As coronavirus cases rise in India to 29, the pandemic continues to dominate headlines. However, there’s also space for the Supreme Court’s rap on the Delhi High Court’s knuckles for delaying the hate speech cases related to the riots in the city.
And, in the best news of the day, all newspapers herald the return of internet services to J&K, although only 2G. Still, it’s a start.
The Times of India leads with coronavirus on its main page, and features the SC’s advice to the Delhi HC on adjournment of hate speech cases on its flap (‘HC’s adjournment of hate speech case unjustified: SC’). The report notes that the top court “asked the Delhi high court to fast-track hearing on PILs seeking registration of FIRs against BJP functionaries Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Verma for making allegedly inflammatory speeches.”
The national capital has another corona case, reports TOI in ‘Another city resident among 23 to test positive on Wed’. It says, “A majority of the new cases were among a party of Italian tourists, with 15 more testing positive, including the wife of the 69-year-old man, currently being treated in Jaipur, who had possibly carried the infection from Italy.”
The other lead, ‘Pay ₹77k cr dues without any delay, govt tells telcos’, is bad news for telecom companies like Vodafone Idea, Airtel and Tata Tele. It notes the Telecom ministry’s comments, “Partial payment (of dues) cannot be construed as compliance of the SC order dated October 24, 2019 and February 14 this year… pay balance amount without any further delay.” Will this close down Vodafone Idea? Watch this space.
Oddly, the positive news from Kashmir gets but little attention in “Social media ban in J&K lifted after 7 months”. And before you start clapping, here’s the bad news: “the access is only on 2G mobile data services and fixed line internet provided by private players till March 17.”
The Indian Express also notes the surge in the number of coronavirus cases, and focuses on “Govt to screen all international passengers on arrival”. What was just six cases yesterday, rose to 29 after a “team of 16 Italian tourists” and “their Indian driver” tested positive.
Another report on ‘Team of 16 Italian tourists tests positive..’ provides details of “at least 215 people they came in contact with’’ across six districts of Rajasthan.
Express gives pride of place on the page to, “seven months after Internet restrictions were imposed in Jammu and Kashmir” the administration “removed curbs on use of social media”. “People rushed to paybills and recover WhatsApp accounts rendered inactive after four months,” the report adds.
The Supreme Court’s direction to the Delhi High Court over the listing of the petition seeking registration of FIR against some BJP leaders is also on Page 1 in the paper. The apex court said that the “long” adjournment was “unjustified”.
And there’s trouble brewing for activist Harsh Mander: As Express reveals on page 2, the SC bench declined to hear his petition “taking exception to his alleged remarks about the Supreme Court”. “In an affidavit later, the Delhi Police accused Mander of instigating violence via a speech and said he is ‘known for taking contemptuous stand and bringing the judiciary, as an institution, and individual judges in disrepute’”.
Hindustan Times presses the alarm button with its headline, ‘Surge in cases, all inbound flyers put on corona watch’. The paper notes, “Schools and offices were closed in several cities on Wednesday as authorities found more people with signs of an infection, deepening the potential for the virus to spread further in what could turn into a health emergency for the country.”
Worse follows: WHO, which ought to know what it’s talking about on health matters, says that the mortality rate in corona cases has risen to 3.4 per cent. “Earlier, the WHO had said the death rate of Covid-19 was around 2 %”, it adds.
And looking beyond Indian shores, the paper travels to the US for the ongoing Democratic presidential primaries (‘Biden wins big, Bloomberg out’). The report notes, “Scored victories from Texas to Massachusetts on Super Tuesday, revitalising a presidential bid that was teetering on the edge of disaster just days earlier. But Bernie Sanders seized the biggest prize with a win in California.”
A must read anchor story (‘Norwegian divers recover pistol from seabed’) sees “a significant breakthrough in the murder of rationalist and social activist Narendra Dabholkar, who was shot dead by unidentified men in Pune in August 2013, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has recovered a pistol that may have been used in the killing”, with the help of Norwegian deep-sea explorers and technology.
