as the BBC’s India correspondent and eventually became bureau chief in New Delhi, a post he held for nearly three decades and reported on the birth of Bangladesh, military rule in Pakistan, the Tamil Tigers’ insurgency in Sri Lanka, and Soviets in Afghanistan. Tully’s reporting was distinguished Mark Tully by both authority and empathy He cov. 1935–2026 ered some of India’s most turbulent moments: the Emergency, Operation Blue Star, the assassination of Indira Gandhi and the anti-Sikh violence that followed, and the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Generations of listeners, who affectionately called him “Tully Sahib”, relied on his thoughtful analysis and precise narration to understand events often mired in chaos. His integrity sometimes placed him in danger: Andrew Whitehead, a former BBC colleague, recalled Tully’s peril in Ayodhya in 1992, when a mob chanted “Death to Mark Tully and he was locked ,” in a room for hours before being rescued by a local offiCONTINUED ON P3 cial and a Hindu priest. H A R P R E E T BA J WA @ Chandigarh FIR as Republic Day rehearsal disrupted Supporters of TMC, BJP clash in Kolkata The water-filled pit continues to wait for another tragedy in Noida, where techie Yuvraj Mehta drowned to death. A spot report shows the accident site and surrounding areas show little evidence of accountability, urgency, or corrective action | P4 V V P S H A R M A @ New Delhi Jams build further in Manali amid tourist rush as snow blocks roads EXPRESS READ Delhi Police has registered an FIR and initiated legal action after some people disrupted the R-Day parade rehearsal by clicking pics, recording videos and taking selfies, officials said on Sunday. Such actions pose a risk to the participants, an officer said. IN SECTOR 150 STILL FROZEN IN NEGLECT Journalist Mark Tully, who saw India grow as a nation, dies at 90 CELEBRATING THE REPUBLIC Delhi Secretariat illuminated in tricolour shades on the eve of the 77th Republic Day on Sunday | PARVEEN NEGI IN C E S S A N T s n ow f a l l i n Himachal Pradesh has caused major disruptions, including a 15-km-long traffic grid near Manali. Power outages, road blockages and large-scale stranding of tourists and locals were reported from districts. According to sources, more than 600 tourists were stranded along the Patlikul-Manali stretch. As many as 835 roads, including three national highways, remained closed for traffic movement in the state as a result of heavy snowfall. As per the State Disaster M a n a g e m e n t Au t h o r i t y Vehicles stuck in a traffic jam near Manali amid snowfall | PTI (SDMA) bulletin, about 282 roads, including NH 3 (LehManali) and NH 505 (KazaGramphu), are blocked in the tribal district of Lahaul and Spiti. A total of 234 roads are closed in Shimla, 110 in Mandi, 78 in Chamba,65, including NH 305 (Sainj-Luhri-Aut) in Kullu; 41 in Sirmour; 18 in Kinnaur; four and three in Kangra and Una, respectively . Around 1,942 transformers were disrupted across the state, which include 789 in Shimla district, 354 in Sirmour, 284 in Mandi, 277 in Chamba, 174 in Kullu, 27 in Lahaul and Spiti, and 23 in Solan, leaving thousands of households without electricity Light snowfall and . rain were observed at isolated places in the higher reaches on Sunday The Met Office has pre. dicted another spell of heavy snowfall in the higher reaches from Monday onwards. CPI OVERHAUL New inflation basket to track OTT fees, international airfares, house rent D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi THE basket for Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures retail inflation, is set for a newage makeover to reflect the current consumption trends and consumer behaviours. Digital consumption will assume significance in the new CPI basket. Online media and streaming services (OTT platforms) will now be tracked, while pric- es of telephone services—both landline and mobile—will increasingly draw on online and e-commerce data. In line with rising air travel, international air travel has been added within the airfare index. The energy basket has also been updated to reflect newer fuels used by households. Compressed natural gas (CNG) and piped natural gas (PNG) have been included alongside tradi- tional fuels, capturing the transition in urban transport and cooking energy choices. For the first time, rural house rent will be included, making the housing index more representative. Coverage of house rent has also been expanded in urban areas, with a larger sample size and the exclusion of employer-provided accommodation to avoid distortions from extreme values. The CPI basket is set for a overhaul with the launch of the CPI 2024 series in February, marking one of the most comprehensive updates to the inflation basket in over a decade. The base year for the CPI series will be 2023-24. Saurabh Garg, secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme implementation, told TNIE that the new CPI basket— based on Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023– 24—will see significant expansion in the number of items tracked. “At all-India level, the number of weighted items will increase from 299 in the 2012 series to 358 in 2024 series. Of these, goods will rise from 259 to 308 items, while services will expand from 40 to 50, underscoring the growing role of services in household expenditure,” he said. The revised CPI will draw prices from a wider geographical base. Garg says the revamped CPI basket is more contemporary transparent and , robust, while maintaining continuity with past series.