Whatsapp 93125-11015 For Details
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Champai Soren took oath as the twelfth Chief Minister of Jharkhand, even as his predecessor Hemant Soren was remanded to five days in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MLA Satyanand Bhokta and Congress MLA Alamgir Alam also took oath as Cabinet Ministers in a swearing-in ceremony that came two days after Mr. Hemant Soren’s resignation and arrest in an alleged land scam case.
Soon after the ceremony, 39 MLAs of the ruling coalition, who had been staying in the Ranchi Circuit House, were rushed straight to the airport and flown to Hyderabad by chartered plane in a bid to prevent them from being poached by the Opposition before the new government seeks a vote of confidence on February 5. The JMM-led alliance has submitted letters of support from 47 MLAs to the Raj Bhavan.
HC refuses interim relief to Gyanvapi mosque panel (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
The Allahabad High Court declined to give any immediate relief to the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee that runs the Gyanvapi mosque, which had approached the court seeking an interim stay on the puja that is being observed in the mosque’s basement on the orders of the district court.
A large police force, including the Provincial Armed Constabulary, was deployed outside the Gyanvapi mosque as Friday namaz was offered with over 2,000 worshippers in attendance, amid protests from the Muslim community, which shut shops to demonstrate its unhappiness against the court order allowing Hindu worship inside the mosque.
Editorial
Exposing India’s financial markets to the vultures (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
In September 2023, J.P. Morgan unveiled its plan to include Indian local currency government bonds (LCGBs) in its Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) Global index suite, set to become effective from June 2024.
This announcement heightened expectations across the Indian financial landscape, prompting anticipation from other influential index providers such as Bloomberg-Barclays and FTSE Russell.
About four months later, on January 8, 2024, Bloomberg Index Services mirrored J.P. Morgan’s move by proposing the addition of India’s “fully accessible route (FAR)” bonds to the Bloomberg Emerging Market Local Currency Index, set to take effect in September 2024.
The spotlight now turns to FTSE Russell, which, in the wake of J.P. Morgan’s revelation, declared India’s retention on its watchlist for a potential upgrade, emphasising the call for reforms in the government bond market anticipated by global investors.
News
Centre notifies appointments for Chief Justices of 6 High Courts (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
The Union Ministry of Law and Justice on Friday notified the appointments of new Chief Justices (CJs) across six High Courts (HCs).
The new appointments are at the High Courts of Allahabad, Gauhati, Meghalaya, Orissa, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan.
Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava, who was the acting Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court, has been appointed as Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court.
Justice Arun Bhansali of Rajasthan High Court has been appointed as Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court.
Another judge of the Rajasthan High Court, Justice Vijay Bishnoi, will now be the new Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court.
Justice S. Vaidyanathan, judge of the Madras High Court, has been appointed as the Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court.
Centre likely to foot bill for PM rooftop solar scheme (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
As part of a renewed thrust to increase adoption of household rooftop solar systems (h-RTS) through the Pradhan Mantri Suryoday Yojana, the Centre is likely to bear the entire cost of setting up such systems for households that consume less than 300 units of electricity a month.
This could potentially cost at least ₹1 lakh crore, and in a departure from the existing approach to h-RTS, it will see Union government companies — as opposed to the current set-up of individual State-run power distribution companies — taking up the responsibility of powering beneficiary households.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech said one crore households would be enabled to obtain up to 300 units of free electricity every month, which would translate to benefits of ₹15,000 to ₹18,000 annually for households. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the scheme after the consecration ceremony in Ayodhya last month.
Law panel suggests retaining criminal defamation provision (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The 22nd Law Commission has recommended that criminal defamation should be retained within the scheme of criminal laws in India.
The panel submitted its report to the Ministry. In its report, the Law Commission argued that the right to reputation is derived from Article 21 of the Constitution that guarantees the right to life and personal liberty and that is why it has to be protected.
Reputation is something which can’t be seen and can only be earned. It’s an asset which is built in a lifetime and destroyed in seconds.
The whole jurisprudence around the law on criminal defamation has the essence of protecting one’s reputation and its facets.
The matter was referred to the law panel by the Ministry in August 2017. Noting that it could be argued that criminal prosecution for defamatory statements stands opposed to the freedom of speech and expression, the law panel advised exercising caution.
World
India will replace military personnel by May 10 : Maldives (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
India will “replace” its military personnel in the Maldives in two phases by May 10, the Government of Maldives has stated after the second meeting of the high-level core group between the two sides that was held here.
The decision came in the backdrop of Male’s demand to end the presence of Indian military personnel in the archipelago nation, which was further complicated because of social media controversy over remarks by three Ministers of the Mohamed Muizzu government that were found to be disrespectful of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The statement, however, did not clarify if the military personnel of India will be replaced by civilian operators or by another batch of armed forces personnel.
A statement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that the two sides had “agreed on a set of mutually workable solutions to enable continued operation of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian and medevac services to the people of Maldives.” The Maldivian side reiterated that the two countries will continue cooperation in the fields of defence and security.