News Digest: This I-Day, Threat to PM's Life Greater

Here are some headlines from the leading newspapers:

1.This I-Day, threat to PM's life greater

The security agencies have advised that Prime Minister Narendra Modi address the nation from within a bulletproof enclosure at Red Fort this Independence Day . Intelligence agencies and the Special Protection Group are learnt to have made a strong pitch to national security adviser Ajit Doval in this regard.

Highly-placed sources told The Times Of India that they hoped the PM wouldn't ignore the advisory this time as the threat perception was “extremely high“.Should the PM heed the caution, it might be the first time he would be allowing this kind of security around him. Last year and the year before, Modi, in a last-minute decision, had decided to do away with the bulletproof enclosure while giving his speech.

2.HC WARNING - `Cut bad air or face the music'

Delhi high court on Thursday warned that it may take action against central and state government officials who fail to check rising air pollution in the capital reports The Times Of India.

A bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Ashutosh Kumar pointed out that disappearing green and forest cover poses a grave threat to air quality levels in the city and rampant construction, increased vehicles have all caused PM 10 and PM 2.5 levels to increase.

3. AAP fears arrest of more MLAs

Calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi the “kingpin“ behind the alleged targeting of its MLAs, AAP on Thursday expressed fears that more legislators could be arrested in the coming days reports The Times Of India.

Senior party member Ashutosh claimed that his sources had informed him about the impending arrest of MLAs Rakhi Birla and Sharad Chauhan. The party also backed the statement of CM Arvind Kejriwal--“they may get you killed, they may get even me killed“--in the backdrop of allegations that BJP was behind the arrests and FIRs against AAP MLAs. To support this claim, AAP put out Twitter handles of two persons who have posted messages that Kejriwal should be killed. This is important, the party claimed, because both of them are followed by Modi.

4. UNIQUE PLAN OF UIDAI - Your Smartphone can be Public Policy Game-Changer

Your smartphone may become a gamechanger for India's public policy, becoming a one-stop instrument for instant identity authentication that will allow you to receive all government services that work on the Aadhaar platform reports The Economic Times.

A meeting on Wednesday between Ajay Bhushan Pandey, chief executive officer of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which administers Aadhaar, and senior executives of smartphonemakers Apple, Samsung, Google, Microsoft and Micromax, and product software think tank iSPIRT, discussed ways to make mobile phone handsets Aadhaar-enabled.

5. GST Constitution Amendment this Session

The Constitution amendment bill for framing the law for setting up the Goods and Services Tax regime may be passed in this session of Parliament. But the GST bill may have to wait till the winter session due to lack of consensus between the Centre and states on the proposed 18% GST rate, sources said after two rounds of formal negotiations between the government and N Congress on Thursday reports The Economic Times.

Once the Constitution amendment bill is passed in this session, perhaps next week itself the finance ministry could initiate further nego tiations with the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers and the GST Council with the aim of arriving at a consensus on a feasible GST rate so that the bill could be passed during the winter session, sources added. This will, however, mean a delay in the actual rollout.

6. SC|ST Parliamentarians' Forum to Ask Dalits to Stop All Menial Work

The forum of SC|ST parliamentarians has called a meeting of its 160 MPs next Wednesday to discuss the recent atrocities against the Dalit community . On top of the agenda is asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to unequivocally condemn atrocities against Dalits apart from evaluating the `extraordinary situation' prevailing in the country . The forum also plans to give a call to Dalits to immediately stop scavenging, clearing animal carcasses and skinning them reports The Economic Times.

Dalits in Gujarat have already stopped taking away animal carcasses for skinning in protest against the violence meted out to four Dalits by `gau rakshaks' for skinning a dead cow in Una. The anger spilled onto the streets when Dalits dumped cow carcasses next to the district magistrate's office in Surendranagar.

7.Modi asks NITI Aayog to drive transformation

Create a new architecture of policy making that anticipates problems and suggests remedies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the NITI Aayog on Thursday.

This was his second visit to the policy-making think tank he established in January 2015, after scrapping the historic Planning Commission, reports The Business Standard. On Thursday, officials said Modi, who is also the chairman, gave last-minute directions to NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya to change his presentation from a 15-year vision document to flaws in the earlier Plan process.

8.Revenue department, IRS officers at loggerheads

A divide between the department of revenue (DoR) and Indian Revenue Service officers (IRS), particularly those in Mumbai, sharpened on Thursday, with both sides toughening their stance over some officers passing a resolution against the department for interfering in day-to-day work, reports The Business Standard.

The resolution was passed at a meeting of these officers in Mumbai, after one of their colleagues received a transfer order for allegedly using unfair means to meet tax collection targets.

9.Medical entrance papers may have leaked in other States too

Leakage of medicine paper may not be confined just to Telangana and the accused could have attempted the same in several other States in the country.

Going by the modus operandi of the accused, it is possible that they might have also made similar attempts in other States, a senior official said. In those States, medical college entrance exams are not as emotionally connected with students and parent communities as they are in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, reports The Hindu.

Police are believed to have come across certain revelations during interrogation that point towards such a possibility. “When their whole effort is to make money why would they confine only to Telangana where the systems are much more fool-proof compared to other States,” an official said.

10.Rahul, Jaitley get steamed up in House over dal price

The Opposition and the government faced off in the Lok Sabha on Thursday on the issue of rising prices, with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi declare “a date when we can expect to see the price of dal (pulses) come down” and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley terming the attack “bluster” not borne out by statistics, reports The Hindu.

Mr. Gandhi made a direct attack on Mr. Modi on what he termed were false promises to control prices. “You give us a date by when the prices of dal will come down,” he said.