5 THINGS FIRSTCBSE Class 10 and 12 board exams begin; UP District court to fix charges against Ashish Mishra in Lakhimpur violence case; Russian President Vladimir Putin holds talks with UN Secretary-General António Guterres in Moscow over Ukraine war; IPL 2022 – RCB Vs RR; Big earnings day: Microsoft, Alphabet, General Electric, PepsiCo, General Motors1. SC will hear pleas against Art 370 but not urgentlyThe Supreme Court (SC) agreed to consider listing the case concerning the abrogation of Article 370 only after the summer vacations.Why not now?
Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice N V Ramana, who said he will try and list the case “after vacation”, conceded that the matter “is before a 5-judge bench” and “there are some issues with judges and bench composition.”What’s the hold up?
Hearings in the more than 20 petitions challenging the August 2019 notifications by the President that scrapped the special status enjoyed by Jammu and Kashmir through Article 370 started in December 2019 before a five judge bench.However, a few petitioners sought the hearings before a 7-judge bench as two earlier judgments on the interpretation of Article 370 were delivered by two separate five-judge benches, which the petitioners contended reflected a divergence of opinions between two coordinate benches. The SC however ruled on March 2, 2020 that it was not necessary to constitute a 7-judge bench for this case.Of the five judges who heard the case, which included the current CJI, one — Justice Subhash Reddy — retired in January this year, necessitating a reconstitution of the bench.What’s the urgency?
A delimitation exercise — in expectation of assembly polls being held in the state later this year — is currently ongoing in J&K, the final report on which is expected to be submitted in the first week of May. The case has not been listed since March 2, 2020.2. India among top 3 military spenders in the worldWorld military spending continued to grow in 2021, reaching an all-time high of $2.1 trillion. This was the seventh consecutive year that spending increased, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said on Monday, adding that the top three largest spenders were the United States, China and India.Figure it out
The total global defence expenditure increased by 0.7 per cent in real terms in 2021, to reach $2113 billion. The five largest spenders in 2021 were the US, China, India, the UK and Russia, together accounting for 62 per cent of expenditure, according to SIPRI.As a result of the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, defence spending amounted to 2.2 per cent of global GDP, while in 2020 this figure reached 2.3 per cent.India-China tension
Amid a two-year-long border standoff with China, India’s military spending of $76.6 billion ranked third highest in the world. This was up by 0.9 per cent from 2020 and by 33 per cent from 2012. In a push to strengthen the indigenous arms industry, 64 percent of capital outlays in the military budget of 2021 were earmarked for acquisitions of domestically produced arms.China was ranked second, which spent $293 billion on defence, an increase of 4.7 per cent compared with 2020.The West
US military spending reached $801 billion in 2021, a drop of 1.4 per cent from 2020. In the period from 2012 to 2021, the US increased funding for military research and development by 24 per cent and reduced spending on arms purchases by 6.4 per cent.The UK spent $ 68.4 billion on defence last year, up by three per cent from 2020.What about Russia?
Russia took the fifth slot with the highest defence spending. Moscow increased its military expenditure by 2.9 per cent in 2021, to $65.9 billion, at a time when it was building up its forces along the Ukrainian border. This was the third consecutive year of growth and Russia’s military spending reached 4.1 percent of GDP in 2021, SIPRI said.In 2021, high energy prices helped Russia to increase its military spending, Lucie Beraud-Sudreau, Director of SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme, said.3. Mevani gets bail, police bring a new caseThe bail: A court in Assam’s Kokrajhar district granted bail to Gujarat Independent MLA Jignesh Mevani in a case over a tweet by him on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. According to the FIR that led to Mevani’s arrest from Gujarat, he had purportedly written a tweet, claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “considered Godse as God”.The arrest: However, he was rearrested by the police on charges of “assaulting and outraging” the modesty of a woman police officer four days ago. Mevani was booked after a policewoman filed a complaint against him, police said.The question: Mevani’s lawyer Angshuman Bora told PTI that the allegations against Mevani were “atrocious” and there was no mention of the Barpeta case when he was in police custody for three days or at the time his bail plea was being argued in the Kokrajhar court earlier in the day. Suddenly, after he was granted bail, he was shown as rearrested, Bora said.The case: Mevani was arrested on April 19 from Palanpur town in Gujarat after an FIR was registered against him in Kokrajhar for his tweet on the prime minister. He was brought here two days later on transit remand. The independent MLA from Vadgam seat in Banaskantha, who has pledged his support to the Congress, had used the same tweet to also urge Modi to appeal for communal harmony during his visit to Gujarat, the FIR at Kokrajhar Police Station said.4. Musk’s ‘best and final’ offer good enough for Twitter?Twitter Inc is all set to agree to a sale to Elon Musk for around $43 billion in cash, the price the chief executive of Tesla Inc has called his “best and final” offer for the social media company, news agency Reuters reported.Twitter may announce the $54.20 per share deal later on Monday once its board has met to recommend the transaction to Twitter shareholders, though it is always possible that the deal collapses at the last minute.Musk is negotiating to buy Twitter in a personal capacity and Tesla is not involved in the deal.Twitter has not been able to secure so far a ‘go-shop’ provision under its agreement with Musk that would allow it to solicit other bids once the deal is signed.Still, Twitter would be allowed to accept an offer from another party by paying Musk a break-up fee.The deal would come just four days after Musk unveiled a financing package to back the acquisition. This led Twitter’s board to take the deal more seriously and many shareholders to ask the company not to let the opportunity for a deal to slip away. More details here6. Can Macron unite a deeply divided nation?Hours after his re-election, French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to work harder as a unifying force in a deeply divided country, but his political opponents on Monday called on voters to deny him a parliamentary majority. Macron is the first French president in two decades to win a second term. Signs of discontent?
