thursdAY 16 april, 2026 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard job cut BBC to axe up to 2,000 employees The BBC said on Wednesday that it is set to cut between 1,800-2,000 jobs in the next two years amid a challenging media landscape. Page 9 Vaishali makes history, wins Candidates 2026 A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS l New Delhi l J8.00 l GM R Vaishali etched her name in the record books as she beat Kateryna Lagno and won the Women’s Candidates 2026. She became the Women’s World Championship Challenger and will face reigning world champion Ju Wenjun. She is also the second Indian woman after Koneru Humpy (2011) to feature in title match | Michal Walusza/FIDE | p11 PAGES 12 Oppn to vote against Constitution Indian delegation to visit US amendment bill on delimitation next week for talks on trade Bills to be debated in Lok Sabha today seek to expedite rollout of 33% women’s reservation Stalin gives call for black flag protest in TN E x press ne w s service @ Chennai Cong chief Mallikarjun Kharge addresses the press after a meeting of Opposition leaders in Delhi on Wednesday | Shekhar yadav P reetha N air @ New Delhi Ahead of the three-day special session of Parliament, Opposition parties decided to vote against the proposed Constitution amendment bill on delimitation, Congress President Mallikar jun Kharg e said on Wednesday. Top Opposition leaders had met at Kharge’s residence here to discuss strategy on the women’s reservation law and the proposed delimitation amendment. Kharge stressed that the Opposition has always supported women’s reservation in Parliament, but was concerned about the manner in which the bill is being brought. “It is politically motivated. Just to gag and suppress Opposition parties, the government is doing this,” Kharge said after the meeting. “We are continuously supporting women’s reservation. We are insisting that the earlier amendment that was passed, be implemented. They (the BJPled government) are playing tricks with delimitation. Therefore, all parties have taken a decision unitedly to oppose this bill,” he added. Besides Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, other leaders at the meeting included DMK’s T R Baalu, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, AAP’s Sanjay Singh, Trinamool’s Sagarika Ghosh, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sanjay Raut and Arvind Sawant, NCP-SCP’s Supriya Sule, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav (joining virtually), CPI’s Annie Raja, CPI-M’s Nilotpal Basu, AAP leader Sanjay Singh, Independent MP Kapil Sibal, IUML’s E T Mohd Bashir and RSP’s N K Premchandran, apart from Congress general secretaries K C Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh. Leaders from Kerala and Tamil Nadu said that the women’s reservation Act should be implemented within the exist- 18 hours of debate LS’s Business Advisory Committee has allocated 18 hours for the debate, which may run into Friday. Arjun Ram Meghwal will introduce two bills, while Amit Shah will introduce the third one ing framework of 543 seats. Later, in a video message, Rahul said the Congress will not allow the women’s reservation bill to be implemented on the basis of the 2011 Census as there is no data on backward communities in it. “Congress party unequivocally supports women’s reservation. Parliament unanimously passed the bill in 2023, it is already part of our Constitution,” he said, adding, “what the government is proposing now has nothing to do with women’s reservation. This amendment is an attempted power grab using delimitation and gerrymandering.” “We will not allow ‘Hissa Chori’ from OBC, Dalit and Adivasi communities by ignoring the caste census data. We will also not allow Southern, North Eastern, North Western and smaller states to be treated unfairly he warned. ,” Rahul cited his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018 in which he had demanded the implementation of the women’s bill from the 2019 general elections. P7 Chief Minister MK Stalin on Wednesday exhorted the people of the state to hoist black flags atop their homes and at public places on Thursday to express their opposition to the Union government’s move to introduce the delimitation Bill in Parliament on Thursday . The DMK president termed the centre’s proposal a “great historical injustice” to Tamil Nadu and other southern states and warned the BJP-led centre of consequences and a “heavy price” if it did not heed to TN’s voice. “As DMK president, and above all as a self-respecting Tamil, I am war ning once again,” he said. After chairing an emergency meeting of party MPs and district secretaries through video conference on Wednesday, the CM said, “The sword that hung over our heads has now descended upon us.” “The DMK is reaching out to MPs across states and devising a coordinated strategy to counter this “grave danger”, he said. In a post on X, Stalin asked, “Is this a punishment to Tamil Nadu and