Times Top10

Friday, February 03, 2023

Good morning!

Data for PMI Services for Jan to be released; BJP president Nadda to address two election rallies in Tripura; Opposition parties to meet near Gandhi statue in Parliament and raise the Adani issue; Delhi HC to hear AAP councillor Tahir Hussain's bail pleas in 2020 riots case; ISL 2022-23 - East Bengal FC Vs Kerala Blasters

1. World's talking about Adani, but Parliament won't

Parliament saw noisy protests washing out the day's proceedings on Thursday over the US-based Hindenburg Research's damning report on Gautam Adani's business empire.
Congress-led Opposition sought a discussion on the matter while PM Modi chaired a meeting to fine-tune the government's strategy in Parliament.
Adani Group's shares kept tumbling under the impact of the short seller's allegation of malfeasance.

Opposition wants probe

The Opposition parties demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee or a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the allegations against the Adani Group.
They wanted suspension of regular business to discuss the Adani Group's stock rout and its impact on millions of small investors saying the hard earned savings of crores of Indians being endangered in loss of value of investments of LIC.

Suspension notice

A number of Opposition leaders gave notices for suspension of business in both Houses of Parliament.
Parties such as Congress, DMK, AITC, SP, JD(U), Shiv Sena, CPI(M), CPI, NCP, IUML, NC, AAP, and Kerala Congress joined hands against the government.
Earlier, they held a meeting in the LoP's chamber in Parliament to formulate a joint strategy on how to pin down the government over the Adani Group crisis.

A counter-strategy meet

PM Modi also held a meeting with Union ministers to discuss strategy to counter the Opposition parties in Parliament's Budget Session.

Adani rout

Adani Group has lost over $100 billion in value after Hindenburg Research accused it of fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation.
Hours after the group cancelled fully-subscribed $2.5 billion Follow-on Public Offering (FPO), citing "market volatility" and a "moral" obligation, Adani released a video message telling investors that the fundamentals of his group were "strong" and that its record on repaying debt was "impeccable".

Meanwhile

RBI asked banks for details of their exposure to the Adani group of companies, Reuters reported citing government and banking sources.

2. How Kejriwal's name found mention in ED chargesheet on excise case

A Delhi court on Thursday took cognisance of a supplementary chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the alleged Delhi excise scam.
A part of the alleged Rs 100 crore "kickbacks" generated in the scrapped Delhi excise policy was used in AAP's campaign in the 2022 Goa assembly election, the ED has claimed in its second chargesheet in the case in which Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia is an accused, news agency PTI reported.

What's the Kejriwal link?

In the supplementary chargesheet, news agency ANI reported, ED claimed that an officer, who was posted as secretary to Sisodia, told the probe agency in December 2022 that he was handed over a draft Group of Ministers' report on the excise policy in March 2021 by Sisodia in a meeting at CM Arvind Kejriwal's residence, where health minister Satyendar Jain was also present. The policy was implemented later in the year.
The larger conspiracy, as alleged by ED, was to give kickbacks to private entities, and accused Vijay Nair, who allegedly orchestrated this entire scam, was not an ordinary worker of the AAP but a close associate of Kejriwal, reported ANI citing the chargesheet.
As reported by PTI, it also claimed that a close aide of the Delhi chief minister "arranged a video call through facetime on his phone for Sameer (Mahandru) and Arvind Kejriwal, where Arvind said to Sameer that the aide is 'his boy' and that Sameer [also an accused in the case] should trust him and carry on with him."
The close aide, NDTV reported, was Nair.

Kejriwal calls it 'fiction'

To be sure, Kejriwal has not been named as an accused in the chargesheet and no charges have been pressed against him so far in the case.
Dismissing the details in the supplementary chargesheet as "pure fiction", Kejriwal said, "ED must have filed 5,000 chargesheets in this government's tenure. How many of them were punished? ED's cases are fake. They don't file cases to end corruption. ED is used to poach MLAs, and make and break governments."

3. Now, a native-outsider row in Sikkim

Sikkim Health Minister Mani Kumar Sharma on Thursday resigned from his post in protest against the state government's handling of the Supreme Court's observation that the Sikkimese Nepali community are immigrants.

He claims...

In a letter to Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang, Sharma said that the "state government has not taken the sentiments of Sikkimese people seriously". It is not immediately known whether the resignation has been accepted.

