Good Morning, Swarajya Readers.



Here’s what you need to know today.



The explosion at Puttingal temple in Kollam, Kerala killed more than 100 and injured 300. The fire broke out in the wee hours of Sunday morning reportedly when sparks from fireworks competition, which is disallowed by local authorities, landed on an explosive material, triggering the explosion in the temple complex. PM Modi flew down to the site of tragedy accompanied by a team of doctors and burn specialists from New Delhi. All the campaigning stands suspended in the poll-bound state.



India plans to invest $20 billion in new petrochemical, fertilizer and liquefied natural gas facilities in Iran . New Delhi has sought cheap land for setting up Chabbar Special Economic Zone and is also keen to set up a gas cracker unit and a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) extraction unit in Chabahar. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan held talks with his counterpart Bijan Namdar Zanganeh on Free Trade Zones. He also discussed with Iran’s Central bank governor issues related to setting up of payment channels to clear past dues.



Ashton Carter, US Defence Secretary and Manohar Parrikar are all set to finalize Defence Pact between the two countries. The two nations are expected to discuss the production of fighter jets in India. Parrikar welcomed Carter in Goa where he is supposed to host him on board aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya reciprocating Carter’s gesture who had hosted Parrikar aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier during his US visit in December. Both leaders will head to Delhi tomorrow for the final discussions.



Other Notables



The Central government has given its nod to a comprehensive setup for 24x7x365 surveillance of the border through technology. It’s a five-layer elaborate plan to completely stop infiltration on the 2,900-km western border with Pakistan. CCTV cameras, thermal image and night-vision devices, battlefield surveillance radar, underground monitoring sensors and laser barriers will be placed along the border to track all movement from the other side. Pilot projects in Punjab and Gujarat have already started.



Elevation of Keshav Prasad Maurya, MP from Phulpar, as Uttar Pradeh’s state BJP Chief, has stumped the senior leaders of the party and the opposition leaders like Nitish Kumar alike. Nitish was planning to replicate his Kurmi-Koeri alliance, earlier used by him to counter Lalu’s Yadav-Muslim domination in Bihar, in UP but Amit Shah has picked Maurya, a Koeri, to lead BJP’s campaign in the poll-bound state. His elevation is also aimed at avoiding the rampant Thakur-Brahmin rivalry in the party’s state unit. This has miffed some senior party members who were pushing for their own loyalists.

Op-eds You Shouldn’t Miss



The Promise Of Rajasthan’s Titling Law: Moving the country towards a rules-based regime as opposed to the existing exceptions-based one is a precondition to creating a transparent market-based economy.



Wake Up And Smell The Leakage: A substantial number of interest subvention scheme loans are diverted to non-agricultural uses. The government must switch to an income support subsidy regime.

Swarajya Special



Why NDA 2 Is Not UPA 3: The data proves, beyond doubt, that there is absolutely no comparison between the economic policies of the UPA and those of NDA 2.

We hope you enjoyed reading our morning brief. Please do reply to this message if you have any feedback, messages, brickbats, or congratulations. It means a lot to us.



Have a great day ahead!