NEW DELHI 23 AUGUST 2026 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 24  facebook/TheMorningStandard  X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in PLUS: 12 PAGES Excercise Snacking Works THE FEARLESS GENERATION MAGAZINE A Herd Day’s Night Every Man is an Island EXCLUSIVE VOICES Devdutt Pattanaik Prabhu Chawla Ravi Shankar Gopalkrishna Gandhi Sheila Kumar Shankkar Aiyar Anand Neelakantan A Matter of Perspective ‘A Part of Me Finds Acting in Dramas Ridiculous’ Go, Goa, Zanzibar SWAMI SUKHABODHANANDA SPEAKS Leveraging the Power of Attitude Day after, Raj govt says 611 schools lack own building R A J E S H A S N A N I @ Jaipur PM Modi being greeted by BJP president Nitin Nabin | PTI Rahul Gandhi at his rally in Pune on Saturday | EXPRESS Modi’s pep Break the talk to new cage, Rahul core team tells women IIT-D student jumps from building on campus, dies EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi A 31-year-old IIT-Delhi student allegedly died by suicide after jumping from a building on the campus on Saturday The deceased was . an MSc (physics) student. According to a senior police officer, Kishangarh police station received information about the incident at around 8.33 am on Saturday . A police team soon reached the IIT campus and shifted the injured person to the campus hospital, where he was declared brought dead. A Forensic Science Laboratory team was called for collection of evidence. The police said it has not recovered any suicide note so far. Inquiry revealed that at around 8 am, the deceased entered the campus through the main gate. He went to the Lecture Hall Complex, took a lift to the sixth floor and jumped from the front side of the building. The police have not found any injury marks other than those attributable to the fall on his body. Investigators have recovered a mobile phone from his pocket, which, they say, will be examined as per due procedure. They added that the police team is in the process of obtaining counselling records and other relevant information from the institute. The IIT-Delhi, in a statement, stated that the Institute deeply mourned the “tragic and untimely demise of an MSc student”. EXPRESS READ Centre forms panel for Gorkha issue solution The Centre on Saturday constituted a committee to draft an agreement and finalise modalities for a “permanent political solution” within the constitutional framework to the Gorkha identity issue in the Darjeeling hills and adjoining areas. P8 3 killed, 1 hurt in fire at J’khand steel factory At least three employees of a steel factory in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh district died and another was injured after a fire broke out at the unit, police said on Saturday. The blaze broke out in the captive power plant of the steel factory at Helal around Friday midnight. R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday urged the newly appointed office-bearers of the BJP’s central team to remain committed to the party’s ideology and the spirit of Nation First, with Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, which is at the core of good governance. In his first interaction with the new team, he shared insights and perspectives on strengthening organisational work and emphasised the importance of maintaining a deep connect with the people, particularly the youth, over the government’s policies and achievements. Modi reportedly advised the team not to be bothered or worried by the ‘surround sound’ outside, but to remain focused on the party’s ideological commitment. Prime Minister Later, in a post on ‘X’, Modi Narendra Modi said: “Organisational meet- shared insights and ings are all about new ideas perspectives to and perspectives aimed at further strengthen the party’s strengthening the party and organisation and deepening connect with the people. Great interaction deepen its connect with people with fellow party colleagues BJP statement and the new team!” Earlier in the day, a meeting of the party’s new core team adopted a resolution condemning the Congress decision to sing just two stanzas of Vande Mataram. Asserting that there would be no compromise on the honour and legacy of the National Song, the party resolved to oppose any attempt by the Congress to subject it to “communal pressure, political appeasement or vote-bank politics”. The BJP is also learnt to have constituted a dedicated team to spearhead its upcoming Gen Z outreach. It is expected to be rolled out shortly . Besides, the party will launch a month-long Seva Sankalp Abhiyan from September 17 to mark the completion of Modi’s 25 years in public life as the head of government and his dedication to service at every moment. P7 WOMEN are India’s “biggest strength,” but a stereotypical society rooted in the Manusmriti, , has systematically ensured they are never allowed to be independent, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in Pune on Saturday . Addressing his party’s youth outreach programme ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said he would not deliver a political speech but would instead listen to young women’s concerns and ideas. “There is a deliberate plan to ensure women are never independent. No man has any right over women. Even after remarkable success in every field, they are still boxed into a category Rahul ,” said, urging women to “break the cage.” There is a Calling the Manusmriti deliberate plan to ensure that women “the RSS’s draconian book,” he said it worked against should never be women’s independence and independent. You are not bound to progress. “A woman belongs anyone except to herself first, and that is yourself her first identity; then other Rahul Gandhi, roles like sister, daughter, Congress leader wife, and mother come intoplay he said. ,” Citing data, Rahul said 4.5 lakh female foeticides occur every year, 80 per cent of women face harassment in some form, 29 per cent face physical violence, and at least six per cent are rape victims. He added that half of India’s women reject work opportunities over safety concerns, 60 per cent cannot step out alone, and girls’ education drops 45 per cent due to early marriage and domestic work. Only eight per cent of women own property, he said. The data presented by the Congress leader could not be independently verified by this paper. Rahul later interacted with students and working women, who spoke about education, career choices and workplace conduct. AS many as 611 state-run schools in Rajasthan do not have own buildings, 2,047 schools lack toilets for students, and 1,049 do not have drinking water facilities, government data showed, amid a row over the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) inspection of schools in the state. The data was released a day after CJP workers were assaulted during a visit to a school in Jaipur. It came in response to an unstarred question by Leader of the Opposition Tikaram Julie. Of the 611 schools without buildings, 10 are girls’ schools. Jaipur has 38 such schools. Block-wise, Aklera in Jhalawar has the highest number of such