The Morning Wrap is HuffPost India's selection of interesting news and opinion from the day's newspapers. Subscribe here to receive it in your inbox each weekday morning.
Essential HuffPost
Subramanian Swamy's "Lord Krishna package" of three temples for 39,997 mosques is "more of a threat than an offer," argues Sandip Roy. "Just another way of reviving that belligerent slogan from the days of the Babri Masjid demolition 'Abhi toh bas yeh jhanki hai, Mathura Kashi baki hai,'" he writes.
While Suresh Ediga raised Rs35 lakh for farmers from crowd-funding, last year, Shashank Ravi used social media to send out vital information during the Chennai floods. To mark 'Non Resident Indian Day,' here are five extraordinary efforts by Indians who didn't let distance come in the way of making a difference.
From "appification" to "apptimisation" in 2016: Watch out for these eight mobile phone trends in 2016.
S. Ramadorai, Chairman of the National Skill Development Agency, outlines the next steps to "fast-track" skilling millions of Indians: demonstrate the value of hiring skilled labour, leveraging technology to reach people in far-flung areas, and revamping the messaging on vocational training.
Main News
In a first, the Shani Shingnapur Temple Trust in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district has appointed a woman as its president. Instead of breaking with gender biases, however, Anita Shete reportedly intends to maintain the ban on women from entering the area where the idol of Lord Shani is kept in the temple.
The Supreme Court has said that no temple or governing body can bar a woman from entering the Sabarimala shrine in Kerala. “Why can you not let a woman enter? On what basis are you prohibiting women entry... What is your logic? Women may or may not want to go but that is her personal choice,” said Justice Dipak Misra.
While ruling out of castration as a punitive measure, the Supreme Court wants Parliament to consider more "rigorous" punishments for those convicted of raping children.
The Supreme Court will hear PILs challenging the Modi government's decision to lift the ban on bull taming sport Jallikattu during the festival of Pongal in Tamil Nadu. "Before being sent to the arena, they (bulls) are provoked, tortured, threatened, starved, administered alcohol and inflicted with pain to make them violent and anguished," NGO 'CUPA' has said in its petition.
Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has won the Ballon d'Or award for the world's best player for the fifth time. "It's an incredibly special moment. It's more than anything I ever dreamed of as a kid," said the 28-year-old Argentine, who beat Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar.
Off The Front Page
After scoring 95 percent in his class 10 exam, Ghalib Guru, the son of Afzal Guru, who was executed for his role in the 2001 Parliament Attack, said that he wants to become a doctor and study at AIIMS. "All I remember is he used to always stay with his books, always reading and studying. He used to tell me to do the same," Ghalib said about his father.
Gravedigger Atta Mohammad, who buried over 200 "bruised, defaced and decomposed bodies” during the raging militancy in Jammu and Kashmir State, died on Sunday night from a chest and kidney ailment. Mohammad, a 75-year-old farmer, played a significant role in identifying unmarked graves in the Kashmir Valley.
It takes a diet of almond, cashews and minced meat, and healthy exercise to create bloodlust among roosters for cockfights, hugely popular during the new year festival of Sankranti in South India despite a ban. This year, the police in Andhra Pradesh are keeping a tight vigil against the cruel sport.
Opinion
Akhand Bharat is one of the mainstays of Hindu nationalism because role of land is central to the Hindutva ideology, argues Christophe Jaffrelot in The Indian Express. "This mystique of the national land was further enhanced after Partition. In fact, Nathuram Godse decided to kill Mahatma Gandhi because he held him responsible for “the cursed vivisection of India." Just before being hanged, he and Narayan Apte shouted 'Akhand Bharat amar rahe,'" he writes.
Vasundhara Sirante and Bharath Gopalaswamy draw out the links in the Peshawar, Paris, and Pathankot attacks. "We no longer inhabit a world where the argument 'your terrorist is not my terrorist' holds much weight. This is because the playing field and participants of terrorism have changed," they write in The Hindu.
For Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha to be accepted universally, India's traditional medical systems will have to be judged by the same standards of research methodology as set out for modern medicine, argues Shailaja Chandra in the Hindustan Times: "To be a believer and a proponent of traditional medicine is one thing and to get the world to believe in traditional healing is another."
Contact HuffPost India