QBullet: Jadhav Pressured to Toe Pak Line; Economic Growth Plunges
Here are the top stories of the day.
1. Jadhav Under ‘Extreme Pressure’ to Toe Pak Line
Kulbhushan Jadhav, the Indian national on death row in Pakistan, is under “extreme pressure to parrot a false narrative”, the government said on Monday after Islamabad granted consular access to the former Indian Navy officer for the first time since his arrest in 2016.
The charge d’affaires of the Indian high commission in Islamabad, Gaurav Ahluwalia, met Jadhav at a “sub-jail” in Rawalpindi, people familiar with developments said. Before the meeting, Ahluwalia went to the Foreign Office, they said.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. Core Sector in Slowdown Pain, Growth Plunges
In what may be an indicator of how wide the economic slowdown has spread – and how deep it can go from here – government data released on Monday showed the growth of the crucial core industries plunged to 2.1 percent last month compared with 7.3 percent in July 2018.
(Source: The New Indian Express)
3. P Chidambaram’s CBI Custody Extended, SC to Hear Challenge on 3 Sep
Former Union minister P Chidambaram won a partial reprieve from the Supreme Court in the INX Media case and avoided the prospect of being sent to the Capital’s Tihar jail immediately.
His lawyers made two unusual requests in the Supreme Court on Monday: that he be placed under house arrest; or that he continue to stay in the custody of CBI. The federal investigative agency’s custody of the 73-year old former finance and home minister ended on Monday and his lawyers feared he would be sent to Tihar.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
4. ‘I Am Coming Back as Maharashtra CM’: Fadnavis
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said that there is no confusion in the BJP about fighting the Maharashtra state elections with the Shiv Sena, and expressed confidence that he would be CM again if the alliance won.
In an interview to The Indian Express in Aurangabad last week, during his state-wide Janadesh Yatra, Fadnavis sought to lay to rest the hit-and-run battles between various second-rung leaders of the BJP and Sena over claims to chief ministership if the alliance won.
(Source: The Indian Express)
5. India Over the Moon as Chandrayaan-2 Moves a Step Closer to Landing
After spending more than six weeks in space, lander Vikram separated from the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter to prepare for its historic Moon landing on 7 September.
The separation process was completed at 1:15 pm on Monday after Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) brought the spacecraft closer to the moon, the space agency said. The lander is currently located in an orbit of 119x127 km, while the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter continues to traverse its existing orbit.
(Source: Livemint)
6. No Law to Undo NRC Process but Will Seek Review: Sarma
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Assam government will oppose in the Supreme Court some of the procedures adopted in a labyrinthine bureaucratic exercise to compile a National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state, Assam’s finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told HT on Monday, but ruled out any legislative process to enforce its demands if the court were to uphold the list as final.
The NRC list, released on 31 August to update an NRC that was published in 1951, controversially excluded 1.9 million of the 33.02 million residents who had applied to prove their citizenship in a Supreme Court-monitored process.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
7. Pakistan Won't Start War or Use Nukes First Against India, Says Imran Khan
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said his country would neither use nuclear weapons first nor initiate any military action against India in the wake of New Delhi's scrapping of special status to Jammu & Kashmir.
"We both are nuclear-armed countries. If these tensions increase, the world could be in danger," Khan said while addressing the first International Sikh convention, arranged at Governor House in Lahore. "There will be no first from our side ever," he added.
(Source: The Times of India)
8. Investor Summit on Cards, Valley Business Leaders in Detention
It’s not just politicians, at least eight business leaders from the Kashmir Valley have been placed under detention by the J&K administration following the removal of special status to the state under Article 370 and its bifurcation into two UTs.
Ironically, their detention comes when the administration is preparing to host a Global Investment Summit in the state, with an official saying they expect investments worth Rs 10,000 crore. The summit was expected to be held from 12-14 October but the dates are likely to change.
(Source: The Indian Express)
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