5 THINGS FIRST Government observes 2nd anniversary of surgical strike today; Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers to address general debate at the UN General Assembly session; Leaders from 50 countries to attend four-day sanitation convention in Delhi; World Heart Day; PM Modi to visit Gujarat tomorrow

1. Should India be planning another surgical strike? Not because we need more days to celebrate them (like today) but because two years after the first one, the security situation seems to be going back to where it was. The surgery: On September 29, 2016, the Indian Army carried out surgical strikes on seven terrorist launch pads across the LoC in response to an attack of its base in Uri earlier that month. The recovery: In the first year after the strike, the number of terrorist-related deaths went up from 246 in 2015-16 to 323 in 2016-17. Did the strike fail to deter terrorists and Pakistan? The relapse: The terror pads along the LoC, including one that the army destroyed are up and running. Eight new ones that have come up in the last month include those in Lipa Valley, one of the two locations destroyed by the army. The number of such pads in PoK has also gone up from 14 in 2016 to 27 this year. Surgery 2.0? The army chief seems to agree. "I believe there is a need for one more action (surgical strike). But I would not want to disclose how we want to do it," he says. And the celebration? The idea is probably to remind Pakistan about the consequences of a misadventure like Uri and may be to also make the most of the 'victory' politically (2019 is just months away). Though it has left even military officers wondering why the second anniversary (that's celebrating the first Parakram Parv) is more special than the first one if the situation isn't getting any better.

2. SC opens Sabarimala gates; has it opened floodgates too? On Friday, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court, in a 4-1 majority decision, upheld the right of women of all ages to worship at the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala, ruling that the tradition of disallowing women of age between 10 and 50 from entering is unconstitutional. But the judgment may have ramifications on other religious places too — perhaps even on topics beyond gender equality. What the judges said: Gender equality: Chief Justice of India, writing for himself and Justice A M Khanwilkar, said the "subversion and repression of women under the garb of biological or physiological factors cannot be given the seal of legitimacy". This could mean any religious place barring women could be challenged under the rule. On morality: Article 25 of the Constitution bestows upon a person the freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion, subject to public order, morality and health. But CJI said the definition of "morality" cannot be confined to "what an individual, a section or religious sect may perceive the term to mean", instead is "synonymous with constitutional morality". Could this mean a person could object to the dress code (or similar codes) some religious places adhere to? What is essential? The judges, having verified that the Sabarimala devotees are not a "separate religious denomination" but general Hindu devotees, it cited the Shirur Mutt case to say "what constitutes the essential part of a religion is primarily to be ascertained with reference to the doctrines of that religion itself". Thus, could a rule in a temple, mosque or a church that it considers essential, but not ascertained by the doctrine be struck down? There is a precedence, in fact (one cited by the judges): In Mohd. Hanif Quareshi v State of Bihar, the SC has rejected the argument that sacrifice of a cow on Bakr-id was an essential practice of Mohammedan religion. The primacy of Constitution: In his concurring view, Justice Chandrachud went further and declared "a claim for the exclusion of women from religious worship, even if it be founded in religious text, is subordinate to the constitutional values of liberty, dignity and equality".

3. This could make cab rides safer and more reliable The asset-light model (neither owning the cab nor employing the driver) helped cab-hailing companies such as Uber and Ola grow rapidly in India. But if Delhi's draft policy — Licencing and regulation of app-based aggregators rules, 2017 — is a marker, authorities seem to say 'that's all right as long as it isn't responsibility-light'. Among the measures proposed: A minimum and maximum fare fixed by the transport department, and a limit to surge pricing (or a fine of Rs 25,000 for each violation). Sharing live GPS location of cabs with the transport department and operating a 24x7 call centre. The onus to be on the aggregator (and not the victim) to file a police complaint in case of sexual harassment of a passenger (or a fine of Rs 1 lakh for each case). A mandatory panic button on the app that will alert the local police station in case of an emergency (the SOS option that exists today only alert the company's call centre). Cabs to have GPS display not smaller than 6 inches, driver's app to have a firewall that hides passenger's personal data, and a provision for the passenger to share cab details and location to two numbers of their choice. Barring a person convicted within the past seven years, of driving under influence of drugs or alcohol, or convicted at any time for any cognisable offence, from driving a cab — and urging companies to hire more women drivers. Considering the popularity of regulating such cabs across the world — cities such as New York and London too have cracked the whip — this may only be the beginning of such rules in India. Read the full story here

4. Ties with naxals, not dissent, got you arrested, says SC Houseful: The Supreme Court extended the house arrest of the five civil rights activists arrested in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence that happened in December last year, by another four weeks — it said that the five were not arrested for dissent, but for their ties with the banned Naxal organisation, CPI (Maoist). No leniency: A bench comprising CJI Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, by a 2-1 majority, refused to release the five activists — Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navalakha, Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves — on bail, as was pleaded on their behalf by five eminent persons Romila Thapar, Devaki Jain, Prabhat Patnaik, Satish Deshpande and Maja Daruwala. Benched dissent: While the apex court refused to buy the argument of dissent from the activists, it's own three-judge bench had plenty of dissent — with Justice Chandrachud disagreeing with the other two judges and noting in his order that he was "firmly of the view that a Special Investigating Team must be appointed" and that the investigation should be monitored by the SC. Read the full story here

NEWS IN CLUES 5. Which business magnate made a cameo in 'Iron Man 2'? Clue 1: In 1984, as a 12-year-old he wrote the video game Blastar. The source code was published in a magazine and he received $500 for it. Clue 2: He owns the Wet Nellie — a custom-built, submarine car from the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. Clue 3: His middle name is Reeve and he holds Canadian, US and South African citizenship. Scroll below for answer

