Good morning readers,
Let's cancel 2020. There is a petition on Change.org that began months ago, around the same time before the Covid outbreak turned into a pandemic. And, surprisingly, only 80 have signed it—20 short of its goal. This year has been nothing but death, despair and devastation. And it still has five months left.
Big Story
In an incident that has evoked painful memories of the 2010 air crash in Mangaluru, an Air India Express flight overshot the tabletop runway in Kozhikode and plunged into a valley 35 feet below, killing at least 19 people, including the pilot and co-pilot.
What didn’t help: Landing on tabletop runways can be tricky. The short runway means there is little room for error. And heavy rain only worsened the situation, reducing friction on the surface.
What helped: The casualties could have been higher, similar to the Mangaluru tragedy, when all 158 onboard were killed, but the plane luckily didn't catch fire.
From The Front Page
While there is no further progress on restoring status quo ante at friction points on the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, the Army has shifted its focus to its highest priority: Depsang Plains. Division commanders of both India and China will meet in the coming days to reduce tensions even as 15,000 troops have been deployed from each side in the region.
A Bihar RTI activist alleged that his 14-year-old son has been framed in an Arms Act case by the very people he was trying to unmask, and that they were in league with the local police. Police have no explanation why or how the Class X student was declared an adult and sent to jail.
At the site of the crash in Kozhikode on Friday. (Source: Government of Kerala)
The Pandemic
The Indian government has set up two high power committees to deliberate on a range of issues around the administration of the potential vaccine. How to stockpile? How to ensure cold chain? Who gets the vaccine first? These are some of the questions they will be tackling.
The Serum Institute of India has got a $150-million shot in its arm from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fast track the manufacture of the Covid-19 vaccines developed by the University of Oxford-AstraZeneca and Novavax.
When the country’s lawmakers get back to business for the Monsoon Session amid the Covid pandemic, it will be to a very altered workspace. From a change in seating arrangements to use of polycarbonate sheets to maintain distance, we look at the model proposed by presiding officers of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
Beyond Covid-19
Despite no demand, less production and staff lay off, hundreds of workers continue to queue outside factories in Aurangabad’s industrial hub — pharmaceutical to automobile, IT to textile — with a mask on their face and crumbled resume on their hands, hoping the human resource department head would meet them.
“First, the Home Minister should investigate..." The Special Enquiry Team’s report into the alleged liquor smuggling in Haryana has pitted Home Minister Anil Vij against the state’s Excise Minister Dushyant Chautala, with the latter raising questions over the police’s inefficiency and its failure to perform its duty.
Return To The Capital: Outside Anant Vihar ISBT, where migrants continue to reach the capital from several parts of Uttar Pradesh on Friday. (Express photo/Praveen Khanna)
ICYMI
- The Delhi High Court Friday disposed of a petition challenging an order issued by Special Commissioner of Police (Crime) to heads of teams probing the Northeast Delhi riots.
- Five days after a Territorial Army soldier went missing in Kashmir, his family has found his clothes and has appealed to militants to hand over his body if he has been killed.
- The Parliamentary Standing Committee began discussing the draft Environmental Impact Assessment 2020 notification despite objections raised by some BJP-NDA members.
- At least 15 persons have been killed and 48 others are still missing after heavy rain triggered a landslide at Rajamala near Munnar in Kerala’s Idukki district on Friday.
- The unprecedented devastation caused by the catastrophic explosion in Beirut has led to fears of shortages of food grain and medicines, and New Delhi is planning to send these supplies.
And Finally...
Even as stakeholders of the Indian Premier League were counting the extra cost of this year’s tournament moving to the United Arab Emirates, came news of title sponsor Vivo pulling out. With this, some franchises believe that let alone making profits, they would do well just to break even this year.
Delhi confidential: Chairperson of the National Commission for Women Rekha Sharma, used to dealing with crime against women, on Friday found herself to be a victim of cyber-crime. Numerous emails have been sent in her name to her contacts from two accounts, asking them to deposit money in particular accounts.
Until tomorrow,
Leela Prasad G and Liu Chuen Chen
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