Daily Briefing: Supriya Sule on Delimitation Bill; PM Modi’s planned visit to Punjab amid Satluj row

8 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jul 16, 2026 10:17 AM IST

Top news on July 16, 2026.

Good morning,

Slept well? Or are climate change-induced high night-time temperatures interfering with your sleep, too? A new study reveals that people in some of India’s largest cities are losing between 65 and 93 hours of sleep each year. Among the big cities, Chennai was found to have the highest overall sleep loss in India, with residents losing an average of 93 hours of sleep annually. Of these, five hours could be directly attributable to climate change, according to the study by Climate Central, a United States-based climate advocacy group. Residents of Mumbai and Kolkata are losing 84 and 80 hours of sleep, respectively, every year, the study reveals. Unusually high night-time temperatures have emerged as a major concern in the past few years, and the cause of many heat-related deaths. Here’s why.

With that, let’s move on to the top stories from today’s edition:

Supriya Sule’s big hint

PM Modi’s visit to Punjab

Spain’s mastermind: Rodri

🚨 Big Story

Hint: What stands out as a signal of a potential break in the Opposition ranks ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP-SP) working president and MP Supriya Sule on Wednesday said her party would consider supporting the Centre’s proposed delimitation Bill if it ensures a 50 per cent increase in the Lok Sabha seats in all states. Sule’s remarks come amid reports that sections of the NCP(SP)’s MPs and MLAs were increasingly pushing for a tie-up with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) National Democratic Alliance (NDA). There’s been a buzz about NCP(SP)’s next moves in the wake of a series of meetings between its leaders and senior BJP and government functionaries over the past several days.

Worry: Sule’s signal triggered a fresh churn in the INDIA bloc. With the alliance already battered by splits and desertions, its senior leaders expressed doubt about the Opposition unity that ensured the defeat of the legislation in April holding. Reflecting the Opposition’s angst over Sule’s stance, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Tuesday asked the DMK and NCP (SP) to stand with them. Following the splits in Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT), the NDA has 319 MPs in the Lok Sabha. If the NCP (SP) supports the Bill, the NDA tally will go up to 327, 33 short of the two-third mark, with the BJP hoping to bridge the gap with support from more parties and abstentions by some. What’s about to happen in the Parliament this coming week? We explain.

⚡ Only in Express

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to unveil multiple development and railway infrastructure projects during his trip to Punjab’s Jalandhar on July 17. His visit comes at a crucial time for the BJP, which has announced its intent to contest solo for the state Assembly elections slated for February 2027. However, since the time of the announcement of Modi’s planned visit to Punjab in early July, the state’s political narrative has shifted dramatically. Thanks to Diljit Dosanjh-starrer film, Satluj. Based on the life of the slain human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, the film was abruptly removed from Zee 5. Its screenings are now being organised by the SGPC, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and the Opposition Congress. While the BJP has denied any role in removing the film from the OTT platform, the controversy has betrayed differences within the party. Here’s what is happening in Punjab.

📰 From the Front Page

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Awaiting an apology: Days after US authorities indicted gangster Lawrence Bishnoi for allegedly ordering the killing in 2023 of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, former Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Verma, who was among those targeted by Ottawa in the case, said “an apology is in order” now. Verma, named among “persons of interest” in the Nijjar killing and declared persona non-grata by Canada, also said that the then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could have waited till investigations were over before pointing a finger at Indian officials in 2024.

CETA: The India-United Kingdom Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), under which 99 per cent of Indian goods entering the UK and 90 per cent of UK goods entering India will either be duty-free or attract reduced tariffs, came into force on Wednesday. Moreover, the Agreement on Social Security (Double Contribution Convention) exempts Indian professionals on temporary UK assignments of up to 60 months from making social security contributions in both countries, reducing costs for employees and employers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the operationalisation of the agreements as “a significant moment in the India-UK partnership”. Meanwhile, British High Commissioner Lindy Cameron called it the “new gold standard of trade deals”.

Breach: After reports of a data breach at Tamil Nadu’s Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant emerged, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) declared on Wednesday that the leaked information does not pertain to any nuclear safety or security systems. Sharing a statement, NPCIL stated that the compromised data relates only to the plant’s conventional Balance of Plant (BoP) common service facilities. The present data breach involves two of its four units – 3 and 4 – which are still under construction and are due to be operational by 2027.

📌 Must Read

Debate: The Ladakh administration’s decision to constitute Autonomous Hill Development Councils (AHDCs) in every Union Territory’s seven districts has reopened a debate over how political power should be distributed in the region. While the administration claims the move will deepen grassroots governance, two civil society groups negotiating Ladakh’s future with the Centre — the Apex Body, Leh (ABL) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) — argue that it could weaken the representative political structure they have been demanding under Article 371. The disagreement also reflects a trust deficit that has steadily widened between Ladakh’s leadership and the Centre since the region became a Union Territory in 2019.

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In our Opinion columns today, Vijay Kelkar and Ajit Ranade delve into the ramifications of the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill to synchronise Lok Sabha and all state assembly elections, which is set to be taken up for discussion in the upcoming Monsoon session of the Parliament. Highlighting that the One Nation, One Election (ONOE) Bill does not fix what’s broken, they write: “What makes this particularly dispiriting is that the genuine pathologies of elections go untouched: Unlimited party spending, cash distribution to voters, criminalisation of politics, and misuse of state machinery. These require targeted reform…”

⏳ And Finally…

Miracle on the football field: Argentina beating England by scoring 2-1, with collective courage, via late goals when everything appeared to be nearly lost, was indeed a special sight on Wednesday. Even for Lionel Messi. Especially for Lionel Messi. Just five minutes were left before a painful end to Messi’s career, however, he and his men pulled off another miraculous escape — scoring two goals to nail their spot at the FIFA World Cup final. My colleague Sandip G describes: “This was the game; Argentina knew; England knew it too. England could not beat Maradona; they couldn’t beat Messi either. And Messi has one more game to experience the whole spectrum of emotions that he lives for. Perhaps the greatest game of his career; or the cruellest.”

🎧 Lastly, don’t forget to tune in to today’s episode of our 3 Things podcast, where we discuss the Maharashtra FDA’s warning over the use of skin-lightening creams that have been found to contain dangerously high levels of mercury and lead; the launch of Icodec, the world’s first once-a-week insulin shot, in India; and more.

That’s all for today. Have a wonderful day!

Until next time,

Ariba

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