A year out from UP’s 2027 election, Vandita Mishra’s ground report finds restlessness cutting across caste and religious lines. Young aspirants preparing for exams in cramped coaching hubs, scarred by paper leaks and the NEET retest fiasco, openly question BJP’s spending priorities and its record beyond law and order. Yet Akhilesh Yadav remains trapped by his old image of lawlessness and Yadav-Muslim favouritism, unable to convert widespread desire for change into support for the SP; Rahul Gandhi is shedding his “pappu” tag on the ground even as the Congress organisation stays dormant. Muslim voters, meanwhile, describe a settled fear, while BJP leaders speak of “anushasan” and vigilance as UP’s 10-year law-and-order narrative hardens into a broader culture of distrust and policing.
US Supreme Court strikes down Trump’s birthright citizenship order
The US Supreme Court struck down US President Donald Trump’s executive order that sought to deny automatic citizenship to children born on US soil to undocumented immigrants and temporary visa holders. The verdict matters enormously to India’s roughly 5.2 million-strong diaspora, particularly the 300,000-plus H-1B holders whose American-born children risked statelessness, while their parents waited decades for the green-card backlog to clear.
Shashi Tharoor on the Mamdani effect
New York’s June 2026 congressional primaries saw a slate of democratic socialists endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani unseat entrenched incumbents including Dan Goldman and Adriano Espaillat, the powerful chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Tharoor calls it a sign that the movement AOC seeded in 2018 has, through Mamdani’s own 2025 mayoral win, has matured into a disciplined governing machine, which is capable of dictating primary outcomes.
100+ India-Pakistan citizens urge Modi, Shehbaz to end hostility
An open letter signed by 117 prominent citizens from India and Pakistan, issued by the Centre for Peace and Progress, has urged Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Shehbaz Sharif to end “continued hostility” between the two nations. Indian signatories include National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti, and RJD MP Manoj Jha, while Pakistani signatories include former foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri and physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy. The letter calls for restoring High Commissioners in both capitals, resuming visa services, reopening airspace and the Attari-Wagah border, reviving the Kartarpur Corridor, and reopening a comprehensive dialogue on Jammu and Kashmir, including revisiting the 2004ā07 negotiating framework.
LEGAL: Voter IDs don’t grant land rights, rules Gauhati HC
The Gauhati High Court has dismissed appeals by residents claiming rights over notified reserve forest land in Assam’s Nagaon district, upholding eviction orders against them. The petitioners argued their occupation dated back to a 1970s Taungya resettlement scheme, and pointed to voter IDs, ration cards, electricity connections, and even schools and roads built over decades as evidence the state had implicitly recognised their claims. The bench, however, held that such documents establish identity and facilitate services but were never intended as instruments of legal title, and that rights inconsistent with a reserve-forest notification cannot be inferred from prolonged occupation alone.
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ENTERTAINMENT: Vijaya Mehta, Marathi theatre pioneer, dies at 91
Vijaya Mehta, the actor, director, and a founding figure of experimental Marathi theatre, passes away on Tuesday at 91. Trained under Ebrahim Alkazi in Delhi, she co-founded the Rangayan theatre group alongside legends like Vijay Tendulkar and directed acclaimed plays including Ek Shoonya Bajirao. She later moved into film, winning National Awards for both directing (Pestonjee, 1988) and acting (Party, 1984).
TECH: US lifts export controls on Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5
The US Department of Commerce has lifted export restrictions it imposed three weeks earlier on Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models over national-security concerns, and Anthropic says it will begin restoring access from July 1.
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World Cup 2026: Julian QuiƱones became a naturalised Mexican citizen in 2023. (AP Photo)
Julian QuiƱones: from guerrilla recruitment threats to Mexico’s World Cup hero
Colombian-born forward Julian QuiƱones scored and set up a second goal as Mexico routed Ecuador at the Azteca, where a delirious crowd chanted his name, a sharp contrast to two years earlier, when Guadalajara fans chanted the same name prefixed with racial slurs.
