5 THINGS FIRST RBI's deadline for financial technology companies to comply with data localisation norms; PM Modi to meet chief executives of top global and Indian oil and gas companies; Amit Shah and Rahul Gandhi in MP; Foundation stone for a museum for prime ministers in Teen Murti Estate premises in Delhi to be laid; Government's gold bond scheme opens for subscription 1. After 24 years, army court martials officers who killed civilians On Sunday, Indian Army's Summary General Court Martial (SGCM) sentenced seven personnel to life imprisonment for extrajudicial killings of five civilians (All Assam Students' Union members) in Assam in 1994 — the second such court-martial conviction in a fake encounter, after the Machhil casein 2010. In February of 1994, the seven officers from the 18 Punjab Regiment — a Maj General, 2 Colonels, and four junior commissioned officers — detained nine youths, and tortured and killed five, disposing of their bodies at a local police station (the four others were released). But justice delayed... The case puts the spotlight back on the Indian armed forces' system of internal court martials to provide justice as against a regular court. Critics say the system is flawed because: 1. The "judges" are not independent but armed force officers; 2. Is outdated — the law that enables court martial is based on a Colonial-era British law; 3. Is against the international norm (and human rights standard) that says court martial should be restricted strictly to organisational matters (such as insubordination) and not grievous crimes; 4. Is hardly impartial — almost 95% human rights cases referred to it are rejected as false and baseless. In 2016, Supreme Court ordered that the summary court martial should only be exception and not commonplace — a summary court martial is presided by an officer and two other persons; SGCM and district court martial by no less than three officers; and general court martial (GCM) no less than five officers, of which four should be above the rank of Captain. In 2000, the SC said the GCM was archaic as it lacked a provision for even an appeal; in 2007 Indian parliament passed an Armed Forces Tribunal Act that looks into appeals, among other things. But the Tribunal too had its troubles with the SC. 2. Akbar sees politics in #MeToo, Centre agrees for now Return of Akbar: Union Minister MJ Akbar returned from a tour of Africa Sunday morning and issued a statement later in the day. It was on the expected lines: allegations false, sea of innuendo, political conspiracy etc. So he will take legal action, won't quit, he said. In his defence, he said: this was 16 years before I entered public life, I didn't 'do' anything, I had a tiny cubicle then, how come no one saw it happening, I don't know how to swim so how can I party in swimming pool. Attributing political motive to the whole thing, he said: Why has this storm risen a few months before a general election? If he stays... it could be because he has delivered for the government. The editor-turned-minister helped at a time when the government felt that BJP's image in Islamic countries needed a makeover as that will have a bearing on India's relations with West and Central Asia. Akbar's scholarship on political Islam and his regular presence at the annual meetings of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation worked in his favour. Akbar's stint, that started in August 2016 with a visit to Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, gave a fillip to India's strategic engagements with the Middle East. His staying will mean the unofficial line that prevailed was: "the charges related to a period ('80s and '90s) when he was a newsperson (and) his stint at The Asian Age came after he served the Congress... and at the time he was a fierce opponent of BJP". If he doesn't... We may still see a 'PM Modi steps in' kind of headline some days later if Akbar resigns. There were reports that his argument did not wash with the RSS and sections of the BJP that felt that the allegations could harm the Modi government, six months before it faces the Lok Sabha polls. Akbar is a Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh, a state that votes in November. Plus, five of the women journalists who accused him of sexual harassment have said they stood by their statements. Not the first: If Akbar goes, he will be NDA government's third casualty because of gender-related charges. In January 2017, V Shanmughanathan, an RSS pracharak who was appointed as the Meghalaya governor, put in his papers after a slew of sexual harassment cases surfaced. In August 2018, Ganganagar MP Nihal Chand Meghwal was dropped from PM Modi's ministerial council after the government found it untenable to answer an old rape charge against him, though he later came back. 3. Why crop stubble continues to burn and pollute Delhi Pollution harvest: Every year, around this time, the air quality in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana plummets. Apart from the weather, a major factor is the burning of leftover stubble from harvest by the farmers in the region. The burning (of an estimated 15 million tonnes of stubble) has already begun. Why stubble? The combine harvester used to cut the paddy crop cuts it well above the ground, leaving behind substantial amount of stubble, which is difficult to remove manually. Smokescreen: Governments (central and state) have announced incentives to prevent farmers from burning straw and stubble, threatened them with fines but that doesn't seem to be working. Famers in Punjab have joined hands to burn stubble collectively instead of individually. Some reasons why the practice continues: Simple economics: "When we are not getting the ideal price for our crop, how can we spend thousands of