Front Page
A victory for Delhi’s elected government: The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the lieutenant governor can’t obstruct the functioning of the Delhi government, and that the office “has not been entrusted with any independent decision-making power”, The Times of India reports. The five-judge bench, which included CJI Dipak Misra, said the L-G “has to either act on the ‘aid and advice’ of the council of ministers”, or refer the dispute to the President for a final decision in case of difference of opinion.
WhatsApp is ‘horrified’ too: The Facebook-owned messaging company has replied to the Indian government’s letter urging rumour-control in light of several lynchings. WhatsApp said it was “horrified by these terrible acts of violence”, and that it was taking necessary steps to address the issue of fake messages, including testing a new label that will let a user know if a message is a forward, The Hindu reports.
Highest-ever increase in minimum support price for paddy: The Cabinet Wednesday approved the highest-ever absolute increase in the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy, along with a significant hike for other kharif crops, ahead of the 2019 general election. Home minister Rajnath Singh announced that the MSP for common grade paddy had been increased by nearly 13 per cent (from Rs 1,550 per quintal to Rs 1,750 per quintal), The Indian Express reports.
Drug tests for Punjab government employees: On the same day that Punjab CM Amarinder Singh asked the Centre to introduce the death penalty for first-time drug smugglers, he also ordered mandatory drug tests for all government employees, from police personnel to clerks, through every stage of their service, Hindustan Times reports.
Animals have rights, too: The Uttarakhand High Court Wednesday upheld the rights of the “entire animal kingdom”, declaring all animals, including avian and aquatic species, legal entities with the “rights, duties and liabilities of a living person”, The Indian Express reports. A division bench issued the order after widening the scope of a PIL filed in 2014 to restrict the movement of horse carts between India and Nepal through Banbasa in Uttarakhand’s Champawat district.
It’s a big day for the Congress-JD(S) alliance: Karnataka chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy is all set to present his maiden budget today, and ThePrint’s Rohini Swamy tells us that it is expected to be “a tightrope walk as he seeks to please his party’s constituency while ensuring that alliance partner Congress isn’t unhappy either”.
Business Class
Reliance Jio gets ready for the next round of disruption in the telecom sector. The company informed the government that it will be launching voice over WiFi services very soon, thus enabling calls in areas with poor mobile signals, reports The Economic Times.
Remember the fanfare with which Tata Nano was launched in 2008? India’s ‘magic vehicle’ is nearing its end with just one unit produced last month, reports The Economic Times. The entry-level car sold just three units in June in the domestic market.
News it’s just kinda cool to know
The FIFA World Cup quarterfinals are set to begin Friday, 6 July, with Uruguay vs France screening at 7.30 pm IST, and Brazil vs Belgium at 11.30 pm.
The LGBTQ community is not happy with Scarlett Johansson. The Hollywood actress has been criticised for playing a transgender in her new film, with the LGBTQ community arguing that their fight for adequate representation in politics, law, economy, and art was falling on deaf ears as cisgendered actors continued to be cast in trans roles. News18 reports that she responded to the criticism by directing them (the trolls) to other actors who have played such roles before her, including Oscar winner Jared Leto.
Point of View
The Supreme Court Wednesday restored the authority of the elected government in Delhi in administrative matters. The Indian Express, in its editorial, writes, “SC upholds a basic democratic principle: Elected governments have the upper hand.” The Hindu added in its editorial, “The SC clarifies an elected government cannot be undermined by an unelected administrator (read L-G).”
Union minister Arun Jaitley has described the Prevention of Corruption Act as a “charter for bringing government to a standstill”. The Times Of India writes in its editorial, “This legislation is not only badly drafted but is clearly at odds with policies governments have pursued since 1991. It certainly deserves to be amended.”
The latest RBI financial stability report ‘tries to sound optimistic’. It says credit picked up in 2017-18 despite a poor deposit rate, but sees banks’ gross non-performing advances (GNPA) ratio worsening between 2018 and 2019. Journalist Chaitanya Kalbag, in his column in The Economic Times, writes about the problem of rising non-performing assets (NPAs) and how it poses a threat to the banking system in India.
The Haryana government’s notification asking sportspersons employed by the government to deposit “one-third of the income earned” from professional engagements with the state created a storm. Ashok Khemka, Haryana sports secretary, in his column in The Indian Express, writes, “It is not a draconian provision of a state mafia, rather it is an enabling provision that works both to the benefit of the sportsperson and society.”
Prime Time
11 dead left behind 11 diaries
On NDTV, journalist Sonal Mehrotra Kapoor discussed the mystery of the 11 deaths in Delhi’s Burari. Kapoor, who exclusively accessed CCTV footage and other evidence, said the family maintained 11 diaries for 11 years and the deaths took place the same way as specified in them. She added that CCTV footage showed the family order rotis at 10.39 pm and the two teenage sons bring in the wires later used for hanging.
Anchor Vishnu Som brought in former Uttar Pradesh DGP Arvind Kumar Jain into the conversation. Jain said he believed there was an occultist trigger. “We should be on the lookout for a baba or a tantrik,” he said.
After the show, on Facebook and Twitter, Kapoor was heavily praised for her reportage on the deaths.
Delhi belly
On Faceoff, Zakka Jacob of CNN News 18 initiated a debate on the question: “What does the Supreme Court judgment mean for Delhi?
Discussing the call to grant Delhi statehood, retired IAS officer Vijay Shankar said, “It’s not advisable to grant full statehood to Delhi. It’s the capital of the country.”
“The Supreme Court verdict gave us the powers to execute what we want to execute. Even with the obstructions of the last two years, we have delivered on a lot of our promises,” Pankaj Gupta said on behalf of the AAP.
The MSP debate
Swati Joshi of Times Now talked about the Modi government’s decision to hike MSP rates for farmers.
“Has the government answered criticism by announcing MSP hikes for farmers?” questioned Joshi. Journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta said the decision was neither historic nor a game-changer. “Ninety per cent of farmers will not be benefitted by MSP, this is what the BJP’s Shanta Kumar said… in 2015,” claimed Thakurta.
Jai Kisan Andolan’s Avik Saha said, “The mere announcement of MSP (hike) is no money in their pocket.”
(With inputs from Prateek Gupta)