1. Blame on ‘Shakuni Mama’ of the Samajwadis, But Little Evidence
“Shakuni mama” Amar Singh has become the fall guy for the convulsions wracking the Mulayam Singh Yadav clan four months before the Uttar Pradesh polls.
Amar is not a blood relative of the Yadavs, though in his earlier stint with the Samajwadi Party, he saw himself as family. That was until Akhilesh Yadav – aided by uncle Ram Gopal Yadav – concluded that if the Samajwadi had to return to power in the 2012 polls, he would have to wield the broom against Amar, whose hold over his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, was “overweening and undesirable”.
So what exactly was Amar’s role in stoking trouble within the Yadav “parivar”? No Samajwadi member could put a finger on it, but suggested he was out to “take advantage” of fault lines in Mulayam’s immediate family.
(Source: The Telegraph)
2. After Politics Over Fever, All the Right Noises
Within hours of returning from the US, lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung on Wednesday held a high-level meeting to review the situation related to the spread of vector-borne diseases in the city.
He appealed to the AAP-led Delhi government and BJP-ruled municipal corporations to “rise above political considerations“ and asked them to mount joint efforts to tide over the growing incidences of dengue and chikungunya.
“Historically , in emergency, people have come together and fought together.That is what is required now,“ Jung said in a statement issued by Raj Niwas. The LG had gone to meet his daughter in the US on 3 September and returned as scheduled on Wednesday .
The absence of Jung, CM Arvind Kejriwal, the deputy CM and four other cabinet ministers at a time when the city is facing a grave situation due to the chikungunya and dengue outbreak had sparked controversy.
Read more on The Quint.
(Source: Times of India)
3. Pak Brings up Kashmir Before UN, India Rebuts With Balochistan
Raising the issue of Balochistan for the first time before the United Nations, India on Wednesday accused Pakistan of widespread human rights violations there as well as in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).
“Pakistan is characterised by authoritarianism, absence of democratic norms and widespread human rights violations across country including Balochistan,” India’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative at the UN in Geneva Ajit Kumar said.
India sharply rebutted the UN Human Rights chief’s reference to India and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. It said the whole State of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and “Pakistan remains in illegal occupation of a part of our territory. The two cannot and should not be equated”.
Read more on The Quint.
4. Nitish Kumar to Challenge Shahabuddin’s Bail, But Is the Damage Already Done?
Under fire over the release of RJD strongman Mohd Shahbuddin from prison on bail, the Bihar government has decided to approach the Supreme Court to cancel his bail granted by the Patna High Court.
The decision was, however, too late as the damage was already been done. There were allegations that the release of Shahabuddin was a well-planned strategy by the ruling JD(U)-RJD government.
Though Nitish downplayed the issue by referring to the people’s mandate calling Shahabuddin’s remark ‘unimportant’, the man with prime ministerial ambitions appeared vulnerable and weak. Nitish had put Shahabuddin behind bars in 2005 as a first step towards the restoration of law that was heavily compromised during the Lalu-Rabri rule.
But he is out today, challenging Nitish stature with his bike-riding goons showing thumbs down to the administration with the Chief Minister watching as a mute spectator.
5. India Offers $1 Billion Aid to Afghanistan to Fight Terrorism
India on Wednesday offered development assistance worth $1 billion to Afghanistan, besides assistance in fighting cross-border terrorism as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ashraf Ghani discussed fresh threats from Pakistan-sponsored extremism.
In a stern message to Pakistan, the two leaders called for an end to all support, sponsorship and safe havens to terrorists and decided to strengthen security and defence cooperation.
The $1 billion will be utilised for Afghanistan’s capacity and institution building, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said.
(Source: The Economic Times)
6. Mamata’s About-Face on Tata?
Mamata Banerjee today offered the Tatas 1,000 acres in West Midnapore and a month to “think a little” about building an automobile plant – making the appeal from the same spot in Singur from where she had dared Ratan Tata to leave Bengal if other states were courting him.
On a day high on symbolism and rippling with the images that changed Bengal politics, the Chief Minister launched what could be construed as one of the most ironical, if not audacious, attempts at rewriting the history of industrialisation in Bengal.
The irony could not have been starker. Mamata was standing barely a few metres from the abandoned Nano plant in Singur and she was offering almost the same number of acres to the very same investor she had driven away just 175km away in West Midnapore.
Read more on The Quint.
(Source: The Telegraph)
7. HCs Sat on Judicial Vacancies for Years Together: Centre to SC
“The process of judicial appointments is like a race. If you start on time, you end on time. The High Courts have, by and large, delayed starting the race. The delay on the High Courts’ part is not just a case of months, but these are five-year and six-year vacancies,” Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi submitted before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur.
With this, the Centre countered Chief Justice Thakur’s threat that the Supreme Court would be “forced” to take judicial notice of the government’s lack of interest in seeing a robust judiciary.
In Wednesday’s hearing, Mr Rohatgi hinted that the Chief Justice of India should look within the institution and not the government to discover the root cause of delayed judicial appointments.
Read more on The Quint.
(Source: The Hindu)
8. Stray Dogs Cannot Become a Menace to Society: Supreme Court
After considering the stray dog menace in Kerala, the Supreme Court on Wednesday observed that compassion for stray dogs cannot hold a society to ransom.
A Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and UU Lalit observed:
Compassion should be shown towards stray dogs but... these animals cannot be allowed to become a menace to society. A balance needs to be created for dealing with such situations.
The Bench agreed to hear submissions on a revised module containing procedures prescribed in the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules 2001, framed under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, for eradicating the threat of rabies and reducing human-dog conflict.
However, Kerala-based activist Sabu Steephen, a petitioner in person, challenged the validity of the 2001 Rules itself, contending that they should be struck down as they were violative of the parent statute, Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
(Source: The Hindu)
9. Aadhaar Now a Must for Govt Schemes, Benefits
The use of Aadhaar identity is set to become mandatory for all central and state government subsidies and benefits which require funding from the central exchequer with the Centre notifying the unique identity (UID) regulations.
While the law had empowered the Centre to mandate use of Aadhaar, the rules clearly stipulate that any agency, such as the Oil Ministry dealing with cooking gas or HRD’s scholarship schemes, has to ensure all beneficiaries are enrolled under UID.
For this, they have been asked to tie up with registrars or enrol individuals themselves.
(Source: Times of India)
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