Morning Brief: ED Summons Rahul Gandhi’s Brother-In-Law Robert Vadra In Land Scam Case; Rural Electrification In Full Swing, Connecting Seven Lakh Homes A Week; And More 

Good morning, dear reader! Here’s your morning news brief for today.

Robert Vadra Summoned By ED Over Bikaner Land Deals

The Enforcement Directorate has summoned controversial businessman and Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law Robert Vadra in connection with the money laundering probe in the Bikaner land scam case of Rajasthan. This is the second summon issued to Vadra in this case in the last few days. He had not turned up when the first summons was issued earlier in November and also ignored the second one issued on 1 December.

The ED picked up the case based on 18 FIRs filed by the state police after the local tehsildar made a complaint. In the complaint, he had said that government land in 34 villages of Bikaner, to be used for expanding the army’s firing range, was “grabbed” by the land mafia by preparing “forged documents” in connivance with officials. In September 2015, the agency registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, alleging that Vadra-owned Sky Light Hospitality had bought a piece of land in Bikaner on the cheap and sold it at an extremely high premium through illegal transactions.

Rural Electrification In Full Swing, Connecting Seven Lakh Homes A Week

Under Modi government’s rural electrification mission, seven lakh houses are being connected to the power grid every week, The Economic Times has reported. According to the report, authorities are working overtime to make sure that all the houses that want electricity are linked to the grid by 31 December. Over 2 crore households have been connected under the Saubhagya scheme, which aims to achieve 100 per cent household electrification by December end.

The rapid growth in the number of households using electricity is driving demand upwards. This is good news for power providers as many are running below optimal capacity. Recently, global energy watchdog International Energy Agency had called this one of greatest success stories of access to energy in 2018. So far, 15 states - Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Bihar, J&K, Mizoram, Sikkim, Telangana, West Bengal, Punjab, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Goa - have achieved 100 per cent saturation in household electrification.

Kannur: Leader Of Far-Left DYFI Among 13 Held For Rape

Taliparamba police in Kannur district has arrested five persons in connection with the detention and rape of a minor girl. The girl was trapped by one of the alleged accused by creating a fake profile on Facebook. A leader of far-left outfit Democratic Youth Federation (DYFI) of India is among those arrested in the case. The leader, who is from Anthoor, has been identified as Nikhil Thaliyil.

This is not the first time that a leader of the outfit has been accused of sexual assault and harassment. In September, a DYFI member from Thrissur gave a complaint to Irinjalakuda ACP Famous Varghese alleging that a DYFI leader from the area had misbehaved with her. In 2015, workers of DYFI, along with those of the Youth Congress, were accused of raping two minors in Kerala.

Sharad Yadav Body-Shames Vasundhara Raje At Rally In Rajasthan

In an outrageous comment on Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje made while campaigning in the state, Bihar politician Sharad Yadav called her ‘fat and tired’. “Vasundhra ko aaram do, bahut thak gayi hain, bahut moti ho gayi hain, pehle patli thi. Humare Madhya Pradesh ki beti hai (Give some rest to Vasundhra, she has become very tired, very fat. She used to be thin. She is our Madhya Pradesh’ daughter),” Yadav told a crowd while campaigning.

This is not the first time Yadav has made a sexist comment. Last year, he landed in trouble after making a connection between the "honour of a vote and a daughter's honour".According to NDTV, Yadav had said, “The integrity of a vote is bigger than the integrity of a daughter”. Earlier, he took everyone by surprise by describing the beauty of "saanvli (dusky)” South Indian women.

Poll Marathon Ends Today With Voting In Telangana And Rajasthan

Voting is underway in the states of Telangana and Rajasthan in the last phase of the five-state assembly election marathon. In Rajasthan, the BJP and the Congress are locked in a tough fight for 199 seats. The state has not voted the same party to power for more than one term in the last 20 years. In Telangana, the Congress-led alliance is facing Chandrasekhar Rao-led TRS and Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM. The Telangana assembly has 119 seats. The results will be declared on 11 December along with those of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram.

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