PAUSE
❗️WHAT: On Wednesday, North Delhi Municipal Corporation razed several shops and structures in Jahangirpuri claiming that they were illegal encroachments, and without giving any notice to owners who were mostly Muslim. The drive began four days after communal violence in the area.
🗓 NOW: The Supreme Court—which intervened twice to stop the drive yesterday—has extended its order to halt demolitions for two weeks. The court also said it will take a "serious view" of the fact that municipal authorities continued to raze down structures for almost two hours after the court's first intervention.
✂️ ACROSS: Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the New Delhi Municipal Council, told the court that the eviction drive had started in January and notices were issued before the Wednesday’s demolition drive. He also said that the allegations that only Muslims were targeted were “factually incorrect”.
📄 ALSO: The National Commission for Minorities will submit a report to the Centre on the violence that broke out in the area of April 16.
🔎 A PATTERN: Demolition drives against those accused of communal violence, often without cause, have been conducted before in UP, and more recently, in MP’s Khargone on April 11.
NOT WELCOME
🇺🇸 CONTEXT: US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar visited Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as part of a four-day visit to Pakistan from April 20 to April 24. She also met Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and former PM Imran Khan.
🇮🇳 INDIA is not pleased.
🗯 ON THE RECORD: “If such a politician [Omar] wishes to practice her narrow-minded politics at home, that may be her business. But violating our territorial integrity and sovereignty in its pursuit makes it ours. This visit is condemnable.”—Ministry of External Affairs
✊🏾 SUBTEXT: Omar is a vocal critic of the Modi government on the issue of human rights and has, more than once, accused India of pursuing an anti-Muslim policy.
DAY 57 OF RUSSIA’S WAR: UPDATES
1️⃣ Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed the “liberation” of Mariupol after being told that his troops now control all of the Ukrainian port city, except for the Azovstal steel plant which Ukrainian forces, now cornered, have turned into a fortress.
2️⃣ Putin reportedly gave an order to his troops to stop trying to seize the steel plant as he “now finds it unnecessary”. He also ordered them to surround it nonetheless so that “not even a fly can get in”.
3️⃣ Ukraine said it is ready for a “special round of negotiations” in Mariupol with no conditions “to save our guys … military, civilians, children, the living and the wounded”, a day after Russia said it had lost faith in Ukrainian negotiators.
4️⃣ Russia is “most likely” to intensify attacks in Ukraine before their May 9 Victory Day celebrations, per UK intelligence.
5️⃣ Russia has said it had test-launched its Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, a new addition to its nuclear arsenal, saying it will “provide food for thought for those who, in the heat of frenzied aggressive rhetoric, try to threaten our country.”
6️⃣ More than five million people have now fled Ukraine following the Russian invasion, the United Nations says. But one million have also returned home.
🥀 A 91-year-old Holocaust survivor, Vanda Semyonovna Obiedkova, died in Mariupol while pleading for water in a basement.
FEAR NOT
🗯 ON THE RECORD: “First thing I would like to reassure is, no doubts have been raised on the safety and efficacy of Covaxin. Those have been shown and confirmed through clinical trials.”
🌍 CONTEXT: Earlier this month, the WHO suspended the supply of Covaxin through UN agencies after it found its facilities and processes lacking by its standards of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).
💉 BHARAT BIOTECH REACTION: Two weeks ago, Bharat Biotech has said it would temporarily slow down the production of Covaxin to “focus on pending facility maintenance, process, and facility optimisation activities”. It has shut down two facilities at Gujarat’s Ankleshwar; one at the Indian Immunologicals Limited; and, except for one all facilities at Hyderabad have been closed down.
WATCH NOW: UNDERCOUNTING DEATHS (STILL)
Since Feb 2021, the World Heath Organisation has been putting together estimates of deaths caused by Covid-19. It was ready to publish the report on Dec. 2021, but some countries—like India—have been stalling its release, calling the WHO's process not scientific enough. At stake: WHO's report, when published, will show India's death toll to be at least eight times more than what the government maintains. Watch our latest deep-dive into this #newsworthy story.
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