How a Swedish match company shaped colonial India
A matchbox printed with Mahatma Gandhi, Bharat Mata, or the charkha might seem like a symbol of Swadeshi defiance, but it was often manufactured by Svenska TƤndsticks (STAB), a Swedish conglomerate run by the “Match King” Ivar Kreuger, which by 1930 controlled 60% of the world’s match production. The piece argues this history complicates the simple British-versus-Indian narrative of colonial economics.
Book Nook: Jamir Nazirās AI-suspected story āThe Serpent in the Groveā wins Commonwealth Short Story Prize
Jamir Nazirās āThe Serpent in the Groveā has been named the 2026 overall winner of the Ā£5,000 (ā¹6,23,500) Commonwealth Foundation Short Story Award for 2026. He was among the three finalists who were accused of using AI to write their entries.
Still not done? Here’s more from the day.
MGNREGA replaced: new rural jobs scheme sets fresh wage rates
The two-decade-old rural employment guarantee law has been replaced by the VB-G RAM G scheme, with daily wages fixed between Rs 300 and Rs 409 depending on the state.
Ram Temple donation ‘theft’ row shakes up UP politics
SP, Congress and BSP are pressing the BJP over alleged embezzlement of Ram Temple donations, while CM Adityanath tries to redirect the conversation back to Hindutva politics ahead of 2027 polls.
Char Dham helicopter scam catches out a government official
A lookalike booking website sold fake Kedarnath helicopter tickets before police traced the fraud to a wider racket; three people have been arrested.
WhatsApp disrupts new NSO Pegasus phishing campaign
Meta says it caught and shut down a one-click spyware campaign using phishing links sent over WhatsApp chats, and is asking a US court to hold NSO Group in contempt for breaching an earlier injunction.
Small manufacturers alarmed by anti-dumping probe tied to JSW joint venture
An anti-dumping investigation into imported CRGO steel ā sought by a JSW-JFE joint venture that is now India’s sole domestic producer ā has MSME transformer makers worried about rising costs eventually hitting electricity tariffs.
What Toy Story 5 says about kids and AI companions
An opinion piece argues that Bonnie’s AI tablet, unlike Woody or Buzz, doesn’t wait to be imagined by a child ā it profiles and anticipates her instead, reversing the old relationship between kids and their toys.
France honour a grieving Deschamps with 3-0 win over Sweden
France manager Didier Deschamps, returning to the dugout straight after his mother’s death, was greeted by a stadium banner reading “Didier, we are with you” before his team beat Sweden 3-0 in the Round of 32. Kylian Mbappe scored twice, dedicating his opener to Deschamps with a pointed gesture before embracing him in tears, while Bradley Barcola added a third.
National body suspends dentist after remarks on Ketan Agarwal death
The All India Dental Students and Surgeons Association has suspended a Madhya Pradesh-based member for five years after videos of her mocking Pune businessman Ketan Agarwal, who was allegedly killed by his fiancƩe, were widely circulated on social media.
Siya took Ketanās phone before murder, cops probe deleted evidence
Police are looking into whether Siya Goyal, who is accused of conspiring with her boyfriend to murder her fiance Ketan Agarwal, had deleted incriminating evidence from the victimās phone before she handed the device to his family.
āRain of eggsā: Mahua Moitra alleges attack, gets a taunt from minister
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra became the target of a ārain of eggsā after a mob allegedly comprising BJP workers bombarded her local transit party office in the Nadia district of West Bengal. The Lok Sabha MP from Krishnanagar filmed the entire ordeal, which went viral on social media.
Centre sends eviction notice to Delhi Gymkhana Club
The Centre has sent an eviction notice to Delhi Gymkhana Club, saying that the clubās prolonged occupation of the Safdarjung Road property was unauthorised post the expiry of its lease on May 22.
A year out from UP's 2027 election, Vandita Mishra's ground report finds restlessness cutting across caste and religious lines. 
The Daily Catch-Up: What UP wants, US Supreme Court birthright citizenship ruling & and other top news
World Cup 2026: Julian QuiƱones became a naturalised Mexican citizen in 2023. (AP Photo)
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