UP VIOLENCE: SC SEEKS STATUS REPORT ON ACCUSED IN 24 HRS

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the UP Government to file a status report in 24 hours on the action taken by it, including the arrest of all accused named in the FIRs for murder, with regard to the Lakhimpur Kheri violence in which eight persons, including four farmers, had been killed.

A Bench led by CJI NV Ramana said the report should give details on the arrest of the accused in the murder cases, including that of a journalist.

The Lakhimpur Kheri police have summoned Union MoS (Home) Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra, for questioning on Friday (today). Two of Ashish Mishra’s associates, Ashish Pandey and Luvkush Rana, were arrested on Thursday after police established their involvement in Sunday’s incidents.

“During the investigation of the Sunday incident that took place under Tikunia police station area of Kheri, so far six accused other than named accused Ashish Mishra have been identified.

Also on Thursday, the Uttar Pradesh government appointed former Allahabad High Court judge Justice (retd) Pradeep Kumar Srivastava to head a single-member commission of inquiry into Sunday’s deaths.

INDIA JOINS 70-NATION GROUP TO PROTECT ENVIRONMENT

India yesterday officially joined the High Ambition Coalition (HAC) for Nature and People, a group of more than 70 countries encouraging the adoption of global goal to protect at least 30 per cent the of world’s land and ocean by 2030 (30 x 30). Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Secretary Rameshwar Prasad Gupta handed over the signed agreement in that regard to French Ambassador Emmanuel Lenain.

HAC members currently include a mix of countries in the global north and south, European, Latin American, African and Asian countries. India is the first member of the BRICS bloc to join the HAC. India’s announcement comes in the lead up to a high-level biodiversity meeting, hosted by China. The virtual meeting between October 11 and 15 will tackle key aspects of the biodiversity treaty to be finalised in 2022. The global 30x30 goal is currently a centrepiece of the treaty. Gupta said resource mobilisation would always be the cornerstone for the implementation of policies and programmes for conserving biodiversity.

BJP DROPS VARUN, MANEKA FROM NATIONAL EXECUTIVE

Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi, the only BJP leader who openly took a strong stand contrary to the party line on the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, was yesterday dropped from the new national executive committee barely hours after he shared a video of the violence demanding accountability.

His mother Maneka Gandhi, party MP from Sultanpur (UP), was also excluded from the 80-member committee, which has top BJP leaders, including PM Narendra Modi and Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari.

Taking a strong stand on the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, Varun had posted messages demanding strict and time-bound action. In a tweet on Wednesday, what he called a “crystal clear” version of the Lakhimpur violence, Varun said, “Protesters cannot be silenced through murder. There has to be accountability for the innocent blood of farmers.” He had also written to CM Yogi Adityanath, asking for a CBI probe and Rs 1 crore compensation for victims’ families.

Others dropped from the panel include former Union minister Chaudhary Birender Singh, who too is believed to be disgruntled over the farmers’ issues, Ambala MP Rattan Lal Kataria, Chandigarh MP Kirron Kher, firebrand Hindutva leader Vinay Katiyar, Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy and old-timers like CP Thakur, Vijay Goel, Suresh Prabhu and Arti Mehra.

Party leaders claim more than 30-40 per cent of the names are changed every time a new executive is formed. Some are bound to be dropped to make way for new faces. The party has expanded in West Bengal, therefore new leaders from the state had to be included, they say.

SC ISSUES NORMS ON GRANTING BAIL ON CHARGESHEET FILING

The Supreme Court Thursday issued guidelines for granting bail after the filing of chargesheet and said trial courts are not precluded from granting interim relief considering the accused's conduct during the probe.

A bench comprising Justices S K Kaul and M M Sundresh accepted the suggestions made by Additional Solicitor General S V Raju and senior advocate Sidharth Luthra on the issue.

The offences are put into four categories -- A to D, and the guidelines have been laid down without fettering the discretion of the courts concerned and keeping in mind the statutory provisions, it said.

The top court said trial Courts and High Courts will keep in mind its guidelines while considering bail applications.

