IN LOK SABHA, AMIT SHAH FAR FROM DEFENSIVE: 'DELHI RIOTS APPEAR TO BE PRE-PLANNED'Amid a fiery exchange of words in the Lok Sabha, between the Opposition andBJP over the northeast Delhi riots, which left 53 dead, Home Minister AmitShah said a conspiracy could not be ruled out while asserting that anyoneinvolved in the violence would not be spared irrespective of their religion,caste or party affiliation.Replying to a discussion in Lok Sabha on the Delhi riots, Shah said primafacie the violence appeared to be a pre-planned conspiracy. "We areinvestigating the Delhi violence on the basis of scientific evidence. Suchriots can happen only when there is a pre-planned conspiracy behind it. Weare also probing the conspiracy angle. All those who caused the violencewill not be able to escape the law," Amit Shah said.Amid Opposition criticism over alleged inaction by the Delhi police, Shahcomplimented the force for not allowing the riots to spiral."Delhi Police contained the rioting within 36 hours. I would like to placeon record that after February 25 no incident of rioting took place. Therehave been attempts to politicise these riots. From February 27 till today,around 700 FIRs have been registered and a total of 2,647 people have beendetained or arrested," the Home Minister said.Initiating the discussion over Delhi violence in the Lok Sabha, which sawvociferous protests by the Opposition over the incident in the last week,Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury lashed out at Prime Minister NarendraModi, saying "Nero fiddled while Rome burned". "When Delhi was witnessingviolence, Modi was hosting the US President Donald Trump in Ahmedabad," hesaid.Chowdhury said while some claimed Hindus won, the others said Muslims won inthe violence. "The fact is that humanity was defeated," Chowdhury said.Chowdhury also wondered how the riots continued for three days despite theDelhi Police being one of the best equipped in the country.Questioning the absence of Amit Shah from the violence-hit areas, Chowdhurysaid the situation came under control soon after National Security AdvisorAjit Doval visited the region. "Why could not the Home Minister go.NSAreports to the Prime Minister. Does this mean that the Prime Minister'sOffice had lost faith in the home ministry," Chowdhury said.Countering him, Amit Shah said, "I did not go there myself as I didn't wantthe police to divert resources towards my security arrangements."SCINDIA JOINS BJPA day after Jyotiraditya Scindia ended his 18-year-old association with theCongress, he joined the BJP on Wednesday.Welcoming him into the saffron fold, party president JP Nadda rememberedfounder member of the BJP and erstwhile Jana Sangh, Vijaya Raje Scindia,Jyotiraditya's grandmother.Thanking the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister AmitShah and Nadda for including him in the BJP family, Jyotiraditya said theCongress party is not "what it used to be".Launching a scathing attack on the central and state leadership of theCongress, he said detachment from reality in the party and the newleadership not being given a chance were the main reasons for hisdisenchantment with the grand old party.Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot called the turn of events"unfortunate" and wished that it could have been resolved "collaboratively".Meanwhile, among the first to welcome the former Congress leader to theparty fold, minutes after he joined BJP, was his aunt and former chiefminister Vasundhara Raje. "If Rajmata Sahab (Vijayaraje Scindia) was heretoday, she would be elated to see you put the nation first. I admire yourstrength of character and courage. It's good to be on the same team. Welcometo the BJP," Vasundhara Raje tweeted.Immediately after joining the BJP, Jyotiraditya Scindia was named theparty's Rajya Sabha nominee from Madhya Pradesh.'I DID NOT MEET HIM. WELL, I DID NOT MEET ANYONE': RAHULRahul Gandhi, on reports that Jyotiraditya Scindia tried to meet him but wasdenied an appointment, said today that he was the only leader in theCongress who could meet him any time."He is the only chap in Congress who could walk into my house anytime,"Rahul Gandhi told ANI."He was my friend since college days. He says I did not meet him. Well, Idid not meet anyone. Kumari Selja has been seeking my appointment formonths. I