NEW DELHI 28 JUNE 2026 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 24  facebook/TheMorningStandard  X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in PLUS: 12 PAGES MAGAZINE TEACHING NO LESSON Being Salman Khan EXCLUSIVE VOICES The Great Indian Education Crisis Raising the Bar High The Fine Print Behind Fine Skin Anand Neelakantan Prabhu Chawla Ravi Shankar Shankkar Aiyar Sheila Kumar S Vaidhyasubramaniam Santwana Bhattacharya Growing Up Strong ‘Legally Blonde Was Such a Feminist Film’ SWAMI SUKHABODHANANDA SPEAKS Enjoy the Effort The Cartography of Civilisations It’s official, Ram temple trust gen secy & VHP V-P Champat Rai quits Pressure built up after RSS gen secy Hosabale questioned Rai over the alleged donation swindle Trust to meet on July 7 N A M I TA B A J PA I @Lucknow Teachers’ test now put off after Maha paper leak S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai WEEKS after the leak of N E E T- U G e x a m p a p e r kicked up a political firestor m, the Maharashtra Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), scheduled for Sunday , was abruptly postponed after the police found leaked question papers during a raid at a hotel in Thane district on Saturday . The Maharashtra State Examination Council said the TET 2026 exam, scheduled for June 28 at 1,028 centres across the state, has been postponed to maintain the transparency and integrity of the examination process. Acting on a tip-off, the police conducted a raid at the Diamond Hotel in Bhiwandi, where they found certain individuals in possession of TET question papers. Three persons have been arrested. The Maharashtra State Examination Council officials were called to verify the material. After a close inspection, it was confirmed that several questions in the leaked paper matched those in the actual question paper. The exam was immediately called off till further notice and a criminal case was registered at the Bhiwandi police station. Around six lakh candidates from across the state were set to appear for the exam. “The next exam date will be declared in the next two to three days,” said Priya Shinde, Deputy Commissioner of the Maharashtra State Examination Council. THE Shree Ram Janmabhumi Teerth Kshetra Trust on Saturday confirmed the resignations of general secretary Champat Rai and trustee Dr Anil Mishra following allegations of embezzlement of temple donation funds and valuables. In a letter released to the media, Trust treasurer Mahant Govind Giri said both leaders had submitted their resignations, which would be formally taken up at the next meeting of the Trust. Expressing shock and hurt over the allegations, Govind Giri emphasized the Trust’s commitment to a fair and transparent probe. “The temple trust assures devotees who have donated sil- Champat Rai ver bricks, ornaments and other valuables in the service of Lord Ram that their offerings are safe,” he stated. The resignations came on the heels of a Special Investigation Team unravelling mismanagement in donation collection in its preliminary report to the UP government. Based on its findings, the police filed an FIR and TRANSPARENCY PUSH Needless secrecy over failures of PSLV: Scientists B O S K Y K H A N N A @ Bengaluru THE Ministry of Science and Technology’s refusal to publicly share the Failure Analysis Committee (FAC) report on the back-to-back PSLV-C61 and C62 mission failures has sparked concern among space scientists and private industry players. Union Minister Jitendra Singh recently said the report was out and anomalies were detected, but that they cannot share it on a public platform. Singh also acknowledged that experts were working on resolving it. But scientists said such secrecy is counterproductive at a time when the government is actively seeking private sector participation in India’s space programme. Sources in Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) said the policy push includes Expression of Interest for transferring Launch Vehicle Mark-3 ( LVM-3) technology to private hands, following similar moves for PSLV and SSLV . A senior space scientist, speaking anonymously said the industry was invited because , ISRO demonstrated its strength and was prepping to focus on advanced projects. “But when basics go wrong and information is withheld, why would companies invest?” he asked. The PSLV-C61 mission on May 18, 2025 failed due to a pressure drop in the third-stage motor chamber, preventing the EOS-09 satellite from reaching its intended 534 km Sun Synchronous Polar Orbit. “The C-61 mission was not successful because of nozzle throat failure. The material was not