Daily Briefing: Daily wager suicides cross quarter of national total; India explores sending aid to Pakistan amid floods
In today's edition: What the NCRB data reveals; India explores sending aid to Pakistan amid floods; Reliance's 5G push; what makes Jadeja and Pandya crucial to Indian cricket; and more
Top news on August 30, 2022 Good morning,
The Big Story
An alarming statistic stands out in the latest report of the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB): one in four of the recorded 1,64,033 suicide victims during 2021 was a daily wage earner. The group accounted for 25.6 per cent of the overall deaths, making it the largest profession-wise.
🔴 Meanwhile, the same report notes that crime against women increased from 56.5 per cent in 2020 to 64.5 per cent in 2021. A majority of these cases (31.8 per cent) fall in the category of “Cruelty by husband or his relatives’’, followed by “Assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty” (20.8 per cent), kidnapping and abduction (17.6 per cent), and rape (7.4 per cent).
🔴 Crime against children have also seen a substantial rise, with 1,49,404 cases registered in 2021 of which 53,874 — 36.05 per cent — were under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).
Only in the Express
Indian students have got almost twice the number of student visas as the Chinese in the first seven months of this year, an analysis of F-1 monthly visa reports showed. Although the absolute number of Chinese students heading to America for higher education has been on the decline since the pandemic hit, China still accounts for the largest share of international students presently studying in the US. Indian students come in at second position and students from South Korea third.
From the Front Page
The Indian Express has learnt that discussions are underway at the highest levels on the possibility of extending humanitarian aid to Pakistan. While no decision has been taken yet, top officials in South Block are learnt to be discussing the options on the table. This after Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that he was “saddened” to see the devastation and “hoped for an early restoration of normalcy” after the floods have claimed over 1,100 lives so far.
A high-intensity wrestling bout to determine the wrestler who would represent India at the World Championship in the 59kg category had to be abruptly stopped. Why? WFI president Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, a BJP MP, forgot to invite a group of seers from Ayodhya to “bless” and get pictures taken with the two competitors.
Must Read
Public Interest Litigation (PIL) hearings had a bad run in Supreme Court on Monday, with a bench headed by Chief Justice of India U U Lalit saying no to more than half-a-dozen of them. Among the PILs that got axed were: one seeking action on the Truecaller app for “using personal information of mobile phone users without their authorisation” and another seeking a fresh inquiry into purchase of Rafale jets from France.
Neerja Chowdhury writes on Ghulam Nabi Azad’s exit from the Congress party: “Azad’s going is not the exit of yet another individual leader from Congress. It is symbolic of wider and worrying processes at work to move India towards one-party rule — and the Grand Old Party, representing the only counter force nationally, is unwilling to take the steps it should.”
Reliance Jio announced the launch of its 5G services in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai by Diwali this year, with an aim to expand and cover the entire country by December 2023. The company said it will launch its 5G services on a “standalone” 5G architecture, against the “non-standalone” approach. What is the difference between the two, and how will 5G benefit consumers? We explain.
Congress is likely to see a contest for the post of its President this time around, as sources said Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor is considering throwing his hat in the ring to put forward an alternate vision for the party. A signatory of the G-23 letter that sought changes in the party, Tharoor has discussed the idea with some of his colleagues and well-wishers, but is yet to take a final call.
And Finally…
It was Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya‘s crucial partnership that helped India defeat Pakistan. It is often said that a quality all-rounder—one who can bat in the top six and and would also be selected separately as a front-line bowler—can make the 11-member team look like a 12-member one. Playing against India with a peak Jadeja and Pandya would be akin to combatting 13 players.
Delhi confidential: President of the Board of Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, Ram Bahadur Rai, at the launch of the book, ‘The Architect of the New BJP: How Narendra Modi Transformed the Party’, said: “BJP was never a cadre party, it is not a cadre party and it will never be. It’s a mass-based party and democratic. Had it been a cadre party, it would not have a spokesperson like Nupur Sharma.’
🎧 In today’s episode of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we talk about the Noida Supertech demolition and the car manufacturers’ push back against the government’s proposal to mandate minimum 6 airbags in 8-passenger cars.
Until tomorrow,
Leela Prasad and Sonal Gupta
Business As Usual by E P Unny
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