Your Morning Briefing for 16 September 2020

Good morning,

We are covering the latest firing incident in Eastern Ladakh, NSA Ajit Doval leaving SCO meet in protest and a star-studded Ramlila.

Big Story

In an incident far more intense than the firing of warning shots in Chushul sub-sector, "100 to 200 shots" were fired in the air by the Indian and Chinese troops on the ridgeline where Finger 3 and Finger 4 merged. While the situation has since calmed down, troops from two sides are positioned less than 500 metres from each other.

From The Front Page

As the Opposition staged a walkout in Lok Sabha after members were not allowed to ask Defence Minister Rajnath Singh any questions after his statement on military standoff with China,  the government, it is learnt, is likely to soon hold an “in camera” meeting either with all or select Opposition leaders about the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

From the accused in the AgustaWestland bribery case to a ring of juveniles who stole mobile phones, hundreds accused of financial crime, corruption, terror, organised crime, smuggling of narcotics, gold and wildlife form a significant chunk, as many as 6,000, of the Indian individuals monitored by Zhenhua Data, an investigation by The Indian Express has revealed.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval left the meeting of NSAs of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) members after Pakistan “deliberately projected a fictitious map” of the country in “blatant disregard to the advisory by the host” Russia.

The Pandemic

A united Opposition has asked the government to restore the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS), funding for which has been suspended for two years. In Lok Sabha on Tuesday, the Opposition also suggested that the Rs 20,000-crore Central Vista project should be cancelled to put in that money for the country’s fight against Covid pandemic.

Days after four people were reinfected with Covid-19 in Gujarat, now two cases of possible reinfection, in a child aged three and another aged 14, both cancer patients, have been recorded in Gurgaon’s Medanta hospital. The hospital said it found IgG antibodies against the virus in both children.

Beyond Covid-19

The Supreme Court had on August 28 declined to impose a “pre-broadcast interlocutory injunction” on the show by Sudarshan News which it claims “exposes” the “infiltration of Muslims” in the civil services. Now after its first episode went on air, SC has stopped the broadcast of the remaining shows saying its purpose was to “vilify the Muslim community”.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has issued an unusual order not to disclose details of an FIR filed by officers at the Anti-Corruption Bureau’s Guntur Police Station against a former state law official and others regarding land purchase in Amaravati.

ICYMI

• Apple launched the Watch Series 6 with a feature that alerts users when their blood oxygen level drops. 
•  Actor Kangana Ranaut has sought Rs 2 crore as damages for the “illegal demolition” of her Bandra office by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
•  Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has directed the police to re-open probe into the alleged attack on a former armyman by BJP’s Jalgaon MP, Unmesh Patil, in 2016.
•  A former Facebook data scientist has claimed that she worked to remove a “politically sophisticated network of more than a thousand actors working to influence” the Delhi polls.
• Migrants took to walking hundreds of kilometres to their homes during the lockdown because of fake news, the government has told Parliament.

And Finally...

A star-studded Ramlila has been planned for audiences of social media, satellite television and YouTube between October 17 and 25. The Ramlila, which will see Manoj Tiwari playing the role of Angad, Ravi Kishan of Bharat and Vindu Dara Singh as Hanuman, will be organised on the banks of Sarayu, less than two km from where the Ram temple is being constructed.

Delhi confidential: Exclusion of Punjabi from the list of official languages of J&K came up in Lok Sabha on Monday and Tuesday. NC leader Farooq Abdullah said Punjabi was included in the list during his tenure as J&K chief minister. At this, Shiromani Akali Dal’s Sukhbir Singh  Badal then complimented Abdullah for his “excellent Punjabi”.

In today's episode of the Three Things podcast, we look at the extent to which people have already lost jobs during the lockdown, the possibility of extraterrestrial life on Venus, and Rajnath Singh’s comments on China in parliament.

Until tomorrow,

Leela Prasad G and Shreyasi Jha