Daily Briefing: Rethink on Aravallis

The Supreme Court has stayed its own November 20 order, which had accepted the 100-meter height definition for the Aravalli Hills. The court has decided to form a High-Powered Expert Committee with domain experts to resolve all critical ambiguities.

Among the key areas, the panel would look into the exclusion of lower hills under the 100-m definition. You may recall that The Indian Express had reported that, according to the Forest Survey of India’s internal assessment, the new definition comprises only 1,048 of the overall 12,081 Aravalli Hills that are 20 m or higher. Read the detailed role of the panel.

The CJI Surya Kant-led Bench cited “public dissent and criticism” in its order, which it said arose “from the perceived ambiguity and lack of clarity in certain terms and directives issued by this Court.” Read the order.

The apex court has reviewed its rulings in the past due to public outcry. However, what makes this case rare is that the court initiated a suo motu review, not at the behest of an aggrieved party. The court’s intervention also speaks to how the Court perceives its own image as a guardian of India’s environment, writes Apurva Vishwanath in her case analysis.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has everyone talking, whether it is about her speeches in the House or interactions with senior BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. Significantly, when the Congress Working Committee met last weekend, Priyanka was not in the room, but her politics was. The party chose to anchor its offensive against the Centre on her “MGNREGA Bachao Abhiyan”. Within the Congress, the murmur is growing louder: Priyanka merits a larger role. The BJP and its allies may prefer to frame this as a Priyanka vs Rahul contest, but Congress leaders insist the comparison misses the point. Apples and oranges, they say. Manoj C G reports.

As questions over Rahul Gandhi’s leadership emerge once again, one wonders if he’s alone to be blamed for the Congress party’s sorry state. Columnist Sanjaya Baru suggests it may have to do with the centralisation of power in the party and missed opportunities. Read.

Breaking: Khaleda ‍Zia, Bangladesh’s first woman Prime Minister, passed away early this morning. Zia, who lost power in 2006, had a bitter rivalry with former PM Sheikh Hasina and had been jailed or put under house arrest on several occasions. Zia’s son, Tarique Rahman, returned to Bangladesh last week after a 17-year self-imposed exile and is likely to take over her role as the chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), widely considered a frontrunner in the February elections.

Questions of law: The Supreme Court has stayed a Delhi High Court order that granted bail to Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who was serving a life sentence in the 2017 Unnao rape case. The apex court cited “peculiar circumstances of the case”, given that the HC had suspended Sengar’s life sentence, noting that he didn’t fall under the definition of a “public servant” under the POCSO Act.

Case files: In the moments before Anjel Chakma was stabbed in Dehradun, the accused planned to buy liquor and party. They reportedly continued with their plan after injuring Chakma and hurling racial slurs at him. The Indian Express spoke to the police and the accused’s family to piece together the events.

Divided: With just weeks to go for the high-stakes BMC elections, the Sharad Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party is facing a mass exodus of its leaders in Mumbai. Many of them are making a beeline for Ajit Pawar’s NCP, which is in the ruling alliance. Sources suggest that the leadership is making no efforts to stop the exits.

Interestingly, the two factions have joined hands for the civic polls in Pune. Will NCP merge once again? We decode.

Job search: Over 8,000 candidates appeared for the written test for recruitment to the Odisha Home Guard on December 16. They were competing for only 183 vacancies. A drone image from Sambalpur showing the candidates spread out on an airport runway lays bare the employment crunch. Read our report.

Artificial intelligence (AI) was undoubtedly the biggest tech trend of 2025. Did it change the world a lot — or was it just riding through on hype? Nandagopal Rajan reflects on the technological advancements in 2025 and what we might see in 2026. A frictionless future may involve an app-less experience on phones and a phone-less experience in real life, assisted by goggles and earbuds.

🎧I leave you with the latest episode of Game Time, our sports podcast, where we chatted with reporters and editors across our newsroom to speak about their favourite sporting moment this year, throwing up some pleasant surprises and even sparking fierce debate.

That’s all for today, folks! Until tomorrow, Sonal Gupta Business As Usual by EP Unny