SC GRANTS INTERIM RELIEF TO SENA REBELS

Shiv Sena rebel MLAs, who had been asked by Maharashtra Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal to reply by Monday evening to notices on pleas seeking their disqualification from the Assembly, got interim relief when the Supreme Court said they had time until 5.30 pm on July 12 to send their replies.

The vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and Justice J B Pardiwala which issued notice on two petitions — one by Sena rebel leader Eknath Shinde and another by 15 MLAs of his faction who had been served disqualification notices — fixed July 11 as the next date of hearing.

Taking note of the rebel MLAs’ submission that their life and property were under threat, the bench recorded the statement of the Maharashtra standing counsel that “adequate steps have already been taken and the state govt shall further ensure that no harm is caused to the life, liberty and property of the 39 MLAs or their family members”.

It directed that a counter-affidavit be filed by the respondents within five days and that the MLAs could file rejoinder affidavits, if any, within the next three days.

It also sought a counter-affidavit after the MLAs and the Assembly Deputy Speaker sought to contradict each other on the notice claimed to have been served by the dissident MLAs, seeking disqualification of the Deputy Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker contended that the notice was sent from an unregistered email and was not taken on record as its genuineness was in doubt. The bench wondered what steps had been taken to check its genuineness and directed that the developments in this be explained in an affidavit.

Senior Advocates A M Singhvi and Devdutt Kamat, appearing for the Deputy Speaker and other respondents, opposed the prayer for interim orders, saying disqualifications proceedings by Speaker/Deputy Speaker were proceedings of the House and courts cannot intervene.

But the bench referred to a Supreme Court ruling which said a judicial review is not barred.

Pointing out that the Shinde camp with 39 MLAs was the majority Shiv Sena, Senior Advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, appearing for the rebel MLAs, said “a minority of a legislature party today… is actually subverting the entire state machinery. Our houses are being burnt, we are being physically threatened… a party spokesperson says 40 bodies will arrive from Gauhati, they will be slaughtered like bulls and you wait and see what will happen in days to come, how they will be treated”. “The atmosphere and the environment is not at all conducive for us to legitimately pursue our legal and constitutional rights in Bombay at the moment because that is the kind of atmosphere which has been vilified…” he said.

POOR NEED SAME ENERGY RIGHTS, ACCESS AS RICH: PM MODI AT G-7 SUMMIT

At a time when India is facing criticism from the West for its purchase of discounted oil from Russia amid the war in Ukraine, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday invoked the need for the poor to be able to access energy — as much as the rich.

Speaking at the G-7 summit in Germany, during a session on ‘Investing in a better Future: Climate, Energy, Health’, Modi said: “All of you will also agree with this that energy access should not be the privilege of the rich only — a poor family also has the same rights on energy. And today when energy costs are sky-high due to geopolitical tensions, it is more important to remember this thing.”

“By taking inspiration from this principle”, Modi reminded the G-7 countries — the world’s seven richest economies — about India’s commitments on climate change. “We delivered LED bulbs and clean cooking gas door-to-door in India and showed that millions of tons of carbon emissions can be saved while ensuring energy for the poor,” he said.

The Prime Minister’s comments were in sync with India’s position that it is buying oil from Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February, to meet its domestic energy demand and control inflation, which affects the poor the most.

Later, while addressing a session on food security, Modi referred indirectly to the Ukraine crisis and said: “We are meeting amid an atmosphere of global tension. India has always been in favour of peace. Even in the present situation, we have constantly urged for the path of dialogue and diplomacy.”

Modi then put forward a series of suggestions. “First, we must focus on the availability of fertilizers, and keep the value chains of fertilizers smooth at a global scale. We are trying to increase the production of fertilizers in India and seek cooperation from G7-countries in this regard,” he said.