right. Graphite was imported for the nozzle throat. This was changed to a carboncomposite component for C-62, which also did not succeed. The question which arose was whether it was fully ready for industrial use or not,” the space scientist said. VHP chief Alok Kumar said on Saturday that the Ram Temple Trust will meet in Ayodhya on July 7 to decide on the next course of action following the resignation of the two senior Trust functionaries. He said he hopes that a chief executive officer is appointed to manage the affairs of the temple. arrested eight persons. Though neither Rai nor Mishra was named in the FIR, their role in not reporting the matter on time came under scrutiny The eight arrested include . Rai’s former driver, who allegedly held the keys to the ‘hundi’ without authority. Rai is also VHP’s vice president. Highly-placed sources said the twin resignations followed intense pressure after a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) meeting in Haridwar on June 18-19. RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale reportedly questioned Champat Rai and others over alleged irregularities. Even during Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s visit to Ayodhya on June 19, Champat Rai was kept away from official programmes. On Thursday night, he received calls from RSS and VHP leaders advising resignation to contain the controversy . On Friday morning, both Rai and Mishra submitted their resignations to Trust president Mahant Nritya Gopal Das at Mani Ramdas Ji’s camp. The Trust and VHP maintained silence through Friday evening. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi BANGLADESH’S decision to hand over the development of an economic zone at Mongla Port to a Chinese state-owned company marks a significant shift in Dhaka’s strategic and economic engagement with China in the wake of the just-concluded visit by Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to Beijing. The project will be developed on around 110 acres of land adjacent the Mongla Port in Bagerhat, land that was originally earmarked for an Indian eco- nomic zone but was later delisted under the Muhammad Yunus-led administration as India-Bangladesh ties deteriorated. Mongla, Bangladesh’s second-largest and second-busiest port after Chittagong, lies about 188 km from Kolkata and close to the Sundarbans, giving it considerable strategic heft. Sources familiar with the development said plans include setting up manufacturing industries, warehouses and storage facilities in the economic zone. The Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with China Civil Engineer- TWO days before his 34th birthday, an employee of an event management company was killed after his motorcycle was allegedly hit by a speeding SUV in the Vasant Kunj area, police said on Saturday . On June 25, the Vasant Kunj South police station got a PCR call stating that a car had hit a motorcycle, leaving the rider seriously injured. By the time police reached the spot, the injured person had been taken to the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, where he was declared dead. Sarthak Mattoo, the victim, was a resident of Gurugram. The offending vehicle was found to be registered in the name of a Bengaluru-based company The vehicle had . been leased to Sagar Saha (29), a resident of Bihar. He is an employee of the company posted in Bengaluru, a senior police officer said. Saha, who was also present in the vehicle, said his friend Apurv Singh (30) was driving the SUV at the time of the accident. The SUV has been seized and Singh apprehended. The Bangladesh-China deal on Mongla Port economic zone is widely seen as a major policy shift in a region New Delhi has traditionally regarded as its immediate neighbourhood ing Construction Corporation. Beijing sought to downplay any geopolitical implications of its growing partnership with Dhaka. Responding to questions over India’s concerns, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, “ChinaBangladesh cooperation does not target any third party and should be free from third-party influence.” The joint statement issued after the talks said both sides agreed to “jointly advance the Mongla Port Facilities Modernization and Expansion Project” and the development of the Chinese Economic and Industrial Zone in Chattogram. It added that the Chinese side would “provide support and help within its capacity to the Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project”. The Teesta project has drawn close attention in India because the river flows close to the India-Bangladesh border and has implications for India’s