Daily briefing: No change in Ladakh situation; Maharashtra govt on shaky ground?

From Maharashtra to Indo-China border, we get you the top stories from today's edition of The Indian Express.

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Dear Readers,

The Supreme Court’s response to the migrant crisis has been restrained so far as it refused to entertain at least two PILs concerning them this month. But that has changed on Tuesday when the apex court took suo motu cognizance of the “inadequacies and certain lapses” in efforts by the Centre and States to alleviate their miseries.

As India and China continue to engage in sabre-rattling along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, the military brass is learnt to have apprised Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the evolving situation though officials maintained that the meeting was pre-scheduled and reforms in the armed forces was on the agenda.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s first visit to the Thackeray family home, Matoshree, since 2012 has lent weight to speculation that all is not well in the Maharashtra coalition government. Though Pawar maintained that “all MLAs are with us”, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s remarks haven’t blunted the rumours. Meanwhile, the BJP’s plan is to let the government crumble on its own.

There are nearly 3,000 Covid-19 cases in the country that are not assigned to any state. Though they make up only 2 per cent of the country’s 1,45,380 cases of coronavirus infection as of Tuesday, they could potentially skew the case curves of several states.

Kerala has provided states the template for holding school board exams that were stalled by more than two months due to the ongoing Covid lockdown. But it was a challenging task for officials to ensure that the guidelines were adhered to as 4.25 lakh students reached 2,945 centres.

India has reposed its faith in the continued use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as preventive medication for the novel coronavirus disease even as the WHO halted enrolment of patients who would be administered the anti-malaria drug on a trial basis. Government hospitals in Mumbai continue to use the drug for patients showing mild to moderate symptoms.

Large swarms of locusts which made their way from Pakistan into Indian cities have left residents confused. Though there are no crops in these urban jungles, experts say they were attracted by green cover and high-speed winds which aided them in travelling vast distances. The problem is likely to get worse as “they will mature and lay eggs in about five weeks”.

In a departure from its previous stance, the Centre released the source code of its contact tracing app Aarogya Setu and announced cash prizes for those who find a bug or vulnerability in it.

Virtual racing series started by prominent Indian race drivers during the lockdown have given a teenage gamer his big break — a move to real-world racing.

🔊 In today’s episode of the Three Things podcast, we dissect the cost of keeping schools shut in India during the lockdown.

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Until tomorrow,

Leela Prasad G