India News
Demonetisation valid: Supreme Court Constitution Bench approves move to demonetise Rs 1000, Rs 500 notes
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2016 note ban was supported by the Supreme Court today, which ruled that the decision making process cannot be faulted merely because the proposal was made by the Central Government.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2016 note ban was supported by the Supreme Court today, which ruled that the decision making process cannot be faulted merely because the proposal was made by the Central Government.
Demonetisation cannot be invalidated due to lack of proportionality, said Justice Gavai.
The Central Board of RBI and the centre had a six-month-long conversation before the centre was obligated to act, according to the judges.
The centre’s decision to outlaw 1,000 and 500 rupee currencies in November 2016 was contested through petitions. The action caused the overnight wiping out of 10 lakh crore currencies.
The Supreme Court received 58 petitions contesting the banning of notes, contending that the government should not have made such a hasty decision and that the ban should be overturned.
The administration maintained that a case cannot be decided by the court if no real relief can be given. According to the centre, it would be like turning back the clock or unscrambling a scrambled egg.
Read Also: R Krishnakumar, former Tata Sons director, dies at 84
Chairman of the Constitution Bench will retire two days after the verdict
The five-judge bench hearing the case includes Justices S Abdul Nazeer, BR Gavai, AS Bopanna, V Ramasubramaniam and Justice BV Nagaratna. Justice S Abdul Nazeer, who is heading the constitution bench, will retire on January 4, 2023, two days after the verdict is pronounced. According to media reports, two judgments are to be read in the constitution bench, which have been written by Justice BR Gavai and Justice BV Nagaratna.
Argument in petition – no right to cancel currency
The petitioners in this case contend that Section 26(2) of the Reserve Bank of India Act does not authorise the government to completely cancel currency notes of a particular denomination. Section 26(2) empowers the Center to cancel currency notes of a particular series and not the entire currency notes.
Demonetisation implemented to deal with black money: Centre
In the Supreme Court, the government defended the decision of demonetisation, saying that it was part of planning and an effective way to deal with problems like fake currency, terror funding, black money and tax evasion. This was the biggest step in the series related to changes in economic policies. The Centre had also said that the decision of demonetisation was taken only on the recommendation of the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank.
Government mentions benefits of demonetisation in court
The Centre in its reply also said that demonetisation has brought many benefits like reduction in fake notes, increase in digital transactions, detection of unaccounted income. In October 2022 alone, a digital transaction of 730 crores took place, that is, a transaction of Rs 12 lakh crores has been recorded in a month, which was 1.09 lakh transactions in 2016, i.e. about Rs 6,952 crore.
PM Modi had announced demonetisation on Nov 8, 2016
On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the banning of 500 and 1000 rupee notes from 12 midnight in the name of the country. At that time, the government expected that at least Rs 3-4 lakh crore of black money would come out from demonetisation. However, only Rs 1.3 lakh crore of black money came to the fore in the entire exercise.
R Krishnakumar, former Tata Sons director, dies at 84
India News
Mizoram election result: Chief Minister Zoramthanga resigns after defeat
MNF leader Zoramthanga has not only lost the state but also his assembly seat.

After MNF’s crushing defeat, Zoramthanga tendered his resignation to Governor Dr Hari Babu Kambhampati at Raj Bhavan. ZPM has clinched a landslide victory in the northeastern state, winning 27 out of the 40 assembly seats.
MNF leader Zoramthanga has not only lost the state but also his seat. The incumbent Chief Minister was defeated by the opposition ZPM candidate, Lalthansanga in Aizawl East. The ZPM candidate won by a margin of 2101 votes.
On the other hand, the ZPM’s chief ministerial candidate Lalduhoma won in Serchhip, defeating the MNF candidate by a comfortable margin of 2982 votes. According to the Election Commission of India, the ruling MNF has managed 10 seats in the 40 member assembly. Meanwhile, the BJP has secured two wins and the Congress gained one seat.
Reacting to the election results, ZPM’s Lalduhoma said that he is not at all surprised and this is what they expected. He added that the ZPM is likely to be the single largest party with an absolute majority.
