Daily Briefing: China silent on LAC pullback, repeats old stand on ties; Mallikarjun Kharge as potential PM face in 2024; and more

1) Hours after India said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping had “agreed” to “direct their relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation” of troops along the Line of Actual Control, Beijing provided a different account of the meeting as it did not mention any agreed outcome.

🇨🇳 Beijing also said that the conversation took place at the request of Prime Minister Modi. Indian officials were quick to counter this and said there was a pending request from the Chinese side for a bilateral meeting.

Find out more about the gap between India and China on the LAC pullback here

2) In our Opinion section today, Ashima Goyal writes on how G20 countries can facilitate mitigation of climate change risk: “The effects of climate change are becoming more and more obvious. Unprecedented heat waves, fires and floods are affecting so many countries regardless of location… G20 cannot afford not to act. The war on climate change cannot be delayed because of the Ukraine war.”

3) “It’s a government’s responsibility to protect citizens from misinformation as well as protect freedom of speech.”

At a recent Express Adda, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajeev Chandrasekhar talked about India’s tech journey, instability in the start-up space and reworking safe harbour norms for the Digital India Bill.

4) In her weekly column, Neerja Chowdhury explores the possibility of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge becoming the Opposition-bloc INDIA’s PM face in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections: “Though from Karnataka, Kharge is proficient in Hindi, and has displayed deftness in the last few months in taking on the Modi-led BJP, including in managing to unite a faction-ridden party in Karnataka, a state the Congress went on to win.”

5) Ready to watch the Ayushmann Khurrana-Ananya Panday starrer Dream Girl 2? Find out what Shubhra Gupta has to say about it first: “Dream Girl 2 works best when it has Ayushmann Khurrana unerringly bringing out the concept of ‘ardhanareeshwar’ so strongly and with such ease: Pooja is Karam and Karam is Pooja. Genders can be beautifully fluid, and yes, men can like men.”

Until next time,

Arushi Bhaskar