Morning Digest: Manmohan Singh, gentleman politician who opened up India’s economy in 1991, passes away; RBI’s monetary policy may have slowed demand, says Finance Ministry, and more

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on December 27, 2024

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, 92, passed away late on Thursday (December 26, 2024), at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences .Dr. Singh retired as member of the Rajya Sabha, representing Rajasthan, in February this year. Before this, he represented Assam in the Upper House for six terms since 1991.

The Finance Ministry said the “combination of monetary policy stance and macroprudential measures by the central bank may have contributed to the demand slowdown” in the economy — remarks that come two days after a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) monthly bulletin article mooted urgent action to “excoriate inflation” so as to lend a stronger push for consumption and investments.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received contributions of ₹2,604.74 crore in amounts of ₹20,000 or more, in 2023-24. This was nine times the Congress’s collection of ₹281.38 crore, as per the reports of the two parties submitted to the Election Commission of India (EC).

China’s Defence Ministry said that the Chinese and Indian militaries are “comprehensively and effectively” implementing the agreement to end the standoff at eastern Ladakh and “steady progress” has been made. Chinese Defence Spokesperson Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang made the remarks, while answering a question on the December 18 Special Representatives talks.

Had the temples of Mathura and Kashi been given to the Hindu community, like Ayodhya, many of the present temple-mosque disputes would not have occurred, said organising general secretary of the Vishva Hindu Parishad, Milind Parande. “The current situation would not have arisen if Hindus had Kashi and Mathura,” he said. Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat had recently expressed concern over the resurgence of temple-mosque disputes.

Asserting that the Congress would fight for the respect of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, party president Mallikarjun Kharge said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government at the Centre were not ready to admit that Home Minister Amit Shah had made “extremely insulting” remarks about the architect of the Constitution. Mr. Kharge was addressing the Congress Working Committee meeting at Belagavi in Karnataka, held to mark the 100th anniversary of the 39th Belgaum Session that was presided over by Mahatma Gandhi.

Over 10.58 lakh votes were not counted or rejected in the Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year, according to the detailed statistical report released by the Election Commission of India on Thursday. Out of these 5,35,825 were postal votes and 5,22,513 were votes cast in Electronic Voting Machines.