Daily Briefing: India said no to Chinese FM’s request to meet PM Modi; IPL 2022 kicks off today

Only in the Express

Beijing reached out to New Delhi for Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but South Block politely declined, The Indian Express has learnt. The Indian side was said to have conveyed to the Chinese that the Prime Minister was busy Friday since he had to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the UP Chief Minister in Lucknow.  

From the Front Page 

From being tagged as a surprise pick five years ago to becoming the BJP’s obvious choice this time, Yogi Adityanath took oath on Friday evening in Lucknow for a second straight term as Chief Minister of UP before a gathering of around 50,000 people. Apart from Adityanath, the oath of office was administered to Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, and 50 Ministers. Of the 52 who took oath, over half are debutants in the Cabinet — and almost all of them have been picked to strike a caste balance that the party hopes will help it prevail over its main state rivals, SP and BSP, with the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in the distant horizon.  

Ukrainian national Anna Horodetska had been looking forward to her wedding in March, with Delhi High Court lawyer Anubhav Bhasin. Then, Russia invaded her country. Hiding in a bunker in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, Anna had decided she had to reach India one way or the other. Her arrival at IGI Airport was anything but ordinary – she was greeted with the sound of dhols and could not believe when Anubhav went down on one knee, took out an engagement ring and asked: “Will you marry me?”  

Must Read 

From the Brahmin face of the BJP in UP Dinesh Sharma, to two-time MLA from Mathura Shrikant Sharma — a number of prominent leaders who were part of the previous UP Government were left out of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s revamped cabinet. According to BJP sources, some big leaders were dropped by the party leadership as they lacked connect with people, performed poorly as ministers and showed a lack of interest in organisational activities.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has urged students to think long and hard before deciding to pursue higher education in China. Apart from citing Covid travel restrictions, the higher education regulator also warned that it doesn’t recognise “degree courses done only in online mode without prior approval.” The advisory came soon after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar raised the issue of the return of Indian students to China with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. Jaishankar told reporters that India hoped that Beijing would adopt a “non-discriminatory approach” on it.

With the Calcutta High Court ordering the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the killings in Bogtui village of West Bengal’s Birbhum district, we take a look at how the CBI takes up cases. Unlike the NIA, CBI cannot take suo motu cognizance of a case in a state. The agency does, however, have the option of declining a case. In the past, the CBI has refused to take over cases citing lack of enough personnel to investigate, and saying it is overburdened. Notable, in 2015, the agency told the Supreme Court that it could not take any more Vyapam scam cases because it did not have enough staff to investigate them.

Sanjib Baruah writes on how the UN’s Ukraine vote shows the racial subtext of global politics: “It is surely significant that countries that abstained in the UN vote constitute the majority of the world’s population. They come from all regions of the world except for Europe and its North American offshoots. Moreover, the abstainers include major non-Western democracies, which contradicts the US official framing of the war in terms of democracy versus autocracy.”

And Finally 

A trip from the Trident hotel in South Mumbai to New Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium on a busy evening takes nearly two hours but for the next two months, the Indian cricket board believes they can’t afford for that to happen to cricket’s mightiest superstars. As the IPL kicks off, around 1100 Mumbai Police personnel, including Traffic Police, around 60 IPL staff and 500 volunteers will be engaged to ensure they have a smooth journey to and fro so matches start as per schedule.

🤫 Delhi Confidential: Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav is known for putting in long hours at work, reaching office at 9 am and not leaving before 8 pm. And to inspire his staff to make the best use of their work days, Yadav has gifted them the book The 5 AM Club by Robin Sharma, the author of the best-selling Monk who sold his Ferrari.  

Until tomorrow,

Rahel Philipose and Rounak Bagchi

Express Cartoon by EP Unny.