Good morning, from Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman flagging the economic challenges posed by the war in Ukraine, to the latest on the ambitious Central Vista revamp in New Delhi — here are the top stories from today’s edition of The Indian Express. The Big Story
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman flagged the fresh set of challenges posed by the Ukraine war, from disruption in supply chains to rising oil prices. Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, she added that the Union Budget, which was approved by Parliament Tuesday, will help keep the focus on sustained growth recovery. Meanwhile, Rzeszow, a small town in southeastern Poland, has become the hub of a massive military transfer operation that has enabled Ukraine to defy the Russian invasion. With its Soviet past, most sophisticated weapons within Ukraine are unable to integrate with Western weaponry, making a country like Poland, which used to have Soviet calibre weapons, immensely helpful to the war-hit nation, military analysts told The Indian Express. Only in the Express Expressing concern over the parallels between Russia’s and India’s attempts to shake free of US Big Tech’s hegemony, Bhaskar Chakravorti writes, “‘Atmanirbhar Internet’ is an oxymoron; the internet, by definition, is a globally connected digital common.” He was responding to Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s call for an ‘Aatmanirbhar internet’ which doesn’t depend on Big Tech considering how it was ‘weaponised’ during the Russia-Ukraine war. From the Front Page The government has told Lok Sabha that 34 people from outside Jammu and Kashmir have bought land in the Union Territory since the abrogation of Article 370. Sources in the J&K administration said all these properties have been purchased by individuals from Punjab and Delhi. The plots of land are not very big and are largely suited for setting up holiday homes or farmhouses, the sources said. The chief ministers of Assam and Meghalaya have signed an agreement in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to resolve part of their five-decade-old inter-state border dispute. Out of 36.79 sq km of the disputed area taken up for settlement in the first phase, Assam would get full control of 18.51 sq km and Meghalaya 18.28 sq km.  Children swim in the Yamuna River as temperatures soared in the capital of New Delhi on Tuesday. (📸 Tashi Tobgyal)
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The Executive Enclave that will house the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Cabinet Secretariat, India House and the National Security Council Secretariat, a key part of the Central Vista re-development project, has received four bids among which Ahluwalia Contracts India Ltd, which is headquartered in Delhi, made the lowest bid of Rs 1,119 crore. Admissions to most engineering and technology undergraduate degree programmes will require students to have mandatorily pursued Physics and Mathematics at the high school level, the All Indian Council for Technical Education (AICTE) announced on Tuesday, in what is being seen as a partial rollback of the eligibility norms it released last year. With Sri Lanka in the midst of one of its worst economic crises, people across the country have been left scrambling for essential supplies like cooking gas, medicines and milk powder — all of which is otherwise largely imported from elsewhere. Just last week, Tamil Nadu received more than a dozen people who had fled Lanka under similar economic duress. Meanwhile, a senior official in Colombo says “every person is suffering”. “The government is trying to make people work from home, but the load shedding is a challenge. Hospitals are affected as there is no diesel for generators.” This week, the Government of India submitted a detailed affidavit in the Supreme Court on the issue of who is a minority, and how minorities are defined in the Constitution. This affidavit complicates the claim of “minority appeasement” — after all, if Hindus too are a minority (in some places) as the affidavit rightly states, how can schemes of minority welfare be criticised as “appeasement”? Vice-Chancellor of NALSAR University of Law, Faizan Mustafa, explains the affidavit and how minorities are defined by law. And Finally... After 22-year-old Ayush Badoni’s impressive IPL debut, there was no one quite as proud as his childhood coach Balraj Kumar. One shot, in particular, stood out for him — when he lapped Hardik Pandya to fine-leg boundary. Kumar recalled how Badoni would play that shot when he was just nine years old. He knew the former U-19 world cup player was destined for greatness. “Usually kids that young tend to copy a Sachin or Dravid or some big player. But Ayush right from the start was an original. And had great timing,” he tells The Indian Express. 🤫 Delhi Confidential: During his official visit to Colombo, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar saw the news that scheduled surgeries at a local hospital were suspended due to a shortage of medicines and only emergency surgeries were taking place. He immediately asked Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay to contact the hospital authorities and find out how India can help. 🎧 In today’s episode of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we take a look at what the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 allows the police to do, and the concerns it raises for citizens. Until tomorrow, Rahel Philipose and Sonal Gupta
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