5 THINGS FIRST

Ukrainian capital Kyiv under curfew till today; Muslim organisations have called for Karnataka bandh against hijab ban; PM Modi to address civil service training institute; NASA’s Artemis 1 Moon rocket to make public debut; Budget session of Tripura assembly begins

1. Peace gets a fighting chance in Ukraine
1. Peace gets a fighting chance in Ukraine
Chances of finding an acceptable resolution to the Russia-Ukraine war brightened a tad bit with both countries drawing up a 15-point draft peace deal, according to a report by Financial Times.

Deal details

  • In exchange for withdrawal of Russian armed forces from Ukraine and a ceasefire, Ukraine will accept neutrality — which not only means abjuring membership of NATO but also hosting any foreign military bases or weaponry on its territory — along with limits on its armed forces.

The spoiler

  • The deal also envisages “legally verified participation of a number of guarantor countries in the conflict on the side of Ukraine, if someone again encroaches on its territorial integrity” — which could prove to be a spoiler with Russian President Vladimir Putin who showed no signs of a compromise, saying on Wednesday that he would achieve all of his war aims.

A plea

  • Pleading that Ukrainians need US support “right now”, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in his joint address to the US Congress virtually, said Washington needed to do more against Russia’s “brutal offensive against our values” which has “turned the Ukrainian sky into a source of death for thousands of people.”
  • In a dramatic address, Zelenskiy played on emotions by bringing up the Pearl Harbour and 9/11 attacks while showing a video of the missile attacks and shelling on Ukrainian cities.

The superpower talks

  • The White House, in a statement, said that National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke with General Nikolay Patrushev, Secretary of the Russian Security Council and while the conversation revolved around the US’ “firm and clear opposition to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine”, it kept the door open for diplomacy provided Moscow stops “attacking Ukrainian cities and towns.” Neither the White House nor the Kremlin made a mention of what Patrushev said to Sullivan.
2. Protect Lakhimpur Kheri killings witnesses, SC orders UP
2. Protect Lakhimpur Kheri killings witnesses, SC orders UP
Asking the Uttar Pradesh government to “file a detailed counter (affidavit)”, the Supreme Court (SC) directed it to “see that witnesses are protected” in the Lakhimpur Kheri killings case. It has listed the next hearing for March 24.

The threat

  • The court’s directive came while hearing a special leave petition filed against the bail granted to prime accused Ashish Mishra — son of Union minister and senior BJP leader Ajay Mishra — when the prime witness alleged that he was “brutally attacked” after Mishra got bail and was warned that “now that BJP has won the election, they will take care of him.”
  • Mishra was granted bail on February 10 — the day assembly polls in UP started, results of which were declared on March 10 — though he walked out of jail on February 16. The BJP retained power in the state, winning 255 of the 403 seats.

Contentious bail

  • The petition challenging Mishra’s bail order was filed by family members of the farmers — protesting against the now repealed three farm laws — allegedly mowed down by a vehicle in which he was travelling in October last year.
  • The Allahabad High Court, in its bail order, had observed that “there might be a possibility that the driver tried to speed up the vehicle to save himself, on account of which, the incident had taken place.” The high court had added that it also couldn’t ignore the killing of three persons by the enraged farmers in retaliation.

What the investigation said

  • Interestingly, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Lakhimpur Kheri killings said that the act was “intentionally carried out through a planned conspiracy” and that the killings were not the result of any “negligence’ or “callousness.”
3. Former CAG charged in chopper scam case
3. Former CAG charged in chopper scam case
The CBI has filed a supplementary chargesheet in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland scam against former defence secretary and CAG Shashi Kant Sharma and four Indian Air Force personnel. The agency filed the chargesheet after getting the government’s nod to prosecute Sharma, who was defence secretary between 2011 and 2013 before being appointed the Comptroller and Auditor General.

