Good morning,
From the latest on the Sri Lanka crisis to the ‘hate speech’ case in Haridwar’s ‘dharam sansad’ meet, here are the top reads from today’s edition. The Big Story
As Sri Lanka continues to reel under its worst economic crisis, India is looking to enhance the assistance provided by New Delhi in the form of credits for essential commodities and balance-of-payment support. According to sources, India is “willing to commit up to another $2 billion in financial assistance to Sri Lanka…as New Delhi tries to regain ground lost to China in recent years.” Only in the Express Making a distinction between Putin and Putinism, which fuses “anti-Westernism and anti-liberalism”, Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: “Putin may lose, but Putinism is ascendant as an ideology — now aligning itself with white supremacism, French chauvinism, Israeli right-wing assertion, Ottoman dreams, Chinese aggression or Hindutva aggression. They want to take down the West but what they really want to take down is liberalism.” From the Front Page A day after indicating his willingness to contest the elections after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction in a 2015 case, Patidar leader and Gujarat Congress working president Hardik Patel lashed out at his party. Speaking to The Indian Express, Hardik said: “I am not invited to any of the meetings of the PCC, they don’t consult me before taking any decisions, then what is the point of this post?” In the violence-hit city of Khargone in Madhya Pradesh, which saw communal clashes on Ram Navmi, the story of Sumit Chandoke and Sadiq Khan stands out as a beacon of hope. On Sunday, as the mob pelted stones at Khan’s house, he called Chandoke for help. Chandoke’s brother helped save their kids and their two-wheeler while getting attacked by the rioters. “I did not think twice before sending my brother because when I was undergoing an operation for necrosis, Sadiq stood by me,” said Chandoke. The Supreme Court has sought a status report from the Uttarakhand government on the FIRs registered in connection with the three-day “dharam sansad” that was held in Haridwar last December where hate speeches were made targeting Muslims and calling for violence against them. The court has also allowed the petitioners to serve a copy of their fresh application to the standing counsel of Himachal Pradesh where, according to the plea, another “dharam sansad” is proposed to be held on Sunday. 
Security arrangements and other preparations in progress at the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar statue near Pune Railway Station Camp on the eve of his 131st Birth Anniversary (📸 Ashish Kale)
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With Himachal Pradesh headed for a three-cornered battle ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections, the ruling BJP, battling internal differences, anti-incumbency and a leadership crisis in the state, is redrawing its strategies in an attempt to return to power. As part of this recalibration, BJP president J P Nadda, who hails from the state, has already launched the party’s campaign, while the party leadership rushed Union Minister Anurag Thakur to the state in an attempt to “demoralise” its rivals. Thakur, along with Nadda, had played a key role in breaking the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) top brass in the state.
In 2012, when BJP’s KS Eshwarappa was the deputy chief minister of Karnataka. the state Lokayukta police found a currency counting machine while carrying out a search at his residence in connection with a corruption case. Since then, the opposition has never failed to bring it up to target Eshwarappa on the issue of corruption. Now the BJP leader finds himself at a crossroads in his political career once again with the Opposition Congress baying for his exit from the Basavaraj Bommai Cabinet over the suspected suicide of a civil contractor who had accused Eshwarappa of harassing him for commissions.
Over the last few weeks, the price of lemon has touched unprecedented heights, with a single lemon retailing between Rs 10 and Rs 15 in most markets. Annually, India produces over 37.17 lakh tonnes of fruit, which is consumed domestically. The fruit is neither exported nor imported. Due to a significantly lower harvest this time, farmers had lower yields to store. We explain how much lemon is grown in India and why prices have risen so much.
Ninety SpiceJet pilots have been barred by the national aviation safety regulator from flying the Boeing 737 MAX after it found that they had undergone training for the aircraft at a simulator facility near Delhi where routine surveillance unearthed faults in equipment, mainly pertaining to flight controls, sources told The Indian Express. SpiceJet is the only airline in India operating the Boeing 737 MAX, which was grounded in the country for over two years following two deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that together killed 346 people. And Finally... “No one asks me for extra chillies and coriander leaves. They don’t negotiate prices.” The perks of being the father of the fastest Indian pacer are small but sweet for Abdul Rashid, a fruit seller in Jammu. It’s his son Umran Malik who has been serving up extra chillies in primetime at IPL. Umran’s cricketing journey has been precisely like his bowling — fast. He didn’t have any idea of professional cricket till as late as 2017. One day, along with his best friend Abdul Samad, he went to Randhir Manhaas at the Maulana Azad Cricket Stadium in Jammu. Abdul requested his coach to have a look at his friend, who had already made a name for himself in the Jammu tennis ball circuit. The rest, as they say, is history. 🤫 Delhi Confidential: During his recent UAE visit, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal met with the Turkish economy minister to discuss the export of wheat to Turkey. After Goyal’s 10-minute discussion in Dubai in March last week, Turkey sent a team to India to explore the possibility of importing wheat from India in the wake of the crisis due to the Russia-Ukraine war. According to Goyal, the previous UPA government had tried to export wheat but nothing happened in 10 years. 🎧 In today’s episode of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we discuss the violence in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone, the alleged rape and murder of a minor girl in West Bengal’s Nadia district, and the arrest of a mahant, Bajrang Muni, for hate speech and rape threats. Until tomorrow,
Rahel Philipose and Sonal Gupta
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