Above the Fold: Top stories of the day
1. An ongoing mobile spectrum auction could end up earning the Indian government more than Rs 1,00,000 crore.
2. An Indian female software consultant was stabbed to death in Sydney.
3. The Indian Space Research Organisation has found that the Indian Sunderbans has been losing its green cover.
4. Indian badminton star Saina Nehwal missed out on the prestigious All-England crown, losing in the final to world champion Carolina Marin.
5. The Reserve Bank of India has red-flagged a provision in the government's Finance Bill that could take away the central bank's control of interest-rate instruments.
The Big Story: Unparliamentary Behaviour
Brace yourselves. Having already grabbed on to the legislation to replace the Land Acquisition Ordinance as a stick to beat the government with, the Opposition is now arming itself with more weapons by the day. Monday will certainly see uproar over the Jammu and Kashmir government's decision to release a separatist accused of organising violent protests in the state.
Meanwhile, the government has to attempt bringing in legislation to replace the slew of ordinances that were promulgated after the last Parliamentary session was unproductive. On Monday, this will include only the less contentious Mining and Motor Vehicle Acts in the Rajya Sabha. But even here, the Opposition is planning to resort to statutory resolution to send a message that ordinances are not the way to go.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's floor managers spent the long weekend attempting to make this week smoother for the government. We'll now see how successful they've been.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's biggest story
Don’t mistake land acquisition for national interest: it’s a contest for power. And as the BJP works the numbers over the land bill, Opposition plots to avoid a joint parliament session.
Need-to-Know 1: Bipolar State
The Jammu and Kashmir coalition government, involving the BJP and the People's Democratic Party, is already under serious stress, thanks to the decision to release Masarat Alam, a separatist known for having organised anti-India protests. Rumours suggest the government is set to release more separatists, while the BJP scrambles to insist this wasn't part of the common minimum programme agreed to by the two parties.
Need-to-Know 2: Still AAP in the air
The Aam Aadmi Party internal battle continues to gather steam as party leader Ashutosh revealed that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has used his I'm-ready-to-resign card on far more occasions than the public knew about. More voices have begun to accuse now-sidelined leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan of trying to grab control away from Kejriwal. As Scroll reports, controversial emails sent by Bhushan's sister to NRI supporters in January played a big role in pushing the party to the brink.
Politicking: Top political stories
1. The Congress, already a centre-left party, is set to go even further towards being "pro-poor" in an effort to define itself better.
2. The Andhra Pradesh government is set to drop any mention of the Telangana statehood movement from its text books.
3. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is in Delhi on Monday to meet the prime minister.
4. The Uttar Pradesh Congress unit thinks it can revive its fortunes by proving that the Samajwadi Party is cozying up to Modi.
5. Bangalore has been emerging as a major hub for political entrepreneurship.
Giggle
Punditry: The best commentary
1. The government has absolutely no reason to be banning India's Daughter, says N. Ram in the Hindu.
2. They've framed it as being anti-farmer, but farmers aren't the only stakeholders in the land acquisition debate writes Arghya Sengupta in the Times of India.
3. India needs a new Hindu party, one that is plural and liberal, says Saubhik Chakrabarti in the Economic Times.
4. Arnab Goswami, in the Huffington Post, calls Vinod Mehta the greatest editor of our times.
5. MJ Akbar in the Economic Times, says that the last three publications Mehta edited also serve as the perfect obituary for him: Independent, Pioneer, Outlook.
Don't Miss:
Rakesh Ranjan in the Mail Today reports on a development project being blocked ‒ by gods.
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letters@scroll.in.
1. An ongoing mobile spectrum auction could end up earning the Indian government more than Rs 1,00,000 crore.
2. An Indian female software consultant was stabbed to death in Sydney.
3. The Indian Space Research Organisation has found that the Indian Sunderbans has been losing its green cover.
4. Indian badminton star Saina Nehwal missed out on the prestigious All-England crown, losing in the final to world champion Carolina Marin.
5. The Reserve Bank of India has red-flagged a provision in the government's Finance Bill that could take away the central bank's control of interest-rate instruments.
The Big Story: Unparliamentary Behaviour
Brace yourselves. Having already grabbed on to the legislation to replace the Land Acquisition Ordinance as a stick to beat the government with, the Opposition is now arming itself with more weapons by the day. Monday will certainly see uproar over the Jammu and Kashmir government's decision to release a separatist accused of organising violent protests in the state.
Meanwhile, the government has to attempt bringing in legislation to replace the slew of ordinances that were promulgated after the last Parliamentary session was unproductive. On Monday, this will include only the less contentious Mining and Motor Vehicle Acts in the Rajya Sabha. But even here, the Opposition is planning to resort to statutory resolution to send a message that ordinances are not the way to go.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's floor managers spent the long weekend attempting to make this week smoother for the government. We'll now see how successful they've been.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's biggest story
Don’t mistake land acquisition for national interest: it’s a contest for power. And as the BJP works the numbers over the land bill, Opposition plots to avoid a joint parliament session.
Need-to-Know 1: Bipolar State
The Jammu and Kashmir coalition government, involving the BJP and the People's Democratic Party, is already under serious stress, thanks to the decision to release Masarat Alam, a separatist known for having organised anti-India protests. Rumours suggest the government is set to release more separatists, while the BJP scrambles to insist this wasn't part of the common minimum programme agreed to by the two parties.
Need-to-Know 2: Still AAP in the air
The Aam Aadmi Party internal battle continues to gather steam as party leader Ashutosh revealed that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has used his I'm-ready-to-resign card on far more occasions than the public knew about. More voices have begun to accuse now-sidelined leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan of trying to grab control away from Kejriwal. As Scroll reports, controversial emails sent by Bhushan's sister to NRI supporters in January played a big role in pushing the party to the brink.
Politicking: Top political stories
1. The Congress, already a centre-left party, is set to go even further towards being "pro-poor" in an effort to define itself better.
2. The Andhra Pradesh government is set to drop any mention of the Telangana statehood movement from its text books.
3. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is in Delhi on Monday to meet the prime minister.
4. The Uttar Pradesh Congress unit thinks it can revive its fortunes by proving that the Samajwadi Party is cozying up to Modi.
5. Bangalore has been emerging as a major hub for political entrepreneurship.
Giggle
Vinod Mehta (1942-2015). My #cartoon pic.twitter.com/NQhiXrHk0o
— MANJUL (@MANJULtoons) March 9, 2015Punditry: The best commentary
1. The government has absolutely no reason to be banning India's Daughter, says N. Ram in the Hindu.
2. They've framed it as being anti-farmer, but farmers aren't the only stakeholders in the land acquisition debate writes Arghya Sengupta in the Times of India.
3. India needs a new Hindu party, one that is plural and liberal, says Saubhik Chakrabarti in the Economic Times.
4. Arnab Goswami, in the Huffington Post, calls Vinod Mehta the greatest editor of our times.
5. MJ Akbar in the Economic Times, says that the last three publications Mehta edited also serve as the perfect obituary for him: Independent, Pioneer, Outlook.
Don't Miss:
Rakesh Ranjan in the Mail Today reports on a development project being blocked ‒ by gods.
“These religious structures have delayed the project by over six months. The religious committee of the Delhi government is yet to decide on the relocation or part demolition of these structures. The delay is causing a loss of approximately Rs 50 lakh per day to the government,” said a senior PWD official.
