Researched by: Rachel John, Aarthi Ramnath & Anannya Parekh
This week in ‘24 Questions: The Muslim vote
We published the second edition of our weekly election special on Sunday. And it has some excellent stuff. This week, we have a must-read that draws a straight line between your taxes and the latest PM Yojana—and how the BJP has gamed the revenue distribution system to win elections. Also worth your time: Eye-opening charts on the Muslim vote. Plus an excellent round up of election stuff to read and watch.
Reminder: All through the election season, we will send you an exclusive election goodie bag right in your inbox each week—with deep dives that DECODE the important issues—without boring you to death; creative (and shareworthy) infographics that offer the perfect EYE CANDY; our pick of the best YouTube analysis in our WATCHLIST; and a weekly roundup of the most taaza election khabar plus the best reads of the season to understand the STATE OF PLAY.
There’s more! Join our new Whatsapp channel here—to get the best bits of the election coverage out there! Coming soon: A town-hall in Bangalore! More deets soon.
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A resignation at the Election Commission
Election Commissioner Arun Goel announced his resignation from the commission—a week before the EC is expected to announce the dates for the Lok Sabha elections. The reported reason: Goel had a serious disagreement with Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on a recent trip to West Bengal—where they were overseeing poll preparations. FYI: Bengal has the third largest number of parliamentary seats (42) after Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
We don’t know what happened—and the government officials claim to be shocked at his departure. He was known as a “straight forward official who goes by the rules.” Goel was set to replace Kumar as CEC later this year.
What’s next: His departure leaves Pandey standing alone. The other election commissioner—Anup Chandra Pandey—retired last month. This means two new candidates will have to be found—using the brand-new process introduced by the government last year.
The Law Ministry will constitute a search committee—but the final decision will be made by a three-person selection committee. It will be made up of the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the Prime Minister. FYI: when making the final decision, the majority wins! We are a democracy, after all. The PM plans to speedily do “the needful” by March 15. A very relevant read: Our Big Story on the new rules. (The Hindu)
War on Gaza: The latest update
A looming Ramadan: Israel plans to launch a ground assault on Rafah during the month of Ramadan—which will begin this week. The city is the last refuge of 1.5 million Palestinian residents. According to the Wall Street Journal, Hamas is hoping the timing will work in its favour. One reason:
Hamas’s chief in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, is also calculating that Ramadan, which begins with the new-moon sighting expected on Monday, could spark violence near religious sites in Jerusalem, expanding the conflict beyond Gaza and drawing Iran and Hezbollah deeper and more directly into his war against Israel, according to political analysts.
Or it will increase diplomatic pressure on Tel Aviv to negotiate a permanent end to the war. A good related read: BBC News has a feature on the al-Aqsa Mosque—which has been a flashpoint for Israeli Arabs in the past.
Meanwhile, in Washington: Relations between Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu continue to tailspin. They’re now fighting via duelling media interviews:
A day after President Biden asserted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “hurting Israel more than helping Israel,” Mr. Netanyahu dismissed that contention as “wrong,” escalating the leaders’ increasingly public dispute.
Expanding Israeli settlements: A UN report reveals that a record number—24,300—of Israeli houses have been constructed in the occupied West Bank in 2023. The UN says the “growth of Israeli settlements amounted to the transfer by Israel of its own population, which he reiterated was a war crime.” (Reuters)
Re-funding the UNRWA: In January, Israel accused the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)—which provides relief for Palestinian refugees—of being involved in the October 7 attacks. The “strong evidence” led the US and other Western allies to cut funding—crippling the organisation in the midst of a humanitarian catastrophe. Now, Sweden and Canada have announced that they will resume their payments. The reason: an internal UNRWA document shows that its staff were pressured to make false statements by the IDF during interrogations. (BBC News)
One photograph to haunt us all: Last week, 10-year-old Yazan Kafarneh died in a hospital—technically from a respiratory infection. He actually died of hunger—which made him vulnerable to disease—like many other Palestinian children. This Associated Press photo of his last days went viral. Yes, it is difficult to see. It is also important to see.
A very big trade deal
India inked a historic free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association which has four members—Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. What’s notable: It includes a commitment to invest $100 billion in India over 15 years—which will create 1 million jobs. FYI: The government is scrambling to sign as many crowd-pleasing deals as possible before the Model Code of Conduct for the elections kicks in. Indian Express has more on how this fits with the global shift away from China. (Mint)
The Pentagon says: There are no little green men!
The context: Last year, the US Congress held hearings on unidentified aerial phenomena or UAP—which could indicate the presence of aliens on Earth (more in this Big Story). Everyone was excited since this was the first official recognition of UFO sightings.
What happened now: The Pentagon has completed its investigation and issued a report. The conclusion: there is “no evidence” of any “extraterrestrial intelligence”:
It was unequivocal in its conclusions, finding “no evidence that any [U.S. government] investigation, academic-sponsored research, or official review panel has confirmed that any sighting of a UAP represented extraterrestrial technology.” Reports of flying objects or suspected alien craft usually turned out to have quotidian explanations: They were “ordinary objects and phenomena and the result of misidentification,” sometimes by well-meaning witnesses who thought they had spotted something otherworldly.
