Daily Bulletin: Amit Shah to ask Lok Sabha today to scrap Article 370, Article 35A; SC to start daily hearings in Ayodhya dispute today; day's top stories

Lok Sabha to take up Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation bill today A day after the Union government scrapped Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, legislation that takes away special status from Jammu and Kashmir, and proposed the bifurcation of the state into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, home minister Amit Shah will move the resolution today in Lok Sabha. Shah will also move the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill to provide for the reorganisation of the existing State of Jammu and Kashmir and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, as passed by Rajya Sabha, be taken into consideration. The home minister will also move that the Bill be passed in Lok Sabha. The bill was passed in the Upper House through a voice note, and 125 MPs voted in favour while 61 voted against it. On Monday, Shah sought the permission of the Lok Sabha to move the bill in the House on Tuesday, amid protests and walk-outs by Opposition leaders. “I will move the bill for consideration and passage tomorrow. The Opposition can have a detailed discussion on the same. I am ready to give the reply,” he told the House on Monday. Leader of Congress party in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that Shah entered the House, “broke the country and ran away”. “The government has made the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir a prison house,” Chowdhury alleged. [caption id=“attachment_7114291” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A protest in Delhi after the Centre scrapped Article 370. Reuters[/caption] AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi said members have the right to speak on the resolution but the Speaker was not allowing it. “What is the use of the rule book when you are favouring the ruling party,” Owaisi asked. Trinamool Congress’ Saugata Roy said it has not been the practice in Lok Sabha to put resolution ahead of the bill. “We wanted division but the Speaker did not allow us. What has been done is wrong,” Roy pointed out. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh countered the Opposition and said the Home Minister had brought the bill in the house according to the rules. Supreme Court to begin daily hearings on Ayodhya starting today The Supreme Court is set to commence day-to-day hearing from Tuesday in the politically sensitive case of Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute in Ayodhya after the efforts to arrive at an amicable settlement through mediation have failed. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi will conduct the hearing. The bench, also comprising Justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and SA Nazeer had on 2 August taken note of the report of the three-member mediation panel, headed by former apex court judge FMI Kalifulla, that the mediation proceedings which went on for about four months have not resulted in any final settlement. “The hearing which will be on a day-to-day basis until the arguments are concluded. The learned counsel(s)…in the appeals arising out of the aforesaid suits may, for the convenience of the court, indicate the pleadings and the evidence on which they propose to rely, so that the officials of the Registry can keep the said documents ready for perusal of the court,” the bench had said in its order. The top court had on 18 July, asked the mediation panel to inform the court about the outcome of their proceedings as on 31 July. The mediation panel, also comprising spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar and senior advocate and renowned mediator Sriram Panchu, had said in its report submitted on Thursday that the Hindu and the Muslim parties have not been able to find a solution to the dispute. Unnao rape survivor shifted to AIIMS The Unnao rape survivor, who suffered critical injuries in a car-truck collision last week, was airlifted to New Delhi on Monday evening following Supreme Court directives in this regard. She was airlifted in an air ambulance, which arrived at the Chaudhary Charan Singh airport from New Delhi earlier in the day, Lucknow district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma told PTI. “Special arrangements had been made all through the nearly 15-km-long route passing through some busy areas of the state capital to allow the unhindered movement of the vehicle carrying the rape survivor from the hospital,” Sharma said. Govt unveils draft e-commerce norms To protect consumers’ interest, the Centre has proposed guidelines for e-commerce firms that entail a 14-day deadline to effect refund request, mandate e-tailers to display details of sellers supplying goods and services on their websites and moot the procedure to resolve consumer complaints. The consumer affairs ministry has sought views of stakeholders on the draft guidelines on e-commerce by 16 September. Meanwhile, the government is planning to come out with a national e-commerce policy to facilitate achieving holistic growth of the sector. Among key guidelines, the e-commerce companies will also be required to ensure that personally identifiable information of customers are protected. India eye clean sweep in 3rd T20I against West Indies India will be hoping to make it 3-0 when they take on West Indies in the third T20I at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. The first two matches of the series had taken place in Lauderhill, Florida, with the Indian team winning by four wickets and 22 runs (DLS method) respectively to clinch the series. India skipper Virat Kohli had on Monday hinted at making changes to the XI for the final game. Samsung launches its Galaxy Watch Active 2 Ahead of its Galaxy Note 10 launch which takes place on 8 August. Samsung has announced its newest smartwatch the Galaxy Watch Active 2. The Galaxy Watch Active 2 replaces the currently available Galaxy Watch Active and is basically a refined version of its successor. Surprisingly, Samsung will not discontinue the launch of the currently on sale Galaxy Watch Active, but will sell the new model alongside the previous one. Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Active 2 will be available in two sizes, 40 mm and 44 mm, in both Bluetooth and LTE versions and will arrive in stores in the US starting 27 September from $279.