Morning Brief: Group Hoisting Tricolour In Kashmir Roughed Up By Locals; Can Conduct Polls In Eight States Along With Lok Sabha: EC; And Other News

Good morning, dear reader! Here’s your morning news and views brief for today.

Group Hoisting Tricolour In Kashmir Roughed Up By Locals

In a shocking incident a day ahead of the Independence Day, group of six to seven people, who tried to hoist the tricolour at Srinagar’s Lal Chowk, were allegedly roughed up by locals. Some local people assembled around the Chowk - the heart of Srinagar - and objected to the hoisting of the flag. According to the local police, which came to the group’s rescue, the incident occurred at around 1 pm near Srinagar’s clock tower. The group, it said, consisted of non-locals. While three people were rescued by the police, at least three others had managed to flee.

The police have denied arresting the members of the group that tried to hoist the tricolour in the hostile environment. However, in a statement issued on Tuesday, the state police called the flag hoisting activity “political” and addressed those who roughed up the members of the group as “miscreants". The police said that an FIR has been registered and it is looking into the incident.

Can Conduct Polls In Eight States Along With Lok Sabha: EC

The Election Commission of India has said that it can, at the most, conduct polls simultaneously in eight states along with the Lok Sabha elections next year. Quoting Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat amid speculation over 12 states going to poll with the general elections next year, news reports said the election body has just enough voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) units to hold elections in Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh (whose Assembly is already in sync with the Parliament) and another three states.

Some reports suggest that President’s is likely to be imposed in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram to synchronise their elections with those due in 2019. Reports had emerged after Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah wrote to the Law Commission on Monday (13 August) expressing support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “One nation one election” idea.

People Not On NRC Sent To ‘Detention Camps’, Claims Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has been projecting herself as the leader of the joint opposition and one who could be the block’s prime ministerial candidate, on Tuesday claimed that the people who did not find a place in Assam's National Register of Citizens (NRC) were being sent to “detention camps”. Criticising the government for the Supreme Court-monitored NRC, she said, “Around 1,200 people, including children and women, have been sent to detention camps”. She challenged the BJP to undertake the NRC exercise in Bengal.

Over 65 per cent of the Bengalis in Assam whose names do not figure in the draft are Hindus, she claimed. The NRC exercise is aimed at identifying illegal migrants living in Assam. More than 40 lakh of the 3.29 crore applicants were left out of the final draft. The government has given time till 28 October for claims and objections from the public on the inclusion and exclusion of names.

New Airport Projects May Be Awarded On Revenue Sharing Basis

The Modi government is planning to put in place a system under which new airports coming up in the country will be awarded on the basis of the revenue sharing. According to Mint, airport developers will compete to win contracts based on the amount of revenue per passenger to be shared with the authority giving the contract. The system currently in place mandates the sharing of a part of the profit from the venture. This will be fine-tuned after industry feedback.

As profit-sharing contracts are prone to disputes, the government has already moved to similar ‘auctions involving revenue sharing’ models in investment-rich sectors such as oil and gas. The Civil Aviation Ministry expects this model to attract more investors as it will likely reduce controversies and litigation.

I-T Department Has “Mala Fide” Intention, Sonia Gandhi Tells HC

Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi has told the Delhi High Court that the tax department has "wrongly invoked and applied" the formula for calculating her tax liability after reopening her assessment for the year 2011-12. The case is related to the debt of Rs 90 crore bought by Young Indian from Associated Journals Limited, which owns National Herald newspaper. Her team argued that the debt was converted into equity and this would not result in any taxable income.

In a related development, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday declined a plea made on behalf of Congress president Rahul Gandhi to put restrictions on the media reporting of his petition against reopening of his 2011-12 tax assessment. Rahul Gandhi’s lawyers had urged the court to restrict media’s reporting of the matter. This was not the party’s first attempt to restrict media reporting on an issue that is likely to damage the image of its prime ministerial face.

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We hope you enjoyed reading our morning brief. Have a great day ahead!