Srinagar CRPF camp battle ends, 2 LeT militants dead: Top 10 developments

Srinagar CRPF camp battle - Two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants were killed by security forces in Srinagar's Karan Nagar area on Tuesday after a gunfight of nearly 30 hours that had started after a failed attack bid on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Kashmir.

The exact identity of the militants was yet to be established, the police said, adding that a search operation in the area was going on.

Earlier on Tuesday, intermittent firing had continued between security forces and terrorists at a CRPF camp in Srinagar's Karan Nagar. Pakistan-backed terrorist organisation, the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), has claimed responsibility for the attack, which led to the ongoing gun battle and has claimed the life of a CRPF jawan.

Fierce fighting continued between militants and security forces in the heart of Srinagar on Monday after a foiled attack on the CRPF camp left a trooper dead and a policeman critically injured. Here are the top 10 developments:

1) Gun battle ends with two militants dead: Two holed up LeT militants, involved in a failed terror bid on a CRPF camp in Srinagar, were killed on Tuesday in a nearly 30-hour-long gunfight, police said. "While one was gunned down as he came out of the under-construction building to get into another adjacent building, the other was trapped and killed inside the building that they took refuge in on Monday," a police officer said.
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Hafiz Saeed declared a terrorist: China's failure behind Pakistan move?

Has Pakistan turned over a new leaf when it comes to aiding, harbouring and turning a blind eye to terrorist organisations operating from its soil? Has it finally heeded India's warnings or US President Donald Trump's threats? One might be inclined to believe so, to some extent, given the ordinance promulgated by Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain last week will reportedly lead be the proscription of Hafiz Saeed-linked Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF). The truth could be that Islamabad is facing a tough situation that its friend Beijing has been unable to bail it out of.

However, even as the ordinance was promulgated and signed, Pakistan-baked terrorist organisations attacked military installations in India -- an Indian Army camp in Jammu and a CRPF camp in Srinagar. So, what made Islamabad take a decision that, as Pakistani newspaper Dawn describes, "would end a long-standing ambiguity over the status of Hafiz Saeed-linked JuD and FIF by firmly placing them on the list of proscribed groups"? It could be that a global financial watchdog might have finally compelled the powers that be in that country to take some action.

Critics of Aadhaar say they have been harassed, put under surveillance

Researchers and journalists who have identified loopholes in India’s massive national identity card project have said they have been slapped with criminal cases or harassed by government agencies because of their work.

Last month, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the semi-government body responsible for the national identity project, called Aadhaar, or “Basis”, filed a criminal case against the Tribune newspaper for publishing a story that said access to the card’s database could be bought for Rs 500 ($7.82).

Reuters spoke to eight additional researchers, activists and journalists who have complained of being harassed after writing about Aadhaar. They said UIDAI and other government agencies were extremely sensitive to criticism of the Aadhaar programme.

Aadhaar is a biometric identification card that is becoming integral to the digitisation of India’s economy, with over 1.1 billion users and the world’s biggest database.

Every third chief minister has criminal record; 81% are crorepatis: Report

In India, around 35 per cent chief ministers have criminal cases against them and 81 per cent of the total are crorepatis, according to an ADR report released on Monday.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of current chief ministers (CMs) in state assemblies and Union territories across the nation.
These were the latest affidavits filed by them prior to contesting the elections.
"Out of the all 31 chief ministers analysed from state assemblies and Union territories, 11 (35 per cent) chief ministers have declared criminal cases against themselves," the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report noted.
Further, 26 per cent CMs have declared serious criminal cases, including related to murder, attempt to murder, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, criminal intimidation, among others.

PadMan Challenge a wasteful gimmick, doesn't do justice to an honest biopic

The marketing team of Padman have managed to turn the #PadmanChallenge into a social media campaign. The likes of Aamir Khan, Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif and Akshay Kumar are seen posing with sanitary napkins in their hand on Instagram to erase the stigma around menstruation. However, this author debates how Bollywood unfortunately, even when trying to be on the right side of things, doesn’t quite get it entirely right.

Let’s get one thing straight, Arunchalam Murganantham is a hero. In an area of the world where educated men still begin to curl their shoulders awkwardly at the mere mention of menstruation, for a man from small-town India to approach the topic with such candour, sincerity and innovation is incredible and at the time he chose to do so - was desperately necessary. When asked, "What did you use before sanitary pads?" many of the women from the pre-Arunachalam era's answers were shocking for just how basic, uncomfortable and mainly useless they were. "Leaves." "A rag." "Nothing." "Paper napkins." "Newspaper." “Sand.”