Daily Briefing: Roger Federer retires; Vedanta told Maharashtra to seek ‘Central Govt alignment’; and more

🎾 But to say his was no ordinary run, would be an understatement. At 41 years of age, Federer had gone far beyond when tennis players are expected to be relevant in the draws of big tournaments. When seen along with the retirement of another all-time great and icon Serena Williams, the sport has lost its last on-court connection with the 20th century.

🎾 From the hot-headed teenager who cleaned toilets as punishment for throwing a racket, to the in-control graceful champion — Federer has come a long way. Read about his journey.

Only in the Express

As the Maharashtra government continues to grapple with the aftermath of the Vedanta Group’s decision to shift its ambitious joint venture with Taiwanese manufacturing giant Foxconn to Gujarat, here is an interesting revelation:

The Vedanta Group made two key requests to the Maharashtra government before finalising the location of its Rs 1.5-lakh-crore semiconductor facility in Talegaon, the proposed site near Pune: “Central government alignment” and state Cabinet approval. Both were outlined in a letter Maharashtra’s then-freshly appointed CM Eknath Shinde wrote to Anil Agarwal, Chairman, Vedanta Group. In his letter, he assured Agarwal that a “high-powered committee” had given an in-principle approval for the incentive package and this would be cleared by the state cabinet.

In our opinion section today, Girish Kuber writes on how Maharashtra’s repeated loss of projects to Gujarat appears to indicate preferential treatment by the Centre.

From the Front Page

🔴 Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Samarkand in Uzbekistan on Thursday night for the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which will also be attended by leaders of China, Pakistan, Russia. Modi will discuss topical, regional and global issues and enhance cooperation within the SCO.

🔴 Six people were arrested on Thursday in connection with the alleged rape and murder case of two minor Dalit sisters, whose bodies were found hanging from a tree in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district.

🔴Five female and three male African cheetahs will on Friday set off on a 10-hour, 8,000-km transcontinental journey to their new home at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. World’s leading expert on cheetahs, Dr Laurier Marker said that managing a human-animal conflict will be the biggest challenge in India.

Must Read

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said that he “conveyed concerns” to his American counterpart Lloyd Auston on the United States’ decision to provide Pakistan with a $450 million package for the “F-16 Casse for sustainment and related equipment.” Why has the Biden Administration allocated the package and what’s the view from Delhi? We explain here.

The Muslim appellants, who challenged the Hijab ban in Karnataka told the Supreme Court that B R Ambedkar’s statement, used in the High Court’s judgment, was “deeply offensive” and “totally biased,” and “is not a statement that should be repeated in India, great though he may have been.”

And Finally

🤫 Delhi Confidential: Who will succeed Sonia Gandhi to lead the Congress. Just a week remains for the issuance of notification for election for the post of Congress president. Sources say Sonia is expected to return to India from abroad this evening. Most of the Congress leaders believe some clarity on the issue will emerge once she starts meeting leaders from Monday.

🎧 In today’s episode of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we take a look at the Supreme Court’s latest order on BCCI, what Congress defections in Goa mean for the BJP, and the findings of the National Health Accounts report.

Until tomorrow,

Rahel Philipose and Varsha Sriram