DESPITE PROTESTS, CAA WILL NOT BE WITHDRAWN: AMIT SHAHAttacking the opposition for "misleading" people on the CitizenshipAmendment Act, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said the law willnot be scrapped despite the protests over it.Addressing a rally in Lucknow in support of the CAA, Shah also declared thatthe construction of a Ram temple "touching the skies" in Ayodhya will beginwithin three months.Amit Shah said there is no provision in the amended law for taking anyone'scitizenship away. "A canard is being spread against the CAA by the Congress,SP, BSP, and Trinamool Congress." The CAA is a law to grant citizenship, headded."I want to say that irrespective of the protests it will not be withdrawn,"he added.Shah challenged opposition leaders to hold a discussion with him on the CAAat a public forum.He named Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav,Bahujan Samaj Party's Mayawati and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee while throwingthe challenge. "If any clause of the CAA takes away the citizenship ofanyone, including Muslims, they can tell me. The agitations and sit-ins,which are being organised in the country against it, are wrong," he said."The Congress has become blind due to vote bank politics," he said, and alsoblamed the party for Partition.He said five lakh Pandits were displaced from Kashmir, "but these partiesdid not utter a word". "Now, because of PM Modi, a new chapter has begun inthe lives of these people," he said.Shah claimed that Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel and IndiraGandhi advocated citizenship to Hindus from Pakistan but their Congressparty never implemented the suggestion.On Mamata Banerjee, he charged, "She was demanding citizenship for DalitBengalis. Now when the citizenship is being given to them, she hasproblems."Shah claimed that during the Rajasthan Assembly elections, the Congress hadadvocated citizenship to Hindus from Pakistan.DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION IN NPR VOLUNTARY: MOS-HOME REDDYAmidst strong opposition by some non-BJP ruled states, the Centre on Tuesdaymade it clear that the disclosure of information in the National PopulationRegister (NPR) exercise is not mandatory but voluntary.Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy also said the NPR was firstinitiated by the Congress-led UPA in 2010 and it was a constitutionalobligation. "Disclosure of information in NPR is voluntary only," he toldreporters.A few state governments have declared that they will not participate in theNPR exercise, saying it is prelude to a countrywide National Register ofCitizensReddy said since NPR is a constitutional obligation, state governmentsshould not oppose it.The minister also said the central government will keep sensitising statesabout various aspects of the NPR exercise that will be carried out alongwith the house listing phase of the Census 2021 from April 1 to September30, 2020.TRUMP MEETS IMRAN IN DAVOS, OFFERS 'HELP' ON KASHMIR ISSUEUS President Donald Trump on Tuesday reiterated his offer to "help" on theKashmir issue, as he met Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in Davos,Switzerland on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.Interestingly, Trump volunteered the US's "help" even before Khan spoke -without any prompting or provocation.Addressing the media with Khan at his side, Trump said, "We are talkingabout Kashmir and in relation to what is going on with Pakistan and Indiaand if we can help - we certainly will be helping. We've been following thatand watching it very very closely."Khan said it was the US which will be able to help resolve the issue, andsaid that he had pinned his hopes on the US President.This is the fourth time that Trump has made such an offer - each time, Indiahas rejected his proposal.His latest offer comes in the backdrop of talks between Delhi and Washingtonabout Trump possibly visiting India this year, anytime between February andSeptember.India has always maintained that Kashmir is a bilateral issue, and no thirdparty has any role in it. Pakistan has been trying to internationalise theKashmir issue after India withdrew the special status of Jammu and Kashmiron August 5, but New Delhi has asserted the abrogation of Article 370 wasits internal matter.JD(U) LEADER MAKES PVT NITISH KUMAR CHAT PUBLICQuestioning his party's decision to extend its alliance with the BJP "beyondBihar" and fight the Delhi Assembly elections