“Second, India has immense agricultural manpower compared to the countries of the G7. Indian agricultural skills have helped give new life to traditional agricultural products like cheese and olive in some of the countries of the G7. Can the G7 create a structured system for the widespread use of Indian agricultural talent in its member countries? With the help of traditional talent of India’s farmers, food security will be ensured to G7 countries,” he said.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: YASHWANT SINHA FILES PAPERS

Joint Opposition candidate for the July 18 Presidential election Yashwant Sinha on Monday filed his nomination papers backed by 17 parties, barring the JMM, JDS, AAP and BSP, and said the “unity shown by non BJP outfits in fielding a common candidate was not going to stop here and would outlast the current process”.

“The July 18 election is not a battle of identities. It is a battle of ideologies, a battle to save democracy and most Opposition parties have come together to wage this battle. It is not going to stop here. They will remain together and carry the fight forward,” said Sinha.

He earlier filed his papers with Rajya Sabha secretary general PC Mody, the returning officer, accompanied by Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi; NCP leaders Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel; National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah; TMC's Abhishek Banerjee, CPM's Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja; RSP's NK Premchandran; CPIML's Deepankar Bhattacharya; SP chief Akhilesh Yadav; RJD's Misa Bharti; RLD's Jayant Choudhary; DMK's Tiruchi Siva and IUML's Mohammad Bashir.

The TRS and the AIMIM declared their support to Sinha, with Telangana CM K Chandrashekhar Rao and AIMIM chief Asadudin Owaisi making the relevant announcements.

“This is a mighty battle. I am most willing to play my role in this fight, no matter how small that role is. In this fight to save democracy, nothing else matters,” Sinha said.

COVID DASHBOARD – INDIA

As of 0800 IST / June 28

from mohfw.gov.in ,

New Cases on Monday 11,793

Active Cases 96,700 (+2,280)

Total Deaths (Deaths Yesterday) 5,25,047 (14)

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

======================

ZELENSKYY ALLEGES RUSSIAN MISSILE STRIKE ON PACKED MALL

Russia Monday targeted a crowded shopping mall in a Ukrainian city far away from the eastern frontlines, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy reportedly said the building, in the city of Kremenchuk in Poltava oblast, had 1,000 people inside when the strike took place. The attack came a day after multiple missile strikes were reported in Kyiv.

On his Telegram account, Zelenskyy shared a 10-second video of the shopping mall, which is seen in flames and covered in smoke, with firefighters at the scene. The video, as well as the exact number of casualties, are yet to be independently verified.

“The mall is on fire, rescuers are fighting the fire, the number of victims is impossible to imagine. No danger to the Russian army. No strategic value. Only the attempt of people to live a normal life, which so angers the occupiers,” Zelenskyy said.

The timing of the strikes Sunday — ahead of the G7 Summit and a NATO meeting this week in Spain — was reportedly described by Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko as “symbolic aggression”.

INDIA JOINS G7, 4 OTHERS TO PROTECT FREE SPEECH, ‘ONLINE AND OFFLINE’

India, along with G7 countries and four invited countries, Monday signed the ‘2022 Resilient Democracies Statement’ in which they committed to “guarding the freedom, independence and diversity of civil society actors” and “protecting the freedom of expression and opinion online and offline”.

A four-page statement, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the G-7 summit in Germany, said, “We, the Leaders of Germany, Argentina, Canada, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Senegal, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the European Union, affirm our commitment to strengthening the resilience of our democracies.”

“We hail all courageous defenders of democratic systems that stand against oppression and violence, and will step up international cooperation to improve the resilience of democratic societies globally,” it stated.

The signatories said that democracies enable “open public debate, independent and pluralistic media” and the “free flow of information online and offline”, fostering legitimacy, transparency, responsibility and accountability for citizens and elected representatives alike.

THE REST

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CONGRESS STAGES ‘SATYAGRAHA’ ON AGNIPATH

Congress leaders and activists today held a nationwide ‘Satyagraha’ against the Agnipath scheme across 3,500 Assembly headquarters and demanded its rollback.

“We stand with the youth in their demand for an immediate rollback of the Agnipath scheme. The BJP govt should not weaken national security by implementing this scheme,” party spokesperson Mohan Prakash said.

