1. David Headley’s 26/11 Disclosures, Lakhvi and Saeed’s Role in Attacks
On the first day of his deposition, David Coleman Headley created quite the buzz. Headley’s statements, most of them earlier given to the NIA in 2010, could not have been used as evidence. But with these depositions taking place in a court, albeit via video conferencing, have value as evidence, according to The Telegraph. The most important revelation, however, was that the group of LeT agents had made such attempts twice on Mumbai before they actually succeeded.
During the five-and-a-half-hour deposition, Headley identified pictures of his co-conspirators, spoke about his personal life and gave details of his two-year training. Indian officials are now working on a fresh dossier that will be sent to Pakistan.
Read the full report here.
Also read: High Time Pakistan Comes Out of Denial in the David Headley Case
2. TRAI Slams the Phone on Differential Pricing; Telcos, Facebook ‘Disappointed’
Big announcement coming from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as it ruled against differential pricing ruling that no service provider can offer plans to consumers and price it differently based on the content that is provided.
This is a big blow to Facebook’s Free Basics. The company however, reacted to the decision saying it will continue its efforts.
Read the full report on The Quint.
3. Worship Parents on Feb 14, Say No to Valentine’s: Ads on Metro
With February 14, aka Valentine’s Day approaching, Delhi Metro travellers were in for a little surprise. According to The Indian Express, posters of an ad campaign asking young people to denounce Valentine’s day and instead celebrate the day as Matr Pitr Poojan Diwas, meaning worshipping your parents day, have caused quite the stir.
And guess who is the inspiration behind these ads? Self-styled godman Asaram. Yes, the man who is in jail fighting a rape case.
The advertisements by a group called Bal Sanskar Kendra went on to offer “help” and asked parents to send their children to them to inculcate “achhe sanskar” (good values). The “inspiration” for the idea is said to be self-styled godman Asaram Bapu who is lodged in jail in connection with the rape of a minor. Asaram’s picture looms above the two contrasting images with Valentine’s Day struck out in red.
Read the full report here.
4. Soldier Presumed Dead in Siachen Avalanche Found Alive Under Snow
It’s a real life miracle story coming from Siachen. On 3 February, 10 Indian army soldiers were reported dead after an avalanche hit their post. Operations have been in place ever since to recover their bodies.
On Monday night, news came in that Lance Naik Hanumanthappa had somehow survived and lay buried under 25 feet of snow in Siachen. The soldier, it seems, did beat the odds.
Read the full story on The Quint.
5. Assam Polls Will Be Showdown ‘Between Modi and Me’, Says Tarun Gogoi
Assam set to go for polls and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has decided to fight it out directly with the Prime Minister. In a statement, Gogoi said that this election, that the BJP has termed the Battle of Saraighat, would be a defeat for the party ruling the country, reports The Indian Express.
He said he and his party were ready for the ensuing Assembly Elections which the BJP had termed as the Battle of Saraighat. But, while the BJP has said that it would defeat the Congress as Assamese defeated the Moghuls in that historic battle of 1671, it would be the other way to round, Gogoi said. “The saffron party will be vanquished in the Assembly Elections in the manner in which the Mughals were crushed in the Battle of Saraighat,” he said.
Read the full report here.
6. Being Cosmopolitan in India
In the backdrop of the attack on the Tanzanian woman in Bengaluru, The Hindu has an opinion piece which takes another look at the “cosmopolitan” nature of Bengaluru and whether it has vanished, considering the “peaceful past” that the city has had.
If it was, to be fair, a town that showed high levels of social peace in the early post-Independence decades, it was less because its citizens were “cosmopolitan” and more because the stresses and strains of becoming a metropolis, a democracy, and of being claimed as a regional capital had barely begun. In other words, while Bengaluru may not have seen the same organised and institutionalised xenophobic violence against a wide range of migrants and “outsiders” as Mumbai did since the 1960s, it has not been immune to explosions against different social groups.
Read the full piece here.
7. Abuse Of Force
The clip of Delhi police beating up students from the Jawaharlal Nehru University that went viral has raised many questions in the minds of those who watched it. There were arguments explaining both sides, although, those supporting the police did lose points somewhere in the debate. Many jumped to conclusions right away that it was nothing but a case of police brutality.
Maja Daruwala tries to decode what could have gone down between both parties that led to a tussle that became the talk of the town. And whether the human rights committees will step up their game and do something to have a slightly long-lasting impact than it currently has, on the authorities.
Will the students or the parents of these young ones protest, sue, file complaints with the myriad oversight bodies that have been set up? Will the police chief act to punish, to correct, to publicly pull up his area commander and acknowledge there has been a wrong-doing? Or will ranks close, again? Will we ever know who the two public-spirited individuals, who so enthusiastically helped the police pummel their victims, were?
Read the full opinion piece here.
8. India Needs a Time-Bound Resolution of Loan Defaults
The Indian Express’ RTI query which revealed that banks had written off a loan of 1.14 lakh crores has drawn attention towards the bad loan problem. The Hindustan Times has an edit piece describing the other issues, that need urgent attention.
There is also an urgent need to come out with a mechanism that would ensure time-bound closure of legal cases pertaining to NPAs, a move that would speed up the recovery process for banks. At present, such cases can drag on in various courts for several years, delaying the recovery process for banks.
Read the full piece here.
9. ‘Educational Institutions Being Used as Smokescreen by Saffron Forces’
Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia writes an opinion piece for Hindustan Times, in which he claims that the youth of the country have been left neglected under the Centre’s rule.
Under this government, educational institutions and the entire administrative machinery are instead being used as a smokescreen by the saffron forces to further their agenda. It is quite ironic that the BJP accuses the Congress of the “politics of vulturisation” when they are the ones who politicised and escalated a college-level brawl by undermining the fundamental rights and freedoms of a socially marginalised group.
Read the full piece here.
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