1. Deportation: MEA Asks US to ‘Honour Visas’ Issued by its Embassies
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has asked the government of the United States of America to “honour the visas” issued by US embassies, in the wake of repeated deportations of Indians, mainly students.
Government of India continues to remain closely engaged with the US Government on this subject. We have strongly emphasised the need for the US authorities to honour the visas issued by their own Embassy/Consulates.
The matter came to light when scores of Indian students were deported from the US while some were barred from boarding US-bound flights for which they had valid tickets and visas.
Air India received communication on 9 December 2015 from the US Customs and Border Protection agency that two universities namely Silicon Valley, San Jose, California and North Western Polytechnic College, Fremont, CA are under scrutiny and students who arrived into San Francisco were not allowed to enter the US and were deported back to India.
Contrary to the 21 December Air India statement, the US government has now told the MEA that the visas are being denied based on “assessment made by US immigration authority”.
According to a Deccan Chronicle report, of the students deported, a few were from other universities like the Colorado State University and the University of Iowa.
Read why having a student visa does not guarantee entry into the US on The Quint.
2. Narendra Modi, Arun Jaitley to Start Meetings for Budget Blueprint
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley are gearing up for the upcoming Budget.
According to a report in Livemint, the two will begin meetings with economists, farmers, trade unions, banks and financial institution. In a first, IT companies and public-sourced suggestions through the MyGov.in will be a part of the planning for the annual Budget.
The focus will be on three key issues:
- Reduction of the corporate tax rate
- Goods and Service Tax (GST)
- Seventh pay commission
According to the report, the point of focus in next year’s Budget will be the partnerships between private and public companies.
3. Chhattisgarh Tapes: Election Commission Orders Probe, Congress Demands CM Raman Singh’s Resignation
The Election Commission of Indian has ordered a probe into a potential bribery case against Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh in response to a report on The Indian Express.
CM Raman Singh, has however, denied any talks of money being exchanged between the rival parties.
The EC has sought a report on the issue from the state secretary by 7 January after audio tapes were released pointing towards money exchanging hands to make sure Congress member Manturam Pawar withdraws from the September 2014 by-polls.
The EC has directed the Chief Secretary of Chhattisgarh to urgently institute a suitable enquiry into the tape episode. He has been directed to submit a factual report latest by 7 January along with his comments.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ruling party in the state, has called the allegations baseless.
4. After Arun Jaitley, the DDCA Itself Guns for Arvind Kejriwal and Kirti Azad
After Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) is preparing to file a defamation suit against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The DDCA will also name suspended BJP MP and former cricketer Kirti Azad in the suit. Even though he was suspended from the party after he screened a WikiLeaks for India video claiming corruption in the DDCA, he was not named in the defamation suit filed by Jaitley.
DDCA Vice President Chetan Chouhan spoke about the decision against Kejriwal’s allegations of sexual favours in exchange for cricket selection, and irregularities in the cricket association, in an interview to NDTV.
We have no information regarding the allegations against us. Nobody has complained to us. If someone has to complain they are welcome to tell us and we will keep the information and the names confidential. Obviously, it is a very serious matter which has to be dealt with utmost seriousness.
On Wednesday, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s Ashutosh presented a copy of the letter allegedly written by Jaitley to the Delhi police commissioner CK Gupta to close the case of corruption in DDCA in October 2011.
Read all the allegations made by AAP against the DDCA on The Quint.
The Delhi government had issued a Commission of Inquiry in the DDCA row even though the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung questioned its legality.
The Commission report did not mention Jaitley but suggested that the DDCA be shut down immediately.
The BJP had demanded an apology on Tuesday from Kejriwal as the report did not name Jaitley. Kejriwal however, refuses to budge.
5. Odd-Even D-Day Arrives: Is Delhi Ready?
As the date of implementation of the controversial odd-even formula nears, the city authorities prepare themselves for the 15-day experiment.
For 15 days, starting 1 January, vehicles with an odd-digit number plate will be allowed on roads on odd dates of the month and the ones with an even-digit number plate on even dates.
Read the blueprint of the scheme on The Quint.
Along with the announced fine of Rs 2,000, the violators of the scheme will have to lose parking space throughout the city, according to a report by The Times of India.