have not met her."J&K HIGH COURT DISMISSES PLEA AGAINST PELLET GUN USEDismissing a petition seeking a ban on the use of pellet guns in Jammu andKashmir by security forces, the J&K High Court on Monday reiterated its 2016decision that said it is "not inclined to prohibit the use of pellets guns"."So far as the first (seeking a ban on the use of pellet guns) and thesecond (seeking a registration of FIR against officials using pellet guns)prayers made in the petition are concerned, the court has already recorded afinding in its order dated 21.09.2016, particularly in paras 22 to 27thereof, quoted herein above," a division bench comprising of Justice AliMohammad Magrey and Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur said in its judgment onMonday.In the 2016 order the division bench referred to, the court had said, "Thus,it is manifest that so long as there is violence by unruly mobs, use offorce is inevitable. What kind of force has to be used at the relevant pointof time or in a given situation/place, has to be decided by the personsin-charge of the place where the attack is happening. This Court, in thewrit jurisdiction, without any finding rendered by the competentforum/authority cannot decide whether the use of force in particularincident is ecessive or not."SCINDIA EFFECT: DELHI AND KARNTAKA CONGRESS GET NEW CHIEFSA day after the Congress suffered a jolt with senior leader JyotiradityaScindia leaving the party, which raised questions on the centralleadership's ability to take timely decisions and keep its flock together,the party Wednesday moved fast to set its house in order in Delhi.The party selected AICC secretary Anil Chaudhary to lead its Delhi unit andappointed five vice-presidents - Abhishek Dutt, Jaikishan, Mudit Agarwal,Ali Hassan, and Shivani Chopra. While Mudit is the son of former DelhiCongress chief J P Agarwal, Chopra is the daughter of former DPCC presidentSubhash Chopra. Hoping for a complete revamp, the party this time has givena chance to young leaders.While the changes have left some unhappy in the Delhi Congress, former DPCCpresident Ajay Maken issued a statement asking all leaders to acceptwhatever decisions the high command has taken.In Karnataka, the high command went against former chief ministerSiddaramaiah's wishes and appointed D K Shivakumar president of theKarnataka unit. Three working presidents were also named, ending nearlythree months of indecision on the issue of party leadership in Karnataka.UP MOVES SC AGAINST HC ORDERThe Uttar Pradesh government moved the Supreme Court on Wednesdaychallenging the Allahabad High Court order directing the stateadministration to remove posters of those accused of vandalism duringanti-CAA protests.The appeal filed by the state is scheduled to be heard on Thursday by avacation bench of justices U U Lalit and Aniruddha Bose, advocate generalfor Uttar Pradesh Raghvendra Singh told PTI.Singh, however, refused to divulge the grounds of appeal against the March 9order of the high court which had also asked the Uttar Pradesh governmentnot to install such posters "without having the authority of law".The high court had ordered immediate removal of roadside posters in Lucknowwith names and photos of those accused of vandalism during the anti-CAAprotests, observing that the police action was an "unwarranted interference"in privacy of people. It had also directed the district magistrate and theLucknow police commissioner to submit a compliance report on or before March16.SBI WAIVES MINIMUM BALANCE REQUIREMENT IN SAVINGS ACCOUNTSIndia's largest public-sector lender State Bank of India on Wednesdayscrapped the minimum balance requirement on all savings bank accounts.This apart, the bank also rationalised interest rate on all savings bankaccounts to a flat 3 per cent.Along with these measures, SBI said that it has also waived SMS charges,which will provide a significant relief to all its customers.Till now, the interest rate on savings accounts was 3.25 per cent fordeposits up to Rs 1 lakh, and 3 per cent for deposits above Rs 1 lakh.Customers of SBI had to maintain an average monthly balance of Rs 3,000, Rs2,000 and Rs 1,000 in metro, semi-urban and rural areas respectively,failing which they used to levy a penalty of Rs 5 to Rs 15 plus taxes.Earlier in the day, the bank also announced that it