The Evening Wrap: Militant tunnel found in Jammu

The Hindu Newsletter - Here are the latest updates and the big news stories to follow today [The Hindu Logo](B9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2BV/link17) [Facebook](B9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2BV/link1) [Twitter](B9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2BV/link3) [Youtube](B9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2BV/link37) [Linkedin](B9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2BV/link15) [Instagram](B9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2BV/link14) Sunday 22, November 2020 [alt_text](B9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2BV/link36) The Evening Wrap [Here are the biggest news stories of the day](B9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2BV/link33) [alt_text](B9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2BV/link33) Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying safe. Tunnel used by Jaish militants found in Jammu Security forces [unearthed a tunnel beneath the International Border (IB) in Jammu's Samba Sector](B9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2BV/link29) on Sunday, which was used by the Pakistan army to push in four Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) militants who were [killed in an encounter in Nagrota](B9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2BV/link30) on Thursday. “We were on a lookout to establish the route used by the four JeM terrorists. Each piece of information, including technical details, was put together. They all pointed towards their favourite Samba Sector (in Jammu). After a lot of hard work, the police and the Border Security Forces (BSF) were able to find the tunnel within 76 hours of the encounter. It was coming from Pakistan's Chakbura post,” Director General of Police Dilbagh Singh told The Hindu. Describing the spotting of the tunnel as a “big success”, DGP Singh said the tunnel was used by the four infiltrators to cross into India during the night of November 18. “Everything we recovered (from the slain militants), from phones to shoes to medicine, all bore the imprint of Pakistan. Even the sandbags used to cover the tunnel, in a bid to use it again, is Pakistan made. There is no scope for Pakistan for lying about the incident,” the DGP said. Inspector-General, BSF, N.S. Jamwal said the freshly dug tunnel was 30-40 metre long. “We believe they (the JeM militants) had a guide who took them till the highway,” Mr. Jamwal said. Congress needs team dedicated to polls: Karti Chidambaram Elections are now a 24x7/365 day phenomena and the Congress party needs to have an election preparedness committee with a general secretary, whose sole task is to be election-ready, [Lok Sabha member from Sivaganga Karti Chidambaram said](B9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2BV/link25) on Sunday. The Lok Sabha MP, who had earlier endorsed senior party leader Kapil Sibal’s critical assessment of Congress’ performance in the recently concluded Assembly election in Bihar, in an exclusive interview to The Hindu suggested that the party should put in place a plan that can tackle “BJP's well-oiled election machine”. “There is this new terminology called strike rate that has come into electoral politics. Our strike rate seems to be lower than that of our allies in elections. So these factors are being used now by our potential allies in the upcoming elections to browbeat us into contesting lesser or a limited number of seats. That is not necessarily true because each State election is different,” Mr. Chidambaram said. “Congress is not just a mere addition but a multiplier. In Tamil Nadu, for example, we bring greater value when we are in an alliance compared to when we contest alone,” he added. The MP from Tamil Nadu admitted that Congress’ performance in two consecutive Lok Sabha elections (2014 and 2019) has not been “stellar” — cumulatively winning less than 100 seats — and needs a strong counter strategy. “It is imperative for us to understand that the BJP is a well-oiled election machine in terms of preparedness, resources, planning, social media campaign and data. To counter it, we need to have a well thought-out strategy which can’t be rolled out just before the elections. It has to be something which needs to be done well in advance,” Mr. Chidambaram said. BJP president Nadda to undertake tour to strengthen party machinery BJP on Sunday announced that party national president J.P. Nadda will be [embarking on a 120-day nationwide tour](B9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2BV/link27) to tone up the party’s organisational machinery and in areas where the party hasn’t done well in the past, with an eye on the 2024 general elections. The tour is quite like the “Vistarak tour” undertaken by Mr. Nadda’s predecessor and Union Home Minister Amit Shah when the latter was party president. Mr. Shah had concentrated on 130 seats where the BJP had come second or never won polls, and in 2019 it was found that the party had won 80 of those seats. BJP general secretary Arun Singh told reporters that Mr. Nadda will begin his yatra from Uttarakhand. December 5 is the likely date for the start of his tour. Mr. Singh said Mr. Nadda would visit every State, hold virtual meetings with heads of all booth units, the smallest organisational entity in the party, and meet every MP and MLA of the organisation besides its senior leaders, including district chiefs, in each State. Mr