News18.com Daybreak | Jignesh Mevani’s March, Kashmir’s Supernova Clue and Other Stories You May Have Missed
In case you missed it
Dalit spearhead Jignesh Mevani marched to the Parliament Street in the heart of the capital in defiance of police orders and launched a blistering attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him and his government muzzling dissent and of being a threat to democracy and the Constitution. The newly-elected MLA from Vadgam in Gujarat termed the refusal to grant permission to the 'Yuva Hunkar' rally an example of the "Gujarat model" of politics.
Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, who once described themselves as “two wheels of a cycle” and “the confluence of Ganga and Yamuna”, seem to be going their own separate ways. Yadav, the Samajwadi Party chief, ruled out an alliance with the Congress party for the 2019 election, for now, and said his only priority at the time was to strengthen his own party.
Recalling its 2016 order, the Supreme Court held that it will not be compulsory for cinema halls to play the national anthem before screening a film.
After NIA suffered an embarrassment with quashing of its Red Corner Notice request by the Interpol, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was pulled up by a judicial tribunal over its investigation against controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik. "I can name 10 babas who have properties worth more than Re 10,000 crore each and they are facing criminal cases. Have you acted against even one of them? What have you done against Asaram Bapu?" it asked the counsel for the ED.
Saudi Arabia has increased India's Haj quota by 5,000, the second hike in two years, taking the number of pilgrims who can perform Haj from the country to 1,75,025.
In an interesting find, Indian astrophysicists have unearthed a nearly 5,000-year-old rock carving in Kashmir which, they believe, is the oldest record of supernova and sky chart found in human history.
Welcoming the Supreme Court ruling that it will not be compulsory for cinema halls to play national anthem before screening a film, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday said he has been saying this from day one. Meanwhile, taking a dig at the government, he said, "I hope more sense will prevail and government will take U-turns on other issues, like, beef ban, etc."
Dalits of Una region, including the family that was flogged in full public view in July 2016, are converting to Buddhism as a mark of protest against discrimination and atrocities by members of other castes. The conversions will likely be held on April 14, the birth anniversary of Dalit icon Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.
On a pitch, where 38 out of the 40 wickets to fall were picked up by seamers within eight and a half sessions, the most significant factor had to be someone's batting. It had to be an innings of character and strength. It had to be an innings that would turn a 150-run fourth innings chase to one above 200. And it came from the blade of South Africa's most gifted batsman ever, AB de Villiers.
The Yogi Adityanath government has been in power in Uttar Pradesh for 10 months now and in this duration it has received as many as nine notices from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The notices, most of which were addressed to the Chief Secretary, were sent on a range of issues, including a fake encounter, eve-teasing and children deaths at Gorakhpur hospital. The most recent notice was over a wardboy running a public health centre in Barabanki in the absence of a doctor.
Three days after the suicide of a 20-year-old girl for sending a WhatsApp message that said “I love Muslims” and the arrest of a local BJP youth wing leader, the Bajrang Dal has issued a stern warning to all Hindu girls against being friendly with boys from other religions. In a WhatsApp message, Bajrang Dal, Mudigere unit, has warned that whoever roams around with non-Hindu boys will be made to pay a heavy price as it is the duty of Bajrang Dal to save Hinduism.
This Friday, a total of 8 Bollywood and Hollywood films are making their way to the big screen with an addition of a few regional films. We are already waiting for the weekend.
Agree or disagree?
Mumbai is a hard city. If you are a child, old or infirm it’s a minefield; a single misstep can result in calamity. The city is dangerous to life and limb. The proof, 14 dead bodies asphyxiated by the Kamala Mills restaurant fire; 22 dead bodies broken in the Elphinstone station stampede; and one eminent doctor killed by falling into a manhole in the August flood – we have a body of evidence that’s piled up in less than four months. Anuradha SenGupta writes why the city, with its voracious appetite for life and its famous resilience, needs urgent, special care not just from those who have the power to make policy, but from the people who make it what it is.
Shabbirpur, Una, and now Bhima-Koregaon. Violence against the Dalit community has often the fringe Hindutva brigade at one end, and the media is quick to pin the blame on the “Brahminical RSS”. There could be vested interests at play here who want to paint the Sangh as a “Maharashtrian Brahmin” outfit that has a patronizing attitude towards OBCs and Dalits, but the RSS is anything but a monolith. Anu Narayanan explains why the RSS in Kerala can show the way. “Stalwarts like Dattopant Thengadi set up Kerala’s RSS unit aligned to the state’s egalitarian ethos, making it one of the most inclusive in the country. For those looking to imbibe, there is a lot to learn from the state,” Narayanan writes.
The Supreme Court has decided to review Section 377, but gay rights activist Harish Iyer isn’t celebrating yet. Why? Because there are people out there who believe adult individuals who have consensual sex with adults is ‘deviant’ behaviour. Here is where he asks you to be a nationalist and support decrimilanlistion of homosexuality.
On reel
In Australia, after the last legal impediment to gay marriage expired, same-sex couples married in midnight ceremonies. Take a look.