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Year in Review: Citizenship Act to Ayodhya verdict, key decisions of 2019

Days before curtains come down on 2019, we look at the key decisions and ideas that shaped the year

Narendra Modi

PM Narendra Modi | Photo: PTI

Business Standard
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The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given Ex-post facto approval to the modifications carried out in the replacement Bill, which replaced the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill 2017, and which has been passed by the Parliament as the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Act, 2018. Read more...

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The three-judge in-house committee of the Supreme Court (SC) set up to examine allegations of sexual harassment against Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice Ranjan Gogoi has cleared him of all charges and said it has ‘found no substance in the allegations’ made in the April 19 complaint. A copy of the report has been given to Justice S A Bobde and CJI Gogoi, the secretary general said in a statement. The details of the report of the committee are not liable to be made public, according to a former judgment of the court, the statement said. Read more...

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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday formally received the Indian Air Force's first Rafale fighter jet from a series of 36 such aircraft purchased from France. Singh attended the handover ceremony along with his French counterpart Florence Parly at aircraft maker Dassault Aviation facility in Merignac, southwestern France. The minister performed a brief Shastra Puja on the new aircraft as he emblazoned it with an 'Om' tilak and laid flowers and a coconut, just before he was to take off in it for a sortie. He was joined by senior representatives of the Indian Armed Forces to mark the induction ceremony. Read more...

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A five-judge Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, in a unanimous decision on Saturday, cleared the way for constructing a Ram Temple in Ayodhya at the disputed site, which would be given to a government-run trust. It directed the Centre to allot a 5-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a mosque Seeking to end a dispute that is about 150 years old and has significantly shaped India’s politics at least since 1989, the court said the mosque should be constructed at a “prominent site”, allotted either by the Centre or the Uttar Pradesh government, and a trust should be formed within three months for constructing the temple. Read more...

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The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved the strategic disinvestment of the Centre’s entire stake in Bharat Petroleum (BPCL), Shipping Corp, THDC India, and NEEPCO, and most of its stake in Container Corp, while giving up management control in these companies. It also gave an in-principle approval for the government to reduce stake in certain state-owned companies to below 51 per cent in some while retaining majority stake management control. These major divestment decisions were taken even as the government races against time to meet its highest ever divestment target of Rs 1.05 trillion for 2019-20. The Centre hopes that disinvestment proceeds will make up for some of the revenue shortfall that is expected this year. Read more...

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The union cabinet on Wednesday extended to the term of the Fifteenth Finance Commission by a year, asking it to submit an interim report for fiscal year 2020-21 and a full report for fiscal years 2021-22 to 2025-26—a decision apparently taken to factor in Jammu and Kashmir’s new status. “The extension of the term will enable the Commission to examine various comparable estimates for financial projections in view of reforms and the new realities to finalize its recommendations for the period 2020-2026,” said a government press release. The cabinet decision means the Commission will recommend its award to six fiscal years, instead of the usual five. Sources said the cabinet decision does not fall foul of the Constitution. Read more...

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The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed a bill to set up a unified authority for regulating all financial activities in international financial services centres (IFSCs) in the country. The first IFSC in India was set up at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. "... we are bringing several regulators together as one unit to the limited extent of dealing with various institutions which are present in the IFSC," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. The unified authority will act as a single-window for regulating various financial activities in the IFSC, she said. Read more..

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The Personal Data Protection Bill, which was cleared by the Cabinet last week, gives the Centre powers to exempt any agency from the provisions of the legislation. The Draft Bill was circulated to Lok Sabha members on Tuesday, and is scheduled to be tabled in Parliament on Wednesday. It may possibly be referred to a joint select committee subsequently. The exemption clauses in the Bill, reviewed by Business Standard, have left large technology companies and digital commerce firms worried about continuing their business in the country. The Bill states that the central government can decide in the interest of “sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order” or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence relating to certain conditions, and direct that “all or any of the provisions” of the Personal Data Protection Bill would not apply to “any agency of the Government”. Read more..

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The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) with 311 in favour and 80 against. The Bill is likely to be taken up in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. In his reply to over six-hour-long debate on the Bill, Union Home Minister Amit Shah insisted that the proposed law does not discriminate against Indian Muslims but aimed at protecting continued persecution of minorities in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. He said the Bill was a result of the failure of the 1950 Nehru-Liaquat pact. The home minister said there is a distinction between illegal immigrants and refugees. Members of the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Left parties and others disputed this, terming it divisive and that it was a ‘trap’ and inextricably linked to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise, which has ‘failed’ in Assam. Read more...

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The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved Rs 3,941.35 crore for updating the National Population Register (NPR), and another Rs 8,500 crore for the Census 2021 exercise. Contradicting its earlier statements on the issue, the Centre claimed that there was “no link” between the NPR and the controversial National Register of Citizens (NRC). In an interview to a private news agency, Union Home Minister Amit Shah asserted that not just was there no “link”, but also that no NRC would be conducted. He said the NPR was a decennial exercise, first conducted under the Congress-led UPA government in 2010-11, and it was intriguing that no questions were asked then. The decision of the Union Cabinet and Shah’s comments come in the wake of over 10-day of nationwide protests by students, activists and political parties, some of which have turned violent, and nearly two dozen people killed in police action. Shah said he wants to assure minorities that NPR data would not be used for preparing an NRC. Read more...

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First Published: Dec 27 2019 | 12:30 AM IST

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