Above the Fold: Top stories of the day
1. A Bihar court has ordered a case to be filed against Union minister, Giriraj Singh for his racial remarks about Sonia Gandhi.
2. IAS officer Ashok Khemka’s transfer was “routine”, said Haryana Chief Minster Manohar Lal Khattar.
3. Suspected militants ambushed an army convoy, killing three soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh.
4. Another batch of of over 300 Indians are to be evacuated from Yemen via the sea route.
5. Al Shabaab gunmen attacked a university campus in Kenya killing 147 people.
6. The Pew Research Centre has predicted that Hindus will be the world's third-largest religious group by 2050.
The Big Story: Saudi offensive in Yemen continues as India looks to evacuate its citizens
Last week, Saudi Arabia and a coalition of Sunni states launched airstrikes against a Houthi insurgency in Yemen in an operation called Operation Decisive Storm. The Houthis are Shia and the Sauids allege that they are backed by Iran.
This military action was always to be a risk taken by the new monarch King Salman, two months after he ascended to the throne. A week after hostilities began, the Houthis have advanced steadily even as the Saudis came in for criticism for bombing a refugee camp and a dairy factory.
India has about 4,000 citizens in the war-town country and is working steadily to rescue them by ship and plane. Three hundred and fifty Indians were evacuated on Tuesday with another 300 being rescued on Thursday.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's biggest story
Even as the conflict in Yemen escalates, India needs to do all it can to evacuate its citizens from the war-torn country. Rescue operations are continuing by sea and air.
In this, it’s reassuring that India has a pretty good record when it comes to emergency evacuations: the greatest civilian airlift in history was carried out by India during the 1990 Gulf War.
In all of this though, neighbour Pakistan has much to worry about as it debates whether to assist the House of Saud militarily. The US also needs to do some thinking since the Yemen conflict illustrates how its strategy of using drones really isn’t working all that well.
Politicking & Policy-ing
1. Rahul Gandhi will be be back soon promises his mother and party chief, Sonia Gandhi.
2. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has contested prohibitory orders issued by the West Bengal government barring Praveen Togadia from entering the state.
3. Acting on the directions of its parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Bharatiya Janata Party is conducting training sessions for newly elected members of legislative assemblies.
4. Narendra Modi will bid for the 2024 Olympics to be held in his home state of Gujarat.
Giggle
Punditry
1. In The Indian Express, Harish Damodaran explains how cow protection laws will actually reduce the number of Indian cows.
2. In The Hindu, Sanjayu Baru reminds us of the legacy of PV Narasimha Rao.
3. Sanjay Kumar and Pranav Gupta write about how, overshadowed by the land bill debate, real farmer issues are being ignored.
4. In Mint, Peter Ronald D’Souza and Errol D’Souza argue that Jagdish Bhagwati can't dismiss the fears of a peaceful religious minority by merely calling them the "product of a fevered imagination".
Don’t Miss
M Rajshekhar explains how the BJP is botching up its attempt to win hearts and minds in the predominantly Christian state of Mizoram. Last week, the Modi government sacked the state governor ‒ making him the sixth occupant to leave Raj Bhavan since the BJP won the national elections in May. With this, Mizos are getting the distinct impression that the state has become a dumping ground for incompetent candidates.
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1. A Bihar court has ordered a case to be filed against Union minister, Giriraj Singh for his racial remarks about Sonia Gandhi.
2. IAS officer Ashok Khemka’s transfer was “routine”, said Haryana Chief Minster Manohar Lal Khattar.
3. Suspected militants ambushed an army convoy, killing three soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh.
4. Another batch of of over 300 Indians are to be evacuated from Yemen via the sea route.
5. Al Shabaab gunmen attacked a university campus in Kenya killing 147 people.
6. The Pew Research Centre has predicted that Hindus will be the world's third-largest religious group by 2050.
The Big Story: Saudi offensive in Yemen continues as India looks to evacuate its citizens
Last week, Saudi Arabia and a coalition of Sunni states launched airstrikes against a Houthi insurgency in Yemen in an operation called Operation Decisive Storm. The Houthis are Shia and the Sauids allege that they are backed by Iran.
This military action was always to be a risk taken by the new monarch King Salman, two months after he ascended to the throne. A week after hostilities began, the Houthis have advanced steadily even as the Saudis came in for criticism for bombing a refugee camp and a dairy factory.
India has about 4,000 citizens in the war-town country and is working steadily to rescue them by ship and plane. Three hundred and fifty Indians were evacuated on Tuesday with another 300 being rescued on Thursday.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's biggest story
Even as the conflict in Yemen escalates, India needs to do all it can to evacuate its citizens from the war-torn country. Rescue operations are continuing by sea and air.
In this, it’s reassuring that India has a pretty good record when it comes to emergency evacuations: the greatest civilian airlift in history was carried out by India during the 1990 Gulf War.
In all of this though, neighbour Pakistan has much to worry about as it debates whether to assist the House of Saud militarily. The US also needs to do some thinking since the Yemen conflict illustrates how its strategy of using drones really isn’t working all that well.
Politicking & Policy-ing
1. Rahul Gandhi will be be back soon promises his mother and party chief, Sonia Gandhi.
2. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has contested prohibitory orders issued by the West Bengal government barring Praveen Togadia from entering the state.
3. Acting on the directions of its parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Bharatiya Janata Party is conducting training sessions for newly elected members of legislative assemblies.
4. Narendra Modi will bid for the 2024 Olympics to be held in his home state of Gujarat.
Giggle
ET cartoon pic.twitter.com/4ZBYHvvK2Q
— R Prasad (@rprasad66) April 2, 2015Punditry
1. In The Indian Express, Harish Damodaran explains how cow protection laws will actually reduce the number of Indian cows.
2. In The Hindu, Sanjayu Baru reminds us of the legacy of PV Narasimha Rao.
3. Sanjay Kumar and Pranav Gupta write about how, overshadowed by the land bill debate, real farmer issues are being ignored.
4. In Mint, Peter Ronald D’Souza and Errol D’Souza argue that Jagdish Bhagwati can't dismiss the fears of a peaceful religious minority by merely calling them the "product of a fevered imagination".
Don’t Miss
M Rajshekhar explains how the BJP is botching up its attempt to win hearts and minds in the predominantly Christian state of Mizoram. Last week, the Modi government sacked the state governor ‒ making him the sixth occupant to leave Raj Bhavan since the BJP won the national elections in May. With this, Mizos are getting the distinct impression that the state has become a dumping ground for incompetent candidates.