together, JD(U) nationalspokesperson Pavan K Varma has sought "ideological clarity" from party chiefNitish Kumar, saying that the Bihar chief minister had expressed "graveapprehensions" in private about the BJP leading the country into a"dangerous space".In a two-page letter to Nitish on Tuesday, Varma, who shared screenshots ofthe letter on social media, accused the BJP of having "embarked on amassive, socially divisive agenda".Saying that he was "deeply perplexed" by the party's decision to tie up withthe BJP in Delhi, Varma said Nitish had, "on more than one occasion",expressed "grave apprehensions about the BJP-RSS combine".Recalling his first meeting with Nitish in August 2012, Varma said: "You hadspoken to me at length and with conviction on why Narendra Modi and hispolicies are inimical for the country. When you were leadingMahagathbandhan, you had openly made a call for 'RSS-mukt Bharat'.""The cause for confusion arises from the fact that, even after you changedtracks and aligned again with the BJP in 2017, your private apprehensionsregarding the BJP did not change. For instance, I remember your confessingto me in private how the current leadership in the BJP party has humiliatedyou. You maintained on, more than one occasion, that the BJP is leadingIndia into a 'dangerous space'. It was your personal view, as conveyed tome, that the BJP is destroying institutions, and that there is a need fordemocratic and socialist forces within the country to regroup, a task forwhich you actually assigned a senior party official," Varma said in hisletter."If these are your real views, I fail to understand how the JD(U) is nowextending its alliance with the BJP beyond Bihar, when even longstandingallies of the BJP, like the Akali Dal, have refused to do so. This isespecially so at time when the BJP, through the CAA-NPR-NRC combine, hasembarked on a massive socially divisive agenda, aimed at mutilating thepeace, harmony and stability of the country," he said.TRUMP LAUDS US ECONOMY IN DAVOS, SAYS LITTLE ON CLIMATE WOESPresident Donald Trump boasted Tuesday that he's led a "spectacular"turnaround of the U.S. economy and urged the world to invest in America, buthad little to say about climate change issues that are a focus of thisyear's gathering of top business and political leaders in the Swiss Alps.Trump addressed the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, hoursbefore his historic impeachment trial was to reconvene in the U.S. Senate inWashington. The two-day visit will test Trump's ability to balance his angerover being impeached with a desire to project leadership on the world stage.He reminded the audience that when he spoke here two years ago, early in hispresidency, "I told you that we had launched the great American comeback.""Today I'm proud to declare the United States is in the midst of an economicboom, the likes of which the world has never seen before," the presidentsaid.IN DOCUMENTARY, HILLARY CLINTON SAYS 'NOBODY LIKES SANDERS'Former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton has launched a scathingattack on presidential hopeful and 2016 Democratic rival Bernie Sanders,telling in a documentary that "nobody likes him."Clinton also refused to say whether she would endorse and campaign for Mr.Sanders if he becomes the Democrats' choice to take on President DonaldTrump in November's election. "He was in Congress for years. He had onesenator support him," Clinton, 72, says in a four-part series due to air onstreaming site Hulu in March."Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done. Hewas a career politician." "It's all just baloney and I feel so bad thatpeople got sucked into it," she adds.Sanders, a leftist Senator from Vermont, is among the leaders in the racefor the 2020 Democratic nomination.Sanders, 78, pushed Clinton to the wire four years ago in an acrimonious,months-long battle for the party's nomination. She won that race but lost toMr. Trump in November.CHINA'S CORONAVIRUS DEATH TOLL JUMPS TO 9, NUMBER OF CASES TOP 400China has warned that a SARS-like virus that has killed nine people,infected hundreds and spread to other countries could mutate, as authoritiesscrambled to contain the disease during the Lunar New Year travel season.The new coronavirus has caused alarm for its similarity to SARS (SevereAcute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed nearly 650 people across mainlandChina and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.The