The Evening Wrap: Ram Vilas Paswan no more

The Hindu Newsletter - Here are the biggest news stories of the day [The Hindu Logo]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Youtube]( [Linkedin]( [Instagram]( Thursday 08, October 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. Ram Vilas Paswan passes away Union Minister [Ram Vilas Paswan died on Thursday](, his son Chirag Paswan tweeted. Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan (74), who was the Lok Janshakti Party patron, had undergone a heart surgery at a hospital in New Delhi a few days ago. He had been in active politics for more than five decades and was one of the country’s most noted Dalit leaders. He was the Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. Mr. Chirag Paswan tweeted: “Papa...you are not in this world today but I know no matter where you are, you will always be with me. Miss you papa.” Republic TV under scanner as Mumbai Police bust ‘fake TRPs’ racket Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh on Thursday said that they have busted a [Television Rating Point (TRP) racket that involves Republic TV, Box Cinema, and Fakt Marathi](. Singh, while addressing reporters in Mumbai, said these three channels were found manipulating TRPs and distorting the system used by Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) to rate television channels. The TRP is calculated on the basis of TV channel viewership in a set of households. “There are 2,000 barometers installed in Mumbai to monitor TRPs. BARC has given a confidential contract for monitoring these barometers,” Singh said. He explained that the accused would ask some households to keep some channels on even if they were not at home and bribe some people to run only their channels. “In the preliminary enquiry, one person was arrested and he has revealed that he had been working for a company called Hansa Research Group Private Limited, which is a part of the BARC. The accused said the company has misused confidential data, which had been entrusted to them. It has apparently been done for wrongful gains of various TV channels, which had resulted in wrongful loss to various advertisers and their agencies,” Singh said. [Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh addresses the media in Mumbai on October 8, 2020.]Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh addresses the media in Mumbai on October 8, 2020. “Hansa’s ex-employee and his companion were arrested and ₹20 lakh were found along with ₹8.5 lakh in the bank locker. Around ₹400-500 was given to several households on monthly basis. They were produced in court and the police have got their custody till October 9,” he said. Officials of Republic TV, which claims the highest TRPs among news channels, will be summoned soon, Singh said, in a move that assumes significance as the Mumbai police has been in conflict with some channels over the coverage of the Sushant Singh Rajput case. “The biggest name to emerge is Republic TV. The directors and promoters of Republic TV are being investigated for ratings fraud,” said Singh. The owners of Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema have also been arrested and charged under Sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent) of the IPC. Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami released a statement on social media that said, “Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh has made false allegations against Republic TV because we have questioned him in the Sushant Singh Rajput case investigation. Republic TV will file a criminal defamation case against Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.” Supreme Court slams Centre on Tablighi Jamaat affidavit Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad A. Bobde on Thursday [pulled up the Union government]( for mistreating the Supreme Court by having a “junior officer” file an “evasive” affidavit containing “unnecessary, nonsensical” averments on petitions challenging the discriminatory and communal coverage of the Tablighi Jamaat incident by some sections of the media. “You cannot treat the court the way you are doing in this case... A junior officer has filed your affidavit. We find it extremely evasive and brazenly short on details. It even says the petitioners here do not point to any instance of bad reporting...,” Chief Justice Bobde addressed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. “We want the Secretary of the department [Information and Broadcasting] to file this affidavit... The Secretary has to say what he thinks of the incidents. We do not want any unnecessary, nonsensical averments like those made now,” the CJI continued. The government affidavit had claimed that a “blanket gag order” on the media in this issue would violate a journalist’s right to free speech and an informed citizen’s right to know. The hearing began with Chief Justice Bobde asking whether the regulatory provisions of the Cable TV Act, which are meant for cable networks, would be “exercisable” on TV broadcasts. “We want to know if the government has any power to question or ban TV broadcasting signals,” he asked the parties. Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the petitioners in the case, argued that the Information and Broadcasting Ministry had indeed the power to ban TV broadcasting under the Cable TV Act. He referred to how Malayalam channel Asianet was banned for several hours in March under the Act in relation to their coverage of the Delhi riots. The court said it would hear arguments on this point and adjourned the case for two weeks. The petitions have said that certain sections of the print and electronic media were spreading bigotry and communal hatred in relation to the Tablighi Jamaat conference held in the Nizamuddin Markaz area, and sought a direction to the Ministry to identify and take strict action against sections of the media that had communalised the issue. Trump says no to virtual debate with Biden In the wake of President Donald Trump’s Covid-19 diagnosis, the Commission that oversees the debates said on Thursday that the second presidential debate next week would be a virtual affair. But [Trump is not interested in a virtual debate](. “I'm not going to do a virtual debate,” he told Fox News, and added that it was “not acceptable to us.” The Commission on Presidential Debates had said that the debate will remain a town hall-style conversation. Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will appear from remote locations, while voters and the moderator will ask them questions from the original debate site in Miami. [ Combo image of U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden during the first debate on September 29, 2020. ] Combo image of U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden during the first debate on September 29, 2020. Trump, however, accused the bipartisan debate commission of trying to “protect” his opponent Biden. The news comes a day after the sole vice presidential debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Biden’s running mate Senator Kamala Harris, where the focus was on the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic. Trump’s campaign had said that he would participate in the October 15 debate, despite concerns that he could still be infectious. American poet Louise Glück wins the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature [American poet Louise Gluck won the 2020 Nobel Literature Prize]( on October 8. Gluck, an unexpected choice, was known for themes of childhood and family life that drew inspiration from myths and classical motifs. Gluck, 77, was honoured “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal,” the Academy said. Gluck had won the Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for her collection ‘The Wild Iris’ and the National Book Award for her latest collection, ‘Faithful and Virtuous Night’ in 2014. [American poet Louise Gluck attends the National Book Awards ceremony in New York City on November 19, 2014. The 2020 Nobel Literature Prize went to Ms. Gluck “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal”.]American poet Louise Gluck attends the National Book Awards ceremony in New York City on November 19, 2014. The 2020 Nobel Literature Prize went to Ms. Gluck “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal”. Gluck was not seen as a favourite for the Nobel in the run-up to Thursday’s announcement, though betting sites’ odds on her reportedly plunged just before Thursday’s announcement. Covid watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported [coronavirus cases from India]( stood at 68,99,765 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 1,06,511. In Brief: A French appeals court on Thursday upheld an order that asked [Google to pay media companies]( for showing their news content in search results. The Paris Court of Appeal rejected a challenge by the U.S. tech company, which had refused to comply with an order by France’s competition authority asking it to negotiate with publishers and press agencies for payments to display their material. The court rejected Google’s argument that the competition watchdog overstepped its authority in its April decision. Google had said the day before that it was on the verge of reaching a deal with French newspapers over digital copyright. The [rapid deployment of Air Force assets to forward areas in the ongoing standoff in eastern Ladakh]( and support to the Army clearly demonstrated the “resolve, operational capability and the will to effectively engage the adversary” if the need arose, said Air Chief Marshal (ACM) R.K.S. Bhadauria on Thursday. ACM Bhadauria also presented the distinguished service medal, Yudh Seva Medial (YSM), to some of the personnel who had taken part in the Balakot air strike on February 26 last year and the aerial engagement a day later. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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