Nasheman News :The Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, journalist-turned politician Arun Shourie and activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan are guilty of leakage of sensitive information having a bearing on national security and combat capacity of Rafale fighter jets.
Citing “secrecy” in the matter, the Centre contended that the three petitioners – Sinha, Shourie and Bhushan – are “guilty of leakage of sensitive information, which offends the terms of the agreements” on the fighter jet.
In an affidavit, the government said the leaked information was now available to the “enemy/our adversaries”, adding those who have conspired in this leakage were guilty of penal offences punishable under Indian Penal Code.
The offences include theft by unauthorized photocopying and leakage of sensitive official documents affecting national security, which relate to war capacity of combat aircraft, said the affidavit filed by the Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra.
The Centre’s affidavit comes on the eve of a hearing on the plea for the review of the apex court’s December 14 judgement giving a clean chit to the Centre by holding that the decision-making process on the Rafale jets was not in doubt.
The matter is listed for hearing on March 14.
An internal inquiry, started on February 28, is aimed at finding out where the leakage took place. “… It is of utmost concern so that in future the sanctity of decision-making process in governance is maintained”, says the affidavit filed by the Defence Secretary.
The Centre has contended that the four-page note annexed with the petition seeking a review of the December 14 judgement is a “secret” document.
Similarly in the miscellaneous application by Sinha and others seeking perjury action against the officers allegedly for misleading the court consists of two notes of two pages and 8 pages which too are privileged.
All the three documents – one annexed with the review petition and two with the miscellaneous applications — have been authenticated by Bhushan.
Contending that the documents attached to the review petition and miscellaneous application were “sensitive to national security which relates to the capacity of combat aircraft”, the Centre asserted that this has put “the national security in jeopardy.”
Those who have “conspired in making the photocopies of these sensitive documents” without the “consent, permission or acquiescence of the Central government” have committed theft by unauthorised photocopying of such documents, says the affidavit.
The Centre further said that “secrecy was envisaged in the various agreements that the Central government had entered into with the foreign government and others on matters of national security.”
The leakage of documents to relating Rafale has “adversely affected the sovereignty, security and friendly relations with foreign countries.”
The petitioners “unauthorisedly accessed the documents with the intention to present a “selective and incomplete picture of internal secret deliberations.”
“The documents presented by the petitioners fail to bring out how the issues were addressed and resolved and if necessary approval of competent authorities was taken”, says the affidavit.
The selective and incomplete presentation of facts and records by the petitioners, the Centre has contended, is “intended to mislead the court into driving wrong conclusions, which are very damaging to the national security and public interest.”
The government cited recent CAG report to back its contention.
The Centre has contended that the documents which were unauthorisedly photocopied belonged to a class for which it was “entitled to claim privilege under Section 123 and 124 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.”
Asserting that the petitioners had “no authority whatsoever to produce the same before the court without explicit permission” of the government, the government affidavit says that these documents are exempt from disclosure under Section 8(1)(a) of the Right to Information Act.
Kartarpur corridor talks begin at Attari
Nasheman News : Exactly a month after the Pulwama terror attack killed 40 CRPF troopers, Indian and Pakistani officials met on Thursday here, near Amritsar, to finalise modalities of the corridor to the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara.
This is the first time the two sides met after tension escalated between the neighbours.
We Can Form The Government Within 24 Hours : Yeddiyurappa
The BJP can take power in Karnataka “within 24 hours” if it wins 22 seats in the state in the April-May national election, the party’s state chief BS Yeddyurappa has said.
The BJP currently has 16 of Karnataka’s 28 parliamentary seats. The state’s ruling alliance partners Janata Dal Secular and the Congress have two and 9 seats.
“I am not telling you this is out of audacity. If the people of Karnataka give us 22 seats in the coming Lok Sabha elections, we will form the government in Karnataka within 24 hours,” Mr Yeddyurappa bragged at a public meeting on Sunday.
“20 lawmakers from Congress have not accepted HD Kumaraswamy as their chief minister,” he added.
The former chief minister has often been in the headlines over his pronouncements while campaigning for next month’s national election.
Last month, Mr Yeddyurappa had controversially said that the Indian Air Force’s air striketargeting a terror training camp in Pakistan’s Balakot on February 26 would help the BJP win 22 seats in Karnataka.
“The recent act of armed forces attacking Pakistan has turned the tide in Narendra Modi’s favour as the youth is happy after the attack. It will help us win 22 seats in Karnataka,” he had told reporters in Chitradurga on February 28.
Later, he backtracked and said there was “no question of drawing political mileage” out of the air strike and that his statement had been taken out of context.
Mr Yeddyurappa was sworn in as chief minister soon after the Karnataka elections last year in May. He was forced to resign as the BJP was short of the majority mark of 111 in the state assembly.
The JDS and Congress tied up to form government.2
Over the past few months, both sides have accused each other of trying to get lawmakers to switch sides. The ruling combine has been fighting to keep its flock together amid reports of “missing” or disgruntled Congress
Agencies
5th ODI: Australia opt to bat vs India
Nasheman News :Australia skipper Aaron Finch won the toss and opted to bat against India in the fifth and final ODI of the rubber at the Ferozshah Kotla here on Wednesday.
The visitors Shaun Marsh misses out for Marcus Stoinis while Nathan Lyon has replaced Jason Behrendorff. On the other hand, Yuzvendra Chahal has been replaced by Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami replaces Lokesh Rahul.
