Above the Fold: Top stories of the day
1. Poll results show that Greek voters have said "no" in the referendum on bailout conditions for the country, potentially opening up the possibility of Greece exiting the eurozone.
2. The Coast Guard has intercepted a "suspicious" fishing boat off the coast of Kerala with 12 Iranian men on board. Authorities seized the boat's satellite communication rig as well as the Pakistani ID document found on board.
3. Great Britain beat India 5-1 in the Hockey World League, giving the Asian champions a fourth-place finish at the competition.
The Big Story: Shivraj shivers
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has yet to say anything publicly about the Vyapam scandal in Madhya Pradesh, a massive examination rigging scam with thousands accused and more than 40 people connected with it– including a journalist and the dean of a medical college – having died, many in suspicious circumstances. But the Centre has made a statement, through Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who on Sunday said that a "very fair enquiry" needs to be conducted into the mysterious death of an Aaj Tak journalist who was reporting on the scam.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan hasn't always had the most comfortable relationship with Modi, and in the initial months after the new government took over in Delhi, there were murmurs that the prime minister would find a way to reduce Singh's influence. Chouhan is a member of the LK Advani-Sushma Swaraj camp that spent much of 2012 and 2013 attempting to block Modi's rise to the top of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He has always projected an aam aadmi (ordinary person) image, with the suggestion that his office is about as corrupt as any other major Indian politician's.
With the government already under fire because of LalitGate and an increasing drumbeat of concerns over the Vyapam scam, believed to go all the way to Chouhan's office, it remains to be seen how the Centre is going to handle the chief minister. As with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, there are many in the BJP who would happily ask Chouhan to step aside. But this won't removed the problem of replacing them as well as concerns over admitting even limited culpability. The BJP is in for a difficult Parliament session.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's biggest story
Shivraj Singh Chouhan is in serious trouble after two more mysterious deaths in the Vyapam scam. Meet the whistleblowers who shook Madhya Pradesh, and now fear for their lives.
To get Scroll's Daily Fix, a compendium of all you need to know for the day (and a little more) on your phone, download our Android app.
Politicking & Policying
1. Actor and Bharatiya Janata Party functionary Gajendra Chauhan has insisted that he will not step down from the post of Film and Television Institute of India chairperson "on his own", despite the protests against him by students.
2. The Congress has raised a new request in the Parliamentary committee on land acquisition, demanding that the compensation for urban land be set at four times the market price as opposed to the current two times (an amount set by the Congress itself).
3. The BJP is struggling in vast swathes of Uttar Pradesh as disillusionment with the Narendra Modi government sets in. People are even fondly remembering the "efficient Mayawati administration", ringing alarm bells in the BJP camp.
4. The Information & Broadcasting Ministry is preparing a document suggesting the government should wash its hands of the FTII, which has seen 39 strikes in 55 years, suggesting that ownership be moved to Bollywood instead.
5. The Centre's planned drug survey in Punjab is also being seeing as an opportunity for the BJP to grow in the state, since it is likely the survey will put its ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal, on the backfoot.
Punditry
1. Santosh Desai in the Times of India points out that you look hard enough at any attempt at change, and you will easily find problems that suggest it isn't changing people – but this doesn't mean we should stand in the way of genuine efforts like #SelfieWithDaughter.
2. India's defence procurement system is so broken that it's not just tanks and aircraft we're unable to buy or build. Even basic requirements like guns and ammunition aren't easily acquired, writes Nitin Pai in the Business Standard.
3. A leader in the Indian Express points out the tremendous opportunity posed by Central Asia, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is touring this week, saying that from hydrocarbon resources to security cooperation, there is a lot that India has to gain.
4. Also in the Indian Express, Inder Malhotra says that since he started "pounding the corridors" of India's foreign office in the 1950s, he hasn't seen an External Affairs Minister act quite as brazenly and irresponsibly as Sushma Swaraj has in the Lalit Modi affair.
5. "Vyapam" has a reasonable claim to being the most sinister word in contemporary journalism, writes Mukul Kesavan in the Telegraph.
Don't Miss
C Christine Fair recounts the time she played make-believe with the often-oblivious Pakistani military.
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1. Poll results show that Greek voters have said "no" in the referendum on bailout conditions for the country, potentially opening up the possibility of Greece exiting the eurozone.