More than 80 per cent of the state’s 8.57 lakh voters exercised their franchise in Mizoram. Nearly, 174 candidates, including 18 women, were in the fray in the 40-member state assembly. A political party had to cross the halfway mark of 21 to form the government in the northeastern state.
The key players of the election were the Mizo National Front (MNF), Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) and the Congress who contested 40 seats each. In Mizoram, the BJP fielded candidates in 13 seats. The AAP which contested the assembly polls in Mizoram for the first time, fought in four seats. Furthermore, there were 17 Independent candidates.
In the 2018 assembly elections, the MNF, a constituent of the BJP-led NDA, won 26 seats, dislodging the Congress from power. The ZPM emerged victorious in eight seats.
India News
PM Modi, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath approve Baba Balak Nath’s name as Rajasthan CM
Baba Balak Nath is seen as the mirror image of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath reportedly approved Baba Balak Nath’s name as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan. The RSS has also accepted his name as the state’s leader. On Sunday, the BJP returned to power in the state, winning 115 seats among 199 Assembly constituencies. The Congress has secured 68 seats.
Baba Balak Nath is seen as the mirror image of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath. Though former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has been a strong candidate for many decades, she was not projected as the face of the Chief Minister position for the 2023 Rajasthan state election. Reports said that the name of the Rajasthan Chief Minister can be announced anytime soon.
The potential Chief Minister, Baba Balak Nath is the mutt head selected by the BJP to contest against Congress’s Imran Khan in the Muslim dominated Tijara Assembly constituency. He won from the constituency with a significant margin. Baba Balak Nath, fondly known as Rajasthan’s Yogi, hails from Alwar and is the Chancellor of Baba Mast Nath University in Haryana’s Rohtak city. He is also the eighth mahant of Baba Mast Nath Nath, which is the national headquarters of the Nath yogi’s sect.
Notably, Baba Balak Nath and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath share closeness and the former treats the UP Chief Minister as his big brother. Moreover, Baba Balak Nath has often praised Yogi Adityanath in the past for his popular bulldozers politics, that involves using bulldozers to demolish illegal encroachments in the state.
Furthermore, the closeness between the two and their identical saffron robes, has helped Baba Balak Nath to build an image similar to that of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the northern state ahead of the assembly election.
The assembly election in Rajasthan was conducted on November 25.
India News
Cyclone Michaung claims 2 lives in Chennai, no flights till 11 pm
The Tamil Nadu government has declared a public holiday on Monday and Tuesday in Chennai, Kanchipuram, Tiruvallur, and Chengalpattu districts.

As Cyclone Michaung intensified into a severe cyclonic storm, two people were killed and another was injured after a newly constructed wall collapsed in Chennai’s Kanathur. With continuous heavy rain and gusty winds, flight operations at Chennai airport were affected as the runway was flooded. Multiple flights have been cancelled and others diverted in view of heavy rain and have been suspended till 11 pm.
The Indian Meteorological Department said that Cyclone Michaung intensified into a severe cyclonic storm on Monday. In addition, heavy rain lashed Chennai through the night on Monday as Cyclone Michaung inched closer to Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh coasts. Reports said that heavy rain led to severe waterlogging and due to the increase of water levels in low-lying areas.
In view of the weather condition, the Tamil Nadu government has declared a public holiday on Monday and Tuesday in Chennai, Kanchipuram, Tiruvallur, and Chengalpattu districts. The government also urged private companies employees to ‘work from home’ in the wake of Michaung. Furthermore, essential services such as milk supply and healthcare facilities would be operational.
Meanwhile, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed 21 teams in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry and eight additional teams have been kept in reserve in view of Michaung.
Reports stated that the effect of Cyclone Michuang may be felt in the southern districts of West Bengal, including Kolkata. Further, light to moderate rainfall is also predicted on December 6 and 7 in Purba and Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Kolkata, Howrah and Hooghly, the Met Department said on Sunday.
On the other hand, the Odisha government has put all the coastal and southern district collectors on alert and cancelled the leave of field workers under the Agriculture department. Reportedly, the East Coast Railway (ECoR) has cancelled 60 trains and set up a round-the-clock helpline for providing information and assistance to passengers.
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