Your Daily Wrap: India’s retail inflation eases to 7.01% in June, Uddhav backs NDA’s presidential nominee; and more

Ahead of the July 18 Presidential election, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday announced support to NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu. Thackeray said the decision was taken without any pressure. The decision came a day after Shiv Sena lawmakers urged the former Maharashtra chief minister to extend support to NDA presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu. Earlier, Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut said the party will back her but said it does not mean it was supporting the BJP.

Meanwhile, Yashwant Sinha, the opposition’s nominee for the post, lashed out at the Union Government, accusing it of misusing central investigating agencies to “fix political rivals”. “In 60 years, I had never seen such a terror of government agencies the way I am seeing today. I stayed in Atalji’s government for five years. The infamous Enforcement Directorate, the income tax department etc…it had never even struck my mind to use these agencies to fix political opponents. Those days, there was never such misuse. But these days, both these ED and IT departments are being used so blatantly and shamelessly,” Sinha said, addressing a press conference.

The country’s retail inflation eased to 7.01 per cent in the month of June. Separately, India’s factory output, measured in terms of Index of Industrial Production (IIP), witnessed a growth of 19.6 per cent in May, two separate data released by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed on Tuesday. The retail inflation for the month of May was 7.04 per cent. This is the sixth consecutive month that the CPI data has breached the Reserve Bank of India’s upper margin of 6 per cent.

In Bihar, an invitation card to the Vidhan Sabha building’s centenary year seems to have caused some heartburn among the ruling JD(U) and RJD. Reason: The names of Bihar Governor, Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition are missing from it. The two-page invitation card begins with Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha’s invitation to people on the occasion of India’s 75th year of Independence ‘Amrit Mahotsava’ and closing function of centenary year of Assembly building foundation. The card, however, does not mention the presence of Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar or the Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav. The three are to share the dais with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the function.

In Sri Lanka, Basil Rajapaksa, the former finance minister and brother of the outgoing President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was turned back by airport officials during his attempt to leave the country today. Gotabaya Rajapaksa is due to resign Wednesday, after mass public protests that erupted over the weekend when demonstrators swarmed the presidential palace and vowed to occupy it until he steps down.

As Sri Lanka tries to find a leadership capable of pulling it out of its economic meltdown, choosing a Tamil candidate to lead the nation, a leader who can rise above the ethnic and communal divide, would be the step most commensurate with the enormity of the events of July 9, writes Nirupama Subramanian.

Political Pulse

The word “nikamma” and “ragdai”– first used by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in 2020 to refer to former deputy CM Sachin Pilot as he rebelled against the party with a group of MLAs – have reappeared in the Rajasthani political discourse. But almost two years later, a statement by Pilot on June 27 set off a range of reactions, replete with explanations on the usage and context of the words, from both factions of the party. Deep Mukherjee reports.

In an interview to The Indian Express, Trinamool Congress’ Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra speaks about the Kali controversy and insists she won’t back down from a fight. Moitra says she will stand by her statement “that to me, she (Godess Kali) is accepting of meat and alcohol.” “I will not tiptoe around religion just because everyone is scared to take on the BJP’s narrative of a homogenous faith. I am a proud Bengali, a proud Indian and I will defend this till I die,” she said. Read edited excerpts here.

Express Explained

In a bid to achieve profitability ahead of a potential public listing at some point over the next two years, edtech startup Unacademy has announced a slew of cost-cutting measures, including the discontinuation of its sponsorship of the Indian Premier League from next year. The firm has also informed employees about other belt-tightening measures, including pay cuts for founders and management and restrictions on business travel for employees and its tutors. Why are Unacademy’s new measures significant? What details are known of its cost-cutting push? We explain.

The United States space research agency NASA said in a release on July 11 that its James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe that has ever been seen, heralding a major event in astronomy. The JWST is the largest and most powerful telescope ever built. What is NASA’s James Webb Telescope? What can be seen in the image? Read here.

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