Good morning,
From reports on the fourth Quad summit to an interview with Gujarat leader Hardik Patel, here are the top reads in today’s edition. The Big Story
At the fourth Quad summit, leaders diverged over the war in Ukraine, with US and Japan criticising Russia, while India and Australia did not name Moscow in their public statements. The countries, however, were united in their response to China’s belligerence. They launched the Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) initiative allowing partner countries to monitor the waters on their shores and help ensure peace and stability in the region.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told US President Joe Biden that the India-US strategic partnership is truly a “partnership of trust” as the two sides launched a slew of initiatives in a range of areas: from critical and emerging technologies to vaccines and defence, from artificial intelligence to data science.
Only in the Express
In his first interview after quitting the Congress, Hardik Patel talks to The Indian Express about problems with the Congress and what AAP is doing right, why his opinion regarding the BJP has changed, how Congress let him down compared to Jignesh Mevani, and his plans.
From the Front Page
Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann sacked the state’s Health Minister Dr Vijay Singla on charges of alleged corruption. Singla was later arrested by the Punjab Police under the Prevention of Corruption Act, and remanded in judicial custody for three days. Sources told The Indian Express that the sacking was the result of a “monitoring operation” after a state government official raised a complaint against Singla and his OSD Pardeep Kumar.
The inclusion of G23 leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma in a ‘political affairs group’, and not in a ‘task force’ for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, sends a signal that they may have little role in the Congress’ election management. The political affairs group will have no real powers and it will be an “advisory group”. The task force, however, is packed with establishment favourites, including election strategist Sunil Kanugolu. A Delhi court reserved till June 9 its order on a plea seeking restoration of Hindu and Jain deities inside the Qutub Minar complex. The Archeological Survey of India (ASI) maintained that the structure’s status cannot be changed to allow worship as it comes under the protection of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act, 1958.
Must Read
She was a civil defence volunteer who started uploading music videos on YouTube to support her family. Soon, she began performing at shows, making her mark in the local circuit. Until she disappeared two weeks ago. Soon after, the 28-year-old Dalit singer’s family approached the Delhi Police, but were asked to leave. Later, one of her friends, with access to her Gmail account, was able to trace her last active location. On Monday, the family’s despair turned to anger after her body was found buried near a highway in Rohtak.
India and 11 other countries have agreed to join the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework launched by the US.The framework is Washington’s answer to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TTP) and its successor agreement, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for TTP (CPTPP), as well as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Why has Washington felt the need for such a framework, and what is in it for those who are part of it? We explain.
Dr Jagannath Panda writes on how the Quad can become more than an anti-China grouping: “Critics might dismiss the Quad Plus as a virtual assembly of agreeable nations that were engaged during the Covid pandemic. Yet, the format holds much promise amid all the current uncertainty. It would potentially represent an amalgamation of the eastern and western “like-minded” countries. Even in its current abstract framework, it includes a wide array of states (which also comprise the IPEF) — developing and developed economies as well as middle and major powers that are committed to maintaining an inclusive, rules-based and liberal institutional order.”
And Finally...
Nine years after taking the BCCI to court, a move that resulted in large-scale constitutional changes in Indian cricket, the petitioner Aditya Verma now speaks in favour of those he had once opposed. Verma these days profusely praises N Srinivasan, his one-time target. These days, unlike in the past, Verma doesn’t talk about Indian cricket. He has gone micro, putting all his eggs in the Bihar cricket basket, and says his desire is to cleanse the system there.
Delhi Confidential: PM Narendra Modi gifted items featuring rare Indian art work from Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu to his fellow Quad leaders from Australia, the US and Japan. US President Joe Biden is said to have received a Sanjhi art work, a hand-cut paper design of motifs of Krishna, while Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese received a Gond painting.
Until tomorrow,
Rahel Philipose and Sonal Gupta
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