3 Things

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.
It’s the 8th of February and here are the headlines.

Hours ahead of the NDA government’s tabling of a white paper in Parliament on the “mismanagement” of the economy in the UPA era, the Congress today released a “black paper” on the Narendra Modi government’s tenure. Titled '10 Saal Anyay Kaal 2014-2024 (10 years of injustice)’, the black paper says the country’s economy has been “devastated”, unemployment “aggravated” and agriculture sector “destroyed” during the Modi regime, and that it has “abetted” crimes against women and “committed grave injustices” against minorities.

In a sarcastic jibe at the Congress, PM Modi thanked Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge for coming out with a "black paper" against his government and referred to it as "kaala teeka" (to ward off the evil eye) in the midst of good work being done by his government. He gave his best wishes to all retiring members and expressed the hope that new generations will benefit from their experience.

The Reserve Bank of India’s clampdown on Paytm Payments Bank’s business was a result of persistent non-compliance of the regulator’s norms. Following the central bank’s monetary policy review, RBI deputy governor Swaminathan J said at a press conference that the regulatory actions were taken after giving the firm sufficient time to comply. The RBI last week ordered Paytm Payments Bank to stop accepting new deposits in its accounts or popular digital wallets beginning March.

Days after announcing that a fence would be constructed along the entire 1,643-km-long Myanmar border to facilitate better surveillance, Union Home Minister Amit Shah today said that that the Centre has decided the Free Movement Regime (FMR) between India and Myanmar will be scrapped to ensure the internal security of the country and to maintain the demographic structure of India’s northeastern states bordering Myanmar. Under the FMR, every member of the hill tribes, who is either a citizen of India or Myanmar and who is a resident of any area within 16 km on either side of the border can cross over on production of a border pass with one-year validity and can stay up to two weeks.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan led a protest against the Modi government over distribution of central funds to states at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar today. He said the blow to India’s federal structure is coming from the Union eating into the states’ financial resources. He also added that the rights of states are being trampled upon and that the ‘Centre is eating into our financial resources.’ Chief Ministers of Delhi and Punjab, Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Maan respectively also joined him at the protest.

This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.

Yesterday, Uttarakhand became the first state to adopt the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) after the state government passed it in the Assembly. The civil code, which could become a template for other BJP-ruled states as well, has been one of the oldest political agendas of the BJP.

The Uttarakhand UCC proposes common laws on marriage, divorce, inheritance of property, and even in-live relationships, while giving an exemption to the tribal community. In this episode, we discuss the changes that it proposes, the concerns it raises, why the BJP chose Uttarakhand to implement it first, and how the party is framing the issue.

Guests: Indian Express’ Apurva Vishwanath, Avaneesh Mishra, and Liz Mathew

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Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.
It’s the 7th of February and here are the headlines.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi while replying to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address in Rajya Sabha today alleged that the opposition had not come with the intent of listening to the parliament and they could not suppress his voice. He accused the Congress of creating narratives to divide the country, and says the party is now trying to create a north-south divide.

After Uttarakhand, another BJP-ruled state is now planning to introduce the Uniform Civil Code with Rajasthan’s ministers indicating that the UCC Bill will be tabled in the next Assembly session after the Lok Sabha polls. Talking to journalists on Tuesday, School Education Minister Madan Dilawar said, quote, "If not today, then tomorrow, but we will bring it. When we will bring it, I cannot say. There should be a uniform law for everyone. Different laws for people damage the people and the unity is not visible. The entire country should be united." Unquote.

An Indian-origin student who was pursuing a doctoral degree at Purdue University in Indiana, United States, has been found dead, reported local media on Wednesday. 23-year-old Sameer Kamath was found dead at a nature preserve on Monday evening. He is the fifth Indian-origin student to be killed in the US since January 2024. Last week, Neel Acharya, an Indian computer science and data science student at the same university, was found dead on the campus.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and several other Congress ministers, MLAs and MPs from Karnataka protested at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Wednesday against the “injustice” done to the state in the devolution of taxes and grants-in-aid over the past few years. The protesters demanded that the Centre set right the losses to the tune of Rs 1.87 lakh crore allegedly incurred by Karnataka under the 15th Finance Commission. Siddaramaiah said the protest was not against the BJP but the discrimination against Karnataka.

Hamas has proposed a ceasefire plan that would quiet the guns in Gaza for four-and-a-half months leading to an end to the war. As per reports, the Hamas counter proposal envisions three phases lasting 45 days each. The proposal would see militants exchange remaining Israeli hostages they captured on 7th of Oct for Palestinian prisoners. The reconstruction of Gaza would begin, Israeli forces would withdraw completely, and bodies and remains would be exchanged.

