Daily briefing: ‘Spare no one,’ PM Modi tells CBI; Rahul Gandhi gets bail in defamation case

Facing fire from the Opposition over the alleged misuse of central probe agencies, PM Modi said that those who benefited from corruption for decades have created an ecosystem, which targets investigative agencies. But the agencies should not be deterred by it and focus on their work, he said.

Only in the Express

In our opinion section today, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma writes on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from Parliament: “I urge his well-wishers to refresh their memory of the events of 2013 and stop endorsing his self-goal as an imaginary assault on Indian democracy.”

From the Front Page

A Surat court granted bail to Rahul Gandhi and suspended his sentence till the disposal of his appeal seeking a stay on his conviction in a defamation case over his 2019 remark about the surname Modi.

Contrary to widespread claims of a large rise in poverty in both rural and urban India post the Covid-19 pandemic, a new paper authored by former Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya and Vishal More, Founder of New Delhi-based research and consulting organisation Intelink Advisors, has said that rural poverty declined continuously every quarter beginning July-September 2020.

Must Read

Amid Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that his disqualification as an MP is an attempt to silence him for questioning the alleged links between industrialist Gautam Adani and the PM, the BJP is trying to turn the tables on Congress on corruption. The party has now officially launched an online video campaign, the first episode of which is titled “Congress Means Corruption”.

About 35 kilometres and three days apart, the story of Sunday evening’s violence in Hooghly district’s Rishra and that in Shibpur, in West Bengal’s Howrah, on the day of Ram Navami have an have eerie similarity — claims and counter-claims from both communities on where the first stones were thrown from, instigating the subsequent violence.

AIR India’s privatisation and its plans to significantly expand its fleet and network have provided wind in the Government’s sails as it looks at upgrading six key metro airports to global hubs and get Indian carriers to dominate international passenger traffic.

And Finally…

Tilak Varma had an impressive IPL debut with Mumbai Indians last year, scoring 397 runs at a strike rate of 131.02, the most by a teenager in an IPL season, and breaking Rishabh Pant’s record of 366 runs in 2017. Here’s a look at the journey of the prospective “all-format batter” – from travelling 40km to the academy on coach’s bike, scoring centuries with borrowed bats to setting IPL on fire.

Delhi Confidential: Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal said while addressing a gathering of key stakeholders of inland waterways and business leaders. The minister said he himself kept a close vigil on the movement of the vessel for over 50 days before it docked at Dibrugarh in Assam on February 28 after covering 3,200 km across 27 river systems. Sonowal said it was a very important task for the ministry as the PM had a keen interest in the project. 

In today’s episode of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we talk about medicines for rare diseases and why they are exempt from customs duty, violence during Ram Navami processions in Bihar, and a man’s story about getting arrested for accidentally receiving 1 lakh rupees.

Until tomorrow,

Rahel Philipose and Anamni Gupta