EXPRESS MORNING BRIEFING
Good morning readers,
This Sunday we are looking at how the Ayodhya temple plan is taking shape, the latest from the Line of Actual Control, and an actor who moved court alleging age discrimination.
Big Story
It was only two months ago in May that the J&K administration opposed restoration of 4G services in the Union Territory. Now, it informed the Union Ministry of Home Affairs that it did not have any objection, and that high-speed Net connectivity would not pose any problem. "I am not afraid how people will use this. Pakistan will do its propaganda, whether it is 2G or 4G," Lieutenant Governor G C Murmu told The Sunday Express.
From The Front Page
Despite the slow progress in disengagement at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), there have been incremental changes in the last few weeks. New Delhi's end goal is clear: restoration of status quo ante as of April, no matter how many steps it takes. There is a view in the government that we should show "stubborness" and should not accept any half-measures or proposals for partial disengagement at this stage.
His grandfather is credited with building the Somnath temple at Prabhas Patan. And Chandrakant Sompura was entrusted to build the Ram temple by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad sometime in 1990. Now, his son Ashish handles the site plan of the temple project. As the temple plan begins to take shape, with a bhoomi pujan planned for August 5, The Sunday Express meets the Ahmedabad-based architect and his family.
The bhoomi pujan at the site for the proposed Ram temple in Ayodhya will be telecast live by public broadcaster Doordarshan on August 5. A total of 200 people including 150 invitees are expected to attend the event.
Four months after an Islamic State-backed attack at a gurdwara in Kabul’s Shor Bazaar killed at least 25 members of the community, and amid allegations of abductions and forced marriage, 11 Sikhs from Afghanistan have been granted short-term visas by the Indian Embassy in Kabul.
The Pandemic
There has been a rise in demand for unskilled work under MGNREGA in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. At least 12 districts have exceeded their annual job creation targets by generating substantially higher numbers of person-days’ work between April 1 and July 21, going over their projected figure for the entire financial year.
Actor Pramod Pandey, who has appeared in as many as 80 serials and five movies, was promised five days of work in a month but is now unlikely to be asked to return to the sets. The actor, who turns 70 on August 23, has moved the Bombay High Court over the Maharashtra government’s “discriminatory” order to prohibit those over 65 years of age from shooting due to the pandemic. “Even though I am senior by age, I am still a struggler,” he says.
The Ultadanga flyover during the bi-weekly lockdown in Kolkata on Saturday. (Express photo/Partha Paul)
Beyond Covid-19
It appears as though Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is now tired of asking Governor Kalraj Mishra to convene an Assembly session to prove his majority. On Saturday, he warned to take Congress’ protest to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence in New Delhi if his demand was not met.
“Everybody has abandoned us. Have they come to help us? Has the MLA come? They are all the same.” The pandemic and the political response to it in Bhagalpur district is likely to be a determinant in the low-key Assembly elections in Bihar this year. And local BJP leaders in Bhagalpur admit that in May and June, there was palpable anger against the ruling NDA, both at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Rhinos outside the office of the Pobitora forest range officer. (Express photo)
ICYMI
- All the accused in a murder case pertaining to the Delhi riots had deleted mobile phone data and no CCTV footage has been found as of now, Delhi Police has said in its chargesheet.
- Supreme Court Justice D Y Chandrachud said virtual courts set up across the country during the coronavirus-induced lockdown had ensured people access to justice.
- Researchers at IIT Kharagpur have developed a novel portable rapid diagnostic device to detect Covid-19 infection.
- The Assam floods this year has resulted in a serious shortage of food, leading animals, such as rhinos, to keep out of the sanctuary for such long stretches for the first time.
- A 10-year-old Dalit girl who had to flee her home after being booked for sacrilege by the Sangrur police may finally get to return.
And Finally...
Is dressing up and going out a thing of the past? In today’s Sunday Eye, we discuss the irony that COVID-19 has been the great equaliser between the good-looking and the not-so good looking, and between the shabby and trendy. However liberal one’s notions of beauty and sophistication, COVID, in one fell swoop, has relegated everyone equally unappealing, masked.
Until tomorrow,
Leela Prasad G and Liu Chuen Chen
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