Morning Digest: Special counsel moves to dismiss election interference case against Trump; President Droupadi Murmu to address special session of Parliament to mark 75 years of Constitution, and more

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on November 26, 2024

Special counsel Jack Smith asked a Federal Judge to dismiss the case accusing President-elect Donald Trump of plotting to overturn the 2020 election, citing longstanding Justice Department policy shielding presidents from prosecution while in office. Justice Department prosecutors, citing longstanding department guidance that a sitting President cannot be prosecuted, said the department’s position is that “the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated”.

President Droupadi Murmu will address a special session of Parliament at the Central Hall of the old Parliament building to mark 75 years of the Constitution. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will attend the celebrations.

Hours after the Supreme Court called for a review of the restrictions on physical classes due to air pollution, the Centre’s air quality panel directed schools and colleges in Delhi-NCR to shift classes up to the 12th standard to a “hybrid” mode. In a statement, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) noted that most primary schools in Delhi and other National Capital Region (NCR) areas lack the resources to conduct classes entirely online.

The government announced the ₹1,435 crore PAN 2.0 Project to make the permanent account number a ‘common business identifier’ for all digital systems of government agencies. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given its approval for the PAN 2.0 Project of the Income Tax Department with a financial outlay of ₹1,435 crore, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.

The Union Cabinet cleared the ‘One Nation One Subscription’ scheme, a new Central-sponsored initiative for providing countrywide access to scholarly research articles and journal publications. The scheme, the Union Cabinet said, will be administered through a simple, user-friendly and fully digital process. Government higher education institutions and research and development laboratories of the Union government will get the benefit of the scheme, which has an allocation of ₹6,000 crore for three years, from 2025-27.

BJP MLA Vishvaraj Singh and his supporters were denied entry into City Palace, Udaipur, hours after he was anointed the titular head of the erstwhile royal family of Mewar. The situation outside the palace was tense with a heavy deployment of police to prevent any untoward incident. Stones were reportedly pelted from inside the palace. However, a cloud of a feud between Mahendra Singh Mewar and his estranged younger brother Arvind Singh Mewar — who are descendants of Rajput king Maharana Pratap — hung over the occasion.

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has announced that the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) Class 10 exams will be held from February 18 to March 27, 2025, and the Indian School Certificate Class 12 exams will be held from February 13 to April 5 next year. As many as 2,53,384 candidates (1,35,268 boys and 1,18,116 girls) have registered for the Class 10 exams across 2,803 schools in India, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and U.A.E.