  • The others: The agency also named the then Air Vice Marshal Jasbir Singh Panesar (now retired), deputy chief test pilot S A Kunte, then Wing Commander Thomas Mathew and Group Captain N Santosh. Kunte and Santosh retired as air commodore. The CBI’s first chargesheet was filed in September 2017 naming former IAF chief S P Tyagi and others. It was followed by another chargesheet in September 2020 against middleman Christian Michel and others.
  • The case: The case pertains to alleged bribery to swing a deal to procure 12 VVIP helicopters in favour of AgustaWestland which was ineligible as its helicopters did not meet the 6,000-metre operational ceiling parameter set by the IAF. The CBI has accused Tyagi of recommending reduction in the operational ceiling of the helicopters from 6,000 metres to 4,500 metres which brought AgustaWestland into the race.
  • The bribe: The CBI has alleged that Michel’s firms received about 42.27 million euros, approximately 7% of the deal amount, to swing the Rs 3,600 crore purchase. Michel was extradited to India by the UAE in December 2018 and has been lodged in Tihar Jail since.
4. Jet fuel flies through roof with steepest hike
4. Jet fuel flies through roof with steepest hike
  • Flying is set to get more expensive and survival a lot tougher for pandemic-hit airlines as oil PSUs hiked on Wednesday the price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) by 18%, the steepest ever at a go and the sixth straight rise this year.
  • Jet fuel has now become dearer by 50% from January 2022 and crossed the Rs 1 lakh mark per kilo litre (or 1,000 litre) for the first time in India.
  • ATF has been seeing a disproportionate hike because the Ukraine-Russia war has made crude dearer and prices of politically sensitive petrol and diesel have not been revised for over four months now. Apart from some states not cutting tax rates on jet fuel, the Centre too has not reduced excise duty.
  • ATF in Delhi for domestic flights will cost Rs 110,666 a KL after the over 18% hike of Rs 17,135. In Mumbai it will cost Rs 109,119. The previous high of Rs 71,028 was in August 2008, when international crude oil prices touched $147 a barrel. While crude on Wednesday was trading just above $100 a barrel, ATF rates skyrocketed because of two factors: a weaker rupee and no hike in petrol and diesel prices in recent months.
  • Petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged for a record 132nd straight day on Wednesday. The daily price revision was put on hold on November 4, 2021, just before assembly elections in UP, Punjab and three more states. LPG cooking fuel prices have not changed since October, when a cylinder cost Rs 900.
6. OROP valid, suffers no arbitrariness: SC
6. OROP valid, suffers no arbitrariness: SC
In a thumping validation of the one rank-one pension (OROP) policy, the Supreme Court said the Centre’s 2014 policy decision for uniform pension to retired armed forces personnel of identical rank suffered no arbitrariness and, hence, was not a fit case to be interfered with.

  • The case: A bunch of petitions had argued that the initial definition of OROP was altered and, instead of an automatic revision of the rates of pension, it provided for revision at periodic intervals. This, the petitions said, was arbitrary and unconstitutional.
  • What the court said: “The definition of OROP is uniformly applicable to all pensioners irrespective of the date of retirement. It is not the case of the petitioners that the pension is reviewed ‘automatically’ to a class of pensioners and ‘periodically’ to another class of pensioners.”
  • What next: As per the government’s policy decision, the benefits of OROP were to be effected from July 1, 2014, and were to be revised every five years. “Such an exercise has remained to be carried out after the expiry of five years possibly because of the pendency of the present proceedings (before the SC),” it said. The court directed that a re-fixation exercise be carried out from July 1, 2019, upon the expiry of five years. Arrears payable to all eligible pensioners of the armed forces be computed and paid within three months.
  • The numbers: The Centre had told the SC that OROP’s annual financial implication at the time of initial implementation was estimated at Rs 7,123 crore. The arrears which had to be paid for the period of July 1, 2014, to December 31, 2015, stood at Rs 10,392 crore. The estimated budget allocation for defence pensions is Rs 1,33,825 crore, representing 28.39% of the total defence budget estimate of Rs 4,71,378 crore for 2020-2021.
  • The last word: The court said, “an increased reliance on judges to solve matters of pure policy diminishes the role of other political organs in resolving contested issues of social and political policy, which require a democratic dialogue. This is not to say that this court will shy away from setting aside policies that impinge on constitutional rights. Rather, it is to provide a clear-eyed role of the function that a court serves in a democracy.”
7. Why the Congress wants to unfriend Facebook
7. Why the Congress wants to unfriend Facebook
  • Because mom says so: Alleging that Facebook was “profiting” from hate speech and disinformation, Congress president Sonia Gandhi asked the government to “put an end to the systematic interference of Facebook and other social media giants in the electoral politics of the world’s largest democracy.” Gandhi, who was speaking in parliament, added that “global social media companies are not providing a level playing field to all political parties.’
  • What she meant: Gandhi’s tirade against Facebook stemmed from a report by The Reporters Collective carried by Al-Jazeera which said that the social media giant, through its algorithm, offered cheaper advertisement deals to the BJP as compared to the Congress. In a 22-month analysis covering 10 parliamentary and state assembly elections, the report said that while the BJP was charged Rs 41,844 for one million views of its advertisement, the Congress had to shell out Rs 53,776 for the same number of views.
  • Even son said so: Even as Sonia called for action against Facebook in the Lok Sabha, her son Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to lambast Facebook and its parent company Meta, labelling them “worse for democracy.” Gandhi, who also cited the Al Jazeera report, has been at loggerheads with Facebook even earlier when the social media company called him out last year for posting photographs of the family of a minor who had been sexually assaulted.
  • Party says so too: The Congress, in November last year, alleged that Facebook and WhatsApp were being used by the BJP-led government at the Centre as a weapon to spread hate speech and fake news — and demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe on the issue. Ironically, just a month prior to that, in October, the Congress had blamed the Centre for the server outage on Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, alleging that it was done to block farmers’ protests.
8. A new rule for tennis, a rule out in chess
8. A new rule for tennis, a rule out in chess
The rule

