Your Morning Briefing for 26 September 2020

Good morning, 

We are covering the protests against the farm Bills, how Bihar polls will be different this time and what Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to raise before the UNGA this evening.

Big story

“Everyday life must go on." That was Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora while announcing dates for the Bihar Assembly election. Here's how the first major election in the country in the time of the pandemic will be different.

• Those over 80 years can opt for “postal ballots”
  
• Voters who are Covid positive will be allowed to vote on the last hour of polling day separately. 
• Candidates can file nominations online.

From The Front Page

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will be addressing the United Nations General Assembly this evening, is likely to take aim at China and Pakistan. In an oblique reference to the two neighbours, sources said, PM Modi is expected to call for “inclusive and responsible solutions for international peace and security” and an “effective response to international terrorism”.

From Swiss leaks to Panama Papers and now in FinCen Files, the Indian-born owners of diamond conglomerate Rosy Blue are back. A report by Standard Chartered Bank, New York  put the total number of “suspicious” transactions related to Rosy Blue and its affiliates at a staggering 6,265. Their worth: $4.98 billion.

On Friday, thousands protesting against the farm Bills blocked roads and highways in several states, with support from Opposition parties. At the forefront of several protests by farmers in Punjab were some unusual figures: two 20-year-old college students, a 33-year-old activist, and a teenage school dropout — all women.

The DNA samples of the three labourers from Rajouri in J&K, who were killed in an encounter in Shopian by the Army on July 18 and labelled as “terrorists”, have matched those of their families.

The farmers' protest in Mukatsar on Friday (Express Photo)

Must Read

Rs 85 crore — this is how much the Centre might have to shell out should it decide to not appeal against Friday’s ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Rs 22,100-crore ‘retrospective taxation case’ of 2007 with Vodafone Group Plc.

It’s been 11 days and a 19-year-old Dalit, whose tongue was cut off and spinal cord severely injured, is on a ventilator at a hospital in Aligarh and fighting for her life after she was allegedly gangraped by four upper caste men.

One of the finest male playback singers, S P Balasubrahmanyam, who succumbed to Covid yesterday, had a 50-year career and transcended language barriers by singing in 16 of them. That he held the Guinness World Record for singing the highest number of songs — 40,000 of them — was just another feather in his cap.

The Dassault, Boeing, Russian ROE were among the list of defence deals wherein vendors have made offset commitments in order to get the main contract, but later delayed its implementation due to various reasons, the Comptroller and Auditor General has noted.

Start-Up: Children sell masks by the roadside in Ghaziabad

ICYMI

• The Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached Rana Kapoor’s flat in London worth Rs 127 crore in connection with its money laundering probe in the Yes Bank case.
  
• The Narcotics Control Bureau on Friday detained an employee of Dharma Productions, as part of its investigations into an alleged drug nexus in Bollywood.
  
• Batting legend and TV pundit Sunil Gavaskar has clarified that he wasn’t blaming film actress Anushka Sharma for the failure of her husband – India and RCB captain Virat Kohli. 
  
• The CBI on Friday registered a case to probe alleged FERA violations in a housing scheme for the poor, which is part of the Kerala government’s flagship project Life Mission. 
• As the run-up to the Bihar elections heats up, prospective Opposition candidates are showing signs of impatience at the lack of clarity on seat-sharing in the Opposition alliance.

And Finally...

Staying indoors during the lockdown and subsequently resuming training early in the morning or late in the evening to avoid the sweltering summer heat has caused an unexpected problem for India’s top track and field athletes. 

Delhi Confidential: A Congress MP seems to be ahead of his BJP counterparts in the Lok Sabha in heeding PM Narendra Modi’s call to provide access to sanitary napkins in their constituencies.

A music video praising former Bihar DGP Gupteshwar Pandey has been released on social media. The four-minute-long video, titled  'Robinhood Bihar Ke', has been composed and sung by Bigg Boss contestant Deepak Thakur.

Until tomorrow, 

Leela Prasad G and Liu Chuen Chen