SC grants bail to Chidambaram
- The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in the case registered by the CBI in the INX Media case.
- A three judge Bench, led by Justice R. Banumathi, rejected the argument by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that those accused in economic offences should be treated as a “flight risk” and denied bail.
Court to look into govt. plea for access to WhatsApp chats
- The Supreme Court has decided to examine whether social media intermediaries, such as Facebook and WhatsApp, should facilitate the state to access encrypted and private conversations of citizens, purportedly to fight crime and terror.
- Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta said the government’s move to gain more access into social media was not a “ploy” and was triggered by a deep concern for the sovereignty of the nation. It stemmed out of national interest.
- “The government has no intention to invade the privacy of innocents,” Mr. Meh-ta said. Intermediaries should cooperate with the government to secure the nation against terror. “Your Lordships have to find a balance between national interest, sovereignty and pol-ice investigation with individual privacy.”
Trudeau retains power but loses majority
- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals held onto power after a closely fought election on Monday, but were reduced to a minority government that will need the support in Parliament of a smaller Left-leaning party.
One in every six missing children from Bengal: NCRB
- One in every six children who go missing in the country is from West Bengal, an analysis of the latest report of the National Crime Re-cords Bureau (NCRB) points out.
- West Bengal is followed by Madhya Pradesh, which recorded 14,158 cases. In fact, the number of children missing recorded in 2017is marginally higher than what was recorded in 2016, both in the case of West Bengal and the country.
Telcos likely to get more time to pay ₹ 42,000 cr. in spectrum dues
- To provide relief to the debt-ridden telecom sector, the Central government is considering a proposal to allow a two year moratorium to telecom operators on the pending spectrum payment, which will help them to avoid an outflow of over₹42,000 crore.
- The government is also mulling a reduction in universal service obligation levy to 3% from the present 5%. “We are finalising some proposals to provide relief to the telecom sector. One proposal is allowing a two-year moratorium on spectrum auction deferred payment liabilities,” a senior official told The Hindu.
Ayodhya ‘deepotsav’ given State Fair tag
- The Uttar Pradesh government has granted the status of State fair to the Deepotsav Mela to be held in Ayodhya during Deepavali.
- The festival, in which over 5.5 lakh lamps will be lit on October 26, will be held at an estimated cost of ₹133crore, government spokes-person Shrikant Sharma said.