Daily Briefing: Why stakes are higher for India and the Middle East; Somnath Temple’s Nehru connect; and more

At least 11 people were killed after Iran and Pakistan traded airstrikes this week, escalating tensions in the Middle East. The recent crossfire comes on the heels of an escalation of attacks on Indian shipping in the Red Sea — signalling the interconnected insecurities of the Subcontinent and the Gulf.

What’s at stake for India? Read C Raja Mohan’s analysis: “Whether they want it or not, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan will now be drawn deeper into the vortex of the turbulent Middle East. Five broad trends in security interdependence have come to the fore.”

⚡Only in the Express

Express Opinion | In his latest column, Derek O’Brien writes on the biggest infrastructural challenges facing India today: “Railways, bridges, tunnels, roads – they are marred by delays and poor quality, while government is elsewhere”

📰From the Front Page

At least 12 school children, in the age group of 10-13 years, and two teachers died after a boat overturned in Harni Lake of Vadodara, during a school picnic on Thursday.

With five days to go before the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the 51-inch-tall idol of Ram Lalla, sculpted by Arun Yogiraj, was installed in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.

Weeks after the Madhya Pradesh High Court granted bail to three teenagers accused of spitting on devotees during the Mahakali Lok procession in Ujjain, the key witness in the case has claimed that he had not seen the incident take place. “I did not see anyone spitting. There were a lot of policemen and I was told to sign some papers. The policemen did not tell me why my signatures were taken,” he told the court.

👩🏻‍💻Must Read

Seventy-three years ago, another temple was inaugurated in a grand ceremony by the President of India, even as the PM opposed the government associating closely with a religious event. While the story of Jawaharlal Nehru expressing his reservations about President Rajendra Prasad’s participation in the ceremony is well-known, often missed out in popular accounts are the reasons Nehru gave for this. We explain.

In our Opinion section today, Bela Negi writes on Netflix’s takedown of ‘Annapoorani’: “In the present scenario, any group or fringe element can unofficially dictate censorship leading to an atmosphere of guardedness, fear and hesitation. This has caused streaming platforms to shun content that they perceive to be even remotely controversial.”

⏳And Finally

We are maybe at a pivotal stage in the evolution of smartphones, with smartphone companies worrying about AI capabilities on-device, not as a gimmick but as a core offering. And this is where the new Samsung S24 series is pushing the envelope and giving us a view into how AI could change smartphones in the near future.

Delhi Confidential: After being elected to the Madhya Pradesh Assembly and resigning from the Union Cabinet, former Minister of State for Jal Shakti Prahlad Singh Patel was quick to move out of his ministerial bungalow in Lutyens’ Delhi. Don’t miss today’s Delhi Confidential for more!

In today’s edition of our ‘3 Things’ podcast, we discuss India as a destination for global investment; the removal of the director of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta; and Pakistan’s precision strikes over Iran.

Until tomorrow,

Ayesha Jain and Rahel Philipose

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