Today’s Big Stories
Traffic hit, many hurt: JNU students face off with police as they took detour to reach Parliament
Around 100 JNU students, including students union president Aishe Ghosh, were detained and some were injured when police baton-charged protestors as they marched towards Parliament on the first day of Winter Session, demanding a total rollback of the hostel fee hike. Students took to Twitter to share pictures of the march and of injuries they allegedly received at the hands of the police, as the hashtag "emergencyinJNU" trended on the microblogging site. Meanwhile, office-bearers of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) claimed that they met a senior HRD Ministry official over the hostel fee hike and submitted a memorandum of demands, including the sacking of the vice-chancellor.
Amid Maharashtra Impasse, PM Modi's praise for Sharad Pawar's NCP in Rajya Sabha raises eyebrows
Ahead of talks between NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress president Sonia Gandhi over Maharashtra government formation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday extolled the virtues of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) at the Winter Session of Parliament, praising the party for strictly “adhering to parliamentary norms.” Meanwhile, keeping his cards close to his chest, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said he had only discussed the political situation in Maharashtra with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the two parties will hold talks with their other allies, before taking a decision on government formation in the state.
In Other News
Troubleshooting: Faced with intense competition and unprecedented statutory dues, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea on Monday announced a hike in mobile phone call and data charges from December saying the increase was warranted for the viability of their business.
Electoral bonds: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday took a swipe at Modi government over a Huffington Post report illuminating how it overlooked the RBI to introduce electoral bonds. Taking to Twitter, Gandhi said that in 'New' India, bribes and illegal commissions are called electoral bonds.
Trump impeachment: President Donald Trump on Monday said he is "strongly" considering answering a challenge from opposition Democrats to testify in his own impeachment investigation. After the speaker of the lower house, Nancy Pelosi, upped the ante by suggesting that Trump come forward to tell the "truth," the Republican president said he was keen.
Tragic: Four Indian Army personnel and two civilian porters were killed after they were hit by an avalanche in northern part of the Siachen Glacier on Monday afternoon. The avalanche struck the group at an altitude of 19,000 ft around 3 pm.
Uniform change: Rajya Sabha kicked off celebrations to mark the historic 250th session of the House with a change in uniform of its marshals. The two marshals, who stand next to the Chair , were seen in military style uniform on the first day of winter session.
On Our Specials
Cause for concern: India and the minorities in Sri Lanka – Tamils and Muslims – will have to see the election of Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the seventh president of the island nation with caution and concern. Gotabaya’s victory in the presidential elections, where the minority communities in the north and the east of the island voted in unison against him, was a decisive verdict from the over 70 per cent Sinhala majority in the country. It marks the return of the Rajapaksa brothers to power and threatens to take Sri Lanka back to the “authoritarian family rule” that it had witnessed under former president Mahinda Rajapaksa between 2005 and 2015. TM Veeraraghav writes why the return of Rajapaksas is a cause for caution and concern both for India and Tamils in Sri Lanka.
A case of communal hatred?: Fathima Lateef, the humanities student at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, who reportedly committed suicide 10 days ago, had begun showing signs of stress due to events on the campus before taking the extreme step, said her twin sister Aysha Lateef who is studying law in Kerala. Aysha believes that more than one professor and a few students could be responsible for her sister’s death. Poornima Murali writes about the circumstances that led to IIT-Madras student's death.
On Reel
Demanding a complete rollback of the hostel fee hike, thousands of JNU students today started their protest march from the university campus towards the Parliament amid heavy police deployment. Watch to know more.
Curated and compiled by Karan Anand
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