Front Page
The “aborted” mission to the moon — the Chandrayaan-2 – is the lead, a day after being sidelined by two gripping sports encounters in the cricket World Cup and Wimbledon.
Headlines tell you what went wrong: “Chandrayaan-2 launch aborted at the eleventh hour”, says Hindustan Times, “Technical glitch aborts moon mission”, writes The Indian Express. TOI is tongue-in-cheek with a pun: “Chandrayaan-2 launch put off, maybe for a few moons.”
The countdown stopped “56 minutes before liftoff”, reports the Express which details the technical “snag”: Problems were detected in the “upper stage of the rocket carrying the cryogenic engine where liquid hydrogen fuel had been filled less than half an hour earlier.”
HT is a stickler on time: it says the countdown stopped “56 minutes and 24 seconds’’ before lift-off. It says this is the “fifth time” India’s second lunar mission has been postponed. It quotes an ISRO scientist who sounds optimistic saying “the launch window at the end of the month targeted.” Later, however, HT adds: “If that window is missed, the next opportunity for launch will come in September.”
TOI sees more serious consequences: “Missing the July 31st window could impact the Chandrayaan-2 mission as it might reduce the orbiter’s life to six months from the present one year”.
BJP MLA’s daughter: “High drama” unfolded at the Allahabad High Court as “husband of MLA’s runaway daughter thrashed in HC”, reports TOI, referring to Sakshi Misra, daughter of BJP MLA Rajesh Misra, and her husband Ajitesh Kumar. “Ironically, the thrashing came moments after Ajitesh stepped out of a courtroom following the HC’s order to police to provide security to the couple,” it writes.
While HT reports, “Police said that there were around 500 people outside the court and some unidentified people from the crowd hit the couple”. The Hindu says, “There was no police confirmation of the incident.”
Express, strangely, restricts itself to a photograph on page 1 with the caption “Police cover for couple”.
NIA Bill: HT covers the passage of the National Investigative Agency Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha. The NIA can open an “investigation into any crime in its scheduled list even if it has taken place on foreign soil”.
Express also runs NIA-related news, but with a different topic. In “Deported from UAE terror case, 14 men flown to Chennai by NIA”, Express reports that 14 men were “apprehended” by the NIA for “suspected association with men linked to an alleged terror outfit.”
Karnataka crisis: As the Karnataka Assembly hangs by a thread, The Hindu is the only one to make it second lead– “The political uncertainty in Karnataka is headed for a climax” with the trust vote scheduled for 18 July.
TOI gives the news less than a single column space on its front page flap and says “both CM H.D. Kumaraswamy and BJP’s B.S. Yeddyurappa” are “claiming to have the numbers” to form majority. Express finds they’re not all that confident, and that in the face of the impending trust vote, “Karnataka parties hide their MLAs”. To keep the MLAs “in check”, the coalition and BJP have “moved their legislators to separate resorts around Bangalore” ahead of the vote, it writes.
Abortion law and other news: Also making news is “SC agrees to hear PIL on ‘restrictive’ abortion law” (TOI). HT also puts it on its front page flap, and says the PIL “seeks to decriminalise abortion, and give women the right of complete autonomy to make decisions related to reproductive choices.”
Express runs an exclusive on page 1: “Dissenting voices in govt: Surcharge on rich may well end up hurting investment”. An official from the NDA government tells Express that the high taxes will have “the ‘most deleterious’ impact on investments in the country and push out unicoms (new age companies with valuation about $1 billion).”
Opinion
HT: In ‘Poverty Index: Well done but still a long way to go,’ HT comments on the 2019 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) from the UN Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative which revealed that “India’s poverty reduction programmes are on the right track.”
The index states that the number of poor people “fell by more than 271 million within 10 years.” States like Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, among others, have made significant improvements. Key investments in fields like nutrition, sanitation and drinking water have been crucial to this improvement. However, this improvement is disproportionate — almost 50 per cent of tribals are still poor and the numbers are very high for Muslims and Dalits as well. India needs to ensure that its alleviation programs are implemented properly and reach the “last mile.”
TOI: In ‘Win this fight’, TOI analyses air quality by looking at PM10 data from the past three years. It finds that there has been a steady reduction in PM10 levels in key cities, including Delhi. The levels have gone down from “278 micrograms per cubic metre in 2016 to 223 in 2018.” Thus, sustained efforts can improve the “life-threatening” air quality.
This dip, especially in Delhi, is due to “conscious policy choices,” such as switching to Cleaner BSVI fuel and the “two peripheral expressways on its eastern and western flanks to divert traffic.” However, there are many issues still to be tackled – “high vehicular density, burning of crop residue in neighbouring districts, solid waste disposal, and construction activity.” The good news though is that “this is a fight we can win”.
Prime Time
England’s victory in the World Cup and Home Minister Amit Shah’s National Intelligence Agency (Amendment) Bill dominated prime time.
India TV: In Parliament, Shah introduced the NIA Bill, which gives the agency power to investigate offences committed outside India too, and mandates setting up of special courts.
This prompted loud protests by Hyderabad AIMIM’s MP Asaduddin Owaisi on alleged ‘Muslim persecution’.
Anchor Sourav Sharma asked why would anyone oppose a fight against terrorism?
BJP’s Prem Shukla observed that the Bill is “against terrorism, not a specific religion… Why do people of other religions need to worry? Terrorists should worry.”
CPI’s Amir Haider Zaidi wondered if the government was following through with PM Modi’s promise of “sabka saath, sabka vishwas, sabka vikas” — The issue is how can those who are accused of lynching walk free?”
Mehmood Pracha of All India Muslim Personal Law Board said such amendments are generally “misused against minorities such as SC, ST and OBC. Maybe that is what Owaisi was trying to point at…”
Times Now: Why did the Opposition oppose the NIA Bill?
Political commentator Ashutosh had an explanation: “There have been several laws earlier that have been massively misused. An example is TADA (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act)…”
BJP spokesperson Shazia Ilmi replied: “There is a difference between law in place and law being misused. We have a law against dowry, which is also misused, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a law in the first place.”
Republic: Here too the opposition’s concerns over the NIA Bill came up for discussion.
“Nobody is supporting or encouraging terrorism, but BJP’s agenda is to make the entire nation a police state. We have seen cases in the past where innocent people are being targeted. One single community is being jailed,” said political analyst Abdul Razack Khan.
Nalin Kohli, BJP’s national spokesperson, pleaded with everyone, “Let’s treat crime as crime, and terrorism as terrorism.”
CNN-News 18: England wining the World Cup on the basis of hitting more fours than New Zealand in the match led anchor Zakka Jacob to ask if the ICC needed to change tie-breaker rules.
Sumanth C. Raman, sports commentator, felt a revamp was in order. “Nobody ever foresaw a situation where a super over will also be tied,” he said.
Gaurav Kalra, the channel’s group editor of sports, objected to a super over deciding the match and then “after the super over, instead of going forward to decide the winner, they actually go back” to counting fours.
NDTV India: Anchor Sanket Upadhyay also asked if the ICC needed to change its rules.
Robin Singh, former cricketer, said, “I don’t think it is justified to make a decision based on number of boundaries when both teams made the same number of runs.”
Rakesh Rao, editor The Hindu, was a voice of reason. “There were many instances yesterday where we realised that there are so many absurd rules but all countries accepted this rule. They must change now.”
(With Rachel, Kairvy and Taran)