World Health Organization (WHO) was to hold an emergency meetingWednesday to determine whether to declare a rare global public healthemergency over the disease, which has also been detected in the UnitedStates, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan and South Korea.The Chinese government has classified the outbreak in the same category asthe SARS epidemic, meaning compulsory isolation for those diagnosed with theillness and the potential to implement quarantine measures on travel.But they still have not been able to confirm the exact source of the virus,which has infected 440 people in 13 provinces and municipalities.UNION MINISTERS LINE UP THEIR KASHMIR VISITS, NAQVI FIRSTFrom a village sarpanch and a daily wage labourer to members of the TribalWelfare Forum, many turned up to submit memorandums to Union Minister forMinority Affairs Mukhtar Naqvi Tuesday afternoon and drawing his attentionto their concerns including road connectivity, internet, electricity supplyand poor salaries.The first Union minister to visit the Kashmir Valley after Union HomeMinister Amit Shah desired his colleagues reach out to the people of Jammuand Kashmir, Naqvi interacted with almost a dozen delegations afteraddressing an audience of about 350 people at the Block Development Officein Harwan, on the outskirts of Srinagar."Kahin na kahin, is swarg ko kisi ki nazar lag gayi hai. Sometimescorruption, sometimes mis-governance, has hindered your progress, needs anddevelopment," said Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Naqbiaddressing an audience of about 350 at the Block Development Office inHarwan Tuesday afternoon.Noting that corruption has harmed this 'paradise on earth', Naqvi said, "Formany years, the Centre has provided funds in crores for your progress,employment, roads, health, water supply and power development, but it wouldreach only a few people and you would never reap the benefits of it. Now,those benefits will reach you directly. The is Modi sahab's and the Centralgovernment's endeavour."Some eight other ministers are expected to visit different districts inKashmir through the week.TUKDE-TUKDE GANG DOES EXIST, THEY ARE RUNNING GOVT: THAROORTaking a dig at the Home Ministry's reported reply to an RTI query thatthere is no information available on the 'tukde-tukde gang', senior Congressleader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday said it does exist and is running thegovernment.An activist has claimed that the Home Ministry has responded to his RTIquery saying that there is "no information concerning tukde-tukde gang".Tagging the media report, Tharoor tweeted, "The tukde-tukde gang does exist.They are running the Government and dividing the nation."WOMEN OF SHAHEEN BAGH FILE DEFAMATION SUIT AGAINST BJP IT CELL HEAD MALVIYAThe women of Shaheen Bagh have filed a Rs one crore civil defamation suitagainst BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya accusing him of spreading canardsagainst them and spreading misinformation.Two women Nafisa Bano and Shahzad Fatma have filed the suit which read, "Avideo posted and endorsed by you on social media site Twitter, which hasbeen played across several media platforms, had alleged that the protestersare taking Rs 500-700 in order to be a part of the protests.""Such statements are not only false but also have an effect of defaming theprotesters in the national and international community," it further said.Meanwhile, Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal on Tuesday met a delegation ofprotesters from Shaheen Bagh and appealed to them to call off theiragitation as it has been causing inconvenience to schoolchildren, patientsand general public.Thousands of people, including women and children, have been protesting forover a month at Shaheen Bagh and nearby Jamia Millia Islamia against the CAAand the NRC.BJP HAS SURRENDERED AHEAD OF POLLS: AAPAfter the BJP released its second list of candidates and fielded Sunil Yadavagainst Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal from the New Delhi Assembly seat, theruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said the saffron party had surrendered beforethe polls."Going by this list and BJP candidate against CM Kejriwal, it seems BJP hassurrendered," AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj tweeted on Tuesday.On Monday night, the BJP released its final list and named Sunil Yadav fromthe New Delhi Assembly constituency. Yadav is a young face, who