Front page crisis: SOS on Yes Bank, spread of coronavirus & Delhi riots

A round-up of the most important reports in major newspapers around the country – from TOI and HT, Express and The Hindu to The Telegraph, Mumbai Mirror and The Tribune, as well as top financial dailies.

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There’s little good news this morning: the death toll after the Delhi communal violence has risen further to 53 so the headlines tell us, as have the number of coronavirus cases in India. 

And, in continuing bad news for the economy, another bank is in crisis — the Reserve Bank of India superseded Yes Bank and also capped the withdrawals of depositors.

The lead story in The Times of India (‘As riot toll climbs to 53, videos emerge of mob targeting cops’) notes how “a mob of over 2,000 anti-CAA protesters attacking badly outnumbered policemen, throwing stones at them and even firing.” 

“RBI supersedes Yes Bank board, caps withdrawal” notes that Yes Bank depositors “can withdraw up to Rs 5 lakh for medical treatment, higher education, expenses on marriage and other ceremonies, and ‘unavoidable emergencies’”.

And amidst the chaos on Parliament over the Delhi riots, “Seven Congress MPs from Lok Sabha” are suspended for the rest of the session because of “gross misconduct and disregard of House rules after papers were snatched from the Speaker’s table and proceedings disrupted.” This followed remarks about Sonia and Rahul Gandhi by BJP ally Hanuman Beniwal who asked them to get checked for coronavirus, referring to their Italian ancestry.

TOI’s health update says ‘30 corona cases confirmed, 23 more positive in 1st test’. It reports, “The number of cases is likely to rise sharply as health authorities await the results of re-confirmation tests on 23 more people whose initial tests have shown the presence of the virus.”

The Express’ lead provides more details on  ‘Bailout buzz, RBI supersedes Yes Bank board, caps withdrawals at Rs 50,000’. It says RBI “superseded the board of directors of troubled Yes Bank for a period of 30 days ‘owing to serious deterioration in the financial position’ of the bank”. 

Express raises the alarm on corona by reporting that now there is ‘community transmission’ of the virus. The paper notes that community transmission refers to a situation where the “virus is now circulating within the community and can affect people with no history of travel to affected areas or contact with an infected person.” This makes India “part of a small group of countries, including China, Japan, Italy and South Korea, where community transmission has taken place”. 

More foreign criticism for India: Iran’s  Supreme Leader Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei’s called the riots a “massacre of Muslims” and said there was urgent need of India to confront “extremist Hindus and their parties to prevent its isolation from the world of Islam”. This comes three days after Iran Foreign Minister Javed Zarif condemned the wave of “organised violence against Indian Muslims”. 

But here’s better news: there’s a heartwarming image of Justice Muralidhar’s farewell at the Delhi High Court, where lawyers and judges turned up in huge numbers. 

Check out the interesting anchor story about a ‘21-yr-old student from Pune and the curious case of her changing hands’. Shreya Siddanagower underwent the “first inter-gender hand transplant” in Asia in 2017 and the colour of the hands, which were originally dark, have now lightened to match her own skin tone, baffling doctors.

The most readable story here is ‘Tahir Hussain arrested, till in Delhi riots increases to 53’ which reveals that AAP’s Tahir Hussain was arrested Thursday. The report notes, “Hussain has been booked for the murder of IB’s Ankit Sharma, whose body was recovered from a drain in Chand Bagh on February 26. He denies the charges against him.”

Another important report (‘Dec 16 convicts hanging on 20 March’) is on the Nirbhaya rape case. “Though the counsel of three of the four convicts sought time from the court to deliberate legal options, additional sessions judge Dharmender Rana observed that there was no statutory bar in issuing the death warrant.”

HT’s flap gives the latest news about the coronavirus — ‘Corona travel, contact net widens to 30,000’. The report notes, “The country now has 27 active patients – three patients in Kerala recovered last month – and authorities are now looking for more people who may have been in close contact with them.”

And in the midst of present-day horrors, the anchor story, ‘The holy grail of modern physics rediscovered in a library in Corsica’, delves into history after “a first-edition copy of Isaac Newton’s groundbreaking book laying out his three laws of motion, which became the foundation for modern physics, has been found at a library on the French island of Corsica”.

The Hindu  has a different angle to the 16 December convicts’ case, ‘SC to step in if Nirbhaya convicts are not hanged on 20 March’. The report notes, “The assurance from a three-judge Bench, led by Justice R. Banumathi (on a new date), came while it was addressing the government’s apprehension that chances were high that one or other of the convicts might turn up in court before March 20 with a new plea and further delay the execution.”

And the coronavirus has taken toll of the PM’s plans: “PM’s visit to Brussels put off as COVID-19 cases rise to 30”. The report says, “This development came as India reported another confirmed novel coronavirus case from Ghaziabad, taking the total to 30.”

There is sad news for salaried employees as “EPFO lowers interest rate to 8.5% for 2019-2020”. The report says, “The Board also ratified the restoration of normal pension after 15 years from the date of commutation.”

The personal cost of the Delhi communal riots continue to emerge as the report “A father’s long wait: 13 days and counting” reveals. Hindu writes, “Mohammad Haroon has visited mortuaries of three hospitals and seen bodies of more than 25 victims, but there’s no news on his 18-year-old son, Hujefa, missing since February 22.”

Mumbai Mirror reports on the Maharashtra coalition government, ‘So Pawar, So Good’. The paper notes, “Proving doomsayers wrong, the Maha Vikas Aghadi has managed its contradictions well – thanks to Sharad Pawar’s experience and Uddhav Thackeray’s undying pragmatism.” It also adds that the “fledgling Maha Vikas Aghadi government has done well” referring to some of its “bold decisions” like the farm loan waiver.

 

The Economic Times, in its rather busy front page, reports in ‘Relief in the Works dor AGR-Hit Telecom Cos’ that the government is “working on steps to provide relief to the telecom sector that will need to be ratified by the Cabinet”. 

ET also makes note of Carlsberg “investigating its Indian unit for financial irregularities, including incorrect payments, embezzlement and kickbacks from customers” in ‘Carlsberg probing India operations for ‘fraud’.

Business Standard’s front page is also dominated by RBI superseding Yes Bank. It reports, “This is the first time that a bank of this size will be put under a moratorium by the RBI”. Moreover, it reports that the central bank said “the decision was taken in the public interest and in the interests of the bank’s deposits” and that it was “left with ‘no alternative’”. 

The boards of 10 public sector banks approving mergers and issuing “share-swap ratios to create four large banks in the economy” finds space on BS page 1. 

There’s a brief mention of the Bombay High Court dismissing “the writ petition filed by Chanda Kochhar against her termination as managing director and chief executive officer of ICICI bank” in ‘Kocchar plea against job termination dismissed’.