SC refuses to allow Jallikattu, protests intensify in TN

Last-gasp attempts to hold the traditional bull-taming sport of Jallikattu during pongal festivities on Wednesday ended in failure, with the Supreme Court refusing to vacate its order staying lifting of a ban on the sport by the Centre, provoking intensified protests in Tamil Nadu.

As the Supreme Court refused to vacate its order staying the Centre's notification lifting the ban on the popular but controversial sport, the animal rights group People for Ethical Treatment of Animals India shot off a letter to President Pranab Mukherjee, urging him not to pass any such ordinance so bulls can be protected.

The PETA's move came a day after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to promulgate an ordinance allowing holding of Jallikattu, a 3,000-year-old sport, which has become a hot political issue in an election year.

"We are not inclined to vacate the stay," a bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and N V Ramana said after hearing the urgently moved pleas of some Tamil Nadu residents and a group called Compassion Unlimited Plus Action.

The bench said it was "unimpressed" with the arguments that Jallikattu should be allowed under the supervision of the court by appointing court commissioners who could submit reports on the event and the claim that it was a socio-religious harvest festival and not entertainment.

It said the apex court's two-judge bench in its judgement in 2014 had discussed various facets of the age-old sport and expressed its opinion that bulls cannot be subjected to cruelty.

"The aforesaid submission leaves us unimpressed, for the simon-pure (genuine) reason (that) the two-Judge bench of this Court, as it appears, had discussed many facets with regard to Jallikattu and expressed its opinion. The arrangements made on the basis of the notification would not warrant alteration of our order and, therefore, we are not inclined to vacate the order of stay," the bench said.

The apex court remained unimpressed with the contention that Jallikattu was not a fight between bulls and humans but a game where the participants are required to embrace the running bulls by hanging on to their hump as long as possible and that the men are unarmed.

With the Supreme Court declining to vacate its stay on the Centre's notification, protests intensified across Tamil Nadu.

Protests were held in several cities and towns, including Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Pudukottai and Salem.

In Chennai, activists of the 'May 17 Movement' and 'Tamilar Munnetra Padai' staged demonstrations seeking measures by the Centre to facilitate Jallikattu.

In Tiruchirappalli district, a man attempted to set himself ablaze but police overpowered and removed him from the spot.

Organisers and supporters of the bull taming sport also blocked roads and organisers and participants went on a fast in Alanganallur and Palamdedu in Madurai, police said.

Many men tonsured their heads in Madurai as a mark of protest and black flags were hoisted in several places.

"An ordinance cannot be brought now at this stage when the case continues to be in court. However, the state government can do it and if that is done, we will support it," Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters at Mamallapuram near Chennai on the sidelines of a function.

However, Union Minister of State for Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan told reporters at Cuddalore that appropriate measures were being considered to facilitate conduct of the sport.

PMK chief Ramadoss said "people's expectations on (conducting) Jallikattu should not be banned."

With Jayalalithaa making a pitch for promulgating an ordinance to allow conduct of Jallikattu, PETA petitioned the President not to take such a course so the bulls are protected.

"After learning from various reliable news reports that TN CM J Jayalalitha has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to disseminate an ordinanace allowing Jallikattu, PETA India fired off a letter to President Pranab Mukherjee urging him not to pass any such ordinance so that bulls can remain protected," a PETA India statement said in Delhi.

Jayalalithaa in her letter to Modi had on Tuesday said, "Considering the urgency of the issue, I strongly reiterate my earlier request to promulgate an ordinance forthwith to enable the conduct of Jallikattu. On behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu, I urge you to take immediate action in this regard."

The PETA India letter said, "We urge you (President) not to pass any ordinance allowing bull races, Jallikattu, bull fights or any other similar events or to allow the use of bulls as performing animals again under any pretext." 

Gadkari says no to casinos; wants Ramdev, Sri Sri to enter tourism

Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday made it clear that casinos are not welcome in the country while he pitched that organisations doing 'good work' like Yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali group and Sri Sri Ravishankar's Art of Living should create facilities at the over 1,300 islands, which are to be opened up for tourism across the country.

"We oppose things like casinos, and I will not give permissions for that. People will also not tolerate such things," Gadkari said at an industry event in Mumbai.

Stating that Art of Living (of Sri Sri Ravishankar) and Ramdev are doing good work, Gadkari asked them to start ayurvedic spas to give massages and ayurvedic treatment at these islands being opened up.

The Union shipping minister said apart from ayurveda and traditional wellness activities, ‘entertainment facilities are also welcome on the islands but definitely not casinos’.

The functioning of the casinos has been a contentious issue in the country and only the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Goa, the Union Territory of Daman and Sikkim have functional places of gambling.

As per the Constitution, gambling and allowing casinos are state subjects.

Referring to a conference held earlier to leverage on the tourism potential offered by the islands and lighthouses, Gadkari said the government has decided to open up 1,300 islands and 280 lighthouses.

He said there is a good demand for activities like yoga and traditional Indian wellness programmes from foreigners and apart from the foreign exchange it will also help in generating employment.

Kashmir shivers as mercury stays way below freezing point

A bright sunny day and rise in night temperature brought some respite from cold in most parts of the northern India except Kashmir valley where the mercury dipped further.

Delhi witnessed a pleasant morning as the minimum temperature settled at 10.6 degrees Celsius, four notches above normal. The general visibility was recorded at 1,000 metres.

The weatherman has predicted partly cloudy sky afternoon onwards, with possibility of shallow fog on Wednesday morning.

In Rajasthan, there was a rise in night temperatures in most parts of the state, where the lowest was recorded in Churu at 5.8 degrees Celsius.

