Daily Briefing: RBI’s decision to withdraw Rs 2,000 notes and what it means for you; why bombs are easy to make in Bengal; how Centre’s new ordinance flies in face of SC’s Delhi ruling; and more

1. Do you have a lot of Rs 2,000 notes lying around? Well, be prepared to deposit or exchange them before September 30. The Reserve Bank of India has decided to withdraw its highest-value current note from circulation, but said they will continue to remain as legal tender. The central bank has set September 30 as the deadline to deposit or exchange these notes at banks, but set a limit of “Rs 20,000 at a time”.

👉🏽 Introduced in November 2016 to meet the requirement of the economy after the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, the Rs 2,000 denomination is no longer commonly used for transactions. Besides, there is adequate stock of banknotes in other denominations to meet currency requirements. We explain the reason behind RBI’s move

👉🏽 The Indian Express’ Udit Mishra writes on how the RBI’s announcement brings the curtains down on its flawed introduction — as well as its pointless existence.

2. A new statutory body to handle transfer and posting of bureaucrats in the national capital that gives veto to two senior bureaucrats over the elected Chief Minister — the Centre’s ordinance promulgated Friday is in the teeth of the Supreme Court verdict.

3. In West Bengal, bombs have become fodder for a range of criminal activities, from local gangs settling scores to rival political party workers in a turf war. This has left several children killed or maimed after they mistook bombs for playthings.

In part 2 of an investigation by The Indian Express, we take a look at how bomb-making is a thriving cottage industry, with its raw materials easy to access and procure.

4. On the day Jagdeep Dhankhar was sworn in as the 14th Vice-President, he promised his former maths teacher Ratna Nair, 83, that whenever he visits Kerala next, he would drop by her residence at North Kerala’s Champad village. With the meeting set to take place on May 22, Nair is torn between meeting her student from the 1960s and the protocol of a VVIP visit.

5. In her weekly column, Neerja Chowdhury dissects Kiren Rijiju’s transfer from the Ministry of Law to the Ministry of Earth Sciences. “Narendra Modi is nothing if not flexible when it comes to winning or retaining political support. Watch out as the BJP mends fences wherever necessary”.

6. Express@Cannes: Check out what Shubhra Gupta has to say about ‘The Zone of Interest’, Jonathan Glazer’s film about the Holocaust: “Both the lead performances are first-rate, and the film leaves viewers shaken. The thought came to him, Glazer said, from photos of ordinary Germans watching the misery of Jews with glee. You can see that look in lynch mobs around the world: they are everywhere.”

Until tomorrow,
Varsha Sriram and Arushi Bhaskar