Good morning, In today’s edition: A panel to study status of SC converts to Christianity and Islam; Gautam Gambhir at Idea Exchange; Arvind Kejriwal’s show of strength in Delhi; call for Rahul Gandhi to head Congress; and more The Big Story The Centre is all set to constitute a national commission to study the social, economic and educational status of members of Scheduled Castes, or Dalits, who converted to religions other than Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism, The Indian Express has learnt. 🔴 Sources said that consultations on the proposal are currently ongoing among the ministries of Home, Law, Social Justice and Empowerment, and Finance. 🔴 The move to set up such a commission assumes significance in the wake of several petitions pending before the Supreme Court seeking SC reservation benefits for Dalits who converted to Christianity or Islam. Only in the Express At the latest edition of Idea Exchange, cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir spoke about why reducing the Ghazipur landfill has been more satisfying than winning a World Cup, and how the BJP needs to strategise and change its narrative ahead of the MCD polls in Delhi. The Union government intends to launch a scheme — named PM PRANAM — to reduce the use of chemical fertilisers by incentivising states, The Indian Express has learnt. The proposed scheme also aims to bring down the subsidy burden on chemical fertilisers, which is estimated to reach Rs 2.25 lakh crore in 2022-23 — 39 per cent higher than last year’s figure of Rs 1.62 lakh crore. From the Front Page In a show of strength ahead of the coming Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) gathered around 1,500 elected representatives in Delhi from across the country. The party’s national convenor Arvind Kejriwal invoked God frequently, as he claimed that “God had sent AAP to save the country from evils”. With the countdown beginning for the election process to pick Congress’ new president, its Chhattisgarh and Gujarat PCCs joined the call for Rahul Gandhi to take over the reins of the party. This comes a day after the Rajasthan unit did so. In a fresh slugfest between the Centre and states over the country’s power sector, the Union government is planning to bring in a Market-Based Economic Dispatch (MBED) mechanism, which envisages centralised scheduling for dispatching the entire annual electricity consumption of around 1,400 billion units. This will mark a clear shift from a decentralised model followed now. Must Read Among Hutokshi Bomanbehram’s family heirlooms is a model of the Gold State Coach, the gilded carriage that British monarchs have ridden in for coronations since 1821. This fascination with the British monarchy is not just limited to Bomanbehram. Every Zoroastrian Parsi and Irani home, it is said lightheartedly, has a portrait of the queen, be it Victoria or Elizabeth. The community often referred to Elizabeth as “Aapri Rani” (our queen). And when she died on September 8, this refrain rang out across social media posts — some sincere, some tongue-in-cheek. Reehana Raza, Regional Director, Asia and the Pacific Division, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), while speaking to The Indian Express, said that only 1.7 per cent of climate finance is going to small farmers and yet they produce one-third of the food in the world. She also talks about IFAD’s work in India, climate change, G-20 and other issues. Read the full interview here The Union Health Ministry recently released the new National List of Essential Medicine (NLEM)-2022, revising it after a seven-year period. The new list, issued on September 13, has included more cancer medicines, newer diabetes drugs, and even four drugs that are under patent. We explain: 🔴 What is the National List of Essential Medicines? 🔴 How does the NLEM make the medicines affordable? 🔴 Which drugs were removed from the NLEM-2022? And Finally… Sebastian Rivera, a Pan-Am upstart, kept going across for the Indian veteran Bajrang Punia’s right ankle for a series of picks, with an aim to throw. But once Bajrang made his much-publicised, much- maligned piece of weakness (the shambolic leg defence) neatly elusive by pedalling the leg back, Rivera ran out of ideas, going down 11-9 in the bronze playoff of the Wrestling World Championships at Belgrade. Delhi Confidential: The nationwide beach cleaning event, organised by the Earth Sciences Ministry on Saturday, to simultaneously mark International Coastal Clean Up Day as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 72nd birthday, was a resounding success beyond what the ministry had expected, according to Earth Sciences Minister Dr Jitendra Singh. While the ministry had planned beach clean-ups at 75 locations, with a target to remove 1,500 tonnes of single-use plastic from these beaches, Singh said the drive was undertaken at 300 different locations across nine coastal states. 🎧 In today’s episode of the ‘3 Things’ podcast’, we talk about the murder of Dalit sisters in Lakhimpur Kheri, Amanatullah Khan's police custody, and UP's first conversion law. Until next time, Sonal Gupta and Srishti Kapoor
