| Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day's biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying safe. Here are the big stories that you need to follow today:
Sachin Pilot drama continues in Rajasthan We're keeping a close watch on the unfolding Sachin Pilot saga in Rajasthan. Until yesterday, it was shaping up to be a repeat of the Jyotiraditya Scindia rebellion in Madhya Pradesh some four months ago. But for Pilot, the flight path for an advantageous exit from the Congress seems less straightforward. For one thing, Ashok Gehlot, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan and his main adversary, has made it clear he would not forgive attempts to destabilise his government. In a Congress legislature party meeting in Jaipur today, Gehlot flaunted at least 100 MLAs as a show of strength. The meeting also saw a resolution being passed calling for "strict disciplinary action" against anyone who "indulges in activities against the Congress government and party". Gehlot then moved the MLAs to a resort in Jaipur. All through the day, senior Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, P Chidambaram, Ahmed Patel and KC Venugopal spoke to Pilot and asked him to head to Jaipur to resolve the differences. Pilot has claimed he has the support of 30 MLAs while the party maintains he has no more than 16. Some sources say Pilot is currently in negotiations with the BJP and not in direct touch with the Gandhis. A reminder here that Jyotiraditya Scinda was also once thought to be a close ally of the Gandhis. So being in touch may not count for much at this point. As for the BJP, while it is not averse to getting Sachin Pilot over to its side, the deal is not an easy one, with party sources saying Rajasthan is not the same as Madhya Pradesh. One big difference, of course, is the BJP's former chief minister and party heavyweight Vasundhara Raje. Exposing fault lines across States Deputy Editor Sandeep Phukan, who covers the Congress for The Hindu, writes that the ongoing Sachin Pilot saga has once again brought into focus the Congress's leadership battles across multiple States. "From Punjab to Haryana, Himachal Pradesh to Chhattisgarh, there is simmering discontent among leaders who are ready to challenge the State leadership, threatening to split it wide open. But a weakened 'high command' following successive Lok Sabha losses has failed to fact decisively." In Punjab, for instance, while Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh is facing almost a daily challenge from former State unit chief Partap Singh Bajwa, cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu has gone into political hibernation. Now, reports suggest that Bajwa and Sidhu are coming together to take on the Chief Minister. And, much like Scindia and Pilot, both the leaders are considered to be close to former party chief Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. SC verdict on Padmanabhaswamy temple  Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala In a victory for the erstwhile Travancore royal family, the Supreme Court held today that its members' shebait rights (the right to manage the deity's property) at Thiruvananthapuram's Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple survived the death of the ruler, as per custom. Reversing the 2011 Kerala High Court decision, the apex court held that the death of a ruler did not result in escheatment of property in favour of the government despite the 26th Amendment (to terminate the privy purses and privileges of the Rulers of former Indian States) of the Constitution. The court, however, has constituted a committee under the chairmanship of the district judge, who will continue as the administrative head. A process had earlier been initiated to prepare an inventory of the temple's riches stored in its six vaults. While five vaults had been inventoried, vault B wasn't, as the family claimed that a mythical curse was associated with the opening of this vault. Now this new committee, which will have Hindus as members, will also decide on the opening of vault B. With this judgement, the court has dismissed arguments that covenants executed by the erstwhile Travancore king have "no existence and are "not enforceable". CBSE releases Class 12 results, pass percentage up In a year when the CBSE exams were interrupted due to Covid-19, the pass percentage of Class 12 students was 5% higher than the previous year, with 88.8% of students passing the exam in comparison to 83.4% in 2019. For papers that were cancelled due to the pandemic, marks were calculated on the basis of students' performance in the completed papers, using an assessment scheme approved by the Supreme Court. Only a third of the 12 lakh candidates were able to complete all papers. No merit list of toppers was announced this year. The results of 400 students could not be computed using the assessment scheme, and were not announced, the CBSE said in a statement. Students who wish to improve their scores in papers that were cancelled will be allowed to write an optional examination, which will be held as soon as conditions are conducive. Those results will be treated as final for those who take this option. Google to invest $10 billion in India  Google CEO Sundar Pichai. File Technology giant Google on Monday announced a India Digitisation Fund, through which the company will invest $10 billion (about ₹75,000 crore) over the next five to seven years. "We'll do this through a mix of equity investments, partnerships, and operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments. This is a reflection of our confidence in the future of India and its digital economy," Google CEO Sundar Pichai said during a virtual event. Pichai said the investment will focus on four areas important for India's digitisation: enabling affordable access and information for every Indian in their own language, building new products and services that are deeply relevant, empowering businesses for their digital transformation journey, and leveraging technology and AI for social good in areas such as health, education and agriculture. Govt asks PTI to pay over Rs. 84 crore as penalty The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry's Land and Development Office (L&DO) has issued a notice to news agency Press Trust of India over unpaid dues for its office on Parliament Street, giving it time till August 7 to pay the amount of ₹84.48 crore or face penalty and further action as per the lease agreement. The L&DO's notice comes just weeks after state broadcaster Prasar Bharti threatened to cancel its subscription with the news agency, which is the largest in the country. In a letter to PTI on June 27, Prasar Bharti said the news agency's coverage was "detrimental to national interest". Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of coronavirus cases reported from India stood at 9,04,620 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 23,712. India on Monday recorded 28,701 new coronavirus cases, taking the total to 8,78,252. An analysis by The Hindu's data team today shows that with cases rising steadily, there is no bend in sight for India's new infections curve. Numbers coming out of Karnataka now are showing worrying trends, though just a few weeks ago the state was being lauded for its efficiency in keeping Covid-19 in check. Health Ministry data shows that the state has more active cases than Delhi and Gujarat. Karnataka has reported a total of 38,843 Covid-19 cases of which 22,750 are active. Delhi and Gujarat, on the other hand, have 19,155 and 10,613 active cases, respectively. Members of Karnataka's expert and technical advisory committees for Covid-19 have recommended a minimum three-week lockdown in Bengaluru starting from tomorrow. The Punjab government has issued new restrictions in a bid to control the spread of Covid-19. These include an upper limit of 30 people at weddings instead of 50, and a cap of five people for social gatherings. In brief: An Army officer has challenged in the Delhi High Court the recent directive banning the use of social networking platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, in all ranks. Lt. Col. PK Choudhary said in his petition that the policy issued on June 6, 2020, which banned the use of 89 applications and websites, violated various fundamental rights under the Constitution, including the right to freedom of speech and expression and right to privacy. The plea is listed for hearing on Tuesday.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
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