is the statepresident of the Delhi unit of the BJP's Yuva Morcha--Bharatiya Janata YuvaMorcha.SC REINSTATES WOMAN EMPLOYEE WHO LEVELLED CHARGES AT EX-CJIThe Supreme Court has reinstated in service a woman staffer who had raisedsexual misconduct allegations against former Chief Justice of India RanjanGogoi.The woman had claimed victimisation for resisting unwelcome advances whenshe was posted at the residence office of former CJI Gogoi in October 2018.She claimed she was later transferred and then terminated from service.An inquiry into her complaint by an In-House Committee, comprising JusticesS A Bobde (the current CJI), Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee, had,however, "found no substance" in her charges and given a clean chit to theformer CJI.The women staffer, who had withdrawn from the proceedings of the inquirycommittee on the ground that she was not allowed legal representation, hadexpressed disappointment over the findings.AGR DUES: DOT TALKS TOUGH ON DEADLINE, TELECOM COMPANIES SIT ON THE FENCEThe Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will begin issuing notices totelecom companies after the January 24 deadline for payment of AGR (adjustedgross revenue) dues, set by the Supreme Court, lapses, a senior officialsaid.This comes even as the apex court on Tuesday agreed to list the"modification petition" filed by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Groupfor "sometime next week". The firms have sought a change to the 90-daydeadline for payment of Rs 1.47 trillion worth of AGR dues, and permissionto engage with the DoT on the terms and timing of payment.Leading telecom companies are holding hectic parleys as they considerskipping the deadline for payment of AGR dues. Rajan S Mathew, directorgeneral of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), said: "Iunderstand that most of the telcos may wait till the hearing of the newpetition before they make the payment."AMAZON FOUNDER BEZOS'S PHONE 'HACKED BY SAUDI CROWN PRINCE' IN 2018: REPORTAmazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos's mobile phone was hacked afterreceiving a message from the Saudi Arabian crown prince, The Guardiannewspaper reported.According to the British daily, a digital forensic analysis revealed thatthe encrypted message from the number used by Mohammed bin Salman included amalicious file that infiltrated his phone.The analysis also found that the intrusion could have been triggered by aninfected video file sent from the account of of the Saudi prince.While the details of the data taken from the is unclear, the revelation ofthe security breach comes almost a year after Bezos and his wife, MacKenzieannounced that they would be separating after 25 years of marriage. Afterthe divorce was finalised, Bezos, in a blog post, accused National Enquirer- a US tabloid - of threatening to publish embarrassing text messages andphotos unless he publicly affirmed that there was no political motivation oroutside force behind the tabloid's coverage.The National Enquirer had earlier disclosed an extramarital affair betweenBezos and Lauren Sanchez, a former television anchor, in a series of reportsthat relied, in part, on intimate text messages sent by Bezos.RAFAEL NADAL NOT FOCUSSING ON SURPASSING ROGER FEDERER'S 20 TITLESTop seed Nadal, with 19 major titles one short of Federer's mark, opened hiscampaign at Melbourne Park in style on Tuesday, hammering unseeded BolivianHugo Dellien 6-2 6-3 6-0 at a sunbathed Rod Laver Arena.At 33, the reigning French and U.S. Open champion remains at the top of hisgame and even if he fails to win a 20th Grand Slam in Melbourne he will beheavily backed to do it at Roland Garros, where he has triumphed 12 times inthe last 15 editions.Nadal, however, said he was only focused on Wednesday's practice before hisnext match.Melbourne: "If I am able to reach my highest level, that's the thing that Ihave to worry about.If I am able to play at my highest level, normally I amable to produce some good chances. If not, impossible...So, I don't careabout 20 or 15 or 16 (Grand Slam titles). I just care about trying to keepgoing, keep enjoying my tennis career...It's not like 20 is the number thatI need to reach. If I reach 20, fantastic. If I reach 21, better. If I reach19, super happy about all the things that I did in my tennis career,no?....I don't think in the future .... achieving 21 Grand Slams, forexample, I'm going to be happier than if I (have) 19 in 10 years."