A woman rides her scooter past advertisements of Jio in Ahmedabad. (Reuters photo)
The biggest headline of the day is due to an institute that is still to throw its doors open. Also, Twitter blocks a prominent poll handle in India over abuse, the first semi-final of the World Cup is tonight and the Supreme Court is reviewing its decision deeming homosexuality illegal.
The case of the missing Institute of Eminence
Three established public giants, two prominent private ones, and the Reliance Foundation’s proposed Jio Institute in Navi Mumbai. These are the six institutes chosen by the government for the status of Institute of Eminence. An expert committee that was to recommend 20 institutes, recommended just 11, of which only three were private.
So what’s the advantage of having the Institute of Eminence status? institutes get greater autonomy, can decide their fees and have flexible course durations and structure. The controversy over Jio Institute is due to the fact that it has been granted the status even before it has been set up. Understandably, other private institutes aren’t amused.
“You cannot say you could not pick 20 institutions because they had an unimpressive track record and then pick one that has zero track record,” a member of the governing body of a private university in north India told Scroll.
The Ministry of Human Resources Development has since tweeted, accusing its critics of a misinformation campaign. It pointed out that the status can be bestowed on institutes that are being developed, provided the sponsoring organisation submits a convincing perspective plan for 15 years.
But while the Jio Institute is yet to go online, someone’s already made a Twitter parody handle of the same name and is tweeting away, much to the merriment of Twitter users.
Twitter blocks poll handle accused of abuse, its founder blames losers
“If you could slap one person who would it be?”
“Which of these journalists could be capable of hiding important news for a bribe?”
@MyVoteToday, a Twitter handle that conducted these among many polls and claims to have “done a lot of work for the PMO”, is now offline. The handle, claiming to be the world’s second largest pollster, was taken offline by Twitter after reports of abuse.
The handle, along with 27 other handles run by the same promoter, were blocked by Twitter last week. Its promoter blames ‘losers of polls’ and called this a conspiracy to defame him. He says he’ll be taking it up with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Mumbai shuts down over rains again
The country’s financial capital has been paralyzed by heavy rains for the second day running.
You can track live updates here.
Supreme Court starts hearing petition against outlawing homosexuality
The Supreme Court is hearing a petition challenging an earlier verdict by the apex court that upheld a law that deemed homosexuality illegal. This, despite the central government asking for it to be deferred. You can track live updates here.
Also read Keshav Suri’s column on how to start a conversation on LGBTQI issues at home.
European titans clash
In what may decide who’ll win the World Cup, France and Belgium face-off in the semi-finals at 11:30 pm. It will also pit international stars against club teammates and a French star against his nation. Can you ask for more drama in one match? Read our column on the clash of the titans.
The importance of South Korea
In his column, C Raja Mohan points out the importance of improving ties between India and South Korea not just over strategic issues but economic ones as well.
“As a trade war unfolds between the world’s major economies, Delhi and Seoul have an urgent need to liberalise their own bilateral trade relations,” he writes.
Pakistan’s judiciary problem
Author and analyst Ayesha Siddiqa points out it’s not just the military but the judiciary that is as much to blame for the current situation in Pakistan. “It seems to be collapsing under the weight of its current partnership with the military establishment in the civil-military battle,” she writes.
Roger Federer is also the ICC’s top test team
He’s probably the GOAT of tennis, but he also seems to have a mean defence. Or so the Wimbledon Twitter handle would have us believe. The ICC handle took it a step further and claimed to give his the No 1 test batsman ranking.