Today’s Top News Headlines and Latest News at 10:30 am on 2 March 2023

Let us begin with the top national news: The counting of votes for the recently-held assembly elections in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura will take place today. A total of 352 candidates contested 52 seats each in Meghalaya and Nagaland. Meanwhile, Tripura’s multi-cornered contest saw 259 candidates in the fray to fill 60 seats. Here is what the exit polls predict: the BJP is tipped to retain Tripura, return to power in Nagaland with coalition partner National Democratic Progressive Party and marginally improve its tally in Meghalaya, while the Congress, which once dominated the Northeast, is headed for a wipeout in all three states.

In other news: That Lutyens’ Delhi is India’s Capital, the seat of power and home to men and women who run the country, is well known. But what’s not so well known is that the bungalows of ministers and senior officers, even the Reserve Bank of India building on Sansad Marg, are “forest” in the official forest cover map. An investigation by The Indian Express has found that parts of the campuses of the Indian Institute of Technology and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, and residential neighbourhoods across Delhi are also “forest”. For over four decades, around one-fifth of India has remained consistently under green cover on government records.

Meanwhile, Bill Gates said that the first 25 weeks of the Covid pandemic destroyed 25 years of progress in global health and three years later, most countries’ health systems are still not completely back on track. He added that that the pandemic “catalysed” a wave of health innovation in India. With its record of vaccine development and digital public infrastructure platform, India has the potential to develop into a hub of “innovation and ingenuity,” to herald a “new era of global partnership” which can overcome the world’s greatest challenges, Gates said, delivering the Fifth Ramnath Goenka Memorial Lecture here.

While US Secretary of State Antony Blinken missed the inaugural dinner of the G20 foreign ministers hosted by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday, battle lines were drawn between Washington and Moscow, in the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war, ahead of the day-long meeting today. New Delhi said the Russia-Ukraine conflict will be an important part of the deliberations. Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said: “Given the nature and the developing situation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, naturally, that would be an important point of discussion during the G20 foreign ministers meeting.”

Meanwhile, Russia’s largest rolling stock maker Transmashholding has emerged as the lowest bidder for the tender to manufacture 200 Vande Bharat trainsets in India. TMH’s company Metrowagonmash based in Russia’s Mytishchi, in partnership with Railway PSU Rail Vikas Nigam Limited, has quoted ₹120 crore per trainset — the lowest by a long margin, at a time when New Delhi is under pressure to reduce its trade ties with Moscow. Indian engineering major Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited and Kolkata-based Titagarh Wagons tie-up has emerged as the second lowest bidder quoting Rs 139.8 crore per trainset. Among other three bidders, BEML in partnership with German major Siemens quoted the third lowest rate at Rs 145 crore per trainset.

Let us look at the top international news: Taiwan reported a second day of a large-scale Chinese air force incursion into its air defence zone, with its defence ministry saying that in the past 24 hours, it had spotted 21 aircraft, as part of Beijing’s ongoing military pressure campaign. Taiwan, which China views as its territory, has complained for the past three years or so of stepped-up Chinese military activities near the island as Beijing seeks to assert its sovereignty claims. China has said its activities in the area are justified as it seeks to defend its territorial integrity and to warn the United States against “colluding” with Taiwan, despite the anger this causes in Taipei.

In news from Japan: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the country’s ban on same-sex marriage is not discriminatory, insisting that constitutional freedom of marriage only envisions heterosexual unions, a comment that triggered criticism he is backtracking despite his recent apology and meeting with LGBTQ people. Kishida’s governing Liberal Democratic Party, known for its conservative family values and reluctance to promote gender equality and sexual diversity, is virtually the main opposition to the legalisation of same-sex marriage and other measures of equality for LGBTQ people. Asked by an opposition lawmaker at Tuesday’s parliamentary budget committee if he thinks a same-sex marriage ban constitutes discrimination, Kishida said “I don’t think disallowing same-sex couples to marry is unjust discrimination by the state.”

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