2. The Coast Guard has intercepted a "suspicious" fishing boat off the coast of Kerala with 12 Iranian men on board. Authorities seized the boat's satellite communication rig as well as the Pakistani ID document found on board.
3. Great Britain beat India 5-1 in the Hockey World League, giving the Asian champions a fourth-place finish at the competition.
The Big Story: Shivraj shivers
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has yet to say anything publicly about the Vyapam scandal in Madhya Pradesh, a massive examination rigging scam with thousands accused and more than 40 people connected with it– including a journalist and the dean of a medical college – having died, many in suspicious circumstances. But the Centre has made a statement, through Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who on Sunday said that a "very fair enquiry" needs to be conducted into the mysterious death of an Aaj Tak journalist who was reporting on the scam.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan hasn't always had the most comfortable relationship with Modi, and in the initial months after the new government took over in Delhi, there were murmurs that the prime minister would find a way to reduce Singh's influence. Chouhan is a member of the LK Advani-Sushma Swaraj camp that spent much of 2012 and 2013 attempting to block Modi's rise to the top of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He has always projected an aam aadmi (ordinary person) image, with the suggestion that his office is about as corrupt as any other major Indian politician's.
With the government already under fire because of LalitGate and an increasing drumbeat of concerns over the Vyapam scam, believed to go all the way to Chouhan's office, it remains to be seen how the Centre is going to handle the chief minister. As with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, there are many in the BJP who would happily ask Chouhan to step aside. But this won't removed the problem of replacing them as well as concerns over admitting even limited culpability. The BJP is in for a difficult Parliament session.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's biggest story
Shivraj Singh Chouhan is in serious trouble after two more mysterious deaths in the Vyapam scam. Meet the whistleblowers who shook Madhya Pradesh, and now fear for their lives.
To get Scroll's Daily Fix, a compendium of all you need to know for the day (and a little more) on your phone, download our Android app.
Politicking & Policying
1. Actor and Bharatiya Janata Party functionary Gajendra Chauhan has insisted that he will not step down from the post of Film and Television Institute of India chairperson "on his own", despite the protests against him by students.
2. The Congress has raised a new request in the Parliamentary committee on land acquisition, demanding that the compensation for urban land be set at four times the market price as opposed to the current two times (an amount set by the Congress itself).
3. The BJP is struggling in vast swathes of Uttar Pradesh as disillusionment with the Narendra Modi government sets in. People are even fondly remembering the "efficient Mayawati administration", ringing alarm bells in the BJP camp.
4. The Information & Broadcasting Ministry is preparing a document suggesting the government should wash its hands of the FTII, which has seen 39 strikes in 55 years, suggesting that ownership be moved to Bollywood instead.
5. The Centre's planned drug survey in Punjab is also being seeing as an opportunity for the BJP to grow in the state, since it is likely the survey will put its ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal, on the backfoot.
Punditry
1. Santosh Desai in the Times of India points out that you look hard enough at any attempt at change, and you will easily find problems that suggest it isn't changing people – but this doesn't mean we should stand in the way of genuine efforts like #SelfieWithDaughter.
2. India's defence procurement system is so broken that it's not just tanks and aircraft we're unable to buy or build. Even basic requirements like guns and ammunition aren't easily acquired, writes Nitin Pai in the Business Standard.
3. A leader in the Indian Express points out the tremendous opportunity posed by Central Asia, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is touring this week, saying that from hydrocarbon resources to security cooperation, there is a lot that India has to gain.
4. Also in the Indian Express, Inder Malhotra says that since he started "pounding the corridors" of India's foreign office in the 1950s, he hasn't seen an External Affairs Minister act quite as brazenly and irresponsibly as Sushma Swaraj has in the Lalit Modi affair.
5. "Vyapam" has a reasonable claim to being the most sinister word in contemporary journalism, writes Mukul Kesavan in the Telegraph.
Don't Miss
C Christine Fair recounts the time she played make-believe with the often-oblivious Pakistani military.
Really, I felt terribly for the men in Pakistan’s uniform, whether they were Pakistan’s regular forces or the Frontier Corps. Mostly these men, and many of their commanding officers, had no understanding that the people doing their best to kill them were the legitimate and illegitimate offspring of the purported strategic thinkers in the army and ISI. Even within the ISI itself, some were doing their best to eliminate those militants who began targeting the state, while others within the same organization were creating, aiding and abetting other terrorists and insurgents.