Daily Briefing: Friendly fights?

Also in today's edition: The smog blame game; the new peacemakers of the world; a tribute to Asrani, and more

Top news on October 22, 2025Top news on October 22, 2025

Good morning,
Can the government woo Indian talent settled abroad to return home? The Trump administration’s policies for higher education in the United States — seen as curbing university autonomy and academic freedom — have set off a race among countries, from Europe to China, to attract global talent and strengthen their own research and development fields. The Modi government has a plan as well. It has proposed a new scheme to attract Indian-origin “star faculty” and researchers employed abroad to work in Indian institutions. The scheme aims to provide these scholars with positions at premier institutions, financial and organisational autonomy and a “set-up grant” to establish their own laboratories. My colleague Ritika Chopra has more details.

On that note, let’s get to the rest of today’s edition.👇

🚨 Big Story

The Mahagathbandhan (the RJD-Congress alliance) is staring at friendly fights in at least 12 seats in the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls after both parties released their respective list of candidates ahead of the nomination-filing deadline. The hope is that by Thursday, the last date to withdraw nominations, leaders can get certain candidates to drop out and avoid clashes within the alliance. Notably, for three of these seats – Bachhwara, Rajapakar and Bihar Sharif – that are set to vote in the first phase (November 6), the deadline to withdraw candidature has already passed.

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Hiccups: For months, during campaigning, the RJD and Congress put up a united front. The bonhomie between Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav was on display at the former’s Voter Adhikar Rally. They had also found common ground to attack the ruling NDA: the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. Notably, the Mahagathbandhan also includes the Vikassheel Insaan Party, Left parties and the Indian Inclusive Party. However, differences emerged over seat-sharing. Several factors have contributed to tensions between the allies: Differences over the CM face and caste-census, and ego clashes between state leaders. Asad Rehman decodes.

What next: Both the Congress and RJD are engaged in discussions and are expected to address a joint press conference today, reaffirming their unity.

Meanwhile… The Election Commission is set to meet state Chief Electoral Officers today to discuss the preparations for the SIR, which it seeks to implement across the country.

⚡Only in Express

Does chess have a cheating problem? While there are no clear numbers, concerns have grown ever since the game moved largely online. But unsubstantiated allegations can have their own fallout — sometimes with tragic consequences. The death of American chess star Daniel Naroditsky has sparked widespread intrigue, and now a prominent Indian voice has joined the conversation: Nihal Sarin. The Indian GM was the last player to face Naroditsky on Chess.com and was aware of the American’s distress. Sarin has squarely blamed Russian legend Vladimir Kramnik — who accused Naroditsky of cheating without offering proof — for the player’s death. Here’s what Sarin told The Indian Express.

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📰 From the Front Page

Smoke… and mirrors: The grey smog has settled once again over the national capital. Two days after Diwali, the Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi remained in the ‘very poor’ category at 345 (as of 5.30 am). As usual, the political blame game has begun with the BJP accusing the AAP of forcing farmers to burn stubble in Punjab.

Denied: Authorities stopped Francesca Orsini, a leading scholar of Hindi and professor emerita at the University of London, from entering the country over alleged “violation of visa conditions” during previous visits. As part of her PhD work, Orsini had written a book that examines the Hindi language in the context of nationalism between 1920-1940. Know more about her.

📌 Must Read

Peacemakers: Mediation has become the new language of power, writes columnist C Raja Mohan. While US President Donald Trump has time and again floated himself as the peacemaker, there has also been a rise in unconventional players: Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and even China. What lessons can India learn from them? Read.

…the hand that feeds: After a year and a half of the government’s struggle to contain food inflation, which was eating into households’ purchasing power, the battle is finally won. Several factors combined to bring retail inflation into the negative territory in the four months ending September 2025. But the government now has another challenge on its hands: the farmers, with crops selling below MSPs. Harish Damodaran explains.

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⏳ And Finally…

“The tragedy of a popular comic is that he — or she, as the case may be — is never allowed to break free from the burden of making people laugh.”

Govardhan Kumar Asrani, one of the Indian film industry’s most iconic actors, passed away on Monday after a prolonged illness at the age of 84. Our film critic Shubhra Gupta writes a tribute to the ‘Everyman’, whose presence lit up every film.

🎧 Before you go, do tune in to today’s ‘3 Things’ podcast episode. The lineup: A historic Maoist surrender, how Commonwealth Games could be the springboard for India’s Olympics bid, and hurdles for Karnataka’s caste survey.

That’s all for today, folks! Until tomorrow,
Sonal Gupta

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Sonal Gupta is a Deputy Copy Editor on the news desk. She writes feature stories and explainers on a wide range of topics from art and culture to international affairs. She also curates the Morning Expresso, a daily briefing of top stories of the day, which won gold in the ‘best newsletter’ category at the WAN-IFRA South Asian Digital Media Awards 2023. She also edits our newly-launched pop culture section, Fresh Take.   ... Read More

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