  • All four Grand Slam tennis tournaments will now use a 10-point tiebreaker when matches reach 6-6 in the final set. The Grand Slam Board announced the trial move, taking effect immediately, on behalf of the Australian, French and U.S. Opens and Wimbledon on Wednesday.
  • The Australian Open already uses the 10-point tiebreaker. The French Open, which begins May 22, was the only major to not use a deciding tiebreaker. Wimbledon had employed a seven-point tiebreaker from 12-12, and the U.S. Open used a seven-point tiebreaker from 6-6.
  • Rule changes were sought after John Isner beat Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the final set of their first round match at Wimbledon in 2010. The match lasted 11 hours, 5 minutes and stretched over three days.

The rule out

  • World chess governing body FIDE on Wednesday suspended Russia and Belarus from all its tournaments until further notice due to the invasion of Ukraine.
  • This jeopardises the two countries’ participation in the 44th Chess Olympiad in India later this year.
  • FIDE, however, said in individual tournaments of the World Championship cycle, players from these two countries can participate under the world body’s flag.
9. Ambani’s the richest but Adani’s getting rich faster
9. Ambani’s the richest but Adani's getting rich faster
The big two

  • Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, continues to be the richest Indian with a wealth of $103 billion, a 24% rise year-on-year.
  • However, it is Gautam Adani, India’s, and Asia’s second-richest person, who has added the most wealth in the last year, according to the 2022 M3M Hurun Global Rich List.
  • Adani added $49 billion to his wealth last year — more than the net addition of wealth by the top three global billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault — and more than double of the $20 billion in case of Ambani. His wealth surged 153% to $81 billion.
  • In the last 10 years, while Ambani’s wealth has grown 400%, Adani has seen a 1,830% increase.

The others

  • HCL’s Shiv Nadar is ranked third with $28 billion wealth, followed by Serum Institute’s Cyrus Poonawalla ($26 billion) and steel magnate Lakshmi N Mittal ($25 billion).
  • Nykaa founder Falguni Nayar ($7.6 billion) is the wealthiest new entrant on the list.
  • The list ranked 3,381 billionaires from 2,557 companies and 69 countries. India has 18% of the world’s population and 8% of the world’s ‘known’ billionaires, up from 4.9% five years ago. India has 215 billionaires compared to 1,133 Chinese billionaires and 716 American ones. More details here.
Answer to NEWS IN CLUES
Answer to NEWS IN CLUES

Jasprit Jasbir Singh Bumrah. The Indian pacer, who in 2018 became the first Asian to take five or more wicket hauls in England, Australia and South Africa, broke into the top five of ICC Test rankings, jumping six spots to be ranked fourth.

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Written by: Rakesh Rai, Tejeesh Nippun Singh
Research: Rajesh Sharma

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