Big Story
The Amar Jawan Jyoti, the eternal flame burning continuously for five decades at India Gate in honour of soldiers who died for the country, was put out on Friday after being merged with the flame at the National War Memorial a few hundred metres away. The move has triggered a political firestorm with the Opposition accusing the government of attempting to rewrite history, a charge that members of the establishment and the ruling party rejected.
Explaining the relocating of the Amar Jawan Jyoti to the new war memorial, Arun Prakash writes: “The National War Memorial is now a place for citizens to pay homage to our fallen military heroes. Co-locating the Amar Jawan Jyoti with the National War Memorial seems a logical step, and need not become a subject of political controversy.”
Only in the Express
As the election campaign heats up in Uttar Pradesh, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act which set off protests in December 2019 is on the backburner. However, one aspect of it continues to simmer: the manner in which the UP government, by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s own admission, has gone about exacting “revenge” ostensibly in its bid to recover the cost of public property damaged in the protests. The Indian Express investigated all the 46 recovery orders to find patterns that are telling.
From the Front Page
One a 28-year-old newlywed who hoped to soon join his wife in Canada. The other a 35-year-old who had finally settled down in a “safe job”, safe enough to take his younger brother along. On Friday, four days after they were killed in Abu Dhabi, in a suspected drone attack carried out by the Houthis, the families of Hardev Singh and Hardeep Singh, clung on to their memories as they received the bodies at Amritsar airport.
Two subject experts identified as being responsible for controversial questions in the CBSE’s Class 10 and 12 Term 1 examinations have been dropped from paper-setting panels by the Board, The Indian Express has learned. The Board has also set up a committee, headed by former Controller of Examinations Pavnesh Kumar, to review its paper-setting process.
Must Read
Over 2,000 people from Myanmar’s Chin state have crossed over into the border villages of Mizoram since January 5 to escape the wrath of the all-powerful junta, government sources and NGOs in the North-Eastern state have said. Among those who arrived in the last two weeks were four persons with shrapnel wounds. They took admission in a private hospital in Aizawl, where one succumbed to his injuries.
Up against heavyweights in Uttar Pradesh’s Hastinapur, Archana Gautam is not likely to win. However, the 26-year-old model, actress and contestant from this reserved seat has not let that stop her earlier. Gautam, who has a Miss Bikini India title and some Tamil and Hindi films under her belt, faced some heat from right-wing Hindu outfits who sought to embarrass her with her modelling pictures after the Congress gave her a ticket. But Gautam refused to buckle. “I request people to not merge my profession in the media industry with my political career,” she simply said.
For the first time in 50 years, the eternal flame of the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate was put out on Friday, only to be merged with the one at the National War Memorial a few hundred meters away. But the decision kicked off a political row, with Opposition leaders claiming that it was a disrespect to the soldiers who have laid down their lives fighting for the country. We look at the history of the eternal flame and why it was extinguished.
And Finally
Manipur accounts for eight of the 23 players that make the Indian women’s football team at the Asian Cup and five of the eight have been groomed by the same person — Chaoba Devi, a coach from Imphal, with a keen eye for talent. In fact, it was Chaoba who discovered India captain Ashalata Devi when she was just a gangly teenager playing with full energy on a barren, uneven field. It was one of those ‘by chance’ encounters that coaches and scouts hope for.
Delhi Confidential: Anniversaries appear to have become the new fad in political parties as it has become an opportunity to appropriate, take credit or slam opposition. However, Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar took it to a different level on Friday when he tweeted about the 11th anniversary of his disclosure on irregularities in the 2G spectrum allocation.
Until tomorrow,
Rahel Philipose and Rounak Bagchi
Express Cartoon by EP Unny.