According to MeT department, Sikar recorded a minimum of 6 deg C, Sriganganagar 8.4 deg C, Bikaner 9.6 deg C, state capital Jaipur 10 deg C and Ajmer 11.5 degree Celsius.

Cold wave tightened its grip across Kashmir valley as the minimum temperature dropped at most places.

Leh was the coldest recorded area at minus 11.8 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature recorded in Srinagar was minus 3.7 degrees Celsius against Monday's minus 2.7 degrees Celsius, a MET office spokesman said.

The famous ski resort of Gulmarg, a major attraction for tourists visiting the valley during winter, was the coldest recorded place in the valley with a low of minus 6.6 degrees Celsius against Monday's minus 5.4 degrees Celsius.

Kargil, also in the cold desert of Ladakh, registered a minimum of minus 10.2 degrees Celsius, making it the second coldest place in the state, the spokesman said.

The minimum temperature dropped several degrees in Pahalgam hill resort to settle at minus 6.4 degrees Celsius against Monday's minus 2.9 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature in north Kashmir town of Kupwara was minus 2.5 degrees Celsius, while the southern Kokernag resort recorded a low of minus 0.9 degrees Celsius.

Qazigund, the gateway town to Kashmir along Srinagar-Jammu national highway, registered a minimum of minus 0.6 degrees Celsius.

As the sun shone brightly for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, the chances of snowfall or rains have further reduced.

Himachal Pradesh also witnessed a clear sky. Capital Shimla witnessed a minimum temperature of 8 degrees Celsius, which was about 3 degrees above normal for this time of the season.

Nahan recorded a low of 10.1 degrees Celsius while the lowest temperature in higher hill reaches of Kalpa was at zero degree Celsius. Usually temperature remains around minus four to five degrees Celsius here at this time of the season. 

Doval's actions saved critical air assets in Pathankot

'Ajit Doval has done a splendid job in handling the Pathankot attack and certainly helped save heavy destruction of critical air force assets,' says Abhay Jere.

Ajai Shukla's column is another example of the pathological hatred within a section of armchair columnists towards Narendra Modi's establishment.

Shukla has certainly pretended to be objective while analysing the handling of terrorist attack on the Pathankot airbase, but he has purposefully chosen to overlook/ignore the facts which does not support his viewpoint. Moreover, he has labelled all the journalists praising the handling of the Pathankot attack as National Security Advisor Ajit Doval's 'cheerleaders'.

So now let us systematically dissect the various issues raised by Shukla to perpetuate his prejudice that the Pathankot terrorist attack was poorly handled by Doval and that he is incompetent to be the NSA.

The first and foremost aspect of the Pathankot attack was the availability of credible intelligence inputs before the actual attack. This itself a very positive sign as India has paid heavily in the past for not having credible and actionable intelligence inputs prior to any major terrorist attacks like the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

Doval, being an ex-spy, certainly must have done something right to ensure that our intelligence system is geared enough to give credible inputs. Needless to say, if we didn't have the intelligence inputs, then the damage would have been far worse.

Moreover, the primary objective of these terrorists was to destroy our critical air force assets, but our armed forces ensured that they were not successful.

In his article, Shukla implied that Doval was casual in his approach and initially failed to understand the gravity and magnanimity of the problem. He also suggested that Doval initially restricted the role of the army and relied on hapless Defence Security Corps jawans, thus resulting in more casualties. This is absolutely not true.

On the contrary, after getting credible intelligence of an imminent terror attack on the base last Friday itself, a special forces team of the Indian Army along with two infantry columns (25 to 30 soldiers per column) of the army were deployed at the air base.

In addition, a team of the National Security Guard's Black Cat Commandos was also immediately deployed. More importantly, the overall command of the entire military operation was with a brigadier of the Indian Army and then with an NSG Inspector General (Operations).

Later, nine more columns of the army were moved in to ensure that the entire base was sanitised and completely under control. Doval was continuously monitoring the situation and for the very reason he cancelled his scheduled visit to China.

Shukla says that NSG commandos are not the first line of defence and not trained to protect assets like airbases and only trained to flushing out terrorists holed up in a house. He is not completely right. NGS commandos are special forces under the ministry of home affairs primarily trained for combating terrorism in every form. Their training is comprehensive and covers all aspects of countering terrorism and not just the holed up terrorist.

The NSG commandos are trained to conduct counter-terrorist tasks that include counter-hijacking tasks on land, sea, and air; bomb disposal (search, detection and neutralisation of IEDs); post blast investigation as well as hostage rescue missions. Anyway, during the Pathankot operation, NSG commandos were never the first line of defence.

Finally, Shukla talks about the delay (three days) in finishing the operations, especially the time taken to neutralise the last two terrorists who were holed up in a staff residential building. Now, according to Shukla, the NSG commandos are experts in tackling holed up terrorists, then questioning the delay in neutralising the last two holed up terrorists is to directly question the competence and ability of our NGS commandos.

It will be extremely unfair on our part to make judgments regarding the length of duration of an operation sitting inside air-conditioned chambers in far away locations, as we are still unaware of all the details which might have resulted in the delay.

It also could have been a strategic decision by the NSG to ensure that the terrorists are tired before making the final assault.

I completely agree with Shukla on a couple of minor points. First, the statements by the home minister in almost announcing the end of the operation without validating all the facts could have been avoided. Moreover, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi's statements during Sunday's press briefing were quite insensitive and should have been worded more carefully.

Having said this, I have no hesitation in proclaiming that Doval has done a splendid job in handling the Pathankot attack and has certainly helped saved heavy destruction of critical air force assets.

Instead of mindless criticism just based on prejudice and conjecture, people like Ajai Shukla, who have no real experience or expertise in counter-terrorism operations, need to learn to give credit where it is due.