www.IndIaneXpreSS.Com mCS/204/2020-22 rnI no. maheng 2002/21899 A French Window opens into Kapurthala Revivalists try to reclaim the splendour of a town once known as the Paris of Punjab MUMbAI, NOVeMber 15, 2026 screen Santosh Davakhar’s psychological thriller Gondhal documents a disappearing Maharashtra ritual late CIty 14+4 pageS ₹6.00 d a I l y f r o m : a h m e d a B a d , C h a n d I g a r h , d e l h I , j a I p u r , k o l k a t a , l u C k n o w , m u m B a I , n a g p u r , p a t n a , p u n e , v a d o d a r a enVIrOnMenT MInIsTer BHUPenDer YADAV cALLs FOr rAnGe OF MeAsUres 108 136 168 91 The ciTy page 4 Centre asks states to fix officers to track pollution curbs, seals 191 units Secy-level officers to implement anti-pollution restrictions across cities in region explaiNeD significant step nikhil Ghanekar New Delhi, November 14 mumbai metro line 2b’s missing piece of 185 metres waits for one resident to leave The worlD page 10 u.s. ground stop disrupts flights a DaY after the air quality in Delhi deteriorated to near severe category, Union Environment Minister bhupender Yadav held a high-level review meeting saturday and directed a range of measures, including asking states to nominate secretary-level officials for direct accountability of implementation of anti-pollution curbs across cities in the national Capital region (nCr). these officials will undertakefieldvisitsandreporttothe A smoggy Saturday morning in New Delhi. amIt mehra Commission for air Quality Management (CaQM) in nCr and adjoining areas, and the ministry requested CaQM to “issue notices to non-performing officers”, according to a relATeD rePOrT, PAge 3 pressreleaseissuedbytheMinistry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Industrial emissions are a significant pollution source in the winter season. On October 30, the CPCB had directed pollution control boards of Haryana, UP, Rajasthan and Delhi to act against industrial units that had not installed Air Pollution Control Devices nor placed orders for them. It was based on CAQM’s earlier direction prescribing a particulate matter emission limit of 50 micrograms per cubic metre for 17 highly polluting categories of industries. “state Governments were directed to nominate secretary »cOnTInUeD On PAGe 2 ‘They didn’t look like imposters’: Retired New York lawyer loses Rs 4 cr in digital arrest Cases filed with Noida police, FBI; cheats posed as probe officers Pragynesh New Delhi, November 14 WhEn62-YEar-OlDatultalwar was on the verge of transferring $32,000 from his newly createdCoinbaseaccounttoan indian bank account, a pop-up on the cryptocurrency app flashed a warning: “it might be a scam.” he was alone at his late mother’s house in noida’s sector 30, where labourers were carrying out renovation work. but the recently retired labour lawyer from new York felt he was too far in to back out. he hadalreadytransferredmuchof hissavings,brokenhisfixeddeposits (FDs), and feared losing everything if he stopped now. “there were red flags of course. but never for a second diditfeellikethattheywerenot real policemen,” he said over the phone from new York. talwarhadbeenunderdigital arrest for 15 days during his visit to india and would end up losing nearly rs 4 crore. Cheats posing as officers of the Central bureau of investigation (Cbi) and the national investigation agency (nia) had accused him of links to the Pahalgam terror attack and persuaded him to transfer his money, claiming it »cOnTInUeD On PAGe 2 Family members of one of the accident victims at a mortuary in golaghat, Assam, Saturday. reuterS Kaziranga accident toll 26, search on for parents of 2-year-old boy who survived shinjini Ghosh New Delhi, November 14 as thE kaziranga accident death toll reached 26 on saturday, authorities were scrambling to trace the parents of a two-year-old who survived the crash. administration and medical officers said the toddler would be handed over to child welfareauthoritiesifthesearch for his parents remained unsuccessful. a day after the head-on collision between a minibus and a container truck left several others injured, bokakhat district administration officials said nobody had come forward yet for the boy. the head-on collision occurred in the rangajan area of Golaghat district around 2:30 pm on Friday, police said. ac- The toddler will be handed over to child welfare services if his parents are not traced cording to the preliminary investigation,theminibuswasallegedly speeding. Earlier, swapnaneel Deka, senior superintendent of Police, had said that three students were among those who died. On the investigation, Deka told The Indian Express on saturday: “all commercial »cOnTInUeD On PAGe 2 ‘Can’t be both’: Bihar Raj Bhavan flags dual jobs of minister Ashok Choudhary Boys in blue pull off a stunner The India Under-19 cricket team celebrates after defeating Pakistan in the Asia Cup final in Al Amerat, Oman, Saturday. The last-ball win was powered by Mohit Ulva and Manal Chauhan’s 57-run 9th-wicket partnership, followed by 11 runs from Chigurupati Venkata. X/@BCCI PAge 14 Addl Chief Secretary to Governor, since transferred, points to office of profit, says minister became prof after election santosh singh Patna, November 14 Delhi SCO forum: Pak confirms participation, sending minister After Tiger Shroff firing, security upgrade for Bollywood A-listers shubhajit roy Manish Kumar Pathak iNSiDe New Delhi, November 14 Pakistan is sending its Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Minister Musadik Masood Malik to new Delhi for the shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s Civilisational Dialogue Forum in the city on november 20-22. the announcement saturday by islamabad came a day after Union Culture Minister Gajendrasinghshekhawatsaid page 12 bulk of issues sorted, says Jaishankar on india-u.s. trade deal Pakistan Climate Change and environmental Coordination Minister Musadik Masood Malik he remained “hopeful” that Pakistan would confirm its participation. announcing the decision to attend the summit, Pakistan’s ForeignMinistrysaid,“thegovernment of Pakistan has nominated Dr