other southern states for the crime of having toiled for India’s growth? Every south Indian living south of the Vindhyas is seething with anger. The BJP is playing with fire,” he said. “This is not about parties or individuals. It is about protecting the rights of our people,” he added. TDP overhauls setup, Lokesh takes front seat S V is w anath @ Vijayawada The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has announced its Politburo, national, and state committees, marking a new phase in the party’s evolution with HRD and IT Minister Nara Lokesh at the centre of its organisational leadership. The appointment of Lokesh as the national working president underscores a major generational transition within the TDP positioning him firmly at , the helm of party affairs and indicating a clear roadmap for the TDP’s future leadership. MLA Palla Srinivasa Rao has been reappointed as the state TDP president. The party has also appointed MP Byreddy Shabari as its first-ever woman national general secretary She . will serve alongside Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu and Rajesh Kilaru, who are the other two national general secretaries. The newly constituted organisational structure includes a 29-member Politburo, a 31member National Committee, and a 185-member State Committee. The committees have been formed after extensive deliberations, factoring in social, regional, and political balance, while keeping long-term goals, including the 2029 elections and potential constituency reorganisation, in mind. Of the 185 members in the State Committee, 122 belong to weaker sections, including 77 from backwards classes and 25 from the Scheduled Castes. P ushpita D ey @ New Delhi An Indian delegation will be in the US from April 20 to 22 to take forward the negotiations on the proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said on Wednesday . The Indian team will be led by chief negotiator Darpan Jain. This will be the first such in-person engagement between the two sides, after the US Supreme Court declared that Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs were illegal. The ruling had prompted both sides to recalibrate their positions ahead of the next round of talks. “The negotiating teams will be meeting in person after a gap of about 3-4 months. They have been engaging virtually in the meantime. We are looking at finalising the legal agreement, which is a logical followup of the joint statement released on 7th February,” Agarwal said. Meanwhile, India has submitted its rebuttal to the US Trade Representative (USTR) on April 15 regarding the Section 301 measures, a longstanding point of contention between the two countries. “The US has initiated investigations involving several countries. Both sides will sit together and discuss how these issues need to be structured and addressed,” Agrawal said. The BTA was initially supposed to be signed by the midMarch. However, after court ruling, the US rolled back the Munir in Tehran to draw it back to talks table a g encies Amid efforts to extend the ceasefire between the US and Iran, a Pakistani delegation led by Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir reached Tehran on Wednesday, carrying a US message to the Iranian leadership. Munir is accompanied by Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, the InterServices Public Relations, the media wing of the military, said in a statement. day “Field Marshal Asim Munir... and Mr Mohsin Naqvi, Interior Minister, along with the delegation, arrive at Tehran as part of the ongoing mediation efforts,” it said. Iran’s state-run TV reported that the purpose of the visit is to deliver a US message to Iranian leadership and to plan the next round of negotiations. A senior US official said there is continued engagement between the US and Iran to reach a deal to extend the week-old truce. Earlier, reports quoting 47 regional officials said the two countries had reached an “in principle agreement” to extend the truce to give room for diplomacy The US . has denied this. The current ceasefire will expire on April 22. As per the AP report, mediators are pushing for a compromise on three main sticking points that derailed direct talks last weekend, Iran’s nuclear program, the Strait of Hormuz and compensation for war damages. In an interview that aired on Wednesday, Trump said the war was “very close to over.” Meanwhile, the US blockade of Iranian ports and the renewed threats from Iran have strained the week-old ceasefire. Iran’s joint military command warned that Iran would completely block exports and imports across the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman, and the Red Sea if the US does not lift its blockade on Iranian ports. “Iran will act with strength to defend its national sovereignty and its interests,” said Ali Abdollahi. express read Tough to call belief of millions wrong: SC New Beginning Women carry idols of Lord Ganesha during Poila Boishakh, the Bengali new