| Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day's biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying safe. Sonia asks CMs to consider bringing laws that override Centre's farm Bills Congress president Sonia Gandhi has directed Chief Ministers of four Congress-ruled states — Punjab, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Pudducherry — to explore the possibility of enacting legislations that override the three agricultural laws passed by the Parliament in its monsoon session. Party general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal said that all the four states have been told to pass laws under Article 254 (2) of the Constitution, which allows state legislatures to pass a law that override a central law. A legislation thus passed will then have to get the President's assent in order to become law. Explaining the move, Venugopal said, "This would enable the states to bypass the unacceptable anti-farmers' provisions in the three draconian agricultural laws, including the abolition of MSP [Minimum Support Price] and disruption of APMCs [Agricultural Produce Market Committees], in Congress-ruled states. This would also alleviate the grave injustice done by the Modi Government and BJP." Article 254 (2) of the Constitution essentially enables a state government to pass a law, on any subject in the Concurrent List, that may contradict a Central law, provided it gets the President's assent. In late 2014, the BJP government in Rajasthan took this very route to make changes to the central labour laws – the Factories Act, the Industrial Disputes act, and the Contract Labour Act – which subsequently got the President's assent. Punjab, Chhattisgarh already looking for alternatives  Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. File The Punjab government led by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has already started work on these lines. It had been contemplating amending the existing Agriculture Produce Market Committee Act and declare the entire state as a principal mandi yard. This would circumvent provisions in The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, which was passed in Parliament. The declaration of mandi yards ensures that any procurement outside their ambit is considered illegal, farmers do not get a price less than the MSP, and the state gets its mandi fee. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, too, had recently said that his government will take steps to ensure that private players do not get entry in the agriculture sector. At least 40% of the paddy production in Chattisgarh is procured by the Food Corporation of India for the central pool. And unlike Punjab and Haryana, where farmers have large land holdings, 86% of Chhattisgarh's land holdings are of less than 5 acres. Anti-farm Bill protesters set tractor on fire at Indian Gate  A tractor was set on fire near India Gate in New Delhi by a group of men protesting against the farm Bills. A tractor was set on fire on Monday at Delhi's India Gate by a group of men protesting against the farm Bills. Eish Singhal, DCP (New Delhi), said that around 15 to 20 persons gathered at Rajpath near India Gate at around 7.15 a.m. and tried to set a tractor on fire. The fire was doused and the tractor removed. "We have detained five persons in the matter till now. An SUV used in the incident has also been taken into police custody. The persons held are native of Punjab. We are verifying their identities," said Singhal. According to police, eye witnesses said that the protesters brought the tractor on a truck, and after reaching Rajpath, pushed it on to the road and set it on fire. The protesters were holding pictures of Bhagat Singh and raised slogans against the farm Bills passed recently by Parliament. UPSC says not possible to postpone exam; petitioners say fundamental rights being violated  Union Public Service Commission in wooden block. The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Monday expressed its reluctance to postpone the civil services exams due on October 4. Appearing before a Bench led by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, advocate Naresh Kaushik for UPSC said it would not be possible to further defer the exams as they had already been postponed due to the pandemic. Kaushik said further "deferment may nullify the objective of holding the exams". The court asked the UPSC to file an affidavit by September 29. The Bench agreed to hear the case again on Wednesday. The petition, filed by some aspirants, says the conduct of the exam in the midst of a dangerous public health crisis was a violation of the fundamental right to life of lakhs of aspirants. About six lakh candidates are expected to take the exams in 72 centres. With the rate of infection peaking, the exam would be a cause for further spread of the virus, the plea said. Since many students may opt to not take the exam for fear of the contracting the virus, the fundamental right of students to fulfill their professional aspiration in the civil services is being curtailed, it argued. It also accuses the UPSC of violating the right to equality as aspirants from lower middle classes may not be able to afford the cost of transport, accommodation, and other facilities to take the exam during the pandemic. Age, Covid likely to keep Babri accused from court on verdict day A Special CBI court in Lucknow will pronounce judgment in the Babri Masjid demolition case on Wednesday, almost 28 years after karsevaks demolished the Mughal-era monument in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. Senior BJP leader and former deputy prime minister L.K Advani, his colleagues Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and Kalyan Singh are among the accused. However, it is doubtful if all of them would be able to make it in person during the pandemic as some of them are either aged or unwell. While Advani is 92, Joshi is 86, Singh is 88, and Mahant Nritya Gopal Das is 82. Five accused persons are unwell, said K.K. Mishra, one of the defence lawyers. While Bharti is Covid-19 positive, Singh has been admitted in a hospital. Mahant Das is receiving treatment in his ashram and another accused, Satish Pradhan, is wheel-chair bound after suffering from gangrene. "Nothing is official as of now, but looking at the circumstances we can estimate that it won't be possible [for the unwell accused persons] to come," said Mishra. While 351 prosecution witnesses were examined by the court, Mishra told The Hindu that they did not produce any witness in court as it was difficult to find one from among the group [that had gathered in Ayodhya]. Senior lawyers pointed out that it was common for the defence side to not produce many witnesses in criminal cases. The CBI judge has directed all 32 accused persons in the criminal conspiracy case to be present in court in person on Wednesday. Delhi High Court restricts access to online hearings  A view of the Delhi High Court in New Delhi. File A Delhi High Court Bench has directed that the link to its court proceedings, now being conducted through video-conferencing (VC) due to the Covid-19 pandemic, should not be shared with members of the public, including reporters. Justice Suresh Kumar Kait said, "A very unpleasant situation arose before this court during the hearing of present case. Certain unidentified persons joined the proceedings through VC and could be heard talking continuously, thereby creating hindrance in hearing the submissions of counsels and proper justice dispensation". "I hereby direct Registry/Court Master to not provide the link to video conferencing to any other person or correspondent and the same shall be provided only to advocates concerned, IO concerned, parties in person in case the petition is filed for quashing and to the persons specifically directed by this court to join the proceedings," Jutsice Kait said. "It is made clear that no advocate shall share the link with anyone else except the senior advocates or the advocates appearing on their behalf," said Justice Kait's September 21 order. Earlier this year, as per barnadbench.com, the Delhi High Court had released a circular allowing the public to seek video conferencing links for its virtual hearings. Incidentally, as per data released by the High Court earlier this month, a whopping 95% of the litigants and advocates preferred the online or VC mode over physical hearing. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 61,21,310 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 96,136. Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja today said that the state is witnessing a second wave of infections and warned of another lockdown. "The state has been trying its level best to avoid a total lockdown," she said. "But if the people are not ready to cooperate with the authorities, the state will have to go in for a total lockdown again in the state." Meanwhile, Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport will resume flight operations at the T2 terminal from October 1. The terminal has remained shut in view of the coronavirus crisis. In Brief: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has extended the ban on the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K) by notifying it as an "unlawful association" under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The Naga insurgent group, since it was first banned in 2015, has been involved in 104 violent incidents, resulting in the death of seven security personnel and six civilians, and abduction of 75 civilians, the MHA said in a notification issued on Monday. The insurgent group had in 2015 abrogated the ceasefire agreement with the Centre and carried out a string of attacks, including an ambush that killed 18 soldiers in Manipur the same year. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. | 
Post a Comment