Front Page
For Hindustan Times and The Times of India, weather conditions make for the lead. HT’s headline is alarming: “Over half of India faces drought-like conditions”. Quoting the latest IMD data, it writes that over half of the country is “struggling for drinking water as lakes dry up and groundwater levels deplete amid a sluggish monsoon”.
But even as “Nearly 51% of the country’s total geographical area has received deficient rainfall so far”, an official from the ministry of earth sciences said “there was no cause for concern over the progress of the monsoon” and that it was now progressing normally.
But the bad news mounts: “Farmers have been able to sow 9.06 million hectares so far, down 12% from last year’s 10.3 million hectares sown in the corresponding period”, it reports.
TOI is more optimistic in “After slow start, monsoon covers 10 states in 4 days”. It writes that after “having made the slowest progress in at least 12 years, the monsoon has broken into a sprint, nearly covering 10 states and entering two more within a span of four days since June 19 while racing into east Uttar Pradesh in the north”.
It conceded that the monsoon from the Bay of Bengal has given rise to “an unusual situation of the monsoon having reached Varanasi while being still to arrive over Mumbai, which it normally hits by June 10” and that the rains “haven’t made a significant dent in the overall rain deficit this month”, which stands at 38 per cent.
The Hindu points out that “farmers’ groups are demanding that the government declare drought in affected areas immediately, so that relief measures can begin this month”.
The Indian Express plums for the political climate in Jammu and Kashmir where “If talks are initiated, there will be positive response: Hurriyat”. It reports that the Hurriyat leaders have “always been ready for a meaningful dialogue to resolve the Kashmir issue”.
It also reports “4 militants linked to Al-Queda affiliate killed in J&K gunfight”.
AES deaths
A survey conducted by the Bihar government following the deaths of over 100 children in the state is TOI’s second lead on page 1.
The report “reveals just how poor they are”, referring to the families of the children who succumbed to encephalitis. “More than three-fourths of those surveyed would fall below the poverty line (BPL). The audit data accessed by TOI is for 287 of the families of children with AES reported till now”, it reports.
“Approximately 82% (235) of the households surveyed earned a living by working as labourers”, it finds. Most families, comprising sometimes 6-9 members, were earning a little over Rs 4,465 per month.
Rajasthan
The Hindu’s lead earns column space in the other papers: “14 killed in Rajasthan’s Barmer as tent collapses on devotees”.
“Most of the victims were electrocuted as they were trapped under the tent which was uprooted by strong winds in the afternoon”, it writes, matter of fact. TOI illustrates with graphic detail: “Most of the bodies brought to a local hospital had their mouths open, indicating electrocution”.
Over 50 others were injured.
Israel and RBI
Express meanwhile runs two important pieces on page 1. Its second lead is “India scraps Israel anti-tank missile deal after DRDO says will deliver”. It reports that India “scrapped” a $500 million deal with Israel after the indigenous Defence Research & Development Organisation promised to deliver “an alternative within two years”.
“The ministry, said officials, now prefer a home grown anti-tank missile rather than depend on time consuming imports.”
It also carries another report which is conspicuously missing from the other papers: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has “no power” to ask banks to share their costumer information with third parties “including investigative agencies of the government, even if it is in the interests of the bank”.
Business Standard breaks the other big RBI story of the day: “Viral Acharya quits RBI” — the youngest RBI deputy governor post economic liberalisation resigned six month before the end of his tenure. Although the decision is attributed to “personal reasons” BS does mention that alongwith former RBI Governor Urjit Patel, “he had put up a stiff fight for the RBI’s independence’’ when tension built up between the central bank and the government.
Opinion
The Indian Express: In “Terms of peace”, the Express says US President Donald Trump’s “last minute” decision not to attack Iran after it downed an American drone “provides an opportunity for Washington to take a fresh look at the deepening crisis in the Gulf”.
By resisting a “military showdown”, the Express says “Trump has presented himself as the champion of the peace faction”. Iran, though “hurting amidst new sanctions” is “playing the few cards it has” such as escalating the conflict between the two countries “horizontally” by seeking out “regional allies of the US”.
The only way forward, it argues, is through “direct talks between the US and Iran”, even if it “will obviously be a significant challenge”.