Musadik Masood Malik, Federal Minister for »cOnTInUeD On PAGe 2 Mumbai, November 14 MUMbai POliCE has upgraded the security cover of at leasttwobollywooda-listersto Y-pluscategoryandsteppedup protection for others following the October 18 attack on actor tiger shroff and ongoing threats allegedly from the lawrence bishnoi gang. thisispartofawidersecurity review of bollywood personalities, with multiple agencies examiningthethreatperception ofthosealreadygivenprotection andidentifyingotherswhomay need fresh cover, officials said. Measures range from upgradingprotectioncategories— this mainly increases the numberofsecuritypersonnel— to deploying extra manpower without changing the tiers and trackingtravelroutes.Protection has also been extended to some family members and associates of actors on the gang’s radar. shroff was fired at on the evening of October 18 as his car left a football ground near Pushpa Park in Juhu. three men on a motorcycle fired at least three rounds at the actor; while he was unhurt, his driver and an autorickshaw driver were injured. an audio message attributed to two foreignbased members of the lawrence bishnoi gang claimed responsibility for the attack, »cOnTInUeD On PAGe 2 relatedreport,page3 bihar FOOD and Consumer Protection Minister ashok Choudhary may have to make a choice between retaining his legislative Council seat or his postofassistantprofessor,after a raj bhavan note flagged his probationary leave as illegal and warned that holding the teaching post attracts disqualification under office-ofprofit rules. Choudhary, who joined a n CollegeunderPatliputraUniversity as an assistant professor of political science on February 17 this year, went on leave the very next day to continue his duties as a legislator and minister. the raj bhavan’s detailed note followed a meeting of the Ashok Choudhary joined A N College as an assistant prof on February 17 this year and went on leave the very next day university syndicate on august 19,afterwhichitsVice-ChancellorreferredthemattertothesecretariatofGovernorltGensyed ata hasnain (retd) for guidance in the absence of clear rules. at issue were two questions: »cOnTInUeD On PAGe 2 l WITh 17 CleArINg The NDA WrITTeN TeST ThIS yeAr, MAI bhAgO ArMeD FOrCeS PrePArATOry INSTITUTe FOr gIrlS hAS brOkeN SeVerAl reCOrDS Given ‘wings’, girls on the march at a defence training institute in Punjab Kanchan Vasdev india national Defence academy (nDa) written entrance test last month, 17 belonged to thE DaY starts at 5 am at this the Mai bhago armed Forces sprawling campus in sas Preparatory institute for Girls, nagar, Mohali, with physical Mohali. it was its largest suctraining. school or college fol- cessful batch for the competilows, then drill, coaching and tion, four years after the nDa preparation for written exam- opened its door to girls. as per inations. by 8.30 pm, when the institute, it also comprised mostteenagerswouldbewind- the largest batch of girls clearing down for the day, ing the nDa exam page 1 these girls are back from any governin their rooms with ment establishment their books, studyin the country, ining until 11 pm. Mobile phones cluding sainik schools and are switched off after 10 pm. rashtriya Military schools. these days, there is an extra named after the legendary spring in their steps. sikhwarriorMaibhagoorMata Ofthecandidatesacrossthe bhag kaur, who fought the country who cleared the all- Mughals, the institute was set Chandigarh, November 14 anchor up by the Punjab government in 2015, to prepare youth of the state for commissioning into the armed Forces amid concerns over their “falling” numbers in the defence services.afterthenDastartedadmitting girls, the institute started an nDa Preparatory Wing in 2023. it currently has 115 ‘lady Cadets’ in total — 40 in the nDa Wing and 75 in the ‘Graduate Wing’, for commissioning into the armed Forces. khushi, 17, from beas in Majha, is among the 17 successful candidates. her father Vijay kumar works as a gardener at a military station in beas and took the help of army officers to get her admitted to army lady Cadets march at the Mai bhago Armed Forces Preparatory Institute in Mohali, Punjab. kamleShwar SIngh Public school. Growinguparoundmilitary personnel, she always hoped to join the army, khushi says. she learntabouttheMaibhagoinstitute through social media, and managed to pass the stringent test for admission, including a written exam and interview. busy preparing now for the ssb (services selection board) assessment, which determines whether a candidate has the qualities required to become a defenceofficer,shesays:“ihope mydreamwillberealised…the institute provides us wings.” For Jasmeet kaur, 17, from Mukerian in hoshiarpur, the disciplined routine at the institutewasinitiallydifficult.now, itfeelsnatural.“Weareallowed mobile phones and can talk to our parents, but not after 10 pm,” she says. the other students include Japneet kaur, 18, whose father runs a shop in behrampur village of Gurdaspur district, and whose initial ambition of joining the indian air Force faced the height hurdle; and sehajpreet kaur, 17, the daughter of a farmer from Chhohal village in Gurdaspur. While the girls hoping to be commissioned into the armed Forces directly do graduation from the Mai bhago institute’s partner MCM DaV College for Women, Chandigarh, the nDa aspirants are finishing schooling from Doon international school, Mohali. sehajpreet, for example, is doing bsc (non-Medical) at MCM College. she has her parents’fullbackingforjoiningthe army, she says. “My father and my mother, a schoolteacher, are on the same page.” Maj Gen Jasbir singh sandhu (retd), the Director of the Mai bhago institute, says it is the first such state government establishment for helping girls join the armed Forces. he also credits the Punjab government with moving quickly to set up the nDa Preparatory Wing after the decision to take ingirlsin2022.Currently,Chief MinisterbhagwantMannisthe Chairman of the institute and Education and skill Development Minister aman arora the Vice-Chairman. “the success in this year’s »cOnTInUeD On PAGe 2