Daily Briefing: Towards making JEE Advanced ‘adaptive’; SIR 2.0 draft rolls out

Oil, oil, everywhere… As oil emerges as a central issue in Washington’s push on Caracas, US President Donald Trump said Venezuela would supply between 30 million and 50 million barrels of oil to the US. Venezuela holds the world’s largest oil reserves but accounts for less than 1% of global production, with Trump saying the proceeds from the sale would be used “to benefit the people” of both countries. However, Trump’s attempts to take control over territories do not remain confined to Venezuela. He ignited yet another diplomatic crisis as he doubled down on his claim that the US “absolutely needs” Greenland for defence. This past year, Denmark has accused the US of attempting to bolster a secessionist movement in Greenland. Here’s all you need to know about Trump’s 3-phase plan.

With that, let’s move on to the top stories from today’s edition: Close to 13% of the registered electors, in nine states and three Union Territories across India have been deleted from the draft rolls in the second round of the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls — an increase from the 8.3% deletions seen in the first round of SIR in Bihar last year. The total number of electors has fallen from 50.97 crore on October 27, to 44.40 crore. A similar drop was also witnessed in Uttar Pradesh, where the draft roll was published on Tuesday. Here, the total number of electors decreased by nearly 19%, from 15.44 crore to 12.55 crore, with 14.06% deletions on account of electors being declared absent or shifted, 1.65% enrolled at multiple places and 2.99% deceased.

👉 Lucknow, the state Capital, experienced the highest deletions – in terms of the number of electors and percentage. The number of electors in the district has dropped to 27.94 lakh – a drop of 12 lakh voters or 30.94% deletions, as compared to the October 2025 electoral roll. Meanwhile, Lalitpur in Bundelkhand recorded the lowest deletion– 95,000 voters or 9.95 per cent. Here’s how cities in UP fared.

‘Unmapped’: Of the 12.55 crore voters on UP’s draft electoral list, 8% or 1.4 crore will receive notices as their mapping has not been completed, UP Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa has said. What does this mean? What can electors do now? Read Maulshree Seth’s report here.

Power flow: Tuesday also saw the Election Commission of India telling the Supreme Court bench that the power flows “directly from the Constitution” and that “The Citizenship Act, 1955, and the Foreigners Act, 1946, do not detract from the power of the ECI with respect to assessment of citizenship”. The ECI asserted its right to verify citizenship status for the purpose of inclusion or exclusion from the electoral rolls, as the bench heard petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the SIR of electoral rolls.

The new year brought along a new nightmare for the residents of Indore, as the city’s renowned tag of being India’s “cleanest” was called into question. Between December 24, 2025, and January 6 this year, at least eight people have died after allegedly drinking contaminated water in Indore’s Bhagirathpura. Why? A public toilet without the septic tank, built over an ageing pipeline, has been initially blamed for the contamination of the drinking water network. As the authorities now investigate the plausible causes of water contamination, a different story has emerged – that of aging pipelines unable to keep up any more, of documented structural gaps and a municipal system that repeatedly failed to act despite obvious warnings. Here’s the Big Picture.

Law-enforcement measures, inter-state raids and roping in of medical officers to monitor ultrasound centres, are among the primary reasons for Haryana to have recorded its best sex ratio in five years. In the 2011 Census, the state ranked among the worst performers in terms of sex ratio at birth, at 834 girls per 1,000 boys. In 2025, this stood at 923, close to the national average of 933, and a big jump from 910 in 2024. According to officials, over 65,000 girls have been “saved” on account of the push to improve sex ratio since 2015. What lies beneath? Read our exclusive report here.

In an aim to make the JEE (Advanced) exam “a better and less stressful assessment”, the IIT Council has recommended that an expert committee evaluate the possibility of making the test adaptive, where questions are dynamically generated and adjusted in real-time depending on the candidate’s ability. The recommendations also include that an optional adaptive test be held as a pilot ahead of the next exam this year for data to be collected on performance. What’s the way forward?

Denying bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in connection with the 2020 Delhi riots case, the Supreme Court relied on an expansive statutory definition of a “terrorist act”. At the heart of it lies the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) Section 15, which defines terrorism in broad terms. The provision goes beyond specifying weapons such as explosives, firearms, or poisons to include acts committed through “any other means.” This generic phrasing has been criticised time-and-again for enabling investigating agencies to invoke the Act at their discretion. My colleague Deeptiman Tiwary delves deeper into this ever-widening definition of terrorism in India.

In our Opinion section today, Girish Kuber sheds light on the political relevance of the alliances contesting the Maharashtra civic body polls. Describing it as a “free-for-all” elections, Kuber writes: “Rightly dubbed “mini assembly elections”, the urban body polls have revealed the ugly, unsavoury and unscrupulous aspects of Indian politics today. The absence of local elected bodies for the last six-seven years has also made the ongoing elections particularly appealing. The process has all the hallmarks of a third-grade Bollywood thriller. While elections are never simple due to the number of aspirants, what’s happening in Maharashtra is simply unprecedented.”

The Mustafizur Rahman story: The eye of a current political storm, Mustafizur Rahman, was once identified by his coach as a player with a unique gift that most boys of his age in the game didn’t possess. “The wrists,” district coach Muffachinul Islam had once told The Indian Express. “We knew he could never bowl fast, but he could develop other weapons that could make him a successful bowler,” the coach had said. Now, as Rahman finds himself out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, Sandip G takes us on the journey of the village boy and an artful pacer, who barely wooed any controversies in the past.

🎧 Lastly, don’t forget to tune in to today’s episode of our 3 Things podcast, where we discuss the implementation of the Expulsion Act in Assam, the Christmas vandalism row in Raipur, and lastly, shed light on the ED’s searches in relation to a climate advocacy group.

That’s it for today, have a wonderful day! Business As Usual by E P Unny