PM MODI INAUGURATES KASHI VISHWANATH CORRIDOR

Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday inaugurated the first phase of his dream project Sri Kashi Vishwanath Dham in Varanasi, amid traditional ceremonies, chants and much symbolism in the way of a dip in the Ganga, lunch with workers, ‘aarti’ and Diwali-like celebrations.

Opposition parties, meanwhile, claimed that an “incomplete project” had been “hurriedly inaugurated” in view of the upcoming elections in UP.

Dipping into Varanasi’s history, the PM said: “The city is witness to the history of Aurangzeb’s atrocities and his terror…. But the soil of this country is different from the rest of the world. If there is an Aurangzeb, Shivaji is also there.”

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his entire Cabinet, BJP CMs from other states, top party leaders, including president JP Nadda, were in attendance at the mega event. Saints and seers from across the country were also present.

Barely weeks ahead of the poll notification in Uttar Pradesh, Modi reiterated his pitch for the simultaneous development of infrastructure and religious places as integral to progress of the “new India”.

“The India of today is not just beautifying the Somnath temple, it is also laying thousands of kilometres of optical fiber in the sea. The India of today is not just rejuvenating the Baba Kedarnath temple, it is also preparing to send Indians to space on its own. The India of today is not just building Lord Ram’s temple in Ayodhya, it is also opening medical colleges in every district. The India of today is not just making the Baba Vishwanath temple grand, it is also making pucca houses for hundreds of poor people,” Modi said.

Spread over five lakh square feet, the project connects the ancient temple to the Ganga. The main aim of the project is to create a processional route from the Ganga to the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

The project, incidentally, involved purchase and acquisition of hundreds of properties around the temple. While officials claimed “amicable settlement”, the project had initially invited resistance and criticism.

INDIA VOTES AGAINST UNSC DRAFT RESOLUTION THAT ATTEMPTED TO ‘SECURITISE’ CLIMATE ACTION

India on Monday voted against a UN Security Council draft resolution that attempted to “securitise” climate action and undermine the hard-won consensual agreements in Glasgow, saying it will always speak up for the interests of the developing world and it had no option but to vote against the draft.

The draft resolution, sponsored by Ireland and Nigeria, sought to enable the Security Council to take up routine discussions on climate change from the perspective of its impact on peace and conflicts worldwide. As of now, the appropriate UN forum to discuss all matters on climate change is the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), whose more than 190 members meet multiple times every year, including at a two-week annual conference towards the end of the year.

The resolution fell through following a veto from Russia. India and Russia were the only countries to have opposed the draft resolution; China abstained.

“India had no option but to vote against” the resolution, India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations T S Tirumurti said.

He, however, said there should be no confusion about India’s determination to combat climate change and it “will always support real climate action and serious climate justice”. “We will always speak up for the interests of the developing world, including Africa and the Sahel region. And we will do so at the right place, the UNFCCC,” he said.

TWO COPS KILLED, 12 HURT IN TERRORIST ATTACK ON BUS IN JK

Two policemen were killed and 12 others suffered injuries as terrorists carried out a deadly attack on a bus carrying Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police personnel on the outskirts of Srinagar on Monday. The bus came under fire from terrorists in Zewan in Pantha Chowk area on Monday evening. At least 14 policemen sustained injuries in the attack, two of whom died.

No terrorist outfit has so far claimed responsibility for the firing on the police bus.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences to the families of the security personnel killed on Monday.

Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha and mainstream politicians and parties condemned the terror attack.

Condemning the attack, National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah tweeted, "Terrible news of a terror attack on a police bus on the outskirts of Srinagar. I unequivocally condemn this attack while at the same time send my heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased & prayers for the injured."

Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti said while the attack on policemen was terribly sad, it 'exposed' the Centre's 'false narrative of normalcy in Kashmir.'

The BJP's Jammu and Kashmir unit spokesman Altaf Thakur said the attack reflects the 'frustration' on the part of militants as they choose darkness to target the police bus.