The corporate sector in the city has also pulled up its socks to embrace the odd-even formula. Read how various companies in Delhi are preparing for the 15-day test on The Quint.
The scheme has also become a battleground for the centre-run Delhi Police and the AAP government.
While the government is looking to deploy 10,000 volunteers, the Delhi Police commissioner BS Bassi has warned against public “vigilantism”.
The chaos caused by the mixture of issues surrounding the odd-even formula, however, may cost Arvind Kejriwal dearly.
6. Faculty Members of Indian Premier Institutes Slam Facebook’s Free Basics
In a joint statement issued on Tuesday, around 50 faculty members from the IITs (Bombay, Delhi, Kharagpur, Madras, Patna) and IISc Bengaluru slammed Facebook’s Free Basics.
The group of faculty has urged the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to “thoroughly reject” Free Basics.
Compromising net neutrality, an important design principle of the internet, would invariably lead to deep consequences on people’s freedom to access and use information. We, therefore, urge that the TRAI should support net neutrality in its strongest form, and thoroughly reject Facebook’s ‘free basics’ proposal.
Listing three major flaws in the programme, the scientists urged the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to “thoroughly reject” Facebook’s “Free Basics” proposal.
They have three reasons for rejecting Free Basics:
- Facebook assumes control of defining what a ‘basic’ service is.
- Facebook will have access to all your apps’ contents. This flaw is not visible to the lay person as it’s a technical detail, but it has deep and disturbing implications. Since Facebook can access un-encrypted contents of users’ ‘basic’ services, either we get to consider health apps to be not basic, or risk revealing health records of all Indians to Facebook.
- The third flaw is that the term ‘free’ in ‘free basics’ is a marketing gimmick.
Indian venture capitalist Mahesh Murthy is also campaigning strongly against Facebook’s Free Basics.
Read Facebook’s reply to his queries on The Quint.
7. Centre Pushing to Revive NATGRID, Looking For CEO
Established during the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) – a collection of citizens’ personal data from eight agencies – now needs a Chief Executive Office (CEO), reports The Hindu.
The Centre is looking for a CEO for the agency that holds the key to highly sensitive data.
The only CEO of the organisation, since its convention, Raghu Raman’s contract was not renewed when the government changed in 2014.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh cited an alleged “adverse intelligence report” as the reason for not reappointing Raman.
Even though civilians can apply for the post, the government is looking for intelligence officers, according to The Hindu.
8. High Time India, Pakistan Set Aside Hostilities, Says Nawaz Sharif
It is “high time” for Indian and Pakistan to set aside hostilities, Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday in Balochistan, a day after the national security advisors of the two countries announced a meeting of the foreign secretaries of the two nations next month.
The Indian Prime Minister came to Lahore and gave us his few hours. It is high time the countries put aside their hostilities...Goodwill gestures are the solution to many ills.
Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister, Pakistan
Thanking Modi for his surprise visit on 25 December, Sharif expressed confidence that the spirit of goodwill generated by the visit to Lahore will persist.
Pakistan Foreign Affairs Secretary Sartaj Aziz has said that foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan will meet in Islamabad on 14-15 January.
Will the decision-making institution of Pakistan – the Pakistan army – however, change its course? Read on The Quint.
9. Government Reverses Stand on Aadhaar Card
The brainchild of the UPA government, the Aadhaar card – a unique identification system – was actively rejected by the NDA government in 2014. But now the government is biting its words and is preparing to convince the Supreme Court to let it continue.
According to The Economic Times, even as the government is planning to convince the Supreme Court, the cabinet secretary will head the drafting of a plan to introduce the Aadhaar as the identification system in more government policies.
Another UPA scheme that was fired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi but is now proving useful is the MNREGA. The source of pride for the Modi government, the direct transfer of funds to the bank accounts of those below the poverty line – including MNREGA-employed people – is standing with the help of the Aadhaar.
The Modi government’s brainchild, the Pahal scheme for gas cylinders for the underprivileged, also takes the help of the Aadhaar database.
According to The Economic Times report, “nearly 5.6 crore such transactions are completed every month using the Aadhaar platform.”
From The Quint
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