Daily Briefing: From Adani’s legal relief to Brij Bhushan’s acquittal and Blinkit’s cockroach trouble

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

🚨 Big Story

After days of pressure from the Opposition, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is set to make a statement in Parliament today on the alleged police crackdown on student protesters in Delhi. The government has urged the Opposition not to disrupt his statement. Rahul Gandhi, however, has demanded that Shah clarify who authorised the alleged firing and police action during the July 20 protest, stressing that the issue is about accountability rather than a general discussion. BJP president J P Nadda hit back at Gandhi, accusing him of seeking “anarchy” instead of dialogue, while asserting that the government was ready for a detailed discussion and challenging him to participate in the House. The Opposition has been demanding Shah’s presence in Parliament for days, alleging lathicharge, pellet-gun use and other excesses during the July 20 march. The issue has led to repeated disruptions in the House during the Monsoon Session.

Meanwhile, thousands of job aspirants and students in Ranchi marched towards the Jharkhand Assembly on Monday, protesting alleged irregularities in state recruitment exams and demanding a CBI probe. As protesters breached multiple layers of police barricades, including those reinforced with barbed wire, police used water cannons, lathicharge and tear gas to stop them. A protester suffered a head injury during the lathicharge, while several students were seen falling ill and collapsing amid the intense heat. The protest came a day after the Jharkhand government agreed to cancel three examinations, including the preliminary exam of the 14th JPSC Combined Civil Services Examination, and ordered an ED probe into alleged financial irregularities. Devendra Nath Mahto, who had been on a 10-day hunger strike, also joined the march, carrying the Tricolour and a portrait of former Jharkhand chief minister Shibu Soren.

⚡ Only in Express

In today’s opinion piece, former Congress President Sonia Gandhi revisits the legacy of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, arguing that history may judge him very differently from the way he was portrayed during his time in office. Writing against the backdrop of Singh’s recent clean chit in the coal allocation case, Gandhi reflects on the controversies that once dominated the political narrative around his government. She also takes on the familiar portrayal of Singh as a weak Prime Minister, pointing instead to his record in office and the leadership style that defined his tenure. At the heart of her argument is a question of what and who history chooses to remember.

📰 From the Front Page

A free pass?: A Delhi court, while acquitting former Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in a sexual harassment case involving six women wrestlers, said discrepancies in the complainants’ accounts were “fatal” to the prosecution’s case. The court noted inconsistencies and incorrect details in their statements about the alleged incidents, raising doubts over the prosecution’s ability to establish the charges beyond reasonable doubt. The allegations against Singh had triggered the 2023 wrestlers’ protest, with several prominent wrestlers demanding action against him.

TISS probe: The TISS controversy shows no signs of ending. After students, the Mumbai Police have now issued notices to two TISS professors as part of their investigation into an alleged unauthorised campus event linked to the death anniversary of former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba. The notices relate to alleged “suspicious” WhatsApp messages the professors sent to a 32-year-old former TISS student, who was arrested on August 7 after a sessions court rejected his anticipatory bail plea. He is among nine former students booked in connection with the October 2025 campus gathering, where they allegedly raised slogans seeking the release of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, who have been jailed since 2020 under the UAPA.

📌 Must Read

Forest land for Adani

Nearly 83,700 sq ft of forest land, including mangrove areas in Raigad, has been cleared by the Maharashtra government for two projects involving Adani Group companies. The larger area, around 69,933 sq ft in Alibag taluka, comprises reserved forest, nala mangrove forest and creek mangrove forest land and will be used by Adani Cementation for a cement bulk terminal, including a berthing jetty, conveyor corridor and approach road. In Amravati, another 13,788 sq ft of reserved and identified forest land has been approved for Adani Total Gas to lay an underground steel pipeline for a natural gas distribution network. The two projects together involve about 0.78 hectare of forest land. The Raigad approval comes with a condition that forest officials must have unhindered access to the site, failing which the permission can be withdrawn. Notably, the government orders do not specify compensatory afforestation measures or other conditions beyond those mentioned in the approvals.

Bugged out

A Blinkit dark store in Mumbai’s Malad West has been barred from providing services after an FDA inspection found cockroaches crawling over fruits and vegetables, expired stock and an “extremely unclean” facility. The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suspended its food licence with immediate effect following the August 7 inspection at the Ramchandra Lane facility. Officials also flagged several other hygiene violations and concerns over possible contamination. The suspension applies only to the inspected store, which cannot sell or distribute food until further orders. In a separate case, the FDA inspected a Reliance Retail outlet in Buldhana following a complaint about fungus and live insects in kaju katli. The action comes amid a wider crackdown on milk and dairy adulteration, during which the FDA said it seized nearly 14,378 kg/litres of dairy products worth Rs 93.26 lakh.

⏳ And Finally…

The Punjab-Mexico connection

Mexican and Punjabi music together? Sounds like an unlikely combination, until you hear it. Spanish singer Talibelico is bringing the two worlds together with a Punjabi-Spanish musical fusion that mixes Mexican sounds and imagery with the rhythms and spirit of Punjab. But the connection between the two cultures is not as far-fetched as it sounds. Both Mexico and Punjab have long histories of migration, with people leaving home in search of work and opportunity while carrying their language, music and traditions with them. Talibelico’s collaboration with Punjabi singer Harveer Singh taps into that shared story, bringing the sombrero and turban into the same musical space. It is a reminder that sometimes the most unexpected cultural connections are hiding in plain sight. Read more. 

🎧 In today’s 3 Things podcast, we discuss Tarun Tejpal’s conviction in a 2013 rape case, protests disrupting Maharashtra’s healthcare system, including attacks on medical workers, and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s indefinite postponement of voting for seven seats amid violent protests.

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

Anupama