Plugged-In: Congress and JD(S) figure out how to be friends, and PM in Sochi

Front Page

The Congress and the JD(S) have figured out how to share power in Karnataka. After JD(S) chief H.D. Kumaraswamy met Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in Delhi Monday evening, it emerged that the Congress would get the post of speaker and deputy chief minister after Kumaraswamy is sworn in as chief minister Wednesday, The Times of India reports. Sources also told The Hindu that the “final deal would be hammered out Tuesday in Bengaluru”.

PM Modi landed in Sochi, Russia, Monday to meet President Putin for a six-hour informal summit. The Indian Express reports that Putin “emphasised ‘defence cooperation’ between the two countries — at a time when the US is moving to target Russian tie-ups in the sector”. The discussions were followed by a yacht ride on the Black Sea.

PM Modi with Russian President Putin at Sochi, Russia, Monday. | PTI photo

The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has declared India’s ‘third major outbreak’ of the Nipah virus, The Hindu reports. With 12 reported deaths in Kozhikode, Kerala, the state government is reportedly planning to involve the WHO in efforts to check the spread of infection.

India and Pakistan are looking for ‘windows of diplomatic opportunity to move forward’. While there have been no official announcements, Indian High Commissioner to Islamabad Ajay Bisaria told The Indian Express that the countries have “been working on small steps forward, particularly on the humanitarian side, to build an atmosphere of trust”. These include exchange of prisoners and meeting of the Indus Water Commission.

India-Pakistan
Flag lowering ceremony at the Attari-Wagah Border | Source: Koshy Koshy/Flickr

The special task force trying to ‘unclog Delhi’ by targeting illegally parked cars, shops with unauthorised extensions and squatters has decided to exempt hawkers who are mobile and leave for the day after doing business, the government told the Supreme Court Monday, Hindustan Times reports.

A Dalit man was reportedly ‘tied to a post and beaten to death’ in Gujarat Monday, while his wife and aunt were allegedly assaulted. The 30-year-old ragpicker was suspected of theft from a factory on the outskirts of Rajkot, The Times of India reports. A video of the alleged assault has gone viral.

Ever since the Juvenile Justice Act, 2016, was amended, 38 juveniles have been tried as adults by the Gurugram juvenile board, Hindustan Times reports. Police said juveniles were still not aware that they could be tried as adults.

In ThePrint

Tracking sex offenders: The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has invited tenders to develop a National Registry of Sexual Offenders, a database that would track and monitor individuals — both adults and juveniles — convicted of sex crimes, Sanya Dhingra reports.

Former PM Deve Gowda has said the alliance with the Congress was son H.D. Kumaraswamy’s decision, and he had nothing to do with it. In an interview with Rohini Swamy, he added, “He (Kumaraswamy) will not repeat the mistake of aligning with the BJP. We have all learnt from our mistakes, which we won’t commit again.”

H.D. Kumaraswamy
JD(S) chief H.D. Kumaraswamy

The suspicion over Aadhaar shows why IIT engineers don’t have solutions to India’s ills: Rama Lakshmi relates Aadhaar’s perceived structural problems with the absence of liberal arts graduates in team UIDAI.

News it’s just kinda cool to know

Scientists have figured out exactly how long you need to exercise in order to slow your heart’s ageing process, Quartz reports. Turns out, going to the gym is good for you in more ways than one. The flip side is that you’re going to have to sweat it out for at least 30 minutes daily for four to five days a week.

The UAE has announced 10-year visas for specialists working in medicine, science, research and technical fields. It will also allow “foreign companies to own 100 per cent of their business and students will be able to secure five-year visas”, The Indian Express reports. At a time when countries like the US are closing their borders, this move is likely to have widespread consequences.

Business Class

Amid the takeover saga, Fortis healthcare faces an investigation by the ministry of corporate affairs for alleged mismanagement, reports Business Standard.

The Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurugram
Fortis Hospital, Gurugram | Source: Fortis

Finally, internet and investment giant SoftBank has decided to sell its entire 21 per cent stake in Flipkart to American retail giant Walmart, reports The Economic Times. Walmart recently bought a 77 per cent stake in Indian e-commerce player Flipkart as part of a $16 billion deal.

Point of View

The Delhi administration will offer lessons in spoken English to students of government schools. The Indian Express, in its editorial, writes, “Delhi government does well to respond to public preference for spoken English in school. Other states should follow suit.”

The PMO has proposed changes in the cadre and service allocation policy for civil services. Business Standard, in its editorial, criticises the proposed change, writing “The reason that the examination has been raised above the interview in terms of importance in recent decades is to minimise the effect of implicit bias in recruitment.”

Voting is said to be at the heart of democracy, but it’s not all there is to it, Professor Sundar Sarukkai argues in his column in The Hindu, adding that “participation in democracy, instead of being a dynamic and continuous process, has been reduced to one act of voting, that too once in a few years”.

Siddaramaiah completed his term as CM, but failed the re-election test: Professor Narendar Pani, in his column in The Economic Times, writes, “The repeated failure of governments in Karnataka is also a rejection of the conventional wisdom in India’s political economy that it does not matter how growth is achieved as long as it provides sufficient resources for welfare.”

A water warning. NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant and Parameswaran Iyer, secretary, union ministry of drinking water and sanitation, write in their column in The Times Of India, “Critical groundwater resources — accounting for 40 per cent of our water — are being depleted at rapid rates. Droughts are becoming more frequent, causing distress to rain-dependent farmers. If nothing changes, and fast, things will get much worse…”