Daily Briefing: Latest on Israel, Assembly polls, World Cup 2023, and more

The deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital has deepened the fault lines between the Arab world and Israel, and also within Israeli society. While Israeli and Palestinian authorities traded blame, outrage mounted and protests erupted across West Asia, Diplomatic Affairs Editor Shubhajit Roy reports from Tel Aviv.

“We would welcome any help from India for the release of over 200 Israeli hostages, who are still being held by the Hamas terrorists,” Israel’s Ambassador to India, Naor Gilon, told The Indian Express. He also spoke about the US President’s visit to Israel, the deaths of civilians on both sides and how the conflict is spreading to other parts of the country.

Only in Express

The Indian Army is preparing for the fourth consecutive winter in eastern Ladakh since the start of the standoff with China in May 2020. Top sources in the government told The Indian Express about the Army’s plans for redeployment of troops along the Line of Actual Control, and what it would entail.

From the Front Page

With crucial Assembly elections in five states around the corner, the Centre has announced hikes in the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat and five other rabi crops for the 2024-25 marketing season. Three of the poll-bound states — Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana —  are big producers of these rabi crops. Why is the move electorally significant, and why wheat? We answer.

Must Read

In an interview with The Indian Express, BJP’s OBC face in Bihar, Sushil Modi, talks about how a pan-Indian caste census is a logistical impossibility, that caste enumeration was needed only for political representation that OBCs already have, and that OBCs can perhaps be sub-categorised into more than two categories. Read it here.

But while Sushil Modi may not be the biggest proponent of a pan-India caste census, several states across the country have been following Bihar’s lead and initiating backward classes surveys of their own. The enumeration of castes, as well as the sub-categorisation of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in order to ensure equity in the distribution of reservation benefits have been hot-button issues for long. Here’s why. 

In our opinion section today, lawyer and queer rights activist Vivek Divan weighs in on the Supreme Court’s recent verdict on same-sex marriages: “This was never a case to be debated in the courtroom, but one which required a robust, detailed understanding of the law reform required to provide queer people with relationship rights through the legislature. Such effort requires not the lurch towards filing writ petitions, but the hard work of engaging with the larger diverse queer community and advocating with those in positions of power”

🏏 ODI World Cup: Both the minnows and the mighty of Pune’s iconic 1996 Cricket World Cup moment at the Nehru Stadium are lost to the sands of time. Neither West Indies, who were shot out for 93, nor the giant-killers of yore Kenya, qualified for this World Cup. No such crazy caper is likely to unfold on Thursday when a stuttering Bangladesh meet a rampaging India.

And Finally…

We revisit Hansal Mehta’s Shahid as the film completes 10 years of release: “While we go gung-ho about ostensibly patriotic and opportunistic nationalist films, Shahid reminds us of the real-life heroism of Shahid Azmi, who died fighting for the rights of the wrongly imprisoned.” 

Delhi Confidential: Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxenareceived some unexpected praise at a recent meeting  by Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari. Gadkari said the Delhi L-G could make the NHAI spruce up the NH-8 to-and-from the IGI airport within six months, something he (himself) could not accomplish in nine years. 

In today’s episode of the ‘3 things’ podcast, we break down the Supreme Court’s verdict on same-sex marriage and why it was a letdown. 

Until tomorrow, 

Sonal Gupta and Rahel Philipose 

Express Cartoon by EP Unny