News18 Daybreak | The Jaitley Interview, Encounters in UP and Other Stories You May Have Missed

Episode 54,   Feb 06, 2018, 04:20 AM

In case you missed it

The juvenile accused in the Ryan murder case had asked at least six of his friends to get poison or a knife for him to kill “some child” and was “relaxed” to know that conductor Ashok had been arrested for the murder. The Central Bureau of Investigation that has taken over the murder probe from Gurugram Police filed its charge sheet against the juvenile accused and made some new revelations.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley sat down with News18 Network Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi for a comprehensive interview covering a multitude of topics including budget, politics, his influences, and his charm. Jaitley dismissed the suggestion that middle class was short-changed in the budget and said he gave a relief of Rs 12,000 crore to them. Jaitley also rejected the idea of simultaneous polls as Constitution does not permit so. Read the full transcript of the interview here.

During his first speech in the Rajya Sabha, BJP President Amit Shah hailed the work done by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and also lashed out at the Congress for “55 years of misrule.” Hitting back at detractors and those making fun of PM’s “pakodanomics”, he said, “I saw a tweet by Chidambaram Ji. He said will the poor now have to sell pakodas? I want to say that working hard and selling pakodas is better than being unemployed. Today, that man is selling pakodas, his next generation will become big industrialists. After all, this is a nation where the son of a tea seller can become Prime Minister.”

With the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces engaged in peace missions in at least eight nations across the world, there is now a need to ensure post-conflict resolutions bring lasting peace. One way, experts believe, is to involve more women in the peace process. One of the largest contributors to UN peacekeeping missions, India, is all set to take the lead in terms of involving more women.

Outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief and Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed dared the Pakistani government to arrest him if it can and said he will not stop fighting the case of Kashmiri people.

As per official data, ever since the Yogi Adityanath-led government came to power 10 months ago, there have been more than 1100 police encounters in the state. These shootouts have caused the death of 34 criminals, left 265 injured and led to the arrest of 2744 history-sheeters.

The practice of female genital mutilation among Dawoodi Bohras has been a long-standing debate, while a recent report by a non-profit group has established that India is a hub of the practice with no laws to put it in check. It is one of the first studies to document the impact that female genital mutilation has on the victims.

Do health issues, debt, and unemployment worry you? The RSS’ Gau Sewa cell has a one-stop solution to all your problems – the cow. Taking forward the central government’s flagship National Health Protection Scheme, the Gau Sewa cell members plan to visit various temples and mutts on March 31 to spread awareness on the benefits of cow urine and cow dung.

A woman in Lucknow opened fire to save her husband from the goons in Amrapali Vihar in the Kakori area of the state capital. The video footage of the incident shows how a person rings the bell and when Abid Ali, a local journalist, comes out, five more people join in and start beating him with sticks. After a few seconds, Abid's wife emerges from inside the house with a service revolver and starts firing on the goons to rescue her husband. No one was injured in the firing, though.

Widows living in Vrindavan have been rendered “invisible in the discourse on poverty” with the negligible data available on them. A Supreme Court-appointed panel to look into the rehabilitation of Vrindavan widows recently submitted its report and came up with this observation and suggested that a ‘Widows’ Cell’ be framed to look at the shortcomings.

The Agra administration has denied permission to a Tiranga Yatra organised by social activist Shabana Khandelwal in which hundreds of Muslims were supposed to take part.

Agree or disagree?

The policies and allocations that were announced in Budget 2018, serve to seemingly provide confirmation of the facts that have been apparent over the past quarter of a year. India, which has often portrayed itself as a leader in the battle against climate change, is, in fact, doing the exact opposite. Aparajit Pandey, a programme coordinator with the Observer Research Foundation, writes that the new budget makes it clear that climate change is no longer a priority for the government.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech for 2018-19, declared that the Indian government does not recognise cryptocurrencies as legal tender. While the move is expected to trigger short-term panic selling, the greatest effect is likely to be on the cryptocurrency exchanges that have cropped up in India in the recent past. Bedavyasa Mohanty writes that if the Budget speech is indeed hinting towards regulation of cryptocurrencies rather than an overall ban, then this regulation must come swiftly and must keep in mind the long-term possibilities of crypto-coins gaining widespread acceptance.