Daily Briefing: Govt talks with farmers; what Pakistan election results mean; Indian entries at Berlinale; and more

The government Sunday held its fourth round of talks with farmers, who have launched a march to Delhi to have their demands met. Diversification, often called the panacea for Punjab’s agrarian crisis, took centre-stage during the talks. The farmers have requested time until Tuesday to deliberate on the government’s offer. Here’s what went down.

In his weekly column, Ashok Gulati writes on how the farmers’ protest highlights a fundamental problem – agri-food policies favour consumers at producers’ cost.

⚡Only in Express

In the latest edition of Idea Exchange, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri speaks about India’s energy security against the backdrop of global conflict, on strengthening alternative fuel sources and the US-India story.

“I think, we ought to really now target a 10% growth, (as) 7% we have shown for almost 20 years now. It’s time we also realised our full potential to 10%,” says Dr Arvind Panagariya, the Chairman of the 16th Finance Commission. Read his full interview with The Indian Express.

📰 From the Front Page

The Supreme Court struck down the electoral bonds scheme as unconstitutional but it saved one aspect of the challenge for another day and a larger bench: the issue of the government using the money Bill route to bring in the laws that introduced the electoral bonds. What is a money Bill, and why is the challenge significant? Read here.

India’s 434-run win over England at Rajkot on Day 4 of the third Test is the team’s biggest in terms of runs. Captain Rohit Sharma spoke of the biggest takeaway — youngsters delivering when it mattered.

Reiterating his call for over 370 seats for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked party workers to reach out to every new voter, beneficiary and community over the next 100 days and win their trust. Read what the PM said in his 65-minute speech at the BJP’s national convention.

👩‍💻 Must Read

Soni Bisht’s world came crashing down in January 2023 when her husband, Sepoy Neeraj Singh Bhandari of the 18 Kumaon regiment, died in a road accident. 26-year-old Bisht has overcome multiple tragedies to be selected to the Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai. Here’s her story!

While the PML(N), led by the Sharifs, the Bhutto-Zardaris’ PPP looks set to come back to power in Pakistan, the message from voters has been loud and clear — possible to muzzle but not to mute. What challenges does it present for the Army in the country? What do the results mean for India? We explain.

⌛ And Finally…

Two Indian entries are making quite a splash at the 74th Berlinale: Kottukaali and The Fable, both from young directors with a singular vision which will leave the audience pondering. Here’s what the two films bring to the table in Shubhra Gupta’s words.

🤫 Delhi Confidential: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal calls Congress’ Abhishek Singhvi “sankatmochan” (reliever of troubles), Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh Mohan Yadav and Rajasthan Bhajanlal Sharma become selfie CMs, Mayawati attends wedding ceremony of Uma Shankar Singh’s son, and more.

🎧 In today’s episode of 3 Things, we talk about how the farmers’ protest offered the AAP government in Punjab some relief, the launch of ISRO’s “naughty boy” rocket, and Rahul Gandhi’s visit to his constituency Wayanad.

Until next time,
Sonal Gupta and Ariba

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