UP Spending More on Feeding Stray Cattle than on Pensions; Govt Ends Suspense, Reveals Boring Parliament Session Agenda, Triggers More Suspense

INDIA boycotts communal TV anchors, Seattle cop joked that Indian student’s life was cheap, India Love Project contender for Global Pluralism Award, Dev Anand retro ahead, Hindi Day brand ambassadors

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

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Snapshot of the day

September 14, 2023

Pratik Kanjilal

The commanding officer of the 19th Rashtriya Rifles, and a major and a deputy superintendent of the Jammu and Kashmir Police have been killed in a gunbattle with militants in Anantnag district of south Kashmir. The militants were strategically better placed and suffered no casualties. Meanwhile, on the same day.

(The Telegraph’s front page today)

According to a document made public by Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture Meenakshi Lekhi, the Union government spent Rs 4,110 crore on the beautification of New Delhi for the G20 summit. After the government pulled off the summit, the Opposition has focused on the huge expenses incurred. 

Manoj Jarange Patil has ended his hunger strike for Maratha reservations on the 17th day after Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde assured him that the government is committed to providing a sustainable quota to Marathas. An earlier attempt to secure a quota was struck down by the Supreme Court because it crossed the 50% cap on reservation, which was unconstitutional. Meanwhile, a hot mic caught Shinde being dismissive about the emotive demand. "We just need to speak and get it out of the way and leave, right?", he was heard asking Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, who answered ‘Yes’.

India-China trade touched $84.49 billion in the first eight months of 2023, up 5.2% from last year. China’s exports to India were $73 billion and imports from India were $12 billion. Growth in imports is 0.5% ahead of export growth. India and China are obviously heavily dependent on each other, but India has been using protectionist strategies to squeeze Chinese companies. “India is only doing this to satisfy its own nationalist sentiments, but in the context of globalisation, this is difficult to achieve and uneconomical,” Liu Zongyi, secretary-general of the Research Center for China-South Asia Cooperation at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told the Chinese state-run Global Times. 

The Supreme Court will soon be linked to the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), which means that data on pendency and the disposal of cases will be visible to the public in real time, from the taluka level to the apex court.

Organic ties between India and Canada, anchored by the huge diaspora, fell to a low in bilateral talks between PMs Justin Trudeau and Narendra Modi, just before Trudeau’s plane was grounded, as if to continue the theme. India accuses Canada of supporting Khalistanis, and Canada thinks that India is interfering in its internal affairs. However, the statements by India and Canada are an “indicator of the strained ties between the two governments”, says Sushant Singh. 

Embattled Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that he was willing to retire from public life if there is any evidence that his wife received or claimed any amount from the government of India. Hours later, evidence surfaced in the form of a