News Roundup - 5 December 2014

1. Eminent jurist, statesman and human rights activist Justice VR Krishna Iyer passed away. He was 100.
2. Just three days before the 22nd anniversary of the Babri Mosque’s demolition, the oldest plaintiff in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case, Hashim Ansari declared on Wednesday that he would withdraw from the case and advocated construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site. 93-year-old Ansari and Hindu sant Paramhans Ramchandra Das were the two litigants who filed the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit. Das is dead.
3. Actor Deven Verma dead.\
4. Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Murli Deora passes away.
5. Ending a year of confusion over nursery admissions, the Delhi High Court on Friday quashed Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung’s point system stating that private-unaided schools can set their own criteria for nursery admissions.
6. Supreme Court allowed Sahara Group to sell four of its domestic properties that may fetch Rs2,600 crore. Sahara has already deposited with SEBI around Rs8,000 crore, and if the proposed sale goes through, it will help Roy buy his freedom. The SC has asked him to deposit Rs1,000 crore to SEBI as a condition for his bail. The properties are located at Jodhpur, Vasai, Gurgaon, and Pune.
7. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday vowed to connect India’s North-East region with its eastern neighbours and said he will ensure that the landlocked region of the country became the gateway to South-East Asia. He reiterated his Government’s commitment to provide Rs28,000 crore for laying new railway lines in the region. He was inaugurating the annual Hornbill Festival of Nagaland (at Kisama Village near Kohima)  and dedicating to the nation the second unit of the gas-based thermal power project at Palatana in Tripura. He also informed that his Government had signed an agreement with Japan to open an economic corridor with Myanmar, which would boost employment in the region. The Prime Minister said that India had provided all help and support to Bangladesh during the 1971 Liberation War and added that India’s support to Bangladesh would continue. It may be mentioned here that the Rs 10,000-crore Palatana gas-based thermal power project is one of the biggest capital investments in India. With the second unit of the project becoming operational, it is expected to generate 627 MW power.
8. Father Kuriakose Elias Chavara and Sister Euphrasia from India are among six conferred Sainthood by Pope Francis on Sunday at a special canonisation mass, a moment of elation and spiritual fervour for the Christians in India.
9. India gave a 200-bed trauma centre to Nepal. Nine agreements were also inked. Among them was one for project development agreement (PDA) for the Arun III Hydropower project. Both sides also kicked off a Kathmandu-Delhi bus service being run by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC). Modi also handed over the keys of a Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter to Nepal's army and a mobile soil testing laboratory to the country. Both countries also inked the Motor Vehicles Act that would allow regular bus service between the two nations. The other agreements inked are on setting up of a Nepal Police Academy, tourism and traditional medicines, Sister City Agreements between Janakpur and Ayodhya, Kathmandu and Vanarasi, and Lumbini and Bodhgaya.
10. e-auction of 74 coal blocks, 42 of which are currently producing coal and the remaining 32 are on the verge of production, will take place on February 11, 2015, while the Government aims to announce the final award of the reserves by March 16, 2015. At the same time it will ensure that power tariffs don’t go up post the bidding process. Only entities having end-use projects in power, steel and cement sectors will participate in the exercise.

 CHRONOLOGY OF AYODHYA DISPUTE 

1528: Babur, Mughal Empire, builds a mosque on Ram Janmabhoomi site. Hindus say Janmabhoomi is the birthplace of Lord Ram

1853: First recorded incidents of religious violence at the site 1859: British colonial administration erects a fence to separate the places of worship, allowing the inner court to be used by Muslims and the outer court by Hindus

1885: Mahant Raghubar Das files a suit seeking permission to build a canopy on Ram Chabootra

1949: Idols of Lord Ram appear inside mosque. Muslims protest and both parties file civil suits. The Government proclaims the premises a disputed area and locks the gates

1950: Inner courtyard gates are locked, but puja is allowed

1984: Hindus form a committee to “liberate” the birth-place of Lord Ram and build a temple

1986: On a petition of Hari Shanker Dubey, a judge directs masjid gates be unlocked to allow darshan. Muslims set up Babri Mosque Action Committee in protest

1989: VHP steps up campaign, laying the foundations of a Ram temple on land adjacent to the disputed mosque

1992: The mosque is demolished

2002: The Allahabad High Court directs the Archaeological Survey of India to excavate the site to determine if a temple lay underneath

2003: The survey says there is evidence of a temple beneath the mosque, but Muslims dispute the findings

2005: Suspected Islamic militants attack the disputed site

Sept 2010: Allahabad HC rules that the site should be split, with the Muslim community getting control of a third, Hindus another third and the Nirmohi Akhara sect the remainder

May 2011: SC suspends HC ruling after Hindu and Muslim groups appeal against the 2010 verdict

Credits: The Pioneer, Google.