Good morning, The Big Story
Amid a fall in production and higher overseas demand, the all-India monthly average retail price of wheat flour (atta) was Rs 32.38 per kg in April, the highest since January 2010. Among the 156 centres for which data are available, the price on Saturday was the highest in Port Blair (Rs 59/ kg) and lowest (Rs 22/ kg) in West Bengal’s Purulia. The high domestic price of diesel has also added to the logistics cost of both wheat and flour. Only in the Express
As the country fought the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in mid-2020, the Ministry of Finance’s economic division was drafting a strategy to counter the “negative commentary” on India by global think-tanks, indices, and media, amidst worries that this could lead to downgrading of sovereign rating to “junk”. A 36-page internal presentation seen by The Indian Express cited issues such as the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019, Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, National Register of Citizens and construction of Ram temple, that might influence rating agencies. In this edition of Idea Exchange, EU Ambassador Ugo Astuto shares how Europe has a renewed interest in India and both can work together to deepen strategic partnerships on climate, green energy and connectivity while ensuring a rule-based order. From the Front Page One of the petitioners in the Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi Mosque complex dispute, Delhi resident Rakhi Singh, is all set to withdraw from the petition today, her lawyer told The Indian Express. The other four petitioners, all residents of Varansi, will continue with the legal proceedings. Asked why his client was pulling out, Advocate Hari Shankar Jain said: “There must be some reason if she is withdrawing.” Pushing forward Chinese President Xi Jinping’s concept of a “Global Security Initiative”, an important Chinese official has said that the Indo-Pacific strategy of the United States, “if left unchecked”, would bring “horrible consequences and push the Asia-Pacific over the edge of an abyss”. In an incident that raises questions over the handling of air travellers with special needs, budget airline IndiGo allegedly denied boarding to a specially-abled child on a Hyderabad-bound flight at the Ranchi airport on Saturday. The incident was brought to light in a Facebook post by a passenger at the airport who was waiting to board another flight. The author of the post, Manisha Gupta, told The Indian Express that the IndiGo staff “did not show any compassion”. 
A man bathes at a fountain on a hot summer day in New Delhi, Sunday, May 8, 2022. (PTI) Must Read
In the second religious ceremony held at the ruins of the 8th century Martand Sun temple in the last three days, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha participated in a “navagraha ashatamangalm pooja” at the temple on Sunday. The temple is a protected monument under the charge of the central government’s Archaeological Survey of India and has been tagged as a “site of national importance”. Notably, the ASI does not permit prayers at a protected site unless it was a functioning place of worship at the time the body took charge of it. The mid-range SUV space, the fastest growing segment in the country’s car market, is bracing for a technological face-off. South Koreans currently dominate this space, with Hyundai Motor and Kia Motor packing in multiple models that run on both diesel and petrol mills. Meanwhile, the Japanese counter, led by Maruti Suzuki India and Toyota Motor, is focussed on a petrol-only strategy, riding purely on petrol-powered engines mated with hybrid systems. Two new Suzuki-Toyota SUVs, both powered by petrol engines with hybrid drive units, promise to deliver higher power and considerably better fuel economy to stay in the fight with the diesel options offered by the others. What is India’s ‘real’ Covid death toll? While as per government data, the number of deaths presently stands at around 5.2 lakh, several studies have suggested that India’s official toll is an undercount. The WHO’s latest report on excess mortality due to Covid-19 claims that the country’s actual death toll could be almost 10 times more than what the government has projected. While these figures are being debated, many important nuances are being missed. We explain how the death toll is calculated and why it is difficult to measure the scale of the undercount in a situation like this. And Finally...
When 36-year-old Geethu Anna Jose pictured her basketball comeback, she imagined a peach chiffon sari trailing behind her and her hair flowing like Kajol in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. But in reality, Jose saw a bloodbath on the court, where a teammate was straight slapped and went down wincing in pain. "The referees didn't even care!" Geethu recalls amidst horrified giggles. "Only if someone kills you, will they probably give a foul in 3-by-3 basketball!” A mother of two children now, Geethu jokes that her kids are going to end up watching a 'rowdy player version' of their mother on court in the 3x3 format, adding she has no choice but to adapt to the rough, physical manifestation of basketball, a sport where the 6'2" was India's best in 5X5 till 2013. 🤫 Delhi confidential: In a bid to quell concerns about the December 4 killing of civilians in Mon district by security forces and to provide “healing touch” in Nagaland, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar visited the district where he announced that he has come there as “PM Narendra Modi's representative” and as their “colleague, partner and friend in New Delhi”. Being the first Union minister to visit the district after the December killings, Chandrasekhar spent time with the villagers at the residence of Rajya Sabha MP from Nagaland S Phangnon Konyak, who is also the granddaughter of the founder of Mon town. 🎧 In today’s episode of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we discuss the arrest of BJP's Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga by Punjab police. Until tomorrow,
Leela Prasad G and Rahel Philipose
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