It also slammed the conspiracy theories—calling it a “classified game of telephone, in which whispers of secret programs, often based on hearsay, circulated for years in the military and intelligence community.” No ETs for us! Sad. (Washington Post, paywall, Reuters)
The return of Sam Altman
The context: Back in November, Sam Altman—founder and CEO of OpenAI—was fired from the board without any warning. The board’s cryptic announcement said he was “not consistently candid in his communications” and that they “no longer had confidence in his ability to lead”. Just after five days of the outster, Altman was reinstated as CEO—and three of the four board members who fired him were pushed out. This Big Story has more on his ouster.
What happened now: An external investigation has now concluded that there is no evidence of wrongdoing on Altman’s part. It also gave him a comprehensive ‘clean chit’:
Altman’s ouster was a “consequence of a breakdown in the relationship and loss of trust” between Altman and the prior board — not out of “concerns regarding product safety or security, the pace of development, OpenAI’s finances or its statement to investors, customers, or business partners.”
And CEO Sam Altman once again has a seat at the table—or rather a place at the company’s board. Joining him are three new members—appointed on Altman’s recommendation, of course. All three are women: Sue Desmond-Hellmann, a former CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Nicole Seligman, a former executive vice president and general counsel of Sony Entertainment; and Fidji Simo, CEO of Instacart. Washington Post (paywall) and TechCrunch have more details.
A big plagiarism allegation in Hollywood
Simon Stephenson—who has written ‘Luca’ and ‘Paddington 2’—claims that the script of ‘The Holdovers’ is very similar to his unpublished script ‘Frisco’. There’s one “difference”: ‘The Holdovers’ is about a cynical teacher tasked with caring for a 15-year-old student. ‘Frisco’ focuses on the bond between a grumpy children’s doctor and a terminally ill 15-year-old. Stephenson says:
I can demonstrate beyond any possible doubt that the meaningful entirety of the screenplay… has been plagiarised line-by-line from a popular unproduced screenplay of mine…By ‘meaningful entirety’ I do mean literally everything- story, characters, structure, scenes, dialogue, the whole thing. Some of it is just insanely brazen: many of the most important scenes are effectively unaltered and even remain visibly identical in layout on the page.”
What makes this scandal even juicier: ‘The Holdovers’ was nominated for five Oscars—including one for screenwriting—and Da’Vine Joy Randolph won the award for best supporting actress. Variety has the exclusive report.
PS: We’ll have a full report on all things Oscars tomorrow.
A new kind of airline nightmare: Sleepy pilots
Both pilots on a Batik Air flight—carrying 153 passengers—fell asleep at the wheel:
The plane took off from Kendari at about 8 a.m., and after reaching cruising altitude, the captain took a nap while the co-pilot manned the flight… After about an hour, the co-pilot accidentally fell asleep, and several frantic calls from the air traffic control centre and other aircraft went unanswered.
As a result, the plane veered off course for 28 whole minutes—before the co-pilot woke up. To be fair, the co-pilot had an excellent reason for being sleep-deprived—because he had twin 1-month-olds and “had to wake up several times to help his wife take care of the babies.” Jokes apart, crew fatigue is a real issue for airlines around the world—as layoffs put pressure on those who still have jobs to perform “at a really high level.” (New York Times)
Also reason to worry: Pilots are complaining about GPS spoofing close to war zones in places like Ukraine:
Disruptions which were previously limited to jamming preventing access to signals from geolocation satellites are now also taking a more dangerous form making it difficult to counter spoofing. This sees a plane receive false coordinates, times and altitudes.
So a plane that is flying out of Beirut may suddenly be convinced that it’s “at the level of the Alps, at 10,000 feet”—triggering false alarms. Agence France Press via The Hindu explains why the incidents are rising—and why they are cause for worry.
Two things to see
One: Rejoice, Windsor watchers! Kate Middleton is alive. The Palace finally issued this photo as ‘proof of life’—after months of conspiracy theories. But, wait… oh no, three major press agencies withdrew the image saying this:
But, late on Sunday, the Associated Press, one of many international agencies that distributed the photo, issued a "kill notification"—an industry term used to make a retraction. It said: "At closer inspection it appears that the source has manipulated the image. No replacement photo will be sent."
Now, the shit has truly made full contact with the ceiling. (BBC News)
Two: In an amusing speech, PM Modi made this odd claim about the Konark temples:
Many people consider mini skirts to be a symbol of modernity. But if you go to Konark, you will see statues in the centuries-old temples sporting mini skirts and purses on their arms… This goes to show that even hundreds of years ago, those sculptors had a sense of fashion.
BTW, he’s said something similar on multiple occasions—and inspired liberal rants like this. In any case, we think this is an excellent excuse to revisit the statues and decide for yourself. (Mint)
