Daily briefing: Former Union Minister Sharad Yadav dies at 75; China has increased its troop count along LAC in the East: Army Chief Gen Pande

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Socialist stalwart and former JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav died on Thursday at a hospital in Gurgaon. He was 75. A 7-term Lok Sabha and 4-term Rajya Sabha member, Yadav, a former Union Minister, had not been keeping well for some time. Bihar was his political home. In fact, he was one of the few who had been instrumental in installing Lalu Prasad as Chief Minister of Bihar in 1990.

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As the tussle between Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi and the MK Stalin-led government continues, Amrith Lal writes: “The Governor hasn’t clarified why he chose to leave out references to the Dravidian model or Tamil icons in his address to state assembly. But his recent conduct frames an ahistorical reading of, and troubling antipathy to, Tamil subnationalism and Dravidian identity.”

On Thursday, India’s tech blue chip Infosys reported a 13.4 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ending December 2022, while earlier this week, the largest IT company of the country, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), posted a 11.02 per cent growth in profit for the quarter. We explain what is going right for the tech sector and how they are faring on stock markets.

From the Front Page

Army chief General Manoj Pande said that China has increased deployment of troops across India’s eastern border, but the Army is keeping a close watch on their movement and activities and has deployed adequate numbers of troops and reserves to tackle any contingency. The comments come after last month, Indian and Chinese troops clashed in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh, heightening tensions along the Line of Actual Control.

The Supreme Court, which is hearing a dispute between the Delhi government and the Centre over control of services, asked the Central government as to what is the purpose of the national capital having an elected government if the entire administrative control is to be with them.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar’s reference that he didn’t agree with the verdict in the Kesavananda Bharati case has triggered renewed alarm bells in the Opposition camp. The decision of the Supreme Court in the landmark case of 1973 was seen as a push back to the Indira Gandhi government which had started showing authoritarian tendencies. Barely three years later, during Emergency, the Indira government passed three Constitutional amendment bills that sought to nullify the verdict. However, now, the shoe is on the other foot as the main Opposition Congress led a strident criticism against Dhankhar.

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“Like the queen of Jhansi Lakshmibai, who fought against British till her last breath, we, the women of Dangri, will also fight Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.” For 47-year-old Rekha Sharma, the fight against militants in Jammu and Kashmir hits close to home. When a widow in her neighbourhood in Jammu’s Upper Dangri village lost both her sons in back-to-back terror attacks this year, she decided to join the Village Defence Guards, a group of local volunteers being trained to counter terror attacks in their area.

“I want to leave the hospital… Can you give me the chair? I want to sit, it is very suffocating to keep lying in bed.” Just these short sentences were enough to tire 22-year-old Sweety Kumari, a B.Tech student who was hospitalised after she was hit by a car on New Year’s Eve in Noida. After being in a coma for six days, she finally regained consciousness and started talking intermittently this week. She has a fracture in both legs and her head is covered in bandages. Though she is now out of danger, the operation on her leg is pending.

Admitting that Maruti Suzuki did not anticipate the growth in demand for sports utility vehicles (SUVs) in India, the country’s largest carmaker said that it has advanced its SUV launch plans. With the launch of the Jimny and an urban SUV coupe called Fronx, alongside the newly refreshed Brezza and the Grand Vitara, Hisashi Takeuchi, MD & CEO of Maruti Suzuki, said that he expects Maruti to regain lost market share in the SUV space.

And Finally…

Graham Reid, the coach of India’s men’s hockey team, leaves anything to chance when it comes to preparing for a major tournament. With India, he’s tapped into the emotions. A couple days ago, the Indian team walked around 150m from their accommodation to the centre of the pitch inside the Birsa Munda Stadium and sat near the centre circle. For the next hour or so, they had a series of heart-to-heart conversations. All of them sharing everything they’ve been through as a group en route to the World Cup, where India open their campaign against Spain on Friday. 

🤫 Delhi Confidential: With the BJP adopting a three-pronged strategy to expand its foothold in Kerala, former Union minister and senior party leader Prakash Javadekar has been on a new mission. Leaders from both the party and its ideological parent RSS have been making it a point to show up at every possible platform of the Christians and Muslims to what they say “break the untouchability”.

🎧 In today’s episode of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we discuss how the Ozone layer is now slowly healing, the composer behind the RRR song ‘Naatu Naatu’, and the bleak findings of a sports survey.