QBullet: Kalmadi Named IOC Patron; Rahul, Mamata Ask PM to Resign
Read top headlines from across the country in The Quint’s newswrap.
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1. CWG Scam-Tainted Kalmadi Made IOA Life President
Commonwealth Games corruption scandal-tainted Suresh Kalmadi was on Tuesday made the Life President of Indian Olympic Association in its Annual General Body Meeting in Chennai.
Another tainted official, Abhay Singh Chautala, was also made the Life President by the IOA. Before Kalmadi and Chautala, only Vijay Kumar Malhotra, who served as acting IOA chief between 2011 and 2012, was made the Life President, according to IOA's official website. Kalmadi served as IOA president from 1996 to 2011 and was jailed for 10 months for his involvement in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games corruption scandal but later released on bail.
The Pune-born administrator, also a former Congress Member of Parliament, was a powerful sports officials in his hey-days. He was the president of the Asian Athletics Association for 13 years from 2000 to 2013. He was last year made Life President of the Asian athletics body.
(Source: The New Indian Express)
2. Mamata, Rahul Dare PM Modi to Resign for 'Failure of Note Ban'
The divide in the Opposition ranks notwithstanding, Rahul Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee launched a frontal assault on Tuesday on Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the West Bengal Chief Minister demanding that the Prime Minister and his government resign if the cash crunch does not ease after 30 December, the 50-day deadline he set following the demonetisation announcement. The Congress vice president reluctantly agreed with Banerjee’s demand.
At a joint press conference of eight parties — Congress, TMC, DMK, RJD, JD(S), JMM, IUML and AIUDF — Rahul Gandhi repeated his charges against the Prime Minister, raking up the issue of the purported Sahara and Birla group papers, but others on the dais, including Banerjee, remained silent.
(Source: The Indian Express)
3. 15-Yr-Old Pregnant After Being Raped, Family Files Plea Seeking Abortion
The family of a 15-year-old girl — who was allegedly kidnapped, confined to a pit and repeatedly raped for over three weeks in a Gujarat village — is seeking judicial permission to abort her pregnancy and block possible bail applications of the accused.
The victim was allegedly kidnapped in November from Kotda Nayani village of Morbi district and freed earlier this month. The girl’s grandfather wrote to the Gujarat High Court chief justice on Monday requesting the court not grant bail to the accused, besides attaching a copy of an application tendered before the Morbi sessions court seeking permission for abortion.
Eight people were arrested after a complaint was lodged on 13 December, about a month after the victim was abducted.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
4. Tata Sons Sues Cyrus Mistry for Alleged Breach of Confidentiality
Tata Sons on Tuesday slapped a legal notice on its ousted chairman Cyrus P Mistry for alleged breach of confidentiality by making public sensitive company documents, including minutes of board meetings, financial information and data.
It termed attaching dozens of confidential and sensitive company documents with the petition filed by his family investment firms before the National Company Law Tribunal against his removal as “reckless failure” in discharging of “fiduciary, legal and contractual duties” by Mistry.
(Source: The Indian Express)
5. As China Fumes Over Agni-V, India Retorts That It's Not Aimed at Any Nation
After China's negative comments on Tuesday about the Agni-V test, New Delhi quickly hit back at Beijing saying the successful test not only "complied with all applicable international obligations", it was also "not aimed at any country".
"India's strategic autonomy and growing engagement contributes to strategic stability," the external affairs ministry said on Tuesday evening about the test of the nuclear-capable Agni-5 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
Earlier in the day, the Chinese foreign ministry made noises about being exceptionally concerned about Agni-V affecting "the strategic balance and stability in South Asia". Of course, it completely ignored its own culpability in helping arm its "all-weather friend" Pakistan, a known nuclear proliferator.
(Source: The Times of India)
6. Mayawati Says Every Rupee of Party Accounted for, Asks BJP to Come Clean
A day after the Enforcement Directorate detected huge deposits totaling over Rs 104 crore in accounts belonging to the BSP and to party supremo Mayawati’s brother, the Dalit leader clarified that all the deposits were as per norms and every rupee was accounted for.
Rejecting allegations of corruption, Mayawati charged at the BJP and the Centre, accusing them of misusing official machinery to target its political opponents.
“If the Prime Minister has even a little bit of honesty, he should reveal his party’s deposits and accounts before and post-8 November,” she told reporters at a briefing.
(Source: The Indian Express)
7. Early Budget to Offer Headstart for Project Funding During Fiscal: PM Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that advancing the date of Budget presentation would help getting funds authorised for different sectors at the start of the financial year.
Addressing economists at Niti Aayog's meeting on 'Economic Policy – The Road Ahead', he said that a change in the budget cycle would have an impact on the real economy.
The government is proposing to present the Budget for 2017-18 on 1 February instead of the regular date of 28 February. Also, there will be no separate railway Budget for the next fiscal as the government has decided to merge it with the general Budget.
(Source: The Economic Times)
8. Fake Coin Racket Mastermind Held in Delhi, Brother on the Run
The Delhi Police special cell have arrested the kingpin of an interstate gang that made fake Rs 10 and Rs 5 coins at clandestine factories in Delhi’s Bawana, Haryana and Rajasthan, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Bihar, police said on Tuesday.
A Maruti Celerio car and fake coins of the face value of Rs 17,390 were seized from the 39-year-old kingpin, Sweekar Luthra, even as his brother and partner in crime Upkar Luthra is still at large.
They were into the illegal business since 1997.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
9. 50% Reservation in Bihar Judicial Services, Women Quota Remains
The Bihar government on Tuesday approved 50 percent reservation in the state’s judicial services with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Cabinet clearing the Bihar Uchcha Nyayik Seva (Sansodhan) Niymawali, 2016, and the Bihar Asainik Seva (Sansodhan) Niymawali, 2016.
The reservation will include 21 percent for EBCs, 12 percent for OBCs, 16 percent for SCs and one for STs. There will be 35 percent reservation for women in all categories under the existing policy.
(Source: The Indian Express)
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