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@Noon: 🚫 The Crackdown On PFI Ends In Five-Year Ban
Multiple nationwide raids and arrests later, the judgement has been passed on PFI.
Context: The Indian government has imposed a five-year ban on PFI and its associates for their involvement in terror activities.
They have been put in the dock under the anti-terror law UAPA.
Associates include Rehab India Foundation, Campus Front of India, All India Imams Council, National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation, and National Women's Front.
The ban follows the arrest of over a hundred PFI activities and seizure of several dozen properties.
PFI, in brief: The organisation was formed in 2006 in Kerala and is headquartered in Delhi. Over the years, it's been accused, by law enforcement agencies, of promoting radical Islam.
Centre's notification: "PFI and its associates or affiliates or fronts have been involved in the violent terrorist activities with an intent to create a reign of terror in the country, thereby endangering the security and public order of the state." — Union Home Ministry
PFI is said to have links with the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
Serious charge: PFI and its associates are said to have been working covertly to increase radicalisation of one community by promoting a sense of insecurity in the country.
This is evident, as some PFI cadres have apparently joined international terrorist organisations.
Reactions: The spiritual head of Ajmer Dargah Zainul Abedin Ali Khan has welcomed the centre's decision to ban PFI.
"Brilliant work by @narendramodi government. Finally, someone had the guts to ban PFI - the HQ of #UrbanNaxals - India’s biggest enemies." — Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, Twitter.
"It was a long-time demand by the people of this country, by all political parties, including the opposition like CPI, CPM & Congress. PFI was involved in anti-national activities, violence. They had their command outside the country." — Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai, Twitter.
"Ban on PFI and Associates is Part of Undeclared Emergency by the BJP regime." — SDPI, Twitter.
China, hear this: Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India. This is what the US is signalling.
Context: The US embassy in New Delhi co-sponsored an event highlighting the culture of the indigenous tribes in the state.
This was part of India’s ongoing Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations and the seventy-fifth anniversary of Indo-US ties.
China won't be pleased, just as it wasn't on previous occasions.
Three years ago, then US ambassador’s inauguration of the annual Tawang Festival — a cultural extravaganza in western Arunachal — enraged Beijing.
China has also expressed opposition to US support for some social sector projects and educational programmes in the eastern state.
What's more: The Dalai Lama indicated earlier this month that he would be visiting Arunachal Pradesh “soon.”
The Tibetan spiritual leader, who is an anathema to China’s ruling communists, has visited Arunachal seven times since 1983.
His last visit was in 2017.
India's highest court took a major step towards greater transparency and accessibility in the matters of law.
Context: In a first, the Supreme Court live-streamed proceedings of three constitution benches simultaneously yesterday.
It did so through its webcast as well as video streaming on YouTube.
The stream was watched by more than eight lakh viewers.
"Truly, a historic day," the Supreme Court said.
Idea to action: "Sunlight is the best infectant," then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said on this day four years ago about broadcasting live important proceedings in matters of constitutional importance.
The decision to live-stream the proceedings of the Constitution benches was taken on 20 September this year.
Until the apex court reaches a point where they can live-stream all the proceedings, important matters will get priority for now.
The top court will soon have its own 'platform' to live-stream proceedings rather than use YouTube.
Interestingly: The Supreme Court's very first live-streaming of proceedings took place on 26 August.
It was a ceremonial proceeding as then Chief Justice N V Ramana was to demit office that day.
The High Courts have previously shown the way, with six of them having already live-streamed proceedings.
Catch the live stream. The proceedings can be accessed here.
India's first dedicated multiwavelength space observatory turns seven today.
Context: AstroSat was launched into a 650 km orbit by the PSLV from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, on 28 September 2015.
The scientific satellite is at work to expand our understanding of our universe.
Its specialty is that it enables simultaneous multi-wavelength observations of various astronomical objects with a single satellite.
It operates as a proposal-driven general purpose observatory.
AstroSat's five payloads. It's a tag team that picks up visible, ultraviolet, and X-rays coming in from distant celestial sources.
Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope
Soft X-ray Telescope
Large Area X-ray Proportional Counters
Scanning Sky Monitor
AstroSat at work. The satellite is no stranger to landmark feats and milestones. For a sample:
Close to 300 peer-reviewed research papers have been published using AstroSat data till date.
The satellite is currently serving 1,530 users from 48 countries.
In 2021, data from the satellite led to 86 refereed and over 500 non-refereed publications, with about 300 unique observations.
The satellite watched the birth of black holes for an astonishing 500th time in May this year.
It detected extreme ultraviolet light from a galaxy named 9.3 billion light-years away from Earth in August 2020.
Today marks the birth anniversaries of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh and singer Lata Mangeshkar.
Born to sing: Born in 1929, Mangeshkar was a G.O.A.T. of playback singing for decades. She died in February this year.
Quote. "Remembering Lata Didi on her birth anniversary. There is so much that I recall… the innumerable interactions in which she would shower so much affection." — PM Narendra Modi
UP CM Yogi Adityanath has inaugurated an intersection in Ayodhya named after Mangeshkar. It's called the 'Lata Mangeshkar Chauraha'.
Fighting for freedom: Born in 1907, Bhagat Singh rose to become a hero of the Indian independence movement. He was hanged to death by British colonisers at the age of 23 years.
Quote. "I bow to Shaheed Bhagat Singh Ji on his Jayanti. His courage motivates us greatly. We reiterate our commitment to realise his vision for our nation." — PM Narendra Modi
The Chandigarh International Airport was today renamed as Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport.
The rupee depreciated 40 paise to an all-time low of 81.93 against the US dollar in early trade today.
Factors were the strengthening of the American currency and risk-averse sentiment among investors.
Meanwhile, investors are eying the RBI monetary policy meeting decision on Friday.
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