Daily briefing: How Mayawati’s brother got 261 flats in Noida; fresh flare-up in Manipur; and more

🔎 Express Investigation: As many as 261 flats in a Noida apartment complex developed by real estate firm Logix Infratech Private Ltd were allotted to the brother of BSP supremo and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and his wife in a manner that was “fraudulent” and involved “deception” and “undervaluation,” official records investigated by The Indian Express have revealed.

🚨 Big Story 

👉🏽In a fresh flare-up in Manipur, nine people were killed on Tuesday night in incidents of firing and arson in Aigejang village in Kangpokpi district. Less than 24 hours later, Kangpokpi MLA and state cabinet minister Nemcha Kipgen’s official quarters was set on fire in Imphal at around 6:30 pm Wednesday.

👉🏽In a state awash with arms and roiled by ethnic clashes for more than a month now, the latest round of killings in the area of Khamenlok, near Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi’s borders with the Meitei stronghold of Imphal East, is a stark reminder of the challenges security forces face in their attempts to restore normalcy.

📰 From the Front Page 

Eight months after the Centre told the Supreme Court that the Constitution obligated the State to have a Uniform Civil Code for its citizens, and said that people of different religions and denominations following different property and matrimonial laws was an “affront to the nation’s unity”, the 22nd Law Commission of India Wednesday sought the views of the public and religious organisations on the matter.

👩🏽‍💻 Must Read 

India is no stranger to cyclones. And so, it is unsurprising that the country has managed to put in place standard operating procedures to deal with these. As a result, cyclones are no longer as big a threat as they were till the 1990s or even early 2000s. We break down how India has managed to develop a three-layered response mechanism for cyclones. 

In our opinion section today, Milind Sohoni writes on how IITs have become ivory towers that do not serve society: “They (IITs) serve as the excuse for an examination system which injures and subjugates our youth more than it nurtures and builds”.

Three years after the Galwan Valley incident when Indian and Chinese troops clashed deep inside eastern Ladakh, leaving 20 Indian Army personnel dead, winds of change have swept this Union Territory in terms of sheer troop density and the scale of infrastructure developed there. We take a look at where things stand. 

And Finally

With the release of Prabhas starrer ‘Adipurush’ just days away, we take a look at another adaptation of the Ramayana from the 1990s that took a while to take off. Directed by Koichi Sasaki and Ram Mohan, and conceived by Yugo Sako, ‘Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama’  was largely a Japanese production that is probably the best animated feature on Ramayana made till date.

🤫Delhi Confidential: Kickstarting the BJP’s outreach programme in Bihar, national president JP Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah will address public rallies in Jhanjharpur and Munger districts from June 24. While the main goal is to highlight the achievements of the Narendra Modi government, they will also “expose (CM) Nitish Kumar”.

🎧In today’s episode of 3 things, we discuss the communal tensions in Maharashtra, how the latest MSPs announced by the government might impact the rural economy and the increasing number of school thefts in the government schools of Punjab.

Until tomorrow,
Anamni Gupta and Varsha Sriram