rupees on hiring these machines? This is simple economics," say farmers. High cost: Government has announced subsidy for buying agro machines that can help avoid burning stubble but the cost (Rs 1.2 lakh to Rs 1.7 lakh) is still high, say farmers, for a machine that has to sit idle for the rest of the season. Not getting subsidy on time is another problem. Greedy market: Farmers claim the price of machines have been artificially inflated this year. "The per unit price of machines should be between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 1.15 lakh. Since the government announced subsidy, the price has gone up to Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 1.55 lakh," say experts. Fine is fine: Government levies fines ranging from Rs 2,500 to Rs 15,000 (depending on the size of the field) for stubble burning. The low amount means most farmers just pay up on the spot. Renting machines and spending on fuel to use them prove more expensive, say farmers. Time matters: Only about 20-25 days are available to farmers between harvesting the paddy crop and sowing wheat. Farmers say using machinery is time-consuming. Whataboutery: "Does only stubble burning cause pollution and not crackers and celebrations during Dussehra and Diwali?" is another refrain. Starting today... Delhi kicks off its graded response action plan to combat pollution. 4. Your financial data will get an Indian residence today... or will it? The Reserve Bank of India's deadline to financial companies to localise data is today, which means, provided no last-minute extension, all your financial data — credit card usage, wallet purchases and the like — will reside in a data centres somewhere in India. Why the authorities want it In its notice issued on April 6, RBI says it is important to authorities to have "unfettered supervisory access" to data, so that it can cross-check or audit financial data without the complexities of acquiring the access to a data centre located outside India. RBI says the data should include the "full end-to-end transaction details / information collected / carried / processed as part of the message / payment instruction". Authorities say data localisation will help them ensure financial data is securely stored by companies. What the companies say Payment companies say restricting cross-border data transfer handicaps modern commerce — financial data often goes back and forth servers located across continents. It increases cost. Companies have already invested large amount of money on data centres across the world — it is not always in the US, cold countries such as Iceland have become popular for data centres (heat is a major concern for data centres). RBI lets businesses transfer data abroad as long as they keep a copy locally all the time — to enable international transaction and such. But that would mean the same data has to be stored simultaneously at two servers (one abroad and one in India), meaning double the cost — third-party cloud storage companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google, on whose servers data is often saved, charge based on the total size of data stored. It is not so secure. Critics say putting all your egg in one basket is hardly a good idea — a cyber attack on the local server where all the data is saved could be messy, as against a system where data seamlessly moves across data centres, around the world, based on free space, cost, security requirements and such. Also, India does not have an updated, strong cybersecurity law. An alternativeAs India’s Central bank, RBI has the right (and the need) to supervise financial data; its concern on security and privacy is also legitimate. But there could be other ways to achieve this. An example is the "conditional data storage". For example, Vietnam mandates companies that process data to have a data centre in the country to serve "the inspection, storage, and provision of information" at the request of the authorities. How is this different? Here, data that is stored in a server abroad — or different servers at different times — do not always have to be stored locally (thus avoiding cost doubling); it can be transferred to the local data centre when the authorities require it. On privacy, the often cited example is Europe's GDPR. But GDPR does not mandate data localisation; it mandates "explicit consent" of the user for cross-border data transfer. Also, EU has also passed laws so that its member countries do not implement data localisation regimes. NEWS IN CLUES 5. This virus almost derailed an Olympics Clue 1: It has no known treatment or vaccine yet. Clue 2: It was first discovered in a monkey in 1947. Clue 3: Since the turn of the millenium, it has had three major outbreaks. Scroll below for the answer 6. More builders delay your flats, more they pay you The problem: Most agreements that home buyers sign with the builder mention a compensation clause of Rs 5 per square feet that the builder has to pay for delay in completion of the project. While the amount may be okay for minor delays, it puts consumers at a disadvantage if the housing project is delayed for years. The solution: National Consumer Commission has said that builders can't hide behind the Rs 5 clause if the delay in handing over flats is for 'unreasonable' period in which case the buyer has the option of asking for higher compensation. That will be over and above taking possession of the property or seeking a refund of the amount paid. The reason: The commission ordered Emaar MGF to pay Rs 5 lakh compensation for delay apart from allowing the buyer a total refund amount for more than 36 months delay in handing over of a flat. "The compensation for delay cannot be for an unreasonably protracted period or indefinite; at best it can be for a short