22062026-TTC-01.qxd 6/22/2026 12:44 AM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 146 NO. 171 | 12 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 STARMER WILL RESIGN AS UK PRIME MINISTER, CLAIMS TRUMP WORLD /thetribunechd RASHID’S RESIGNATION: AWAMI ITTEHAD PARTY TO CONSULT CADRE J&K PM COMMISSIONS THREE NAVAL SHIPS IN KOLKATA NATION SOORYAVANSHI SMASHES 50 IN 11 BALLS, FASTEST IN LIST A MATCH SPORT monday | 22 june 2026 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com Jammers, frisking, 7L staffers: NEET clears key security hurdle Punjab Cong likely to get new chief as Rahul meets top state leaders Over 20 lakh medical aspirants take re-exam across 5,440 centres BEND IT LIKE MODI Shekhar Singh & Rajmeet Singh Hoursbeforeretest, Hisar girl kills self by consuming poison Aksheev Thakur Tribune News Service PM Narendra Modi performs an asana on the 12th International Day of Yoga at Kolkata’s iconic Red Road on Sunday. Yoga must for Hry govtjobs,tobepart ofschoolcurriculum PANCHKULA: Marking the 12th International Yoga Day, Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini unveiled a roadmap to institutionalise yoga across the state’s education, recruitment, higher education and sports sectors. He announced that yoga education would be introduced in the curriculum for students of Classes III to IX from this session. He also said questions related to yoga would be made a mandatory component of all examinations conducted by the government. INSIDE Centre reappoints Tushar Mehta as Solicitor General NEW DELHI: The Centre has reappointed senior advocate Tushar Mehta as the Solicitor General of India for a further term of three years, effective July 1. The decision was approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on June 20, according to an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training. A native of Gujarat, Mehta has served as Solicitor General since October 10, 2018. — TNS Kohli selected for England ODI tour, must prove fitness NEW DELHI: Virat Kohli was on Sunday named in India’s squad for the three-match ODI series against England next month, subject to fitness clearance, as the BCCI announced a 15-man squad for the upcoming white-ball assignment. Kohli, who is in Delhi for an event, will report to the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru on Monday for a fitness test. He had suffered a hamstring injury during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s titledefending run in IPL. INSIDE During the 40-minute session, the PM walked among participants and even assisted a few in correcting their postures. ANI INSIDE New Delhi, June 21 Amid enhanced security measures, over 20 lakh medical aspirants appeared for the NEET-UG re-examination across 5,440 centres in India and 14 centres abroad on Sunday. The examination was conducted in 13 languages, including Hindi and English. Aadhaar-based biometric verification and face authentication, CCTV monitoring, jammers and two-layer frisking with the support of state police were in place across centres. Command and control centres for CCTV monitoring were established at the national level by the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the Ministry of Education. Such centres were also set up at 34 centrally funded institutions of the Department of Higher Education in every state. The conduct of the examination involved support from the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), Ministry of External Affairs, Department of Posts, Indian Air Force, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, National Deepender Deswal Tribune News Service A student being scanned at a NEET-UG centre in Amritsar on Sunday. ANI PM DELAYS TRAVEL FOR ASPIRANTS’ CONVENIENCE Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday delayed the travel to his residence after arriving at Delhi’s IGI airport from Kolkata, taking extra care to ensure no candidate appearing in the NEET re-examination here faces any inconvenience due to traffic restrictions. CBSE ANNOUNCES CLASS XII RE-EVALUATION RESULTS The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared the re-evaluation results on Sunday for students who applied for verification and re-evaluation of their Class XII board exam answer sheets. The outcomes are being released in a phased manner. Informatics Centre (NIC), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Education and banking partners, including SBI, Canara Bank, PNB and UCO Bank, along with state governments and other stakeholders. Several state governments also made arrangements for students and continued on page 9 Hisar, June 21 A 19-year-old NEET aspirant died by suicide after consuming some poisonous substance at Dhani Khan Bahadur village in Hisar on Sunday morning, hours before she was scheduled to take the re-exam. Simran was reportedly upset follow- Another dies by hanging in T’gana on exam eve ing the cancellation of the National Eligibility-cumEntrance Test for undergraduate courses (NEET-UG) held on May 3 amid the paper leak controversy. Simran had been preparing for NEET-UG for the past three years. According to family members, she had informed them that she would leave for the exam centre at 11 am on Sunday. However, they found her unconscious hours before continued on page 9 Tribune News Service New Delhi/Chandigarh, June 21 The Punjab Congress is likely to get a