The Latest: Top stories of the day
1. President's Rule will continue in Uttarakhand until May 3, when the case against it will come up in the Supreme Court, which struck down a High Court decision calling for a floor test this week.
2. The Supreme Court upheld a Bombay High Court order ordering cricket assocations to move Indian Premier League matches out of Maharashtra to save water.
3. Indian archer Deepika Kumari equaled the world record in the women's recurve event at the Archery World Cup.
The Big Story: Shoot and scoot
The Bharatiya Janata Party has already been rewarded for nominating its maverick leader Subramanian Swamy to the Rajya Sabha. On Wednesday, Swamy brought up Congress President Sonia Gandhi's name in connection with the AgustaWestland scandal, in which an Italian court has convicted top officials of the defence equipment company on corruption charges. Gandhi's name does turn up in the final verdict in the case, but without any reference to kickbacks.
Multiple outlets reported Congress Members of Parliament moving "menacingly" toward the treasury benches after Swamy brought up Gandhi's name. Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien later expunged the mentions from the record, saying Swamy mustn't name someone who cannot defend herself, since Gandhi is a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha. But the damage was done.
Indeed, the BJP will hope to earn plenty of mileage from the AgustaWestland conviction, since it offers a chance to remind the public of the issues of corruption that helped usher out the United Progressive Alliance in the first place. But, as the second anniversary of the Narendra Modi government approaches, the question does come up: Does the BJP want a Congress-mukt Bharat or a corruption-free India?
For all the bellicose promises before the election, the government has dragged its feet on investigating cases like the AgustaWestland one, where it took an Italian court to finally move ahead. Promises of investigations against former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra have also primarily been pushed by private individuals or BJP cast-offs, and not the government. The name of Ahmed Patel, Sonia Gandhi's trusted advisor, has barely come up in two years, despite BJP bluster.
It seems apparent that the BJP, concerned about allegations of a witch hunt and "intolerant India", is happier going after targets like Jawaharlal Nehru University students, and earning political mileage from bribery prosecutions in other countries, rather than taking on the task of actually investigating corruption at home in India.
Politicking & Policying
1. A committee looking into India's Non Performing Assets recommended the naming of all defaulters whose debts have been written off by state-owned banks.
2. Although there still is not clarity on the issue, the Supreme Court seems to have concluded that the common entrance test for aspiring medical students should be enforced from this session itself.
3. Authorities have already seized Rs 61 crore in cash in Tamil Nadu, since the model code of conduct came into place ahead of elections.
4. Among the other spats between the Aam Aadmi Party and the Centre now includes the Member of Parliament bus service, which the Delhi Government withdrew citing low usage. The Lok Sabha secretariat has responded angrily saying it was a service they were paying for, not a "favour."
5. Even if it doesn't turn into a victory, the sight of Left veteran Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on a stage together in West Bengal was historic.
Meltdown 2016
Displaced by drought: The many tales of migrants looking for water and work in big cities.
Punditry
1. The Khulbhushan Jadhav episode is proof that Pakistan's generals want to establish moral equivalence on terrorism with India, writes Vivek Katju in the Indian Express.
2. Why do healthy girl children grow into undernourished women in India, asks Roshan Kishore in Mint.
3. Kanika Datta in the Business Standard considers what might have happened if the Tata Nano factory had not moved out of West Bengal.
Don't Miss
Manish Gaekwad writes about a mockumentary that reminds us of our favourite animals on screen, from Tuffy to Dhanno.
What the film does achieve is to remind us of the numerous industrious birds and animals that have featured in Barjatya’s films. In Maine Pyar Kiya (1989) the song “Kabootar Ja Ja Ja” is dedicated to a pigeon named Handsome. The heroine urges Handsome to deliver a love letter to the hero after the clever bird picks up her undelivered missive and hints that it can do the job.
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