Morning Brief: Industrial Output At One-Year High; Haj Subsidy Review; Protests Erupt After Jallikattu Ruling

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Industrial Output Surges To One-Year High: According to data released on Thursday, India’s industrial output shrugged off the impact of demonetisation to surge to a one-year high of 5.7 per cent in November as compared to a contraction of 1.8 per cent in the previous month. In separate data issued by the statistics department, retail inflation decelerated to 3.41 per cent in December against 3.63 per cent a month ago with vegetable prices showing a slump.

CISF Jawan Kills Four Senior Officers: A Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) jawan on Thursday shot dead his four senior colleagues with his service rifle in a fit of rage following a heated argument in Bihar's naxal-hit Aurangabad district. The CISF said any issue related to service leave had nothing to do with the jawan taking the extreme step. This comes as jawans of paramilitary forces express dissatisfaction online over poor living conditions.

Tata Sons Names Chandrasekaran As Chairman: Tata Sons on Thursday named TCS chief executive officer and managing director N Chandrasekaran as its new chairman over two months after the unceremonious sacking of Cyrus Mistry. The 54-year-old was chosen to step into the shoes of interim chairman Ratan Tata, who took over on 24 October last year after the removal of Mistry.

NITI Aayog To Redraw Poverty Line: Government think-tank NITI Aayog has decided to set up an expert committee to freshly define poverty line in the country to help track the success and outreach of its poverty alleviation measures. “We will soon set up an expert committee to narrowly look at the poverty line issue only, as most states are politically not in sync with each other,” a senior government official said.

Panel To Review Haj Subsidy Formed: A six-member panel has been set up at the Minority Affairs Ministry on Thursday to look into the efficacy and viability of the Haj subsidy given to Muslim pilgirms in the form of discounted air fares on Air India. The move comes close on the heels of Saudi Arabia raising India's Haj quota by about 34,000 taking the total number of pilgrims allowed to do the annual pilgrimage.

Protests Erupt In Tamil Nadu After Jallikattu Ruling: Protests erupted in Tamil Nadu after the Supreme Court on Thursday shot down a plea for delivering its judgment on bull-taming sport Jallikattu before the harvest festival of Pongal on Saturday. More than 28 people were arrested in Cuddalore for defying the ban on Jallikattu.

FBI’s Clinton Emails Action To Be Probed: The inspector general’s office of the US Justice Department on Thursday said that it would launch a probe into Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director James B Comey’s decision to order a review in the Hillary Clinton email investigation – a move Clinton said cost her the election. This comes in response to complaints from members of Congress about actions by the FBI and the Justice Department during the campaign that might be seen as politically motivated, said reports.

New Push To Repeal Obamacare: The Republican-led US Senate launched their much-anticipated effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act on Thursday by passing a budget blueprint which would allow them to begin rolling back the health care reforms. "Congrats to the Senate for taking the first step to #RepealObamacare," President-elect Donald Trump tweeted. "Now it's onto the House!"

MUST READ OP-EDS

Cold War-Like Tensions With Russia Is Hardly A Worthy Legacy For Nobel Peace Laureate Obama: The revival of Cold War-like tensions with Russia is hardly a worthy legacy for Obama to leave behind considering that the end of the Cold War was a grand legacy that a Nobel peace laureate like him should have built upon.

No Debate On Healthcare In India: Even as India makes a tortuous climb up the rankings for ease of doing business, the nation accords scant regard to healthcare, encouraging rampant self-medication and turning a blind eye to escalating out-of-pocket expenses.

How To Make Publicly-Funded Elections A Reality: The opaque and gargantuan nature of electoral finance is at the root of the twin evils of corruption and black money. The only permanent solution is to strike at its foundation.

India’s Job Challenge Requires Collective Action: Jobs may be the single biggest social and economic challenge we face. There is no silver bullet to solve this problem. It will take a multi-dimensional approach to scale the necessary solutions. This is termed “collective action”.

SWARAJYA SPECIAL

Swami Vivekananda’s Vision Of Universal Religion And The West: Even after over a century since his demise, Vivekananda is still considered as the most powerful youth icon and an inspiration to the country.

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