1. World Now Realises the Danger Terror Poses, United Fight Required: PM Modi
On the ninth anniversary of the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid homage to the victims and said nations across the world had realised that terrorism was knocking on their doors and was one of biggest challenges confronting governments today.
In his monthly radio address, Mann ki Baat, Modi recalled the 26/11 terror attack and said, “A few years ago, when India used to talk about severe threats of terrorism, many people in the world were not ready to take it seriously. Now that terrorism is knocking at their doors, every government in the world, those who believe in humanity, governments having faith in democracy are seeing this as one of the biggest challenges. We in India have for the last 40 years suffered a lot due to terrorism. Thousands of innocent citizens have died.”
Modi used the occasion to iterate India's plea that the fight against terrorism required global cooperation. “It is bent upon destroying humanitarian forces. So, not only India but all humanitarian forces will have to keep fighting unitedly to defeat the menace of terrorism,” he said.
(Source: Times of India)
2. MP Cabinet Seeks Law to Hang Those Who Rape Children
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan called a cabinet meeting at 4pm on Sunday, 26 November, to approve introduction of a bill to hang those convicted of raping a child aged 12 or younger. It was nearly eight months ago that the CM had called for death sentence to rapists.
The council of ministers on Sunday passed the proposal for amendment of Indian Penal Code (IPC) to make provisions for harsher punishment for rape, molestation, stalking and sexual harassment. This comes in the wake of a string of sexual crimes across MP, including rape of minors.
Briefing reporters after the cabinet meeting, finance minister Jayant Malaiya said that the proposal is to make provisions for harsher punishment under IPC sections 376 (rape) and 493 (cohabitation caused by a man deceitfully inducing a belief of lawful marriage). Interestingly, a senior police officer was booked under IPC 493 two days ago.
(Source: Times of India)
3. At 26/11 Memorial, Fadnavis Calls for Unity, Amitabh Bachchan Says Don’t Vilify the Foe
From 26 children who shared their pain dealing with life without their closest ones, to survivors who still remember the night of 26/11 clearly, to police and defence personnel who spent long hours in rescue during the three-day long siege.
Against the backdrop of the Gateway of India and Arabian Sea, nine years after the 26 November 2008, terror attack killed 166 people in Mumbai, families of over 52 victims, police personnel and survivors gathered on Sunday to share stories of how they coped with their loss and faced their future in a memorial organised by the Indian Express Group along with Facebook.
“More than 70 percent of our nation is moderate. And as moderates, we must recognise that to vilify a foe is no victory at all, to understand a foe is the first act of strength in resistance. To understand a foe, one must first understand ourselves… To understand ourselves, we can only do so together,” said Amitabh Bachchan, one of the guests at the event, invoking Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagraha.
(Source: Indian Express)
4. CBI Judge Loya’s Death: Nothing Suspicious, Say Two Bombay HC Judges Who Were at Hospital
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, leaders of the Congress and CPM, and former Delhi High Court Chief Justice AP Shah have called for a probe into the 2014 death of the CBI Special Judge in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. Their call follows a report in Caravan magazine last week that quotes a sister of the judge and his father suggesting foul play and a cover-up in the death of judge Brijmohan Harikishan Loya.
Loya, 48, records show, died of a heart attack in Nagpur on 1 December 2014, a day after he attended the wedding and reception of the daughter of fellow judge Swapna Joshi, who is now a judge in the Bombay High Court.
Significantly, two judges of the Bombay High Court, Justice Bhushan Gavai and Justice Sunil Shukre, who both went to the hospital that day and made arrangements for the transport of the body, have spoken to The Indian Express to detail the sequence of events. Both judges said there was nothing about the circumstances of the death to raise any suspicion.
(Source: Indian Express)
5. Govt-Judiciary Tug of War on Public Display Again
The push and pull between the judiciary and the executive was on display again on Sunday, with law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad saying the balance of power was sometimes under strain due to judicial overreach while Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said governance was too complex to be compartmentalised.
CJI Misra said governance could not be defined by a mathematical formula and refuted the suggestion that the judiciary was overstepping its domain.
“The Supreme Court believes we are working under constitutional sovereignty and we are bound by the rule of law,” he said, adding that one single religion that every citizen should follow was constitutional religion.
“I must clearly state that the fundamental rights of a citizen have to be kept at the pinnacle. There is no trace of a doubt that no right is absolute but the fetters imposed are to be scrutinised with studied caution so that an ambiguous concept does not destroy the central fabric,” the CJI said.
(Source: Times of India)
6. No Resolution on Temple as VHP Meet Ends
Despite insisting that a temple would be constructed at the Ramjanmabhoomi site in Ayodhya, Hindu religious leaders assembled in Udupi for the last three days for a Dharam Sansad organised by the VHP did not pass any resolution setting a deadline for the same.
“Only a temple will be built at the site and not a mosque,” VHP working president Praveen Togadia told a public gathering on Sunday, at the end of the three-day conclave.
In his speech, VHP organising secretary for the Karnataka region Gopal said construction of the Ram temple would begin by December next year, while a section of the media quoted joint secretary Surendra Kumar Jain as saying that the construction would start on 18 October 2018.
(Source: Indian Express)
7. Human Waste, Passenger Load Jeopardising Railway Safety, Says Ashwani Lohani
Around 15 percent of India’s 66,500-km railway track network requires urgent repair, chairman of the Railway Board Ashwani Lohani said on Sunday, 26 November, blaming corrosion from human waste and increasing dust pollution for frequent track fractures that ultimately lead to derailments.
Lohani, who took charge in August, told Hindustan Times in an interview that maintenance of railway tracks was his main focus area at the moment. He said that over 5,000 km of tracks, or nearly 7.5 percent of the entire network would be replaced by next year to prevent accidents.
“There is an urgent requirement of deep screening of at least 10,000 km of track. We have taken it on priority. Over 5,000 km of track will be replaced by next year,” Lohani said.
The total railway track network across the country is 66,687 km.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
8. Talks Don’t Mean a Halt in Operations: Kashmir Corps Commander
Laying to rest speculation that counter-terrorism operations by security forces may be put on hold following the appointment of Dineshwar Sharma as a special representative to hold talks on Kashmir, Lt General JS Sandhu, the GOC of Srinagar-based 15 Corps, has said that “dialogue and operations will continue concurrently”. He added that he doesn’t “expect miracles” or “quick results” in Kashmir.
In an interview to The Indian Express, Lt Gen Sandhu acknowledged that “the political situation, though fragile, has stabilised in the last six months”. However, he said, “The biggest challenge (in eradicating militancy) is to reduce alienation in the people, especially in the youth, to provide them jobs/ livelihood options, and to counter the growing radicalisation. I do not expect miracles, and I do not expect quick results. It will take us several years.”
(Source: Indian Express)
9. Over 6 Lakh NCR Homes Miss Delivery Date
Over six lakh houses are running behind the delivery schedule in the National Capital Region (NCR), with almost a third or nearly two lakh lagging by more than two years, data compiled by a real estate rating and research firm has found.
A majority of the delayed houses in the NCR are in Noida, Greater Noida and Gurgaon, according to Liases Forras, the real estate research firm. While the NCR tops the list among 43 cities, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region is second where 1.31 lakh houses are delayed by more than two years.
TOI had carried a report on 13 November on the delays, but it was a national aggregate without any citywise break-up.
According to the data, every third house delayed by more than two years across the country is in the NCR and one in four such houses is in the Mumbai region.
(Source: Times of India)