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Citizenship Bill expected to be tabled in Parliament on Monday amid protests in Northeast

The contentious Citizenship Bill, which got a green signal from the Union Cabinet on Wednesday, is expected to be tabled in the Parliament on Monday amid protests from opposition parties and strong resentment in the Northeastern states.

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Former Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta participates in a demonstration against CAA

The contentious Citizenship Bill, which got a green signal from the Union Cabinet on Wednesday, is expected to be tabled in the Parliament on Monday amid protests from opposition parties and strong resentment in the Northeastern states.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill or CAB aims to provide citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, who were “forced or compelled to seek shelter in India due to persecution on the ground of religion”.

The Bill amends the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Christians and Parsi eligible for citizenship after six years of residence in India. The Bill will also shield them from proceedings of illegal migration.

There are, however, two exceptions to the bill. The CAB will not apply to areas under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution – which deals with autonomous tribal-dominated regions in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. The bill will also not apply to states that have the inner-line permit regime (Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram). These exceptions didn’t exist in the Bill’s earlier version.

The Bill has been slammed by several opposition parties as communal and divisive with the Congress threatening to challenge the proposed legislation in the Supreme Court. “Citizenship can’t be given on the basis of religion,” they reason.

A large section of people and organisations in the Northeast have been opposing the Bill, saying it will nullify the provisions of the Assam Accord of 1985, which fixed March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for deportation of all illegal immigrants irrespective of religion.

The influential All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba-Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), literary organisation Asam Sahitya Sabha (ASS) have announced agitation till the Bill is withdrawn.

Union minister Prakash Javadekar has assured that the government has taken care of the interests of everyone and “the interest of India”. “People will welcome it as it is in the interest of the nation,” he told reporters.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said it violates the basic idea of India that religion can never be a reason for citizenship.

“Those who believe that religion should determine nationhood… that was the idea of Pakistan, they created Pakistan. We have always argued that our idea of the nation was what Mahatma Gandhi, Nehruji, Maulana Azad, Dr Ambedkar have said, that religion cannot determine nationhood,” Tharoor told reporters in Parliament premises.

Calling the CAB “unconstitutional” and “divisive”, veteran Congress leader and three-time Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said the Congress will approach the Supreme Court.

“Congress will move the SC because we believe that CAB is unconstitutional and against the spirit of secularism. It is divisive and violates the constitutional provision – equality for all. There cannot be division on the basis of religion, caste or creed,” he said in a tweet.

The All India United Democratic Front has requested Amit Shah not to introduce the CAB in Parliament as it is “against the interest of people of Assam and the country”. Twelve MPs from the Northeast also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week saying civil society groups of the region are opposing the bill.

Despite facing serious opposition, the BJP is determined to pass the bill. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has directed all party MPs to be present in the Parliament when the bill is tabled saying “this bill is as important as the move to nullify Article 370”.

The draft legislation is expected to sail through Lok Sabha, where the BJP has a majority and is unlikely to face serious hurdles in Rajya Sabha as the ruling party has often managed the support of parties like the BJD, TRS and YSR Congress for its flagship agenda.

The CAB was an election promise of the BJP in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP-led NDA government had introduced the bill in its previous tenure and got the Lok Sabha’s approval. But it did not introduce it in the Rajya Sabha amid protests in the Northeast. The bill lapsed following the dissolution of the last Lok Sabha.

According to the earlier bill, those who came to India on or before December 31, 2014, will benefit from the proposed legislation.

The government is believed to have made certain changes in the new version.

The BJP’s alliance partner in the Assam government, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) which had exited the BJP-led coalition at the centre only to return, appears to be divided on the issue. The AGP’s founding president and signatory to the Assam Accord Prafulla Kumar Mahanta is opposing the bill while the current chief and Agriculture Minister Atul Bora has supported it.

The ruling party’s third alliance partner and Bodoland People’s Front has also not opposed the bill as it is unlikely to be applicable to the BTAD areas which are under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.

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Landslide hits Arunachal Pradesh, highway linking Indo-China border affected

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu said that instructions have been given for the restoration of connectivity at the earliest

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Arunachal Pradesh got hit by a massive landslide on Thursday, which destroyed a section of a roadway connecting the border with China. Additionally, it is the only path that links the district of Dibhang Valley with the rest of India.

Based on initial reports, there has been extensive road damage along the Roing Anini Highway between Hunli and Anini.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu expressed concern over the incident.

