New Delhi: Senior digital journalist Dayashankar Mishra has reportedly submitted his resignation to the Network18 management, where he served as the Executive Editor (Digital). He has alleged that he had to resign because his employers were unhappy with him writing a book on Rahul Gandhi.

Dayashankar Mishra is currently in the spotlight for his upcoming book focused on Rahul Gandhi, scheduled for release in December. Mishra revealed on his 'X' handle that Network18 asked for his resignation if he intended to proceed with the book. He claimed that although he had the option to withdraw the book and save his job, he chose to stand with the truth and continue writing.

Making this revelation in a detailed note, Mishra expressed his surprise at the challenges associated with presenting the truth about Rahul Gandhi. He asked why, in a time when there is a competition to write about those in power, compiling and presenting the thoughts, vision, and determination of a public policy thinker would create such trouble.

“I had no idea how much trouble writing the truth on Rahul Gandhi would create. At a time when there is a competition to write epics on those in power, I thought why would anyone bother to compile and present the thoughts, vision and determination of a public policy thinker?” he added.

Responding to Mishra's claims, Network18 released a statement on Thursday, dismissing them as a publicity stunt. The company stated that Mishra violated company regulations by not seeking permission before writing a book or contributing outside the organization. According to Network18, Mishra was informed that he should adhere to the company's norms when he announced his book, scheduled for release in December.

Having been with Network18 for more than four and a half years, Mishra previously held the position of Editor (Languages) at the digital wing of the Zee Group, contributing to the expansion of the Hindi digital version of Zee News and other Indian languages during his two-year tenure.

Prior to his association with the Zee Group, Mishra served as an editor at the Hindi website of the NDTV Group. In 2016, while at NDTV, he initiated a series against war during the surgical strikes, earning appreciation from academicians, sociologists, and critics.

With nearly two and a half decades of experience in journalism, Dayashankar Mishra has worked in various regions, including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, and Jammu and Kashmir. His interests encompass study, travel, and communication. Mishra is recognized for his contributions to social and development journalism, having received the United Nations Population Fund award in 2008 for his research and study on manual scavenging societies. Additionally, he was granted a fellowship on the same subject from NFI, Delhi, in 2009.

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Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.

The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.

Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.

Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.

What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.

"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,

which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.

"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.

"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.

"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.

In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.

The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.

With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.

Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).