Good morning readers,
It's the Independence Day week. Our National Bureau Chief Ravish Tiwari's primer to what matters this week draws attention to how the Covid situation has upset Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plans of making India a 5 trillion-dollar economy in five years. Additionally, the Chinese challenge at the LAC in Ladakh has overshadowed his summit diplomacy of last year. So, all eyes–and ears–will be on what the PM says from the ramparts of the Red Fort.
Big Story
The government announced a ban on import of 101 weapons, platforms, and equipment from December this year. However, the items in the list are of proven technologies, and do not involve any critical or cutting-edge technology for a next-generation weapon system or platform.
From The Front Page
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a Rs 1-lakh-crore Agriculture Infrastructure Fund to help build modern storage facilities in villages that will reduce wastage of post-harvest produce. The move, an official statement said, will help farmers store and sell at higher prices.
Several BJP leaders in Jammu and Kashmir resigned in panic on Sunday, hours after suspected militants shot at and critically injured a leader of the party in central Kashmir’s Budgam district. It was the third attack on a leader of the party in the Valley over the past week.
GRIEF: Tulsi Ram at the cremation of his son Akhilesh Kumar, co-pilot of the Air India Express flight that crashes in Kozhikode, in Mathura on Sunday. (PTI)
The Pandemic
In the last three days, India has emerged as the single largest contributor of Covid cases in the world, overtaking even the US and Brazil. However, India has only 1,559 cases per million population, while the global average is 2,541 cases per million.
For the RSS and its nationwide network, the Covid outbreak and the lockdown have brought about a realignment in strategy—shakha activities on the ground are on hold and, instead, the entire machinery has been redirected to outreach and relief work.
Beyond Covid-19
Former Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Viral Acharya talks about how to revive trust and faith of depositors in the Indian banking system, blames push for short-term growth for the conflicts between govt and RBI, and calls for an independent fiscal council to the govt’s expenditure and Budget.
“Aap jaan boojh ke logon ko maut ke mooh mein nahi daal sakte.” LJP president Chirag Paswan speaks to The Indian Express on why the Bihar elections should be postponed, why he thinks the Nitish Kumar government has not tackled Covid well and the need for a Common Minimum Programme in the next govt.
With previous plans to acquire additional land to extend the Kozhikode airport runway running into hurdles, the Kerala government is looking at other options to prevent another mishap like Friday’s in which 18 people were killed.
Ten people will killed in a blaze at a Vijayawada hotel which was turned into a Covid centre, on Sunday. (PTI)
ICYMI
- Ten Covid-19 patients died following a fire at a hotel-turned Covid Care Centre in Vijayawada early Sunday morning.
- BSP chief Mayawati said if voted to power, her party would build hospitals and other infrastructure named after Lord Parshuram and a statue of his grander than the one promised by the SP.
- The Buxar SP has ordered a probe to find out if the local police were responsible for showing an RTI activist’s 14-year-old son as an adult after arresting him under the Arms Act in February.
- Three days after a row of quarters on a tea estate in Kerala’s Idukki district was buried in a landslide, 20 people continue to be missing. The death toll has risen to 43.
- Eleven members of a family of Pakistani migrants were found dead at a farm in Lorta village of Jodhpur district on Sunday morning, police said.
And Finally...
A call from Facebook’s Ireland headquarters Saturday night had three DCPs in Delhi and Mumbai, and a police inspector and his wife, on their toes and their phones till early Sunday morning — before they finally managed to pull a 25-year-old man in Mumbai back from the brink of suicide.
Delhi confidential: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is trying to ensure the Parliament Building is more women-friendly. The Lok Sabha secretariat recently informed that three automatic sanitary pad dispensing machines have been installed in the Parliament House Complex.
Until tomorrow,
Leela Prasad G and Liu Chuen Chen
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario