This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.

The Morning Wrap: '112' To Be India's National Emergency Number; ISRO To Launch 22 Satellites In May

The Morning Wrap: '112' To Be India's National Emergency Number; ISRO To Launch 22 Satellites In May
SRIHARIKOTA, Jan. 21, 2016-- PSLV-C31 rocket of Indian Space Research Organisation carrying IRNSS-1E satellite lifts off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, India, Jan. 20, 2016. India Wednesday successfully launched its fifth navigation satellite from the spaceport of Sriharikota in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. (Xinhua/ISRO via Getty Images)
Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
SRIHARIKOTA, Jan. 21, 2016-- PSLV-C31 rocket of Indian Space Research Organisation carrying IRNSS-1E satellite lifts off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, India, Jan. 20, 2016. India Wednesday successfully launched its fifth navigation satellite from the spaceport of Sriharikota in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. (Xinhua/ISRO via Getty Images)

The Morning Wrap is HuffPost India's selection of interesting news and opinion from the day's newspapers. Subscribe here to receive it in your inbox each weekday morning.

Essential HuffPost

Accusations of hate speech is not a political liability in India, says a recent study. While the law might determine whether politicians using hateful speeches in their rallies fall afoul of IPC 154A or IPC 295A, but for their followers, it only adds to their appeal.

The 63rd National Film Awards were announced on Monday, with the top awards going to SS Rajamouli's magnum opus Baahubali: The Beginning for Best Film, Amitabh Bachchan as the Best Actor for Piku and Kangana Ranaut as the Best Actress for the film Tanu Weds Manu Returns, among others.

In a clear case of conflict of interest, metropolitan magistrate Dhamavarapu Varoodhini who is appointed for the hearing of students embroiled in the Rohith Vemula row is married to M Vijaykanth, an active member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Sangh Parivar.

Former model Priyanka Kapoor committed suicide in Delhi and her body was found hanging in her home on 27 March morning. The 25-year-old allegedly left behind a suicide note where she said that her husband beat her up brutally and she couldn't bear the torture anymore.

Main News

India has decided to adopt '112' as the national emergency number, similar to '911' in the US and '999' in the UK, with the inter-ministerial telecom commission giving a go-ahead to the move. The roll-out of '112' may see a gradual phase-out of existing emergency numbers like 100 (for police), 101 (fire), 102 (ambulance) and 108 (disaster management), though they will continue to be in operation for at least a year.

Even as the President's rule was just announced in Uttarakhand, the BJP has blamed state chief minister Virbhadra Singh, saying that there was discontent within the Congress party. Demanding Singh's resignation, the BJP alleged that governance in the state had come to a standstill because of the corruption charges faced by Singh.

Indian techie Raghavendran Ganeshan who had gone missing after the Brussels terror attack last Tuesday has been identified as a 'victim of Brussels Metro terror strike,' and officially declared dead by the Belgian authorities. His mortal remains were handed over to his parents and younger brother Chandrashekhar, who had been camping in Brussels for the past five days hoping against hope to find him alive.

Off The Front Page

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to write history by launching 22 satellites, including a number of micro and nano ones from foreign countries, in a single mission in May 2016.

A Bengaluru youth was stabbed to death after he objected to a dog's incessant barking during a local big screen-viewing of the India-Australia WT20 match on Sunday. The man, identified as one Avinash Jonathan asked a resident to go away from the area, as his dog was barking and disturbing the viewers. The man, who left the premises, reportedly came back with a 'gang' and attacked and Jonathan to death.

A video uploaded by Dum Laga Ke Haisha actor Ayushmann Khurrana singing the song 'Moh moh ke dhaage' on his Facebook page has been going viral. Published in the celebration that his film with actress Bhumi Pednekar won the National Award for Best Hindi Film, the Khurrana's impromptu version has received accolades from his fans.

Opinion

The suicide attack in Lahore on Sunday marks a further escalation by extremist groups in Pakistan, says an editorial in The Hindu. "This attack appears to have been timed to capitalise on the anger of ultra-conservative groups at the execution on 29 February of Mumtaz Qadri, the bodyguard-turned-assassin of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer... If Pakistan is to survive this onslaught against soft targets, it must reshape the country’s political system to stamp out intolerance of minorities. Or else the carnage in Lahore may be just another atrocity paving the way for extremists to become the dominant voice," says the article.

Most of the debate on the Aadhaar bill has centred on the right to privacy. All five amendments suggested by the Rajya Sabha, subsequently rejected by the Lok Sabha, had an element of this right within them, writes Apar Gupta in his column in The Indian Express. "But the core deficiency rested not in the lack of protections in the Aadhaar bill but in the absence of a comprehensive privacy statute to develop and enforce them... As our everyday lives become connected, a comprehensive privacy legislation is an essential safeguard," he writes.

Why do the Chitrapur Saraswats, a small Konkani-speaking community in Karnataka, have such a large presence in and outsize influence on Hindustani classical music, wonders Sumana Ramanan in her column in Mumbai Mirror. "They took much more to music than literature and theatre probably because Konkani was a boli, an exclusively spoken language, and did not have a script. The film world was another area in Mumbai that also attracted the Chitpur Saraswats, including Guru Dutt (whose surname was Padukone), Amebal Dinkar Rao (known as DML), Shyam Benegal and Deepika Padukone, among others," Ramanan writes.

Contact HuffPost India

Also On HuffPost:

Taj Mahal, Agra, Uttar Pradesh — 40.8%

India's Top 10 Tourist Destinations, According To Flickr

Close
This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.