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1. Ayodhya Case: SC Defers Hearing to 8 Feb, Says No to Plea to Hear Case After 2019
The Supreme Court on Tuesday, 5 December, decided to continue the final hearing of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case on February 8 next year, brushing aside the plea of the Sunni Waqf Board to postpone it till after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, as the final verdict would have political and electoral repercussions.
The Waqf Board’s stand, articulated by its counsel Kapil Sibal, a senior Congress leader, took on a political hue outside the court, with Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah asking Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to clear his stand on the Ram temple issue.
“On the one hand, temples are being visited (by Gandhi) ahead of elections. On the other hand, they (the Congress) are trying to delay hearing of the Ram Janmabhoomi case. The Congress has double standards on the issue. They should clarify their stand,” Shah said in Ahmedabad.
Demanding that the case be heard as soon as possible, Shah said: “The Supreme Court should give a judgment and a grand Ram temple should be built in Ayodhya.”
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. Boost for Exports as Government Announces More Incentives
The government on Tuesday, 5 December, announced additional incentives totalling Rs 8,450 crore to help boost exports in its mid-term review of the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-2020, which included simplified processes to help exporters and a commitment to roll out an e-wallet scheme to ease working capital issues for exporters in the post-GST regime.
It raised the incentive rate by 2 percent under the most popular Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) and Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS).
The additional incentives have been provided for exports by small and medium enterprises, labour-intensive and agriculture-based exports, among others.
These comprise additional annual incentive of Rs 749 crore for the leather sector, Rs 921 crore for handmade carpets of silk, handloom, coir and jute products, Rs 1,354 crore for agriculture products; Rs 759 crore for marine products, Rs 369 crore for telecom and electronic components, and Rs 193 crore for medical equipment.
(Source: The Indian Express)
3. On Junaid Family Plea, HC Stays Trial, Issues Notice for CBI Probe
Nine days after a single-judge bench dismissed a petition by the family of Junaid Khan for a CBI probe into the killing of the teenager, allegedly by a mob which had hurled communal slurs on board a Mathura-bound train in June this year, a division bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed the trial court proceedings and issued notice to the Haryana government and the CBI on the plea for a CBI probe.
Acting on an appeal against the single-judge bench order, the division bench of Justices Mahesh Grover and Raj Shekhar Attri on Tuesday, 5 December, asked the Faridabad Sessions Court to adjourn the case until 11 January.
The trial court was scheduled to hear the case on 12 December. It has earlier been directed by another single-judge bench of the High Court to conclude the proceedings within five months because there was “every likelihood of prosecution witnesses being put in jeopardy.”
(Source: The Indian Express)
4. Mallya Fights Extradition Case in UK, Lawyer Says No Evidence of Fraud
Controversial businessman Vijay Mallya painted himself as a victim of political persecution on the second day of his extradition trial, stating that the BJP, Congress and Shiv Sena were hoping to reap electoral capital on the assumption that he was guilty of fraud.
Defence counsel Clare Montgomery, appearing for Mallya at the Westminster magistrate’s court on Tuesday, 5 December, alleged that the CBI has a long history of being influenced by India’s political masters. She also bemoaned the state of penitentiaries in India, stating that many prisons – including Arthur Road Jail (where Mallya may be lodged if extradited) – were yet to implement reforms prescribed by the country’s courts.
Montgomery presented a series of documents to dub charges of fraud put forth by Mark Summers, lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service on India’s behalf, as “nonsensical” and “financially incoherent.” The prosecution has no evidence of fraud against Mallya, she said, alleging that at least 12 documents submitted by India were identical like a “template”.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
5. Air Pollution Damages Children’s Brains, Lowers IQ, Says UNICEF Report
Air pollution causes irreversible damage to young children’s brains, says a new UNICEF report.
Toxic air lowers children’s IQ and memory, affects their test scores and triggers neurological-behavioural problems such as anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and development delays, according to the study.
Pollution hurts children’s brains through several mechanisms, with infants before their first birthday being the most vulnerable.
“Most of the brain’s development happens in the first 1,000 days of life, which makes children vulnerable to damage by a smaller dosage of toxic chemicals ... Children also breathe more rapidly and are more likely to breathe through their mouths, which increase the amount of pollutants they inhale,” said Dr Krishnan Chugh, senior paediatric pulmonologist at Fortis Hospitals in Gurugram.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
6. Centre Offers Rs 2.5 Lakh for Every Inter-Caste Marriage With a Dalit
Removing the income ceiling of Rs 5 lakh per annum, the Centre has opened its scheme meant to encourage inter-caste marriages to all couples where either the bride or the bridegroom is a Dalit.
The ‘Dr Ambedkar scheme for social Integration through inter-caste marriage’ was started in 2013, with a target to provide monetary incentive to at least 500 such inter-caste couples per year.
As per rules, such couples whose total annual income does not exceed Rs 5 lakh are eligible to get a one-time incentive of Rs 2.5 lakh from the Centre.
This was meant to “appreciate the socially bold step” and to enable them to “settle down in the initial phase of their married life.” The other pre-conditions were that it should be their first marriage, and it should be registered under the Hindu Marriages Act, with the proposal being submitted within a year of marriage.
(Source: The Indian Express)
7. India Successfully Test-Fires Surface-to-Air Akash Missile
India on Tuesday, 5 December, successfully test-fired Akash, its supersonic surface-to-air missile with indigenous radio frequency seeker, from a test range in Odisha, officials said.
The state-of-the-art indigenous missile targeting an UAV 'Banshee', was fired from launch complex-III of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur.
“The radars, telemetry and electro-optical systems along the coast have tracked and monitored all the health parameters of the missile,” an official statement said.
The supersonic missile is the first surface-to-air missile with indigenous seeker to be test fired and is being inducted into the army as short range surface to air missile.
With the successful test firing, India has achieved the capability of making any type of surface to air missile, defence sources said.
(Source: The Times of India)
8. Isn’t He a Rape Case Survivor, Asks Judge as Accused Gets Acquitted
Since a “rape victim” is referred to as a “rape survivor” these days, should a man who is “honourably acquitted” after a “considerable period” be addressed as a “rape case survivor”? This question was posed by a Special Judge in the Tis Hazari Court, while acquitting a man charged with rape and under the POCSO Act.
The case dates back to 2012-2013, when a girl, who was one month short of turning 18, had lodged a rape complaint in west Delhi’s Ranhola. A chargesheet was filed, but the girl turned hostile during recording of her statement before the court. At that time, she deposed that she was in love with the accused and the two had a consensual “physical relationship”, but she got upset when he refused to marry her.
(Source: The Indian Express)
9. Alive Baby Declared Dead: Initial Probe Finds Max Hospital Guilty
A panel formed by the Delhi government to probe the case of a premature baby wrongly declared dead has found Max Hospital in Shalimar Bagh guilty of not following prescribed medical norms in dealing with newborn babies.
The three-member panel on Tuesday, 5 December, submitted its preliminary report to Delhi's Heath Minister Satyendar Jain after scrutinising hospital records and meeting the hospital staff.
Sources quoting the report said no ECG tracings were done to check if the child was alive and the body was handed over without written instructions. The boy, along with a twin sister, was born on 30 November. Both babies were declared dead although the boy was alive.
“The dead and the living twins were not kept separately,” said an official.
(Source: The Times of India)
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