1. PM Modi Urges Business Leaders to Invest in India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday pitched India as a key investment and trade destination to the global business community, highlighting the country’s economic and political strengths and pledging personal intervention to address any gaps.
Delivering the keynote address at the morning plenary of the Bloomberg Global Business Forum, Modi ascribed India’s growth story to the “rarest of rare” combination of four key factors – democracy, demography, demand and decisiveness.
Modi said his government’s “big and tough decisions” to improve the business environment had resulted in the 1.3 billion people of India giving him a larger mandate in this year’s Lok Sabha elections. Referring to his government’s respect for the business world and creation of wealth, he listed its steps to spur investments, including the recent “revolutionary” cut in corporate tax and the scrapping of 50 outdated laws that were a hurdle to progress.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. Don’t Repeat 1971, Think of What May Happen to PoK: Rajnath Singh Warns Pak
Reminding Islamabad of the breakup of Pakistan in 1971 and the creation of Bangladesh, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh Wednesday warned Pakistan not to repeat “the mistake of 1971”.
Addressing a programme in Jaipur to mark the 103rd birth anniversary of Jan Sangh ideologue Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, Singh said, “Brothers and sisters, we will rather lose an election than deceive you, because we don’t do politics only to form government but to form the country. And by ending Articles 370 and 35A, we have shown that there is no difference between what BJP says and what it does.”
The Defence Minister also said that following the Pulwama terror attack, India took great precautions and did not attack Pakistan or its army and targeted only terror training camps in Balakot. He said: “Lekin aagey yadi aisa hi chalta raha, toh kuch kaha nahi ja sakta (but if it continues like this, then things may change).”
(Source: The Indian Express)
3. Student Who Accused Chinmayanand of Rape Arrested for Extortion
A day before a local court was to hear her anticipatory bail plea, the 23-year-old law student who has accused former Union minister Chinmayanand of rape was arrested by the SIT of UP police on Wednesday morning. In a parallel FIR, the girl and three youths have been accused of trying to extort Rs 5 crore from Chinmayanand.
Later, a local court rejected her bail plea and sent her to 14 days’ judicial custody.
The girl’s family said the SIT raided their house early morning and “literally dragged” her out. “She was not even allowed to use the washroom or put on slippers,” they said. On Tuesday, the SIT had tried to detain her but couldn’t do so due to the presence of media.
(Source: The Times of India)
4. Dalit Kids, 10 and 12, Lynched in MP Village
Two children from the Dalit community were allegedly beaten to death by two men for defecating at a spot close to the house of the attackers in a village in Madhya Pradesh’s Shivpuri district on Wednesday morning, the police said.
The two victims lived in Bhavkhedi village, about 20 km away from the district headquarters.
They went to defecate around 5:30 am at a spot near the house of the two accused, brothers Hakim Yadav, 35, and Rameshwar Yadav, 40, said police.
The men saw the children, allegedly clicked photos of the minors on their phones, and then attacked them with lathis. The two children, both students at the village primary school, were rushed to a hospital where they were declared dead.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
5. Pawar Questions Case Timing, But Will Visit ED Office Tomorrow
Two days after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a criminal case against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), NCP president Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said he would present himself before the central agency on Friday.
Along with Pawar, his nephew and former deputy CM Ajit Pawar and ex-Shiv Sena MP Anandrao Adsul are among the accused in the alleged Rs 25,000 crore Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank embezzlement case.
If Pawar does go to the ED office on Friday, it will be the first time in recent times that a high-profile accused would be visiting the agency’s office without being summoned by it.
(Source: The Times of India)
6. CBI Officer Who Led Investigation in Rakesh Asthana Case Seeks Voluntary Retirement
The investigating officer (IO) in the alleged corruption case against former CBI special director Rakesh Asthana has sought voluntary retirement from service.
In a letter dated 19 August, Superintendent of Police (CBI) Satish Dagar made the request for voluntary retirement under Rule 48 of the Central Civil Services pension Rules 1972 with effect from 1 December 2019. Under the rule, officers seeking voluntary retirement must serve the minimum notice period of three months.
While Dagar did not respond to queries on why he has sought voluntary retirement and if his request has been accepted, the timing of his move has raised eyebrows within the agency. On 31 May, Delhi High Court granted the CBI four months to complete its investigation in the Asthana matter.
(Source: The Indian Express)
7. Onion Harvests Run Late by a Month, Stoke Supply Crunch
Harvests of the country’s main summer onion crop have been delayed by over a month in key states due to a sluggish start to this year’s monsoon rains, pushing up prices sharply in what is a lean period, multiple officials and agriculture market operators said.
Prices have doubled in some cities between August and now, including in Delhi, Jammu, Patna and Gurugram. Usual retail rates of Rs 25-30 a kg have gone up to Rs 60-80 a kg, according to market data.
The main summer crop, sown in May-June and harvested in October-November, accounts for just 15 percent of the country’s annual output. Yet, this crop is critical because it replenishes markets, which generally run out stocks from the previous harvest around this time of the year.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
8. Main Accused in Bulandshahr Violence Granted Bail
The Allahabad High Court Wednesday granted bail to the main accused in last year’s Bulandshahr violence that had led to the death of a police officer and another civilian. Bajrang Dal activist Yogesh Raj was charged with rioting and violence.
The accused was granted bail in Section 124 A (sedition) and had earlier been given bail in other sections, including 120 B (conspiracy), 147 (rioting) among others.
On 3 December, Yogesh Raj and several other accused protested outside Chingrawait police booth against an alleged incident of cow slaughter in Siyana. Siyana SHO Subodh Kumar Singh tried to control the crowd but riots broke out soon. During the violence, one of the accused shot Subodh Kumar Singh with his service revolver.
(Source: The Indian Express)
9. Population Register to Include Info on PAN, DL, Voter ID, Passport
The National Population Register (NPR) updation exercise, to be undertaken alongside Census 2021, will for the first time collect several particulars such as Aadhaar, PAN, mobile number, driving licence and voter ID details and Indian passport numbers from all usual residents of India.
A usual resident is defined, for the purposes of NPR, as a person who has resided in a local area for the past six months or more or someone who intends to reside in that area for the next six months or more. The NPR, with the stated objective to create a comprehensive identity database of such residents, was first prepared in 2011 followed by an updation in 2015 when Aadhaar, mobile numbers and ration card details were collected. But for the first time now, NPR database will additionally have PAN, driving licence, voter ID and passport information.
(Source: The Times of India)
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