Morning Brief: Terror Convicts Don’t Deserve Bail Or Parole, Says SC; Biggest Share Buyback; India Eyeing Arms Exports

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

No Bail Or Parole For Terror Convicts, Rules SC: India’s Supreme Court on Monday said those lodged in prison for long years for slaughtering people could not be given parole or interim bail because of family exigencies. "The moment you get convicted in such offences, that is end of your ties with your family and your family life," court said. This remark came as the court dismissed a petition for interim bail by Mohammad Naushad, who was convicted by the trial court and the Delhi high court for the 1996 Lajpat Nagar bomb blast that killed 13 people and injured 38.

ISRO Chief Says India Has The Capacity To Build Its Own Space Station: India has the capability to set up a space station, but it needed a long-term approach and an ambitious planning, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman A S Kiran Kumar said on Monday. His comment comes after ISRO’s display of technological prowess last week by launching 104 satellites in a single mission. A long-term thinking was needed for setting up a space station, he said, adding “the sooner the better”.

TCS Green Light For Biggest Share Buyback: In its biggest share repurchase programme in the Indian capital market, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will buy back equity shares worth up to Rs 16,000 crore. This is the company's first buyback scheme since its listing 13 years ago. It is aimed at returning surplus cash to shareholders. The buyback will reduce the cash pile to Rs 23,219 crore if the company utilises the entire Rs 16,000 crore for the repurchase scheme.

Jio-Uber Partnership May Trigger A War In Mobile Wallet Space: Signalling a battle in the mobile wallet space, where Paytm leads with over 160 million users, Mukesh Ambani-promoted Jio has announced a partnership with Uber, the American cab-hailing company on Monday. In Uber, Paytm has been a preferred partner for the longest time. But that might change. Jio said that it will offer exclusive incentives for people who opt to use JioMoney, the mobile wallet app, for Uber payments. It also plans to extend its services.

India Eyes Major Role In Military Hardware Exports: India, the world’s largest importer of weapons, is embarking on a mission to position itself as a major exporter of military hardware. State-owned Bharat Dynamics Limited has chalked out a plan to export anti-tank guided missiles and Akash surface-to-air missiles. The defence public sector undertaking was in preliminary discussions with Turkey, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Vietnam and Myanmar to tap the export potential of the weapon systems.

New Action Against Hafiz Saeed A logical Step, Says India: India on Monday said that putting Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed on terror list is the first logical step in bringing him to justice. The mastermind of the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, has been under house arrest since January and he was banned from leaving the country. External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said effective action mandated internationally against Saeed is a logical first step in bringing him to justice. It would help rid the region of terror, he added.

INS Viraat In Danger Of Being Junked: INS Viraat, India’s oldest warhorse, is in danger of being junked and sold for scrap. With 6 March being fixed as the retirement date for the 58-year-old aircraft carrier, the proposal to convert it into a museum is yet to take any concrete shape. Defence Ministry sources said it will cost almost Rs 1,000 crore to convert the 13-storey INS Viraat into a museum, backed by a self-sustaining revenue model. The Andhra Pradesh government is willing to take the carrier but is demanding the ministry to foot half the cost.

Panama Papers Probe Gains Pace: The Panama Papers investigation has gathered momentum in India with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) dispatching notices to more than 100 people named in the global media investigation. Officials in ED said that over the past two months, they have sent 137 “advisories” under Section 37 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act to Indians named in the Panama Papers. A majority of these Indians are involved in tax evasion and are accused of stocking their wealth in tax havens.

Russia Now World's Largest Crude Producer: Russia has overtaken Saudi Arabia as the world's largest crude producer. Russia pumped 10.49 million barrels a day in December, down 29,000 barrels a day from November, while Saudi Arabia's output declined to 10.46 million barrels a day from 10.72 million barrels a day in November, according to data published by the Joint Organisations Data Initiative. The US was the third-largest producer, at 8.8 million barrels a day in December compared with 8.9 million barrels a day in November.

MUST READ OP-EDS

Getting Down To Work With Trump: India’s global gains since the end of the Cold War, underline the virtues of realism, sensitivity to changing global power distribution, and the capacity to separate ideological posturing from policy.

The World In The Next Five Years: A Dystopian View: For India, the lesson is that the leadership’s focus must be on providing jobs for the masses and improving the delivery of services to them, while at the same time doing all it can to ensure peace, including communal peace, in the region.

Be A Good Neighbour First: Developed countries’ leaderships wash their hands off the problems that they created and turn their backs to citizens of nations affected by their policies. The problem is not so much that the ‘global citizens’ really had a trans-national and global agenda but that it was a fig leaf for personal and narrow group aggrandisement.

Net Neutrality At Risk Again, This Time In The US: This would be an unintended consequence of a free market policy, since it would have the follow-on effect of allowing the carriers to decide who the winners and losers are in the Internet world, thereby creating oligopolies, which would be a sad erosion of what the Internet was designed to do in the first place.

SWARAJYA SPECIAL

India Inc’s Urge To Merge May Be More Value Destructive Than Productive: The current wave of mergers and divestitures is led more by necessity and distress than by opportunity. This means, weakness rather than strength, is the driving logic.

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

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