Daily Bulletin: BJP releases its second list, Centre bans JKLF, LeT militants kill 12-yr-old after holding him captive; day's top stories

BJP releases second list of candidates The BJP has released its second list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls containing 36 names, which included 23 nominees for Andhra Pradesh where polling will be held in the first phase on 11 April. The list announced late on Friday night also contained names of six candidates for Maharashtra and five for Odisha. Also, one candidate each for Assam and Meghalaya has been announced in the list. BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra will contest the general election from Puri parliamentary constituency in Odisha. Congress distances itself from Sam Pitroda’s controversial remark The Congress on Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP should stop using an individual’s “personal opinion” to “spread venom”, in an apparent reference to comments by Sam Pitroda on Balakot air strike which have triggered a political row. Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said his party has “unequivocally” said the Pulwama terror attack was a “grave national security failure” of the Modi government. Balakot air strike was a shining example of the valour of the Indian Air Force and Pakistan’s terror outfits like JeM and LeT and others will never succeed in their evil design, he said.  [caption id=“attachment_5213891” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] LeT militants kill 12-yr-old after holding him captive despite mother’s appeal to militants On Thursday evening, Shareefa Bano stood near an army van, her hands shaking with fear and her dry lips murmuring divine verses, as an army soldier handed a microphone. Another soldier comforted her by placing his hand on her back. Hours ago, a Pakistani militant from Lashkar-e-Taiba, Ali, active in Hajin belt since 2017, appeared at the Mirs’ house in Mir Mohallah and took the family hostage, demanding they bring back one of their daughters who was shifted to Sopore after Ali had started threatening her to get married to him. Atif and his uncle, Abdul Hameed, were abducted when the family tried to flee the house as security forces cordoned off the area. A Jammu and Kashmir Police spokesperson said two militants of the Lashkar-e-Taiba had taken two civilians as hostages. “He (Atif) was brutally killed by the terrorists and could not be rescued from the clutches of terrorists. Two militants were killed in the encounter,” the spokesperson said.  After Jamaat-e-Islami, Centre bans Yasin Malik’s JKLF  Weeks after banning the Jamaat-e-Islami, the Centre Friday announced that the Yasin Malik-led Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) has been banned as well for “promoting” secession of the militancy-hit state. The JKLF was banned under various provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act after a high-level meeting on security chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Declaring the JKLF an unlawful organisation, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba said: “The central government has today declared Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (Yasin Malik faction) as an unlawful association under the provisions of Section 3(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. This is in accordance with the policy of zero tolerance against terrorism followed by the government.” Jet Airways lenders may acquire substantial stake in airline till new promoters come in  Lenders of Jet Airways are likely to pick up a substantial stake in the debt-laden airline till a new promoter is roped in, sources said. The process of getting a new promoter on board is likely to take another two to three months and once that happens, the banks would offload their stakes, they added. The State Bank-led consortium of lenders is working on a resolution plan for the cash-strapped Jet Airways for the last five months. The full service carrier has a debt burden of more than Rs 8,200 crore and needs to make repayments worth up to Rs 1,700 crore by March end. Sources said lenders of Jet Airways might pick up a substantial stake in the airline, a move that would provide comfort in the interim period till new promoters come RBI again defers Indian Accounting Standards implementation by banks The Reserve Bank on Friday  deferred the implementation of the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) by banks as the requisite legislative amendments are still under consideration. Earlier in April 2018, the central bank had postponed the implementation of the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) by the banks by one year. “The legislative amendments recommended by the Reserve Bank are under consideration of the government of India. Accordingly, it has been decided to defer the implementation of Ind AS till further notice,” the RBI said in a notification. The RBI in February 2016 had proposed implementation of new accounting standards for banks for both standalone financial statements and consolidated financial statements with effect from 1 April, 2018. IPL 2019 gets underway with Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore clash MS Dhoni’s tactic against Jasprit Bumrah’s yorkers, Virat Kohli’s strategy to counter Kuldeep Yadav’s googlies, Steve Smith’s desperation to show his footwork, the 12th edition of Indian Premier League will be all these and much more. This edition of the league will bear special significance with the ODI World Cup starting only two and half weeks after the final on 12 May. In 2011 and 2015, the World Cup was held before the IPL and this is the first time that it will be held post the tournament. Defending champions Chennai Super Kings will get this season’s IPL underway as the Dhoni-led side will face Kohli’s Royal Challengers Banaglore at Chennai. While CSK will look to make a perfect start to the season, Kohli would know that there will be no bigger statement for his team than defeating Chennai’s team in the opening match. The first match of the season will start at 8 PM. Facebook knew about Cambridge Analytica scandal long before it was reported Facebook reportedly acknowledged that it suspected Cambridge Analytica of scrapping users’ data from the platform even before first reports about the major privacy scandal got published. A court filing by Washington DC’s  attorney reveal that the company’s flagged concerns about the political data firm in 2015. Further reports reveal that the company executives met CA whistleblower Christopher Wylie back 2016, way before the scandal became public.