News and Views

The big story for the day is the arrest of five activists by the Maharashtra Police in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence. The Supreme Court, while hearing petitions against their arrests. has ordered for a stay on their transit remand to Pune till 6 September. The apex court has also issued a notice to the Maharashtra police, directing them to file a response on the arrests by the same date.

The Patna High Court has restrained the media from reporting anything about the investigation into the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape cases, which appears to violate the Supreme Court's own binding precedent on prior restraint.

The veteran journalist passed away on 23 August 2018\. Around a year earlier, The Quint had interviewed Kuldip Nayar on his arrest during the 1975 Emergency.

Mob Lynchings in India: Led by human rights activist Harsh Mander, ‘Karwan-e-Mohabbat’ group met survivors of lynchings in eight states and offered legal help.

A manned space mission has been on the drawing boards of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for more than a decade now. Yet the space agency was caught unawares when the Prime Minister announced that India will place an Indian in space by 2022 – in the 75th year of its independence. The announcement has literally put ISRO on notice.

[https://www.thequint.com/voices/opinion/isro-indian-in-space-gaganyaan-modi-2022-deadline](https://www.thequint.com/voices/opinion/isro-indian-in-space-gaganyaan-modi-2022-deadline)

The violence, demonstrations, and heckling that erupted in Kashmir on Eid (22 August), put to test the newly-appointed Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Satya Pal Malik, even before he took on his extremely challenging role.

Malik brings to this role, years of political experience in Uttar Pradesh and on the national stage. He is known for his affability, and outreach across the political spectrum. Malik is well-read and articulate, engaging readily even with his political opponents. Those who have known Satya Pal Malik as a politician, say that he is likely to take a soft approach in J&K.

A disturbing new trend is in evidence on television screens in India – that of self-proclaimed television “historians” and “experts” – ubiquitous across drawing rooms, and influential beyond compare.

The phenomenon has gained rank particularly since the BJP came to power, with the uber-masculine personage of Narendra Modi at the fore. There seem to be more ‘TV historians’ than there are news channels – ever ready to defend indefensible political positions with recourse to “history”.

Kerala, ‘God’s Own Country’, and the land of my ancestors saw the worst floods in a century recently. Even as I write, armed forces, NGOs, volunteers and civil administration are toiling day and night to bring succour to the affected. The operations will go on ceaselessly till the floodwaters recede and people return to their homes.

Former cricketer and Minister for Culture and Tourism of Punjab, Navjot Singh Sidhu, had to face the ire of many, for attending Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s swearing-in ceremony.

Days after cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan emerged victorious, Sidhu said he had accepted an invitation to attend the former’s oath-taking event. Sidhu also said that he would raise issues pertaining to Punjab, especially the demand for the Kartarpur Corridor, which seeks to connect Dera Baba Nanak (a city in Punjab, India) with Darbar Sahib, Narowal (Kartarpur) (both are barely three kilometres from each other). Through this corridor, Sikhs can get visa-free access to the religious shrine for Sikhs at Kartarpur.

On 15 August 2018, a suicide attacker detonated his explosive vest in a classroom at the Mahwood Education Centre in Kabul, killing at least 40 students and injuring over 67\. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State (aka Daesh), provoking a flood of commentary about the Daesh rampage across Afghanistan.

While data from Afghanistan is fragmentary, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan estimates a total of 1,692 civilians killed in the country in the first half of 2018, an overwhelming majority by the Taliban, but there is little comparable hysteria about these killings.

Nor does much commentary emphasise the reality that Daesh in Afghanistan is, in fact, a breakaway faction of elements drawn from the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban.