Daily Briefing: Latest on Agnipath; Congress showdown with Delhi Police; Tourist deaths spur acclimatisation order in Ladakh

🔴 Meanwhile, as the Centre embarks on its massive employment generation mission over the next 18 months, we take a look at some of the jobs that are on offer. Of the 10 lakh jobs the Union government has promised, 90 per cent or more of these unfilled jobs or vacancies are in the Group C category comprising clerks, peons, and semi-skilled workers, a government source said. The cost to the government for a fresh Group C employee is roughly Rs 40,000 a month.

🔴 The government will need to budget about Rs 4,500 crore a year to carry out its plan. Sources in the government said while it is not easy to undertake such large-scale recruitment in a short span of 18 months, the bigger challenge will be post-recruitment training and induction, and later promotions. “Such one-shot recruitment will mean all these employees will be eligible for promotion together,” said a source.

⚡ Only in the Express

With the NATO summit in Madrid right around the corner, visiting Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares spoke to The Indian Express about why the international alliance should reach out to countries like India to help maintain stability across the world, and what he discussed with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. 

“What is important is that India, it is a big country that plays a stabilising role in this region. And we must count on India to face the challenges. Today it is world peace, but also the spillover of the Ukrainian crisis — food security. So what Spain wants, is to engage with India, both bilaterally but also to reflect and to join forces on global issues. There are things that will be much more difficult to do if we don’t count on India,” Albares said. 

From the Front Page

Amid the Congress’ protest against the BJP and Enforcement Directorate for “implicating” Rahul Gandhi in a money laundering case, senior leaders alleged that the Delhi Police forcibly entered the AICC Headquarters in New Delhi and thrashed the party workers.

Senior BJP leaders reached out to key Opposition leaders including NCP’s Sharad Pawar and NC’s Farooq Abdullah— two of the three names floated as possible candidates at the meeting convened by TMC leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee — to build consensus on a joint candidate for the Presidential polls.

The CBI arrested Kalyani Singh, the daughter of the Acting Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court, Sabina Singh, in connection with the 2015 murder of former national-level shooter and advocate Sukhmanpreet Singh alias Sippy Sidhu.

👩‍💻 Must Read

Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes on the Agnipath scheme: “The armed forces need support and reform. But reforms should be governed by a sound sociological, professional, institutional and strategic logic. This reform fails the smell test on all four. A dose of scepticism might be a better act of patriotism than cheerleading blindly, especially if you want reforms to succeed.”

The remarks against Prophet Mohammad made by BJP spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal have spotlighted the Indian Penal Section (IPC) that deals with criticism of or insult to religion. India does not have a formal legal framework for dealing with hate speech. However, a cluster of provisions, loosely termed hate speech laws, are invoked. We explain its origins and how courts have read the law. 

Ladakh administration’s recent mandate of 48-hour acclimatisation for tourists stems from the unusually high High number of casualties due to altitude-related complications. In less than two months, 11 deaths have already been reported from Leh’s higher locations. There has been a spike in air travellers, who, experts say, get lesser time to acclimatise.

⌛ And Finally

This year, at the IPL auction, India’s premier swing bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar was bought back by Sunrisers Hyderabad for less than half of his 2018 retention price, an apt indication of his falling stock. The previous season had been his worst ever. The familiar pop in his bowling had gone missing. But his body and form help up this season. Four months before the T20 World Cup, the old warhorse is making a pretty strong case for being on the plane to Australia.

Until tomorrow, 

Rahel Philipose and Leela Prasad G