Daily briefing: Covid cases up in kids; India’s javelin coach for Tokyo sacked and more

Read more on sample showing what Central Vista will look like, our e-Adda with Neeraj Chopra and Bajrang Punia and other latest updates here.

The Big Story

There has been a steady rise in the share of Covid-positive children below 10 years in the overall active cases since March this year, according to data available with the Empowered Group-1. Of every 100 active Covid cases, around seven are of children. A source said that trend could be because of “more exposure (to the virus) and more testing”.

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The Jammu and Kashmir administration has extended its offer of domicile certificates to former residents who, or their ancestors, moved out of the erstwhile state years ago, provided they register with the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner (Migrants) at Jammu. The response has been lukewarm so far. A camp held in Delhi saw only 3,000 turn up for applications out of the nearly 25,000 unregistered Kashmiri Pandit families.

At the e.Adda last week, Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra and bronze medal-winning wrestler Bajrang Punia spoke on preparing in the time of the pandemic, on life after their medals and what needs to be done to support emerging athletes.

From the Front Page

Uwe Hohn, the German great hired in 2017 to coach javelin star Neeraj Chopra, has been sacked by the Athletics Federation of India. The federation cited the below-par performances of javelin throwers Shivpal Singh and Annu Rani for the decision. However, Klaus Bartonietz, the biomechanical expert who coached Chopra when he won the Olympic gold, is set to continue.

Reserving its interim order in the Pegasus matter, the Supreme Court told the Centre to stop “beating around the bush” on why it does not want to file an additional affidavit into allegations of unauthorised surveillance using the software and that it only wanted to know whether it “has been used by the government, by any method other than permissible under the law”.

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Red granite walkways with greenery all around, bridges to cross canals, stone benches at regular intervals, and ample lighting — a sample stretch of the Central Vista Avenue offers a peek into what the avenue would look like once ready.

A training centre set up by two NGOs in Delhi is helping Afghan women refugees to learn the art of stitching sustainable cloth sanitary napkins. The women say most organisations deny them employment without an Aadhaar card and bank account.  “These days, we are just busy surviving, learning how to earn some money to fulfil our basic needs..,” says a 23-year-old Afghan student

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has received several objections from domestic telecom equipment manufacturers and trade bodies over the past 10 days for changing the definition of locally sourced products, which qualify for public procurement, sources said. The Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association of India said the move would permit 100 per cent import from China and other countries and make them eligible for public procurement. 

And Finally…

Shooting coach Jaspal Rana, who was labelled as a ‘negative influence’ on the Indian team in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) president Raninder Singh, will be accompanying the junior national pistol team as the chief coach during the Junior World Championship later this month. Olympian Manu Bhaker, whose performance in Tokyo Raninder said could have been impacted due to a rift with Rana, will also be participating in the championship

Delhi confidential: While Congress is yet to take a final call on the induction of poll strategist Prashant Kishor into the party, one gets to hear that it has opened a channel of communication with firebrand CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar. 

In today’s podcast, we talk about how Uttar Pradesh’s latest ban on the sale of meat and alcohol will affect the region, what a judicial inquiry report has found about an encounter in Chhattisgarh, and an ongoing border dispute between Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

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