QBullet: India’s Nuclear Triad Complete; Delhi Covered in Smog
The top headlines of the day on QBullet.
1. N-Sub Completes 1st Patrol, Country’s N-Triad Operational
India’s long-awaited nuclear triad, or the capability to fire nuclear weapons from land, air and sea, is now finally operational almost five decades after it was first conceived for credible strategic deterrence and 20 years after the Pokhran-II tests.
PM Modi on Monday, 5 November, announced that the country’s first indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant had successfully completed its “first deterrence patrol”, which signifies the underwater predator has undertaken its maiden long-range mission with “live” nuclear-tipped missiles. “In an era such as this, a credible nuclear deterrence is the need of the hour. The success of INS Arihant gives a fitting response to those who indulge in nuclear blackmail,” the PM tweeted, in a fairly unambiguous message to Pakistan.
(Source: The Times of India)
2. Sabarimala Protests Planned by Party… All Followed: BJP Kerala Chief
Triggering a political firestorm in Kerala over the Sabarimala protests, an audio tape has emerged of BJP state President PS Sreedharan Pillai telling a gathering of the party’s youth wing that the violent agitation at the shrine against the entry of women of all age was “almost planned” by the BJP.
Pillai is also heard claiming that he had advised the temple’s thantri (head priest), Kandaru Rajeevaru, that “locking” the shrine’s nada, or doors to sanctum sanctorum, would “not amount to contempt of court”. At the peak of the agitation last month, the priest had warned that he would shut the nada if women between the ages of 10 and 50 entered the premises despite a Supreme Court order allowing them to do so.
(Source: The Indian Express)
3. Delhi Covered in Smog After Sharp AQI Spike
The air quality deteriorated sharply as a change in wind pattern swept in smoke from farm fires in Punjab and Haryana on Monday, 5 November, shrouding the national capital region (NCR) in a thick haze made of tiny particulate matter that can penetrate deep into the lungs and cause health problems.
Levels of PM2.5 shot up nearly five times in 24 hours – a phenomenon that officials said was not recorded in the three years since hourly monitoring began for the region. Sunday was the best November day since 2015.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
4. Govt Wants Rs 3.6 Lakh Cr From RBI, a Third of its Reserves, Central Bank Says No
At the heart of the RBI-government standoff is a proposal by the Finance Ministry seeking to transfer a surplus of Rs 3.6 lakh crore, more than a third of the total Rs 9.59 lakh crore reserves of the central bank, to the government. The ministry has suggested that this surplus can be managed jointly by the RBI and the government.
The Finance Ministry claims that the existing economic capital framework — which governs the RBI’s capital requirements and terms for the transfer of its reserves to the government — is based on a very “conservative” assessment of risk by the central bank.
Sources have confirmed to The Indian Express that the RBI views this attempt by the government to dip into its reserves can adversely impact macro-economic stability. And so the RBI has not accepted the proposed changes, sources said.
(Source: The Indian Express)
5. For Tigress ‘Murder’, Maneka Asks CM to Sack Mungantiwar
Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has said she has asked Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis to “remove” state forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar from his post, calling him a “liability” and accusing him of issuing orders to shoot tigress T1 in Pandharkawada, allegedly without any effort to tranquillise her.
Speaking to The Times of India, Gandhi also said a petition is being readied to be presented in court against T1’s “murder”. Wildlife activist Jerryl Banait, who also spoke to TOI, said he, too, would be filing a public interest litigation against the Maharashtra forest department and Mungantiwar, among others, in the next couple of days.
Reacting to Gandhi’s comments, Mungantiwar told TOI, “She has demanded my removal, while the adivasi farmers in Pandharkawada are demanding her removal. The party should take the necessary decision on who should be removed.”
(Source: The Times of India)
6. Killers of State BJP Secretary Anil Parihar Identified: J&K Governor
Four days after J&K BJP secretary Anil Parihar and his brother Ajit were shot dead by gunmen in Kishtwar, Governor Satya Pal Malik on Monday, 5 November, said that the killers have been identified and they will be brought to book soon.
The Parihar brothers were shot dead from close range by suspected militants last week in Kishtwar’s Tapal mohalla and just days before panchayat polls in the state will be held in nine phases starting November 17.
“Those people who did it have been identified and they will be brought before you very soon,’’ Malik said while talking to reporters on the sidelines of an event at the civil secretariat. “It has been 100 percent terrorist-related incident,’’ he said, adding that there are efforts to revive militancy in the area. “It has happened earlier also, but we will not allow it to succeed.”
(Source: The Indian Express)
7. Govt Suggests Court Not Always Final Word Amid Temple Debate
A top government functionary reaffirmed the government’s commitment to a Ram temple at Ayodhya, a week after the Supreme Court deferred the hearing of the Babri Masjid-Ram Janambhoomi case to January, provoking calls for a law or an ordinance from Hindu groups to facilitate the building of a temple at the disputed site.
Just as the courts are authorised to rule on a matter of dispute, the government of the day can change the premise on which a judgment is based to render it null and void, the senior government functionary said on Monday, 5 November, responding to questions on whether a law or an ordinance for construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya is possible before the next parliamentary election.
The functionary, who didn’t want to be named, said he was making the remarks independent of the temple issue, and just to explain the limits to which the judiciary and the executive can go. However, he said, a Ram temple will indeed be built at Ayodhya.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
8. Before Lookout Circular Diluted, CBI Jt Director ‘Met’ Aircel’s Siva in Hotel
Did Aircel’s former owner C Sivasankaran meet a senior CBI official at his office in the agency’s headquarters in September this year? A day before the government sent CBI director Alok Verma and special director Rakesh Asthana on leave, it was informed about a joint director rank officer meeting Siva in his office and in a five-star hotel, contrary to service rules and CBI’s internal procedures.
Interestingly, Siva, according to sources, used an “assumed” identity to meet the IPS officer. Shortly afterwards, the Lookout Circular (LoC) issued against the serial entrepreneur in May was diluted, allowing him to leave the country — a development which is not being seen as mere coincidence.
(Source: The Times of India)
9. Tiwari Had Gone to Signature Bridge to Attack CM: AAP
The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday, 5 November, demanded the arrest of Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari for allegedly posing a threat to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s security at the launch of Signature Bridge on Sunday.
The party sought Union home minister Rajnath Singh’s intervention and said Tiwari had come with the intent to attack Kejriwal on stage.
“Why did Manoj Tiwari and his men reach the venue at 3 pm when there was almost no one present there?” said AAP leader Dilip Pandey
(Source: Hindustan Times)
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