The Big Story: Faster, Higher, Stronger

The Olympics begin today. Well, technically the Opening Ceremony will only be live in India at 4.30 am on Saturday morning, but Friday marks the start of yet another Summer Games, an extravaganza that is meant to be about the limits to which the human body can push itself. However, in recent decades, the competition has often ended up being about other less inspirational things: disease, poverty, global politics, corruption and commercialism. This year's edition, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is no different.

There's no better quote to exemplify this than this statement from an official of NBCUniversal, which bought the rights to broadcast the Olympics in the US. "It sounds a little bit distorted or perverse," but news coverage of the Zika disease as well as the other problems at Rio, "just raises awareness that there are Olympic Games going on in South America". That's right, he's pointing out that Zika outbreaks are reminding more people about the Olympics.

India goes to Rio with its largest-ever Olympic contingent: 118 athletes in all. That number was supposed to be 120, but two had to stay behind because of doping issues, and there are concerns that still more will fall afoul of this net. Nevertheless, India is hoping to pull in a double-digit haul of medals, and maybe, just maybe even bring home an individual gold.

The shooting, wrestling and boxing teams, including men and women, hold tremendous promise, while much attention will also be paid to the traditional heavyweights: hockey, badminton, tennis. Dutee Chand, who won a landmark gender case against the international athletics federation, will also be flying India's flag high. Let the games begin.

The Big Scroll

Political Pickings

  1. A day after passing the Constitional Amendment to usher in the Goods and Services Tax in the Rajya Sabha, the government indicated it would push for a rate above 18%.
  2. The Delhi High Court on Thursday ruled that Delhi remains a Union Territory, despite a few other frills, which means its chief administrator is the Lt. Governor – a blow to the Aam Aadmi Party, which is now appealing in the Supreme Court.
  3. The Bharatiya Janata Party has yet to announce a successor to Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel who resigned earlier in the week. Patels appear to be lobbying hard for one of their own to get the job. 
  4. The Central government seems to have decided it doesn't need additional help in aiding the citizens in the Gulf and that Junior External Affairs Minister VK Singh will do: It refused to issue a diplomatic passport to a Kerala minister who intended to visit Saudi. 

Punditry

  1. A leader in Mint applauds the passage of the Goods and Services Tax Bill and calls on the government to turn its sights to direct tax reform next.
  2. Sandeep Dwivedi in the Indian Express uses the Indian women athletes' blazer-saree look (what you will see at the opening ceremony tonight) as a way of explaining the confused nature of India's approach to the Olympics. 
  3. The unbearable stench of Donald Trump's BS, by Fareed Zakaria in the Washington Post. 

Giggles

Don't Miss

Rayan Naqash and Priyanka Vora ask: Will the victims of pellet guns in Kashmir ever regain their eyesight?

Visiting eye surgeon, Dr S Natarajan, who has performed marathon surgeries on 40 such patients at the hospital, was hesitant to comment on how many of them will actually be able to see again.

“It will take at least six weeks to a year for us to know the outcome of the surgeries we did,” said Natarajan, who runs an eye hospital in Mumbai.