Express daily briefing: Assam MLAs call NRC ‘faulty’; Pak grants consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav today; and more

Chorus among Assam MLAs: NRC is faulty, many genuine citizens out

MLAs of all political hues across multiple districts of Assam agree that “genuine Indian citizens” have been left out of the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) published on Saturday. Abhishek Saha spoke to lawmakers who said they would stand by such victims, as they filed appeals against their exclusion at the Foreigners Tribunals (FTs) of the state.

New offer from Pakistan: Consular access for Kulbhushan Jadhav today

Amid heightened tensions over Kashmir, Pakistan has decided to grant consular access on Monday to Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav. New Delhi is “studying the offer”, The Indian Express has learned. This is the second time that Pakistan has said it is offering consular access to Jadhav, after a previous move in early August which was refused by India.

Omar, Mehbooba met their family members twice, says official

Former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti — who are under detention since August 5 — were allowed to meet their family members “twice” recently. “They were allowed to meet after the family members approached the administration for permission,” an official told Adil Akhzer.

Editorial: Nation’s orphans

With the publication of final NRC draft in Assam, political parties, including BJP, have alleged that the exercise is flawed. Instead of blaming the process, political parties need to recognise, perhaps, the flaw that lies in the imagination that produced the NRC. Modern societies are shaped by migration and it may be futile to engage in costly exercises to identify “outsiders”.

Hurricane Dorian batters Bahamas as ‘catastrophic’ storm

Hurricane Dorian, the second strongest Atlantic storm on record, pounded the Bahamas on Sunday and is forecast to move dangerously close to Florida in the next two days. The storm strengthened to a Category 5 before it made landfall. Forecasters at the US National Hurricane Center called it “catastrophic” and warned that its extreme winds and storm surge will continue for several hours.

Devendra Fadnavis interview: Alliance with Sena to continue, will be back as CM

In an interview to Shubhangi Khapre and Nirupama Subramanian, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis talks about the upcoming Assembly polls, the induction of Congress and NCP leaders in the BJP-Shiv Sena fold and why he thinks that the alliance with Sena will continue for the Assembly polls. “I am coming back as CM. There should be no doubt,” he said.

Looking for Choksi in Antigua: At jewellery shop, cafe where he drank tea

At Heritage Quay in Antigua, a jewellery shop is owned by one Suraj Patel. But Ama Jewels has another, more popular, name — Choksi’s shop. As store owners and restaurateurs here recall Mehul Choksi as the man who had a lot of mint and ginger tea and food with no salt and no onions, they also betray anxieties about “all the crooks” coming to Antigua.

And Finally

Andhra Pradesh’s Rampachodavaram village is largely covered with dense forests, with many of the tribal hamlets being largely inaccessible. That’s when Kartikeya Misra, who was then DM of East Godavari, decided to use Google’s Free Space Optical Communications technology which connected the remote villages with him.