India TikTok Ban Inspires United States; SC Said Demonetisation Was 'Legal', Not That It Was Any Good

BJY gets support from Ram mandir heavies to ex-RAW chief, internet growth flattens, CCI accused of plagiarism, Ladakh conflict threatens Cashmere trade, Rajnath amuses with cool act in Arunachal

A newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas | Contributors: MK Venu, Seema Chishti, Siddharth Varadarajan, Sidharth Bhatia, Sushant Singh and Tanweer Alam | Editor: Pratik Kanjilal

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Snapshot of the day

January 4, 2023

Pratik Kanjilal

The rupee pared initial gains and slumped 22 paise to close at its all-time low of 83 against the US dollar yesterday, pressured by sustained foreign fund outflows. In the interbank forex market, the rupee opened on a positive note at 82.69 but lost the gains. The domestic currency had last closed at the 83 mark on October 19, 2021. 

The India-China border conflict in Ladakh threatens to upend the age-old Cashmere trade, reports Washington Post. “Almost all our winter grazing areas now fall under newly agreed buffer zones,” said Konchok Stanzin, a local government representative in Ladakh. “Buffer zones were created out of our land only. China has not lost anything at all.” The newspaper reports that “the lack of grazing land has required Indian officials to step in. Ravinder Kumar, the local govt secretary for animal and sheep husbandry in Ladakh, said his office last year supplied about half a million kilos of livestock feed to the Changthang region, home to the Changpas.” Meanwhile, “herders have recently been denied access to yet another area, making them believe that the Indian Army is preparing to withdraw from a vast expanse known as PP16, turning a 150-square-mile swath in the Kugrang River valley into a no-go zone for locals.”

Nearly three and a half years after the reading down of Article 370, which among other things had allowed for property and government jobs to be reserved for Jammu and Kashmir residents, a special committee has been formed to protect land and employment for people of the newly created Ladakh Union Territory, after protests by locals in Leh and Kargil.

Today, Champat Rai, general secretary of the Ram Mandir Trust in Ayodhya and Vice President of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, praised Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodi Yatra, saying he was from the RSS and had never been against it. He said he praises the “young man” who in such bad weather is touring the country, thanked Gandhi without naming him and said he prays for his long life and hopes his mission is a success. Yesterday, to the vast annoyance of the VHP, Acharya Satyendra Das, head priest of the Ayodhya Ram Mandir, had extended his solidarity to the Bharat Jodo Yatra and Congress leader and MP Rahul Gandhi. 

Then, as the yatra resumed after a nine-day break, AS Dulat, former R&AW chief and security adviser to PM Vajpayee, and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah joined the march. Dulat’s decision to publish his memoirs without official permission has challenged the Modi government’s restrictions on former security officers. 

A minister’s statement cannot be attributed “vicariously” to the government, even by applying the principle of collective responsibility, the Supreme Court said yesterday, and held that there can be no additional restrictions on freedom of speech for public functionaries. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice SA Nazeer (who retires today) said no additional restrictions, except those mentioned under Article 19(2) of the Constitution, can be imposed on a public functionary’s right to freedom of speech and expression. Justice BV Nagarathna dissented again after her demonetisation dissent yesterday, saying that such statements can be vicariously attributed to the government if a minister makes disparaging statements in his “official capacity”. Justice Nagarathna said hate speech strikes at the foundational values by making society unequal and also attacks citizens from diverse backgrounds. She did agree, though, with the majority view that greater restriction cannot be imposed on free speech, over and above grounds under Article 19. The speech of people in high office is limited by constitutional culture, not laws, the court observed.

India’s internet growth rate has almost flattened. From double-digit growth rates in 2016-2020, it slumped to about 4% in 2021, going by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India data. In the quarter ending June 2022, subscription growth was less than 1% of all of 2021 ― and of the same quarter the previous year ― and the broadband user base has hovered at the same level for two years. The population using it for social media, video or entertainment has stalled at about 485 million, according to Comscore. As smartphone prices hit the roof, says Business Standard, adoption in the middle and lower tiers has stalled, and therefore the internet’s growth has stalled, even though usage by time online continues to rise in double digits. 

Overall demand for FMCGs in rural areas declined 0.2% month-on-month in December while it was down 17% in November, according to Bizom’s data. Also, demand in the previous month compared to November was higher from tier-3 cities than megacities. 

However, luxury carmaker BMW has re­ported its highest ever annual sales of 11,981 units for the calendar year 2022 in India. The company’s previous highest annual volume was achieved in 2012 (9,375 units). Audi, too, reported a 27% growth in luxury car sales at 4,187 units in 2022. 

India’s ban on TikTok was an “incredibly important precedent” that showed the US would be able to do the same thing, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr has said. There are apprehensions that the Chinese-owned app is being used as a “sophisticated surveillance tool”. The comments are the latest indication from US politicians that the country may be moving towards outlawing the app entirely. Lawmakers have already passed a rule banning TikTok from official devices issued by the House of Representatives. 

The Unique Identification Authority of India has now allowed residents to update addresses in Aadhaar online with the consent of the head of their family. It needs proof of relationship documents like a ration card, mark sheet, marriage certificate, passport etc, linking the head of family (HOF) to the Aadhaar user. The HOF must authenticate the process with an OTP.

The police in Chhattisgarh arrested five people, including a local BJP leader yesterday, a day after a church in school premises was vandalised in Narayanpur city. Joe Wallen of The Spectator cited his reports from December on attacks on Christians in India and said he is shocked at the lack of outrage on the onslaught against Christians. His report from December 27 says the attacks on the community in 2022 have been the largest in any year. He wrote that the very survival of the community “has never been under such threat.”

Karnataka BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel told party workers to focus on issues like ‘love jihad’ instead of talking about sewage and roads.

The day after tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear a batch of pleas pending in the High Courts of Delhi and Kerala, seeking recognition of same-sex marriage in India. On November 25, the SC had sought the Centre’s response in pleas seeking solemnisation of same sex marriage under the Special Marriage Act, 1954. 

US-based billionaire Darshan Singh Dhaliwal, who was denied entry into India because of his support for the 2020-21 farmers’ protest, has been honoured with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, the highest government award for overseas Indians. Dhaliwal’s is among 27 awardees to be honoured in Indore on January 8-10.

Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of the Adani group, said that it would pay Rs 48.65 more per share to investors who had tendered their shares in the recent open offer by the conglomerate for additional stake in New Delhi Television (NDTV). The latest payout of nearly Rs 26 crore, comes after the Adani group had paid Rs 342.65 a share to NDTV's founders, the Roys, on December 30 for an additional 27.26% stake in the news broadcaster. Friday’s transaction was at a premium of nearly 17% on the open offer price, prompting proxy advisory firms to question the deal. 

In a telling comment on our times, Sony TV has pulled down a recent episode of its popular series Crime Patrol after several viewers alleged that the makers distorted details of the grisly Shraddha Walkar murder case in Delhi. Social media users alleged that the network had changed the religion of the accused and victim and threatened to boycott it. “We wish to clarify that while the episode is a work of fiction, it is based on certain events that occurred in 2011 and not connected to any recent case,” Sony TV tweeted on Monday night. Walkar, 27, was allegedly killed by her live-in partner Aaftab Amin Poonawala, who was arrested in November 2022. 

Discussions with South Africa to translocate 12 cheetahs to Kuno National Park are at an advanced stage and the animals are likely to arrive in January. At the 20th meeting of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) at the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, officials from Kuno gave a presentation on their preparedness to receive seven males and five females. The cheetahs have been in