Prateek Tanmay
2 min readJul 3, 2026 06:40 AM IST
First published on: Jul 3, 2026 at 06:40 AM IST
The search for a new formula to end the deadlock over Chandigarh has started. The Centre sent feelers to the Akali leadership suggesting alternative proposals to resolve the knotty problem. The initial reaction of the Akalis was not favourable as they did not want to accept any step “outside the Rajiv-Longowal accord”. One of the proposals on which the Akali leadership was believed to have been sounded was the retention of Chandigarh as a Union Territory and payment of Rs 400 crore and Rs 300 crore to Punjab and Haryana respectively by the Centre for the construction of new capitals. The other proposal was for the division of Chandigarh in the ratio of 60:40.
World Bank loan for India
India will receive a loan worth $303.2 million from the World Bank this year. The loan, the biggest for any country this year, is to be used for fertiliser production in India. India will also receive another loan of $132.5 million from Japan, Italy, and Denmark.
Ten killed, 23 extremists held
Ten people, including three hardcore terrorists, were killed and at least five injured while authorities captured 23 extremists, three of them trained in Pakistan, during the past 48 hours in Punjab. Three people, including terrorist Balbir Singh, who carried a reward of Rs 50,000, and his accomplice Ajit Pal Singh, were killed, and three wounded while Punjab Quami Ekta Committee president and Congress (I) leader B K Khullar escaped unhurt.
Language tension defused
The explosive situation on the Karnataka-Maharashtra border was defused when the Karnataka CM, Ramakrishna Hegde, and a delegation of the Samyukta Maharashtra Seema Samithi, led by M S Joshi and Sharad Pawar, hammered out a formula. The government will withdraw its order on teaching of Kannada in border area schools by the year-end if the Maharashtra Government is able to prove that the directive contains an element of compulsion.
