NATIONAL
Ayodhya Verdict: The Supreme Court on December 12, dismissed a batch of petitions seeking review of its November 9 Ayodhya land dispute case verdict, The top court took these review pleas for consideration in-chamber and rejected them after finding no merit. A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde and comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan, S A Nazeer, and Sanjeev Khanna considered the review pleas of only those who were parties to the four lawsuits filed initially in the vexatious dispute.
RFL: A Delhi court today rejected the bail plea of former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Singh in a case related to alleged misappropriation of funds at Religare Finvest Ltd. Additional Sessions Judge Gulshan Kumar said there was every likelihood of Singh fleeing from justice and hampering the trial. Since the investigation was at a crucial stage, custodial interrogation was still required in the case, the court said.
SCs&STs: Rajya Sabha today passed a Constitution amendment bill to extend reservation to SCs and STs in Lok Sabha and state assemblies by another 10 years. The bill was passed in Lok Saha on December 10. The bill, which saw a heated exchange between the treasury and opposition benches, was approved unanimously in Rajya Sabha.
Speedy Trial: Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad described the safety and security of women and children as a “matter of national concern”.Today he urged chief ministers and chief justices of 25 high courts to ensure speedy investigation and trial in rape cases. In separate letters to chief ministers, he asked them to ensure that investigation into cases of crime against women and children are completed in two months. He also urged the high court chief justices to ensure that fast-track courts complete trial in such cases within six months.
ECONOMY
Air India: Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri declared today that the government has decided to sell its entire 100 percent stake in Air India under the proposed disinvestment process. The national carrier, which has a debt burden of more than Rs 50,000 crore, has been making a loss for long and as part of revival efforts, the government has decided on disinvestment.
Retail inflation: Retail inflation reached a more than three-year high of 5.54 percent in November due to costlier food products like vegetables, pulses, and protein-rich items. According to the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), inflation in the food basket jumped to 10.01 percent.
ETF: The ambitious Bharat Bond ETF, through which the government seeks to mop up Rs 15,000 crore, opened for public subscription on December12. Edelweiss Asset Management Company is managing the issue of Bharat Bond ETF, the first corporate bond exchange-traded fund in the country. Investors can subscribe to the ETF with a minimum unit size of Rs 1,000 and the issue would close on December 20, the fund house said in a release today.
Market Today
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- USD ($) / INR 70.78(-0.18)
INTERNATIONAL
Brexit: Britain went to the polls today. It was the country’s third general election in less than five years. The poll took place in order to break the Brexit deadlock that has paralysed the country’s politics since the 2016 referendum to leave the European Union. A total of 3,322 candidates are standing across the 650 seats in the House of Commons this year. Polling stations at all constituencies across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland opened at 07:00 GMT.
China: Samsung Electronics will increase investment at its chip factory in China by $8 billion to boost production of NAND flash memory chips, Chinese media reported on December11. The South Korean group’s investment comes as the memory market is expected to rebound next year because of limited supplies and rising demand for fifth-generation devices and networks. Samsung is the world’s largest maker of NAND flash memory chips, which can hold data permanently and are found in mobile devices, memory cards, USB flash drives, and solid-state drives.