The backstory

The top court's observations on January 13 that the Sikkimese Nepali community was an immigrant one while allowing income tax exemption to all old settlers cutting across ethnic lines has riled the state politics causing massive disaffection in all sections of civil society.
The SC made the observation while delivering its verdict on a petition filed by the Association of Old Settlers of Sikkim demanding exemption of income tax for those who had settled in the state before its merger with India on April 26, 1975.

Who is a Sikkimese?

The I-T Act 1961 became applicable in Sikkim with effect from April 1, 2008. Section 10 (26 AAA) of the Act that had exempted the state's people from paying income tax, defined the term Sikkimese.
There are three major ethnic groups in Sikkim -- Lepcha, Bhutia and Nepali. Although the Nepalis constitute the bulk of the population - about 70% -- they are often termed as "outsiders".

Protests

Even the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) took out a peace march in protest against the apex court's observations. CM Tamang tried to allay the ruffled sentiments of the angry locals by assuring that the state government will soon file a review petition in the apex court.

4. A Muslim woman can seek divorce only in court, not...

The order

A Muslim woman can exercise her inalienable right to dissolve marriage by 'Khula' (divorce proceeding initiated by wife) by approaching a family court and not private bodies such as a Shariat Council, the Madras High Court has ruled.

What it means

Private bodies cannot pronounce or certify dissolution of marriage by Khula. "They are not courts or arbitrators of disputes. The courts have also frowned upon such practice...," the HC said. Such Khula certificates issued by private entities are hence invalid.

What is Khula?

"Khula is a form of divorce conferred upon wife similar to talaq conferred upon the husband," it said.

The case

The HC quashed the impugned certificate issued in 2017 by Shariat Council, Tamil Nadu Towheed Jamath. The court also granted an interim stay in Bader Sayeed Vs Union of India, 2017 and restrained bodies such as the respondents in that matter (Kazis) from issuing certificates certifying dissolution of marriage by Khula.
It directed the petitioner and his wife to approach the Tamil Nadu Legal Services Authority or a family court to resolve their disputes.
The petitioner relied upon a Supreme Court decision in Vishwa Madan Lochan Vs Union of India and others (2014) in which the court held that whatever may be the status of 'fatwa' during Mughal or British rule, it has no place in independent India under the Constitutional scheme.

NEWS IN CLUES

5. Have you been to this hill station?

Clue 1: Its name is often attributed to a derivation of the name of a shrub found in Himalayan foothills
Clue 2: It was made a hill station by the British in 1823 but never became an official summer capital
Clue 3: It's popularly known as 'Queen of the Hills'

Scroll below for answer

6. Why a journalist spent 27 months in jail

Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan walked out of jail on Thursday, after over one month he was granted bail by the Allahabad High Court in connection with a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case against him.
Kappan was arrested in October 2020 in Mathura on his way to Hathras, where a 20-year-old Dalit woman was allegedly gang-raped.
The Dalit woman died in a Delhi hospital after battling her injuries for a fortnight. Later, she was cremated in the middle of the night by the district administration, triggering claims of a cover-up by the UP government.
The police booked Kappan and three others on charges of conspiracy to create disturbance in Hathras They were accused of trying to instigate violence over the death of the Hathras woman, which had triggered outrage across the country.
Later, police said Kappan had links with the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI), and charged him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The Enforcement Directorate filed a money laundering case against him in February 2022, accusing him of receiving money from the PFI.
The journalist has denied any involvement in terror acts or financing. He said he was on his way to Hathras for journalistic work.
When SC granted bail: On September 9 last year, the Supreme Court had granted him bail in connection with Hathras case observing that police didn't file formal charges against him and that a "Toolkit" recovered by the police talked only about ensuring justice in the rape case.
In jail despite bail: He continued to be in jail because of the money laundering case, in which Kappan got bail three months later. But his release was held up due to multiple bureaucratic lapses.
On his release, Kappan said, "This is half-baked justice. Journalism is not a crime. I will continue my fight against draconian laws."

7. What's got VHP talking about secularism?

The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Thursday alleged that Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal not taking action against their leaders for recent remarks against the Ramcharitmanas violates "basic conditions" upon which these political parties were registered and sought their derecognition by the Election Commission (EC) on that ground.
The VHP's working president Alok Kumar, a lawyer by profession, cited Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which requires every registered political party to have a specific provision in their memorandum that "the party shall bear true faith and allegiance including to the principles of secularism and democracy".
This revives focus on the bigger question of what does or does not amount to violation of this legal provision. However, interpretations of the provision - which was added to the Act through an amendment in 1989 - can be tricky, senior officials in EC told TOI. And parties can always defend their actions with arguments on what actually violates secular and democratic ethos and what don't.

