QBullet: Ghulam Nabi’s Remarks Spark Row; Ram Gopal Returns to SP
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1. Ghulam Nabi Azad's Remarks Stir Controversy in RS
Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad's remarks comparing alleged deaths related to demonetisation with casualties in the Uri terror attack kicked up a row on Thursday, with the BJP demanding an “unconditional apology” for an insensitive statement.
The already acrimonious situation in the Rajya Sabha worsened after Azad asked who should be held responsible for the deaths of those affected by the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.
The treasury benches, led by information and broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu, immediately attacked Azad for trying to equate Pakistan-sponsored terrorism with the government's demonetisation decision.
Source: Times of India
2. Govt Reduces Exchange Limit to Rs 2K, Families With Weddings Can Get Rs 2.5L
The government has reduced the limit on exchanging banned banknotes to Rs 2,000 from Friday, announcing a raft of new measures to help people tide over chaos triggered by the surprise recall of high-value currencies last week.
Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das told reporters on Thursday that families with weddings can withdraw Rs 2.5 lakh. They will have to sign a self-declaration document saying the money was drawn against only one account – that of the father, mother, groom or the bride.
The earlier limit of the one-time exchange of the old banknotes was Rs 4,500.
Source: Hindustan Times
3. Ram Gopal Yadav Back in SP, Boost for Akhilesh Ahead of Polls
The Samajwadi Party revoked on Thursday the expulsion of senior party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, in a move to end a power struggle within Uttar Pradesh’s ruling family that threatens to undermine its chances in state elections next year.
The turf war has pitted Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav against his uncle Shivpal, virtually splitting down the middle a party Akhilesh’s father and patriarch Mulayam Singh is struggling to hold together.
Ram Gopal, Mulayam’s first cousin who backs Akhilesh, was expelled for six years on 23 October for alleged anti-party activities.
Source: Hindustan Times
4. Gujarat: Govt Staff Caught Taking Rs 4 Lakh Bribe in New Rs 2,000 Notes
Gujarat police have arrested two government employees for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 4 lakh in Rs 2,000 notes, a crime that has perplexed investigators because of a limit set by the government on withdrawal of new currency.
The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) officials say they nabbed two Kandla Port Trust officials in Kutch – superintendent engineer Shrinivasu and sub-divisional officer Kumtekar – by laying a trap for one Rudreshwar Sunamudi, who allegedly came to collect the bribe on behalf of the duo.
But police are at a loss to understand how the money was procured because the government has imposed a Rs 20,000 weekly limit on the withdrawal of currency.
Source: Hindustan Times
5. Select Petrol Pumps to Dispense Cash Up to Rs 2,000
Now, you need not queue up at a bank for your daily cash. You can simply walk into a petrol pump run by state-run oil companies and get up to Rs 2,000 by swiping your debit card where POS machines are available.
Initially though, the facility would be available at 2,500 petrol pumps across the country that have card swipe machines from State Bank of India, the country's largest bank.
Over the next three days, the facility would be extended to 20,000 outlets that have card swipe machines from HDFC Bank, CitiBank and ICICI Bank.
Source: Times of India
6. Mamata, Kejriwal Set 3-Day Deadline to Roll Back Demonetisation
Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal today set a three-day deadline for the Centre to withdraw the demonetisation decision.
Kejriwal, the Aam Aadmi Party chief and Delhi Chief Minister, threatened a “rebellion” if the move to call time on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes was not rolled back. Mamata, the Trinamool Congress chief and Bengal Chief Minister, said “the people of this country will not spare” the BJP-led Centre.
Mamata raised questions on the currency crisis, demanding to know from the Reserve Bank of India how much cash was necessary and how much of it had been printed.
Source: The Telegraph
7. Zakir Naik’s NGO Was Banned for Inciting Terror, Says Centre
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that it imposed a five-year ban on Islamic preacher Zakir Naik’s NGO, the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), for making derogatory statements against Hindu gods and extolling Al-Qaeda terrorist Osama bin Laden, who was killed in Abbotabad by the US forces.
In a notification issued on Thursday, days after the Union Cabinet cleared the ban against the IRF, the Ministry said that the IRF and its members, particularly, the founder and president Zakir Naik, have been encouraging and aiding followers to promote or attempt to promote, on grounds of religion, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious communities.
Source: The Hindu
8. Termination Clause in Indo-Japan Nuclear Deal Binding
India on Thursday accepted that a termination clause in the nuclear agreement it signed with Japan last week is binding, but refused to spell out whether it would agree to a similar written commitment not to conduct nuclear tests with other nations.
The nuclear cooperation agreement signed between the two countries during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Tokyo on 11 November represents the culmination of six years of negotiations that at times centred on the termination clause.
Japan, the world's only direct victim of nuclear explosions, had insisted on a written clause stating that it would withdraw from the pact if India conducts any future nuclear tests – a request New Delhi had rebuffed.
Source: The Telegraph
9. SC Lease on Kerala Dog Killers
The Supreme Court on Thursday restrained vigilante groups in Kerala from killing stray dogs or training children to do so, saying the government cannot be a mute spectator but clarifying that the state was free to continue canine culling in accordance with law.
The bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Amitav Roy said in its order that it “failed to fathom” how associations and groups could be formed to train kids to kill stray dogs or to “distribute subsidised air guns” among people and propagate atrocities on the animals when a law was “in place to deal with stray dogs”.
Source: The Telegraph