1. Just 2 km From Landing on Moon, Chandrayaan-2 Lander ‘Vikram’ Goes Silent
After a 48-day journey, during which it travelled lakhs of miles and carried the hopes of 135 crore people, Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram lander lost contact with ISRO at a distance of barely 2.1 km from the Moon’s surface.
ISRO chairman K Sivan said the initial path was normal but communication with Vikram was lost at 2.1 km from the lunar surface and the data was still being analysed.
Till date, only three countries — Russia, the US and China — have successfully soft landed on the Moon. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who witnessed the attempted landing from the mission control complex here, spoke to the ISRO team and said they had done a commendable job.
(Source: The Times of India)
2. SC Questions Move to Offer Free Metro Rides
The Supreme Court took a dim view on Friday of the Arvind Kejriwal government’s proposal to allow women free rides on the Delhi Metro, reminding the state administration that such sops do not go hand-in-glove with claims of the network potentially suffering losses, but directed the Centre to bear half the land cost for Phase IV of the project.
“On one hand you want to give freebies while here you want the Centre to bear operational losses (if any) caused in Metro. As the state government you are bound to ensure policies are such that there is no loss incurred by the Metro,” a bench comprising justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta said.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
3. Concerned Over J&K Detentions… Govt Should Hold Polls at Earliest Opportunity: US
A month after political leaders were detained and communication restrictions put in place in Jammu and Kashmir, the United States on Friday expressed concern over the “widespread detentions” and “urged” Indian authorities to “respect human rights”.
Washington has also asked Indian authorities to “resume political engagement with local leaders” and hold “elections at the earliest opportunity”. This is the strongest statement by the Trump administration so far on the Centre’s move to scrap Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.
It comes after US President Donald Trump had said on August 26 that he had discussed the issue on 25 August over dinner and had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “really feels he has it under control”.
(Source: The Indian Express)
4. Madras HC Chief Justice Quits After SC Collegium Sends Her to Meghalaya
Miffed by the Supreme Court collegium’s decision to transfer her to the Meghalaya High Court from the historic Madras HC, Chief Justice Vijaya Kamlesh Tahilramani on Friday tendered her resignation to President Ram Nath Kovind. She sent a copy of the resignation letter to CJI Ranjan Gogoi.
Justice Tahilramani was appointed as a judge of Bombay HC on 26 June 2001, at the age of 43. She became chief justice of Madras HC on 12 August 2018. Justices Tahilramani and Gita Mittal were the only women chief justices in the male-dominated 25 HCs. Justice Tahilramani was to retire on 2 October 2020, which means she foregoes more than a year of chief justiceship, and a possible elevation to the apex court by tendering her resignation.
(Source: The Times of India)
5. No Talks With a Gun to Our Heads: Jaishankar to Pakistan
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday reaffirmed India’s willingness to talk to Pakistan, provided it is without “having the gun of terrorism pointed at our heads”, and said most countries had accepted that India’s decision to divest Jammu and Kashmir of its special status was an internal issue.
Speaking at the HT-MintAsia Leadership Summit in Singapore, Jaishankar downplayed India’s trade disputes with the United States (US), noting that Washington has “trade problems with everybody”. He added that though commerce was only one part of the Sino-American trade war, it was impacting the foreign policies of all nations, big and small.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
6. Lamba Returns to Cong Fold, Leaving ‘Khas Aadmi Party’
Chandni Chowk MLA Alka Lamba joined the Congress on Friday, months after she had a fallout with the AAP leadership over a Delhi Assembly resolution on stripping former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of his Bharat Ratna.
Lamba said she joined the Congress at 10 Janpath in the presence of the party’s working president Sonia Gandhi. “I met Rahul Gandhi at his residence before that,” she said. “Rahul reached out to me after the Bharat Ratna row, after he saw that I continue to hold the Congress ideology dear.”
(Source: The Indian Express)
7. K’Taka IAS Man Quits Over ‘Compromise of Democracy’
In a decision that took government and bureaucratic circles by surprise and sparked a political slugfest, IAS officer S Sasikanth Senthil tendered his resignation on Friday, saying “the fundamental building blocks of our diverse democracy are being compromised in an unprecedented manner”.
Senthil, who topped from Tamil Nadu in the 2009 UPSC exams and was ninth overall, is the second member of the IAS in the past month to put in his papers. Kerala IAS officer Kannan Gopinath, 32, quit in August protesting the “denial of freedom of expression” in J&K.
(Source: The Times of India)
8. Law to Label Persons Terrorists Up for Review
The petitioners said the changed provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, which were enacted on 9 August, are unconstitutional. A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Ashok Bhushan asked the government to respond to the petitions.
Labelling an individual as a terrorist will lead to lifelong stigma, which infringes upon the right to reputation and dignity, and doing so without giving an opportunity to be heard violates the right to liberty, said the pleas, which specifically challenged sections 35 and 36 of the UAPA amendment. The law was cleared in the Budget session of Parliament.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
9. India Declared Free of Avian Influenza
In a decision that took government and bureaucratic circles by surprise and sparked a political slugfest, IAS officer S Sasikanth Senthil tendered his resignation on Friday, saying “the fundamental building blocks of our diverse democracy are being compromised in an unprecedented manner”.
Senthil, who topped from Tamil Nadu in the 2009 UPSC exams and was ninth overall, is the second member of the IAS in the past month to put in his papers. Kerala IAS officer Kannan Gopinath, 32, quit in August protesting the “denial of freedom of expression” in J&K.
(Source: The Indian Express)
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