Daily Briefing: Ex-Army Chief General M M Naravane breaks silence on row over memoir

With that, let’s move on to the top stories from today’s edition:

• No-trust motion against LS Speaker
• A multi-level investment scheme scam
• Unease among Hindus in Bangladesh

🚨 Big Story

Following a week of heated exchange between the Speaker of the Lok Sabha Om Birla and Opposition MPs in the House, the latter submitted a notice for a no-confidence motion against Birla to the Secretary General Utpal Kumar Singh. Responding to the notice signed by at least 118 Opposition MPs, Birla decided not to chair House proceedings until a decision is taken. With several leaders in the Opposition saying they wanted a discussion to take place, and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) not signing the notice, the House returned to the Union Budget discussion on Tuesday. Rahul Gandhi is expected to participate in the debate today.

Birla came under fire since he suspended eight MPs protesting in Lok Sabha last week. Later, he claimed he had “credible information that several members from the Congress” would create “an unprecedented incident after reaching the Honourable Prime Minister’s seat” – a charge the Congress rejected. Moreover, he also refused to allow Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi to quote from or speak about former Indian Army Chief General M M Naravane’s unpublished memoir. Lok Sabha sources said that it would now be examined and processed as per rules. Can the Speaker be removed from his post? What happens now? Jatin Anand explains.

‘Who is lying?’: Meanwhile, former Army chief General M M Naravane broke his silence on the row over his unpublished memoir ‘Four Stars of Destiny’ on Tuesday, sharing a post by publishing house Penguin Random House India which stated “no copies of the book – in print or digital form – have been published, distributed, sold or otherwise made available to the public”. His post came hours after Rahul Gandhi, who last week attempted to read what he said were contents from the memoir in Parliament and later waved a purported copy of the book, told reporters that Naravane had shared a tweet announcing the availability of his book.

⚡ Only in Express

The son of a labourer from a village in Uttar Pradesh, Amit Kumar Gautam, 30, went on to complete his B.Com. However, in the pursuit of more, they drifted onto the wrong side of the law – a chit-fund-like chain scheme that raised an estimated Rs 123 crore over three years before collapsing. This story is about how the promise of a better life can lure ordinary people into elaborate rackets laid by those who know how to sell that dream. However, my colleague Alok Singh found out that this was not just another chit-fund story. Here, investors were drawn in by an alluring mix: multi-level marketing spiel, a shopping mart, a dedicated app, social media drama and persuasive local referrals. Victims describe how a multi-level investment scheme drained their life savings before collapsing.

📰 From the Front Page

Expressing concern over the India-US trade framework and statements by the United States President Donald Trump about India committing to cut its import of Russian oil, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told The Indian Express that Moscow hopes the result of the deal is “not that we (India-Russia ties) suffer”. His comments come a day after Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri highlighted that India’s energy sourcing would be guided by national interests. Read the full interview here.

Express in Dhaka: From families praying for their ‘safety’, a man hoping for justice for those beaten and burned to death for alleged blasphemy over the past years, to a community leader assuring the security of Hindus, a sense of unease lingers among the Hindu community in Bangladesh, who say they have been “living in fear” and are “concerned about their future”. As Bangladesh votes on February 12, amid the rise and return of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, who have a poor track record on the safety of minorities, these concerns have heightened.

📌 Must Read

As the AI revolution unfolds in front of our eyes, Stuart Russell, a professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, warns us about the dangers of this technology and the need for strong safety and ethical guardrails during the ongoing development process. Russell speaks to The Indian Express’ Amitabh Sinha about the safety and ethical aspects of AI. He says: “It is getting increasingly clear in experiments on AI systems that, in the process of imitating human behaviour, they are developing a strong desire to survive. They are acquiring these human-like objectives, not to further the objectives of human beings but for themselves. That is scary.” Read the full explainer here.

✍️ In our Opinion section today, C Raja Mohan breaks down the relevance of the “innocuous paragraph” on economic security to India’s foreign policy, as highlighted in the joint statement signed by India and the US outlining the framework for an interim trade deal last week. Raja Mohan writes: “The volatility of US policies and the inherent dynamism in the geoeconomic relationships between the US, China and Russia demand that Delhi continuously tend its foreign economic policy. India’s ability to secure its position in the unfolding geoeconomic world will depend even more on how deep its economic reform and technological modernisation at home are.”

⏳ And Finally…

The IT Ministry on Tuesday notified amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, removing an earlier proposal to apply a label to content generated through AI tools to cover at least 10% of the space. Under the fresh amendments, this has been changed to place “prominently” visible labels. The changes will come into effect on February 20, the final day of the upcoming India-AI Impact Summit. Moreover, social media platforms must now remove non-consensual intimate imagery within 2 hours, as opposed to 24 hours earlier, and other forms of unlawful content within 3 hours, from an earlier requirement to act on it within 36 hours.

🎧 Lastly, don’t forget to tune in to today’s episode of our 3 Things podcast, where we discuss PMO’s directions to Lok Sabha Secretariat on matters related to PM Cares Fund not being admissible. We also delve into the causes of the rising number of fatty liver cases in India, and contemplate whether the ongoing T20 World Cup would feature an India-Pakistan match.

That’s all for today. Have a wonderful day!

Until next time,
Ariba

Business As Usual by E P Unny