period that would appear to be reasonable and would be acceptable as such to a reasonable man," the NCDRC observed. Instant homes: The menace of project delays has slowly changed the real estate market dynamics as well. According to a survey, only 5% prospective buyers are interested in buying homes in new projects while 49% would prefer to buy a ready-to-move-in house and 46% are okay with investing in projects that will be complete in a year. 7. What if Saudi mixes politics with oil? The issue: Saudi critic and journalist Jamal Khashoggi hasn't been seen since he entered the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul on Oct 2. Turkish officials say they have audio and video recordings that show a Saudi security team killed him. The politics: Trump has vowed "severe punishment" if Saudi is found to be linked to the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi. Riyadh's response: The kingdom emphasises that it will respond to any measure against it with an even stronger measure. The kingdom's economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy. Saudi & oil: The country possesses about a fifth of world's proven petroleum reserves, is the biggest oil exporter and is the most powerful voice of OPEC, the oil producers' cartel. Oil is already at a 4-year-high of $85 a barrel and Saudi statement could trigger concerns in the energy market. Oil & politics: The last time Saudi Arabia used oil as a political weapon was when it led an Arab oil embargo during the 1973 war between Israel and a coalition of Arab states. The embargo was targeted at nations perceived as supporting Israel. Between Oct 1973 and March 1974 oil prices rose from $3 a barrel to $12 a barrel and triggered the first global oil crisis. The biggest oil consumers at the time, including the US, Japan and Germany, responded by creating strategic oil reserves to be used in case of future disruptions. India has its own reserves for which it is seeking foreign investments. Meanwhile, PM Modi will today brainstorm with chief executives of top global and Indian oil and gas companies on emerging energy scenario. The third annual meeting would also deliberate on ways to revive investment in oil and gas exploration and production. YOU SHARE YOU B'DAY WITH... 8. Why these voters don't want their fingers inked No ink please: The Chhattisgarh election office wants Election Commission to do away with the indelible ink-mark in Naxalism-hit constituencies of the state. Polling in state's 18 Naxal-hit constituencies is due on November 20. Deadly votes: There have been similar demands in the past from authorities in insurgency or militancy-prone areas of J&K, Left-wing extremism-hit states and the northeast to drop indelible ink mark for the sake of the safety of voters. During the last polls in Chhattisgarh in 2013, the returning officers of Maoist-infested Dantewada, Bijapur and Sukma had approached the EC proposing that inking of voters not be made mandatory. However, the EC had shot down the proposal. Rules, rules: Exempting voters from having their forefinger inked would require an amendment to Section 49(K) of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961. The authority to change the rules lies with the law ministry. While the Election Commission will discuss the suggestion it is unlikely to go through as the time required for effecting the change is too little. Read the full story here 9. Stock market's wild swings are making Indians smarter Rock 'n' roll: Stock markets have been on a wild roller coaster recently. Sensex plunged over 6% in the last month, triggered by the IL&FS crisis, fall in rupee and boiling crude oil prices. Lakhs of crores of investor wealth was wiped out in the crash. But it has also made investors smarter. Right bets: Mutual fund industry has seen a 40% surge in investments through systematic investment plans (SIPs) in September from the year-ago period. The total SIP contribution in the first half of 2018-19 rose to Rs 44,487 crore, compared to Rs 29,266 crore in April-September 2017. Smart money: SIPs allow staggering of investments over a period and reduce market volatility risk. Investors gain more when markets fall as the same amount of investment can get them more units. The increase in SIPs also shows that investors may be using market dips to top up their investments. There are about 2.44 crore SIP accounts and over 10 lakh are getting added each month, with an average ticket size of Rs 3,165. Read the full story here 10. A perfect 10 India defeated West Indies by 10 wickets in the second Test in Hyderabad to clean sweep the 2-Test series. Umesh Yadav took four wickets in the second innings to make it a 10-for in the Test — only the third Indian fast bowler to do so at home (Javagal Srinath vs Pak in 1999, and Kapil Dev twice in the '80s). Yadav's was also the 4th MoM award for a fast bowler in 10 years. India's 10th straight Test series win at home, dating back to 2013 (Wins against: Australia, 4-0 in 2012-13; WI, 2-0 in 2013-14; SA, 3-0-1 draw in 2015-16; NZ 3-0 in 2016-17; Eng, 4-0-1 in 2016-17; Ban, 1-0 in 2016-17; Aus, 2-1-1 in 2016-17; SL, 1-0-2 in 2017-18); Afg 1-0 in 2017-18 and this). India has not lost to Windies in a Test series since 1983-84 (drew twice since). In the last 10 Test series against WI, India has lost just 3. Follow news that matters to you in real-time. Join 3 crore news enthusiasts. GET APP Answer To NEWS IN CLUES Zika. Authorities in Jaipur have reported a spike in the reported cases of Zika, with at least 55 tested positive as on Sunday. The Zika virus outbreak in Brazil in 2015-16 had the officials of the Rio Olympics worried, though the outbreak subsided by the time for the Games. Major outbreaks before Brazil was in 2013-14 and 2007 — both in Pacific islands.