Front Page
RBI
The lead story across newspapers suggests that the Centre and the RBI have found middle ground amid their unprecedented spat.
The Hindu says it is a “truce”, while Hindustan Times feels the two institutions walked the “extra mile”. The Indian Express headline announces that the RBI and the Centre “break ice”, and The Times of India tilts in favour of the NDA, writing, “Govt mostly gets its way, but RBI has a deal it can live with.”
However different the headlines, the media agreed on the substance of the meeting: The Times of India, irony intact, quoted an anonymous RBI director as saying, “Everybody agreed that it was time to get off the front pages.” And so say all of us.
The Express offered a word of caution on the “truce”: “For the central bank now, board meetings won’t be business as usual. The government’s voice will be loud, and the RBI digging heels in — in the name of autonomy — may not be an option.”
CBI
Meanwhile, the twists and turns in the CBI corruption scandal involving director Alok Verma and special director Rakesh Asthana continue. CBI deputy inspector general M.K. Sinha, who had been transferred out of Delhi, has moved the Supreme Court and alleged that national security adviser Ajit Doval “stalled his team’s investigation into the FIR against Mr Asthana and CBI officer Devender Kumar, among others”, The Hindu reports.
Apparently, he beseeched the SC to consider his petition before the CBI comes to be known as the “Centre for Bogus Investigation”, but it is perhaps a little too late for that now.
Amritsar blast
Also on the front page was Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s allegation that the grenade hurled inside a congregation of Nirankaris in Amritsar, which led to three deaths, “seemed to carry Pakistan’s signature”.
Hindustan Times quotes him as saying that “(the explosive is) similar to the ones made by the Pakistani Army Ordnance factory”.
The Times of India and The Indian Express felt the attack demanded editorial comment: “Nirankaris are deemed a heterodox sect and the attack could be an attempt to stir up sectarian turmoil in Punjab”, The Times writes. The Indian Express agrees, adding, “…Attempts to stoke communal embers are becoming disturbingly frequent in the state.”
Health
The Times of India and Hindustan Times make for scary morning reading for Delhiites: “Foul air… will reduce Delhiites’ average life by 10 years,” The Times of India reports, quoting the “Air Quality Life Index” issued by researchers at the Energy Policy Institute, University of Chicago. Hindustan Times is in a flap about air quality: “Inside or out, all air is polluted.”
Photo-Op
And while Andhra chief minister Chandrababu Naidu’s meeting with his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee to forge opposition unity gets a Page 1 photograph in Hindustan Times — and a second one inside — the rest of the main papers bury it inside.
Print v/s TV news
A top Dubai court’s decision “to consider the possibility” of extraditing alleged middleman Christian Michel, wanted in the AgustaWestland deal by the Indian authorities, makes Page 1, except in The Hindu. The Express headline, “Report says Dubai court clears Michel extradition, Delhi waits” contradicts the TV headlines, which stated Monday, “Michel to be extradited (Times Now)”.
Another top TV news story on Monday received short or no shrift in print. Reports of Congress leader Digvijaya Singh’s alleged links with the so-called ‘urban Naxals’ on channels like News X received a sharp rebuke in The Times of India: In a report headlined “No politician yet being probed in Elgar case: Cops”, it quotes Pune police as saying that no politician is under investigation.
Media matters
The Indian Express has announced a new element in its look and content on the front page today. In a banner on the right-hand side of the page, it announces a change in typography, and the navigation of its app. A small “explained” box pops up with important stories of the day, too. Watch out for more changes.
Prime Time
BJP president Amit Shah gave a friendly interview to ABP News anchor Sumit Awasthi during the Shikhar Sammelan Madhya Pradesh.
Shah said the BJP will return to power in Madhya Pradesh with a thumping majority. He also took on the Congress, saying there was no kind of internal democracy in the party.
Michel’s extradition
In the Times Now debate on the extradition of Christan Michel, public affairs analyst Rajiv Desai, believed to be close to the Congress, said: “If you ask me I will always repeat what I say, that it is a red herring cooked [up] by the people in power, and has nothing to do with any reality.” What else he said no one knows as his mike was muted by the channel.
The Centre-RBI meet got traction on ET NOW, where consulting editor Swaminathan Aiyar played down the face-off between the two, saying, “Before this also, there have been transfer of reserves by the RBI to the government. The present matter has been blown out of proportion”.
News it’s just kinda cool to know
Researchers at the Lucknow-based CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute have come up with transgenic rice, where a novel fungal gene helps reduce arsenic accumulation in grains, reports Down To Earth.