new chief, with a formal announcement expected soon along with key assignments to party heavyweights. The development came after the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Sunday held one-on-one meetings with five senior Punjab Congress leaders — state party chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Partap Singh Bajwa, Charanjit Singh Channi, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Vijay Inder Singla at 10, Janpath, the residence of senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. It is learnt that the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa, is likely to continue in his existing role. “The state unit is likely to get a new chief. All other heavyweights representing different castes and regions are being adjusted either as working presidents or being assigned key panels such as the coordination, campaign and manifesto committees,” said a senior party leader privy to All 49 Fatehabad police Vance claims great progress in talks; Iran station staffers shunted wants Lebanon hostilities halted for truce out over missing liquor REUTERS Ujwal Jalali Tribune News Service Anil Kakkar Sirsa, June 21 In an unprecedented action, the entire staff of Fatehabad Sadar police station was shifted and its SHO booked after 160 cases of seized liquor were allegedly found missing from the station’s malkhana (storehouse). The move followed an inquiry that found a huge mismatch between official records and the liquor stock kept in police custody. A total of 49 personnel, including the SHO, have been removed from the police station, making it one of the biggest administrative shake-ups in the district in recent years. The case first reached the DGP office through a complaint and was later forwarded to Fatehabad SP Nikita Khattar. ASP Divyanshi Singla was assigned to investigate the matter. During a physical verification of the malkhana, she found that 160 cases of liquor recorded in official docu- SHO booked; probe finds anomalies in seized alcohol stock ments were missing. Based on the inquiry report, the SP ordered immediate action. Sadar SHO Prahlad Singh was booked under Sections 256 and 316(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and sent to the police lines. Simultaneously, the entire police station staff was reshuffled. Those transferred include seven sub-inspectors, three assistant sub-inspectors, 11 head constables, 16 constables, nine SPOs and three HKRN employees. Preliminary findings suggest that court permission had been obtained last month to destroy the seized liquor. However, investigators suspect that while the stock was shown as destroyed on paper, a part of it may have been diverted or illegally disposed of. continued on page 9 New Delhi, June 21 Expressing optimism over the latest round of US-Iran diplomacy in Switzerland, US Vice-President JD Vance on Sunday described the talks as a “historic meeting” and said “great progress” had already been made, even as Tehran maintained that negotiations on a final settlement could not move forward unless Washington fulfilled key commitments under the June 18 Islamabad Memorandum. Speaking in Lucerne ahead of the four-party talks involving the US, Iran, Pakistan and Qatar, Vance credited President Donald Trump’s leadership for creating the conditions for diplomacy and said the focus was now on transforming relations in West Asia. “This is a historic meeting... We’ve already made great progress over just the last few hours, and I expect that we’ll make additional progress in the hours to come,” Vance said. He said the opening of the Iranian Speaker Mohd Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrive for talks; and (right) US Vice-President JD Vance with President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner at Obbuergen, Switzerland. Strait of Hormuz and the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear programme had already been achieved and voiced hope that the region could “turn over a new leaf”. “Through diplomacy, through working together, we are trying to transform West Asia... Now, we see a future where everybody can work together to promote peace and prosperity for everyone,” he said. However, even as the talks got underway at Bürgenstock, Iran made it clear that any negotiations on a permanent agreement remained contingent upon the implementation of five provisions of the 14-point Islamabad Memorandum. “The Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to meticulously pursue the process of implementing the other party’s commitments,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said. He stressed that paragraph one of the agreement, which calls for the cessation of hostilities “on all fronts, including Lebanon”, remained particularly important. “Without the implementation of these provisions, especially paragraph 1, entry into the negotiation phase for the final agreement is not possible,” Baqaei said. He accused the US of being either “unable or unwilling” to continued on page 9 ‘Mowgli girl’found wandering in UP forests 9 yrs ago, dies at 18 , Manikant Mishra Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 21 Nearly nine years after she was found wandering alone in the forests of Uttar Pradesh, Ehsaas, widely known across India as the “Mowgli girl”, has died at the age of 18, bringing to an end a life that became a rare and deeply human story of