Daily Briefing: How the first day of the 18th Lok Sabha went; latest on NEET row; Rohit Sharma’s 92 against Australia; & more

Meanwhile, the Opposition seemed jubilant and vibrant outside the House and more emboldened inside. After a decade, from just two rows of seats, they were now occupying more than a third of the House benches.

Continuing their campaign rhetoric, Opposition parties used the Constitution to criticise the BJP. A defiant Congress criticised Modi for his Emergency jibe at it, accusing him of diversion tactics and overlooking the public’s rejection of what they term as the “undeclared Emergency” of the past decade.

👉Only in Express

An investigation by the Indian Express has uncovered that PWD officials in Mumbai disbursed Rs 26 crore to private contractors for maintenance and repairs at official bungalows allocated to Maharashtra’s ministers, between March 2017 and March 2023. This allocation was sourced from funds originally designated for paying water and power bills at these residences. Learn more in our report about how rules were broken and where the funds were used.

📰From the Front Page

At a school in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, where investigators suspect the NEET-UG leak originated from, officials informed The Indian Express that a digital lock on two boxes containing question papers failed to open at the scheduled time of 1:15 pm on May 5. Consequently, they had to resort to using a cutter to access the papers.

The Supreme Court found the Delhi High Court’s decision to reserve its verdict on the Enforcement Directorate’s plea to stay Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s bail “unusual.” They announced on Monday they would await the High Court’s decision and hear Kejriwal’s plea against it on June 26.

⚡Must Read

The US government’s years-long pursuit of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for putting the country’s “national security at risk” ends soon. Assange has struck a deal with the US Justice Department that will allow him to walk free and resolve the legal saga. According to the deal, he will plead guilty to a felony charge and he will be spared from any additional prison time.

In our Opinion section today, Rajib Dasgupta writes on deaths due to the heat wave. “Who are those who died? What were their social characteristics… In theory, heat-related deaths and illnesses are preventable, albeit with specific public health and multi-sectoral policies and interventions.”

The Centre on Monday notified the Rules required to operationalise The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, the anti-cheating law. This comes amid protests over irregularities in the NEET-UG exam. What do the Rules say, and what exams does it cover? We explain.

🔴And Finally… 

🏏 T20 World Cup: In his long and glittering career, Rohit Sharma has authored several unforgettable hundreds, double hundreds. But the St Lucia knock would have a standalone value. Madness, magic and method combined to produce a knock of devastating beauty. Sandip G writes on the India vs Australia match.

Delhi Confidential: According to the text of parliamentary oath, MPs can either “swear in the name of God” or “solemnly affirm” that they will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established. Raj Bhushan Choudhary was the only minister from the BJP who did not invoke God in his oath.

🎧 In today’s episode of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we discuss Arvind Kejriwal’s bail plea and the first day of the 18th Lok Sabha. We also talk about how India wants the inclusion of sports like Twenty20 Cricket, Kabaddi and Kho Kho, as well as Yoga, in the 2036 Olympics.

Until next time,

Sonal Gupta and Aradhana Kalia

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