This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.

Today, we will be taking a look at the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

First, The Indian Express’ Asad Rehman joins us to talk about Akhilesh Yadav's new PDA formula for defeating BJP in Uttar Pradesh.

Second, we talk to Indian Express' Mallica Joshi about the Delhi slums and how they have become a battleground for AAP and BJP. (12:05)

Lastly, we talk about Ajit Pawar's faction being declared as the real NCP in Maharashtra, by the Election Commission. (19:37)

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Written and Produced by Niharika Nanda and Shashank Bhargava
Edited and Mixed by Suresh Pawar

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.
It’s the 6th of February and here are the headlines.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami today tabled the Uniform Civil Code Bill in the state Assembly. The Bill seeks to bring uniformity in laws governing marriage, divorce, and inheritance, among other things, across religions. It proposes the banning of practices like polygamy and bringing in a uniform marriage age for citizens from all communities. The Opposition today said the draft should have been tabled before the Assembly at least a day earlier so that MLAs got the time to study it.

The Bill to prevent paper leaks, introduced in Lok Sabha on Monday, said it will serve as a "model draft for States to adopt at their discretion." The Indian Express investigated 41 documented instances of leaks over the last five years in recruitment exams across 15 states — their governments cutting across party lines. What emerged was startling: The leaks derailed schedules of as many as 1.4 crore applicants, applying for a little over 1.04 lakh posts.

Former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Monday hit out at the BJP and said he would quit politics and leave the state if any proof regarding his alleged illegal acquisition of 8 acres of land was tabled in the Assembly. In custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Soren was allowed to vote in the trust motion that the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led alliance won in the Assembly on Monday.

The Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is set to enter Odisha from Jharkhand today. Before resuming the Yatra from Jharkhand’s Khunti district this morning, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi paid floral tribute at the statue of tribal icon Birsa Munda. Gandhi is scheduled to address the press at Basia in Gumla and then a public rally in Simdega district today.

Upholding the conviction of a man for raping a seven-year-old girl in a temple in Madhya Pradesh in 2018, the Supreme Court has sentenced him to 30 years in jail while noting that his action was barbaric. The victim girl’s grandmother lodged an FIR against the man who was 40 years old at the time of the crime, for kidnapping and raping the minor. The trial court awarded him the capital punishment, but the Madhya Pradesh High Court, commuted the same to life imprisonment for the remainder of the convict’s natural life.

This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.

A recent investigation by the Indian Express reveals that under the policy that allows MLAs to seek funds from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for civic works, only the 21 ruling MLAs have been able to receive funds. In this episode, Indian Express’ Pratip Acharya, who accessed official records obtained under the Right to Information Act, tells us what the investigation reveals and the concerns it raises for Mumbaikars.

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Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.
It’s the 5th of February and here are the headlines.

Recording of statements to seizure of assets; summons to searches of premises; getting details from Income Tax and RBI – and detection of money laundering violations. These are the key aspects of the Enforcement Directorate’s ongoing action in the Pandora Papers investigation that shows probes have been “initiated” for almost all Indian owners of offshore firms named in the 2021 investigation by The Indian Express. They include Anil Ambani to Sachin Tendulkar, Unitech promoters and Niira Radia; Gautam Singhania to Lalit Goyal and Malvinder Singh, according to the current status of the probes. The Pandora Papers refers to a trove of 11.9 million secret documents from 14 offshore service providers that give details of ownership of 29,000 offshore entities used by the super-rich to manage their global money flows.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, during the Question Hour in Lok Sabha today, rejected claims of ‘discrimination in allocating funds to non-BJP states’ and said, quote, “There is no way political interests would come in the way of the states getting the funds. It’s a charge that vested interests would like to go around. I don’t have the discretion, it’s the Finance Commission that takes the decision.” Unquote.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren won the trust vote in the state assembly today. While 47 MLAs voted in favour of the trust motion, 29 legislators opposed it in the 81-member assembly. Meanwhile, former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren alleged that the Raj Bhawan was involved in his arrest carried out by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case.
Ahead of Lok Sabha polls, the Election Commission today asked political parties not to use children in campaigning “in any form whatsoever”, including for distribution of posters and pamphlets or sloganeering. In an advisory sent to parties, the poll panel conveyed its “zero tolerance” towards use of children in any manner during the electoral process by parties and candidates. The poll watchdog said political leaders and candidates should not use children for campaign activities in any manner including holding a child in their arms, carrying a child in a vehicle or in rallies.

Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu today said the first group of Indian military personnel will be sent back from the island nation before 10th of March, while the remaining Indian troops manning two aviation platforms will be withdrawn by 10th of May. In his maiden address to Parliament, Muizzu said he believes a large majority of Maldivians support his administration with the expectation that they will remove foreign military presence from the country, and recover the lost oceanic territory.

This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.

First, The Indian Express’ Abhishek Angad joins us to talk about Jharkhand’s former Chief Minister Hemant Soren getting arrested, allegations against him and its political repercussions.

Second, we talk to Indian Express' Deeptiman Tiwary about the emerging trend of appointing acting Director Generals of Police in certain states, reasons behind it and the concerns it raises.

Lastly, we talk about Akhilesh Yadav's claim of not being invited to the UP leg of the Rahul Gandhi led Bharat Jodo Yatra.

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Written and Produced by Niharika Nanda, Rahel Philipose, and Shashank Bhargava
Edited and Mixed by Suresh Pawar

Female pleasure and sex positivity are not often talked about very openly. What does sexual agency look like for women in contemporary India? And how does it differ from the ubiquitous images we see in media coverage and pop culture of the sexually liberated western women? In this episode of Love Matters, host Leeza Mangaldas is in conversation with book author and psychologist Amrita Narayanan about the many nuances of women’s sexuality in the context of a patriarchal society. What can sexual empowerment look like within the Indian context? And how does female pleasure pivot between “rapture and distress”?

Leeza Mangaldas’ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leezamangaldas/
Amrita Narayanan’s X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmritaShrink

Credits:
Produced by: Patricia Szilagyi (DW), Charulata Biswas (IE)
Research & guest acquisition: Sana Rizvi (DW)
Project Manager: Patricia Szilagyi (DW)
Editorial Support: Shashank Bhargava (IE), Khyati Rajvanshi (IE)
Executive Producer: Melanie von Marschalck (DW Life & Style), Anant Nath Sharma (IE)
Sound Editor: Suresh Pawar (IE)

Love Matters with Leeza Mangaldas is a cooperation between The Indian Express and DW, Germany’s international broadcaster.

Learn more about DW:https://www.facebook.com/dwasia
https://www.dw.com/

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.
It’s the 2nd of February and and here are the top stories of this week.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her sixth Budget on Thursday. This was an ‘interim Budget’ since the term of the current government will end soon and the country will go to polls. She began her Budget speech with references to the Union government’s schemes in the social sectors. No changes were announced in direct or indirect tax rates, unlike in the 2019-20 interim Budget. Fiscal Deficit came in at 5.8% — a tad lower than the target of 5.9%. Fiscal Deficit target for next financial year is set at 5.1%.

Jharkhand Governor C P Radhakrishnan met five legislators of the ruling JMM-Congress alliance on Thursday, a day after JMM leader and Hemant Soren loyalist Champai Soren staked claim to form the government in the state. Hemant Soren had submitted his resignation to the governor on Wednesday night, moments before his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate. While the JMM-Congress alliance had immediately proposed appointing Champai as the leader of the legislature party, the Governor had told them that he would revert after considering all legalities.

Opposition leaders in Maharashtra slammed the state government and civic authorities on Wednesday, after The Indian Express published an investigation report that revealed how over the past year, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation disbursed funds amounting to Rs 500 crore only to MLAs from the ruling BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena alliance. Demanding an inquiry, the opposition parties asked whether the government considers public funds as its exclusive property.

The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday barred Paytm Payments Bank from offering all its core services — including accounts and wallets — from March, effectively crippling the company’s business. The action is technically not a cancellation of the licence of Paytm Payments Bank, but it constricts the company’s operations to a very large extent. The RBI has allowed the withdrawal or utilisation of balance amounts by customers “without any restrictions, up to their available balance”.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi restarted the yatra from West Bengal’s Malda on Thursday and entered Murshidabad in the afternoon. The back window of Rahul's car broke on Wednesday, as thousands of people thronged Labha Bridge to see the Yatra enter the state. The Congress cried foul and initially claimed that "anti-socials" had pelted stones at Rahul's vehicle. However, the party later clarified that the window pane was damaged when sudden brakes had to be applied as a woman came in front of the vehicle. Rahul’s Yatra is set to enter Uttar Pradesh from Chandauli on 14th of Feb.

This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.