Morning Brief: Rs 2,000 Fake Notes Seized; INS Sarvekshak Goes Green; Siddaramaiah Bribe Claim

Good Morning, Swarajya Readers! Here's What You Need To Know Today.

Made In Pakistan: Fake Rs 2,000 Notes Seized: Recent seizures and arrests made by the National Investigation Agency and Border Security Force indicate that Pakistan-based counterfeiters have come out with fake Rs 2,000 notes. The seizures were made on 8 February in Murshidabad from Azizur Rahman. Sources said Rahman, who was carrying 40 fake notes of Rs 2,000 denomination, told investigators that they had been printed in Pakistan and had been smuggled across the border from Bangladesh.

Let Legislators Go Home, Panneerselvam Tells Sasikala: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Sunday dared All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary V K Sasikala to let the legislators return to their constituencies. This comes on a day when she presented the MLAs in a press conference and claimed that they were free. Meanwhile, in a move seen as a setback to Sasikala, six more MPs, including one from Rajya Sabha, pledged loyalty to Panneerselvam on Sunday.

UP Polls: Top Parties Claim They Are On Road To Victory: Major parties in Uttar Pradesh claimed on Sunday that they have swept the first round and were on their way to form government in the state. Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah claimed 'achhe din' will come in the state after counting of votes on 11 March. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said that the downfall of those who had "befooled" the people promising "achche din" has started, while Bahujan Samaj Party’s Mayawati asserted that she will prove pollsters wrong as she did in 2007 when they predicted her defeat.

Solar-Power System Installed On Board INS Sarvekshak: Indian Navy’s survey vessel INS Sarvekshak has gone green after it was installed with a solar power system on board. The system works using sunlight and is 100 per cent reliable for power source that can be used for communication equipment, battery charging and general lightings onboard round the clock. “Even if the system is used for 25 days in one year, the system can repay its cost in less than 10 years while protecting nature,” navy officials said.

Post Offices As Jobs Registration Centres: Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said the government is determined to provide employment for as many as five crore youth by 2020. He was speaking after a memorandum of understanding was signed by the Union Labour Ministry and Department of Posts for post offices to provide services such as employment registration centres for rural youth through National Career Services portal. It will also be authorised to issue Aadhar-linked digital life certificates to pensioners.

Siddaramaiah Took Rs 150 Crore Bribe, Claims Yeddyurappa: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is accused of taking Rs 150 crore as kickback for sanctioning the controversial steel flyover in Bengaluru. This, according to BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa, was part of an effort to mobilise funds for the Congress party. Of the Rs 150 crore, Rs 65 crore has already been paid to the party high command, he alleged.

Militants And Army Men Killed In Kulgam Encounter: Four militants and two army men were killed in an encounter in Kulgam district in South Kashmir on Sunday. Two civilians were also killed. The soldiers who were killed have been identified as Lance Naik Bhandoriya Gopal Singh and Sepoy Raghubeer Singh, while the civilian who was killed has been identified as Adil Reshi. All the four militants killed in the encounter were local youths.

Sartaj Aziz Blames New Delhi For Nuclearisation Of Indian Ocean: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif 's adviser on foreign affairs, Sartaj Aziz said on Sunday that Pakistan would go all out to contain grave threats to peace and security in the Indian Ocean primarily due to nuclearisation started by India. He said nuclearisation of the Indian Ocean had destabilised the region and the threats were likely to intensify in future.

Trump Backs Japan As North Korea Tests Ballistic Missile: President Donald Trump said the United States was “100 per cent” with ally Japan in response to a ballistic missile test by North Korea. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the test was “absolutely intolerable” and urged North Korea to “fully comply with the relevant United Nations security resolutions”. When Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced that his country was close to testing an intercontinental missile, that could reach the US, Trump said in a tweet, “It won’t happen.”

MUST READ OP-EDS

No One Loves The Farmer: All parties seem to have missed the basic problems of UP’s peasantry: If there is one thing about which UP farmers are dismayed, it is low prices for their major crops.

Reducing Regulatory Cholesterol In Education: Fixing K-12 education, nuking regulatory cholesterol and massively expanding apprentices will create an education revolution to complement the job formalisation revolution that has begun.

Muslim Vote Bank: Reality Or Myth? Travelling through western Uttar Pradesh in the thick of assembly elections threw up stories that challenge the ordinary. Here’s one of them.

Time To Call China’s Bluff On Masood Azhar: India has to do what it takes to convince Pakistan – easier today given its increasing vulnerability to domestic terror and also the ascent of Donald Trump with his avowed rhetoric of zero tolerance to terrorism – that state-sponsored terrorism has run its course and is in the danger of causing an implosion in the region.

The Global Economy’s Surprising Resilience: Growth has accelerated despite shocks such as Brexit and Trump’s election victory. Key indicators show that it may now be growing at its fastest rate in a number of years.

SWARAJYA SPECIAL

When Will They Purge Indian History Of Political Correctness And Teach Us As It Is? Books such as Shashi Tharoor’s exposing British rule in India as tyrannical could also be written about the Mughals and other Islamic invaders.

We hope you enjoyed reading our morning brief. Have a great day ahead!

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