He said the Congress stood with lakhs of ex-servicemen who were concerned about the scheme’s impact on the ethos, unit cohesion and combat effectiveness of the Armed Forces. “Introducing differential training standards and discriminatory pay and allowances among our soldiers threatens to disturb long-established standards with no clear benefit,” Prakash added.

SHOULD IT COME TO MERGER, SHINDE MAY HAVE A NATURAL ALLY IN MNS

With the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena arguing that the Eknath Shinde faction cannot claim to be a separate group even if it has two-thirds majority and must merge with another party, the latter is said to be exploring that option. And the first party on its list is said to be the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), led by Uddhav’s cousin Raj Thackeray.

Shinde is learnt to have spoken to Raj Thackeray over the phone, though ostensibly to enquire about his health following a hip-replacement surgery. Raj was discharged two days ago.

The Shinde faction claims to have 50 MLAs, 40-plus of them from the Sena and the rest either Independents or from smaller parties. With the total strength of the Sena being 55 MLAs, Shinde already has more than the two-third mark of 37.

The Uddhav-led Sena, however, argued on Sunday that they can’t be recognised as a separate group even if they have the two-thirds to escape the anti-defection law, and if they didn’t merge with another party, would stand disqualified.

Highly placed sources in the Shinde camp said that “if the situation so demands”, they had three options: the MNS, Prahar Janashakti (whose MLAs have already extended it support) and the BJP.

The MNS, which has just one MLA and is desperate for a lifeline. Sena leaders said Raj Thackeray and Shinde have always shared very cordial relations. Plus, the MNS has been attacking the Uddhav-led Sena for “compromising on Hindutva” – the very charge that the rebel group has levelled against it. Thirdly, going with Raj Thackeray would help Shinde retain a share of the Thackeray political legacy.

THE 2/3RDS RULE IN ANTI-DEFECTION LAW

The political crisis in Maharashtra has given rise to the question whether the Shiv Sena rebels can avoid disqualification under the anti-defection law.

Under the anti-defection law, a member of a legislature can be disqualified if he or she has voluntarily given up membership of their political party; and if he/she votes or abstains from voting in the House contrary to any direction issued by their party (or by any person or authority authorised by the party).

There is a however provision to protect such legislators from disqualification. If two-thirds of the members agree to a merger with another party, they will not be disqualified. Under the 91st Amendment to the Constitution in 2003, the exemption from disqualification if one-third of the members form a separate group (the rule prior to the amendment) was removed.

ALTNEWS CO-FOUNDER MOHAMMED ZUBAIR ARRESTED FOR A 4 YEAR OLD TWEET

The Cyber unit of Delhi Police on Monday arrested Mohammed Zubair, the co-founder of fact-checking website AltNews, on charges of allegedly hurting religious sentiments following a complaint by a social media user who referred to a tweet from 2018.

The police said they filed an FIR against Zubair in connection with the complaint under IPC sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 295-A (malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings). They said he has been remanded in police custody for a day and will be produced in court for bail hearing after Tuesday.

Police sources said the complainant in the case goes by the Twitter name Hanuman Bhakt, with an image of Lord Hanuman as his profile photo. On Monday night, the handle had over 400 followers.

A senior police officer said the tweet purportedly showed an image of a hotel, with its board reading ‘Honeymoon hotel’ repainted to ‘Hanuman hotel’. The complainant posted a screenshot, tagged Delhi Police, and wrote: “Linking our God Hanuman ji with honeymoon is a direct insult of Hindus because he is brahmchari. Kindly take action against this guy @delhipolice.”

“We came across the tweet last week. Zubair had posted this tweet in 2018 but people have been raising the issue recently. We took action and registered an FIR,” the officer said.

Earlier this month, Zubair had highlighted comments made by the then BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma on the Prophet, which triggered condemnation from a host of countries, including those from the Gulf. The outrage prompted the Centre to distance itself from Sharma’s comments, and the ruling BJP to suspend her and sack another party spokesperson Naveen Kumar Jindal.

