The principles of natural justice dictate that the accused must be granted a fair hearing. The Election Commissions unilateral decision earlier yesterday to disqualify 20 Aam Aadmi Party  MLAs for occupying offices of profit was taken without there being a single hearing on the issue.

Taxi operators today kept their vehicles off the roads in Goa for the second day, despite the state government invoking the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) prohibiting the strike.

"The strike continues even today and not a single taxi will operate in the state. We have been protesting peacefully. The strike will continue," Vinayak Nanoskar, General Secretary, North Goa Tourist Taxi Association told PTI.

Due to the strike, which started yesterday, around 18,000-odd taxis and 350 yellow and black pre-paid taxis are not operating even today.

The tourist taxi operators in Goa are protesting against state government's decision asking them to install speed governor on their vehicles as per the directives of the Supreme Court.

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has refused to cede the taxi operators' demand.

Installation of speed governor was part the Supreme Court's directives, he said yesterday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government has invoked ESMA, but no action was taken against taxi operators yesterday.  -- PTI

The United States government officially shutdown today for the first time in five years after lawmakers failed to agree on a spending deal.

US President Donald Trump blamed Democrats for the shutdown which comes exactly a year after he was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States.

The shutdown began at 12:01 am (local time) soon after the Senate rejected a short-term spending bill to keep federal government running.

The bill was passed by the House on Thursday.

This is part of the Democrats strategy to force President Trump and the Republicans to negotiate with them on illegal immigrants who are facing deportation.  -- PTI

The Pakistani Army on Saturday once again resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation along the Line of Control in RS Pura and Akhnoor sectors of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Indian Army is retaliating. The firing is still going on.

This is the third consecutive day when the Pakistan Rangers heavily shelled civilian areas and border outposts (BoPs).

Yesterday, at least 11 civilians were injured in various areas of Jammu and Kashmir as Pakistan violated ceasefire along the LoC.

Two civilians were injured in the ceasefire violation in Ramgarh sector, five in Hiranagar sector in Kathua and four in RS Pura sector in the Valley.

The Border Security Force (BSF) personnel also launched a massive retaliatory firing.  -- ANI

A last minute meeting between United States President Donald Trump and top Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer to avert a government shutdown due to lack of funds, failed after the two leaders continued to 'have a good number of differences'.

The meeting was held at the request of Trump as part of his efforts to reach a deal with Democrats on at least a short-term extension of government funding, which needs Congressional approval and the current authorisation ends today.

"We had a long and detailed meeting. We discussed all of the major outstanding issues, we made some progress, but we still have a good number of disagreements. The discussions will continue," Senate Minority Leader Schumer said in a brief statement soon after his meeting with Trump at the White House.

In the absence of such an authorisation, functioning of the federal government would come to a standstill, with hundreds and thousands of its employee would be forced to stop working at stay at home without pay.

The last time that a government shutdown happened was in 2013.

It was for more than a fortnight.

At the Capitol, the Democratic Senators told reporters that the President asked Schumer to work with the Republican Congressional leadership to sort out their differences.

"The president told him to go back and talk to (House) Paul Ryan and (Senate Majority Leader) Mitch McConnell and work it out," Senator John Cornyn told reporters after he was briefed on by Schumer.

Trump who was scheduled to fly down to Florida to spend his weekend in Mar-a-Lago, but postponed his visit in view of an imminent government shutdown.

Earlier in the day, the Director of Office of Management of Budget Mick Mulvaney told reporters that efforts are being made to have the government shutdown less impactful than it was in 2013.

"We're going to manage the shutdown differently. We are not going to weaponise it. We're not going to try and hurt people, especially people having to work for this federal government. But we still need Congress to appropriate the funds," he said.

Giving an insight into the planning purpose, Mulvaney said military will still go to work; the border will still be patrolled; fire folks will still be fighting the fires; and the parks will be open.

But in each of these cases people will not be paid.

Fanny and Freddy will be open, the post office will be open, the Transportation Security Administration will be open, but again all of these people will be working for nothing, which is simply not fair, he said.

Notably the House of Representative has already approved a short-term extension of government funding for about a month, but the legislation is now stuck in the Senate.

The Republican who enjoy a think majority of 51 in a 100-member Senate, needs nine more votes from the opposition Democratic party as the legislation requires 60 votes for passage.

Mulvaney slammed the Democrats for such a situation to arise.

"The President stands ready to sign that bill to keep the government functioning and afloat. It appears, unfortunately, that Senate Democrats are entrenched in forcing a shutdown. I think there is obviously a lot of hypocrisy in this town. I think there's some ironies to point out," he said.  -- PTI

Two bombs were found from the Bodh Gaya pilgrimage centre near Gaya on Friday night following a small explosion-like sound amid stringent security measures in view of the Dalai Lama's stay, a top police official said.

