Good morning! In today's edition: Amshipora encounter verdict; ‘no evidence of caste-discrimination’ in IIT suicide case; voices from Assam’s ‘illegal foreigners’ camp; inDrive – a challenge to Ola and Uber; and more Big Story An Army court has recommended life imprisonment for Captain Bhoopendra Singh While the families of the deceased expressed gratitude to Lt Governor Manoj Sinha for ensuring the accused faced punishment, they added that only 50 per cent justice had been delivered. In light of the verdict, we take a look at how the armed forces punish their personnel for crime. Only in The Express A panel probing the suicide of Darshan Solanki, a first-year student in IIT Bombay, in its interim report stated that there is no “specific evidence of direct caste-based discrimination", as alleged by his family, and cited “deteriorating academic performance” as a possible cause, The Indian Express has learnt. As many as 67 people are currently housed in Assam's Matia Transit Camp, India’s first standalone detention centre built exclusively to house ‘illegal foreigners'. While the guard stationed at the entrance says, “This is not a jail. It is a transit camp", an occupant feels, "but I’m still imprisoned." From the Front Page
In the second “encounter” in the case in a week, police said the man who had fired the first shot at Umesh Pal, a key witness in the killing of former BSP legislator Raju Pal, was gunned down in Prayagraj early Monday. A report submitted by a panel that reviewed the functioning of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), which grades colleges and universities, found: The “possibility” of a “compromised” IT system and “arbitrary” allocation of experts raising questions of “conflict of interest”. India has proposed to launch a mega global alliance under its leadership to protect big cats and assured support over five years with guaranteed funding of $100 million (over Rs 800 crore), according to records reviewed by The Indian Express. Must Read
While 2023 is set to witness some key battles for the way users access services on the Internet, online ride-hailing platforms Ola and Uber are also bracing themselves to meet their next potential opponent — inDrive. Based in Siberia, inDrive will start its services in India soon and aims to address the three major problems faced by the ride hailing cab market — frequent cancellations, a distorted commission structure for drivers, and fares that could be exorbitant.
Tamil Nadu is currently a home to almost a million migrants. As a result, industry bodies fear that their sector would be severely impacted if North Indian workers leave the state due to fear over videos purportedly showing Hindi-speaking men being assaulted. Though government data on migration is not comprehensive and is, in many cases, old, we attempt to explain India’s inter-state migration numbers. In a country that has been the victim of invasions, and colonialism, renaming can contribute to the revival of civilisational consciousness and restorative justice, writes J Sai Deepak in our Opinion section today: "By retaining the names imposed by invaders, aren’t we, as a society, still prisoners of the past? Isn’t renaming a step towards psychological decolonisation?" And Finally... With all three Tests in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy barely lasting ‘two days and one session’, there has been a sense of resignation among fans, especially due to the unavailability of opening day tickets on bookmyshow.com – BCCI’s official ticketing partner. “These days, games get over in about two days and if you miss the first day, what is the point of witnessing a Test?” says a fan. Delhi Confidential: Though the entire country is ready to celebrate Holi with the usual festivities, Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh has decided to work over the next two days owing to a host of political commitments to take care of. Singh, who recently said that he does not take a holiday on Holi day, will be in Hyderabad working on the two-day festival break. 🎧 In today’s episode of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we talk about the panic among Hindi-speaking migrant workers in Tamil Nadu, the set of protocols drafted by the Indian Army to identify spy balloons, and the Amishpora fake encounter case. Until next time, Anandu Suresh and Sonal Gupta
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