year, in Nadia district in West Bengal on Wednesday | PTI A nine-judge Supreme Court bench observed that “the most difficult task [for a court] is how to give a declaration that the belief of millions of people is wrong or erroneous”. The observation was made during the hearing of review against the 2018 Sabarimala judgment. | P7 C’garh begins process to implement UCC The Chhattisgarh government on Wednesday decided to constitute a committee for preparing a draft for the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). The panel will be headed by retired Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, who also headed similar panels for Gujarat and Uttarakhand governments. | P8 habeas corpus Blind interfaith couple: One confined, partner moves court U D AYA N K I S H O R E @ New Delhi A visually impaired man has approached the Delhi High Court seeking the release of his interfaith partner, who is also blind, alleging that her family—opposed to the relationship—has confined her. A bench of Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Ravinder Dudeja has issued notice in the matter, including to the parents of the 23-year-old woman. Petitioner Ram Kripal told the court that he is Hindu while the woman is Muslim, adding that her family’s opposition stems from religious differences between them. The habeas corpus petition states that both the petitioner and the woman are 100 per cent visually impaired and are in a consensual relationship. The petitioner further claimed that he had received threats from the woman’s family members, warning him to stay away from her. He also sought protection for himself and his partner. “Both are in a consensual romantic relationship and have decided to spend their lives together. The relationship is based on mutual love, respect, additional 25% tariffs imposed earlier. It then imposed a 10% tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 on certain imports from all countries. After the Supreme Court ruling, on March 11, the USTR launched a Section 301 trade investigation against policies and industrial practices of several economies, including India and China. is visiting the US, there will be discussions around Section 301 too. Meanwhile, India’s exports in March posted the steepest fall in five months in March, declining by 7.44% to $38.92 billion, while imports fell by over 6% due to the West Asia crisis, official data released on Wednesday showed. and understanding,” the petition states. He alleged that his partner, who was residing in a hostel in Delhi, was forcibly taken away by her family members on the intervening night of March 16–17 when they learned about the relationship. Since then, the petition claims, her family members have kept her incommunicado, effectively isolating her. The petition further states that on March 21, 2026, the woman managed to contact the petitioner from a new number and informed him that she was being confined against her will by her family . The petitioner said he has a “grave and reasonable apprehension that her life is in danger and that she may be subjected to physical harm or forced into a marriage against her consent”. He added that he had filed a complaint with the Women’s Commission in Ghaziabad, but no steps have been taken so far to secure her release. SC stays HC order granting relief to Khera S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi In a major setback to Congress leader Pawan Khera, the Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Telangana High Court order granting him transit anticipatory bail in a defamation and forgery case filed by Assam Police. A bench of Justice J K Maheshwari and Justice A S Chandurkar said, “Considering all the aspects, issue notice. Impugned order stayed. If the petitioner applies for anticipatory bail before the court having jurisdiction in Assam, the order passed by this court may not carry any adverse inference. Notice returnable in 3 weeks.” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that Khera submitted conflicting documents regarding his residence, including Aadhaar details showing his wife residing in Delhi. He alleged that it amounted to forum shopping. The court observed that by furnishing a forged document, Khera appeared to have taken advantage of the Telangana High Court jurisdiction to obtain relief. The case stems from Khera’s charge against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his wife Riniki Bhuyan, particularly that she holds multiple passports and undisclosed assets abroad. Following this, the Assam Police registered a case of defamation, forgery, and criminal conspiracy Khera . was given one week’s transit bail by Telangana High Court. Class X 97.38% City students clear CBSE exam The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Wednesday declared the results for Class X boards. Delhi West achieved a pass percentage of 97.45%, while Delhi East followed closely at 97.33%, placing both above the national average | P3