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

Solid Backing For Modi’s Demonetisation: Most of the people who took part in a survey to gauge public opinion on demonetisation have supported the move, with 98 per cent of five lakh respondents claiming “the evil of corruption and black money” needed to be dealt with sternly. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged citizens to vote on the demonetisation policy through his app on their mobile phones.

Government Reaches Out To End Parliament Deadlock: The government on Wednesday reached out to the opposition, seeking a discussion to end the deadlock in Parliament. Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended Lok Sabha on Wednesday, but his presence failed to break the impasse. He is expected to attend Rajya Sabha today to turn the tables on the opposition.

SC Hauls Up Government On Lokpal: The Supreme Court hauled up the government on Wednesday for delay in appointing the country’s first anti-corruption ombudsman, asking why it was dragging its feet if it was so committed to cleansing corruption. “Don’t allow Lokpal to become a dead letter,” a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur told the government.

Government Issues Orders To Speed Up Printing Of New Currency Notes: The government has issued orders to speed up printing of new currency notes and rushed teams to Nashik (Maharashtra) and Dewas (Madhya Pradesh) — the two locations where they are being printed. The presses are now working 24×7 and the staff are being promised financial incentives.

14 Pakistanis Killed In Indian LoC Offensive: Indian troops launched a massive bombardment of Pakistani positions along the Line of Control on Wednesday with Pakistani authorities saying 14 people died in the shelling. Meanwhile, the government informed Parliament on Wednesday that around 200 terrorists were active in Jammu and Kashmir out of which 105 had infiltrated into India this year.

Mistry’s Charges Frivolous And Incorrect: Two Tata Group veterans rubbished as “frivolous and incorrect” Cyrus Mistry’s charges that Ratan Tata wanted to sell TCS and his ego had inflated Corus acquisition cost, prompting the ousted group chairman to partially retract his remarks on Wednesday.

Women Can’t Be Treated As Secondary Citizens, Says Rajnath Singh: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday termed triple talaq a “burning” issue and said in a developing country like India, women cannot be treated as “secondary” citizens. He also favoured wide discussions on the contentious issue of ‘Uniform Civil Code’.

Fodder Scam: SC Pulls Up Ex-CM For Delaying CBI Plea: The Supreme Court slammed former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra for "intentionally" not responding to its notice on CBI's plea challenging the Jharkhand high court order on dropping conspiracy charges against him and Lalu Prasad in a fodder scam-related case.

Netherlands Debates Ban On Burqa: Following the example of other European countries, France and Belgium, Dutch lawmakers on Wednesday debated a limited ban on face-covering headwear worn by some Muslim women that would outlaw the veils in places such as schools, hospitals and on public transportation.

Five Sentenced To Death For Burning Christian Couple In Pakistan: A Pakistani anti-terror court sentenced five people to death on Wednesday over the killing of a Christian couple who were lynched and burned in a kiln after being falsely accused of blasphemy. The deaths of Shahzad Masih and Shama Bibi saw Christian families living near their home in Punjab flee the area in fear.

MUST READ OP-EDS

Don’t Join The Debate: Irrespective of the merits of the demonetisation debate, whether one agrees with it or not, it is surely a subject in the executive’s province.

A Moment In Modernity: Modernity in art refers to a relationship to time, one represented by a discontinuity, opening to a new and unique aesthetic sensibility. One can see it in its ideal form in Balamuralikrishna’s music.

Globalisation is alive and well: We don’t need polls, mathematical models or sophisticated technology to predict that globalisation will endure. All one needs to do is to look back at history and rest secure in the knowledge that it will repeat itself.

Narendra Modi Could Have Done With More Emotions: The common man deals with such financial eventualities through the inherent human tendency to cooperate in times of distress. Modi should have appealed to this deep-seated virtue to tide over the short-term difficulties.

SWARAJYA SPECIAL

Here’s How India Can Intelligently Use Its Tech And Human Resources To Check Black Money: The flow of black money can be tackled by using high tech cash tracking devices. India is possibly one of the few countries which has the technical prowess and human power to pull off such a system.

Demonetisation’s Winners: Payments Banks Are Now More Viable Than Ever: Demonetisation of high-value notes has changed the game, and suddenly, it is the payments players – e-wallets, mobile money vendors, and future payments banks that look like the next big thing.

Bypolls Outcome: Didi Wins The Elections, But Loses The Argument? The emergence of the BJP as an alternative to Trinamool Congress debunks Banerjee’s claim that the people of the state have voted against demonetisation. Had that been the case, the BJP would not have improved its performance in such an impressive manner this time.

If Tatas And Mistry Don’t Pull Back From The Brink, It’s A Lose-Lose War For Both: The most sensible thing even now is to come to a behind-the-scenes agreement where Mistry exits at a price to be paid over some years, and both parties stop sniping at each other and damaging each other’s reputations.

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

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