PROTESTS AGAINST NRC AND CAA MOVE BEYOND CAMPUSES From Delhi, Lucknow and Bengaluru to Kolkata, Mumbai and Patna, protests against the new controversial citizenship law yesterday moved out of university campuses in multiple cities as thousands poured into the streets defying prohibitory orders. The protests hit normal life in many places. Nineteen IndiGo flights were cancelled and 16 others were delayed as crew members were stuck in traffic jam on NH-8 due to anti-CAA protests on Thursday, a Delhi airport official said. In Delhi, senior Opposition leaders and hundreds of students and activists were detained by police as they marched from Red Fort in the old city area. Among those detained included Left leaders Sitaram Yechury, D Raja, Brinda Karat, Congress’s Ajay Maken and Sandeep Dikshit and activists like Yogendra Yadav. Several Metro stations were closed in Delhi and authorities ordered shutting down of internet and telecom services in select areas In Bengaluru, historian and author Ramchandra Guha was detained, his stand-off with the police and detention captured on video that spread across social media as a powerful frame . In UP, clashes broke out in Lucknow and there were reports of arson. Protesters pelted stones at the police and set on fire a police post. A passenger bus was set on fire in the Sambhal area. Talking tough, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said there is no place for violence in a democracy and promised “revenge” on those behind the violence. “There was violence in Lucknow and Sambhal and we will deal with it strictly. All properties of those involved in damaging public assets will be seized and auctioned to compensate for the losses…They have been captured in video and CCTV footage. We will take ‘badla’ (revenge) on them,” he said. In Mangaluru, police lobbed tear gas shells, resorted to baton charge and fired in the air to disperse protesters. The BJP hit back with the party’s working president J P Nadda asserting that the citizenship law will be implemented and “going forward National Register of Citizens (NRC) also will be brought in.” Commenting on the protests across the country, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said: “The environment of unrest is there across the country. If unrest is going to remain in the country, then what is the use of such a Hindu rashtra?” West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee dared the Government to conduct a UN-monitored referendum on the Citizenship Act and the proposed nationwide NRC. In Mumbai's August Kranti Maidan, while students dominated the gathering, the protest got support from across age and social groups. Civil society leaders, Bollywood celebrities, political activists and student leaders took to the dais to denounce the amended Citizenship Act. Besides thousands of students, youths, women and even many senior citizens, film personalities such as Swara Bhaskar, Nandita Das, Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra, Anurag Kashyap, Farhan Akhtar, Javed Jaffrey, Saeed Mirza, Huma Qureshi, Raj Babbar and Sushant Singh, activists Teesta Setalvad, Feroze Mithborwala, Dolphy D’Souza, Javed Ahmed, Varsha Vilas, freedom fighter G G Parikh and political workers of the Congress, Samajwadi Party and the NCP participated. The protest ended with a public reading of and declaration of allegiance to the Preamble of the Constitution and singing of the national anthem. No untoward incident took place at the August Kranti Maidan during the three hours of agitation. The day ended with the Mumbai Police receiving praise for keeping the peace and not infringing on the democratic rights of the protesters. Speakers on stage made it a point to appreciate them on stage, while others took to Twitter. CAA: DON'T ADD FUEL TO THE FIRE, SAYS CENTRE As protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) raged across the country, Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said a countrywide NRC had not been notified so far and no one should fear. He said that “political parties and intellectuals should not put petrol in fire, instead they should douse the flames.” The Minister asked students to read the CAA before protesting. “It is not against students, any region or people belonging to any religion… no one is being sent to detention centres. Political parties should behave responsibly. Cine actors also participating in protests, why are they doing so?” he said. The government published an advertisement in Hindi newspapers to dispel the myths around the CAA and the NRC. It said that “the NRC has not been announced yet and if it is done so in future, then rules and regulations should be such that no Indian citizen is troubled.” A fact-check of the NRC released unofficially by the government and circulated on WhatsApp said that the process was “merely a normal process to register your name in the Citizens’ register. “Just like we present our identity cards or any other document for registering our names in the voter list or getting Aadhar card made, similar documents shall need to be provided for NRC, as and when it is carried out,” the unsigned note said. “Citizenship can be proved by submitting any documents related to date and place of birth. However, a decision is yet to be taken on such acceptable documents. It is likely to include voter cards, passports, Aadhaar, licences, insurance papers, birth certificates, school-leaving certificates, documents relating to land or home or other similar documents issued by the government official,” the note said. INDIA, US ASK PAK TO TAKE ‘IMMEDIATE AND IRREVERSIBLE ACTION’ AGAINST TERRORISTS India and the US on Thursday asked Pakistan to take “immediate and irreversible action” to ensure that no territory under its control is used for terrorism against other countries and to prosecute the