Morning Brief: Nationalism A Bad Word Only In India: Jaitley; Chandrayaan-2 Next Year; Bengaluru Steel Flyover Scrapped

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

Nationalism A Bad Word Only In India, Says Jaitley: Union Finance Minster Arun Jaitley said on Thursday that nationalism is considered a bad word only in India as he accused the opposition parties of “orchestrating” the Ramjas College row ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. “The row was the deliberate creation of the opposition which fuelled a debate on nationalism just like the award wapsi controversy had broken out during the Bihar Assembly polls,” he said.

RSS Workers Hurt In Kerala Attack: Four RSS workers were injured after a crude bomb was hurled at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) office in Nadapuram, Kozhikode district in Kerala. The attack in Kerala comes on a day when an RSS leader from Ujjain announced a “bounty” of Rs 1 crore on Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s head. Kundan Chandravat, ‘Sah Prachar Pramukh’ of RSS in Ujjain held Vijayan responsible for the deaths of RSS workers in Kerala.

No Room For Intolerant Indian In The Country: President Mukherjee: There should be no room for an intolerant Indian in the country, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday, remarks that came at a time when a raging debate on nationalism and free speech has gripped the prestigious Delhi University following on-campus clashes. “India has been, since ancient times, a bastion of free thought, speech and expression,” the President said, adding premier higher education institutes must not “propagate a culture of unrest”.

Peak GST Rate Pegged At 40 Per Cent: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council has agreed to put in an enabling provision in draft model GST law to cap the peak rate at 40 per cent from the earlier agreed upon rate of 28 per cent. Though the capping of the peak rate at a higher level will not change the multi-slab rate structure of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent agreed upon last year, it will provide space to both Central and state governments to increase SGST and CGST rates once cess merges with the rate structure at a later stage, officials said.

Chandrayaan-2 Next Year: ISRO: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman A S Kiran Kumar said on Wednesday that the tests for a controlled soft-landing of Chandarayaan-2 on the surface of the moon are underway in a simulated environment. “ISRO will develop an engine that will help in the controlled landing on the moon. The mission is currently planned for the first quarter of 2018,” he said.

Aadhaar To Be Made Mandatory For Train Ticket Bookings: The Indian Railways is moving towards Aadhaar-based online ticketing system. Aadhaar number has been made mandatory for senior citizens to avail concessions in train tickets from 1 April. A three-month trial run for this is underway. The aim is to prevent touts from blocking a bulk of tickets, end fraudulent bookings and curb cases of impersonation. An integrated ticketing app will also be launched by May to promote cashless transaction.

Reprieve For Pepsi And Coca-Cola: Two public interest litigations have been quashed by the Madras High Court against supplying water to soft drink companies including Pepsi and Coca-Cola from the Thamirabarani river in Tirunelvelli. The court lifted its stay order from last November, stating water supply will not be curbed. While the petitioner accused Pepsi and Coca-Cola of using water for commercial gains, the companies promised to use only surplus water.

Bengaluru Steel Flyover Project Scrapped: The Karnataka government on Thursday abandoned the controversial steel flyover project in Bengaluru, saving about 800 trees from facing the axe. The flyover was aimed at decongesting the road that connects the city with its international airport and surrounding areas. “The steel flyover will not be constructed as the project has been cancelled,” Bengaluru Development Minister K J George said.

Now World Bank CEO Praises Modi’s Demonetisation: World Bank chief executive officer (CEO) Kristalina Georgieva has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to ban high-value banknotes as part of efforts to stamp out corruption will have a profound and positive impact on India’s economy. She said demonetisation may have caused some hardship to people living in the cash economy but in the long run the move will help foster a clean and digitised economy.

India Will Be Home To Largest Muslim Population By 2050, Says Pew Study: A study by the Washington-based Pew Research Center claims that India will overtake Indonesia as the country with the largest Muslim population in the world by 2050. The study also said the global demographic trends indicate that Islam will overtake Christianity to become the most popular religion in the world by 2070. Islam is currently the world’s second-largest religion after Christianity.

MUST READ OP-EDS

Closing Of The University: Young women cannot express independent political views without being subject to misogyny, violence and political intimidation. As the right stamps itself, central universities will see politicisation that destroyed state universities.

GST And The Litmus Test Of Land: The Goods and Services Tax will be truly transformational when domains like real estate are brought in its ambit.

Democracy And Institutions In The Age Of Donald Trump: Trump’s jerkiness has given an opportunity to demonstrate to the world another very proud feature of the US – its incredible institutional strength.

Reliance Jio Should Make An Even Bigger Bet, Like Buying Paytm: If Mukesh Ambani wants to keep Reliance Jio’s brisk momentum, he should go a step further than launching his own payments bank and buy Paytm outright.

SWARAJYA SPECIAL

Rajiv Gandhi Trust’s Land Grab Is An Open-And-Shut Case, But Government Seems Reluctant To Use The Ammo: It seems the NDA government, despite having solid ammo against Rahul Gandhi, is pussy-footing around the issue. One wonders why.

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

SUBSCRIBE NOW: The February issue of our magazine is out now. The cover story focuses on how West Bengal is seeing an alarming demographic shift and radicalisation of Muslims, thanks to Mamata Banerjee’s vote bank politics – West Bengalistan. Get a copy home and enjoy reading Swarajya in print. Subscribe here to start receiving your copies for just Rs 349.

Swarajya Apps: Enjoy reading this morning brief and all articles from Swarajya on your mobile. Download our Android and iOS Apps.