Nadda will visit some booths to interact with ground workers, he added. During the trip, he will also strategise with party leaders for strengthening the organisation in Lok Sabha seats and regions where the BJP did not win in the 2019 polls, he said. With Assembly polls in four States — West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Assam — scheduled for the first half of next year, he will also review the party’s preparedness for the elections, Mr. Singh said. Cyclone likely to cross Tamil Nadu, Puducherry on November 25 The low pressure area over Bay of Bengal has become well-marked and is [likely to concentrate into a depression and intensify into a cyclonic storm and cross Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts](B9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2BV/link31) on November 25 bringing heavy rains, the Meteorological Department said on November 22. Under its influence, on November 25, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikkal regions are likely to witness rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy showers at a few places and extremely heavy rains at isolated places. [Recent rainfall, triggered by cyclonic circulation, led to an overflowing Nanmangalam lake in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.]Recent rainfall, triggered by cyclonic circulation, led to an overflowing Nanmangalam lake in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Sea condition would be rough and wind speed is likely to gradually increase from November 22 onwards, “gusting 100 kmph over southwest Bay of Bengal and along and off Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts around the region of landfall on November 25,” a bulletin said. Fishermen have been advised to stay off the sea and local authorities said they have also advised fishermen who have already set out for fishing to return. Shivraj Singh Chouhan holds first ‘gau cabinet’ meeting The first meeting of the newly constituted ‘gau cabinet’ (cow cabinet) in Madhya Pradesh was held on Sunday with an aim to bolster the economy based on cow and its progeny for making the state self-reliant. [Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan chaired the meeting](B9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2BV/link24) through virtual mode from his residence here and wished participants on the occasion of ‘Gopashtami’, a festival dedicated to Lord Krishna and cows, a source said. The CM on Wednesday announced setting up of a separate “cabinet” for the protection and promotion of the cow. Ministers of Animal Husbandry, Forest, Panchayat and Rural Development, Revenue, Home and Farmers’ Welfare departments will be part of this cabinet, said to be the first such body in the country, he had informed. Covid watch: Numbers and Developments The [number of coronavirus cases reported from India](B9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2BV/link22) stands at 91,21,837 at the time of writing this newsletter with the death toll at 1,33,563. [ A health worker collects a swab sample from a man at a COVID-19 screening site in Amritsar on November 21, 2020. ] A health worker collects a swab sample from a man at a COVID-19 screening site in Amritsar on November 21, 2020. [High-level central teams have been deputed](B9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2BV/link26) to Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to support them in COVID-19 response and management. These States have been either reporting a rise in the number of active cases - those who are hospitalised or are in home isolation under medical supervision, or demonstrating a rise in the daily new cases of coronavirus infections, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday. Earlier, high-level teams were sent to Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Manipur and Chhattisgarh. In brief: The second edition of the India, Thailand and Singapore trilateral Naval exercise [SITMEX-20 concluded in the Andaman Sea](B9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2BV/link28) on Sunday and the 27th edition of India-Singapore Bilateral Maritime Exercise SIMBEX-20 is scheduled to be held in the same area from November 23 to 25. “The exercise, being conducted as a ‘non-contact, at sea only’ exercise in view of COVID-19 pandemic, highlights growing synergy, coordination and cooperation in the maritime domain between the three friendly navies and maritime neighbours,” the Navy said in a statement. [The second edition of the India, Thailand and Singapore trilateral Naval exercise SITMEX-20 concluded in the Andaman Sea on November 22, 2020. Photo: Twitter/@indiannavy]The second edition of the India, Thailand and Singapore trilateral Naval exercise SITMEX-20 concluded in the Andaman Sea on November 22, 2020. Photo: Twitter/@indiannavy In a first among central banks, the [Reserve Bank of India has become the first monetary authority in the world to have more than 1 million followers](B9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2BV/link19) on its official Twitter handle. Despite much less monetary firepower, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has beaten the world’s most powerful central banks — the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank — on Twitter by a wide margin, emerging as the most popular central bank on the microblogging site with over 1 million followers. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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