EXPRESS MORNING BRIEFING
Good morning readers, it's a pleasant morning in the national capital after a brief spell of showers yesterday. Hopefully it stays this way for sometime. Anyway, we have some exclusive news on India-US military ties, some positive feedback about plasma therapy and, finally, we look at how an automobile engineer ended up on NREGS payroll.
Big Story
It is no secret that India was relying on US intelligence to verify Chinese troops' positions and their weapons deployment along the Line of Actual Control. But the two countries intensified intelligence and military collaboration and cooperation at an unprecedented level following a political push from US Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
From The Front Page
In a sign of further strengthening of ties between India and US, a "quick" trade deal might be in the offing after they iron out long-standing issues. Indications are that the negotiations involve discussions to improve access for India’s generic drugs to the American market. The US, on its part, has been seeking more access for its farm goods, like almonds and apples, on which India had raised tariffs last year.
On the day the Amarnath Yatra was scheduled to begin, the J&K administration announced that the annual pilgrimage will not be held this year. Sources said security of the Yatra was also a major concern this year and one of the deciding factors in its cancellation. Devotees can however tune into the virtual darshan of the morning and evening prayers.
It has been more than 35 years since Bharatpur royal Man Singh crashed his jeep into the helicopter of the then Rajasthan Chief Minister Shiv Charan Mathur, allegedly because Congress workers tore and vandalised his posters. En route to an election rally the next day, Singh was shot dead by police personnel who had blocked the road following a curfew order. Now, after all these years, 11 of those policemen have been held guilty and sent to jail.
The Pandemic
With people seemingly undertaking only essential inter-state travel in the face of surging Covid-19 cases, the number of trains running with over 100% occupancy across India fell drastically to just 23 on Monday. This was a fall from 68 just last Friday, and down to one-fourth from earlier in the month when more than 80 trains were running full.
Plasma therapy as a cure to Covid-19 has kindled a ray of hope as blood transfusion from recovered patients to those with moderately severe illness have proven to be effective. While investigators have cautioned against the timing of the transfusion, the therapy should not be used on patients who have become severe.
One in every five individuals in Delhi has shown the presence of antibodies that indicate exposure to the novel coronavirus, a serological survey conducted by India’s apex health services and research organisation has revealed. While a large number of infected persons remain largely asymptomatic, a majority of the population continues to be vulnerable to the virus.
Beyond Covid-19
A suo motu criminal contempt case against advocate Prashant Bhushan will be heard by the Supreme Court today over some remarks made on Twitter, specific details of which are not yet known. Twitter India has also been made a party in the case.
Setting the tone for the Assembly elections next year, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the BJP was “power hungry” and was trying to topple the governments in West Bengal and Rajasthan just the way it did in Madhya Pradesh. “Trinamool Congress will form the government again. The next elections will show a new direction to the state as well as the country,” she said.
DIDI, DIGITAL: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee addressing a digital rally to mark 'Martyrs' Day' in Kolkata, Tuesday. (Express photo/Shashi Ghosh)
ICYMI
- Despite doubts by medical experts, the Karnataka government has decided to deploy ventilators supplied under the Centre’s PM Cares scheme to overcome the severe shortage in the state’s Covid public hospitals.
- While Assam continues to be inundated with the death toll rising to 87, floods in Meghalaya’s West Garo Hills district have claimed the lives of five people in the past week alone.
- With the dark cloud of Covid-19 hovering over, the Shravani mela, held in the month of “Saavan” and one of the country’s largest pilgrimages, has been put on hold in Bihar this year.
- OBC MPs have been asked to request PM Narendra Modi through “messages, tweets” to not include salary and agriculture income while calculating annual family income to decide the creamy layer.
- Four days after he filed a complaint against some men for allegedly molesting his relative, a Ghaziabad-based journalist was shot in the head in front of his two daughters on Monday night.
And Finally...
“This is the only work available. I have been planting saplings.” Four months into the Covid crisis, with no money in households and no jobs in cities, rural job scheme NREGS has become a lifeline for educated youngsters like Krishnakumar K P, cutting across age and gender lines, in Kerala. Most queries for work are from those who were employed in the service and construction sectors, according to feedback from NREGS field staff.
Delhi Confidential: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is coming out with a book. Titled The India Way, the book published by HarperCollins is due to be out in early September.
Until tomorrow,
Leela Prasad G and Liu Chuen Chen
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