COVID DASHBOARD – INDIA

As of 0800 IST 14/Dec

from mohfw.gov.in ,

New Cases on Monday 5,619

Active Cases 88,993 (-2,463)

Total Deaths (Deaths Yesterday) 4,75,888 (87)

Total Vaccination: 133.88 Crores (+66,98,601)

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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UK READIES FOR OMICRON ‘TIDAL WAVE’ AFTER 1ST VARIANT DEATH

At least one person has died in the UK after contracting the Omicron variant, PM Boris Johnson said on Monday, the first publicly confirmed death globally from the swiftly spreading strain. Since the first Omicron cases were detected on November 27 in Britain, Johnson has imposed tougher restrictions and on Sunday cautioned that the variant could overcome the immune defences of those inoculated with two shots of vaccines.

Britain gave no details on the death other than the person had been diagnosed in hospital. It was not clear if the patient had been vaccinated or had underlying health issues.

Deaths from Omicron may have occurred in other countries but none has been publicly confirmed yet outside Britain.

Late on Sunday, Johnson said everyone 18 and up would be offered a third vaccine dose by December 31 — less than three weeks away, and a month earlier than the previous target. Johnson said boosters would “reinforce our wall of vaccine protection” against an anticipated “tidal wave of Omicron”

UK health authorities say Omicron cases are doubling every two to three days in Britain, and it will replace delta as the dominant coronavirus strain within days.

PENTAGON WON’T PUNISH US TROOPS INVOLVED IN DEADLY KABUL STRIKE

None of the military personnel involved in a botched drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed 10 civilians will face any kind of punishment after US defence secretary Lloyd Austin approved recommendations from two top commanders, a senior Pentagon official said.

The Pentagon acknowledged in September that the last US drone strike before American troops withdrew from Afghanistan was a tragic mistake that killed the civilians, including seven kids, after initially saying it had been necessary to prevent an Islamic State group attack on troops.

A subsequent high-level investigation into the episode found no violations of law but stopped short of fully exonerating those involved, saying that was “commander business”.

The senior commanders found no grounds for penalizing any of the military personnel involved in the episode, a Pentagon official said.

PAK BORE BRUNT FOR US MISTAKES IN AF: IMRAN

Pakistan PM Imran Khan on Monday said his country had to bear the brunt of the mistakes made by the US in Afghanistan during its two decades of war against terror.

Speaking at an event in Lahore, Imran Khan criticised the western media, saying that instead of giving Pakistan its due credit for the sacrifices it made, the country was accused of playing “a double game” and its reputation was being maligned internationally. “Pakistan was held responsible for the shortcomings of the US,” Khan said. He added that throughout the war in Afghanistan, Pakistan had to witness the biggest collateral damage as it was the only US ally that suffered over 80,000 casualties, displacement of millions of people, and a loss of over $100 billion.

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2 TMC MPs MOVE PRIVILEGE MOTION AGAINST EX-CJI GOGOI

Four days after former Chief Justice of India and Rajya Sabha MP Ranjan Gogoi reportedly said he liked to attend Rajya Sabha when he felt like and when he thought there were matters of importance on which he should speak, two TMC MPs on Monday submitted a notice to move a privilege motion against him over his remarks.

“The statements made by Gogoi prima facie constitute a breach of the Council (of states) as they undermine the dignity of the RS.” the notice sent by TMC MPs Jawhar Sircar and Mausam Noor stated.

AIMIM MUSLIM QUOTA DEMAND STIRS TROUBLED WATERS FOR MVA

At a time when the Maharashtra govt is struggling to provide reservation to both the Marathas as well as OBCs, the AIMIM has bowled a googly with the demand for a quota for Muslims in the state. First offered by a Congress-NCP govt seven years ago, the quota remains a non-starter.

Addressing a rally in Mumbai, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi asked why the Maharashtra govt, including the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, had made no efforts to implement the Muslim quota, a part of which had cleared High Court scrutiny.