Taking to social media X, formerly Twitter, he tweeted, he is disturbed to hear that the massive damage to the highway between Hunli and Anini is causing commuters’ inconvenience. Since this road links Dibang Valley to the rest of the country, instructions have been sent out to restore connectivity as soon as possible.

The incident occurred as a result of the nonstop rain. The district government announced that the Roing Anini highway restoration project would require at least three days to inhabitants of Dibhang Valley.

Videos showed a section of the roadway was missing, making it hard for vehicles to cross throughout and creating problems for the security services and the people, who saw the highway as a lifeline in this difficult area.

In order to fix the damaged sections of the highway, the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) has mobilized resources. There is no shortage of food or other necessities at the moment.

All residents of Dibang Valley are notified that on April 24, 2024, an important portion of NH 313 connecting Anini to Roing washed away due to persistent rain in the district. It is estimated that restoration will take at least three (three days). Therefore, until the road is repaired and the rain returns to normal, all worries are advised, the statement said.

Meanwhile, Arunachal Pradesh’s West Kameng region was recently rocked by an earthquake of magnitude 3.0 on April 20, according to data from the National Centre for Seismology (NCS). The epicentre was located five kilometers below sea level at latitude 27.39 and longitude 92.68.

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India News

Tamannaah Bhatia summoned in illegal IPL streaming app case, to appear before cyber cell on April 29

Actor Tamannaah Bhatia has been summoned for allegedly promoting the viewing of the IPL matches on the Fairplay betting app.

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Actor Tamannaah Bhatia has been summoned by the Maharashtra Cyber Wing to appear for questioning for the illegal streaming of the 2023 Indian Premier League on Fairplay App, a sister app of the Mahadev betting app.

On April 29, the actor is scheduled to appear before the Cyber Cell for interrogation.

In the same case, rapper and singer Badshah was questioned earlier. In addition, actor Sanjay Dutt was also summoned in the same case this week on Tuesday, but he has requested an extension of time to appear before the department.

Even though the Fairplay app lacked official broadcasting rights, all of these actors and singers encouraged users to watch the Indian Premier League, which cost official broadcasters a lot of money.

An FIR was filed in September of last year in response to a complaint made by Viacom18, the company that owns the intellectual property rights (IPR) for streaming Indian Premier League games. According to the complaint, Viacom18 lost over Rs 100 crore as a result of the betting app Fair Play platform illegally streaming IPL matches on their platform.

Many celebrities, including Badshah, Sanjay Dutt, and Jacqueline Fernandez, were summoned for questioning after the filing of the FIR. An employee of the betting app was taken into custody in December of 2023.

A platform for betting exchange, FairPlay provides a large selection of sports and entertainment betting for leisure players.

The most popular sport on FairPlay, according to the app’s website, is tennis, football, and cricket.

According to the website, FairPlay streams every sporting event live so that users can watch and win at the same time.

Actors Ranbir Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor, who had starred in advertisements for the Mahadev betting app, made news last year when the Enforcement Directorate (ED) called them in for interrogation.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Mallikarjun Kharge vows to continue politics till his last breath to defeat BJP

The 81-year-old Congress leader was speaking at a election rally in Afzalpur and said that if the people did not vote for the Congress candidate, he would think that he did not have any place in Kalaburagi anymore.

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Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday appealed to the people of Kalaburagi to at least attend his funeral if they thought he worked for them even though they do not wish to vote for Congress in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

The 81-year-old Congress leader was speaking at a election rally in Afzalpur and said that if the people did not vote for the Congress candidate, he would think that he did not have any place in Kalaburagi anymore. The Congress President sought an emotional chord with the people of his home district of Kalaburagi, Karnataka

The grand old party has fielded Kharge’s son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani from Kalaburagi, against BJP’s sitting MP Umesh Jadhav. Kharge had won the Lok Sabha elections from Kalaburagi in 2009 and 2014, but lost in 2019. He appealed to the voters to vote for Congress but at least come to his funeral if they thought that he had done some work in Kalaburagi. Kharge added that he would continue in politics till his last breath to defeat the BJP and RSS ideology.

The Congress leader said he is born for politics and whether or not he contests the election, he will continue to strive till his last breath to save the Constitution and democracy of the country. He asserted that he will not retire from politics. Kharge said that retirement happens from a position but one should not retire from his/her principles. He said he is born to defeat the ideology of the BJP and RSS and not to surrender before them.

He advised Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who shared the stage with him, to follow his principles. He said he had told Siddaramaiah many times that he may retire as CM or MLA, but he cannot retire from politics till he defeats the ideology of the BJP and RSS.

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