1. Rahul Gandhi, Amit Shah Trade Barbs From Each Other's Citadels
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah took their political battle to each other’s bastions on Tuesday, exchanging potshots on corruption and development ahead of two state elections.
Gandhi addressed young people, women and Dalits in Vadodara as part of a two-day march crisscrossing Gujarat, a state that sent Shah to Parliament and is a BJP citadel. The state, along with Himachal Pradesh, is expected to go to the polls this year.
Shah, along with information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, held rallies in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi that has elected a Congress member to Parliament for almost two decades.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. Supreme Court Verdict on Exception to Rape Law Likely Today
The Supreme Court is likely to pronounce on Wednesday its verdict on a petition challenging the validity of an exception clause in the rape law that permits sexual intercourse between a man and his wife who is not below 15 years. The matter has been listed for judgment in the court of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta. The bench had reserved its order in the case on September 6.
The petition by NGO Independent Thought had challenged the exception clause (2) in Section 375 IPC (which deals with rape) that says intercourse or sexual act by a man with his wife, not below 15 years, is not rape. This created a dichotomy as the age of consent was 18 years, it was contended.
(Source: Indian Express)
3. Furore Over 'Women in Shorts'
Rahul Gandhi today alleged that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ignored women but his question whether any "women in shorts" were ever seen in its assemblies triggered a controversy, with the BJP describing it as an "indecent comment".
The Congress vice-president, meeting women's groups during his ongoing Gujarat tour, had asked them to ponder why there were no women in the Sangh's higher rungs while women worked at every level in the Congress.
"Their main organisation is the RSS. How many women are there in the RSS? Have you ever seen any women in shorts in the shakhas?" Rahul said in Vadodara, alluding to the trademark shorts worn by Sangh volunteers at their drills before they switched to trousers over a year ago.
(Source: The Telegraph)
4. Delhi Metro Fare Hike Gets Mixed Response From Commuters, Kejriwal's AAP Announces Stir
The Delhi Metro fare hike evoked a mixed response from commuters in the national capital on Tuesday, even as the ABVP agitated against the “anti-people measure” outside the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) headquarters.
Commuters across the national capital region woke up to increased Metro fares earlier that morning, after demands for deferment were rejected at an emergency meeting of the DMRC board on Monday. The decision to go ahead with the fare hike followed a protracted battle between the Delhi government and the BJP-led Centre on the issue.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
5. Sanitation Crisis Looms Over East Delhi This Diwali as Worker Unions Go on Strike
The Capital’s eastern suburbs are staring at a civic crisis as hundreds of municipal sanitation workers announced on Tuesday to strike work, a move that could overrun roads and neighbourhoods with mounds of rotting garbage this Diwali.
The Swachhta Karamchari Union, which calls itself the biggest worker union of East Delhi Municipal Corporation with 11,000 members, called an indefinite strike from Wednesday over non-payment of salaries, bonus, and arrears due from 2003.
“The repeated financial crisis shows the inefficiency of the civic agency in running the system. This time there will be an infinite strike unless all financial issues are sorted out,” said Sanjay Gehlot, president of the association.
The rival Swatantra Majdoor Sayunkt Morcha, a union with members in the city’s three municipal corporations, also announced a strike from 16 October.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
6. Day After Supreme Court Order, Firecracker Ban Continues to Divide
A day after the Supreme Court banned sale of firecrackers in the Delhi-NCR, Delhi Police Tuesday continued to chalk out a plan to enforce it. While traders, who are looking at massive losses, approached the BJP for relief, others, including civic agencies and doctors, welcomed the move.
Delhi Police spokesperson Madhur Verma told The Indian Express that teams have been formed to crack down on sale of crackers.
“We have started issuing notices to the licence holders. Public notices will be issued from Wednesday, so that citizens follow the court order,” he said.
(Source: Indian Express)
7. Coach Overcrowded, 100 Escaped: Gujarat HC on Commuting Death Sentence of 11 Convicts to Life Imprisonment
The Gujarat High Court, while commuting to life imprisonment the death sentences awarded to 11 convicts in the Godhra train burning incident that triggered riots across the state in 2002, cited “two circumstances not justifying capital punishment” — “overcrowdedness” of coach S-6 of Sabarmati Express, and the fact that “more than 100 people could escape” from the other side of the coach suggested that while “the accused had the intention to cause death and maximum damage, they did not intend to enhance the number of casualties”.
Fifty nine people, mostly kar sevaks returning from Ayodhya, died when coach S6 of Sabarmati Express was set on fire at Godhra on the morning of 27 February 2002.
(Source: Indian Express)
8. Government Committed to Fill Gaps in IAF: Nirmala Sitharaman
Lack of timely decision making in the last decade resulted in gaps in the Indian Air Force and the government is committed to fill them, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said today.
In an address at the bi-annual conference of IAF commanders, the defence minister also said that the powers given to the service chiefs should be "fully utilised" in achieving required capabilities of the forces.
"She said that the government is committed to fill the gaps which have arisen due to lack of timely decision making in the last decade," the IAF said in a statement.
(Source: Times of India)
9. After Passive Euthanasia, SC Will Now Examine `Living Will'
More than six years after sanctioning passive euthanasia as a legitimate option to end lives of people in a permanent vegetative state, the Supreme Court decided on Tuesday to examine the more complex concept of a ‘living will’ where removal of life support is authorised in case of an irreversible coma.
A ‘living will’ is a document prepared by a person in a healthy state of mind specifying that if in the future she slides into a vegetative state because of an irreversible terminal illness, the debilitated existence should not be prolonged with the help of life support systems or other medical interventions.
(Source: Times of India)
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