KEY COVID NUMBERS

Current Active Cases Countrywide: 2,33,591

New Cases in last 24 hours: 21,458

Recovered in last 24 hours: 24,954

Change in no. of Active cases in last 24 hours: -3,773

No. of deaths in last 24 hours (Total Covid Deaths so far): 277 (4,50,160)

Daily Tests (Tuesday): 18,53,617

Daily Positivity Rate (Proportion of Positives among total Tested): 1.2%

Percentage of Population Vaccinated (At Least One Dose / Two Doses): 50.2% / 19.3%

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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‘A COWARD’S PALACE’: AUS PM SLAMS SOCIAL MEDIA

Australia’s PM lambasted social media on Thursday as “a coward’s palace”, saying platforms should be treated as publishers when defamatory comments by unidentified people are posted, pouring fuel on a raging debate over the country’s libel laws. PM Scott Morrison’s comments suggest he would favour making companies like Facebook Inc liable for defamation with regards to some content posted by third parties.

The country’s highest court ruled last month that publishers can be held liable for public comments on online forums, a judgement that has pitted Facebook and news organisations against each other and spread alarm among all sectors that engage with the public via social media.That in turn has lent new urgency to an ongoing review of Australia’s defamation laws, with the attorney general this week writing to state counterparts stressing the importance of tackling the issue.

“Social media has become a coward’s palace where people can go on there, not say who they are, destroy people’s lives, and say the most foul and offensive things to people, and do so with impunity,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra. “They should have to identify who they are, and the companies, if they’re not going to say who they are, well, they’re not a platform anymore, they’re a publisher. You can expect us to be leaning further into this,” he added.

A Facebook spokesperson said the company was actively engaging with the review.

A representative for Twitter Inc’s Australian unit said “anonymity or pseudonymity is not a shield against Terms of Service violations, and Twitter will take action against any accounts that are in violation of the Twitter Rules”.

TANZANIAN WINS NOBEL IN LITT FOR CROSS-CULTURE WORK

UK-based Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurnah, whose experience of crossing continents and cultures has fed his novels about the impact of migration on individuals and societies, won the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday.

The Swedish Academy said the award was in recognition of Gurnah’s “uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee”. Gurnah, who recently retired as a professor of post-colonial literatures at the University of Kent, got the call from the Swedish Academy in the kitchen of his home in southeast England — and initially thought it was a prank.

He said he was “surprised and humbled” by the award. Gurnah said the themes of migration and displacement that he explored “are things that are with us every day”— even more now than when he came to Britain in the 1960s.

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TERRORISTS CHECK IDs, SHOOT SIKH PRINCIPAL, PANDIT TEACHER IN J&K

Terrorists shot dead a woman school principal from the Kashmiri Sikh community and a Kashmiri Pandit teacher after demanding to see their identity cards inside a government-run campus in the city’s Eidgah locality on Thursday. The killings come two days after a prominent Kashmiri Pandit businessman and a migrant roadside vendor from Bihar were gunned down within hours, reports Saleem Pandit.

Three pistol-wielding terrorists barged into Sangam Eidgah Boys’ Higher Secondary School at 10.30am and singled out 44-year-old Supinder Kour and her colleague Deepak Chand after confirming who were from any community other than Kashmiri Muslims, eyewitnesses said. Both were taken out of the building and shot multiple times.

Targeted attacks in J&K are part of a revised strategy by terrorist groups to push local recruits to go after non-local, easy targets to counter the narrative of development and zero-tolerance to terror.

Pakistan-backed Lashkare-Taiba affiliate The Resistance Front (TRF) claimed responsibility for the killings, and said these had nothing to do with the victims’ religion. “Our fight is to safeguard our freedom...Domicile holders, stooges and collaborators, regardless of religion, are enemies of the Kashmir struggle and will not be spared,” it said, specifying that the school principal and her colleague had been targeted because they pressured students to attend the Independence Day function on the campus on August 15.

OMAR APPEALS NOT TO FLEE ‘OUT OF FEAR’

Amid fears of a rerun of the terrorist violence targeting Kashmiri Pandits in the 90s, political parties across the spectrum on Thursday spoke of the “selective killings” in Srinagar since Tuesday as either a conspiracy to drive a wedge between communities or a reflection of “state failure” to protect the citizenry.

