Front Page
With the Supreme Court of India delivering judgments every day, the front pages are flooded with the verdicts.Most Page 1 reports concern the three major judgments announced Wednesday — the Chief Justice of India’s office is now under the RTI Act with caveats, the disqualification of MLAs in Karnataka was upheld, and in bad news for the government, the apex court also struck down the 2017 Finance Act that altered the functioning of various tribunals.
The other big story of the day is Delhi’s ‘Air Emergency’ in The Times of India and Hindustan Times.
The unusual front page story of the day is The Indian Express report on Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli’s admission that at one stage in his career, he suffered symptoms of depression. India’s sports personalities seldom speak publicly about their mental health struggles but cricket captain Virat Kohli reportedly said “during a tough phase in his career five years ago”, he thought it was “the end of the world”.
Chief Justice of India under RTI: The CJI’s office is a “public authority” under the “Right to Information Act”, a five-judge bench led by CJI Ranjan Gogoi declared, reports The Hindu.
The Indian Express writes the “Supreme Court opens itself” in its headline. In its ‘Explained’ box, it writes that “the step is significant because it opens the doors to RTI requests that will test what has been a rather opaque system”.
TOI focuses on the caveats— the bench “weaved in the caveats of ‘judicial independence, privacy and genuine public interest’ to protect judges and judiciary against witch-hunting.
Karnataka MLAs: TOI reports that the SC “upheld the Karnataka assembly speaker’s July decision to disqualify 15 rebel Congress-JD(S) MLAs, who brought down the HD Kumaraswamy government”. But it allowed them “to contest bypolls from constituencies that fell vacant after their disqualification”.
Express adds that the bench said that the speaker “does not have the power to either indicate the period for which a person is disqualified, nor to bar someone from contesting elections”. In a graphic, Hindu underlines that this move “came as a boost for the BJP” as the 16 disqualified MLAs are set to join the party Thursdaybefore bypolls are held on 5 December.
2017 Finance Bill: TOI and Hindu focus on the SC judgment that “nixed” (in TOI’s words) the government rule that “altered the appointments to 19 key judicial tribunals, including the Central Administrative Tribunal”.
Express and HT focus on another significant aspect of the ruling that may spell trouble for the Aadhaar Act. Express, in its lead, writes that the bench “expressed doubts” about the “correctness” of the 2018 verdict “upholding the Aadhaar Act which had been passed as a money bill” while delivering the Finance Act judgment. Like the Aadhar Act, the amended Finance Act of 2017 was also passed as a money bill. HT adds that the decision “virtually reopened the 2018 Aadhaar judgment”.
Delhi pollution: Air quality levels in NCR deteriorated to the ‘severe’ category and the city was shrouded in a “smog full of toxic pollutants that brought back a public health emergency”, reports HT. Schools have been closed for the next two days and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is considering extending the odd-even scheme beyond 15 November, adds TOI.
Retail inflation: More worrying news on the economy, as Hindu is the only one to carry a 16-month high retail inflation on its front page, that too at the bottom. Retail inflation climbed to 4.62 per cent “the highest level since August 2016” and was driven by food inflation.
Opinion
The Indian Express: In “Letting in Light”, Express “welcomes” the SC’s decision to open the CJI’s office to scrutiny under the RTI Act. In a “remarkable case”, the court “in its administrative avatar, appeared as litigant before its judicial avatar, argued against transparency and eventually ruled against itself”, writes Express. However, it argues that there is reason to be “circumspect” about celebrating the verdict since the court may accept applications now, but “the process of obtaining” the information may not be easy. Express adds that while the judgment “pushes the envelope on greater accountability”, the transition to transparency “may not be easy”.
Hindustan Times: In “The continued confrontation in JNU”, the newspaper writes that the JNU protests “throws up a key question about higher education in general, and JNU in particular”. HT argues that students must be “open to periodic [fee] revisions” but it also notes “that cost recovery cannot be a sustainable model for providing egalitarian higher education”. In future, it writes, decisions regarding fees “must be done in consultation with” students. HT calls the recommended curfew timings and dress codes “draconian” and adds that the administration “had no business imposing a moral code on adult students”.
Prime Time
Prime Time found many issues on its debating agenda as channels took up different topics.
NDTV 24×7 debated the #AirEmergency in Delhi.
At India Today, Rajdeep Sardesai sounded an ‘economy red alert’ after retail inflation reached a 16-month high with negative growth in seven key sectors.
He also interviewed author and journalist Aatish Taseer whose OCI card has been withdrawn. “I have been made bereft of my Indianness, my roots,” lamented Taseer.
Republic TV continued the drama on government formation in Maharashtra on #SoniaSena. Most leading Hindi channels did the same.
Aaj Tak’s Rohit Sardana called coalition talks between Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress “Khulla khel farrokhabaadi” (by hook or by crook). On #SiyasatKaBadlapur, Zee News anchor Aman Chopra asked, “Who is responsible for President’s rule in Maharashtra?”
Times Now: Navika Kumar debated the Supreme Court verdict on RTI and urged politicians to join them, on #JudgesNowNetasNext.
She was critical of all parties, including BJP, and came down heavily on party spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia: “Are the BJP not being hypocritical when they say we are following the existing laws… Do they not have the power to circumvent the law? Article 370 was abrogated because you changed the law.”
When Bhatia wouldn’t stop speaking, she cut in with, “This is not Frankly Speaking this is The NewsHour”.
Co-convener of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information, Anjali Bhardwaj said, “Political parties are sitting in (un)civil disobedience… They will only work for those who are funding them.”
Lawyer Sanjay Hedge believed that the “People of India are entitled to know how much money which businessman gives to political parties in a year.”
CNN News18: A review petition in the Sabarimala temple entry case, announced Thursday, was Anand Narasimhan’s debating point on #TheRightStand — “Should equality prevail over faith?”
Author and activist Rahul Easwar was all for “equality”, but insisted that Article 25 (Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion) “is a fundamental right and must be respected”.
Political Shakti co-founder Tara Krishnaswamy disagreed vehemently: “Political parties and men have no skin in the game because none of your rights are affected as you get to go to the temple as always… Your claim is that the deity doesn’t want it but who are you to decide what the deity wants?”
ABP News: “Dushman se bhi yari, kyunki kursi hai pyari’: here Rubika Liyaquat attacked Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress for overlooking their political ideologies in Maharashtra.
BJP’s Shahnawaz Hussain turned snide: “if Congress aligns with Shiv Sena it will have to chant ‘Jai Shivaji, Jai Bhavani’,” he commented.
“You (BJP) had also changed your slogans,” retorted lawyer Vikas Gupta, reminding him of the BJP’s alliance with PDP in Jammu and Kashmir.
“If BJP wants to touch the magic number, they will indulge in some permutation-combination and try to buy some MLAs. If NCP-Shiv Sena and Congress form the government, at least it will not be a government that has been bought,” Gupta added.
India TV: On “Aaj Ki Baat”, anchor Rajat Sharma referred to a report on Delhi’s deteriorating air quality index Wednesday during the last five years.
“Delhi’s citizens have had access to clean air for a total number of 61 days in five years… (But) crackers are not burst throughout the year, stubble is not burnt the whole year…” he said.