The Good Word

ISRO launches its heaviest rocket

with 36 satellites, successfully

Indian exports

surge to a record

$750 billion plus

Mar 25, The BJP

government in Karnataka,

led by Chief Minister (CM)

Basavaraj Bommai has

announced an imporant

change in reservation

ratios shortly before the

Assembly elections.

Bommai, who presided

over the final cabinet of

his term on Friday,

abolished the current 4%

reservation (2B category)

for Muslims and

transferred it 2% each to

the quota for Lingayats

and Vokkaligas. Muslims

will now be able to avail of

the general 10% pool for

the Economically Weaker

Sections (EWS) of the

society.

‘There is no Constitutional

provision for reservation

for religious minorities. As

per Dr Ambedkar too

reservation is for the caste

alone.’ Bommai explained

in a presser after the

cabinet meeting.

Assembly elections in

Karnataka will be held in a

single phase on May 10.

At: OpIndia, IndiaToday

CBI to SC: Willing

to examine Palghar

Sadhu lynching case

Volume 7S-98| P

Rahul Gandhi disqualified as MP

after conviction in defamation case

Bharat First Visit IndiaWiki.org

Mar 31, India’s showing at

the IBA Women’s World

Boxing Championships

held in New Delhi ended

in a flourish with four gold

medalists– Nitu Ganghas

(48 kg category), Nikhat

Zareen (50kg), Lovlina

Borgohain (75kg) and

Saweety Boora (81kg) –

their best haul in terms of

gold medals since the

World Championships in

2006, also at New Delhi.

Those who showed up at

the 20000-seater KD

Jadhav stadium, with

barely any room left to sit,

were witness to a sea of

Russia to deploy

nuclear weapons

in Belarus

Mar 31, Israeli Prime

Minister (PM) Benjamin

Netanyahu reacted

sharply to comments by

the US President, who

urged him to walk away

from the PM’s judicial

reform plan.

Netanyahu tweeted that

Israel would make its

own decisions, ‘not

based on pressures from

abroad’. He stressed

that his coalition was

committed to

strengthening

democracy by restoring

the proper balance

between the three

branches of

government, which he

was striving to achieve

via a broad consensus.

This comes after

Netanyahu had fired

Defence Minister Yoav

Gallant on Mar 26, a day

after the latter’s speech

called on Israel to stop

the proposed judicial

overhaul. Weeks of

protests have forced the

PM to now defer the

changes until the next

session of Parliament to

allow time for dialogue.

At: BBC, MSN

Israel snubs US on

judicial reforms,

fires Defence Min Mar 23, Nepal has

stopped the census of

three Indian villages,

Kuti, Gunji and Nabi

villages of the Kalapani

area that lie in Indian

territory but which

Nepal has tried claiming

as its own. In its final

census report the data

of the three villages is

missing. Preliminary

estimates were based

on the Indian 2011

census, but as officials

could not physically go

to these villages final

data was omitted. At: TOI

Mar 24, Congress leader

Rahul Gandhi has been

disqualified as a

Member of Parliament,

a day after a court in

Gujarat’s Surat

convicted him in a 2019

criminal defamation

case over his

deprecation of those

with a ‘Modi surname’.

The Lok Sabha

Secretariat has also

declared his Wayanad

constituency vacant.

‘Rahul Gandhi, Member

of Lok Sabha

representing the

Wayanad parliamentary

constituency of Kerala

stands disqualified from

the membership of Lok

Sabha from the date of

his conviction ie Mar 23,

2023 in terms of the

provisions of Article

102(1)(e) of the

Constitution of India

read with Section 8 of

the Representation of

the People Act, 1951,”

the Lok Sabha

Secretariat said in a

notification today.

Indian women Nitu, Nikhat, Lovina and Saweety

hit an incredible 4 golds in World Championships

Centre invokes

UAPA against

Khalistani vandals

Nepal halts census

of 3 Indian villages

over lack of access

Mar 26, Indian Space

Research Organisation’s

(ISRO) heaviest rocket

Launch Vehicle Mark-3

(LVM3) carrying 36

satellites belonging to

UK-based OneWeb

Group, was launched

successfully from Satish

Dhawan Space Centre in

Sriharikota, Andhra

Pradesh. The rocket

weighs 643 tonnes and

is 43.5 meters tall.

The LMV3, previously

referred to as the

Geosynchronous

Satellite Launch Vehicle,

is a three-stage

medium-lift launch

vehicle. It has a higher

payload capacity than

its predecessor, GSLV

Mk II and is primarily

designed to launch

communication

satellites.

At: Trak, Wikipedia Image: NDTV

Mar 29, in a massive

development in the Apr

2020 Palghar Sadhus

lynching case, the

Supreme Court (SC) said it

has no objection to the

probe being taken over by

the Central Bureau of

Investigation (CBI). It

asked the Maharashtra

government to file an

affidavit in the matter by

Apr 14. Asked if the CBI

was ready to probe the

lynching the agency

replied in the affirmative.

The state has also agreed

for a CBI inquiry. At: Republic

Mar 28, in the aftermath

of Uttar Pradesh (UP)

Chief Minister’s vow to

reduce mafia’s to dust in

the state, an MP-MLA

court in Prayagraj

sentenced Atiq Ahmad

and two others to life

imprisonment after

holding them guilty in a

Feb 2006 case of

kidnapping Umesh Pal.

Special MP-MLA court

judge Dinesh Chandra

Shukla held Ahmed,

Saulat Hanif, a lawyer

and Dinesh Pasi guilty

while acquitting seven

others, including

Ahmed's brother Khalid

Azim alias Ashraf, for

lack of sufficient

evidence.

