Current Affairs
Morning Brief: Government To Announce Highest Ever Raise In MSP For Paddy; SC To Hear Plea Against Polygamy; Another BJP Worker Found Dead In Bengal
Farmers sow their paddies in their fields In Uttar Pradesh. (Deepak Gupta/ Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
Good morning, dear reader! Here’s your morning news and views brief for today.
Government To Announce Highest Ever Raise In MSP For Paddy
The Modi government is all set to announce the highest ever single-year raise in the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy crop. MSP of paddy from this Kharif season could be raised to as much as Rs 200 per quintal. At its previous best under the United Progressive Alliance in the 2008-09 election year, MSP hike stood at Rs 155 a quintal. In the budget, the government had announced that it would maintain the MSP at least at one and half times of the production cost.
The move is significant as paddy makes up over 50 per cent of the total acreage of food grain crops during Kharif season. Based on records of procurement in previous years, this move is estimated to cost the government Rs 12,000 crore. The government is also considering increasing the MSP for pulses (Tur, Moong, Urad) for the kharif season to upwards of Rs 200 a quintal.
Supreme Court To Hear Plea Against Polygamy
Th Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear petitions challenging polygamy and nikah halala and said it would consider setting up of a five-judge constitution bench to examine the validity of these practices. Polygamy and nikah halala are prevalent among the Muslims. While polygamy allows a man to have four wives, nikah halala is the practice under which a Muslim woman, who wants to re-marry her husband after divorce, is required to marry another man and get a divorce from the second person after the consummation of the union.
However, these petitions will come up for hearing in the apex court only after the Center files its response. Additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta has said the government will file its response soon. This development comes after the top court, in a landmark verdict last year, banned triple talaq.
Missing BJP Worker Found Dead In West Bengal
Barely a month after two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers were found hanging in West Bengal, the dead body of a missing party worker was recovered from a pond in a village in Murshidabad district of the state. The worker, identified as Dharmaraj Hazra, was found with his hands and feet tied with a rope. The state BJP has accused the ruling Trinamool Congress “terrorists” of killing its worker.
On 31 May, a BJP worker was found hanging from a tree in West Bengal's Purulia district. Those involved in the killing left the message, "This is for doing BJP politics from age 18. Been trying to kill you. Failed. Today you are dead." On 3 June, a BJP worker who was found hanging from an electric pylon in the same district. The killings were reported just days after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee said that he would make Purulia opposition free.
Cauvery Board Asks Karnataka To Release 31.24 TMC Water To TN
In its first meeting on Monday, the Cauvery Water Management Authority ordered Karnataka to release 31.24 thousand million cubic feet water to Tamil Nadu in July. The first meeting of the body, which was constituted by the Centre on 1 June on the directions issued by the Supreme Court, was attended by representatives of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Puducherry. The Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) government in Karnataka had on 30 June decided to appeal in the Supreme Court against the setting up of the water management body.
While Karnataka was asked to release water to Tamil Nadu according to the Supreme Court ruling, it was decided during the meeting that the existing arrangement for the supply of water to Puducherry by Tamil Nadu will continue.
Heavy To Very Heavy Rainfall In Large Parts Of India This Week: IMD
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Monday that many parts of the country will receive heavy to very heavy rainfall this week. These parts include several places in Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Gujarat. According to the department, extremely heavy rains are very likely over Uttarakhand and east Uttar Pradesh. Heavy to very heavy rains are very likely to hit sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Bihar, Assam and Meghalaya.
The department said that monsoon had covered the entire country at least 17 days ahead of its normal onset date. The four-month monsoon season normally begins from 1 June and ends on 30 September. This year, monsoon touched Kerala on 29 May, three days ahead of its normal onset date of 1 June.
‘Can’t Live Here Anymore’: Afghan Sikhs
After at least 13 Hindus and Sikhs were killed in a blast targeting minorities in Afghanistan, the communities have said that it is difficult for them to survive in the country. According to some, they have only two options: leave for India or convert to Islam. Some Sikhs have already sought shelter at the Indian consulate. The Sikh community now numbers fewer than 300 families in Afghanistan and has only two gurdwaras - one each in Jalalabad and Kabul. There were over 250,000 Sikhs and Hindus in the country before the civil war in the 1990s.
“Our religious practices will not be tolerated by the Islamic terrorists. We are Afghans. The government recognises us, but terrorists target us because we are not Muslims,” the secretary of a national panel of Hindus and Sikhs said.
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