The Evening Wrap: Question Hour dropped in Monsoon session

The Hindu Newsletter - Here are the biggest news stories of the day [The Hindu Logo]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Youtube]( [Linkedin]( [Instagram]( Wednesday 02, September 2020 [alt_text]( The Evening Wrap [Here are the biggest news stories of the day]( [alt_text]( Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying safe. Question Hour dropped in Monsoon session; Opposition parties protest In the officially released schedule for the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament, starting on September 14, the [Question Hour has been dropped](. Opposition parties slammed the move, saying that the pandemic is being used to undermine democracy and the right of Parliamentarians to question the government. Opposition leaders, including Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, had earlier written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla not to curtail Question Hour as it amounted to “encroaching upon a member’s right”. In addition to the Question Hour being scrapped, private members’ Bills will not be taken up in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament, while the Zero Hour will be restricted, notifications issued by Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats said. All these changes have been introduced as part of the special measures taken in view of the pandemic. “The notification for the delayed Parliament session blandly announces there will be no Question Hour. How can this be justified in the name of keeping us safe?” said Shashi Tharoor, former Union Minister and chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology. Questioning the government is the “oxygen” of Parliamentary democracy, he added, and alleged that the Modi dispensation is trying to reduce Parliament to a “notice board”. “Oppn MPs lose right to Q govt. A first since 1950? Parliament overall working hours remain same so why cancel Q Hour? Pandemic excuse to murder democracy,” tweeted Trinamul Congress (TMC) MP Derek O’Brien, while another TMC MP Mahua Moitra commented, “Asking questions in court is contempt, asking questions outside Parliament is sedition, and now, asking questions inside Parliament is forbidden.” As for the session timings, on the first day, the Lok Sabha will have its proceedings from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thereafter, from September 15 to October 1, the Lower House will have its sitting from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Similarly, from the second day, the Rajya Sabha will be transacting its business between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. PUBG among more Chinese apps banned by India The Union government on Wednesday [banned 118 mobile applications](, the majority of them Chinese. The banned apps included popular ones such as WeChat Work, Baidu, CamCard, PUBG Mobile, Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade, and Alipay. It is estimated that India has around 50 million active PUBG players, with nearly 13 million daily users. [ A man looks at the “PUBG Mobile” game, owned by Chinese internet giant Tencent, in the App Store on an Apple iPhone in New Delhi on September 2, 2020. ] A man looks at the “PUBG Mobile” game, owned by Chinese internet giant Tencent, in the App Store on an Apple iPhone in New Delhi on September 2, 2020. The Centre said that these apps were “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of State and public order”. Earlier, in June, the government had banned 59 Chinese apps, ranging from e-commerce to gaming, social media, browsers, instant messaging and file sharing. These included TikTok, Shareit, Mi Video Call, Club Factory, and Cam Scanner. The latest announcement comes at a time of renewed tensions between India and China along the disputed boundary in Ladakh. CMs of non-BJP states remind Centre about ‘constitutional’ duty to pay GST dues Chief ministers of six non-BJP-ruled states have written to the Centre reminding it of its “constitutional” responsibilities in the stand-off over the ₹2.35 lakh crore shortfall in GST compensation and financial relief (from the pandemic) that is due to the states. [Mamata Banerjee (Bengal)](, Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala), Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi), Edappadi K Palaniswami (Tamil Nadu), K Chandrasekhar Rao (Telangana) and Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh) rejected the options offered by the Centre – which essentially entail the states borrowing money to tide over the shortfall -- and reminded the Centre that it had a legal duty to reimburse states’ loss of revenue in the first five years of the GST regime. [ ] They said if the states were to borrow, then repayment schedules would place an extra burden on their finances. The Centre, they said, could take up this burden and pay back the loan by carrying forward GST cess collection past 2022. Enough material to substantiate Facebook’s bias in favour of BJP, says TMC letter to Zuckerberg The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has written to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg raising the issue of the social media giant’s alleged bias in favour of the BJP. It claimed that there is enough evidence in the public domain to substantiate this charge. Party MP Derek O’Brien, who has written the letter to Zuckerberg, also makes a reference to an earlier meeting between the two, where some of these concerns were raised. Sources in the party said that O’Brien had met Zuckerberg in October 2015 in Delhi. “We, the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), India’s second-largest opposition party, have had serious concerns about Facebook’s role during the 2014 and 2019 general elections in India,” O’Brien wrote in the letter accessed by PTI. “With the elections in the Indian state of West Bengal just months away, your company’s recent blocking of Facebook pages and accounts in Bengal also points to the link between Facebook and the BJP. There is enough material now in the public domain, including internal memos of senior Facebook management, to substantiate the bias,” his letter stated. Dushyant Dave writes to CJI condemning treatment meted out at Justice Mishra’s farewell The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president, senior advocate Dushyant Dave, wrote to Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad A. Bobde [expressing his “strong disappointment and condemnation”]( at the way in which he was “prevented” from speaking at the virtual farewell ceremony for Justice Arun Mishra on Wednesday. Dave said he would not participate in any functions organised by the court till his term as SCBA president ended in December. Dave had defended advocate Prashant Bhushan in a suo motu contempt action recently. [ ] “I must confess, the Supreme Court has come to such levels where the judges are afraid of the Bar. Please do remember, judges come and go, but we the Bar remain constant. We are the real strength of this great institution because we are permanent”, Dave wrote in a letter shared with the media. Dave copied his short address wishing Justice Mishra well, in the letter to the CJI. He indicated that he may have been prevented for fear that “I might say something unpleasant”. Recounting the series of events, Dave wrote that the court Registry had sent him a video link, inviting him to participate. He had accepted the invitation. In his letter, he said he was repeatedly disconnected for “some unknown reasons”. Rahul lists ‘Modi-made disasters’, targets govt over economy, Covid-19, GST Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday [listed “Modi-made disasters”]( as he targeted the Narendra Modi government over the GDP, the economy, Covid-19, and the border row with China. “India is reeling under Modi-made disasters: 1. Historic GDP reduction -23.9%. 2. Highest Unemployment in 45 yrs. 3. 12 Crs job loss. 4. Centre not paying States their GST dues. 5. Globally highest Covid-19 daily cases and deaths. 6. External aggression at our borders,” he tweeted. In a separate tweet, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram shared the screenshot of a November 2013 tweet when Modi, then the Gujarat Chief Minister, had tweeted to him, saying, “Economy is in trouble, youth want jobs. Devote more time to economics not petty politics”. “I have to say the same thing to the Honourable Prime Minister!” Chidambaram tweeted. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported [coronavirus]( cases from India stood at 38,41,195 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 67,397. The Union Health Ministry on Wednesday issued SoPs on preventive measures to be followed while conducting examinations. The SoP guidelines stipulate that only asymptomatic staff and students shall be allowed inside the examination hall and only those examination centres which are outside the containment zone shall be allowed to function. “Examinees from containment zones, who were unable to take the scheduled exams, shall be given an opportunity to undertake the examination through other means or the Universities/Educational Institution shall arrange for taking the exam at a later date for such students,” the Ministry said. In Brief: The National investigation Agency (NIA) has [filed a charge sheet against five]( accused who owed allegiance to the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP) for allegedly “conspiring to utilise the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protests to instigate Muslims against the Indian Government”. The NIA said the accused, which included two women, instigated Muslims by “coining seditious slogans and making graffiti at public places and highlighting the same on social and international media”. Following a meeting chaired by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, the State’s Forest & Environment Department has decided to apply Section 4 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927 to approximately 600 acres of Aarey forest land near the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in the heart of Mumbai. This implies that it will be declared a reserve forest after a hearing. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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