northeastern region. Cape Verde, a small group of islands off Africa’s west coast, continue World Cup fairytale; enter knockout stage after 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia MEETING WITH ARGENTINA AWAIT HISTORY-MAKERS Lack of clarity MIRACLE BABY Videograb shows a newborn pulled out from under the rubble of collapsed buildings in Venezuela’s La Guaira after an emotional rescue on Friday night | X Speeding SUV hits & kills Paediatrician among 3 more charged biker days ahead of b’day E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi Policy shift in Dhaka CAPE OF GOOD HOPE: DEBUTANTS ADVANCE ISRO scientist far Ahmed, a paediatrician, has been identified as the elder THE National Investigation brother of co-accused Dr Adeel Agency (NIA) has chargesheet- Ahmed Rather and a founding ed three more accused, inmember of Ansar Ghazcluding an absconding wat-ul-Hind (AGuH), an doctor, in connection with offshoot of al-Qaeda in RED the car bomb blast near the Indian SubcontiFORT ATTACK Red Fort in Delhi that nent,” the NIA said. took place last year. “One of the founding In its supplementary members of the AGuH, charge-sheet, the NIA has Muzafar had attended the named Zameer Ahmad Ahang- Eidgah meeting at Srinagar in er, Tufail Ahmad Bhat and Muzafar Ahmad alias Faraz/Zafar, Alert in capital all from J&K, as accused. This Security was heightened in Delhi takes the number of people and Uttarakhand on Saturday as chargesheeted in the case to 13, intelligence agencies issued an including the prime accused, alert after receiving an email that Umer Un Nabi, who was killed warned of possible Khalistani in the explosion. terror threat, officials said. P3 The agency said that MuzaE X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi Iran unleashed a drone assault on Bahrain and a ship was attacked in Hormuz on Saturday, hours after the US struck Iran over ‘truce violation’ | P9 India out, B’desh hands Mongla project to China When the basics are not right, why will some other company invest? Just as accuracy, quick technological advances and safety, transparency is also important Another senior ISRO scientist, refusing to be identified, said the PSLV twin failures raised questions if diagnosis done during C-61 mission was right and if the solutions listed were addressed in C-62. FRESH STRIKES BY IRAN, US AMID HORMUZ ROW June 2022 during which the terror outfit was formed,” it said. The agency alleged that Muzafar was involved in the manufacture, testing and safekeeping of IEDs at a facility run by Umer and Muzammil at AlFalah University in Faridabad. A non-bailable warrant has been issued against Muzafar. The NIA said Zameer, an AGuH overground worker, allegedly acted as a courier for arms and cash for the terror module. “Tufail, a former LeT overground worker, was the module’s arms supplier. He had procured one AK-47, Krinkov rifle, one pistol, magazines and ammunition through a handler and delivered them to Dr Nabi, for `3 lakh,” the NIA said. Nobody gave them a prayer when they qualified for the World Cup but the first-timers, paired with former champions Spain and Uruguay as well as Saudi in Group H, equipped themselves well over their three group games. Players and support staff became heroes in the matter of two weeks. A reward for finishing second in the group is a meeting in the first knockout stage against Argentina BELGIUM SURVIVE, URUGUAY OUT Two-time champions Uruguay, who were expected to advance from their group, meanwhile lost to Spain and bowed out of the tournament at the first of asking. Belgium advanced after big win over New Zealand while Iran await fate KNOCKOUT ROUNDS FROM TODAY The first of the knockout ties will be held on Sunday night (IST) when hosts Canada face South Africa in Los Angeles Cape Verde players rejoice after the match against Saudi Arabia | AP EXPRESS READ Ancy breaks Anju record, Sarvesh clears 2.31m Kerala long jumper Ancy Sojan smashed the 22-year-old national record of Anju Bobby George at the National Inter-State meet. Her jump of 6.88m breached Anju’s mark of 6.83m, which was secured at the Athens Olympics in 2004. Sarvesh Kushare cleared 2.31m to better the national record in men’s high jump. Tremors felt in Delhi-NCR, northern states Strong tremors were felt in Delhi-NCR and northern states, including J&K, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh on Saturday evening as a 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit Afghanistan. The tremors sparked panic among residents of the Valley, but there are no reports of loss of life or damage to property so far, according to officials.