Macron won 58.54% of the vote over far-right’s Marine Le Pen. While a clear win, the result also gave the far right its biggest share of the presidential ballot on record. The margin of victory was well below the 66.1% he scored against Le Pen in 2017.In a striking sign of public disenchantment with politics, 8.6 percent of people who voted either delivered a blank ballot or spoiled their papers.During Macron’s first mandate, France’s economy outperformed other big European countries as well as the broader euro zone. But his pro-business and security reforms triggered much discontent. What next
If he fails to score another victory in the June 12 and 19 parliamentary elections, Macron will struggle to advance with his pro-business agenda, including unpopular plans to push back the retirement age.In recent French legislative ballots, the president’s party has always won a majority in parliament. But if the outcome is not favourable this time, Macron would have little choice but to name a prime minister from another party, which could result in a tense period during which presidential powers are severely curbed. Key challenge
Analysts like Tara Varma of the European Council on Foreign Relations are of the view that Macron’s biggest challenge will be to create a sense of cohesion in an extremely fragmented country. She believes Le Pen will do her best to capitalise on her result for the June parliamentary elections.Several hundred demonstrators from ultra-left groups took to the streets in Paris and some other cities late Sunday in protest at the election outcome. Police used tear gas to disperse gatherings in Paris and the western city of Rennes.7. Afghan Taliban furious over Pak ‘airstrikes’Afghanistan’s acting defence minister has warned that the Taliban administration would not tolerate “invasions” from its neighbours after protesting against alleged airstrikes by Pakistan that killed dozens in Kunar and Khost provinces. Islamabad has not confirmed any involvement in the raids inside Afghanistan’s borders.Border ‘war’
Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan last August, there have been numerous standoffs along the 2,600-km Durand Line, its border with Pakistan drawn by British colonial rulers and disputed by Kabul.Increasingly frustrated by continuing attacks, Pakistan’s military has stepped up operations along the Afghan border in recent months. Air assaults
The Taliban administration’s foreign ministry last week called in Pakistan’s ambassador to protest against the strikes. Local officials said the assaults by Pakistan military helicopters killed 36 people.The United Nations children’s agency head in Afghanistan said that 20 children were killed in airstrikes in Khost and Kunar on April 16. Tough talk
“We can’t tolerate the invasion. We have tolerated that attack. We tolerated that because of national interests, next time we might not tolerate it,” said Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, acting Afghan defence minister.Reacting to his comment, Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson said Islamabad hoped for long-term engagement with Afghanistan to secure peace, terming the two as “brotherly countries”. The official also sought Kabul’s cooperation “in countering cross-border terrorism and taking actions against terrorist groups on their soil”.8. HC blasts police commissioner for Kejriwal’s security lapseLambasting the Delhi Police for the violent protest that occurred outside Delhi Chief Minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal’s official residence, the Delhi High Court (HC) noted that “this kind of incident happening at residence of a constitutional functionary is very disturbing state of affairs.”A dressing down
Asking as to “what kind of bandobast” did the police have, the HC ordered the Commissioner of Delhi Police to look into the security lapse and inquire if the arrangements were adequate, what led to the failure of the security arrangements and who’s responsible for the lapse.Remarking that it was “definitely…not at all satisfied” with the Delhi Police’s sealed cover report with regard to the bandobast on the day of the incident on March 30, the HC asked for a further status report, to be submitted within two weeks, which should include not just a review of the security arrangements but also measures taken to prevent a repeat of such incidents.More to come
Stressing that “security failure is something that should come with consequences”, the HC said the incident of vandalism, allegedly caused by workers of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), “definitely needs investigation at the highest level.”The HC, which adjourned the hearing till May 17, added that the office of a chief minister is a Constitutional office and thus needs to be protected, “Irrespective of our ideology, irrespective of our political party… Just like Prime Minister is Prime Minister of country. It is the constitutional office we are concerned with.”9. After human rights, India in US’ crosshairs on religious freedomThree strikes: For the third year running, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has recommended that India be designated “as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, for engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.” What else does it say
Noting that “religious freedom conditions in India significantly worsened” last year, the USCIRF report says that in 2021, “the Indian government escalated its promotion and enforcement of policies — including those promoting a Hindu-nationalist agenda — that negatively affect Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits and other religious minorities.”Directly attacking the Centre, the report says that “the government continued to systemise its ideological vision of a Hindu state at both the national and state levels through the use of both existing and new laws and structural changes hostile to the country’s religious minorities.”Does the report matter?
The USCIRF describes itself as “an independent, bipartisan U.S. government advisory body, separate from the U.S. Department of State that monitors and reports on religious freedom abroad and makes policy recommendations to the president, secretary of state, and Congress.” Which means it’s unlikely to be given too much heed by the US State Department. India of course has in previous years rejected the USCIRF’s findings.What the report misses out
The religious violations in the US itself, such as the refusal of the US Marine Corps to allow Sikh recruits to keep their articles of faith, especially beard during a boot camp, citing the need for uniformity and claiming that beards pose a risk, finds no mention in the USCIRF report, which is also silent on the systemic discrimination other religious minorities, such as Muslims and Jews face in the US — a fact corroborated by Pew Research Centre as well.Answer to NEWS IN CLUESRakesh Jhunjhunwala. The billionaire investor’s airline venture, Akasa Air, will start operations in July this year instead of June, as scheduled earlier, according to the airline CEO Vinay Dube. Jhunjhunwala, whose investment firm RaRe Enterprises is named after the first two letters of his and his wife’s name — Rakesh and Rekha — owns more than 5% stake in Titan along with his wife.Follow news that matters to you in real-time.
Join 3 crore news enthusiasts.Written by: Rakesh Rai, Tejeesh Nippun Singh, Jayanta Kalita
Research: Rajesh Sharma