“On my part, I am making a heartfelt appeal to all those who will be thinking of leaving the valley out of fear. Please don’t. We can’t let the perpetrators of these terror attacks succeed in their evil designs by driving you out. The overwhelmingly majority of us don’t want you to go,” National Conference vice-president and ex-CM Omar Abdullah tweeted.

PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti, also a former CM, blamed the Centre for “a minuscule minority” becoming terror targets. “GOI’s claims of building a Naya Kashmir has actually turned it into a hellhole. It’s sole interest is to use Kashmir as a milch cow for its electoral interests,” she alleged.

Union minister for minority affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi assured minority communities in J&K that the Centre was committed to its “national duty” of protecting their lives and safeguarding their interest.

REMOVE ALL STATUES FROM PUBLIC PLACES, INSTALL THEM AT ‘LEADERS PARK’: MADRAS HC

The Madras High Court on Thursday directed the Tamil Nadu government to remove all statues of political leaders and eminent personalities installed on roads and other public places in three months and create a Leaders’ Park to relocate them. Till then no permission shall be granted to install statues in public places, Justice S M Subramanian said.

The judge was disposing of a writ petition from an individual seeking to quash a notice of the local authority directing him to remove a statue of Dr B R Ambedkar, which he had erected on a road in a village.

The court directed the State Home Secretary to identify the statues and structures in all public places, highways, public roads, government lands and others, within three months and thereafter evict/remove all encroachments and unauthorised structures, statues by following the procedures as contemplated under the relevant acts and rules in force.

NO QUARANTINE, UK RELENTS ON COVISHIELD JAB

Ending a diplomatic row on vaccine certification, the UK government on Thursday added India to its list of vaccine-eligible nations, meaning vaccinated Indian travellers will no longer be required to quarantine from October 11.

“The UK has further opened up international travel and will recognise India's vaccine certification system from October 11. The decision was taken after close technical cooperation between our ministries,” said a spokesperson of the British High Commission in India.

From October 11, Indian travellers who have received both doses of Covishield or another UK-approved vaccine at least 14 days before arrival in the UK can travel without having to quarantine; will not be required to take a pre-departure test or day 8 test following their arrival. Those not fully vaccinated must take a pre-departure test, and must take a Covid-19 test on or before day 2 and on or after day 8, and self-isolate for 10 days.

FOREIGNERS CAN VISIT INDIA BY CHARTERED FLIGHTS FROM OCT 15

India has decided to allow foreign tourists into the country, beginning with granting tourist visas to those travelling by chartered flights from October 15 and those by regular planes from November 15.

The Union Home Ministry today announced that with this, the restrictions placed on visa and international travel since March 2020 due to the Covid pandemic stand further eased given the present situation.

After having considered various inputs, the ministry has decided to begin granting fresh tourist visas for foreigners coming to India through chartered flights with effect from October 15, a Home Ministry statement said.

Foreign tourists entering India by flights other than chartered aircraft would be able to do so with effect from November 15 on fresh tourist visas.

ENERGY EXCHANGE JUMPS 180% THIS YEAR AS INDIA BATTLES COAL CRISIS

A bourse with a near monopoly in electricity trading in India is drawing attention as a severe coal crisis and the government’s intent to push ahead with reforms change dynamics in the nation’s power sector.

Shares of Indian Energy Exchange Ltd., whose platform is increasingly being accessed by power producers, distributors and corporates for their short-term energy needs, have soared 181% so far this year. That’s the second-best performance on the S&P BSE India Power Index after Adani Transmission Ltd.

IEX’s real-time market product has been a “game changer” as it allows companies to bid for their power requirements over next one hour. This has allowed companies to take advantage of lower electricity prices than their existing long-term purchase rates. The government is in the planning stage to push for procuring 100% power via exchanges, which have more transparency and better price discovery.

14-DAY JUDICIAL CUSTODY FOR SHAH RUKH KHAN’S SON ARYAN KHAN, 7 OTHERS

A court on Thursday sent Aryan Khan, the son of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, and seven others in 14-day judicial custody in connection with the alleged seizure of banned drugs from a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast.

Their bail applications will be heard on Friday, the court said. The NCB had sought an extension of their NCB custody, but the request was not granted.