6. Why the promise of Lokpal is still only a promise Lokpal: The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act passed in 2013 envisages establishment of an independent anti-corruption body Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas at the state level to look into cases of corruption against public servants. The body is supposed to address bureaucratic and political corruption. What now? The Centre this week constituted an eight-member search committee to recommend the members of Lokpal. The move comes after a Supreme Court's order to appoint Lokpal at the earliest. The excuse: The delay was about politics. The panel that had to choose the search committee was to be made up of the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India, Lok Sabha Speaker, leader of opposition and an eminent jurist. Since no party had the numbers to have a leader of opposition (10% of the total seats in the House), the government didn't constitute the search panel saying that the 2013 law needed to be amended first (to replace LoP with leader of single largest party). Over to court: It was only in 2017 when the Supreme Court stepped in to say that the Lokpal appointment process need not be stalled merely due to the absence of the LoP that the Centre moved. Politics again: After, SC's clarification, Centre invited a member of Congress party but only as a special invitee. Congress wanted to be part of the panel as the full-time member so it kept skipping meetings of the panel to protest.

7. A long wait for India. A longer one for Bangladesh Thanks to the Kuldeep-Kedar (or Yadav-Jadhav) combination, India pulled off a last-ball thriller versus Bangladesh in the final of the 2018 Asia Cup in Dubai. Their seventh Asia Cup title meant that India had finally won an ODI tournament after five years. The Celkon Cup—a tri-series in the West Indies—was the last time they were crowned champions. Interestingly enough, the final at Port-of-Spain on Jul. 11, 2013 was also a cliffhanger. The Men in Blue edged out Sri Lanka by one wicket and with two balls to spare then. Into their 32nd year of ODI cricket, Bangladesh are yet to win an ODI final. Okay, they've played just the four. 2009 (Dhaka): Lost by 2 wickets to Sri Lanka in the Tri-Nation Tournament (involving Zimbabwe) final 2012 (Dhaka): Lost by 2 runs to Pakistan in the Asia Cup final 2018 (Dhaka): Lost by 79 runs to Sri Lanka in the Tri-Nation Tournament (involving Zimbabwe) final 2018 (Dubai): Lost by 3 wickets to India in the Asia Cup final Winning the Associates tri-series (involving Bermuda & Canada) in Antigua in February 2007, just before the ICC Cricket World Cup, doesn't count because there was no 'final'. Bangladesh were declared champions, according to the points table. Match report here

8. Why Imran Khan has his math wrong The cricketer-turned-politician-turned-Pakistan PM has launched a quixotic campaign to build dams across the country in order to tackle Pakistan's chronic water shortage — to raise $14 billion through crowdfunding. But here's why his plan may never succeed: Headcount problem: Imran Khan is banking on the country's population, of 20.17 crore and its expat population of 7.6 million — though 24.3% of its domestic population, or almost 5 crore people, lives below the poverty line of $1.25 a day. Multiplication problem: Khan wants each of his expat Pakistanis to contribute $1,000 each, which would raise just $7.6 billion, or just a little more than half the amount needed. Which means that the balance amount of $6.4 billion is to be raised from 15.17 crore people, who will need to contribute $42 each, while their per capita income is $1,641. Trickle of money: Khan is banking on the expat remittances, which last financial year ended June 30 were $20 billion, apart from the $8 million donated by the army and $9,740 donated by the national football team, not to mention the Pakistani Rs 23 lakh the government earned after auctioning 8 buffaloes of the disgraced ex-PM, Nawaz Sharif. Read the full story here

9. Silence! say these schools to noise in the sky What: Classrooms in nine government schools in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand are being made soundproof by helicopter-companies. Reason: Students complained that excessive noise from choppers was drowning out their teachers' voices and making it difficult to concentrate on their lessons. Why: These schools fall on the route that choppers take to go to the Kedarnath shrine during the six-month-long Char Dham Yatra. Choppers make at least 60 trips in a day How: Taking cognisance of their concerns, the district administration of Rudraprayag approached the heli-companies to try and work out a solution. After several rounds of discussions, the heli-companies decided to sponsor 18 soundproof rooms for the nine schools whose students are worst-affected. The cost for making each room soundproof is around Rs 1.5 lakh.

YOU SHARE YOUR B'DAY WITH... Source: Various

10. Now Naidu doesn't want you to greet in English English colony: Days after terming English as a disease left behind by the British, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu said that wishing another person good morning is indicative of a slavish mindset — exhorting people to say namaskar instead of English greetings that include good afternoon and good evening. Cultured culture: According to Naidu, who was addressing students at the National Institute of Technology in Goa, "namaskar is our only sanskar...in morning, evening and night." Breaking a mindset: The Vice President, who is also the ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha, had last year asked ministers not to use the term "I beg to" while laying papers on the table — "No need to beg... this is independent India," he had said. Read the full story here

3 CURATED WEEKEND READS 1. 1,001 ways to lose a Nobel Prize Showing off to girls, dissolved in acid, going under the hammer...the medals have gone missing in crazy, tragic or spectacular ways over the more than 100-year history of the Nobel Prize. 2. Love in the time of AI: meet the people falling for scripted robots A crop of dating simulations where the goal is to reach a virtual happily ever after have recently become hits. Are they a substitute for human companionship or a new type of digital intimacy? 3. Dignity is delicate Human dignity is a concept with remarkably shallow historical roots. Is that why it is so presently endangered?

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Answer To NEWS IN CLUES Elon Musk. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has charged the Tesla CEO with securities fraud, alleging he misled investors last month in tweets about taking the company private. Musk had tweeted August 7 that he had "funding secured" to privatise the electric automaker at $420 a share, causing a brief spike in Tesla's share price. It has since then shelved the privatisation plan.