Good morning, From shoot-at-sight orders in Sri Lanka to the 2.27 lakh Covid death claims settled by life insurance companies in India, here are the top reads from today’s edition. The Big Story
A day after Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned as Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, leading to violent protests, the armed forces have been ordered to shoot at any person damaging public property or threatening lives, a Defence Ministry spokesman said. With Mahinda and his family reported to have fled to the Trincomalee Naval Base, anti-government protesters set up a checkpoint on the road leading to the Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo to prevent the Rajapaksa family loyalists from fleeing the country.
India, on its part, sought to distance itself from the Sri Lankan government and pledged support to the “people of Sri Lanka”. Taking a nuanced view of the developments, India said it will “always be guided by the best interests of the people of Sri Lanka expressed through democratic processes”. Only in the Express
With the state tense after the blast in Punjab Police’s Intelligence headquarters in Mohali, sources told The Indian Express that preliminary investigations indicate the attack was allegedly orchestrated by a wanted gangster, Harvinder Singh alias Rinda, who is believed to be currently based in Pakistan and involved in terror operations against India. As many as 2,27,268 Covid death claims were settled by life insurance companies, paying Rs 17,362.48 crore since the pandemic hit the country in March 2020, according to data obtained by The Indian Express through a Right to Information (RTI) application. From the Front Page While the trend of increasing registrations of deaths in India continued in 2020 as well, Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous state, saw a big drop, despite the fact that the total number of deaths would probably have risen due to the Covid-19 pandemic. According to data from the Civil Registration System (CRS), UP registered 8.73 lakh deaths in 2020, down from 9.44 lakh deaths registered in 2019. Responding to the Centre’s request seeking time to reconsider and re-examine IPC Section 124A dealing with the offence of sedition, the Supreme Court sought to know if the government will direct states to keep cases under the provision in abeyance until the promised exercise is completed. The Solicitor General, appearing for the Centre, said he will discuss with the government. Must Read
When India grappled with a brutal second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, a four-member team of Reuters photojournalists captured moments of intimacy and devastation — from family members embracing each other in PPE suits to mourn the death of a relative in Delhi in April 2021, to a girl pressing the chest of her father who was finding it difficult to breathe after falling unconscious while receiving oxygen support at a gurudwara in Ghaziabad, UP. The team — which includes Danish Siddiqui, who was killed last year while covering the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan — was awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize-2022 in the feature photography category. PC Mohanan and Amitabh Kundu write on why there’s no consensus on Covid-19 death numbers: “Clearly, there is an urgent need to have robust data from local government agencies collated scientifically and also validated through external mechanisms like field surveys. Unfortunately, this is not happening. Data analysis is also constrained by the fact that most departments present data in dashboards with the underlying data inaccessible to researchers. Till then claims and counterclaims will remain.” On Monday, during intra-day trade, the Indian rupee hit an all-time low exchange rate of 77.6 against the US dollar. At the time of going to print, it was 77.20 to a dollar. The previous lowest was 76.9. It has been a sharp fall in a matter of days: The rupee was at 76 to a dollar on May 5, when the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates. We explain what the exchange rate signifies and how it is determined. And Finally...
Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma exalted the santoor – once a little-known trapezoid-shaped, stringed instrument – from the folk circuit of Jammu and Kashmir and placed it on the proscenium alongside other more traditional and heavyweight classical instruments such as the sitar and sarod. But the path to owning an instrument that has been an accompaniment for Sufiana mausiqi (music) for centuries and turning it into one that would fit into the complex world of ragas, riyaaz and relentless critique was long and arduous. He passed away in Mumbai after suffering a cardiac arrest.
🤫Delhi Confidential: Attorney General of India KK Vennugopral is a veteran of farewells for others. On every farewell of a Supreme Court judge, he has a customary remark about judges retiring too soon and a nudge to the government to increase the age of retirement. During the farewell of SC judge Vineet Saran on Tuesday, Venugopal said he wishes every retiring judge gets at least five more years in office but he would not wish that for Justice Saran. “He’s a golfer. I hope he gets to pursue his passion,” Venugopal said.
🎧 In today’s episode of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we discuss the crisis in Sri Lanka and the PM's resignation. Until tomorrow,
Rahel Philipose and Sonal Gupta
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