Deepak Dwivedi
The blockbuster IPO of insurance behemoth LIC is our choice for the Cover Story this week as it is yet another example of PM Modi’s bold move to push the development agenda. The timing of the IPO – in the midst of widespread political and economic churning in the world following the Ukraine crisis – is also reflective of the Government’s confidence in the resilience of the Indian economy and the strength of its fundamentals. It is heartening to note that the calculated risk taken by the Government has paid off and the Rs 21,000-crore IPO was fully subscribed on the second day of the listing itself. Our story focuses on the financial details of the largest-ever Indian IPO, the strength of the equity market, and the development aspects of the entire exercise. An accompanying story talks of the emergence of Life Insurance Corporation as a global giant whose scale and size trumps the size of many world economies.
The Centerspread this week is another innovation from Blitz India; it tells the story of the highly productive European tour by PM Modi in pictures and tweets. As part of the three-nation tour, the Prime Minister held a series of bilateral meetings to boost ties in a range of areas including trade, energy, and green technology, besides attending the second India-Nordic summit. During his visit that came amid the Ukraine crisis, which has united much of Europe against Russia, PM Modi said that India believes no country will emerge victorious in the war. All will suffer losses and there will be a “more serious” impact on developing and poor countries. The detailed contents of the all-important visit are included in a full-page report on the Rising India page.
Our Globetrotting destination this week is Japan, whose ties with India over the years have deepened in every sphere, be it strategic, economic, or people-to-people contact. More recently, Japan has been a strong partner for India in the East and a close multilateral partner in the Quad. Within the Quad, the India-Japan bilateral relationship is ostensibly the strongest, with no long-standing disputes or policy disagreements. A related story on the page dwells on how the security situation around Japan and India has changed since the 2000s due to the escalation of Chinese activities in the Indo-Pacific area.
We cover the deliberations of the joint conference of the Chief Ministers of States and Chief Justices of High Courts in one of our news pages. Speaking at the conference, held after a gap of six years, CJI Ramana referred to the Constitutional provision of separation of power while discharging duty, one should be mindful of ‘Lakshman Rekha’.Concern was also raised at the rising number of frivolous litigations and lamented that the well-meaning concept of public interest litigation is, at times, turning into personal interest litigation.
Stressing on Vision 2047, PM Modi exhorted them to give priority to questions like what kind of judicial system we would like to see in the country and how we make our judicial system capable of fulfilling the aspirations of India of 2047.
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