MondAY 27 July, 2026 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard A f t e r U S pa u s e Iran halts retaliation Rajnath issues strong warning to Pak on 27th Kargil Vijay Diwas Iran said on Sunday it has halted retaliatory attacks against US allies in West Asia after Washington stopped its strikes on the country for two nights A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS Page 9 l New Delhi Pralhad Joshi assumes charge as Union education minister Rahul writes to Amit Shah on use of pellet guns on students Shortly after taking charge of education ministry on Sunday, Union minister Pralhad Joshi held a review meeting. School education secretary TK Anil Kumar and outgoing higher education secretary Vineet Joshi briefed him. MoS Jayant Chaudhary attended the meet Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has written to Home Minister Amit Shah demanding accountability for the “barbaric assault” on students and whether he approved the use of “lethal force”, including pellet guns, against the protesting youth | P7 Nandan Nilekani-led task force to reform exam system Special panel to push technology-driven reforms to overhaul existing processes LS braces for Oppn heat as paper leak bill comes up today R A J E SH K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi A day after Dharmendra Pradhan resigned as Union education minister and the protesting students called off their 36-day agitation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced a high-powered task force headed by former UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani to carry out examination reforms. Making the announcement through a video message posted on his Instagram handle, Modi said the task force would explore technology-driven reforms aimed at creating a transparent examination system, adding that t h e g o ve r n m e n t wo u l d a c t o n i t s recommendations. Apart from Nilekani, a multidisciplinary group of domain experts will be part of the task force. The other members are IIT Chennai director V Kamakoti, former Isro chairman S Somanath, former IB director Tapan Deka, former education secretary Anita Karwal, and logistics expert Amrit Lal Meena. Explaining the objective of the task force, Modi said it would focus on examination reforms. “And based on its report, steps will be taken to ensure the credibility of upcoming examinations at the earliest.” The task force will recommend immediate steps to secure upcoming tests and suggest ways to overhaul national examination and testing systems to make them leak-proof. In his latest outreach to students through Instagram, the PM noted that the government had established fast-track courts to ensure justice for students and was taking all necessary steps to make the examination system more transparent. Modi said examination reforms would be undertaken based on the report submitted by the high-powered task force. “The government is continuously taking measures for the students. Those who tampered with students’ future are languishing in jail. We have already established fast-track courts,” he said, adding that the government was moving fast to bring stringent legal provisions to check paper-leak racketeers. We must look to the future. To make sure our examination system is trustworthy and transparent and the technology is used optimally, we have decided to constitute a high-powered committee Narendra Modi, PM Domain experts in panel Apart from Nilekani, a multidisciplinary group of domain experts are part of the task force. They are IIT Chennai director V Kamakoti, ex-Isro chairman S Somanath, former IB director Tapan Deka, former education secretary Anita Karwal, and logistics expert Amrit Lal Meena preet h a na i r @ New Delhi AS Parliament reconvenes on Monday after a washout of the first week of the Monsoon Session, the deadlock may ease slightly with Op, position sources saying INDIA bloc parties may be inclined to participate in the debate on the Bill seeking to strengthen the two-year-old anti-paper leak law. The government has listed the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill 2026 for the Lok Sabha on Monday A final decision on the Opposition’s . floor strategy will, however, be taken at a meeting of INDIA bloc leaders in Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge’s chamber in Parliament on Monday morning, sources said. Speaking to this paper, an Opposition leader said parties did not want to be seen as blocking reforms given that Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has quit. A heated debate on the paper leak issue is expected if the government and the opposition break the ongoing deadlock in both Houses of Parliament. The Congress-led Opposition plans to keep up the pressure over the alleged police crackdown on protesting students, demanding action against those responsible and an apology from PM Modi. TMC’s Rajya Sabha deputy leader Sagarika Ghose submitted a notice under Rule 267 seeking an immediate discussion on “use of excessive force on student protesters” in Jantar Mantar. The Opposition is also preparing to corner the government on Ram temple donation theft and the ethanol blending controversy . Day after, workers remove traces of protest A N U P V E R M A @ New Delhi The New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) on Sunday continued a clean-up operation in and around the Jantar Mantar, a day after the Cockroach Janta Party called off its protest, with officials saying nearly 60 metric tonnes of waste is expected to be cleared from the site and its adjoining roads. Sanitation workers, heavy vehicles and mechanised cleaning equipment were de ployed through the night to restore the area after protesters dispersed on Saturday following the resig, Workers remove graffiti on a wall in the Janpath area