The demand by the AIMIM, which first entered the Maharashtra political scene in 2012, coincides with the party’s attempts to consolidate its footprint in the state. Maharashtra was the first place where the AIMIM achieved electoral success outside its base of Hyderabad.

CBSE DROPS CONTROVERSIAL PASSAGE

The CBSC yesterday dropped a comprehension passage and the accompanying questions from the Class-X English exam and decided to award full marks for it to students. The move followed outrage over the board allegedly promoting “gender stereotyping” and supporting “regressive notions”.

Excerpts from the passage had gone viral on social media with users calling out the board for supporting “misogynistic” and “regressive opinions”.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi asked the Education Ministry and the CBSE to apologise for the “blatantly misogynistic passage.” In the absence of any clarification by the govt on the matter, the Congress, NC, NCP, DMK and IUML walked out.

BANK UNIONS HEAD FOR A STRIKE THIS WEEK

Public sector banks have lost nearly Rs 2.85 lakh crore on account of loan dues of 13 corporates even as the banks are used to bail out ailing financial institutions such as Yes Bank and IL&FS, United Forum of Bank Unions alleged on Monday.

In a press release, UFBU's convener B Rambabu said the organisation calls for a two-day all India bank strike on December 16 and 17 protesting against Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill 2021 and opposing the Centre's alleged move to privatise PSBs.

He said the PSBs participate in majority of the govt programmes and schemes such as Jan Dhan, MUDRA for unemployed youth, Swadhan for street vendors, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Jivan Jyoti Yojana, among others.

The UFBU, therefore, is of the view that privatisation of public sector banks will jeopardise the interests of the common people and backward regions of the country, he said.

State-run lenders — from SBI to Canara Bank, PNB and Punjab & Sind Bank — are urging employee unions to reconsider their strike plans.

BOLLYWOOD ON TARGET: NCP, SENA AS LS CLEARS CHANGES IN NDPS ACT

The Lok Sabha today passed a Bill to “rectify errors” that had crept into the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Act with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asserting that the retrospective provision made in the Bill was not “substantive” in nature.

The discussions on the Bill saw NCP’s Supriya Sule and Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant hitting out at the Centre over alleged targeting of Bollywood actors on the drug abuse issue and flagged the “misuse of authority” by officials dealing with related cases.

“Why is Bollywood put into a corner… as if they (actors) are evil people who only do drugs,” Sule said.

Sawant accused the BJP of trying to play politics on drug abuse during the Bihar Assembly polls. “When the new (Maharashtra) govt was formed, some incidents took place... the Sushant Singh Rajput case was quoted. After his death, the whole narrative was drawn that entire Maharashtra is full of drug addicts…” he said.

The NDPS (Amendment) Bill, 2021, was passed by voice vote and some amendments moved by Opposition MPs were rejected by the House. Responding to concerns raised by members that the provision for implementing the law with retrospective effect was in violation of Article 20 (1) of the Constitution, Sitharaman said according to the opinion of the Solicitor General, the amendment could be permitted as it was not substantive, but “clarificatory” in nature.

ARE YOU ASHAMED OF PM?': KERALA HC ASKS A PETITIONER

Examining the maintainability of a plea seeking removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's photograph from the Covid-19 vaccination certificate, the Kerala High Court on Monday asked the petitioner whether he was ashamed of the PM. Justice PV Kunhikrishnan said the Prime Minister was elected to power by the people of the country and therefore, what was wrong with having his photograph on the vaccination certificate.

When the petitioner's counsel told the court that in other countries there was no such practice, the judge orally remarked, "They may not be proud of their PMs, we are proud of our PM."

The counsel for the petitioner, Peter Myaliparampil, said that the certificate was a "private space" with personal details on record and therefore, it was inappropriate to intrude into the privacy of an individual. He contended that adding the PM's photo to the certificate was an intrusion into an individual's private space.

