Morning Brief: US May Include Pakistan In Ban List; Kejriwal In The Dock; BJP Poised For Big Gains

Good Morning, Swarajya Readers! Here's What You Need To Know Today.

US May Include Pakistan In Immigration Ban List: The US has indicated that there is a possibility in the future of including Pakistan in the list of countries from where immigration has been banned, acknowledging for the first time that Pakistan was under consideration to be put in that category of nations. “Now, you can point to other countries that have similar problems, like Pakistan and others. Perhaps we need to take it further,” White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said. Currently as per the executive order, visitors from countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan are subject to extreme vetting.

Election Commission Orders FIR Against Kejriwal: The Election Commission of Indian on Sunday directed the chief electoral officer of Goa to file a criminal case against Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly promoting bribery in his speech made in the state on 8 January. The commission had censured Kejriwal a week ago for exhorting voters to accept bribe from BJP and Congress candidates, but vote for AAP. In its 20 January order, the poll panel had also threatened to withdraw AAP’s recognition, if he continues violating the Model Code of Conduct with impunity.

Election Commission-RBI In Rare Clash Over Cash Limits: The Election Commission of India and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) were embroiled in a rare clash with the EC asserting its constitutional mandate to insist that the central bank enhance the cash withdrawal limit for candidates in forthcoming elections. Political circles were surprised at the unexpected showdown, pointing out that EC's powers in the conduct of elections were well delineated and that cash limit was a practical problem faced by all candidates.

Rahul Gandhi To Appear In Court Over Defamation Case: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi would be appearing in a Bhiwandi court tomorrow in connection with a defamation case over his alleged comment against the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) regarding Mahatma Gandhi's assassination. The case against Rahul was filed by a local RSS functionary, Rajesh Kunte, over the former's speech in Bhiwandi on 6 March 2014, in the run-up to Lok Sabha polls. During the rally, Rahul had allegedly claimed, "The RSS people had killed Gandhi."

Tax Officers Seeking GST Transparency: Seeking more transparency, about 70,000 tax officers and employees in the country will wear black bands at work tomorrow, on Martyrs Day, to protest some recent decisions taken by the GST Council headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The associations representing them said the decisions are heavily tilted towards the states, which is not good for the sovereign function of the Centre to levy and collect taxes.

Safety Report Blames Railway Staff For Accidents: A safety report, submitted to the Railway Ministry, indicate that failure of Railway staff is the biggest cause of train accidents. Railway has constituted a task force on safety on 6 December last year after the derailment near Kanpur, killing 151 people. The report submitted recently has categorically stated that the failure of railway staff is the biggest cause in 50 to 60 per cent cases, and derailments cause maximum deaths and injuries.

Rahul Gandhi Hints At SP Alliance Post UP Polls: Congress and Samajwadi Party (SP) may extend their alliance to the next general election. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi did not rule out extending his party's partnership with Akhilesh Yadav's SP as the two young leaders came together on Sunday in a rally in Lucknow that they kicked off. "Whether we will have an alliance for Lok Sabha is something that has not been decided as of now. But it is possible," Gandhi said.

BJP Poised For Big Gains In UP Polls, Says Party Survey: A survey conducted by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) shows the party is poised for handsome gains in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh on account of the central government’s demonetisation drive, two senior leaders involved in the election campaign said. They said the survey was conducted from 15 November to 15 December to gauge public mood following demonetisation. The nation-wide survey, consequently, had a sample size of 6.15 lakh people across social, gender and age groups.

MUST READ OP-EDS

Gandhi Is Still Alive In The Minds And Hearts Of Admirers: Do you remember this was the day Nathuram Godse pumped bullets into the Mahatma’s body. But could he kill Gandhi? He is still alive in the minds and hearts of innumerable admirers and will continue to live there.

Dear Finance Minister, Where Is Banking Sector Reform? Many of the government-owned banks that have around 70 per cent share of banking assets are laden with bad loans and need capital to stay afloat. Indeed, the banking system plays the most critical role in carrying out the government’s development agenda but precious little is being done for the banks.

Budget 2017: Big Picture On The Changing Tax Landscape: The NDA had committed itself to lower the corporate tax rates in a phase-wise manner but do away with multiple tax incentives. Taxpayers are expecting the government to lower the corporate tax rates as well as individual tax rates, which will also foster increased compliance at all levels.

Universal Basic Income’s Policy Design Dilemmas: The Economic Survey has a great opportunity to expand the contours of the public debate on a universal basic income and address key knowledge and implementation gaps. One hopes that it will grapple with some of these fundamental questions of policy design.

Five Global Scenarios For The Donald Trump Era: President Donald Trump’s disruption, ironically, is unlikely to preserve the ancient regime and will more likely accelerate the evolution to allow countries like China and, probably, India to shape its contours. The process is likely to be unpredictable and volatile.

SWARAJYA SPECIAL

Charade Begets Charade: Indian Liberals And Literature Festivals: The roots of intellectual fascism and untouchability stem from the philosophy of boycott: I will not engage in even a conversation with you because your views do not match mine and I will speak only in a gathering where my fellow comrades pat my back and dance merrily as my cheer-leaders.

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

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