ANSHU MALIK GETS SILVER IN WORLD WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP

As Anshu Malik lay on the mat disconsolate, holding her left elbow and shoulder after the loss by fall against Helen Maroulis in the women’s 57 kg final in the world wrestling championships at Oslo, her American opponent commiserated her, patting her back. Though the 20-year-old Indian had lost the bout—missing out on becoming India’s first woman world wrestling champion, and the second from her country after Sushil Kumar—she had already made history.

No Indian woman had ever reached the summit clash of a World Wrestling Championship, no one has even come close; even in the men’s category, just five have progressed this far into the Worlds. The journey, the heartbreaks and setbacks she endured to reach where she did, is a heartwarming narrative in itself.

The mental agony of defeat in the repechage in Tokyo lingered. She endured physical pain too. According to father Dharamveer Malik, she had carried an elbow injury, which she had sustained in Tokyo, into the tournament, besides injuring her knee in the quarterfinals. Hence, he says, “This silver is like a gold medal for us.”

IPL MATCH 53: PUNJAB WHIP CSK BUT FAIL TO MAKE LAST FOUR

K L Rahul led from the front with a blistering knock as Punjab Kings trounced Chennai Super Kings by six wickets in the Indian Premier League match, in Dubai on Thursday, and kept their play-off hopes alive, but only till KKR demolished Rajasthan Royals in the second match of the day.

The skipper clobbered 7 fours and 8 sixes in his blazing knock as Punjab Kings chased down the target of 135 in just 13 overs.

Rahul’s approach had come in for criticism in the last few weeks because he often dragged the game deep. However, on Thursday, he seemed to have saved his best for last as he displayed top-class batting to singlehandedly take Punjab Kings over the line.

Earlier, Faf du Plessis scored a blistering 76 off 55 balls at the top of the order but Punjab Kings did well to restrict Chennai Super Kings to 134 for 6.

IPL MATCH 54: KKR DEMOLISH RAJASTHAN ROYALS, ALMOST THERE IN PLAY-OFFS

Kolkata Knight Riders produced a clinical performance to beat Rajasthan Royals by a massive 86-run margin and take a huge step towards securing a play-off berth in the Indian Premier League, in Sharjah, on Thursday.

With three play-off spots already sealed by Delhi Capitals, Chennai Super Kings and Royals Challengers Bangalore, the Knight Riders consolidated their position for the fourth and final place, ending their round-robin engagements with 14 points from 14 games and an impressive net run-rate of 0.587.

Mumbai Indians are on 12 points from 13 games but with a net run rate of -0.048. For Mumbai Indians there’s only a theoretical possibility of dislodging KKR from 4th position. In their last match, against SRH today, they need to post a total in excess of 200 and win the match by a margin of 170-plus runs. They can't go past KKR's net run rate if they chase. Effectively, they need a miracle to make it!

Shubman Gill hit a second consecutive fifty as KKR registered the highest score at the venue this season, posting a competitive 171 for four after being put in to bat.

In reply, Rajasthan Royals were all out for 85, in 16.1 overs.

INDICATORS

Sensex 59,678 (+488), Nifty 17,790 (+144), Trading Value NSE (Rs.crores) 73,840

Nasdaq 14,654 (+152) Dow 34,755 (+338), S&P 4,400 (+36)

US$-Rs. 74,70 GBP-Rs. 101.61, Euro-Rs. 86.33, UAE Dhm-Rs.20.33, Can$-Rs. 59.43, Aus$- Rs. 54.51

GBP 0.73 /US$, Euro 0.86 /US$, Jap.Yen 111.48 /US$, Aus$ 1.37 /US$, Sing 1.35 /US$, Bang Taka 84.10 /US$, Can$ 1.25 /US$, Mal Ring 4.18 /US$,

Pak Re 170.57 /US$, Phil Peso 50.54 /US$, Russian Rouble 72.03 /US$, NZ$ 1.44 /US$, Thai Baht 33.75 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 26.07 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 53,880

Dollar Index 94.24, Brent Crude 83.00 BDI 5,650

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,758 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,690 / 4,590, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 65,200

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs. - Henry Ford

OFF TRACK

A primary school teacher sends this note to all parents on the first day of school.

"If you promise not to believe everything your child says happens at school, I will promise not to believe everything your child says happens at home.