The Latest: Top stories of the day

  1. Home Minister Rajnath Singh backs Pakistan on the Pathankot probe. “There is no reason to distrust Pakistan so early," he says.
  2. Phone numbers and Facebook accounts of the terrorists who attacked the Pathankot airbase have been traced back to Pakistan.
  3. Pakistani military officers were behind attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, say the Afghan police.
  4. An Italian Marine accused of murdering Indian fisherman will not return to India for his trial after being allowed to go back home for medical treatment.
  5. The Islamic State is behind the Istanbul bombing, says Turkey.
  6. Beijing will stop using coal by 2020 to reduce smog.

The Big Story: Bull run

Coming down strongly in favour of animal rights, the Supreme Court stayed a January 7, 2016 notification issued by the Centre allowing jallikattu despite a 2014 apex court ban on the sport as “inherently cruel”.

“The 2011 notification was in consonance with the fundamental duties of the State and concept of compassion enshrined in the Constitution,” the Hindu reported one of the judges as saying. "The 2014 judgment covers the rights of animals under Constitution, tradition, religion and ethology."

The petition was filed by the Animal Welfare Board of India, which argued that jallikattu is a clear violation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. But Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi for the Centre made the case using tradition, rhetorically arguing that someone might even try to force him to stop bursting crackers for Diwali.

At the last moment, the Union government tried to employ arm-twisting tactics to stop the Animal Welfare Board of India from filing the petition. The chairman of the board, RM Kharb, was abused and then threatened with dismissal by officials of the environment and forests ministry if he pressed ahead with the petition, reported the Telegraph.

The Big Scroll

Jallikattu results in mutilated ears, broken tailbones and bulls being force-fed liquor. What’s more, its unbanning by the Union government was a clear case of the executive undermining the judiciary. The debate over jallukattu, though, has revealed both Hindutva as well as liberal hypocrisy.

Politicking and policying

1. Two centres of power emerge in the Bihar government as Lalu Prasad throws his weight around.

2. Commentator Swapan Dasgupta is likely to head Nehru memorial and will enjoy the status of Minister of State.

3. Fight against Islamic State is not World War Three: Barack Obama.

Punditry

1. The National Food Security Act is finally making headway in the poorest states, notes Jean Dreze in the Hindu.

2. KP Nayar writing in the Telegraph points out how Modi missed his chances with Pakistan and China.

3. Abhinav Kumar, writing in the Indian Express says that the debate over Pathankot often assumes (incorrectly) that the Army are always the best anti-terrorism tool.