🚨 Big story

👉🏽 Compulsory registration of all live-in relationships for heterosexual couples — a record of which will be kept in a police station.
👉🏽 Maintenance to the woman when “deserted” by her partner
👉🏽 Jail term of up to six months for not producing a “certificate” of the relationship

These are just some of the stringent terms laid down in the Uniform Civil Code (Bill) introduced in the Uttarakhand Assembly yesterday. By attempting to “govern and regulate the laws related to marriage and divorce, successions, live-in relationships”, the Bill enters uncharted territory.

We break down some of its major provisions.

📰 From the front page

In a major setback for NCP founder Sharad Pawar, the Election Commission has recognised the faction led by Ajit Pawar as the real NCP, giving it control over the party name and ‘clock’ symbol.

The Lok Sabha has passed the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024, which aims at preventing malpractices such as leaking of question papers, tampering of documents and tampering of computer networks in public examinations.

👉 Only in the Express

Express Interview | What prompted the Karnataka government’s protest being held in Delhi today? Is a South Alliance slowly taking shape? In an interview with The Indian Express, here’s what Karnataka Congress Minister Priyank Kharge had to say.

⚡ Must Read

Whoever wins in Pakistan’s election, Army Chief Asim Munir is in charge, writes C Raja Mohan in today’s Opinion piece. “Although Munir seems to be following the familiar path of his predecessors, his task is complicated by the multiple crises buffeting the nation at home and the incredible shrinking of Pakistan in the region and the world,” he says.

A month after his eldest son Shabir Ahmed was tortured to death, allegedly by security forces in Jammu, Wali Mohammad plans to send his grandson to an Army school. Since the incident, the Army and civil administration have moved fast to try and rebuild the broken trust with the local community, whom they rely on in their fight against terror, writes Arun Sharma.

🔴 And Finally

A Delhi-based gastroenterologist V K Gupta, became one of the first patients to access the CAR-T cell therapy – a pioneering treatment that genetically reprogrammes a patient’s immune system to fight cancer. According to the doctors at Tata Memorial Hospital, where he underwent the procedure, he is “currently free of cancer cells”, the first commercial patient to achieve that status.

During a debate concerning the Bill aimed at preventing malpractices in examinations, Congress MP M K Vishnu Prasad said if computers can be hacked during examinations, the same can happen with EVMs. He emphasised the need for separate legislation to ensure fair elections, stating that examinations and elections are equally important. To this, Union minister Jitendra Singh, who was piloting the Bill, said, “You are touching a very sensitive topic.”

In today’s 3 Things Podcast, we take a look at the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. While Indian Express’ Asad Rehman talks about Akhilesh Yadav’s new PDA formula for defeating BJP in Uttar Pradesh, Mallika Joshi tells us how Delhi’s slums are the front line in the AAP-BJP battle for National Capital.

Until tomorrow,

Aradhana Kalia and Rahel Philipose

Business As Usual by Unny