QBullet: Muted Response to Jat Protests; More Ammo at Jawahar Park

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Around 3,000 activists, believed to be of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, interrupted the drive by pelting stones and opening fire at the police.(Photo: Brajesh Kumar)

1. Muted Response on Day 1 of Fresh Jat Quota Stir in Haryana

It was mostly elderly men who occupied protest sites in Haryana on the first day of the renewed Jat quota stir that began on Sunday. The young chose to look from afar, part intimidated by the Rapid Action Force and Haryana Police who surrounded the venue and were “out there to get them”, and part anxious over the fate of those youngsters who had been arrested following the violent February stir, according to The Indian Express.

Also Read: Jats Begin Fresh Quota Stir as Haryana Goes on Alert

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police said CrPC Section 144 would be imposed in parts of Delhi bordering Haryana along with a few other parts of the city, according to The Times of India. Prohibitory orders will be implemented in five police sub-divisions — Dwarka and Najafgarh in South West Delhi, Alipur and Bawana in outer Delhi and Mukherjee Nagar in north west Delhi, a senior police official said. These five sub-divisions cover over 15 police stations.

2. A Battlezone Inside Jawahar Park

(Photo: The Quint)

Terming Mathura’s Jawahar Park a functional bomb-making unit, police officials say they recovered 5 kg of sulphur, 1 kg of potassium as well as nearly 2.5 kg gunpowder from the compound, indicating that members of the Swadheen Bharat Subhas Sena were preparing for a long siege, according to The Times of India. Residents of Mathura district also told TOI that the group’s members were openly being trained in firearms and non-armed combat.

Also Read: Mathura Violence: From “Activists” to Encroachers

Meanwhile, 60-year-old Ram Vriksh Yadav, the Mathura cult chief and key accused in the violence at Jawahar Bagh is dead, Uttar Pradesh police said.

Also Read: Mathura Violence Mastermind Ram Vriksh Yadav Dead, Says Police

Newspaper reports seem to suggest that the Uttar Pradesh government, headed by Akhilesh Yadav, disregarded up to 40 intelligence reports that had indicated the presence of a large number of licensed and unlicensed firearms inside the premises, and that adequate reinforcements weren’t provided, even when they were sought by the district administration.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, while speaking at a rally in Amroha, attacked the Samajwadi Party government over the Mathura incident, daring it to call for a CBI investigation into the incident.

3. Modi Reaches Switzerland, NSG Membership on Agenda

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday arrived in Switzerland from Qatar on the third leg of his five-nation tour, with the issues of black money and India’s membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) high on agenda.

On Monday, Modi will hold talks with President of the Swiss Confederation Johann Schneider-Amman, during which the two looming issues are likely to figure, among others.

In a pre-departure media briefing in New Delhi, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said Switzerland was an important member of the NSG and he definitely expected the issue of India’s membership to come up during the discussions.

India has already formally applied for membership of the group.

Meanwhile, smaller member nations of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) may back India as its membership application comes up before the group this week.

Lithuania, the largest of the Baltic states, is likely to support India’s membership bid, according to The Times of India.

In a bid to garner support from other countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit two NSG countries – Switzerland and Mexico – this week. India expects support from both for its NSG membership application, even as its stiffest opposition comes from China, New Zealand, Ireland and Austria.

4. RPA Amendment – Bribe for Votes: EC Wants Law to Scrap Polls

After a sting operation that purportedly showed a group of MLAs from Karnataka demanding money, in crores, for supporting a candidate in the coming Rajya Sabha elections, the Election Commission is set to write to the Law Ministry seeking legal powers to rescind polls, according to The Indian Express.

We want the government to either tweak this provision or introduce a new one through which the EC can also revoke any election (Assembly, Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha etc) if money has been used to influence voters

A senior official to The Indian Express

5. After Kandahar, India Offered Taliban Money to Get Me: Masood Azhar

Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar has claimed that former Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh offered money to the then Taliban chief, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansur, to hand him and two others over to Indian authorities. The offer came after they had been exchanged for passengers and crew of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC-814 at Kandahar in 1999, the JeM chief claims.

According to The Indian Express, Azhar has made these claims in an obituary of Mansur, written in the Jaish’s online mouthpiece. Mansur was killed in a US drone strike last month. However, Indian intelligence officials and diplomats have rubbished the allegations.

6. Apple Keen on Getting 2-3 Years’ Breather on Local Sourcing Norms

The Finance Ministry has long argued the need for mandatory local sourcing to set up single brand stores in India. But the government is expected to make an exception for Cupertino-based Apple and allow it to open retail outlets in the country without any sourcing requirement for the first 2-3 years, according to The Times of India. The arrangement will however, also ensure that Apple sources locally after it establishes itself in the country,

The review of the mandatory sourcing policy for Apple was first indicated at a press conference by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman a week ago. Apple earlier asked the government for relaxation of local sourcing norms.

7. At UCLA, a PhD Partnership That Earned Billions, While Another Earned Bullets

A PhD partnership between Henri Samueli and his PhD student Henry Nicholas — at UCLA’s Henri Samueli School of Engineering — resulted in the formation of Broadcom, a chip company that topped $150 billion in market cap and sold for $37 billion a few years ago, says The Times of India.

A few years later, an adversarial relationship between a PhD mentor and student in the same university resulted in the death of both. The student, an IIT-Stanford alumnus, Mainak Sarkar and his professor William Klug.

Perhaps the high rate of unemployment, and the sense of gloom and doom that one faces when they have a toxic relationship with their PhD adviser could explain why PhD turns lethal for some.

8. Security Beefed up on Operation Bluestar Anniversary

The 32nd Operation Bluestar anniversary on Monday has the Punjab state police on its toes as the state witnessed violent clashes on this day in the last two years, according to The Indian Express.

Security around the Golden Temple has been strengthened and at least 10 hardliners were detained on Sunday as a preventive measure. Several hardliners were detained Saturday as well.

We have deployed three layers security for the anniversary day. The first layer will be around the Golden Temple. The second will be at the wall of old city and the third layer will be at all entry points of the city. Border Security Force has also set up check posts in Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur districts. Around 9,000 security personnel, including six companies of paramilitary forces, are in the city

Amritsar Police Commissioner Amar Singh Chahal to The Indian Express 

9. Hope in the Times of Modi Sarkar

In an opinion piece in The Indian Express, Vikram Mehta writes that though economically, there are many sticking points in the Modi government, there are many reasons why India’s economic story will be more hope and less despair in the times to come. Part of it is due to the rise of diverse economic interest groups in the country, he says.

The dividing lines are clear: On one side, there is a burgeoning youthful population, connected, aspirational, entrepreneurial, individualistic and striving to create a future that is better than their parents’ past. On the other, there are the institutions of governance — the executive, legislature and judiciary — bound by procedure and precedent; votaries of change in rhetoric, but cautious in practice; advocates of the market and competition in public, but reluctant to dilute regulatory control in office. The battle is ongoing, and on the face of it, the state has overwhelming powers. But, in reality, this power is weakening. The success of new anti-establishment political groupings like the AAP and the growing influence of economic interest groups and the media are evidence of the shifting battle lines. The state will not, of course, eviscerate, but in the face of the demands of an aspiring middle class, it will be less ideologically hidebound and more responsive to economic pragmatism. 

Vikram Mehta, Chairman of Brookings India and senior fellow, Brookings Institution in The Indian Express

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