perpetrators of cross-border terror attacks, including Mumbai and Pathankot strikes. The two countries also asked Pakistan to take concerted action against all terrorist networks, including al-Qaeda, ISIS, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Haqqani Network, Hizb-ul Mujahideen, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and D-Company of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, according to a Joint Statement issued after the 2+2 Dialogue between India and the US. The Joint Statement was issued at the end of the second India-US 2+2 dialogue between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the State Department on Wednesday. The first 2+2 dialogue was held in New Delhi in September last year after the mechanism was approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Trump. India appreciated US support at the United Nations for terrorist designations, including of JeM leader Masood Azhar, and the US welcomed changes in Indian law that will facilitate further cooperation on terrorism designations, it said. DRAG MUSHARRAF’S BODY TO CENTRAL SQUARE IN ISLAMABAD, HANG FOR 3 DAYS: PAK COURT Pakistan’s special court which sentenced former military ruler Pervez Musharraf to death in its detailed judgment on Thursday said his body should be dragged to the central square in Islamabad and hanged for three days if he dies before his execution. The 167-page detailed judgment was authored by Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth, who headed the three-member court that sentenced Musharraf to death on Tuesday for subverting the Constitution. “As a necessary corollary to what has been observed we find the accused guilty as per charge. The convict be hanged by his neck till he dies on each count as per charge,” the verdict said. Justice Seth wrote that Musharraf should be hanged even if he dies before his execution. “We direct the law enforcement agencies to strive their level best to apprehend the fugitive/convict and to ensure that the punishment is inflicted as per law and if found dead, his corpse be dragged to the D-Chowk, Islamabad, Pakistan and be hanged for 3 days,” he wrote. DONALD TRUMP LOOKING FORWARD TO THE SENATE TRIAL US President Donald Trump is so confident of sailing through the Senate trial, which will decide the fate of his presidency after his impeachment by the House of Representatives, that he challenged Democrats to start the process without delay by sending over the articles of impeachment. Trump said on Thursday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “is afraid to present (the articles of impeachment) it to the Senate, which can set a date and put this whole SCAM” because, he added, “her phony impeachment HOAX is so pathetic!” Speaker Pelosi has to formally send over the articles of impeachment that were approved by the House in a late evening vote on Wednesday to the Senate for its Republican leadership to set up the trial to either remove Trump from office or acquit him and let him continue. It is likely to take place in January when lawmakers return from holidays and could last two weeks or more. OF 15 IPO STOCKS, 11 GAVE LISTING GAINS IN 2019; IRCTC LISTED 101% HIGHER Of the 15 companies that got listed on the bourses in 2019, 11 delivered between 4 per cent to 101 per cent listing gains to investors. On average, IPO stocks listed 20 per cent higher than their issue price on a listing day. IRCTC listed 101 per cent higher, while Ujjivan Small Finance Bank and CSB Bank listed 56 and 41 per cent higher. Though the number of issues and the total funds raised through IPOs shrank in 2019, most of the companies which got listed in 2019 are trading above their issue price. They have risen up to 170 per cent this year. Market players said given the volatility in the markets, the investor appetite was selective, and only the reasonably-priced companies with sound business models and governance records hit the markets. PUZZLED WHY STOCK MARKET IS BUOYANT AMIDST SLOWDOWN: ARVIND SUBRAMANIAN Expressing his confusion over a buoyant stock market amidst economic slowdown, renowned economist and former chief economic advisor for government, Arvind Subramanian called for research in the area. Subramanian was speaking at the inauguration of the NSE Centre for Behavioural Science in Finance, Economics and Marketing, being set up jointly by Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), NSE and NSE IPFT. "I hope the first behavioural economics project for the Centre is going to be to explain to me why as the economy has been going down, the stock market has been going up. If you can crack this puzzle for me in the first project, I will fly down all the way from the US to understand this puzzle. Through its behavioural economic research, the centre should shed light on economic policy questions that policymakers are asking," said Subramanian. FM MEETS INDUSTRY STAKEHOLDERS, FOR PRE-BUDGET CONSULTATIONS Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her Budget team on Thursday met representatives of India Inc and trade unions for pre-budget consultations. While industrialists asked the Centre to take more steps to augment ease of doing business, trade bodies stressed minimum wages, an income-tax ceiling, and pension. Industry representatives, who included Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, Confederation of Indian Industry President Vikram Kirloskar, and Assocham President Balkrishna Goenka asked officials to "create more freedom for industry to perform". The corporate leaders highlighted several issues, including income tax roadblocks coming in the way of mergers and acquisitions or slowing businesses. On the current slowdown and its impact on capacity utilisation across many industries, Goenka said industry recognised that it could take up to four quarters before