1. Pakistan Takes Hard Line on Kulbhushan Jadhav: No Plan for Consular Access Again
Ten days after Pakistan granted India consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav for the first time since he was detained in 2016, it said that there was no plan to permit such a meeting again.
On 2 September, India’s Acting High Commissioner in Islamabad Gaurav Ahluwalia met Jadhav, the Indian national sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court, in the presence of Pakistani officials following a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
On Thursday, responding to a question on granting consular access to Jadhav again, Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said: “There is no other meeting planned.”
(Source: The Indian Express)
2. Maharashtra: MMTC Seeks Import of Pakistan Onions, Farmers Angry
The state-owned MMTC Ltd has floated a tender for import of onions from “Pakistan, Egypt, China, Afghanistan or any other origin”, triggering criticism from farmers in Maharashtra.
“How can they do this when our kharif crop is going to be harvested in just over a month’s time, after Diwali? And why import from Pakistan? Is the Indian farmer a bigger enemy?” asked Raju Shetty, chairman of the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana.
The MMTC tender, dated 6 September, has sought delivery of the imported shipments by November-end. “The new crop and the imports will arrive at the same time, thus negating any chances of our farmers getting good rates,” said Shetty.
(Source: The Indian Express)
3. J&K High Court: MPs Can Meet Farooq, Omar Abdullah but Can’t Brief Press
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has allowed two National Conference MPs to meet party leaders Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, but barred them from speaking to the press about their meeting or their “deliberations” with them.
Following the Centre’s decision to scrap J&K’s special status, Farooq Abdullah has been placed under house arrest in Srinagar while Omar Abdullah has been detained at Hari Niwas.
On Wednesday, the court heard a petition filed by party MPs Justice (retd.) Hasnain Masoodi (Anantnag) and Akbar Lone (Baramulla), seeking permission to meet them. In their plea, the MPs alleged that the party’s top leadership had not been allowed to meet anyone.
(Source: The Indian Express)
4. At UNGA Session, India to Focus on New Partnerships
The annual exchange of insults with Pakistan at the UN General Assembly could dominate headlines as before, but India appears to be planning its most focussed and substantive effort yet at “forging new partnerships” for the 74th session of the world body.
Officials are tight-lipped about details but indications are these new partnerships will go “beyond the usual ones like Brics, IBSA and G/4”, acronyms for groups comprising India, Brazil, Russia, China, South Africa, Germany, Japan and Brazil. These groups have met on the margins of every General Assembly session in recent years at the level of ministers or officials, with the aim of reflecting an evolving world power structure.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
5. Nitin Gadkari to Call CMs on MV Act Changes
Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari plans to call up chief ministers of states that have either slashed or refused to implement steep fines under the modified Motor Vehicles Act, a senior official said on Thursday, 12 September, even as the ministry sought legal opinion on provisions under which some states have revised traffic penalties.
The decision came on a day Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh joined a growing band of states that say the fines, which have increased in some cases by as much as tenfold, are too high. Gujarat and Uttarakhand, both ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have already lowered fines while another BJP-administered state, Karnataka, has indicated it will slash penalties soon. Election-bound Maharashtra has put the new law on hold and West Bengal has said it will not enforce the new penalties.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
6. On ‘Einstein Discovered Gravity’ Gaffe, Piyush Goyal Issues Clarification
“Maths never helped Einstein discover gravity,” said Piyush Goyal while defending the economic slowdown under Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government. His inadvertent gaffe, however, didn’t take long to go viral on social media and Twitter promptly pointed out that it was Isaac Newton and not Albert Einstein who discovered gravity.
“Do not get into the calculations that you see on television...Oh if you are looking at 5 trillion dollar economy, the country will have to grow at 12 percent, today it is growing at 6-7 percent. Do not get into those maths. Those maths never helped Einstein discover gravity. If he had only gone by structured formulae and what was past knowledge, I do not think there would have been any innovation in this world,” he said at the meeting of the Board of Trade in Delhi.
The minister was quick to issue a clarification that his remarks were taken out of context, and sought to be presented with “very mischievous and baseless narrative”.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
7. People Excluded From Assam NRC Not Stateless: Govt
The external affairs ministry said on Thursday the process of deciding the fate of 1.9 million people left out of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam is expected to be “fairly long” and they have the right to appeal to Foreigners Tribunals and higher courts.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar also described reports of foreign journalists being asked to leave Assam as “false” and said the state was among four categories which members of the international media need prior permission to visit.
Asked at a regular news briefing if those excluded from the NRC would be sent to Bangladesh, Kumar replied: “We’re talking about a process which is fairly long. We’re talking about the tribunals, the legal process (of appeals) – high court and Supreme Court. It is too much into the future, let us not talk about what will happen and how the whole thing is going to be sorted out.”
(Source: Hindustan Times)
8. Supreme Court Continues Its Stay on Eviction of Lakhs of Forest Dwellers
The Supreme Court on Thursday, 12 September, continued its stay on the eviction of lakhs of Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers whose claims for forest land rights have been rejected under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) of 2006.
A Bench led by Justice Arun Mishra posted the case for hearing on 26 November and said the stay order first issued on 28 February would continue.
The Bench referred to how resorts and illegal structures have encroached on forest lands and led to the depletion of the green cover. Senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, appearing for one of the parties, said the focus should be on the lakhs of forest dwellers who face eviction.
(Source: The Hindu)
9. ‘India Staring at a Protracted Slowdown,’ Manmohan Singh Warns Centre
Former prime minister Manmohan Singh today claimed that the country was staring at a "protracted slowdown" that would break its back unless the ruling BJP takes proactive measures to stimulate the economy.
Addressing a meet organised by the Congress, he said that the government was yet to wake up to a fact that was being acknowledged by everybody from industrialists to journalists. "The dangerous thing about the present situation is that our economists are complacent enough to not realise that we are in the midst of a protracted slowdown. In the first quarter of 2019-20, the national income growth rate declined to 5 percent. This is the fifth quarter of successive downgrading," he said.
(Source: NDTV)
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