The Latest: Top stories of the day
1. A 51-page home ministry file now reveals that then Home Minister P Chidambaram signed the original affidavit describing Ishrat Jahan as part of a Lashkar-e-Toiba module.
2. A Mumbai court issues a non-bailable warrant against Kingfisher Airlines founder Vijay Mallya for money laundering.
3. In order to tackle the water crisis, the Maharashtra government is set to impose a five-year ban on sanctioning new sugar mills in the Marathwada region.
4. The Uttarakhand High Court has slammed the Centre for "cutting at the root of democracy" by imposing president's rule on the state.
The Big Story: Diamonds and dust
Dealing a blow to the cottage industry of Kohinoor nationalism, the Centre has told the Supreme Court that it cannot force Britain to return the famous diamond. The Kohinoor, it said, was not stolen but given to the British by Maharaja Ranjit Singh's heirs as "voluntary compensation" for the expenses of the Second Anglo-Sikh War. According to the Antiquities and Art Treasure Act, 1972, the Archaeological Survey of India can take up the matter of antiquities that were illegally exported. It does not cover treasures taken out of the country before Independence.
There is, of course, the question of repatriation, an idea that has found increasing resonance in last few years, much to the alarm of museum directors in the West. It demands the return of ancient or looted art to the countries of their origin. Egypt has been claiming the Rosetta stone, squirrelled out of the country in 1799 during French colonial rule. Greece has been asking for the Elgin Marbles, taken out of Athens by the British in the early 19th century, ostensibly to save them from the Turks. The Kohinoor, it could be argued, was part of the spoils of a criminal war of colonial expansion. In the decades since Independence, it has become a symbol of the many wrongs done to India by the British Raj. Returning the diamond, many think, would go a long way in correcting these wrongs.
But can we really correct history? No return of treasures or apology for past atrocities can undo the ravages of colonialism. Besides, the Kohinoor belonged to an undivided subcontinent, to a history that was later split up among India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Which country would it return to, and which history?
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's big story
Rhema Mukti Baxter records the Twitter reaction to the government's statement on the Kohinoor. Haroon Khalid on why Pakistan should also claim the Kohinoor but won't.
Politicking and policying
1. The labour ministry has eased planned restrictions on withdrawal of the employees provident fund if it is done to cover medical or housing expenses.
2. After Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's call for a "sangh-mukt Bharat", the BJP's legislature party leader in Bihar, Sushil Modi, dares him to ban the Rashtriy Swayamsevak Sangh.
3. On a visit to the United States, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley says there is much more tolerance in India, going by the US election speeches.
Punditry
1. In the Indian Express, Girish Kuber on how politics and sugarcane are intertwined in Maharashtra, where the drought is really a man-made disaster.
2. In the Hindu, Zia Mian and MV Raman argue progress in nuclear security lies in the US and Russia reducing their stockpiles, India and Pakistan putting an end to their competitive nuclearisation.
3. In the Telegraph, Brijesh D Jayal on what ails the Indian civil services.
Don't Miss...
Supriya Sharma on how changing the name of Gurgaon will do nothing for the workers of the automobile industry in those parts:
Not far from the glitzy highrises of the Millennium city is the automobile hub of Manesar. Here, hundreds of factories produce parts that are assembled into cars. On the shop floor of these factories, an alarming number of workers are losing their thumbs, fingers, sometimes entire hands to avoidable accidents.
Unlike the Eklavya of Mahabharata, these workers are not even aspiring to greatness. They have simply come to Gurgaon from the impoverished villages of North India to seek a living wage. Some of them are barely out of their teens. Almost none have been trained to work in a factory.
Often, the accidents take place at the end of a long, never-ending work shift, when the metal arm of a machine called power press comes down on the hand of a tired, sleepy worker.
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