capacity utilisation reaches its peak. "We understand that, and that is the reality of the situation," he said. Industry representatives also recommended that the centre should reduce income tax for those who earn less than Rs 20 lakh in a year so that there is more disposable in the hands of Earlier in the day, trade unions urged the government to provide a minimum wage of Rs 21,000, minimum pension of Rs 6,000 under the Employees' Pension Scheme and tax exemption on annual income of up to Rs 10 lakh. PAKISTAN TO PAY INDIA COSTS IN HYDERABAD NIZAM CASE In a consequential hearing on Thursday, the high court of England and Wales ordered Pakistan to pay India and the two princes party to the long-drawn dispute 65% of their legal costs. In October, the court had ruled in favour of India and the two descendants of the late 7th Nizam of Hyderabad, who sent £1million to a London bank in 1948, now estimated to value at least £35 million. The court ordered that Prince Muffakham Jah be paid £1,835,445.83, the government of India £2,802,192.22 and Mukarram Jah, the VIIIth Nizam £795,064.63 (65% on account of their costs). Paul Hewitt, representing the VIII Nizam, said: “Today’s hearing brings this litigation, which started in 2013 but where the underlying dispute dates back to in 1948, to an end at long last.” The historic case has gone through several twists and turns with India and the descendants — Mukarram Jah and Muffakham Jah — on one side and Pakistan on the other. Pakistan had claimed that the money on the ground was a payment for supplying arms to the Hyderabad state during India’s annexation in 1948. GOOGLE WARNS INDIAN USERS OF DATA BREACH VIA CHROME BUG Several Indian users were left nervous on Thursday after witnessing pop-ups on their mobile and desktop screens as they opened certain affected websites in the Google-Chrome browser, alerting them about a data breach on the site or app they had visited, which also exposed their passwords. Tech giant Google issued a warning of data breach for users in India and globally after fixing the Chrome 79 bug last week and re-issuing it this week. Alert popups began emerging on laptops, desktops and mobile screens, forcing users, including a media organization, in India to read the warning that their passwords may have been stolen as part of a data leak. “Change your password. A data breach on a site or app exposed your password. Chrome recommends changing your password for the site,” read the warning pop-up. An Indian media group also received the same warning pop-up while logging into one of its portals. TATA NEXON ELECTRIC SUV UNVEILED IN INDIA, TO BE PRICED UP TO RS 17 LAKH Tata Motors has unveiled the Tata Nexon electric SUV in India. It will be launched in January 2020 and be priced between Rs 15 to 17 lakhs. The Nexon EV can be booked for Rs 21,000 starting today. The Nexon EV's lithium-ion battery is of 30.2 kWh capacity and feeds a permanent-magnet AC motor that puts 129PS and 245 Nm through the front wheels. This allows for a brisk 0 to 100 kmph time of 9.9s, the top-speed hasn't been mentioned but as per Tata Motor's internal testing, the SUV will do over 300 km on a full charge. There is both regular and fast charging capability. Through a DC fast charger, the Nexon EV will reach 80 per cent capacity in 60 minutes. The car can also be plugged into any standard power socket, which takes eight hours to get from 20 to 80 per cent charge. The battery and motor carry a warranty of 8 years/1,60,000 kms. IPL 2020 PLAYER AUCTION: AT 15.5 CR, AUS PACER CUMMINS MOST EXPENSIVE BUY Australian cricketer Pat Cummins became the second-most expensive player in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after he was picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for Rs 15.5 crore during an auction held in Kolkata on Thursday. A total of 62 players were sold in the auction. This was out of a pool of 332 players in the race for 73 slots in eight IPL teams. The total money spent was Rs 140.3 crore. Cummins, co-vice-captain of the Australian national cricket team in all formats, found himself at the centre of a bidding war involving Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and KKR. He is not only expected to add depth to KKR’s bowling side, but also likely to chip in with his batting skills lower down the order, according to cricket experts. The 26-year-old fast bowler, ranked the number one in Test cricket, now stands marginally behind Yuvraj Singh, who was signed for an all-time high amount of Rs 16 crore in 2015 by then franchise Delhi Daredevils. Cummins also broke the record of English all-rounder Ben Stokes, who was bought by Rising Pune Supergiants in 2017 for Rs 14.5 crore, to become the most expensive foreign player in IPL. Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who was not considered for the upcoming ODI series against India, returned to Kings XI Punjab with a price tag of Rs 10.75 crore after an intense bidding war with Delhi Capitals. KXIP went into the auction with the biggest available purse of Rs 42.70 crore. Besides Cummins and Maxwell, Chris Morris, Sheldon Cottrell, and Nathan Coulter-Nile were picked up for Rs 10 crore (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Rs 8.5 crore (KXIP), and Rs 8 crore (Mumbai Indians), respectively. A total of 186 Indian players and 143 overseas players were put up for auction, of which Piyush Chawla emerged the most expensive Indian buy of the day. He was picked up for Rs 6.75 crore by Chennai Super Kings. Robin Uthappa and Jaydev Unadkat were picked up by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 3 crore each. Some Indian cricketers who didn’t find takers on Thursday included Yusuf Pathan and Cheteshwar Pujara. While foreign players Dale Steyn, Adam Zampa, and Colin De Grandhomme also failed to attract any bidders.