Daily Briefing: UAE, Maldives join criticism over remarks on Prophet; Omar Abdullah hits out Centre over civilian killings in Kashmir

The relationship that Delhi has crafted in the Gulf before and after 2014 has little to do with religion. The current controversy has put that under a cloud, with Indian envoys in the region trying to ensure that what was spoken on TV back home does not have an adverse fallout on the significant Indian diaspora in these countries.

The two most important reasons why India shares good relations with most of the countries in the Gulf are oil and gas, and trade. India’s relations with these countries are also shaped by the huge number of NRIs working there and the remittances they send home.

Only in the Express

In a wide-ranging interview, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah tells The Indian Express that the recent attacks on Kashmiri Pandits and outsiders show that Article 370 was not the root cause of terror and violence in the region.

In part-4 of The Indian Express series on tracking class 5A students of the Delhi government’s Veer Savarkar Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, math teacher Neha’s intensive catch-up session means there is finally some hope. By the end of five weeks of teaching, all children except one could do two-digit subtraction and 18 children could do division with remainders.

From the Front Page

There was a huge jump in enrolment of students in government schools – seen as an indicator of economic hardship – in the second pandemic year. Of these, an estimated 4.88 lakh children — adding up to 27 per cent of the total enrolment — were left out of the midday meal scheme in Delhi “due to shortage of foodgrains”, according to a Union government document.

Police data compiled by The Indian Express shows that the police have killed or arrested militants or their alleged associates suspected to have been involved in 14 of the 20 cases of targeted attacks in Jammu and Kashmir this year, mostly aimed at minorities, migrants and security personnel. Six cases are yet to be solved.

A top Indian woman cyclist has accused the national sprint team chief coach R K Sharma of “inappropriate behaviour” during a camp in Slovenia in an email to the SAI (Sports Authority of India), The Indian Express has learnt. The SAI said the complainant was “immediately” brought back to India “to ensure her safety”. The SAI and the Cycling Federation of India (CFI) have formed two separate inquiry committees to look into the allegation.

Must Read

Despite some murmurs of discontent in the Delhi BJP unit over the suspension and expulsion of party spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal, respectively, at the senior level, party leaders say the action was a “well thought-out decision.” “The controversy over her remarks and Jindal’s tweets has not only hurt our development agenda but also dented the image of the government and Prime Minister at the international level,” a leader said.

In an Opinion column, Vivek Katju writes on India’s attempt to engage with Kabul: “The argument that the diplomatic door must be kept open for Pakistan because it’s a neighbour while it can be shut on the Taliban is facile because Afghanistan directly impacts Indian security.”

And Finally…

Delhi confidential: The Congress had said that Sonia Gandhi will appear before the ED in a money laundering case when she tested positive for Covid-19. Now, it is learnt that an exemption will be sought citing health grounds as she is yet to recover.

In this episode of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we talk about the significance of two big private ventures in Bihar — a Rs 500 crore PepsiCo bottling plant, and a Rs 105-crore ethanol plant — and how they are expected to benefit the people in the state.

Until tomorrow,
Leela Prasad and Sonal Gupta

Business As Usual by EP Unny