22-year-old Gorakhpur woman 'becomes' British High Commissioner for a day!
New Delhi, Oct 11: Being the British High Commissioner in India can be a hectic job, and a 22-year-old woman from Gorakhpur experienced this when she held the post for a day.
Ayesha Khan won the chance to step into the diplomat's shoes as she topped the 'High Commissioner for a Day' competition which is a celebration of October 11 'International Day of the Girl Child' and is open to Indian women aged 18-23.
On October 4, as envoy, she spent the day overseeing the UK's largest overseas network, chairing briefing sessions, networking with dignitaries and meeting project beneficiaries, a British High Commission statement said.
The selection for the 'High Commissioner for a Day' competition, now in its third year, requires a person to record a one-minute video on why gender equality is important and whom they see as their biggest gender equality inspiration.
The competition saw an overwhelming response with applications received from across 14 states, the statement said.
"My day was pretty hectic but also really fun and I got to learn a lot. Leading daily briefings, interacting with stakeholders from the UK and India, and experiencing the richness of multi-culturalism has been a great experience," Khan was quoted as saying.
"I believe education is a powerful tool that can help achieve gender equality. I have been following the past winners of this competition and I thank the British High Commission for giving me this opportunity," she said.
Deputy High Commissioner for the Day (on other days, British High Commissioner to India), Dominic Asquith said, "I greatly enjoyed working for and with Ayesha for the day. She spoke articulately, passionately and convincingly on this important issue."
"I am delighted that we were able once again to celebrate this important occasion by demonstrating to young women from all walks of life that anything is possible, and by giving them the opportunity to realise their potential," Asquith said.
Over the course of the day, Ayesha visited Apeejay School in Pitampura, met with women working in Delhi's unorganised sector and learnt how they are supported by SEWA, and hosted a discussion with a beneficiary of Facebook's GOAL (Going Online as Leaders) programme.
She also met leaders from business, foreign policy and civil society.
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NEET-UG: 2 more held, role of several NTA officers under scanner; CBI focussing on source of leak
New Delhi (PTI): The CBI has arrested two more persons in connection with the NEET (UG) paper-leak case, with the role of several officers of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and other organisations, who had access to the printing press where the papers were printed, coming under the scanner, officials said on Thursday.
The agency has arrested Dhananjay Lokhanda from Ahilyanagar and Manisha Waghmare from Pune and conducted searches at 14 locations across the country in the last 24 hours, they said.
The CBI is focussing on identifying the source of the leak that has caused massive disappointment to lakhs of aspirants eyeing a seat in undergraduate medical courses, which are allotted after the highly-competitive examination, the officials said.
According to the CBI probe so far, the involvement of public servants in the leak cannot be ruled out.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested three individuals from Jaipur -- Mangilal Biwal, Vikas Biwal and Dinesh Biwal -- along with Yash Yadav from Gurugram and Shubham Khairnar from Nashik.
Khairnar was in touch with Yadav and informed him in April that Mangilal Biwal was ready to pay Rs 10-12 lakh for arranging leaked NEET (UG) 2026 questions for his younger son.
Khairnar allegedly provided 500 to 600 questions from the leaked paper to Yadav, the officials said, adding that the questions could have helped score enough marks to get a seat in a reputed medical college.
Mangilal Biwal allegedly procured the paper from Yadav, who was known to his elder son Vikas Biwal from an NEET coaching in Rajasthan's Sikar. The deal between Mangilal Biwal and Yadav was for Rs 10 lakh, if 150 questions from the question bank matched with those in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) paper, the officials said.
Mangilal Biwal shared the paper with his son and further distributed it among relatives.
Yadav also told Vikas Biwal to find additional candidates for the questions to recover some of the money that he had spent on getting those, the officials said.
An analysis of digital devices has given the agency incriminating chats, leaked question papers and other digital evidence. The CBI will subject the devices to a forensic examination to get the deleted data, the officials said.
The federal agency has registered an FIR and formed teams to probe the alleged NEET (UG) paper leak that resulted in the cancellation of the exam held on May 3.
The NEET (UG) 2026 was conducted across 551 Indian cities and at 14 overseas centres. Nearly 23 lakh candidates had registered for the test, which was administered by the NTA at centres across the country.
According to the NTA, information regarding alleged malpractice was received on the evening of May 7, four days after the examination was held. The NTA said the inputs were escalated to central agencies the following morning for "independent verification and necessary action".
The Rajasthan Police's Special Operations Group (SOG) has claimed that a "guess paper" for chemistry, allegedly circulated among students ahead of the examination, had approximately 410 questions, including roughly 120 that appeared in the test.
