Good morning, The Big Story The Economic Survey of 2021-2022, tabled in the Lok Sabha by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, has pointed out that buoyant tax revenues offered the government fiscal space to provide additional support to the economy and continue the push in favour of higher capital expenditure. It has also analysed aspects such as inflation, global liquidity measures, and rising energy prices to detail the risks for the economy going ahead. Only in the Express At least two cybersecurity experts who deposed before the Supreme Court-appointed committee have said there is a presence of “strong indicators” pointing to the involvement of “the state, its intelligence and law enforcement agencies” in using the Pegasus spyware for unauthorised surveillance against individuals. These experts, engaged by some of the petitioners, said analysis of the phones show “ample deployment of malware” that is consistent with digital fingerprints of Pegasus available in the public domain. Against the backdrop of the "India Out" protest in the Maldives, members of the main ruling party in the archipelago nation have circulated a draft Bill to criminalise protests “that affect the country’s relations with other nations”. In recent weeks, President Ibrahim Solih has faced flak from anti-government protestors for “selling out” the country to India, and pressure from within his party to decisively stamp out the campaign. From the Front Page The open war between Mamata Banerjee and Jagdeep Dhankhar spilled over to Twitter on Monday, with the West Bengal Chief Minister blocking the Governor on the social media platform and the latter responding with a series of tweets on the “essence and spirit of democracy” and saying the CM’s move was “against constitutional norms”. Banerjee said she was “forced” to block Dhankhar on Twitter because of his “unethical and unconstitutional” statements. She also accused Dhankar of “spying on everybody from Raj Bhavan… Pegasus is going on in Raj Bhavan.” Must Read In Akhilesh Yadav's first solo election, the Samajwadi Party chief is banking big on the outreach to OBCs and bonhomie with Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary in Western Uttar Pradesh. The alliance also brings together Jats and Muslims, the region’s two substantial groups whose relations have been strained by the 2013 riots. The aggressive pitch of Union Home Minister Amit Shah as he campaigns door-to-door in the region reflects the unease in the BJP over the traction the SP-RLD alliance seems to be getting, at least in optics. Meanwhile, a day after Akhilesh filed his nomination papers from Karhal, the BJP sprung a surprise by fielding Union Minister of State Satya Pal Singh Baghel against him. Baghel, currently an MP from Agra, also filed his nomination papers on Monday. However, this would not be the first time that Akhilesh Yadav and Baghel will be facing each other in an electoral contest. The two had contested from Firozabad in the 2009 Lok Sabha election. Baghel had then lost to Akhilesh. A large number of students across various cities in the state, including Mumbai, held protests on Monday, demanding the cancellation of offline board exams for Class 10 and 12 in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the protests took a violent turn in Mumbai and Nagpur, with some students damaging private and police vehicles by pelting stones and blocking roads. Local police had to resort to lathi-charge to disperse the mob of students, most of whom were minors. In Kerala, the Centre barred the transmission of Malayalam news channel MediaOne TV citing “security reasons”. But the Information & Broadcasting Ministry ordered was deferred for two days by the Kerala High Court. Sources said the order to block the channel was issued because it had not been granted security clearance by the Home Ministry. MediaOne is owned by Madhyamam Broadcasting Ltd, many of whose investors are members of the Kerala chapter of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. And Finally... Jamshid Nassiri is an East Bengal legend, an important cog in the famed Majid (Bishkar)-Jamshid partnership in the 1980s. Fast forward to 2022, his son Kiyan Nassiri injected life into the Kolkata derby by coming on as a Mohun Bagan substitute and scoring a hat-trick against East Bengal. Jamshid, who is from Iran, has one piece of advice for his son: " “Aspire to play for your country, India." Delhi confidential: Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday held a virtual meeting with leaders of various parties in the House on agenda for the Budget session, the first of its kind. While everyone appreciated that the meeting was taking place, Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi lamented that it also meant certain losses. In a lighter vein, he said although technology allowed Naidu to conduct the meeting, the leaders missed out on the delicious south Indian meals that are served on such occasions. In this episode of 3 Things, we talk about where the BJP stands in Uttar Pradesh, the EC’s latest guidelines for elections and the Covid ex-gratia claims in Gujarat. Until tomorrow, Leela Prasad G  | 
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