Intelligence Failure Behind Attacks in Poonch, Rajouri, Jammu; Villagers Hold Up Modi Raths; Gold Glitters in an Uncertain World

Democracy menaced globally, India-Ukraine body to meet; Railways tighten RTI security after selfie point fiasco, India’s humourless public culture, food science supports Calcutta biryani potatoes

A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by MK Venu, Seema Chishti, Siddharth Varadarajan, Sushant Singh, Sidharth Bhatia and Tanweer Alam | Contributing writer: Kalrav Joshi, with additional inputs by Anirudh SK | Editor: Pratik Kanjilal

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Snapshot of the day

January 4, 2024

Pratik Kanjilal

Viksit Bharat Sankalp Raths, vans equipped with LED screens ostensibly publicising central schemes but actually promoting PM Modi, have been visiting various states across India since mid-November. Originally announced in the run up to recent state assembly elections, the Election Commission was forced to pull the plug after the Congress said this was a violation of the code of conduct for poll-bound states. Now, the vans are everywhere. In some places, the raths – a thinly disguised taxpayer funded mechanism for the BJP’s political projection – have attracted the ire of