on Sunday | Express nation of Dharmendra Pradhan as the education minister over the NEET paper leak row. NDMC Vice Chair person Kuljeet Singh Chahal, along with other senior officials, reached Siddu not to contest ’28 polls, says politics is corrupt now E x pre s s N e w s Serv i c e @ Mysuru Nearly two months after stepping down as the Karnataka Chief Minister, veteran Congress leader Siddaramaiah made his most definitive political announcement on Sunday, declaring that he will not contest the 2028 Assembly elections. Ending weeks of speculation over his electoral future, the 79year-old leader revealed his decision at a function in KR Pete taluk in Mandya district, saying it was prompted by advancing age, health concerns and growing corruption in politics, but said he will remain active in public life. Addressing a gathering at a programme to mark the birth anniversary of KR Pete Krishna, Siddaramaiah responded to repeated appeals from supporters urging him to continue in electoral politics for another decade. While acknowledging the affection of his followers, he made it clear that he had already taken a decision not to seek another electoral mandate. He later wrote on X, “Since the political field has become corrupted today, I will not contest the 2028 Assembly elections.” Jantar Mantar immediately after the conclusion of the protest and remained at the site throughout the night, supervising the cleanliness, waste removal, repair and restoration works. Officials concerned were directed to complete all works soon. The operation was carried out jointly by the Health & Sanitation, Civil Engineering and Horticulture Departments. From last night until today more than , 500 officers and employees participated in the drive, undertaking cleaning, washing, repair and restoration of roads, footpaths, walls, green belts, etc. P3 Slogans cleared Over 50 workers were deployed for the operation. They carried out road & footpath cleaning using four jetting machines & removed slogans from walls. E x p r e s s Re a d Low safety in 774 schools Nearly 774 schools in Delhi have been found with safety-related deficiencies during a city-wide inspection drive launched under the Child Protection Month initiative, with private schools accounting for the highest number of cases, officials said. P3 Four dead in Assam blast At least four workers were killed in a suspected cylinder explosion at an iron casting unit in Assam’s Cachar district on Sunday, police said. The incident took place at a shared compound of Kade Global Infrastructure LLP and IRID Casting Works LLP in Pangram. l J8.00 l PAGES 12 “Operation Sindoor showed the fate that awaits those who use terrorism against India,” Rajnath Singh said at the Kargil War Memorial on Sunday. Warning Pakistan against any misadventure, the defence minister said India can respond in a manner “beyond their imagination”. He added that “there would be no talks with Pakistan and any dialogue would focus solely on PoK”, describing the region as an integral part of India | P7 Mirabai, Manipur’s golden girl, threepeats Games’ record broken Every lift by her set a CWG record. Be it her 82kg and 85kg lifts in snatch or 105kg in clean and jerk. Her overall lift of 190kg as well E x pre s s N e w s Serv i c e @ New Delhi Nervous starts in S & C&J In both snatch and the clean & jerk sections, she failed to complete the first lift of 82kg and 105kg respectively but made amends in the second attempts to finish the contest City women’s panel gets chief after 2-yr gap Mirabai Chanu wells up after her record-breaking lifts on Sunday | PTI f i r o z m i r z a @ Chennai FOR more than a decade, Mirabai Chanu has been the country’s biggest medal hope in weightlifting. And it was no different at the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games (CWG). Living up to her billing, the diminutive 31-yearold lifter from Manipur completed a hat-trick of CWG gold at the SEC Armadillo auditorium on Sunday, beating her opponents by miles. The gold was also the country’s first at this edition of the Games. The 2017 world champion and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medallist’s superiority among her opponents can be gauged by the fact that her total lift was 22kg more than the nearest rival — Ruth Asuquo Nyong from Nigeria. En route to her top of the podium finish, she also set the CWG record four times in the 48kg weight category While lifting . 85kg in the snatch section in her third attempt, she also set a Commonwealth record. Mirabai had won a gold each in the 2018 and 2022 editions with the previous one coming in the 49kg division. In 2014, she won a silver medal (48kg). Earlier in the day, another Manipuri lifter, Rishikanta Singh Chanambam pocketed silver in the 60kg weight category . BJP leader Lata Gupta has been appointed chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), which had been lying vacant for more than two years, the Delhi Chief Minister’s Office said on Sunday . Shyam Bala, Malti Verma, Lata Sidhi, Sanrakshika Sharma Jha, and Renu Bhalla have been appointed members of the commission, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said in a post on X. The DCW chairperson’s post fell vacant after Swati Maliwal resigned in January 2024 after the then ruling AAP decided to send her to the Rajya Sabha. Nirmal Jain has been appointed Chairperson of the Delhi Minorities Commission, while Kuldeep Singh and Mohammad Haroon have been nominated as its members. CM Rekha Gupta said that the country has given a new direction to good governance, women’s empowerment, social justice and inclusive development. Carrying forward the same vision, the Delhi government is ensuring that women and minority communities receive effective protection of their rights, dignified opportunities and timely justice.