The bombs were found from the vicinity of the Kalachakra ground during an intensive combing operation by a police team led by DIG (Patna Range) Vinay Kumar, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Patna Zone, N H Khan said.

The Tibetan spiritual leader has been holding discourses at the ground, he said.

The IGP said that the operations were carried out after a small explosion took place at a kitchen set up at the Kaalchintan ground, causing panic among the devotees who had gathered to hear the Dalai Lama's discourse.

The explosion had taken place shortly after the Dalai Lama had completed his discourse and retired for the day at the Tibetan monastery, he said.

During the operations, a burst thermos flask was found at the kitchen.

This might have caused the sound, the IGP said.

Meanwhile, a team of forensic experts was dispatched to the site of the incident from Patna to ascertain the nature of the explosives found, he said.

The Tibetan spiritual leader had arrived in Bodh Gaya on January 1 and he is likely to stay there for a month.

A host of VIPs, including Bihar Governor Satya Pal Malik Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Hollywood actor Richard Gere have visited Bodh Gaya recently to receive blessings from the Buddhist monk.

Significantly, in 2013, the Maha Bodhi temple, situated on the spot where Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment, was rocked by a series of explosions in which five people, including two monks were injured.  -- PTI

Photograph: ANI

Sahil Makkar/Business Standard reports:

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Chief Executive Officer Ajay Bhushan Pandey has said constant attempts were being made to infiltrate the Aadhaar database of 1.19 billion people.

Pandey said these attempts were originating from several countries across the globe

"We have layers and layers of security. The data has never been hacked in the past," Pandey said while trying to allay fears about the breach of data and privacy.

He, however, added a caveat that no computer expert would guarantee the data or system is inviolable.

"I have sleepless nights every third day over hacking threats," Pandey said during a talk organised by The Print.

The UIDAI recently came under attack over alleged reports of data leakage.

Pandey, however, denied any incident of data breach.

"In the Tribune (which reported the alleged breach) case, the login and password details of the UIDAI officials were stolen. We wanted to investigate the matter and filed an FIR. The FIR is against unknown persons," he said.

The Tribune had reported a few days ago that the Aadhaar data can be accessed for as low as Rs 500.

"Aadhaar is not a secret or confidential document. The UIDAI doesn't store financial or personal details of any individual except for biometrics. Also linking of various databases is prohibited under the UIDAI Act," Pandey said, adding the UIDAI system was based on 'minimal information and optimum governance'.

Pandey said the Aadhaar data can't be used by any government or private agency for profiling of an individual as it is prohibited under the UIDAI Act.

The Delhi Police has registered a case following a complaint by senior lawyer Harish Salve who was allegedly threatened for representing one of the respondents connected to the controversial Bollywood film Padmaavat in the Supreme Court.

The court had dismissed a petition seeking deletion of certain alleged objectionable scenes from Sanjay Leela Bansali's film, calling it premature.

Salve represented one of the respondents in the apex court.

He had received a phone call on his office land line and was allegedly threatened for speaking in favour of the film, the police said.

The police said that they have registered an FIR and the matter was being probed.  -- PTI

Photograph: PTI Photo

The Supreme Court has decided to hear on Monday the pleas seeking an independent probe into the alleged mysterious death of special Central Bureau of Investigation judge B H Loya.

The top court fixed January 22 for the hearing and directed listing of petitions before 'an appropriate bench'.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said an appropriate bench of the apex court would hear the petitions filed by Congress leader Tehseen Poonawalla and Maharashtra journalist B S Lone.

The counsel for the petitioners said they wanted clarification on the date of hearing of the petition in the wake of the order passed by a bench of Justices Arun Mishra and M M Shantanagoudar.

"List the matters on January 22, 2018, before theappropriate bench as per the roster," the CJI's bench said.

A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra had on January 16, ordered the matters to be listed before an appropriate bench and had not fixed any specific date for hearing.

It had left it to the Maharashtra government to decide which documents, relating to Loya's death, could be handed over to the petitioners.

The state government, which had filed documents in a sealed cover relating to Loya's death, had during the hearing opposed the petitioners' demand that the entire material should be handed over to them for perusal.

The apex court, in its January 16, order said, "Let the documents be placed on record within seven days and if it is considered appropriate, copies be furnished to the petitioners. Put up before the appropriate bench".

The case, whose assignment to the bench hearing the PILs was a bone of contention of the unprecedented press conference by four senior-most judges of the apex court on January 12.

Loya, who was hearing the sensitive Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case, had allegedly died of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014, when he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague's daughter.  -- PTI