The Times of India: In “Good Gogoi ideas”, TOI writes that Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi’s decision to write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the “huge backlog” of over 43 lakh cases pending in the high courts and SC needs “serious consideration”. Among his demands are raising the retirement age of judges from 62 to 65 years, increasing the number of SC judges, and reviving tenure appointments to retired HC and SC judges.
TOI argues that the backlog of cases needs to be “addressed on a war footing” and “worked upon immediately” because of its resulting inefficiencies. It also agrees that the retirement age should increase but says the apex court should “ideally concern itself with matters of the Constitution” rather than strengthening its numbers.
Gogoi’s third suggestion is also “welcome” because the “temporary appointments will help bring down pendency, though care needs to be taken to ensure that these judges don’t go on to obtain government sinecures”.
Prime Time
On Sunday, TV news channels discussed and debated topics ranging from Bihar deaths to accountability of politicians.
NDTV 24X7: On ‘We the People’, the topic was “Is misogyny a cultural problem?”
Raksha Khadse, newly elected MP from Raver spoke about how difficult it was to look after her family and run for office: “I still keep thinking about ‘what will my kids think’? What about my in-laws? Am I giving them enough time? But when one is doing the kind of work I am, then it is extremely important to tell my children.”
Founder of SheSays, Trisha Shetty spoke about women in positions of power: “We have empirical data that suggests having more women in power not only results in policies that are more gender sensitive but also account for the country’s GDP as a whole. Increasing women’s labour participation will increase the GDP by $700 billion by 2025”.
Referring to the presence of women on social media, Dolly Singh, content creator at iDiva, thought it was important to reflect the kind of issues that face everyone. “As a creator… I try to make videos that are humorous, but also pinpoint an issue.”
Times Now focused on two major issues for the primetime, the first circled on Bihar’s AES health tragedy, while the other debate looked at the progress of gender equality under NDA as sex ratio improved.
The latest figures released by the women and child development ministry show that in Haryana, the gender ratio of 830 girls to 1000 boys in 2011 moved up to 933 girls for 1000 boys at present.
Political analyst Nighat Abbas claimed it as big success for the BJP government. CPI(M) leader Suneet Chopra, however, said the figures “cannot” be trusted because they may have been manipulated.
Later, anchor Navika Kumar was in conversation with the Union Information & Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar.
On the question of chanting ‘Jai Shree Ram’ in Parliament when Opposition MPs took oath, notably, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, Javadekar said, “Jai Shree Ram is the new Indian ‘Cheers’”.
Javadekar also reflected on Uttar Pradesh government’s new ordinance that restricts debates and dissent in state’s universities.
The minister said, “Any debate or activity like ‘desh ke tukde honge (the country will be hacked to pieces)’ is anti-national and will be dealt severely.”
Republic: The debate here was on making politicians accountable.
Anchor Arnab Goswami said, “From cosmetic visits to villages in Karnataka to government’s apathy to health crisis in Bihar, citizens put netas under scrutiny.”
BJP spokesperson Zafar Islam agreed that political parties promise and do not deliver — “accountability should be there”.
Journalist Tavleen Singh stressed that citizens play an important role in demanding answers from those in power and was critical of the BJP: “Bihar is their (BJP’s) ally — how is that we have heard nothing from senior BJP leaders?”
News 24’s debate show Sabse Bada Sawal asked, “Will Mamata Banerjee be able to answer BJP in BJP’s language?”
This followed the comment of BJP’s Kailash Vijayvargiya on TMC’s celebration on Shyama Prasad Mookerjee’s birth anniversary, saying Mamata practiced “agravad ki rajneeti” (politics of violence)’’.
TMC’s spokesperson Shubhankar Bhatacharya sarcastically said, “BJP should ideally put out a list of things for which we need to take their permission.”
On TMC’s celebration on Mookerjee’s birth anniversary, he added, “We don’t divide politicians, politicians who have worked in favour of our country.”
Avanijesh Awasthi, DU professor and RSS supporter, said that celebrating birthdays is not enough. “TMC should support his ideologies too and support his initiatives which includes removal of section 370 from Kashmir,” he said.
With inputs from Harishit Mansukhani, Taran Deol, and Triya Gulati.
What is so new (not so sharia fact) about the press terrorists jihadi hand in Islamic Express coming up with fake sharia facts about changed climate in J& K about their Jihadi war progress ??