has reduced its marginalcost of fund-based lending rate (MCLR) by up to 15 basis points acrossvarious tenors, effective March 10.AIRTEL HAS PAID FULL AGR DUES OF ABOUT RS 13,000 CR, SAYS SUNIL MITTALBharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal on Wednesday asserted that the companyhas already paid its "full" adjusted gross revenue dues at about Rs 13,000crore.The comment assumes significance as the government on March 4 had askedBharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and other telecom companies to pay theremaining adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues as per the Supreme Court orderwithout further delay.The telecom department had then written to all telcos asking them to paybalance dues "without delay" and submit detailed bifurcation of payments(explanation of self-assessed amounts), which it said were necessary forproper reconciliation of legitimate AGR dues.Mittal said that the government had asked companies to self assess theirstatutory dues, which Airtel has already done and made payments accordingly.The total payout by Bharti Airtel, as estimated by the DoT, amounts to Rs35,586.01 crore.HARVEY WEINSTEIN SENTENCED TO 23 YEARS IN PRISON IN #METOO CASEHarvey Weinstein was sentenced Wednesday to 23 years in prison for rape andsexual assault, a sight the Hollywood mogul's multitude of accusers thoughtthey would never see.Weinstein, who has been accused of violating scores of women, was convictedlast month of raping a woman in a New York City hotel room in 2013 andforcibly performing oral sex on another woman at his apartment in 2006. Hefaced a maximum of 29 years in prison.Harvey Weinstein told the court that the men facing allegations in the MeToomovement are being accused of "things that none of us understood," saying hewas confused by the rape case that was about to put him in prison."Thousands of men are losing due process. I'm worried about this country,"the disgraced Hollywood mogul said.Weinstein, who turns 68 next week, used a walker throughout the trialfollowing recent back surgeries and arrived in the courthouse Wednesday in awheelchair. After his Feb. 24 conviction, he split time between a hospitaland a jail infirmary unit, and had a stent inserted last week to unblock anartery.IPL 2020: OVERSEAS PLAYERS' PARTICIPATION IN DOUBTThe participation of foreign players at this year's IPL came under severedoubt after the government ordered fresh visa restrictions to contain thespread of novel coronavirus even as the BCCI decided to adopt a wait andwatch policy for now.The BCCI will wait for the next couple of days to decide its next course ofaction after the government issued fresh advisory with a ban on almost allexisting foreign visas till 15 April.IPL 2020: Overseas players participation in doubt in T20 league after Indiangovernment cancels all visitor visas over coronavirus fearsHaving the IPL, starting 29 March, played in empty stadiums is an option buta decision will only be taken at the league's Governing Council meeting inMumbai on March 14.The pressure has increased manifold after the Legends T20 meet games inPune, featuring the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara were cancelled.INDICATORSSensex 35,697 (+62), Nifty 10,449 (-2), Trading Value NSE (Rs.crores) 50,231Nasdaq 7,952 (-392) Dow 23,553 (-1465), S&P 2,741 (-141)US$-Rs. 73.92 GBP-Rs. 95.30, Euro-Rs. 83.58, UAE Dhm-Rs.20.12, Can$-Rs.53.83, Aus$- Rs. 48.11GBP 0.77 /US$, Euro 0.88 /US$, Jap.Yen 104.71 /US$, Aus$ 1.53 /US$, Sing1.39 /US$, Bang Taka 83.28 /US$, Can$ 1.37 /US$, Mal Ring 4.23 /US$,Pak Re 157.19 /US$, Phil Peso 50.53 /US$, Russian Rouble 71.81 /US$, NZ$1.58 /US$, Thai Baht 31.42 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 25.29 /US$, Norway NOK 9.61/US$Bitcoin - USD 7,851Dollar Index 96.23 Brent Crude 33.99 BDI 627Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,634 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,365 /4,265, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 49,900THOUGHT FOR THE DAYNever give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. - WinstonChurchillOFF TRACKThe stewardess on a trans-Atlantic flight: "There's no reason to becomealarmed, and we hope you'll enjoy the rest of your flight. By the way, isthere anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?"