1. Chhota Rajan To Serve 7 Years of Jail Time In Fake Passport Case
A Delhi Court awarded seven years of jail time to gangster Chhota Rajan and three other, on Tuesday, in relation to a fake passport case. Jayashree Dattatray Rahate, Lalitha Lakshmanan and Deepak Natvarlal Shah were the three other convicts, and a fine of Rs 15,000 has also been imposed on each of them. They were accused under the Indian Penal Code of cheating, using forged document, forgery of valuable security or will, forgery for the purpose of cheating, cheating by impersonation and criminal conspiracy. They were also charged with violating relevant provisions of the Passport Act. Notably, this is the first case Chhota Rajan has been convicted under and he is facing around 70 other such convictions. The gangster is lodged in Tihar Jail since 2015 and he appeared before the court via video-conference due to security reasons.
2. ‘Grace Marks’ Policy Scrapped By CBSE and Other Boards
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and 31 other school boards decided to scrap the “marks moderation” policy, through which grace marks were awarded to students who needed to clear the exams. Students are usually awarded up to 15% of extra marks to compensate for tough questions asked during exams, forcing colleges to set their cut-off marks at 100%. However, from now on, grace marks will still be rewarded but the same will be mentioned in the mark sheets. CBSE also decided to set the same set of questions for all its affiliated schools and both the decisions will be implemented from this year only.
3. Where Would Apple, IBM Be If Not For Global Talent, Says RBI Governor Urjit Patel
During the third Kotak Family Distinguished Lecture on Indian Economic Policies at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, RBI Governor Urjit Patel warned against “protectionism” while commenting on the recent move by Donald Trump’s administration to tighten H-1B visa rules. He said, “Where would Apple be, where would Cisco be, where would IBM be if they were not sourcing the best products and talent from across the world” and added, “You do not know what are the implications of some of these policies on equity and distribution besides objectives that you want to address”. Meanwhile, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) said that Indian IT companies account for less than 20% of approved H-1B visas. The statement was a step to counter the United States’ claim of Indian IT firms bagging the highest number of H-1B visas by exploiting Visa lottery system,
4. Trump’s Lawyer Takes Legal Action Against BuzzFeed For Publishing ‘Fake Documents’
Michael D. Cohen, has asked his attorney to investigate legal action against Buzzfeed. Cohen is the US President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, who is planning to sue the social-media giant for posting an opposition’s research “dossier” that accused him of a conspiracy with Russian agents, without any proof. Cohen also told The Washington Times, that he’s considering a lawsuit against the writer of the 25-page gossipy dossier, former British spy Christopher Steele.
5. NSE Nifty Closes At All Time High, Rupee Rallies to 3-Week High
BSE’s Benchmark Sensex gained 287 points on Tuesday to end at a three-week high of 29,943.24 due to widespread buying as Reliance Industries recorded 14% growth in quarterly earning amid strong global cues. NSE’s Nifty gained 88.65 points and reached the all-time high, after breaching the 9300-mark, of 9,306.60. Indian Rupee, on the other hand, gained 18 paise against the US Dollar after persistent selling of the greenback by exporters and banks. The Green Currency was valued at Rs 64.26 at the end of Tuesday’s trade.