Good Morning, Swarajya Readers.



Here’s what you need to know today.



The Supreme Court yesterday decided to examine the legality of triple talaq by entertaining a Muslim woman’s petition that this mode of divorce be declared unconstitutional. Shayara Bano’s petition was taken up on Monday along with the suo moto proceedings initiated by the apex court to examine the need to protect Muslim women. Shayara also challenged the practice of polygamy and said it was as evil a practice as the banned Sati system.



Special CBI court found Jharkhand Ispat Pvt. Ltd. and two of its directors guilty of criminal conspiracy and cheating in the Coal scam case. The judge ordered that the directors be taken into the custody immediately. The verdict will be pronounced on 31 March. The verdict is the first in numerous cases involving suspected irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks that rocked the previous UPA government.



Harish Rawat moved the Uttarakhand High Court yesterday challenging the imposition of President’s rule in the state. He also paraded 34 MLAs before the Governor and urged him to revive the assembly and to give him an opportunity to prove his majority on the floor of the House.

Other Notables



Arun Jaitley warned the wilful defaulters to settle their dues honourably with the banks or else prepare to face coercive action by lenders and investigative agencies. He also said that banks have certain collaterals of Vijay Mallya’s group companies and will take legal action to recover dues in excess of ₹9,000 crore.



Haryana Cabinet yesterday cleared a bill providing reservation to Jats. The draft bill proposes 6% reservation for Jats and 4 other castes in Class-I and II government jobs and 10% reservation in educational institutions and Class III and IV government jobs. This proposition will most likely be unacceptable to the Jats who were demanding 12% quota in Class-I and II govt jobs. Since under category A, 16% reservation is granted to castes whose population is 8%, it will be hard for the Govt to sell its bill which gives only 6% reservation to 5 castes that form 35% of the state population.



Trai’s recommendation of one number for all emergencies was approved on Monday by the Telecom Commission. Citizens will be able to get help using a single number ‘112’ for all emergency services including the police, fire brigade and ambulance. The service will be rolled out within months.

Op-eds you shouldn’t miss



1991 Golden Transaction: Pledging gold made everyone aware of the enormity of the crisis, and paved the way for economic reforms.



Emergence Of Non-Heroes In The War Of Nationalism: Like plurality, Nationalism evolves through its own course and is dependent on the unique circumstances of the country where it evolved.



Swarajya Special



Being An Argumentative Indian Is An Unmitigated Disaster: What you see or hear is not the argumentative Indian keen to engage with ideas and thoughts, but the deaf Indian, driven by ego and hubris to rubbish others.



Smart Cities Special



Smart Cities Need Smart Governance: They ought to be run like a city-state, with an elected city administration and a bureaucracy which is accountable to elected leaders.Mayors ought to have the real power, not the Chief Ministers. They also must have a greater share of central/state revenues, and also be empowered to raise new kinds of taxes.



The Wisdom Of Indic Town Planning: Indian temple-city planning contains in it principles worth learning from. Geddes the marvelous town planner used the insights he got from south Indian temple towns planning in designing many global cities including Tel Aviv.



We hope you enjoyed reading our morning brief.



Have a great day ahead!