1. New Offer From Pak: Consular Access For Jadhav Today
At a time when tensions between Indian and Pakistan are high over the removal of special status to Jammu and Kashmir Under Article 370, Islamabad has decided to grant consular access on Monday to Kulbhushan Jadhav, the Indian national in its custody.
Delhi is studying the offer, government sources told The Indian Express. This is the second time that Pakistan has said it is offering consular access to Jadhav, after a previous move in early August.
(Source: The Indian Express)
2. Assam BJP Could Pitch Legislative Route on NRC to Protect ‘Genuine Citizens’
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam hinted on Sunday that it might consider legislative measures to safeguard the interests of “genuine citizens” excluded from the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) even as the state government reiterated that it would provide help to the 1.9 million people excluded by the exercise.
Two senior BJP state leaders said the party was committed to the Citizenship Amendment Bill, which promises citizenship to non-Muslim refugees, while a third said the party was looking at bringing in a new law or amending an existing one.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
3. 49 Lakh Filings on 31 Aug Push I-T Returns for Year to Record 5.65 cr
A record 5.65 crore income tax returns were filed up to Saturday, the extended deadline for the annual filing, suggesting that more individuals are now part of the tax net. However, the surge in filing of returns seen in the aftermath of demonetisation seems to be petering out.
Data released by the income tax department on Sunday showed that till the end of August, there was a 4 percent increase in filings for financial year 2018-19, compared with 5.4 crore returns filed up to 31 August, 2018.
(Source: The Times of India)
4. Kerala, Telangana, Rajasthan, HP, Maharashtra Get New Guvs
Five states got new governors on Sunday as President Ram Nath Kovind named the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Tamil Nadu chief Tamilsai Soundararajan, former Uttarakhand chief minister Bhagat Singh Koshyari and prominent Muslim face Arif Mohammed Khan among the new appointees.
Khan, who supported the Narendra Modi-led government’s move to ban instant triple talaq, was appointed the governor in Kerala, an official statement said. The 68-year-old had in 1986 walked out of the Cabinet in the Rajiv Gandhi government when it changed its stance and brought a bill to nullify the Supreme Court order in the Shah Bano case. He joined the BJP in 2004 but left the party three years later.
(Source: The Hindustan Times)
5. India, Pak Speakers Spar Over Kashmir in Male
The Maldivian Parliament on Sunday provided an unlikely setting for a heated exchange between Indian and Pakistani representatives after the neighbouring country’s delegation veered off topic during a debate on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to raise the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing the 4th South Asian Speakers’ Summit, Pakistan deputy speaker Qasim Suri tried to use the platform to talk about the Kashmir situation following nullification of Article 370.
(Source: The Times of India)
6. Economy in Prolonged Slowdown: Manmohan
Former prime minister Manmohan Singh said on Sunday the Indian economy is “in the midst of a prolonged slowdown” because of “all-round mismanagement by the Modi government” and it has not yet recovered from the “man-made blunders” of demonetisation and the “hastily implemented” Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The senior Congress leader was reacting to the 5% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the April-June quarter, the slowest in more than six years. Manufacturing, particularly the automobile sector, a weathervane of economic sentiment and also industrial health, has been hit hard, with passenger car sales in July falling 30% compared to a year ago.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
7. Union Government Schemes to Get a Push in Nearly 27k Dalit Villages
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The Union government has identified 26,968 Dalit-majority villages for focused implementation of various government schemes over the next five years. These include all existing Central and state welfare schemes that are necessary to meet critical gaps in socio-economic and infrastructure needs, and reduce disparities.
These villages — where over 50 percent of the total population are Dalits and those with a sizeable overall population — have been zeroed in under the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana for “integrated development”.
(Source: The Indian Express)
8. Man Goes on Shooting Spree in Texas After Traffic Stop, Kills 7
Seven people were killed and at least 21 others were injured in a brazen daylight drive-by mass shooting in the West Texas cities of Midland and Odessa on Saturday, as a gunman drove on the highways and streets opening fire on residents, motorists and shoppers, the authorities said.
The attack terrified sister cities 32 km apart with a combined population of 2,63,000, less than a month after gunmen killed 31 people in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, in back-to back massacres that stunned the nation and revived the debate in Washington over gun control. Odessa and El Paso are separated by nearly 482 km.
(Source: The Times of India)
9. Omar, Mehbooba Met Their Family Members Twice, Says Official
The family members of former J&K chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were allowed to meet the two detained leaders “twice” recently, government sources have told The Indian Express. “They were allowed to meet after the family members approached the administration for permission. The families met them twice recently. They can meet the detainees twice a week,” a senior official said.
Abdullah, who is vice-president of National Conference (NC), and Mehbooba, who heads the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), have been under detention since August 5, when the central government removed J&K’s special status under Article 370 and bifurcated the state of into two UTs.
(Source: The Indian Express)
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