🔍Explained: What Indian women voters want

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🔍Explained | Kerala row and beyond: Governor’s role in state, central universities

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🔍Increase in prey base and forest cover: How Buxa tiger reserve turned a corner

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🔍Explained: What is changing at the ancient Kashi Vishwanath temple complex?

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Read the briefing in a single page: https://indianexpress.com/article/live-news/top-news-briefing-today-7669734/

Good morning,

🚨 *The Big Story*

Even as the final decision on recommending a booster Covid vaccine shot is yet to be taken, there is consensus in the country’s top technical advisory body on Covid-19 vaccination that the third dose when administered, should be of a vaccine based on a platform different from that of the first two doses, The Indian Express has learnt. But that doesn't mean that the third dose for an individual who has been double vaccinated with Covishield will be Covaxin, and vice versa.

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⚡ *Only in the Express*

Delhi is working on plans to get leaders of five Central Asian countries, three of which share a border with Afghanistan, as chief guests for the Republic Day parade and celebrations on January 26, sources told The Indian Express. An informal outreach has already been made through diplomatic channels, and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is likely to hold a dialogue with the foreign ministers of these five countries over the next weekend — December 18-19.

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In this edition of the Idea Exchange, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia talks about the learning loss in the pandemic, AAP’s poll prospects and whether the BJP has forced parties to shift to the right.

https://www.inexp.in/cIxRDx

📰 *From the Front Page*

Cyber security officials will reach out to Twitter and Google as part of the probe into the hacking of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Twitter account for a brief while early Sunday when a tweet on Bitcoin was posted, The Indian Express has learnt. Sources said Twitter will be asked about how the account was not flagged for breach by its automated systems when someone else tried to log in. Google will be asked to furnish details of the blogspot account linked to the Bitcoin tweet, they said.

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In a year marked by the devastating second wave of Covid-19, Kerala’s all-cause mortality numbers, including official Covid deaths, are likely to touch a record high, with 2021 already recording the highest number of January-June deaths in recent years. In the first six months of the year, Kerala registered 1,55,520 all-cause deaths — a 35 percentage jump from the corresponding period in 2020 (1,15,081 deaths), a year of Covid-imposed lockdown, and a 21 percentage jump from the toll in the first six months of the pre-pandemic year of 2019 (1,28,667 deaths).

https://www.inexp.in/42qd1N

👩‍💻 *Must Read*

Raising potential questions of propriety and conflict of interest, Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi has asked a question in the Rajya Sabha on a subject that he has been involved in as a lawyer: government policy on betting and online gaming. Although he denies any conflict, records show that Singhvi, who is also a senior advocate, appeared before the Karnataka High Court for a petitioner company which has challenged the Constitutional validity of the Act that bans all online gambling and betting.

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The closing paragraph of a comprehension passage that several students got in their Class 10 Term 1 CBSE board exam English paper has drawn criticism for being “retrograde” and offensive to women. It reads: “What people were slow to observe was that the emancipation of the wife destroyed the parent’s authority over the children.” Several politicians, including Congress leader Piyanka Gandhi Vadra, took to Twitter to call out the Board, saying that the “government endorses such views on women”.

https://www.inexp.in/lskw9O

As the last of the makeshift homes at the Singhu border were dismantled or packed up, barricades put up by the Delhi Police were being taken apart. Heavy machinery was deployed to clear the concrete blocks while some shipping containers and concertina wires are yet to be removed.

Police have also cleared up most of the tents used by the force that was posted at the site round-the-clock.

https://www.inexp.in/WbHHVF

Banks have written off of bad loans worth over Rs 2 lakh crore in the fiscal that ended March 2021 when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country and the Reserve Bank of India allowed banks to announce reliefs like loan moratorium for borrowers. With this, banks have written off a whopping Rs 11,68,095 crore worth of bad loans, or non-performing assets, in the last ten years with most of the write-offs coming in the last seven years, the RBI said in an RTI reply to The Indian Express.

https://www.inexp.in/GEQ9st

⌛ *And Finally...*

The racing gods smiled upon Red Bull’s Max Verstappen as a safety car incident in the 53rd lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix allowed the Dutchman to beat race leader Lewis Hamilton in the final lap of the final race of the season to win his first World Championship. The Red Bull driver, following his overtake to clinch the top spot, kept his cool and closed off any gaps that could have been exploited. As he turned into the final corner, Verstappen took the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as well as his first World Championship.

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Until tomorrow,

Leela Prasad G and Rounak Bagchi

🔍ExplainSpeaking: Should India reverse economic reforms to reduce widening inequalities?

