14 February 2015: Teesta gets stay from Judicial custody, thanks Kapil Sibbal

Teesta Shetalvad

• As the cricket-crazy subcontinent wait excitedly for the World Cup to start in Australia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi picked up the threads of his “SAARC initiative” with a twist of cricket diplomacy by calling up his counterparts of those nations in the grouping which are playing the tournament. Of much import is the fact that Mr. Modi renewed political contacts with Pakistan by calling up Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. With the call coming ahead of the World Cup match between India and Pakistan in Adelaide on Sunday, Mr. Modi announced that he would send Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar to Islamabad shortly, the first such move since foreign secretary-level talks were cancelled last July. A meeting between Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit and Mr. Jaishankar preceded the phone call. Pakistan had been maintaining that India must take the first step to “initiate talks” since New Delhi had cancelled them. According to Pakistani government sources, Mr. Sharif said “Pakistan will respond positively as engagement is in our mutual interest.” In Colombo, official sources said President Maithripala Sirisena was “pleased” with Mr. Modi’s call. Reciprocating good wishes to the Indian team in the World Cup, Mr. Sirisena reportedly told Mr. Modi: “Those who follow cricket closely tend to get the nuances in politics too.” With his Bangladeshi counterpart, Sheikh Hasina, Mr. Modi exchanged best wishes for their World Cup teams. Mr. Modi and Ms. Hasina discussed bilateral issues. Mr. Modi spoke to Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani also. He told the three leaders that Mr. Jaishankar would visit their countries soon on what he called a “SAARC Yatra.” 
• The Australian Greens party, NGO 350.org and other organisations have called for an immediate moratorium on the Adani Group’s proposal to dredge the Great Barrier Reef to construct a controversial coal port expansion at Abbot Point in Queensland, Australia. Adani Enterprises bought the Abbot Point Terminal for about $2 billion in May 2011. Their reaction came following reports by Fairfax Media questioning the transparency of Adani Enterprises’ Australia operations. A statement by 350.org said the port expansion, which would be the world’s largest, will open up a series of nine mega coal mines in Queensland’s Galilee Basin, tripling Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. The project is yet to get federal approval. 
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• The Supreme Court extended the stay on the arrest of activist Teesta Setalvad in the Gulbarg society embezzlement case, even as her counsel Kapil Sibal tried to convince the court that there are very few people out there like her who can take on the might of the State. A Bench led by Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya ordered the continuation of the stay till February 19, the next date of hearing on her plea for anticipatory bail. The Gujarat High Court had dismissed her plea on Thursday, following which she urgently moved the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had stayed the arrest till the matter was heard. 
• India was ranked 136 out of 180 nations worldwide in terms of press freedom in 2015, which marks an improvement from its rank of 140 in 2014, even though its absolute score declined from 40.34 to 40.49. In the annual World Press Freedom Index (WPFI), produced by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), India’s “abuse score,” which reflects the intensity of violent harassment faced by journalists, was 59.58, higher than Sri Lanka’s score of 40.6, but below Pakistan’s score of 64.91 and China’s 89.64. 
• India’s exports shrank 11.19 per cent to $23.88 billion in January. Exports of petroleum products, oil meals, electronic goods and iron ore continued to decline, according to the official release. Exports had contracted in December too. Led by the fall in oil imports, total imports fell 11.39 per cent to $32.20 billion during the month. Gold imports, however, bucked the trend and rose 8.13 per cent to $1.55 billion owing to the lifting of import curbs.