This Week in Explainers: Why is India banning Pit bulls, Rottweilers and other dogs?

It’s been a week of new announcements, a few changes, and a ban.

The election season is here. The dates for the Lok Sabha polls will be announced today.

Political parties have already started the groundwork. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP is fulfilling one promise after another. This week, the Ministry of Home Affairs notified the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

The ruling party also announced its second list of candidates, dropping some known names, and Modi has started campaigning with his eyes on the southern states.

Talking about elections and politics, electoral bonds continued to be in the limelight. After a Supreme Court rap, the State Bank of India (SBI) handed over the poll bonds data to the Election Commission, which released it on Thursday. The apex court also pulled up the lender for not sharing the “complete data”. We have been following this story closely.

Changes continue to sweep India, which will likely see simultaneous elections by 2029. The BJP has been endorsing “One Nation, One Election” and a high-level panel led by former president Ram Nath Kovind has made its recommendations.

On the non-political news front, Bengaluru continues to face a severe water crisis, and the Centre has directed states to ban 23 “ferocious” dog breeds.

In our weekly roundup of explainers, we bring all these stories and more.

1. Let’s talk about the electoral bonds. Declared “unconstitutional” by the Supreme Court last month, they were a major source of political funding. But who were the donors? The State Bank of India (SBI) data on poll bonds released by the Election Commission throws up several names – some known, some unknown.

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The No. 1 buyer of electoral bonds is Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt Ltd. The man behind the company is Santiago Martin. Who is he? Known as the “lottery king”, he worked as a labourer in Myanmar, only to return to India in 1988 and build his fortune. This is his story.

Santiago’s Future Gaming has a murky past. It has been under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Among the top 30 donors of electoral bonds, at least 14 have had a brush with the law. This explainer takes a deep dive.

2. Four years after Parliament passed it, the home ministry notified the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA). The legislation eases the citizenship process for persecuted non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

“With this notification, PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji has delivered on another commitment and realised the promise of the makers of our Constitution to the Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians living in those countries,” Home Minister Amit Shah wrote on X.

The move has been criticised by the Opposition; the Northeastern states of Assam and Tripura are seeing protests.

But what is the CAA? And what changes for India with its implementation? We explain.

3. One Nation, One Election. It’s a phrase that has been doing the rounds since last year. It means that India will vote in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the same year, if not the same time. But is it feasible?

A panel led by former president Ram Nath Kovind was appointed in September to answer the question. On Thursday, it submitted its recommendations after it studied “best practices from other countries” and consulted 39 political parties, economists, and the Election Commission. Here’s what the committee said.

4. Bengaluru’s “dry days” continue. India’s “Silicon Valley” is plagued by a severe water crisis with no respite.

Many schools and colleges have switched to online classes and several professionals are working from home. Some techies are even leaving the city to go back to their hometowns. A posh apartment complex has asked its residents to use disposable cutlery and wet wipes. People are bathing on alternate days and some are forced to use toilets in malls.

It’s a dire situation. In this piece, we look at how water scarcity has upended lives in India’s tech capital.

5. Our last story is a tale of caution. Attacks by pet dogs have been on the rise in the country. Headlines of a Pit bull or a Rottweiler going rogue and mauling people are not as rare as we’d like them to be. Now the Centre has asked states to ban 23 “ferocious” breeds of canines. Which are they? And are these dogs really dangerous? We have some answers.

Those are the big stories for India this week. We hope our explainers help you understand the news better. Keep coming back for more.

Have a good weekend.