Conor McGregor aur Ambanis ki horror jodi

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Raghav Bikhchandani & Yash Budhwar

The ONOE bill: A first sign of BJP weakness

The context: Once upon a time, state and national elections were held at the same time. Then Indira Gandhi came along—and state governments began collapsing before their five-year term expired—due to defections, resort politics etc. All of which now makes it difficult to synchronise their election cycle with that of the parliament. Various governments have favoured the idea of going back to the ‘One Nation, One Election’ system—but the current sarkaar has been the most enthusiastic.

What happened now: The government successfully introduced two ONOE bills in the Parliament—despite great opposition from the Opposition. The introduction vote in the Lok Sabha was 269 in favor and 198 against.

But, but, but: The government only managed a simple majority. Switching to an ONOE system requires a Constitutional amendment—which in turn must be passed with a two-thirds majority:

One of the two bills proposes to amend three Articles of the Constitution and insert Article 82A so that polls to the Lok Sabha and Assemblies can be held together. The new Article proposes to cut short the full five-year terms of some Assemblies to pave the way for elections along with Lok Sabha polls.

The number required to push through such dramatic changes: 307. Most Congress MPs like Shashi Tharoor don’t think the government will manage that total any time soon.

The bigger picture: There are strong arguments to be made for and against the ONOE system—laid out in great detail in this Big Story. However, one basic fact remains true: It offers a great advantage to large national parties conducting a countrywide campaign—at the expense of regional parties that are only contesting in their state:

[T]he voters are better placed to express their voting choices keeping in mind the two different governments which they would be electing by exercising their franchise. This distinction gets blurred somewhat when voters are made to vote for electing two types of government at the same time, at the same polling booth, and on the same day. There is a tendency among the voters to vote for the same party both for electing the State government as well as the Central government. This is a rule rather than an exception, not based on assumption but on evidence.

This is all the more critical since state governments led by regional parties have offered a necessary counterweight when a single party dominates the Centre—be it Congress or the BJP.

Adding to this worry: One of the bills also retains the Election Commission’s power to defer state elections—if it wishes. In fact, it will enshrine the authority in the Constitution. This is hardly comforting to regional parties. More so since the government has already pushed through a bill giving it total control over picking the commission’s members (explained in this Big Story).

The main takeaway: The ONOE debate apart, this is the first sign of the impact of the Lok Sabha verdict this summer—and BJP’s loss of majority. It will have a much harder time pushing through its ambitious agenda for the coming five years.

Reading list: Mint has more on the EC angle—while The Telegraph offers the broad overview.

Poland holds a butter auction!

The country is planning to sell 1,000 tonnes of its butter reserves to curb a meteoric rise in prices. They have jumped by 40% in the EU over the course of this year—pushing global prices to an all-time high. The reason: “Declining numbers of cows and outbreaks of diseases in Europe, alongside rising global demand, have put pressure on milk supplies, driving up prices of dairy products.”

Why this matters: Butter has become an election issue in several EU countries—as a symbol of runaway inflation—which was one key factor in Donald Trump’s victory. (Financial Times)

Prince Andrew has a spy problem

Prince Andrew—already disgraced by sex trafficking allegations—has landed in fresh trouble. This time, the cause is his association with an alleged Chinese spy. He is a businessman named Yang Tengbo—who was first linked to the Chinese Communist Party back in 2021—and has since been banned from the country.

According to BBC News, he exerted considerable influence over the Prince:

The court heard he was invited to the prince's birthday party in 2020 and he was told he could act on the prince's behalf when dealing with potential investors in China… In a letter found on one of his confiscated devices, Mr Yang was told by one of Prince Andrew's advisors: "Under your guidance, we found a way to get the relevant people unnoticed in and out of the house in Windsor."

Yikes! Reminder: Andrew has been accused of smuggling sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell in and out of the Palace.

The fallout: Andrew has been uninvited from the Royal Family Christmas this year—and is “expected to withdraw from all family events this year to avoid being a distraction.” Al Jazeera has a basic explainer on Yang, BBC News has more on the espionage case—and The Guardian reports on his relationship with Andrew.

Conor McGregor aur Ambanis ki horror jodi

The former MMA fighter—recently found guilty of rape—will fight YouTube star Logan Paul in India. This first such celeb boxing bout in India brought to you courtesy Mukesh-bhai. This is Times of India gushing over the prospect: “A McGregor-Paul fight in India could give a significant boost to the country's combat sports scene and mark McGregor's return to the boxing ring.”

Mentioned only in passing: McGregor’s “legal issues having been found liable for assault in a civil rape case.” Here’s how The Guardian refers to that case—in its story about the same event:

McGregor’s announcement [about the match] comes less than a month after a civil court jury in Ireland ruled he must pay nearly €250,000 ($257,000) to a woman who said he “brutally raped and battered” her at a Dublin hotel penthouse in December 2018.

