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The BJP and especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi boasts of performing a master stroke by announcing 10 per cent extra reservation for economically weaker sections without tinkering with the quotas of the SCs, STs and OBCs.

Curbing digital sexual abuse, regulation and shutting down apps that threaten safety of children has emerged a major problem of India. With brutalised and shattered children, nation’s future is endangered. With the Union Cabinet having decided to amend the Prevention of Child Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) to make its provisions stringent to curb rising sex abuse of children, it is expected child sex abuse that includes child pornography will be addressed considerably.

Dalit activist Kollam Manju used deception and ruse to enter the Sabarimala shrine for Ayyappa darshan much to the delight of the Pinarayi Vijayan government. So much so, Pinarayi lost the power of speech! He did not, like he had done twice before, announce to the world the latest ‘woman’ conquest of Sabarimala even as more women wait in the wings to pay a visit to Swami Ayyappa before the Sabarimala season ends.

The gut has feelings. The 10 per cent EWS Quota (124 Amendment) Bill was bound to happen. The Ayodhya title suit hearing was bound to see further delay. Jobs or the lack of jobs are an election issue. Ram Mandir butts in and is pushed out. Prime Minister Narendra Modi says wait for “judicial decision”. But the judiciary is hampered by process delays. Recusal and translation woes. Arabic, Parsi, Sanskrit, Urdu and Gurmukhi. Will Modi be compelled to make ‘Mandir Wahin Banaenge’ the GE 2019 issue?

Weekly Round-Up of Major Decisions of the Courts in India as also Legal Policy Developments

On 8th January, 2019, after much anticipation, the Supreme Court gave its verdict on the removal of Alok Verma as CBI Director, wherein the three judge bench headed by the Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi quashed the order dated 23.10.2019 passed by the Central Vigilance Commission (‘CVC’) divesting the powers, functions, duties, supervisory role, etc of Mr. Verma as the CBI Director. Similar orders passed by the Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions were also quashed. This marks a curtain on one of the most sordid episodes in the government interference in the CBI’s functioning in India.

It was one of those surreal moments in Parliament. Outside more than two crore workers of the country were on an all-India strike. Inside the Lok Sabha, a bizarre Bill to amend the Trade Unions Act was being discussed to determine the criteria for recognition of a trade union.

Will the impact of General Strike of 8-9 January reverberate in general elections? A general strike barely three months before general elections, that too stretching for two days, is bound to assume special significance no matter whether it is a total success or not in a technical sense. That is why the international media had screaming headlines that 200 million workers—including factory workers, government employees, unorganised labourers and supporting farmers—from India have launched a general strike.

The resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in late December represents a qualitatively new stage in the split in the U.S. monopoly capitalist ruling class. There now are two distinct groups, differing in fundamental ways in their foreign and domestic policies.

Tuesday the 10% EWS quota amendment bill got the Lok Sabha nod despite adding to the laughing stock piled against the Narendra Modi government outside Parliament. Likely headlines ranged from ‘A Steal’ to ‘Finally.’ Every party when in power attempted to give economically weaker sections among upper castes a slice of the reservation cake. They failed because either the process followed was wrong or because there was no heart in the effort. Lalu’s RJD calls the bill ‘midnight dacoity.’