schools at 23, followed by Khanpur with 16, and Jhalrapatan and Phalodi with 11 each. The data is based on 2025-26 U-DISE figures under the Samagra Shiksha framework. The government said arrangements were being made for drinking water and alternative toilet facilities at schools lacking them. It has ‘Unauthorised’ school visit: Dipke booked Police have registered a case against Cockroach Janta Party convenor Abhijeet Dipke and others for allegedly entering a state-run school in Maharashtra’s Latur district without permission. Dipke and associates sat among students and asked them various questions, disrupting classes, the complaint alleged. earmarked `550 crore for the repair and renovation of schools and another `450 crore for constructing buildings for schools without premises and those operating from dilapidated structures. The government also cited a Finance Department meeting HOUSE OF CARDS A multi-storey under-construction building collapsed in Hyderabad on Saturday, killing at least two persons | PTI SC overturns NGT order against Art Day after his death, Noida of Living, directs refund of `5 cr fine techie’s wife, 2 brothers and sister-in-law arrested S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Saturday set aside a 2017 order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) holding Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living Foundation responsible for the damage caused to the Yamuna floodplain following its World Culture Festival held here in 2016. The court directed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to refund the `5 crore environmental compensation deposited by the foundation. A bench of justices Satish Chandra Shar ma and N K Singh passed the order on an appeal filed by Vyakti Vikas Kendra India (VVKI), the organisation associated with AoL Foundation, founded by spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. The foundation is the broader international organisation, while VVKI is a separate Indian entity linked to it. The NGT had ruled on December 7, 2017 that the `5 crore interim compensation paid by the foundation would be used by DDA for restoration and excess cost, if any, would be recovered from AoL. It had also girl—who are about four @ New Delhi months old. The police said that on FriA 31-year-old woman, along day morning, a matrimonial with her two brothers and one dispute arose between the hussister-in-law, was arrested after band and the wife. Thereafter, her husband was allegedly the woman called members of beaten to death by them on Fri- her parental family, who day in Laxmi Park, following a reached the house of the dedispute between the ceased soon after. Recouple, the police said portedly, the victim’s Parents on Saturday . wife stepped out of the of twins The 31-year-old vichouse for a while after The deceased tim was employed with the fight with her married in the the multinational tech husband. Jindal firm Adobe in Noida as After the Jindal famhousehold a software engineer. ily arrived at the vicaround threeThe male accused tim’s house in Laxmi and-a-half have been identified as Park, they allegedly asbrothers Raju Jindal, years ago. The saulted the victim secouple had alias Rajkumar, 37, and verely The victim suc. twins. Vedprakash Jindal, 33. cumbed to the injuries The third accused is later, the police said. Raju’s wife, all of whom are Police say they have regisresidents of Budh Vihar. Raju tered a case under Section works as a chartered account- 103(1) and Section 3(5) of the ant, while Vedprakash runs a Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita clothing shop in Rithala. against the accused. They addAccording to the police, the ed that they are checking the deceased married in the Jindal CCTV footage of the area in orhousehold around three-and-a- der to ascertain the sequence half years ago. The couple had of events, which led to the altwin children—a boy and a leged murder. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE File picture of World Culture Festival organised by Art of Living in 2016 in Delhi | IANS Event on floodplain The event in question, World Cultural Festival, was held from March 11 to 13, 2016. The event was organised on the active floodplain of the Yamuna river in Delhi, over an area comprising 25 hectares upstream of the DND flyway held DDA guilty of contributory negligence. The top court said NGT’s finding was based on an expert committee report prepared in “violation of natural justice” without giving AoL a chance to submit evidence. The Shashi Shekhar committee’s estimate — `42.02 crore first, then `13.29 crore — was arbitrary with no conclusive proof that floodplain was “completely destroyed”, the bench said. The court further said that the event was held after necessary and due permission from DDA, ministry of enviornment, UP irrigation department and other authorities. VVKI had moved the SC after the NGT order held it responsible for degradation of floodplain near DND Flyway for organising the three-day festival, which was attended by 35 lakh people, including the PM. held on March 13 and 14, where a roadmap was prepared to mobilise `2,500 crore annually for the construction, repair and maintenance of school buildings with a total outlay of over `12,500 crore over five years. T he new figures have emerged amid a controversy over the CJP’s campaign to visit government schools and highlight infrastr ucture deficiencies. CJP co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka and party volunteers were allegedly assaulted on Friday near Rampura Kanwarpura village in Jaipur’s Bagru constituency during a planned school visit. Ranka alleged that the attack was premeditated and claimed some of those involved had been seen with local BJP MLA Kailash Verma the previous night. Verma rejected the allegations and accused the CJP of conspiring with the Congress to obstruct development. Meanwhile, the Rampura Kanwarpura school, where the CJP alleged classes were held in a shed previously used to house buffaloes, was temporarily shifted to a house on Saturday . K’taka man held for links with Pak gangsters EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru A 28-year-old air conditioning mechanic has been arrested by the Karnataka Police in the outskirts of Bengaluru on charges of having links with Pakistan-based gangsters with terror links. The suspect, identified as S Syed Abubakar, a resident of Islampura was allegedly in contact with Pakistan-based gangsters and an inter national criminal network. The suspect is said to have been in touch with them for the last two years. Investigators have learnt that he had undergone training in Kerala and Delhi. The accused was reportedly teaching at a mosque, the police said. The police have checked his email and mobile phone records. The police found that he extensively used Instagram to contact the Pakistani gangsters. He liked the reels shared by a person with ID “Hammadmemon333” and uploaded the videos of gangsters as his status. He also shared his ID card with the account of “Hammadmemon333”.