Zubair’s arrest was slammed by the Opposition, including Congress, TMC, RJD, AIMIM and the Left parties, which accused the BJP-led NDA govt of cracking down on those who “expose its hate speech and fake propaganda”.

ED SUMMONS SHIV SENA LEADER SANJAY RAUT FOR QUESTIONING

Amid the ongoing political crisis in Maharashtra, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) yesterday summoned Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut for questioning in connection with a case linked to alleged irregularities in re-development of a Mumbai ‘chawl’.

"It’s a conspiracy. We are fighting a big battle. This is a conspiracy to stop me. Even if you behead me, I won’t take the Guwahati route," said Raut.

Raut has been summoned in connection with a case linked to the Patra chawl land scam. The agency had earlier attached some properties linked to Raut and his family members in connection with the case. Raut is considered to be a close confidant of Shiv Sena chief and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

GIG ECONOMY BOOMING, 2.35 CRORE WORKERS BY 2030, SAYS NITI AAYOG REPORT

India had around 77 lakh gig workers in 2020-21, up from 68 lakh in 2019-20, constituting 2.6 per cent of the non-farm workforce, or 1.5 per cent of the total workforce, in the country, according to a report launched by federal think tank Niti Aayog Monday.

In an indication of how the gig economy is set to grow in future, the report — ‘India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy: Perspectives and Recommendations on Future of Work’ — says that the gig workforce is expected to expand to 2.35 crore workers by 2029-30 and constitute 4.1 per cent of the total livelihood in India.

The Ministry of Labour defines a gig worker as a person who engages in income-earning activities outside of a traditional employer-employee relationship, as well as in the informal sector. A gig worker who uses platforms, such as websites or apps like Ola, Uber, Dunzo, Zomato, Swiggy or Urban Company, to connect with customers is called a platform worker.

A FIRST, PRIVATE PAYLOADS SET FOR SPACE LAUNCH

The ball has been set rolling for space activities by private firms with the Indian Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) on Monday announcing that it had authorised two start-ups to launch their payloads aboard the ISRO’s workhorse PSLV on June 30.

The authorisations were the first to private entities by IN-SPACe, an autonomous single-window nodal agency under the Department of Space.

The authorisation was granted to Dhruva Space Private Ltd of Hyderabad and Digantara Research and Technologies Private Ltd of Bengaluru.

Dhruva’s Space Satellite Orbital Deployer (DSOD 1U), a technology demonstration payload, and Digantara’s ROBust Integrating Proton Fluence Meter (ROBI), a proton dosimeter payload, would fly onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C53 (PSLV-C53) mission scheduled for take-off.

WIMBLEDON, DAY 1: A RUSTY DJOKOVIC MOVES TO 2ND ROUND

Top seed Novak Djokovic overcame a dogged challenge from 81st-ranked Korean Kwon Soon-woo and his own grasscourt rustiness to reach the Wimbledon second round with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory on Monday.

The defending champion is bidding for his fourth Wimbledon title in a row, his seventh overall and a 21st Grand Slam title.

Men’s Singles Top 10 Seeds

Novak Djokovic

Rafael Nadal

Casper Ruud

Stefano Tsitsipas

Carlos Alcaraz

Felix Auger-Aliassime

Hubert Hurkacz

Matteo Berrettini

Cameron Norrie

Jannik Sinner

Women’s Singles Top 10 Seeds

Iga Swiatek

Anett Kontaveit

Ons Jabeur

Paula Badosa

Maria Sakkari

Karolina Pliskova

Danielle Collins

Jessica Pegula

Garbine Muguruza

Emma Raducanu

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

What you get by reaching your goals is not nearly as important as what you become by reaching them. - Zig Ziglar

OFF TRACK

A kangaroo kept getting out of his enclosure at the zoo. Knowing that he could hop high, the zoo officials put up a ten-foot fence.

He was out the next morning, just sauntering around the zoo. A twenty-foot fence was put up. Again he got out.

When the fence was forty feet high, a camel in the next enclosure asked the kangaroo, "How high do you think they'll go?"

The kangaroo said, "About a thousand feet, unless somebody locks the gate at night!"