Top Stories on 22 March in a capsule

Rajya Sabha elections for 25 seats begins today

Elections for the 250 member, Upper House of the Parliament, Rajya Sabha will take place today. Among the 58 vacancies that are to be filled, 33 candidates from 10 states have already been elected unopposed. The voting today will take place for the remaining 28 seats. Six states namely Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Telangana and Karnataka will go into polls today. The 10 seats of Uttar Pradesh will the centre of attention as it will be witnessed if the new alliance of the SP-BSP can change BJP's assured majority. The counting of the votes will take place today itself, with the results expected by evening.

_______________________

China threatens to increase tariffs on $3 billion of US imports

China has announced a list of US goods including pork and aluminium pipe it says may be hit by higher tariffs in response to President Donald Trump's higher import duties. Trump led US government on Thursday released a series of new trade sanctions on China including tariffs on about $60 billion of Chinese imports. Trump’s decision comes a day after he received the US trade Representative Report that cited China ‘using foreign ownership restrictions, including joint venture requirements, equity limitations and other investment restrictions to require or pressure technology transfer from US companies to Chinese entities.’ The move led to a sharp fall in US stocks, that tumbled the most on six weeks. With the stage set for a global trade war, China was quoted by AFP, warning the US that it is ready to retaliate.

_______________________

BCCI clears Shami of match fixing charges

The Board of Cricket council of India (BCCI) cleared cricketer Mohammad Shami of match fixing charges on Thursday, a week after the Anti Corruption Unit had started the investigations. Shami’s annual contact was withheld after his wife Hasin Jahan had charged him with domestic abuse, rape and match fixing on March 10. With the green signal from BCCI, Shami has entered the Grade B of the annual retainership contract, meaning he will be receiving Rs 3 crore per annum. Reacting to the development, Shami told media persons, “I had to go through a lot in the past 10-15 days. But I had full faith in BCCI.”

_______________________

Arjuna awardee Soumyajit Ghosh accused of rape

India's youngest table tennis player to win in Olympics and Arjuna awardee Soumyajit Ghosh was on Thursday accused of rape by an 18-year-old, who later claimed that Ghosh had promised to marry her. An FIR in this regard was filed at West Bengal’s Barasat Women Police Station on Wednesday. Reacting to the allegations, Ghosh said he is a victim of blackmailing and that he had at one point of time planned to marry the alleged victim. “For the past one year, she has been taking money from me and I have receipts of more than Rs 1 lakh which prove that I paid her expenses,” Ghosh was quoted by several media outlets.


_______________________

Maldives lifts state of emergency after 45 days 

The government of Maldives on Thursday declared the end of the state of emergency, 45 days after it was implemented. President Abdulla Yameen’s office in an official statement said the emergency has been lifted "in an effort to promote normalcy" despite there still existing a "diminished threat to national security". The security forces arrested former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Yameen's half-brother, Supreme Court judges and a top judicial administrator on charges of terrorism and trying to disrupt the government. Yameen had imposed the emergency on February 5 after the Supreme Court directed him to free nine opposition leaders, held in jail on charges of revolting against him.

_______________________

BJP's allegations of data manipulation a distraction: Rahul

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday took to Twitter, to react BJP’s allegations of data theft on his party, calling it a move to distract attention from the murder of the 39 Indians by Islamic State of Iraq (ISIS) in Iraq. The incident Gandhi refers to is that of Foreign Affairs Ministers Sushma Swaraj announcing the deaths of the 39 Indians who were abducted by the ISIS in Iraq’s Mosul, in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, four years after the incident happened. The Ministry of External Affairs, was criticized for withholding information from the families of the deceased, with the Opposition demanding Swaraj’s resignation. Meanwhile, Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday accused Congress of using data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica to lure voters.


_______________________

CBSE demands probe into Class 9 student’s suicide

A day after the suicide of a 15-year-old student of Noida’s Ahlcon Public School, angry parents protested against the incident and block traffic in East Delhi and the National Highway 24, on Thursday. As per media reports, the deceased, a Class 9 student was found dead at her Mayur Vihar residence on Tuesday after she faced harassment from two of her school teachers. Alleging the ‘school killed her’, the father of the victim said they failed her in Social science paper intentionally.” The school principal has denied the allegations, saying the student was an ‘average’ pupil. The accused teachers and the principal have been booked under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) for inciting a person to suicide, while the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has demanded a CBI inquiry in the case.


_______________________

Govt announces free education for children of Martyrs

Removing the cap of Rs 10,000, the government on Thursday has decided to fund the entire education of children of armed forces who were killed, missing or disabled on duty, the Ministry of Finance said. Earlier, the educational concession was up to Rs 10,000 a month. Previously, such children were given a full reimbursement of tuition fees, hostel charges, cost of books, cost of uniforms and clothing. However, in a decision taken under the Seventh Pay Commission, a cap of Rs. 10, 000 was introduced on the same. Reports suggest that Indian Navy Chief Admiral Anil Lanba had written to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, requesting the government to retract its order that limited reimbursement in education.


_______________________

UP govt to withdraw Muzzafarnagar riots cases, Opposition criticizes

The Yogi Adityanath led Uttar Pradesh government came under fire on Thursday as its decision to withdraw cases related to the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots was heavily criticized by the Opposition. Reportedly, the BJP government in UP has started the process of withdrawing 131 cases related to the riots that killed 62 people in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli. Though the BJP maintained that it is only withdrawing false cases, the Opposition has slammed the move calling it an ‘amnesty’ for rioters. Congress leaders Kapil Sibal said ‘state is protecting murderers not victims of violence.” AIMIM leader Asauddin Owaisi called out the Adityanath- BJP government, for ruling in the name of religion.


_______________________

Swiggy partners with PhonePe for simplified payments 

Homegrown online food delivery start-up Swiggy on Thursday partnered with digital payments company PhonePe to simplify transactions. The technology and product teams of both the companies have collaborated to build a one-tap checkout flow for Swiggy’s users. At present, the integration has been completed only on its Android application and will be launched on the company's website, mobile site, and iOS app in a few weeks. This is the first step for PhonePe in the Indian food delivery market.

_______________________