Morning Brief: Modi May Go To US In May; New TN CM’s Floor Test Tomorrow; IS Strikes Sindh

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

Washington Calling. Prime Minister Narendra Modi may go to the United States as early as May to meet new President Donald Trump in a bid to build ties with the new administration. Though the two leaders are set to meet on the sidelines of the next G-20 summit in Hamburg, it wouldn't be a bilateral meeting.

So far, the ties between the Trump administration and the current Indian government have been cordial which can't be said about many countries including some US allies. US Secretary of state Rex Tillerson and US Defense Secretary James Mattis have had productive conversations over phone with their Indian counterparts, Sushma Swaraj and Manohar Parrikar respectively. India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had gone to Washington and met with Trump's former NSA Michael Flynn. He has since resigned over ties to Russian officials.

Floor test tomorrow. Tamil Nadu governor C Vidyasagar Rao on Thursday sworn in Edappadi Palanisamy, Sasikala loyalist, as the state's twenty-second chief minister. Though he was given 15 days to prove the majority in the state assembly, Palanisamy has decided to seek vote of confidence on Saturday. This is state's third council of ministers in 10 months. Palanisamy has retained all the ministers that were a part of Panneerselvam's council except Pandiarajan who was the only minister to abandon the Sasikala camp.

Incentivising digital payments. The Reserve Bank Of India (RBI) has decided to change the rules that govern how much banks can charge merchants for providing debit card services by linking merchant discount rate (MDR) to the annual revenue of the merchant replacing the current flat MDR charged on all such transactions.

The MDR for debit card transactions of up to Rs 2,000 is currently capped at 0.75 per cent and at 1 per cent for all transactions above Rs 2,000. But now, there will be four categories of merchants: smaller merchants (annual turnover < Rs 20 lakh), government transactions, special category merchants, and all other merchants who have an annual turnover greater than Rs 20 lakh.

Terror in Sindh. A blast near the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in the town of Sehwan in Sindh province killed over 75 people and injured more than 100. Other reports say as many as 100 may be dead. Islamic State’s Khorasan Province group has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack which took place during Dhamal – a Sufi ritual. Reports suggest that the suicide bombing was carried out on a portion reserved for women in the shrine.

Not so easy to do business. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative American think tank which champions the cause of small government, in its Index of Economic Freedom report has ranked India at 143, lower than Pakistan. It puts India in the category of “mostly unfree” economies terming the progress on economic reforms 'uneven'. The fact that the Indian state “maintains an extensive presence” in many areas through public-sector enterprises seems to have gone against it. In fact, India’s overall score of 52.6 points is 3.6 points less than that of last year. China showed a jump of 5.4 points scoring 57.4 points and securing 11 position. Even Nepal (125), Sri Lanka (112), Pakistan (141), Bhutan (107), and Bangladesh (128) have pipped India in the think tank's rankings.

Triple Talaq, Polygamy, etc. The Supreme Court has decided to set up a five-judge constitution bench to hear and decide on a batch of petitions relating to the practice of triple talaq, ‘nikah halala’ and polygamy among Muslims. ‘Nikah halala’ means a man cannot remarry a woman after triple talaq unless she has already consummated her marriage with another man and then her new husband dies or divorces her. A bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar said the questions for consideration of the constitution bench would be decided on 30 March.

Railways aims high. Indian Railways has set a new target for itself: to lay 9.5 Km of railway tracks daily. For this purpose the railways is setting aside a fund of Rs 35,000 crore. The magnitude of task can be comprehended from the fact that the current rate of laying tracks is mere 100 metres daily. This is done manually. The government is looking to import track-laying machines that can lay around 1.5 km of tracks per day.

MUST READ OP-ED

Let Justice Flow: It is time for courts to re-imagine judicial procedures and build digital solutions to fix the logjam.

Battles in history and history-writing: Rewriting India’s history is a worthy cause, but the BJP should not simply replace the wrongs of Marxist historians with its own.

A fiscal-consolidation budget that falls short on reforms: The most urgent reform unfortunately omitted is the resolution of non-performing loans and the clean-up of corporate and bank balance sheets.

SWARAJYA SPECIAL

The Perils Of Creating A Slow-Footed Godzilla: In an age when nimble is more important than big, the SBI mega merger is not necessarily a cause for celebration. Unless the merged entity is able to ruthlessly cut costs, and embraces technology with a vengeance, SBI could just as well become lead ball attached to the taxpayer’s leg.

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