The lead photograph in The Hindu tells the story of the day: clouds from the fumigation of a bus in Bengaluru as ‘COVID-19 cases rise to 29 in India’. The story adds, “Giving details of the cases, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said six family members of a 45-year-old Delhi patient had tested positive.”
And do read ‘Violence was one-sided, says Delhi minorities panel’ in which the capital’s Minority Commission visited Northeast Delhi’s riots hit areas and found that the violence took place “with support from local people and most damage was done to shops and houses belonging to the minority community.”
The Telegraph wants to be different — as usual — so it leads with ‘India crashes on freedom index’ where the report details the three reasons behind the “steep fall” in this international ranking by Freedom House, the oldest US organisation “devoted” to defence of democracy: “unilateral annulment of the semi-autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir, the implementation of the National Register of Citizens in Assam and the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).”
And pun is in fashion with headline, ‘Poacher Kamal vs Kamal Nath’, which notes how “The Congress on Wednesday claimed to have foiled in the nick of time an alleged BJP plot to lure away 10 to 12 MLAs to topple the Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh.”
The New Indian Express also leads with the political drama transpiring in Madhya Pradesh in ‘Scoreline after midnight poaching drama: Kamal Nath: 1. BJO:0’. The piece begins dramatically: “It was a midnight coup that failed big time” and details how10 ruling Congress and allied MLAs were reportedly taken “hostage” by BJP leaders at resorts in Gurugram and Haryana.
The second lead is about the Supreme Court’s “lifeline” to cryptocurrency after the ban by the Reserve Bank was set aside. According to the report, “A three-judge bench by Justice R.F. Nariman found the complete prohibition was disproportionate to the objectives sought to be achieved by the apex banking regulator.”
On coronavirus, there is an interesting item about N95, hand sanitisers and list of do’s and don’ts being distributed to athletes taking part in the upcoming shooting World Cup. “The NRAI [National Rifle Association of India] president also said that all precautions will be taken during the event,” the report highlights.
And here’s a strange lead for The Economic Times: global stocks and investors reacting to Joe Biden’s “stunning comeback in the Democrat primaries” . “Dow futures rose in the afternoon and US stocks opened higher as investors responded positively to Biden’s comeback win,” explains the report.
In other news, the Union Cabinet is trying its best to offload the national carrier. It has allowed non-resident Indians to “acquire up to 100% of state-owned Air India” as it approved changes to the companies law. “Previously, NRIs could own up to 49% in the carrier,” the report highlighted. Any buyers?
Coronavirus has made a big impact on Mint with its colorful lead, ‘Virus cases spike to 29…’
The outbreak, however, doesn’t seem to have dampened Blackstone Group chairman and co-founder Stephen Schwarzman’s mood as he said that the “epidemic could throw up attractive and unexpected opportunities”. In ‘Blackstone CEO sees opportunity in crisis’, he is quoted as saying that the coronavirus upended expectations for the current year.
Read the anchor story about Oyo cutting 5,000 jobs in India, US, China and Japan “amid investor scepticism about its headlong expansion and the outbreak of Covid-19”.
Want a break from disease and epidemics? Business Standard gives you one with its lead on ‘Mega merger’ of 10 government banks. “Effective from April 1, 2020, the balance sheets as well as stocks of these banks will be integrated, according to the scheme of amalgamation approved by the Union Cabinet,” the report details.
And in another unusual piece, the anchor story details how companies have been coping as its employees get infected by the coronavirus. Mindspace IT Park, Hyderabad’s largest office hub, “was a centre of panic on Wednesday as a techie tested positive for coronavirus”. “The complex, housing many marquee brands, caught on to the news in no time, prompting employers to send their staff home,” the report details. 1,000 km away in Gurugram too, a person tested positive in the Paytm office following which the company asked “its staff to work from home for a couple of days while the office gets sanitised.” Good show.