Supreme Court turns down govt plea to re-open NRC process in Assam

News Network
August 13, 2019

New Delhi, Aug 13: The Supreme Court of India today declined the plea of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led union government and Assam state government to re-open the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process in Assam and conduct a sample re-verification of data collected, especially in the border districts of the State where Muslims are in majority.

A Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Rohinton Nariman said the security regime for the NRC data should be on the same lines as that of Aadhaar information.

Only hard copies of lists of inclusions and exclusions should be provided at the district offices and the list of exclusions should be published only once.

Orders under Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act should be challenged in the Guwahati High Court. The NRC data should only be published online on August 31.

Those born after December 3, 2004 will not be included in the NRC if any of the parents is a doubtful voter or a declared foreigner by a tribunal.

In the previous hearing, the court stood firm by its resolution to have the NRC list published by August 31.

The Bench also had said that it was not going into the report of NRC State Coordinator Prateek Hajela in which he mentioned leakage of information on it in the Assam Assembly and certain statements made by the Leader of the Opposition there and Santanu Bharali, legal adviser to Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

During the hearing, the Bench had been informed that provisions under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act had been applied for considering the individuals under the NRC.

The top court had said it would pass an order as to whether the inclusion of people under the NRC would be based on Section 3(1)(a), 3(1)(b) and Section 3(1)(c) of the Act.

Section 3(1)(b) says every person born in India on or after July 1, 1987, but before the commencement of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003 and either of whose parents is a citizen of India at the time of his birth shall be a citizen of India by birth.

Section 3(1)(c) provides that a person is a citizen by birth if born on or after the commencement of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003, and both of his parents are citizens of India or one of whose parents is a citizen of India and the other is not an illegal migrant at the time of his birth.

On July 23, the Supreme Court extended the deadline for publication of the final NRC in Assam by a month to August 31.

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coastaldigest.com news network
August 7,2020

Udupi, Aug 6: Three people including police personnel entered a well and rescued an elderly woman who had accidentally fallen into Udupi on Thursday.

A police sub-inspector and two others got down into a well and rescued the elderly woman, who accidentally fell into well at near her home at Kukkikatte.

The locals immediately alerted to police and fire and rescue personal.

Udupi town police sub-inspector Sadashiva Govroji, fire and rescue staff Vinayaka and a local Auto-driver Rajesh Nayak got into the well and brought the woman out safely.

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coastaldiget.com web desk
June 18,2020

Amidst heightened border tensions between Indian and China, senior BJP leader and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's two year old tweet comparing his party with Communist Party of China started going viral. 

The tweet, dated 26 June, 2016 reads: "Communist Party of China & BJP have done numerous works in social field. This way, there is tremendous similarities between the two parties." (sic)

Twitterati dug up this tweet after over 20 Indian Army personnel, including a colonel, were killed in a clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh earlier this week.

Soon after Chouhan's tweet went viral, netizens took to the micro-blogging site and slammed BJP. One user said, "Interesting comment by Hindutva ITSELF to recognise how similar they are with China. No doubt. Both believe in Dragon Throne .... and brutal absolute control." Another user said, "No wonder the BJP & China both agree that PLA never crossed into Indian territory."

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News Network
February 4,2020

Feb 4: Americans on Monday kicked off the first vote of the 2020 presidential race as the midwestern state of Iowa began its caucuses, the closely-watched first step in deciding which Democrat will face incumbent Donald Trump in November's election.

The two frontrunners, left-wing Senator Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden face a key test in the sparsely populated state, with a handful of others looking to make their mark to give their campaigns momentum.

The Iowa vote is a critical early look at the viability of the 11 Democratic candidates still in the race - even though just 41 Iowa delegates are up for grabs, a fraction of the 1,991 needed to secure the party nomination in July.

Iowa Democrats filed into nearly 1,700 caucus sites - schools, libraries, churches, mosques and meeting halls with Sanders and Biden in the lead in the state, followed by former South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg and Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is also on the left of the party.

But polling has fluctuated and Iowa's quirky caucus system - where voting is not by secret ballot but by public declaration for a candidate - makes the night hard to predict.

Luke Elzinga, a volunteer for Sanders, appeared early at Lincoln High School in Des Moines which was converted into a caucus location.

"I think he really inspires a lot of young people, a lot of disaffected voters who might not otherwise turn out," Elzinga, 28, told AFP news agency shortly before the caucusing began.

"And so I think he's the best candidate to beat Trump."

Three candidates - Sanders, Warren and Amy Klobuchar - have faced the unprecedented scenario of spending much of the past two weeks tethered to Washington for the impeachment trial of Trump instead of on the campaign trail in Iowa.

Even as candidates sought to make 11th-hour impressions on undecided voters, the senators were obligated to return to Washington for the trial's closing arguments on Monday.

Defeating Trump

In a vote scheduled for Wednesday, Trump is almost certain to be acquitted by the Republican-led upper house on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

For Democrats, second-tier hopefuls Klobuchar and tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang look to outpace expectations and seize momentum heading into the next contest in New Hampshire on February 11.

Earlier on Monday Biden - who still holds the lead in national polls - brought pizza to a field office in a strip mall near Des Moines to thank volunteers.

"I'm feeling good about today," he said.

Like many candidates, Biden spent the weekend crisscrossing Iowa in a final push to convince undecided voters he is best placed to accomplish Democrats' number one goal: defeating Trump.

The president has not stood idly by. On Sunday he branded Biden "Sleepy Joe" and described Sanders as "a communist," previewing a likely line of attack were Sanders to win the nomination.

Unlike secret ballot voting, caucus-goers publicly declare their presidential choice by standing together with other supporters of a candidate.

Candidates who reach 15 percent support earn delegates for the nomination race while supporters of candidates who fall short can shift their allegiance to others.

Turnout is critical, and candidates and their representatives will seek to persuade voters on issues including healthcare, taxes and ending Washington corruption.

One key candidate who has opted not to contest in Iowa is billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg, who entered the race in November but has surged into fourth place in RealClearPolitics' national polling average.

The former New York mayor, who has spent more than $300m on advertising, according to Advertising Analytics, is focused on running a national campaign with particular emphasis on states that vote on "Super Tuesday," on March 3.

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