Nirbhaya case: SC dismisses curative petitions

The Supreme Court on January 14 dismissed the curative petitions filed by two of the four death-row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case. A five-judge Bench headed by Justice N.V. Ramana rejected the curative petitions filed by Vinay Sharma (26) and Mukesh Kumar (32). The proceedings were conducted in-chamber. A curative petition is the last and final legal remedy available to a person. The five judges were unanimous that there was no merit in the curative petitions filed by the two condemned petitioners. A Delhi court had on January 7 issued death warrants against the four convicts and said they would be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar jail. Two other death-row convicts, Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan Gupta (25), had not filed the petitions.

Kerala govt challenges CAA at apex court

The Kerala government has moved the Supreme Court to challenge the Citizenship Amendment Act and sought to declare it as violative of the principles of equality, freedom and secularism enshrined in the Constitution. The CPM-led Kerala government is the first state government to challenge the Act. The Kerala Assembly was also the first in the country to pass a resolution against the Act. In its suit filed in the apex court, the Kerala government has sought to declare that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, is violative of Articles 14 (equality before law), 21 (right to life and personal liberty) and 25 (freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion). It said the CAA is also violative of the basic principle of secularism enshrined in the Constitution.

WPI inflation surges to 2.59 per cent in Dec

Wholesale prices-based inflation surged to 2.59 per cent in December, as against 0.58 per cent in November due to an increase in the prices of food articles like onion and potato. The annual inflation, based on monthly wholesale price index (WPI), was at 3.46 per cent during the same month a year ago (December 2018). The rate of price rise for food articles rose to 13.12 per cent during December as against 11 per cent a month earlier, while for non-food articles it rose nearly four-fold to 7.72 per cent from 1.93 per cent in November, according to official data. Among food articles, vegetable prices surged by 69.69 per cent mainly on account of onion, which witnessed a 455.83 per cent jump in prices, followed by potato at 44.97 per cent.

Michael Patra is new RBI deputy governor

Michael Debabrata Patra has been appointed deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), according to a personnel ministry order. He has been appointed to the post for a period of three years, it said. Patra, who is looking after the monetary policy department as the executive director, will be the fourth deputy governor of the RBI. The post was lying vacant after Viral Acharya had resigned from the post in June last year. Patra is likely to retain the monetary policy department, which was handled by Acharya, as the deputy governor. The RBI, headed by governor Shaktikanta Das, can have a maximum of four deputy governors. N.S. Vishwanathan, B.P. Kanungo and M.K. Jain are the other deputy governors working at the central bank.

‘States not cooperating on river interlinking’

The Centre is ready with its river-linking plans but states are not cooperating on the project due to “vote bank politics”, said Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti Rattan Singh Kataria. At this moment, the central government cannot make it compulsory for states to implement the project, he said. “The central government has worked on the river interlinking project. There are many rivers which can be interlinked. Detailed project reports (DPR) of four are also ready. But state governments are not cooperating on it,” he said. “Many states are not ready to share water in spite of having it in excess. They fear that they may lose votes if they agree to this project,” he said. He said there is a need for diversification, and less water-consuming crops should be taken by farmers in drought-prone areas like Marathwada.

Newsmaker

Captain Tania Shergill, an officer with the Army’s Corps of Signals, will be the first female parade adjutant for the Republic Day parade. A parade adjutant is responsible for the parade. In last year’s Republic Day parade, Captain Bhavna Kasturi was the first female officer to lead an all-male contingent.

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