Daily Bulletin: Amit Shah to move Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in RS; SC to hear pleas challenging Article 370 abrogation; day's top stories

Amit Shah to move Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Rajya Sabha After the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was passed in the Lok Sabha on Monday, it will be taken up for consideration by the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. While the bill was passed with an overwhelming 311 votes in its favour in the Lower House, the lack of majority of he BJP in the House of Elders may pose hurdles in the ruling party’s way. The bill will be taken up after Question Hour and has been allotted six hours of discussion. Meanwhile, the BJP and Congress have issued whip to all their MPs to be present in the House, while Mehbooba Mufti issued whip to the lone PDP MP in Rajya Sabha to vote against the bill. The NDA’s current strength is 105 in the House, including 83 members of the BJP, six of Janata Dal (U), three of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), one each from LJP and RPI(A) and 11 nominated MPs. The BJP is in talks with AIADMK which has 11 members, the BJD with seven members, YSRCP with two members and TDP with two members. The saffron party is confident of their support as all these parties had backed the bill in Lok Sabha. SC to hear petitions challenging Article 370 abrogation in Jammu and Kashmir The Supreme Court will hear for the second day a batch of petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. The five-judge Constitution Bench hear arguments by senior counsel Ramachandran, who represented bureaucrat-turned-politician Shah Faesal and his party colleague Shehla Rashid, among others. He argued on the provisions of the Instrument of Accession signed in 1947, Article 370 before it was amended on 5 August and the constitution of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state. SC to hear petition questioning legality of Telangana encounter Three days after the alleged encounter killing of the four men accused of the gruesome rape and murder of a woman veterinarian in Hyderabad, the issue of the legality of the encounter will come up before the Supreme Court at 11 am. The matter was mentioned before the bench of CJI SA Bobde, Justice BR Gavai and Justice Suryakant on Monday morning. The bench was initially reluctant to take up the issue, with the CJI pointing out that the case was already being heard by the Telangana High Court. Delhi ‘gas chamber’, water poisonous, then why the death penalty, 2012 gangrape convict says in plea One of the four condemned men in the 2012 Delhi gangrape and murder case moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday for a review of its 2017 judgment confirming his death sentence, saying “executions only kill criminals, not the crime.” “The state must not simply execute people to prove that it is attacking terror or violence against women. It must persistently work towards systematic reforms to bring about change,” Akshay Kumar Singh, who faces the gallows, urged in his plea to the court to reconsider his fate. In a paragraph in the petition, Akshay said the air quality in Delhi NCR is like a “gas chamber.” The water “is also full of poison” and “life is going short to short, then why death penalty?” Sanskrit professor at BHU Firoz Khan joins Arts Faculty BHU professor Firoz Khan has resigned from his post at the SVDV Department and joined the Arts Faculty where he will teach Sanskrit, BHU sources said. Students, mostly from the ABVP, were protesting against Khan’s appointment. They said only a Hindu can teach Sanskrit at the university in Varanasi. Sanskrit Vidya Dharma Vigyan Department Dean Bindeswari Prasad Mishra confirmed that Khan has joined the Arts Faculty of the university where he will teach teach Sanskrit. BSE to conduct mock session for Bharat Bond ETF today and tomorrow The BSE said it will conduct a two-day mock trading session for Bharat Bond ETF, which will invest in government debt securities, on Wednesday and Thursday. Bharat Bond ETF would be the first corporate bond exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the country. In a circular, BSE said the exchange plans “to conduct a mock session for Bharat Bond ETF- April 2030 on Wednesday, 11 December and Thursday, 12 December. The mock trading would be conducted between 10 am and 3 pm. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday launched Nifty Bharat Bond Index series, which will track a portfolio of AAA-rated bonds issued by government entities. The first two indices in the series are for April 2023 and April 2030. Gmail now lets you send mails as attachment Google is rolling out a new feature in Gmail, which will allow users to send emails as attachments, in addition to the ability to forward emails. Attaching emails is simple as dragging and dropping an email into another email. Google says there is no limit to the number of emails that you can attach. ​Google is gradually rolling out the feature and it may not be available to all users immediately. India face West Indies in series decider It’s not been smooth-sailing for India so far in their three-match T20I series against West Indies, with the Caribbean side chasing down India’s total of 170 in Thiruvananthapuram on 8 December to level the series at 1-1. In what promises to be a thrilling contest at the Wankhede Stadium, India will need to make sure that they have enough firepower in their ranks to go toe-to-toe with West Indies, whilst also ensuring that they avoid the fielding errors that cost them dearly in the second match. The match begins at 7 pm IST, and live updates will be available on Firstpost.com. Fleabag star Andrew Scott teases new project with Phoebe Waller-Bridge Andrew Scott, who bagged his first Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of the Hot Priest in Fleabag said that he won’t return as the popular character. However, he is looking forward to collaborate with co-star and series creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge. “Phoebe and I have plans to work together on something else. What we shared as well as her being such a great friend and having great chemistry, we wanted to work on stuff together. Maybe not Hot Priest, but I can definitely say that we are going to be working on something together,” Scott promised.​