When BSP MLA Raju Pal

was murdered in 2005,

Umesh Pal, then a Zila

Panchayat member, had

told police he was a

witness to the murder.

Umesh had then

revealed that when he

refused to retract his

declaration and buckle

under pressure from

Ahmed, he was

kidnapped at gunpoint

in Feb 2006.

Ahmed and his brother

Ashraf are also accused

of conspiring, while

both brothers were in

prison, in Umesh’s

murder in February this

year.

At: TribuneIndia

Image: HindustanTimes - Atiq being

taken to Prayagraj court

Shri Ram Navmi, Mar 30, image courtesy Twitter

Atiq Ahmed, two aides get

life sentences for kidnapping

Karnataka revokes

Muslim quota

increases others

Mumbai Indians

edge Delhi Capital

to lift WPL title

Mar 26, the Women’s

Premiere League (WPL)

saw Mumbai Indians (MI)

edge Delhi Capital’s (DC)

131 /9 and win the

tournament at Brabourne

Stadium, Mumbai. MI

broke the dangerous DC

opening partnership early.

Shefali Verma got out on

11 to a full toss and

captain Meg Lanning was

run out on 35. MI captain

Harmanpreet Kaur scored

72 and her team got 16 off

the second last over. 100MS

Mar 27, 2023 - Week 13

Mar 25, the Delhi Police

Special Cell has invoked

the stringent Unlawful

Activities (Prevention) Act

(UAPA) against Khalistani

vandalism at its High

Commission in London.

The National Investigation

Agency is likely to take

over the probe. India has

asked the UK to deport

the vandals.

On Mar 22, the MEA

termed the indifference of

the UK government to the

security of the Indian

diplomatic premises and

personnel in the UK,

unacceptable. The Delhi

Police then removed 12

security barricades

outside the British High

Commission premises and

the its Commissioner’s

residence.

Indian law enforcement

agencies will likely take

strict action against

Khalistan supporters in

Australia, Canada, London

and San Francisco. A

lawyer has requested

Delhi Police to file an FIR

and revoke the passports

of these Khalistani

vandals. At: OpIndia,

IndianExpress, IndiaToday, IndiaTV

The Election Commission

can now call for a special

election for the Wayanad

seat.

Gandhi was found guilty

of defamation over his

alleged ‘Why do all

thieves have the name

Modi?’ remark by the

court of Chief Judicial

Magistrate HH Varma.

He was sentenced to two

years in prison, but

moments later, the Surat

court granted the

Congress leader bail on a

surety of ₹ 15,000 and

suspended the sentence

for 30 days to allow him

to appeal it. The

criminal defamation

case was filed by

Bharatiya Janata Party’s

(BJP) Purnesh Modi.

Gandhi will now have to

get a higher court to

stay his conviction and

not merely suspend his

sentence, to end the

disqualification. If he

unable to do so he will

not be able to contest

elections for the next

eight years. The next

general elections are

due in 2024. At: FirstPost

Indian flags and roars of

‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, even

as tears flowed freely,

and fists pumped in the

ring. A decade-and-a-half

ago, the tournament was

held when women’s

boxing was in its infancy

and featured all of 180

athletes from 32

countries. In contrast the

latest edition had 324

boxers from 65 nations.

At: TheHindu, Image: WebDunia– L to

R Nitu, Nikhat, Lovina and Saweety

Mar 28, India's exports

have crossed an all-time

high of $750 billion. The

country's exports have

risen from $500 billion in

2020-2021, to $676 billion

in the next year. This

year’s figure has been

achieved in challenging

global economic

conditions of high

inflation and the war in

Ukraine.

India's free trade

agreements (FTAs) with

Australia and UAE have

been welcomed by

industry in all three

countries. A series of

other FTAs are under

different stages of

discussion and should

materialize shortly.

At: BusinessToday

Mar 26, Russia will

station tactical nuclear

weapons in Belarus,

President Vladimir Putin

has said. He said the

move would not violate

nuclear non-

proliferation

agreements and

compared it to the US

stationing its weapons in

Europe. Moscow would

not be transferring

control of its arms to

Minsk, he added.

The US downplayed the

announcement saying

‘We have not seen any

reason to adjust our

own strategic nuclear

posture’. It also said it

remained committed to

the collective defence of

the Nato alliance.

This will be the first time

since the mid-1990s that

Moscow will have based

nuclear arms outside the

country. After the Soviet

Union collapse in 1991,

all nuclear warheads

were moved to Russia

by 1996 from Ukraine,

Belarus and Kazakhstan.

At: BBC

China skips G20

meet in Arunachal

Mar 27, China omitted

attending a 2-day G20

meeting at Itanagar,

Arunachal Pradesh. It

has disputed Indian

ownership of the

territory in the past.

The G20 meet on

research and innovation

was held on Mar 25th

and 26th and more than

50 delegates attended

it. India will hold G20

meetings in all its 28

states and 8 Union

Territories, including

J&K. At: OpIndia

Amritpal video

surfaces, even as

cops hunt for him

Apr 2, Khalistani fugitive

Amritpal Singh had shared

two video clips featuring

himself on Mar 29 and 30.

The Punjab Police have

now nabbed the aide

whose cell phone may

have been used to make

these clips. The video was

shot at a religious place

and then sent to foreign

handlers to share them on

social media. At: IndiaToday

Cheetah cubs spotted in Kuno; a

first for India after 70 years

Mar 31, in welcome news for wildlife enthusiasts

one of the cheetah’s reintroduced to Kuno from

Namibia has had four cubs. This was the first

time cheetahs were born in India since the

animal became extinct here, in 1952. At: BBC