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In today’s briefing: Part 2 of Express Investigation on PM Awaas lists in West Bengal; migrants turn entrepreneurs in Chanpatia; why sacking the coach wouldn’t help Indian hockey; and more. Big Story
Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Monday said that he has conveyed his desire to step down to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The 81-year-old has courted controversies several times since his appointment to the Mumbai Raj Bhavan in 2019. He has on multiple occasions faced Opposition criticism and demands for his resignation over various issues — most recently, his remarks on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Only in the Express In Part 2 of The Indian Express’ investigation into the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAYG) in West Bengal, we look at how the inclusion of ineligible individuals in the list of potential beneficiaries shouldn’t have come as a surprise — especially to those whose job was to monitor this process. We found that the alarm bells rang early, but went unheard. From the Front Page Not for the first time, veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has put his party in a spot of bother by raising doubts about the 2016 surgical strike and drawing a backlash from the BJP that said the Opposition party was blinded by its “hate” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and had “insulted” armed forces. Prime Minister Narendra Modi named 21 islands in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands after Param Vir Chakra awardees. At an online event on the occasion of Subhas Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary, Modi also unveiled the model of a proposed memorial dedicated to Bose, to be set up in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. A day after he shared the video clip of a retired High Court judge saying that the Supreme Court had “hijacked” the Constitution, amid the current face-off over the appointment of judges, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said that there was no “Mahabharat” between the Government and the judiciary — and there will be “debate and discussion” in a democracy. Must Read
The Start-Up Zone in Bihar's Chanpatia is the brainchild of District Magistrate Kundan Kumar, who is among the 19 winners of The Indian Express Excellence in Governance Awards for 2020 and 2021. The biennial awards celebrate the finest work done by District Magistrates, who are considered the foot-soldiers of governance as they script change that touches the lives of countless citizens. Kumar won in the Start-up & Innovation category, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah handing over the awards at a ceremony in New Delhi on January 17. In Kerala, the ongoing conflict between man and elephant is being projected as acute, but it's not like in North Bengal or Odisha, where smaller jumbo populations are blamed for much bigger human casualties. Ecologists say that the sex ratio in southern elephant populations has recovered from the onslaught of ivory poachers in 1980s and 90s. A few aggressive young bulls outside forests often react to provocation by humans, and must be isolated.
In our opinion section today, Surjit S Bhalla and Tirthatanmoy Das write on the lack of official job data in India: “Both government and non-government data have show a healthy employment gain since pre-Covid 2019. However, non-availability of official data has allowed unofficial estimates about employment growth in India to flourish. While employment is a very important policy concern, data in India is scarce.” And Finally... In the previous years, Indian hockey has had to choose between stability and chaos. Each time, it opted for disruption by sacking the coach and setting into motion a sequence of events that ensured the team never moved forward. One hopes they won’t go down the same route this time — coach Graham Reid has not just ensured India’s return to the Olympic podium after four decades, but also injected a dose of stability that Indian hockey had been craving for, writes Mihir Vasavda. 🤫 Delhi Confidential: With the BJP focusing on strategies that would help it to retain its supremacy in the electoral scene, the leadership appears to be heading for some changes in its style of functioning. There have been talks in the party circles that the state presidents will be given more responsibility as the party’s focus is going to be on strengthening the organisation. 🎧 In today’s episode of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we discuss the wrestlers ending their protest against WFI and its president, truck unions and Adani group’s standoff over freight rates in Himachal Pradesh, and India’s only school of Afghan refugees. Until tomorrow, Navmi Krishnan and Rahel Philipose
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