QBullet: Swaraj to Meet Pak Counterpart; MP CM Dilutes SC/ST Act
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1. Sushma Swaraj to Meet Pakistan Foreign Minister in New York Later This Month
India confirmed on Thursday that External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj will meet her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi in New York later this month in response to a letter from Prime Minister Imran Khan to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking such a meeting.
As the neighbours struggle to shake off their accumulated trust deficit, India made it clear the meeting would not amount to resumption of bilateral dialogue or any change on its stated position on cross-border terrorism.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. To Placate Protesting Upper-Castes, MP CM Chouhan Announces Move to Dilute SC/ST Atrocities Law
Moving to placate protesting upper caste groups in his poll-bound state, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday announced he will ensure that the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act is “not misused” and no one will be arrested before an investigation.
The announcement flies in the face of a concerted move by the Centre to nullify a Supreme Court ruling in March this year which angered the SCs and STs because they saw it as a dilution of the law meant for their safety. That ruling allowed provisions for anticipatory bail to an accused, a preliminary enquiry before registration of a case under the Act, and prior sanction by a superior officer before effecting an arrest.
(Source: The Indian Express)
3. Govt Orders Probe Into Crisis on Jet Airways Flight, 35 Passengers Suffered Bleeding
What should have been an uneventful 105-minute hop from Mumbai to Jaipur turned into a nightmare for 166 passengers Jet Airways flight 9W 697, after the crew forgot to turn on the so-called “bleed switch” resulting in a drop in cabin pressure that caused headaches, and bleeding noses and ears and forcing the flight to return to Mumbai.
It was all over in 48 minutes but it left the passengers scared and mentally scarred and prompted the civil aviation minister to set up a probe. The flight’s cockpit crew has been taken off scheduled duties pending investigation.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
4. Maya Jolt to Congress in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Allies With Ajit Jogi’s Party
In a setback to the Congress’s plan to bring all anti-BJP parties together, BSP chief Mayawati on Thursday announced an alliance with Ajit Jogi’s party in Chhattisgarh and released a list of 22 candidates for poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.
The move threw a spanner in the Congress’s efforts to clinch an alliance with the BSP in Madhya Pradesh and cast a shadow on the bid to project a grand alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha elections.
(Source: The Indian Express)
5. India Will Take up BSF Soldier’s ‘Barbaric’ Killing and Mutilation
India said on Thursday, 20 September it will take up the “barbaric” killing of a Border Security Force (BSF) jawan with Pakistan in an “appropriate manner” and added that the incident was “against all international norms”.
BSF jawan Narender Singh’s body was found on Wednesday with bullet wounds and his throat slit in Jammu along the border with Pakistan, according to two officials who asked not be named. They suspected Pakistani troops to be behind the act.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
6. Dead Sewer Worker Was More Than a Father to Grieving Boy
(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@shivsunny)
Fresh facts have emerged in the aftermath of the death of Anil, a sewer cleaner, for whose family Good Samaritans have donated more than Rs 57 lakh after being moved by a picture from the cremation ceremony tweeted by this reporter on Sunday, 16 September.
In the picture, an 11-year-old boy was grieving over the death of Anil, referring to him as “Papa”. Responding to it, NGO Uday Foundation and crowdfunding portal Ketto set up an account for the boy – a call to which 2,594 have responded till Thursday evening.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
7. Govt Launches Online Database of Sex Offenders
The government on Thursday, 20 September, launched an online National Database on Sexual Offenders (NDSO) which will have names, addresses, photographs and fingerprint details of persons convicted on charges of rape, gang rape, offences related to Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, and stalking.
The NDSO data will not be available for general public but only to law enforcement agencies for effectively tracking and investigating cases of sexual offences. The government promised the database will not compromise the privacy of individuals.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
8. Ignoring Justice Could Lead to Mahabharat in Ayodhya: Mohan Bhagwat
A day after emphasising that the Ram temple should be built in Ayodhya, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday said that justice should be done as soon as possible and that ignoring justice and truth could lead to “Mahabharat” in Ayodhya. Bhagwat made the remark at an event after unveiling two books, Ayodhya ka Chasmdeed and Yuddha Me Ayodhya, by Hemant Sharma.
Bhagwat released the book while Home Minister Rajnath Singh presided over the programme and BJP president Amit Shah was the chief guest.
(Source: The Indian Express)
9. Finance Minister’s ‘Clown Prince’ Quip Gets ‘Court Jester’ Retort
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday termed Congress president Rahul Gandhi “clown prince” for his public pronouncements and said the Congress leader had falsely accused the government of waiving loans worth ₹2.5 lakh crore given to 15 industrialists.
In a post on Facebook, Mr. Jaitley said that “not a single rupee of any debtor” had been waived by the BJP government. The blog post was in response to attacks by Mr. Gandhi against the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in public meetings in poll-bound Rajasthan, where the Congress leader, referring to Mr. Modi, said the “country’s watchman is now a thief.”
(Source: The Hindu)
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