To this, the court said that the more than 100 crore people of the country do not appear to have a problem with having the PM's photo on the vaccine certificate, "why do you?" The court said it will examine whether the plea has any merits and if not, it will dispose of the matter.

4 HELD FOR HELPING SA TRAVELLER FLY BACK FROM INDIA

Bengaluru Police on Monday arrested four people who allegedly helped a South-African national obtain a fake Covid-19 negative certificate to facilitate his departure.

The 66-year-old, who works for a pharmaceutical firm, tested positive on arrival on November 20. He was supposed to be quarantined at the Shangri La Hotel for 14 days, but left for South Africa on November 27 after showing a Covid-negative report. His samples were later found to be infected with the Omicron variant on December 2. Two employees of a Bengaluru-based laboratory, which issued the negative test report, and two employees of the man’s company were arrested.

SC NOTICE TO CENTRE ON PIL SEEKING SOCIAL SECURITY FOR ‘GIG WORKERS’

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre on petition seeking social security benefits for “gig workers” employed by online food delivery, courier and taxi aggregators such as Ola, Uber, Zomato and Swiggy.

A Bench led by Justice L Nageswara Rao asked the govt to respond to the PIL after senior advocate Indira Jaising, representing petitioner Indian Federation of app-based Transport Workers, submitted that “gig workers” fell under the unorganised sector and was outside the purview of social security benefits.

The petitioners contended the app-owning companies exercised complete supervision and control over the manner and method of the work with those who are allowed to register on the said apps.

APPLE, THE MOST VALUABLE FIRM IN THE WORLD, CLOSES IN ON $3 TRN MARKET CAP

Apple Inc's market value hovered just shy of the $3 trillion mark on Monday, following a stunning run over the past decade that has turned it into the world's most valuable company.

The company's shares fell just over 2% on Monday to close at $175.74, reversing earlier gains that saw them approach the $182.86 price needed to record a $3 trillion market value.

The iPhone maker's march from $2 trillion to near $3 trillion in market value took 16 months, as it led a group of megacap tech companies such as Google-parent Alphabet Inc and Amazon.com Inc that benefited from people and businesses relying heavily on technology during the pandemic.

"Tim Cook has done an amazing job over the past decade, taking Apple's share price up over 1,400%," OANDA analyst Edward Moya said. Apple shares have returned 22% per year since the 1990s, while the S&P 500 has returned less than 9% annually in the same period.

If Apple hits the $3 trillion milestone, Microsoft Corp will be the only company in the $2 trillion club, while Alphabet, Amazon and Tesla Inc have crossed $1 trillion.

Microsoft, which has a market value of roughly $2.6 trillion, was the world's most valuable company as recently as late October.

ROHIT SHARMA INJURED, RULED OUT OF SA TEST SERIES

India's vice-captain Rohit Sharma has been ruled out of the upcoming South Africa Test series due to a hamstring injury, the BCCI tweeted on Monday. “Rohit sustained a left hamstring injury during his training session here in Mumbai yesterday. He has been ruled out of the upcoming 3-match Test series against South Africa. Priyank Panchal replaces injured Rohit Sharma in India's Test squad,” the BCCI said in a statement on Monday.

According to PTI, Rohit's hamstring injury resurfaced during the team's net session in Mumbai where he also sustained a hit on his hand while taking throwdowns.

Panchal got a call-up on the back of a 96 in an A Test match against South Africa A recently. Panchal is no greenhorn as he has 100 first-class matches under his belt with 7011 runs, including 24 centuries. He has been a part of a very successful Gujarat team that won the Ranji Trophy under Parthiv Patel and has been an India A captain.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Fear not those who argue but those who dodge. - Marie von Ebner Eschenbach

OFF TRACK

Wife to Husband (on Phone) : Hi !!! Are you busy?

Husband : Yes! Why? What is it?

Wife : I have a Good news & a Bad news

Husband : Just give me the Good news, don't have time for the Bad

Wife : Ok, the Good news is that the Air Bags in our new BMW 7 series work perfectly FINE !!