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🔍UK declares ‘Omicron emergency’, to give booster shots to all above 18 from this week

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🔍Explained: Why has Grofers rebranded itself as Blinkit

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🔍Explained: The q-commerce model, how your order is delivered in minutes

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🔍Explained: What is ‘co-lending’, allowed by RBI — and why has it come in for criticism?

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🔍Explained: What to watch in the Karnataka Legislative Council election results on December 14

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🔍Explained: Saudi Arabia’s ban on the Tablighi and Da’wah group

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🔍Explained: Why the Log4j vulnerability has tech firms worried

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🔍Explained: Why Julianna Pena beating Amanda Nunes is UFC’s biggest upset ever

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🔍Introduction of vaccine passports increased vaccination uptake in lagging countries, study finds

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🔍Explained: How CBSE papers are set

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🔍Explained: What all was wrong in the passage on women in CBSE’s English question paper?

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🔍Explained: What all was wrong in the passage on women in CBSE’s English question paper?

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Good morning,

🚨 *The Big Story*

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Rs 339-crore Kashi Vishwanath Dham Corridor project in Varanasi, his Lok Sabha constituency, where he said that it is a testament to a resurgent nation bridging its ancient civilisation and modernity. He also congratulated the UP government and described Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as a “karmayogi” for completing the project.

https://www.inexp.in/rX+MwY

⚡ *Only in the Express*

What had started as a daughter’s amateurish effort to save her two-times Olympic gold medal winner father’s hockey stories for posterity turned into an ambitious documentary project that saw her travel to Lahore to meet his dear friend and former Punjab teammate from undivided India, Shahzada Shahrukh.

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📰 *From the Front Page*

In the first major attack on security forces in Kashmir since the abrogation of J&K's special status, militants attacked a police bus in a highly fortified neighbourhood of Srinagar, killing two policemen and injuring 14 others, some of them critically. Police said the attack was carried out by an offshoot of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). According to official figures, 19 policemen have been killed in militant attacks in the Valley this year.

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Hours after the UK declared an "Omicron emergency" and decided to start booster doses for those over 18 years, the country reported the first death of a person infected with the new Covid variant. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that as of now, scientists were not sure whether the Omicron caused less or severe symptoms than the Delta variant.

https://www.inexp.in/4--Z16

The Missionaries of Charity, an organisation founded by Mother Teresa, has been booked under the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, 2003, for allegedly “hurting Hindu religious sentiments” and “luring towards Christianity young girls” in a shelter home it runs in Vadodara city. The organisation has rejected the charge. They are also accused of serving the girls non-vegetarian food despite being Hindus.

https://www.inexp.in/WtYW0x

👩‍💻 *Must Read*

Faced with a barrage of criticism, including in the Lok Sabha, over a comprehension passage in the Class 10 English Board exam held on Sunday, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), expressing regret over the “unfortunate incident”, dropped the passage and said full marks would be awarded to all students for the accompanying questions. The Board also said that it would review its question paper-setting process.

https://www.inexp.in/7mPFoh

As the protest by the 12 Opposition MPs suspended from Rajya Sabha entered the third week, there is unease among many of them over the lack of a united and aggressive floor strategy. The MPs were upset that Opposition members allowed the Government to carry out its legislative business. Sources said differences had cropped up last week itself after Opposition parties decided to suspend its protest for the second straight day as a mark of respect to Gen Bipin Rawat.

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Vishal Shah, the man in charge of everything to do with Metaverse at Meta, gave us a peek into the future of the internet. "Not a new internet, not a new set of protocols, not an entirely new foundation, but a new way to experience the Internet,” he said in an interview with The Indian Express.

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“We had named her Harnaaz which means everyone’s pride. Today she has proved that.” We caught up with the family of Harnaaz Sandhu, who brought home the Miss Universe title after 21 years.

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⌛ *And Finally...*

Delhi confidential: Amid increasing complaints from Opposition members that ministers are not giving proper replies in Question Hour, Speaker Om Birla on Monday had to call out repeatedly to the ministers to get their attention to reply to supplementary questions.

First it was Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda, who was engaged in a discussion with his junior minister, Bishweswar Tudu. “Mantriji…mantriji…” Birla called out. It took almost a half-a-minute for Munda to respond. Munda later said he was discussing the reply. Later it was Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy, who was engrossed in reading his files. He also had to be called out for his reply. Someone from the Opposition camp was heard quipping that no minister is attentive in the House.

https://www.inexp.in/4QNdO5

Until tomorrow,

Leela Prasad G