Left, Right & Centre

The Centre made a dramatic U-turn on the sedition law just days after defending it in the Supreme Court, and is crediting Prime Minister Modi with this sudden sedition review. Perhaps the Centre chose to act to avoid risking an adverse court order - but one way or another, the law on sedition will change. Opposition leaders, however, aren't holding their breath. According to them, this is a stalling tactic by the government.

When in doubt, err on the side of caution, IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta underlined amid an escalating row over the airline's decision to not allow a child with special needs on board one of its flights in Ranchi over the weekend. The CEO added it was an unfortunate decision.

Ahead of the crucial hearing in Supreme Court on the petitions challenging the Sedition law, the Centre has defended the colonial-era law saying there is no need to scrap it. Is sedition law essential or is it now archaic? Is going against the dominant narrative seditious and do sedition laws have a place in modern democracy?

The Tajinder Bagga arrest saga takes another dramatic turn - now, a Mohali court has issued a warrant against the BJP leader, asking the Punjab police to arrest him and produce him in Mohali. This on a day when several questions have been raised about the previous day's developments - the Haryana police say they stopped Punjab police car taking Mr Bagga to Punjab at Kurukshetra because the Delhi Police communicated the kidnapping complaint filed by Mr Bagga's father. However, the kidnapping FIR was actually filed almost an hour after the Haryana police stopped the Punjab police. Meanwhile, the CBI raided a sitting Punjab AAP MLA, Jaswant Singh, in an alleged 40 crore rupee bank fraud case. Has this 'tit-for-tat' proven that agencies are being used for politics now?

New data released by the WHO says a whopping 47 lakh Indians died of COVID-19 - which means that India probably has the highest number of COVID-19 fatalities in the world. The numbers are nearly 10 times the official number that the government has, of just above 5 lakhs. India has gone on record to say the WHO numbers are not reliable - but the WHO is sticking with its numbers. How many did India really lose to COVID-19?

The RBI has raised its key lending rate by 40 basis points to 4.40 per cent with immediate effect - a decision that will affect millions of people in the country. We explain how on this show.

Dr Amit Mitra, the principal chief advisor to Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and one of the finest economic minds in the country, said, "Because of the higher interest, many investment projects will now become unviable."  He added, "This is stagflation: inflation and unemployment, unheard of in the modern economy, but there are no ready solutions."

In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot talked about the communal clashes that erupted between two communities in Jodhpur on the night ahead of Eid after a dispute over raising flags in the Jalori Gate area. "BJP has a national agenda to divert everybody's attention away from problems of rising inflation and unemployment," said Chief Minister Gehlot. "Fortunately, there were no casualties and we had to impose a curfew in a few areas to maintain law and order," he added, going on to say that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is currently on a 3-day Europe tour, should send out a clear message condemning communal violence to the entire nation.

Nine-month-old startup Zepto has raised funding of 200 million dollars, taking its valuation to $900 million - just an inch away from the unicorn club! On tonight's episode of Left, Right & Centre, NDTV speaks to Zepto CEO and co-founder Aadit Palicha, who says that he felt a "deep level of conviction in disrupting the way people buy groceries, in terms of speed, quality & reliability".

 

The Indian startup ecosystem has seen a boom in 2022, with 15 new unicorns already. Neobanking startup Open is the latest - and the 100th Indian unicorn. On tonight's episode of Left, Right & Centre, NDTV speaks to Open Financial Technologies' CEO, Anish Achuthan on his startup's success. "It's an aspirational thing to be India's 100th unicorn," said Anish Achuthan, adding that 'this will inspire more entrepreneurs.'