People have right to know casualties in IAF air strikes: Shiv Sena
Mumbai:The Shiv Sena Tuesday said India's citizens have the right to know about the casualties in the air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camp in Pakistan and that revealing such information would not lower the morale of armed forces.
Taking a dig at senior ally BJP, the Sena, in an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana' said discussions over the air strikes will linger on till the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and "burning issues" raised by the Opposition before the February 14 Pulwama attack have now been side-stepped.
"Citizens of the country have the right to know what and how much harm has been caused to the enemy by the defence forces. We do not think the morale of our forces is being lowered by asking for it," it said.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) jets on February 26 pounded JeM's biggest training camp in Pakistan in retaliation to the terror outfit's attack in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.
While the government has so far not given any official figure of the casualties in the air strikes, some opposition parties have been asking for a proof of it.
Referring to it, the Sena said, "Where did the 300-kg RDX used in Pulwama attack come from? How many terrorists were killed in our strikes on terror camps? Discussions over these will happen till the last days of polls because before the Pulwama attack, inflation, unemployment and Rafale jet deal were the burning issues for the Opposition."
The Modi government's "bomb" has fallen over these issues, it said in sarcastic remarks.
Issues like the construction of Ram temple, Article 370 and those raised by farmers have "turned to ashes", said the Uddhav Thackeray-led party, which is an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra.
It said questions over the number of terrorists killed in the February 26 air strikes by IAF were not only being asked by the Opposition but by media of countries like the UK and the US as well.
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SC to hear on May 4 PIL seeking stringent guidelines for issuing Aadhaar to adolescents, adults
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea seeking a direction to the Unique Identification Authority of India to issue new Aadhaar cards only to citizens up to the age of six years, and frame stringent guidelines for its issuance to adolescents and adults to stop infiltrators from masquerading as Indian citizens.
As per the apex court's causelist of May 4, the plea would come up for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi.
The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay has also sought a direction to the authorities to install display boards at common service centres stating that the 12-digit unique identification number is only a "proof of identity" and not a proof of citizenship, address or date of birth.
Besides all the states and Union Territories, the plea has made the UIDAI -- which is the authority that issues Aadhaar -- and the Union ministries of home, law and justice, and electronics and information technology as parties.
The plea, filed through advocate Ashwani Dubey, said Aadhaar, originally intended as a proof of identity, has increasingly become a "foundational document" enabling individuals to obtain other identification documents, such as ration cards, domicile certificates and voter identity cards.
"The UIDAI has issued 144 crore Aadhaar and 99 percent Indians have been enrolled. Therefore, the petitioner is filing this writ petition as a PIL under Article 32, seeking a direction to UIDAI to issue new Aadhaar to children only and frame new stringent guidelines for adolescents and adults, so as to stop infiltrators from getting it and masquerading as Indian citizens," the plea said.
It said the need to file the plea arose when the petitioner came to know the manner in which infiltrators are able to procure Aadhaar through a verification process that is weak and can be easily manipulated.
"Foreigners apply for Aadhaar under the 'foreign' category. But infiltrators apply for Aadhaar under the 'Indian citizen' category and get it easily made. Thereafter, they obtain a ration card, birth and domicile certificate, driving licence, et cetera, essentially becoming indistinguishable from Indian citizens…," it said.
Besides seeking other directions, the plea has raised legal questions, including whether the Aadhaar Act 2016 has become "temporally unreasonable" for failing to keep up with the legislative intent of distinguishing foreigners from Indian citizens.
It said the alleged misuse of Aadhaar undermines targeted welfare delivery and leads to diversion of public resources.
