Daily Briefing: PM Modi on 25 years of India-France strategic ties; Chandrayaan-3 launch today; and more

Describing the India-France bilateral relations as “strong, trusted and consistent”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to Paris, has said that the two countries are now at a “turning point” as they complete 25 years of strategic partnership and looked forward to working on a roadmap for the next 25 more years. Meanwhile, back in India, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has approved proposals to procure 26 Rafale Marine aircraft and three additional Scorpene submarines from the French government.

PM Modi will be the Guest of Honour at France’s Bastille Day parade in Paris today. Four French Presidents and three Indian Prime Ministers have nurtured the relationship between the two countries over the last quarter century. But, why are the India-France ties strong, and what’s the significance of PM Modi’s visit? Read our explainer to know

⚡ Only in Express

The online gaming industry is paying tax of only 2% of the estimated turnover at present and by bringing in a uniform GST rate of 28 per cent for online gaming, the government could earn ten times more than Rs 1,700 crore collected in the financial year 2022-23, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra said on Wednesday. Read his full interview

📰 From the Front Page

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will embark on its second attempt to carry out a soft touchdown of a robotic lander on the surface of the moon today with the launch of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on board the LVM3 rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. Should this mission see a successful “soft” landing, India will become only the fourth country – after the United States, Russia, and China – to have done so.

After touching 208.66 metres at 6 pm on Thursday, over a metre more than the previous record of 207.49 metres reported in 1978, the water level of the Yamuna is set to recede marginally by early Friday morning, after submerging the floodplains and leaving a few roads and low-lying areas of the national capital inundated.

Days after one of the worst train accidents in Balasore, Odisha, that killed at least 293 people due to errors in the signalling system, the Railway Board has decided to modify the Indian Railway Financial Code so that signalling-related projects do not need to be financially remunerative.

👩‍💻 Must read

✍️ In our Opinions section, social activists Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey write on the current political discourse on freebies vs rights: “In electoral democracies, ensuring a minimum income is not only critical for the survival of millions, but it is equally critical to the survival of political parties.”

Although the ruling Trinamool Congress, led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee swept the West Bengal panchayat elections, its outcome seems to have a silver lining for the Opposition in some pockets of the state in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Find out more in our analysis

Even as one committee of the WHO categorised artificial sweetener aspartame as “possibly carcinogenic to humans”, another has said there is no need to reduce its previously established acceptable daily intake. Confused? Read our report for more

⌛ And finally

🏃‍♀️ “I expected a new personal best today.” 

On a wet track and in the pouring rain on Thursday, Indian track and field’s big hope Jyothi Yarraji won the country’s first-ever gold in the women’s 100 metre hurdles at the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok. However, the Andhra hurdler still looked distraught at the finish line– find out why. 

🤫 Congress’s ‘yatra mantra’ shows no signs of slowing down; Union Minister Hardeep Puri talks about ‘reverse naming and shaming’– don’t miss today’s Delhi Confidential for more!

🎧 In the latest episode of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we discuss how Chandrayaan-3 plans to land softly on the moon, the aftermath of the West Bengal panchayat polls, and the plight of forest workers in Odisha.

Until next time,

Anamni Gupta and Arushi Bhaskar