Top news of the day: Modi, Xi direct their Special Representatives to discuss border issue; Priyanka Gandhi files nomination for Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll, and more

Modi, Xi meeting at BRICS; Priyanka Gandhi files nomination for Wayanad, and more in The Hindu’s top news of October 23, 2024.

Foreign Minister Vikram Misri, on Wednesday, said, “PM Modi met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, five years after they last met. The meeting happened close on the heels of the agreement to resolve the situation at the LAC. The leaders welcomed the agreement. PM Modi underscored the importance of not allowing differences on the boundary question to disturb peace and tranquility in the border areas.” Mr. Misri also said that PM Modi and President Xi directed their respective Special Representatives Ajit Doval and Wang Yi to meet and discuss the border issue.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra filed her nomination for Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll on Wednesday. Ms. Vadra was accompanied by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, MP, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, her husband Robert Vadra and other national and State leaders of the party. Earlier, she took out a massive roadshow from Kalpetta in Wayanad around 11:45 a.m, before filing the nomination for her maiden electoral battle from Wayanad for the Lok Sabha bypoll.

Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, who is retiring on November 11, bowed out of hearing the marital rape exception case on Wednesday (October 23, 2024) after remarking that lawyers’ arguments will not conclude in the “foreseeable future”. What was expected to be just another day of hearing of the case started with several senior lawyers on both sides seeking a day each to make their submissions in court. Senior advocates Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Rakesh Dwivedi, Indira Jaising and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the Centre, informed the Bench led by the Chief Justice that they would at least take a day each to raise detailed arguments. Mr. Mehta said the case was “polycentric” and had a social impact, requiring extensive oral submissions by the government.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said continuing cases of stubble-burning and the “pick-and-choose” policy adopted by the Punjab and Haryana governments to penalise a few while letting many violators go “scot-free” after paying a nominal fine violated citizens’ right to live in a pollution-free environment. “There is a fundamental right vested in every citizen under Article 21 of the Constitution to live in an environment free of pollution,” a three-judge Bench headed by Justice A.S. Oka observed.

A Constitution Bench of nine judges, in a 8:1 majority judgment, upheld the States’ right to regulate industrial alcohol. The majority opinion authored by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud held that the phrase ‘intoxicating liquor’ in Entry 8 of the State List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution would include industrial alcohol within its ambit. Entry 8 gives States power to regulate the production, manufacture, possession, transport, purchase and sale of intoxicating liquor.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said awareness is the key to the success of the functioning of the legal aid mechanism and a robust system should be put in place to ensure that beneficial schemes promoted by legal services authority reaches all. Passing a slew of directions on the issue of providing legal aid to prisoners, a Bench headed by Justice B.R. Gavai said in public places like police stations and bus stands, addresses and phone numbers of the nearest legal aid office should be prominently displayed.

As Cyclone ‘Dana’ barrels toward the Odisha coast, threatening to impact nearly half the State’s population, the government is racing against time to execute a massive evacuation plan aimed at relocating around 10 lakh people in 14 districts to safety. The IMD on Wednesday said the cyclone is likely to make landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra port, located around 70 km away from each other, early Friday.