Daily Briefing: Maharashtra’s poll manifesto games; Smriti Irani at Idea Exchange; and more

With that, let’s move on to today’s edition:

• Trump’s shadow on COP29
• Idea Exchange with Smriti Irani
• Bengal’s haircut ‘menace’

🚨Big Story

Manifestos out: With the Maharashtra Assembly elections inching closer, the ruling Mahayuti and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance–both in a bid to outdo each other with their final moves–released their respective manifestos on Sunday.

BJP’s pitch: Releasing the 25-point ‘Sankalp Patra’, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that if the party is voted back to power, the monthly allowance under the Ladki Bahin Yojana and the senior citizen pension scheme would be increased to Rs 2,100 from Rs 1,500.

MVA move: Later on the same day, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge released ‘Maharashtranama’ with its “five guarantees”. The MVA comprising the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP-SP promise a caste census, two-day menstrual leave a month for women employees and a power bill waiver of up to 100 units for households.

Keeping the composition of the electorate in mind, both the ruling Mahayuti (with Shiv Sena, BJP, and NCP) and the MVA  have put their focus on a variety of sections such as women, farmers, the youth, and the poor. But there’s a catch.

In debt: As the slew of promises to lure Maharashtra’s voters continue, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s (CAG) cautionary note on the state’s fiscal condition from months ago paints a different picture. The freebies and doles both the alliances have announced in the run-up to the November 20 polls may further put a strain on the state’s exchequer. As per the CAG’s May report, the state has to repay Rs 2.75 lakh crore of debt by 2030. 

“The rains were good, the rates are bad”

Meanwhile, in the fields of Maharashtra…anger takes root: Soyabean, grown on over 5 million hectares in the state, is the real “political crop” in the polls this time around. Why? The crop is trading at about Rs 4,200/quintal in an APMC (agricultural produce market committee) mandi now, compared to Rs 4,900 a year ago and the government’s minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 4,892: The issue doesn’t end at prices but also extends to total production cost, farmers told The Indian Express.

⚡Only in Express

“When you come into government, you serve not only people who voted for you, but also people who didn’t”

A prominent BJP leader and former Union Minister Smriti Irani joined us on the latest edition of Idea Exchange, where she talked about 2024 election results, losing in Amethi, Modi 3.0 and BJP’s relationship with the minorities.

From the Front Page

Tricky territory: If COP29 delivers what it’s supposed to — a finance agreement to enable enhanced flow of money for climate action — it could turn out to be the most important climate meet since the one in Paris in 2015. The agreement was never expected to come easily, but the election of Donald Trump as the next US President has cast a much bigger shadow on its success.

“I know today a lot of countries are nervous about the US, let’s be honest about that. We are not one of them”

On Sunday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar expressed confidence in India’s growing importance in the world order, saying that the ‘India story’ is being appreciated across the globe. He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “among the first three calls” that Donald Trump took after winning the US elections.

On edge: With attacks on civilians and security personnel on the rise in Jammu and Kashmir, another face-off with militants rocked the hills of Kishtwar district on Sunday. In dense forests of Keshwan, an officer of the Army’s Special Forces was killed and three soldiers were injured in a gunbattle. The same militants had abducted and killed two village defence guards (VDGs) on Thursday. 

📌 Must Read

“The ban on girls and women praying or speaking aloud in public and the requirement of coverings are more than an infringement on their rights. It is designed to obliterate a social structure within which women view and draw strength from one another.”

In our Opinion pages today, an Afghan refugee in India writes about why the Taliban fears women and seeks to erase them.

Explained Widlife: Ten wild elephants from a herd of 13 died in Madhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve last week. In a statement, a forest official linked their deaths with “mycotoxins associated with kodo millet”. A staple food for many tribal and economically weaker sections,kodo millet is more than normal in this part of the country. But the Bandhavgarh incident tells the story of how a fungus attack turned this run-of-the-mill food into poison.

⏳ And Finally…

The haircut ‘menace’: Earlier this year, the biggest school in West Bengal’s Parulia identified a “menace” that “kept spreading like a disease” among its students. Determined to bring it under control, school authorities pulled up their socks. Notices were sent out and a campaign kicked off. But, what was this menace? The school saw that its students, inspired by their favourite sportspersons, were getting ‘quirky haircuts’ unsuitable for school. 

🎧Justice Sanjiv Khanna will be sworn in as the 51st Chief Justice of India on Monday. Yesterday, DY Chandrachud retired after a tenure as the longest-serving CJI in over a decade. Last week, he reflected on his career in conversation with The Indian Express. In today’s special episode of our 3 Things podcast we bring you a part of that from Express Adda, a series featuring individuals at the forefront of change.

That’s all for today

Vibha B Madhava and Ayesha Jain