Above the Fold: The day's top stories
1. The death toll has crossed 4,000 in Nepal after Saturday's massive earthquake, with more than 7,000 injured and huge numbers still to be rescued.
2. Rescue teams are desperately short of equipment and funds and hundreds of tourists and locals are desperate to leave crumbling Kathmandu.
3. Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh told the Rajya Sabha on Monday that crop damage has affected 189 lakh hectares across the country.
The Big Story: Chief Justice says no to NJAC for now
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court refused to join the appointment panel to decide who would be on the National Judicial Appointments Commission, which would subsequently pick the judges in India's Supreme Court and state High Courts. CJI HL Dattu wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying it would neither be "appropriate nor desirable" for him to attend the NJAC meeting while the apex court is also considering the constitutionality of the legislation, effectively stopping the appointments commission in its tracks.
Considering the case won't be winding up any time soon, this would mean that up to 12 High Court justices could be out of jobs soon. Beyond this, there are chief justices across the High Court system who need to be appointed. The Modi government, through its Attorney General, called the matter a "constitutional stalemate" and asked the five-judge bench, which is looking at the validity of the NJAC, to direct the CJI to join the process.
With the CJI staying away from the NJAC, it is up to the bench now to decide what to do. It could do what it was reluctant to do before, which is to stay the NJAC for the time being, or it could direct the CJI to join the process. Any other decision would mean empty posts and delayed justice.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's biggest story
As Sanjay Hegde wrote a few months ago, unless this case is looked at carefully, India's entire litigation system could collapse.
Politicking & Policying
1. The government is considering a law that would enforce net neutrality on internet players, per a background note prepared by the Department of Telecom.
2. This comes as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India released the email addresses of more than a million Indians who had written in with their opinions on neutrality.
3. The Bharatiya Janata Party is still debating over whether it should push through its Land Acquisition Amendment Bill no matter what or relent to opposition and popular pressure.
4. The government is looking to alter the Prevention of Corruption Act to ensure it doesn't stand in the way of bureaucrats making decisions.
5. Only 8% of stalled projects during the United Progressive Alliance's tenure were stuck because of land acquisition issues, an RTI shows.
Cartoon
Punditry
1. "The magnitude of a life lived so ferociously was reduced to five measly bullets," writes Amna Iqbal in the Indian Express on slain Pakistani activist Sabeen Mahmud. "This just does not fit."
2. Sanjaya Baru, writing in the Hindu, wants a revival of the India-Brazil-South Africa formation, to push reform in the UN security council and more.
3. Manjeet Sehgal in the Mail Today writes of the crime epidemic inside Punjab's jails.
Don't Miss
Kevin Andrade was in Nepal with his wife and six-month-old baby when the earth started shaking.
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1. The death toll has crossed 4,000 in Nepal after Saturday's massive earthquake, with more than 7,000 injured and huge numbers still to be rescued.
2. Rescue teams are desperately short of equipment and funds and hundreds of tourists and locals are desperate to leave crumbling Kathmandu.
3. Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh told the Rajya Sabha on Monday that crop damage has affected 189 lakh hectares across the country.
The Big Story: Chief Justice says no to NJAC for now
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court refused to join the appointment panel to decide who would be on the National Judicial Appointments Commission, which would subsequently pick the judges in India's Supreme Court and state High Courts. CJI HL Dattu wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying it would neither be "appropriate nor desirable" for him to attend the NJAC meeting while the apex court is also considering the constitutionality of the legislation, effectively stopping the appointments commission in its tracks.
Considering the case won't be winding up any time soon, this would mean that up to 12 High Court justices could be out of jobs soon. Beyond this, there are chief justices across the High Court system who need to be appointed. The Modi government, through its Attorney General, called the matter a "constitutional stalemate" and asked the five-judge bench, which is looking at the validity of the NJAC, to direct the CJI to join the process.
With the CJI staying away from the NJAC, it is up to the bench now to decide what to do. It could do what it was reluctant to do before, which is to stay the NJAC for the time being, or it could direct the CJI to join the process. Any other decision would mean empty posts and delayed justice.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's biggest story
As Sanjay Hegde wrote a few months ago, unless this case is looked at carefully, India's entire litigation system could collapse.
Politicking & Policying
1. The government is considering a law that would enforce net neutrality on internet players, per a background note prepared by the Department of Telecom.
2. This comes as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India released the email addresses of more than a million Indians who had written in with their opinions on neutrality.
3. The Bharatiya Janata Party is still debating over whether it should push through its Land Acquisition Amendment Bill no matter what or relent to opposition and popular pressure.
4. The government is looking to alter the Prevention of Corruption Act to ensure it doesn't stand in the way of bureaucrats making decisions.
5. Only 8% of stalled projects during the United Progressive Alliance's tenure were stuck because of land acquisition issues, an RTI shows.
Cartoon
#NepalEarthquake "@_MumbaiMirror: Today's cartoon by @hemantmorparia pic.twitter.com/zWGPQCVUt1"
— hemant morparia (@hemantmorparia) April 27, 2015Punditry
1. "The magnitude of a life lived so ferociously was reduced to five measly bullets," writes Amna Iqbal in the Indian Express on slain Pakistani activist Sabeen Mahmud. "This just does not fit."
2. Sanjaya Baru, writing in the Hindu, wants a revival of the India-Brazil-South Africa formation, to push reform in the UN security council and more.
3. Manjeet Sehgal in the Mail Today writes of the crime epidemic inside Punjab's jails.
Don't Miss
Kevin Andrade was in Nepal with his wife and six-month-old baby when the earth started shaking.
"Even now when I stand up, it feels as though the earth is moving. I was very lucky to have gotten out of there. My other Indian friends are still there at the Annapurna Hotel, and they haven’t managed to get out. I am going to see what I can do for them from here, see if I can share with them the right procedure to get out of Nepal."