EC's stand

Filing an affidavit in response to a separate Public Interest Litigation (PIL) which was last heard by the Supreme Court on January 31, the EC told the top court that cancelling the symbol or name allotted to political parties with religious connotation will be legally untenable - which virtually rules out the question of derecognition as a registered party.
Opposing a plea seeking cancellation of names and symbols of existing political parties which resonate with religion, the EC had earlier told the top court that there is no express provision which bars associations with religious connotations to register themselves as political parties.

In Parliament

A Representation of People Amendment Bill was introduced in 1994 and it was proposed that a proviso be added under subsection (7) of Section 29A of the Act stating that no association bearing religious name would be registered as a political party, but the Bill was not passed and consequently lapsed with the dissolution of the then Lok Sabha.

8. 'Unacceptable & provocative behaviour' against India

What: Several influential Republican lawmakers have urged US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to hold China accountable for its egregious human rights abuses, unfair trade practices and aggression towards the US and its allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific and beyond, including its unacceptable and provocative behaviour against India and Taiwan.
Upcoming visit: While Blinken will be visiting Beijing on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is expected to travel there later in February.
A big concern: "The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) has stepped up its aggression in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond," the Republican Senators led by Marco Rubio from Florida wrote in the letter on Wednesday.
India, Taiwan: "As we have seen recently, General Secretary Xi has engaged in unacceptable and provocative behaviour in the Taiwan Strait and along the Himalayan border with India," the letter said.
Indo-Pacific: India, the US and several other world powers have been talking about the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China's rising military manoeuvring in the resource-rich region.
China claims nearly all of the disputed South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it. Beijing has built artificial islands and military installations in the South China Sea. China also has territorial disputes with Japan in the East China Sea.
Human rights: According to the Senators, the CCP is the worst offender of human rights. Both the Biden and Trump administrations have determined that Beijing's actions against Uyghurs, and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) - including its system of mass surveillance and internment, denial of individuals' rights to peacefully practice their religion, and use of forced labour, sexual violence, forced abortion, and forced sterilisation of women - constitute genocide and crimes against humanity.

9. Why Australia is debating British monarchy

A 'No' to King Charles: Australia is replacing the portrait of the UK Queen Elizabeth II from its A$5 currency note with a new design to reflect and honour the history of its Indigenous culture. Her successor King Charles III won't be featured on the note.
The Australian Parliament will continue to feature on the other side of the note.
In September 2022, Australia had asserted that the image of King Charles would not automatically replace Queen Elizabeth on A$5 notes, and that she might be replaced by Australian figures.
A debate: Queen Elizabeth's death in 2022 has reignited debates in Australia about its future as a constitutional monarchy, some 23 years after voters narrowly chose to maintain the British monarch as its head of state — in a 1999 referendum.
Officially, King Charles is the head of state in Australia, New Zealand and 12 other Commonwealth realms outside the United Kingdom, even though his role is only ceremonial.
Authorities say the decision to include Elizabeth's image on the A$5 dollar note was more about her personality and less about status as the monarch.
Politics: This note row comes when Australia's centre-left Labor government is pushing for a referendum, required to alter the constitution, to recognise Indigenous people in the document and require consultation with them on decisions that affect their lives.
Indigenous pitch: In 2021, Australia officially amended its national anthem to remove reference to the country being "young and free" amid calls to recognise that its Indigenous people are the oldest civilization in the world.
Looking ahead: Australia's Reserve Bank said it would consult Indigenous groups in designing the A$5 banknote — a process that may take several years. Until then, the current note will continue to be issued.

10. You share your b'day with...

Source: Various

Answer to NEWS IN CLUES

Mussoorie: The National Green Tribunal has issued directions to conduct a specific study of the hill station of Mussoorie and formed a nine-member committee to suggest remedial measures for preventing environmental damage. The tribunal was hearing a matter where it had initiated suo motu proceedings in view of a media report that the recent Joshimath disaster was a warning for Mussoorie where unplanned constructions continued, reported news agency PTI.

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Written by: Rakesh Rai, Jayanta Kalita, Prabhash K Dutta, Abhishek Dey
Research: Rajesh Sharma

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