Morning Brief: Digital Payments Push; Kerala Priest Sentenced For Raping Minor; Telecom Tariff War

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

New Push To Promote Digital Payments: The government announced a series of measures on Thursday to promote cashless transactions, a month after the shock culling of high-value bank notes. Finance minister Arun Jaitley came up with multiple incentives – ranging from discounts on fuel, highway toll and railway tickets to cheaper insurance cover – for those using digital payment modes.

Modi Salutes Indians For Supporting Demonetisation: Marking one month of demonetisation drive Prime Minister Narendra Modi justified the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes as part of a "yagna" against terrorism, black money and corruption. "The government's decision has several gains for farmers, traders, labourers who are the economic backbone of our nation," Modi said.

Foreign Diplomats Can Withdraw Cash On Priority Basis: The Indian government on Thursday said that the banks have been asked to allow foreign embassy officials with identity cards to withdraw money “on a priority basis”. However, the principal demand by diplomats to increase their withdrawal limit has not been met so far.

Catholic Priest Sentenced For Raping Minor: A 41-year-old Catholic priest was on Thursday sentenced to double life imprisonment after he was convicted of raping a minor girl. A special court in Ernakulam also ruled that Edwin Figarez, who was vicar at the Lourdes Matha Church in Puthenvelikkara in Ernakulam district, will have to pay a fine of Rs 2.15 lakh.

Triple Talaq Tyrannical, Says Court: Islamic laws on divorce are misinterpreted to give unbridled authority to men but inflict “tyranny” and suffering on women, the Allahabad High Court observed on Thursday, reigniting the debate on one of India’s most contentious religious issues. Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu said women should get justice and everyone agrees to it.

India Designated Major Defence Partner By US: The United States has designated India as a major defence partner following a meeting between Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter on Thursday. This is a status unique to India and institutionalises the progress made to facilitate defence trade and technology-sharing and ensures enduring cooperation into the future.

India Calls On Pakistan To Free Alleged Spy: New Delhi on Thursday demanded the immediate release of alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav. This comes after Pakistan's foreign ministry chief Sartaj Aziz was said to have declared that there was inadequate evidence against Jadhav.

Telecom Tariff War Hots Up: Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular have announced ‘free voice’ tariff plans, heralding a full blown price war as they seek to take on Jio at its own game. Idea on Thursday announced two schemes to provide free calls to its pre-paid customers. A similar scheme was announced by Airtel earlier in the day.

Dress Code Back At Padmanabhaswamy Temple: Just days after dress norms were relaxed for women at the famous Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple, the Kerala High Court on Thursday ruled that women should not be allowed to wear salwar-kameez and churidars inside the temple.

Climate Change Migration Alert: Climate change will trigger "uncontrollable" rise in migration in South Asia, including India, three major international organisations working on the issue warned yesterday (8 December). The study also underlined the need for action by all governments of the world to tackle the issue.

MUST READ OP-EDS

Is ‘Cashless’ The New VC Gold Rush? Will investors avoid the gold rush mentality? Unlikely. If history has taught us anything, it is that greed prevails over logic.

Crossing The Chasm: If we are moving towards the goal of cashlessness, a focus on technology and neglect of an appropriate competitive regulatory framework will be short-sighted.

Zero Balance Politics: Demonetisation Has Scrambled Equations In The Run-Up To Crucial UP Elections: Electoral choices change depending on the assessment of which party appears likely to win. On current assessment it’s zero balance for everyone, as across parties, leader and cadre are disoriented.

Not Just Fences And Walls: While hardening bases is important, for security, we must encourage “a “jagruk Hindustani” approach as well.

SWARAJYA SPECIAL

Indian Exceptionalism: The Case For Abolishing Income Tax For Individuals: The income tax is not suitable for Indian culture. We need to bid goodbye to it as soon as possible.

When Jayalalithaa Faced Tough Opposition Against Her Anti-Conversion Bill In 2002: Jayalalithaa had faced stiff opposition to her anti-conversion bill back in 2002. This is an account of the events that led her to initially champion the bill and later hold back owing to political pressure.

Why Is Sasikala Hated So Much? Sasikala may still succeed in capturing control over the party and government, but as far as public sentiment is concerned, she starts with a huge negative score.

How Much Of The ‘Demonetised’ Currency Is Actually Coming Back? The bottomline is this: no one really knows how much cash is coming back to the banking system. Everyone is playing the guessing game.

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

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