1. 16 Dec Killers’ Execution Now Scheduled for 1 Feb
The execution of the death sentence in the rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedical student in 2012 was delayed on Friday, 17 January, with a Delhi court issuing a fresh black warrant for 6 am on 1 February for the four convicts after President Ram Nath Kovind rejected a mercy petition by one of them.
The court previously set 22 January as the date for the hanging in the sensational case that triggered nationwide protests and paved the way for stricter anti-rape laws in the country. On Friday, however, additional sessions judge Satish Kumar Arora expressed displeasure while saying that the death sentence will now be executed at 6 am on 1 February.
“This case presents a scenario when convicts were given the opportunity to file mercy but only one preferred. There might be delay tactics. For how long will this go on? Had death warrant not been issued, the convicts would not have initiated their legal remedies,” Arora said.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. CAA Rules Not in But UP Sends Out Form to Identify Migrants, List ‘Persecution’
The rules for operationalising the Citizenship (Amendment) Act are yet to be framed, but the Uttar Pradesh government has already initiated the process of collecting information about refugees and migrants in a prescribed format from district authorities across the state.
According to the administrative heads of at least four districts The Indian Express spoke with, the current exercise can be taken as the beginning of the process for implementation of CAA in the state. When the process for citizenship commences, the district authorities would start the verification process, they said.
Information relating to about 40,000 refugees from more than 15 districts has been provided to the state government, said a senior official in Lucknow, who did not wish to be named.
(Source: The Indian Express)
3. After Kerala, Punjab House Passes Anti-CAA Resolution
Punjab on Friday, 17 January, became the second state after Kerala to pass an assembly resolution seeking repeal of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, with chief minister Amarinder Singh calling the new law “inherently discriminatory” and redolent of the “ethnic and religious cleansing in Hitler’s Germany”.
The resolution, supported by AAP and opposed by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), also demands changes in the documentation required for inclusion of names in the National Population Register.
Amarinder said like Kerala, the Congress government in Punjab would soon move the Supreme Court against the amended citizenship law.
(Source: The Times of India)
4. Goyal: All Investment as Per Rules Welcome
A day after he said e-commerce giant Amazon was not doing India a favour by investing $1 billion, commerce & industry minister Piyush Goyal on Friday, 17 January, said the Centre welcomed all investments but they should be in line with domestic regulations.
On Thursday, he had said Amazon was investing because it was incurring losses, comments that ignited a debate on whether the snub was intended to drive home a sharp point over alleged underpricing and product manipulation seen to hurt Indian businesses.
“I was only saying that investment should come as per rules and regulations,” Piyush Goyal said at an event in Ahmedabad, adding that his comments on Thursday should be seen in this perspective.
(Source: The Times of India)
5. India Can Nudge Us to Revive Our N-Deal: Iran Foreign Minister
Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said Friday, 17 January, that if India wanted to play a role in defusing US-Iran tensions, it could “encourage” the United States to return to the nuclear deal of 2016, from which President Donald Trump walked out in 2018.
Expanding on his statements at the Raisina Dialogue in Delhi earlier this week, Zarif reiterated that Iran was not interested in negotiating a new deal with the US, but wanted the Americans to honour the one inked after negotiations between 2013 and 2016.
“The reason for that is — we had probably the longest dialogue that anybody has had with the US… negotiated a deal with each other that is long, detailed… It wasn’t a deal between Javad Zarif and John Kerry (then US Secretary of State). It was a deal between Iran, US, seven other major members of the international community, and more than that, it became a (UN) Security Council resolution,” Zarif said.
(Source: The Indian Express)
6. Delhi Boy, 8 Others Score 100 Percentile in JEE Main
A Delhi boy is among nine candidates who have scored 100 percentile in the Joint Entrance Examination Main I for admission to various engineering colleges, including IITs and NITs, the results of which were announced by the National Testing Agency in a record eight days on Friday, 17 January.
The final merit list will be announced by NTA after the JEE-Main II exam in April. The ranks of candidates will be released taking into consideration the better of the two NTA scores of all candidates in the January and April exams. JEE comprises Main and Advanced, which are computer-based multiple choice tests.
The 100 percentile scorers are Nishant Agarwal from Delhi, Landa Jitendra and Thadavarthi Vishnu Sri Sai Sankar from Andhra Pradesh, Nisarg Chadha from Gujarat, Divyanshu Agarwal from Haryana, Akhil Jain and Parth Dwivedi from Rajasthan, and Rongala Arun Siddardha and Chagari Koushal Kumar Reddy from Telangana.
(Source: The Times of India)
7. BJP Releases 57 Names for Delhi Polls
The BJP on Friday, 17 January, announced the names of 57 candidates for the Delhi assembly elections that will take place on 8 February. The counting of votes will happen three days later on 11 February.
Out of the 57 names, 11 are from SC community, while four are women, said Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari. The AAP has already announced the names for all the 70 seats.
The BJP, however, did not name its candidate against AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with Tiwari saying the candidate from New Delhi seat will be announced soon.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
8. ‘Dr Bomb’ Held While Planning to Flee to Nepal
Dr Jalees Ansari, aka “Dr Bomb”, a 68-year-old convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case and cases of 50 other explosions, who had jumped parole in Mumbai on Thursday — a day before his 21-day parole was to end — was picked up by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force from outside a mosque in Kanpur on Friday, 17 January.
Ansari was headed to his relatives’ house in UP’s Sant Kabir Nagar district from where he was planning to escape to Nepal, Inspector general (STF) Amitabh Yash claimed.
DGP OP Singh said the UPSTF was alerted about Ansari by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) around 11 pm on Thursday. “He admitted to jumping parole,” said the DGP. Police have also seized Rs 47,780 from his possession.
(Source: The Times of India)
9. At Meeting on NPR, Oppn States Object to Question on Place & Birth of Parents
Opposition-ruled states raised objections to new questions introduced in the 2020 National Population Register (NPR) form at a meeting Friday, 17 January, with Union Home Secretary AK Bhalla and officials of the Registrar General of India (RGI).
Sources said the states sought clarification in particular on Question No. 13 (II) of the NPR form which seeks information on the date and place of birth of an individual’s parents.
After the meeting, Rajasthan Chief Secretary DB Gupta said: “We told RGI that asking date and place of birth of parents was impractical as people in this country do not remember their own date of birth. The RGI said this question had been asked earlier and remains voluntary.”
(Source: The Indian Express)
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