The series is currently tied at 2-2.
Teams:
India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli(Captain), Rishabh Pant(wicket-keeper), Kedar Jadhav, Vijay Shankar, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
Australia : Aaron Finch(Captain), Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Ashton Turner, Alex Carey(wicket-keeper), Jhye Richardson, Pat Cummins, Adam Zampa, Nathan Lyon.
Cabinet approves notification for LS elections
Nasheman News : The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a notification to begin the election process to constitute the 17th Lok Sabha.
The Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the notification.
The Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19 and counting of votes in all 543 constituencies will be taken up on May 23.
I Will Contest polls Definitely : Sumalatha
MYSURU: Sumalatha Ambareesh, wife of late actor-politician’s MH Ambareesh, dug her heels in as she made her intentions clear on Tuesday. “I will contest from Mandya. I will not go back on my word or rethink,” said the actor. Appealing to people not to believe rumours being spread, she said that she would not go back on her decision. Her only confusion was whether she would contest independently or on a Congress ticket, and this would become clear before March 18, she said.
A few people are using social media to mislead voters, Sumalatha said. She said she believes in the faith and emotional attachment of the people and the blessings of Ambareesh, and no one can stop her from contesting.
Agencies
Pak spy assigned to collect info on Indian Army arrested
A 36-year-old man, who was detained near the International Border on suspicion of spying for Pakistan, has been arrested, officials said here Tuesday.
Nawab Khan, a resident of Sam area near the India-Pakistan border in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer district, was detained on Sunday, an official said.
Khan was involved in espionage activities and was working as a jeep driver, Additional Director General of Intelligence Umesh Mishra said.
Khan used to share information to his handlers based in Pakistan through WhatsApp in code language in lieu of money, Mishra said.
Khan visited Pakistan last year where he came in touch with an agent of that country’s intelligence agency ISI. The ISI agent trained him and gave him tasks of collecting and sharing information related to Army movement, the officer said.
He was arrested after being interrogated by a joint team of security agencies.
India, US call on Pakistan to address terrorism
Nasheman News : India and the US have called on Pakistan to address terrorism, including cross-border terrorism, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Wednesday.
Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale held consultations on March 12 in Washington D.C., the Ministry said in a statement.
They reaffirmed their commitment to an Indo-US strategic partnership, reviewed the progress made since the Ministerial 2+2 meet, and discussed ways to further expand cooperation.
The countries also exchanged views on building convergences in the Indo-Pacific region and agreed to promote inclusivity, stability, peace and prosperity in the region.
Google bids goodbye to instant messaging app ‘Allo’
[Nasheman news] San Francisco After pausing investments in its “Allo” mobile messaging app, Google has finally bid goodbye to the platform that was launched with much fanfare in 2016.
A banner across the official Allo website confirmed that March 12 was its last day in operation, The Verge reported on Monday.
“During our time together, we brought you a smarter way to chat, with features like the Google Assistant, ‘Allo’ for web and selfie stickers but now the app is signing off,” the banner on Allo’s page read.
Last year in April, Anil Sabharwal, the head of the communications group at Google told the media that “Allo” as a product did not achieve the level of traction the company had hoped for.
Even though the app’s successor is not quite ready yet, Google has incorporated some of Allo’s features like smart replies and desktop support into the Android Messaging app.
“We’re working to bring your favorite features to the Messages app so you can have richer conversations with all your friends. If you have an Android phone, we hope you’ll try Messages!” the banner said.
“Allo” was launched as an instant messaging mobile app for the Android and iOS mobile Operating Systems (OS), with a web client available on Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Opera browsers.
After Allo’s exit, Google is going all in on Rich Communication Services (RCS) — the successor to SMS that’s been a long time coming — to give Android a successful messaging app.
“It’s far from universal, but now that Google is focused on just a single messaging app, it has a better chance of gaining some momentum,” The Verge said.
WOMEN’S DAY CELEBRATION
Women’s Day at Baldwin Women’s Methodist College was celebrated with great ardour which spanned for three days from 6th of March to 8th March, 2019. There was a plethora of events planned for all these three days which not only saw the entire college come alive with zeal but also left its lasting impact on all. The three-day programme was proficiently conducted by Dr.Vedha Surendra, HOD, English Department along with the Students of Humanities department.
6-3-19– Day 1 of the three-day saga began with a theme titled “Be strong, be confident”!
The day commenced with the “Capture me contest” where the students were asked to tag a picture of themselves with the person who inspired them the most and tag the picture at #webaldwinians with a suitable caption. The best 3 pictures were selected to be awarded.
Later the Guest speaker, Dr.Christabel Shirley who was invited to address the studentsspoke about the topic: “The significance of life as a student and how to make an impact”. The speaker spoke in-depth about the topic and later adeptly handled the questions posed by the students regarding various issues they face in the society as a girl. The entire programme was received well by the students.
Literary events such as ‘Poetry writing’ and ‘Essay writing’ was set for the later part of the day. The topics were:‘Waves of change’ and ‘Breaking the barriers’ respectively. Students from all the classes participated enthusiastically. The dress code for the day was “Beautifully yours Anarkalis”! and the girls looked splendid in their colourful Anarkallis. The events of the first day definitely empowered the students to be the strong and confident women they ought to be.