Just saying—albeit very loudly. FYI: Ambanis have not commented on their celebrity coup.

Adele faces new plagiarism complaint

A Brazilian judge has ordered Sony and Universal to “immediately and globally” remove Adele’s song ‘Million Years Ago’ from all platforms. The reason: a plagiarism complaint filed by a Brazilian composer Toninho Geraes—who claims Adele copied his 1995 samba classic 'Mulheres’ (Women). Point to note: The same Adele track was called out by Turkish fans for its similarities to a 1985 song ‘Acilara Tutunmak’ by Ahmet Kaya.

This is Adele’s ‘Million Years Ago’:

And here’s ‘Mulheres’:

We leave you to decide for yourself. (The Guardian)

what caught our eye

business & tech

Only 6.68% of Indians—or 8.09 crore (80.9 million)—filed income tax returns in FY2023-24.
According to a new study, the real reason companies are forcing workers to return to the office is that they’re tired of paying for empty office space.
Ever felt embarrassed about sending DMs on Instagram at an ungodly hour? Fear not—you can now schedule your messages on the app.
Rumour has it: the standard HDMI cable may be changing from HDMI 2.1a to HDMI 2.2—which means we will have to buy new cables starting next year.
ChatGPT Search is taking on Google—and is now open to all users.
Walmart is putting body cameras on employees—like the ones used by cops—to deal with 'unprecedented levels' of shopper violence.
In order to log into Wordpress, users have to agree to the controversial statement: “Pineapple is delicious on pizza.” This is apparently part of a WordPress vs. WP Engine brouhaha.

sports & entertainment

The Oscars’ International Film shortlist is out and…Jio Studios’ ‘Ladies’ are predictably ‘Laapataa’. Congratulations India, you played yourself! In happier news: Hindi film ‘Santosh’—submitted by the UK—has made the cut.
Small town single screen cinemas in the North made a killing on ‘Pushpa 2’—which crossed Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) with its Hindi version alone.
Designer Rohit Bal's will has become the subject of a dispute between his long-time friend Lalit Tehlan, and his family—led by his step-brother Rajiv Bal.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, football fans will be banned from drinking daaru in stadiums at the 2034 World Cup—to be held in Saudi Arabia.

as for the rest

Ukraine took credit for the assassination of a Russian general in charge of the military’s nuclear and chemical weapons protection forces in Moscow.
The 42 special investigation teams (SIT) constituted by the Supreme Court to investigate horrific violence in Manipur have filed charge sheets in only 6% of the 3,023 registered cases.
Irony alert—the average UK migrant on a skilled worker visa made a far greater contribution to public revenues than their British counterparts in FY2022-23.
People are lining up to pay the legal fees of the shooter of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson—Luigi Mangione. Platforms like GoFundMe are rushing to shut them down.
Delhi Airport now connects 150 destinations—the highest in the country—of which half are non-stop routes.
A new study shows that most Indian cities don't even have monitoring stations needed to measure air quality.
BBC News has a must-read investigative piece on West Bengal’s history of home-made bombs, and how they continue to kill children to this day.

Five things to see

One: After becoming the youngest-ever world chess champion, Gukesh took a leap of faith. He went bungee jumping in Singapore—despite his fear of heights—to fulfill a bet with his trainer Polish grandmaster Grzegorz Gajewskif. Watch out for him screaming “I’m the world champion” lol! (NDTV)

Two: Say hello to First5—touted as “India’s newest next-gen boy pop group”. The four-member outfit is the brainchild of singer and songwriter Aksh Baghla. Their music inspiration? K-pop, duh! Check out their debut single ‘Tu Aadatein’ below. (The Hindu)

Three: Staff and visitors of Yamuna Biodiversity Park in Delhi had a rare sighting of Wroughton’s free-tailed bat—which is typically found in the Western Ghats. With its huge bunny ears and bicoloured velvet fur, it kinda looks like an upside down Goth rabbit:) (Indian Express)

Four: Ok, this is for all the goofy science nerds. A23a is the world’s largest and oldest iceberg. Twice the size of London, the iceberg had been spinning in circles—caught in a vortex for the past year. It is now finally making forward progress toward the Atlantic Ocean. Folks over at the British Antarctic Survey were so excited they made this hilarious route map of the iceberg—set to ‘I Want to Break Free’! (BBC News)

Five: Get pumped for ‘White Lotus’ season 3 set in Thailand. Sadly, the cast doesn’t include Jennifer Coolidge. The season drops on JioCinema on February 16. Deadline has more on the plot.