Daily Briefing: Attack on Sukhbir Singh Badal; setback for over 2,200 JPSC aspirants

With that, let’s move on to the top stories from today’s edition:

• Attack on Sukhbir Singh Badal
• The other story of Jharkhand
• A long wait for Padma Shri

🚨 Big Story

Education and more…

The Jharkhand government has decided to cancel the 14th JPSC Combined Civil Services examination, which is being counted as a win by protesters in Ranchi. However, for over 2,200 candidates who had cleared the Prelims, the announcement has meant a setback. The Indian Express spoke to eight such aspirants — from an engineer who gave up a job, to an Adivasi woman who took time out from helping her father at work, to a wheelchair-bound aspirant who spent years preparing — all said that while they support strict action on paper leaks, cancelling an exam without a thorough investigation defies logic. The Crime Investigation Department (CID) has asked such students to submit carbon copies of their OMR sheets. For these aspirants, cancelling it would mean going through the process — and all the uncertainty that comes with it — yet again.

Omissions: Postgraduate students pursuing History at Delhi University (DU) can no longer opt for the course on Delhi Sultanate, according to records reviewed by The Indian Express. The paper, “The Delhi Sultanate: Structures of Authority in Medieval North India (13th-14th Centuries)”, taught in Semester III, has been dropped from DU’s new syllabus, alongside several other long-running courses on medieval, ancient and modern India. The course examined how the medieval state was formed, how authority was exercised, and how political, religious and cultural life evolved. Official records show these courses were cleared at various stages of the syllabus approval process but did not figure in the final notification issued on August 7.

⚡ Only in Express

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, addressing the House on the last day of the Monsoon Session on Thursday, said the productivity in Lok Sabha had fallen to 19 per cent, while that of Rajya Sabha was 39 per cent. However, this is not unprecedented. Data on every Parliament session, available since 2009, show there have been sessions where one or both Houses have occasionally seen even bigger washouts. In the recent session, the prospect of a discussion on the police action against students in the July 20 protests over paper leaks considerably thinned by Wednesday. The protests and disruptions prevented any significant legislative business in Parliament, with some Bills passed by voice votes without debates.

📰 From the Front Page

Attack: Shiromani Akali Dal president and former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal was injured on Thursday in a kirpan attack by a man dressed as a Nihang at Gurdwara Mata Sahib Devan Ji, Mugat in Maharashtra’s Nanded. The 64-year-old leader sustained a hand injury and was taken to a local hospital for treatment. His alleged assailant, identified by police as 62-year-old Jaspal Singh from Pune, was arrested. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered a probe into the incident, as he spoke to Badal and enquired about his well-being. Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde also interacted with Badal’s wife and MP Harsimrat Kaur who was present there when the attack took place.

Protest: The Bar Council of India (BCI) withdrew a directive barring the enrollment of 2026 graduates of National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR) University of Law, Hyderabad, as advocates with state bar councils until further notice. The move came hours after it first issued the directive barring them. The reason behind the withdrawal, the BCI said, was that “vast majority of the students of NALSAR (those graduating in 2026) are innocent and they were not inclined to take part in the move of disrespect”. The Council, however, said it would await the inquiry report from the Vice-Chancellor of NALSAR before taking any further action. The controversy stems from a campaign started by around 450 out of NALSAR’s 1,400 students against inviting CJI Surya Kant to the convocation.

📌 Must Read

Dope test: Air India has decided to conduct drug tests on all the pilots in the airline group, including Air India Express, beginning Thursday. The decision comes after the pilot-in-command of the Air Indian Phuket-Delhi flight that was involved in a sudden altitude-loss event on August 4, was tested positive in a dope test. This one-time exercise is beyond the requirements listed in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) rules on testing for psychoactive substances. According to sources, the testing is being done in a bid to ensure the highest standards of safety, and to assure the flying public and industry stakeholders.

In our Opinion section today, Upendra Kaul presents a case for restoration of the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir as central to political stability of the region. Kaul writes: “The political evolution of J&K illustrates the continuing tension between national security priorities and the aspirations for democratic self-governance. The restoration of statehood, accompanied by a balanced distribution of powers between elected representatives and the Centre, remains central to achieving durable political stability, effective administration, and long-term public confidence in the region.”

Feud: Natarajan Chandrasekaran’s decision not to seek another term as Chairman of Tata Sons has brought an end to a leadership chapter that began in 2017. However, his exit did not happen suddenly. It followed six months of uncertainty over his reappointment, differences with Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata, questions over the performance of some unlisted businesses, and a wider governance tussle within the Tata Trusts. My colleague George Mathew explains the breakdown between the two power centres — Chandrasekaran at Tata Sons and Noel Tata at Tata Trusts.

⏳ And Finally…

Long wait: It has been over half a century since flamboyant wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer was announced as one of the recipients of the Padma Shri award. However, the former India Test player is still waiting to get any tangible evidence of the honour. Engineer was chosen for the fourth-highest civilian award by the Government of India, but in the subsequent 53 years, he hasn’t received it. The Padma Awards website — padmaawards.gov.in — too, has Engineer’s name as one of the awardees for 1973 but what happened subsequently isn’t clear. The BCCI, after hearing about the matter, will write to the government in this regard in the coming weeks, as per a source.

🎧 Lastly, don’t forget to tune in to today’s episode of our 3 Things podcast, where we discuss the new Bill being introduced by the Centre to replace the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940; Maharashtra’s new bike and taxi rules; as well as selection of N Chandrasekaran’s successor.

That’s all for today. Have a wonderful day!

Until tomorrow,
Ariba

Business As Usual by E P Unny