rescue, rehabilitation and resilience. Officials said Ehsaas died at the Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow on June 15. According to the post-mortem report, the cause of the death was septicaemia, resulting from a lung disease. Ehsaas first came into public view in January 2017 when she was spotted wandering on a road in Motipur range of the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary in Bahraich district. The sight startled rescuers. She appeared to have had very limited contact with human society, moved on all fours, avoided people, refused to wear clothes and communicated through screams and gestures. The circumstances of her discovery drew comparisons with Rudyard Kipling’s fictional jungle child, Mowgli, and she soon came to be known nationwide as the “Mowgli girl”. Yet the label itation. According to Nirvan only partly reflected the sto- Foundation chairman Suresh ry that unfolded over the fol- Singh Dhapola, years of medlowing years. ical treatment, care After her rescue, and support graduthe Child Welfare ally helped her Committee in adapt to life among Bahraich initially people. Over time, named her Pooja. she learnt to wear She was later clothes, recognise renamed Ehsaas caregivers and and shifted to the respond to affection. Mohan Road-based Among those Ehsaas Nirvan Rajkiya Bal closest to her was Grih Visheshikrit in caretaker Rani, Lucknow, where she spent whom Ehsaas affectionately most of her life under spe- called “Amma”. cialised care. “She used to call me Amma. I What followed was a long and always hoped she would recovchallenging process of rehabil- er further. Now, all we have are c m y b her memories,” Rani said. Despite the progress she made, doctors found that her brain had remained severely underdeveloped, leaving her with intellectual disabilities. She also suffered recurrent epileptic seizures and remained under treatment for years. Her health worsened earlier this month when she fell ill and was admitted to a hospital on June 8. She was discharged on June 11 after showing signs of improvement. However, her condition deteriorated again on June 15. According to the ACP , Ghazipur, Anindiya Vikram Singh, she was rushed back to the hospital but died shortly after arrival. The police later completed inquest proceedings following the hospital’s death memo. For many Indians, she remained the mysterious child discovered in a forest in 2017. For those who spent years caring for her, however, Ehsaas was far more than the nickname that followed her throughout her life. Her journey reflected the difficulties of rehabilitation after an extraordinary beginning, as well as the bonds of care that helped her navigate a world she once seemed unable to understand. Party heavyweights to get key assignments the development. Randhawa, Channi, Bajwa and Singla are in the race for the state party president’s post. Signalling key changes in the state unit, Rahul is learnt to have conveyed a clear message to the heavyweights that the party must enter the electoral battle as a united force. The leaders were categorically told that personal ambitions must take a back seat to the larger objective of safeguarding Punjab’s interests and returning the Congress to power. The leaders, in turn, shared their views on the party’s organisational structure, leadership issues and the strategy required for the electoral contest ahead. Sunday’s meetings assume significance as the Congress had recently appointed senior leaders Ajay Maken, Meenakshi Natarajan and Bhajan Lal Jatav as AICC observers to assess the political landscape in Punjab, who submitted their recommendations to the party leadership on Saturday. The recommendations continued on page 9 Twoworkersdie,62 hospitalised after gas leak at TN unit Surya S Pillai Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 21 Two women workers were killed and 62 others were hospitalised after ammonia gas leaked at a seafood export unit near Periyapalayam in Tamil Nadu’s Thiruvallur district on Sunday, the Tamil Nadu Government said. Earlier, the police said the death toll was seven, but a CMO release and Health Minister KG Arunraj later put the figure at two. The incident took place at the private facility in Manjangaranai village, where a large number of workers were exposed to ammonia gas. A total of 64 workers on duty, comprising 60 women and four men, were affected by the sudden gas leak. Most of the affected workers were migrants from northern states as well as from Odisha, Assam and Jharkhand. They reportedly experienced breathing difficulties, dizziness and vomiting soon after the leak, officials said. Ammonia is commonly used as an industrial refrigerant in cold storage facilities attached to seafood processing plants. Soon after the incident, emergency response teams were deployed to the site. A 30-member team from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), equipped with gas detection devices and rescue equipment, carried out evacuation and safety operations. According to the Health Minister, 28 patients were admitted to Vels Medical College, 18 to Venkateshwara Hospital and 10 to Rajiv Gandhi Government Hospital (MMC), while seven patients were referred to Government Stanley Hospital. “One person was brought dead to a private hospital, and the other person passed away without responding to treatment there,” he said. continued on page 9