Daily Briefing: Who’s the most powerful Indian; Himachal trouble for Congress; and more

The list of most powerful Indians 2024 is out! Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have retained their first and second position for the seventh year running. That this seems an all-too familiar story only goes to show how overwhelmingly dominant the BJP remains. Check the ranks of popular leaders, the biggest entrepreneurs and your favourite Bollywood stars and sportsmen.

Big Story

With rebellion against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu out in the open, the Congress party scrambled Wednesday morning to save the state government. After an embarrassing defeat in Rajya Sabha, six party MLAs and three Independents, who cross-voted for the BJP nominee, remained out of the party’s reach. Young minister Vikramaditya Singh, too, announced his resignation.

Trouble is brewing for the Congress elsewhere too. The unsparing BJP is set to focus all its energies on wresting Chhindwara, which has been dominated by Kamal Nath, since he first won an election from here in the 1980s.

Only in the Express

The Law Commission has worked out three major Constitutional amendments to set the ball rolling for the ‘One Nation, One Election’ project in 2029. Here’s what The Indian Express has learnt.

From the Front Page

Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been on a whirlwind tour of the country. On March 7, he’s likely to address a public rally in Srinagar, in what would mark his first visit to Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.

Three months ago, Vaqeel Hasan led a team of “rat-hole” miners in the rescue of 41 workers trapped in the collapsed Silkyara-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand. On Wednesday, he returned to his home in the National Capital to find it being demolished by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

Must Read

In our opinion section today, Bibek Debroy and Aditya Sinha write on AI, sovereignty and Isaac Asimov’s warning: “From democracy to arms race, artificial intelligence poses significant risks. The world urgently requires a robust global AI governance body to ensure that AI advancements serve humanity”

The government’s Genome India initiative announced successful sequencing of 10,000 whole genomes of healthy persons from across the country, creating a genetic map of the population. How does it work? Why is it important? Read our explainer.

And Finally…

Last week, PM Modi went scuba diving off the Panchkui beach coast in the pilgrimage town of Dwarka, Gujarat. He performed prayers at the site of what’s considered to be Dwarka Nagari – the mythological kingdom of Lord Krishna in the Mahabharata. Since the start of the 20th century, several attempts have been made by scholars to establish the location of Dwarka as mentioned in the Mahabharata. We look at the many legends surrounding the lost city.

Delhi Confidential: Ahead of seeking a possible fifth term from the same seat, Union Minister and Dharwad MP Pralhad Joshi launched a self-appraisal on Wednesday, detailing the progress made in the constituency in the last 10 years in the form of a booklet titled ‘The development works of Dharwad Lok Sabha constituency during the 10 years tenure of Sri Pralhad Joshi’.

In today’s episode of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we discuss the government’s plans to finally implement CAA, how Maharashtra has diluted the obligations under RTE, and the Netflix docuseries on Indrani Mukerjea.

Until tomorrow,
Sonal Gupta and Rahel Philipose

Business As Usual by EP Unny