Russia invades Ukraine
Hours after India abstained during a vote on a US-sponsored UN Security Council resolution that deplored Russia’s “aggression” against Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has been leading the defence of Kyiv, spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought India’s “political support” at the UNSC. Modi, according to the Prime Minister’s Office, expressed “deep anguish” over the loss of life and property, reiterated his call for “immediate cessation of violence” and return to dialogue.
Interestingly, India and China found themselves on the same side of the vote at the UNSC on Saturday, with both choosing to abstain. Both the countries also invoked a similar formulation on “territorial integrity and sovereignty” and the “UN charter”.
Meanwhile, 219 Indians, mostly students studying medicine in Ukraine, stepped off the Air India aircraft that flew them home from Bucharest in Romania — the first batch of Indian nationals evacuated under Operation Ganga after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Vennela Varsha, from Visakhapatnam and part of a group of students from Andhra Pradesh, said: “While we got out easily, the second and third batches of students had to walk in the cold with heavy luggage. Many students are still stuck in the university.”
Only in the Express
BJP president J P Nadda, in an interview to The Indian Express, fields questions on the party’s prospects in five states that went to polls, unemployment in Uttar Pradesh, exit of prominent OBC leaders and more.
From the Front Page
The Union Cabinet has cleared an amendment to the FDI Policy to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) up to 20 per cent under the “automatic route” in the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation. This comes ahead of its proposed initial public offer (IPO), which is expected to be the largest in the Indian capital markets so far.
The mystical “Himalayan Yogi” to whom former NSE MD and CEO Chitra Ramkrishna is alleged to have leaked confidential market information could be none other than Anand Subramanian, the former Group Operating Officer of the National Stock Exchange (NSE). According to Enst & Young findings based on an analysis of communications between Ramakrishna, Subramanian and the “Himalayan Yogi”, the location of two geotagged images attached in the emails sent using the ‘yogi’s’ id was found to be close to Subramanian’s residence in Chennai.
Two decades after Godhra’s deadly riots, little has changed visibly by way of infrastructure. Roads are still barely motorable. Water shortage plagues most households. While most have vague memories of what they were doing and where they were when the riots broke out, some scars are still visible. “Godhra is divided into two parts, Hindu and Muslim. But both communities do business together,” says 27-year-old Pankti Soni, who was in Class 1 when the Sabarmati Express was attacked.
Must Read
For the last couple of days, a box has been lying under a table in the Rajasthan Assembly. In it are some brand new iPhones. The seemingly innocuous box is at the centre of an aggressive political one-upmanship in Rajasthan. On February 23, after CM Ashok Gehlot tabled the state budget, the MLAs were given the phones in the budget bags handed out to them, while on their way out. It was after some time, when Gehlot’s populist budget was dominating the headlines, as well as photos of the phones had made it to social media, that the BJP announced that its MLAs will return the phones.
P Chidambaram writes on how the state government has failed the people of UP for the last three decades: “Youth are the worst affected. The unemployment rate in UP is one of the highest in the country. Since April 2018, the unemployment rate for those aged between 15 and 29 years has been in double digits and above the All-India rate for that age group.”
In village after village across UP, a similar scene is playing out — farmers are forced to spend longer hours on their land to protect their crops from being destroyed by stray cattle. “Because of this shraap (curse), I spend most of my time in the fields,” says Ram Kishore, a farmer from Mangopur village in Sitapur district. In January, farmers in Sitapur district had locked stray cattle inside dozens of primary schools and anganwadi centres, and blocked the National Highway demanding a solution.
And Finally
After two years of remote work and Zoom calls, as the world prepares to open up, how ready are we to return to our older connections and the conversations they generated? Death, devastation and adapting to new normalcies appear to have left their mark on one of the fundamental activities of society — conversations. If the first opening up in 2020 was marked by relief and the second by sadness, this time around, there is resignation. How do you greet a person you have not seen for two years, during which the world changed?
Until tomorrow,
Leela Prasad G and Rahel Philipose