• Dignity in profession: In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court said the sex workers are “professionals” who are “entitled to dignity” while directing the police to refrain from taking criminal action against consenting sex workers. This means the police now can’t interfere with the working of sex workers under ordinary circumstances.
• What court said: A three-judge bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao said, “Prostitution is a profession and sex workers are entitled to dignity and equal protection under the law.”
• Quote from court: “Sex workers are entitled to equal protection of the law. Criminal law must apply equally in all cases on the basis of age and consent. When it is clear that the sex worker is an adult and is participating with consent, the police must refrain from interfering or taking any criminal action. It need not be gainsaid that notwithstanding the profession, every individual in this country has the right to a dignified life under Article 21 of the Constitution.”
• Six orders: The court gave six directions for safeguarding sex workers’ rights. Sex workers should not be arrested, penalised, harassed, or victimised through raids for consenting sex. A sex worker’s child should not be deprived of her mother’s care. The police should not discriminate against sex workers in complaints of sexual assaults. Media should not reveal the identities of sex workers, during arrest, raid and rescue operations. Use of condoms should not be used as evidence of offence by sex workers. Rescued sex workers should be sent to correctional homes for not less than two-three years.
• And, voyeurism is a criminal offence, the Supreme Court said.

The Congress, which is struggling to keep its house in order in the wake of several high-profile exits, on Thursday attacked the BJP-led Centre on its eighth anniversary, listing the government’s alleged failures in key areas such as economy, governance and national security.

• ‘Unkept promises’: At a press conference, Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala and Ajay Maken claimed the BJP government has broken all records of “hoodwinking” its own people with fake promises and slogans during its eight years of rule.
• On economy: The grand old party claimed BJP’s “disastrous policies” contributed to the fall of the Indian economy, adding that inflation is touching an all-time high and so are unemployment levels.
• Jobs, income: The Congress claimed that 84 per cent Indians have seen reduced incomes and 12 crore people have lost their jobs. Sixty lakh MSMEs have shut shop with unemployment touching 45-year records during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Border row: It said that the eight years of BJP rule has seen “continuous threats to the sovereignty and security of our country”, with China continuing to “infiltrate our borders, and the prime minister remaining silent”.
• Polarisation: Accusing the BJP of spreading hatred in society through communal polarisation, the party alleged that 10,000 cases of communal clashes have taken place in the past eight years. More details here

• A rise in crude oil prices, which have sustained above the $100 mark for several weeks now, coupled with a rise in food and fertiliser prices will adversely impact India’s calendar year 2022 GDP growth rate, according to Moody’s Investor Services, which, in its Global Macro Outlook 2022-23 has lowered India’s GDP growth rate to 8.8% from 9.1% earlier.
• While acknowledging that the momentum from the last quarter of calendar year 2021 carried through to the first four months of 2022, Moody’s said that the momentum will slow down as the RBI increases rates in order to rein in food and energy inflation. However, it added that if the global crude oil and food prices don’t rise further, the economy seems strong enough to maintain solid growth momentum.
• SBI Research Ecowrap has projected a “GDP growth for FY22 at 8.5% and Q4 FY22 at 2.7%.” The FY22 GDP projection is lower than the 9.2% GDP growth rate forecast in the Union Budget for FY23. While the GDP numbers for Q4 FY22 are due for release on May 31, the SBI report added that “the GDP projection for Q4 FY22 is clouded by significant uncertainties. For example, even an 1% downward revision in Q1 GDP estimates of FY22 from 20.3%, all other things remaining unchanged could push Q4 GDP growth to 3.8%.”

The Delhi High Court (HC) asked Sharjeel Imam, who’s accused of making provocative speeches against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), to approach a lower court for his bail in his sedition case.

Why now

• Earlier this month, the Supreme Court (SC), while ordering the Centre and state governments not to register any fresh sedition cases till it decides on the validity of the sedition law — Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) — had also directed that all pending sedition cases be kept in abeyance and people incarcerated under it could seek bail from the appropriate court.
• A day after the SC put a stay on the sedition law, Imam had filed a fresh bail application in which he submitted that the lower court had rejected his bail plea and had instead framed sedition charges against him as had been charged under Section 124A of the IPC.

The objection

• The Centre objected, saying that under an order passed by the SC in 2014, any bail application needed to be first filed in the trial court and only if the applicant did not get relief there, could the accused approach the HC.
• Following the Centre’s submission, the HC granted leave to Imam to approach the trial court for bail and fixed August 26 as the next date for hearing his appeal against the framing of sedition charges against him.

Family-run parties always think about their own growth and are the biggest enemies of the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Hyderabad on Thursday, in an apparent reference to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the state. He also alleged political vendetta is being taken out against BJP workers in the southern state.

KCR meets Deve Gowda

• Chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao or KCR as he is fondly called, left for Bengaluru, just hours ahead of the PM’s arrival in Hyderabad, second time in the past four months that he has avoided meeting Modi during the latter’s visit to the state capital.
• KCR on Thursday called on JD(S) supremo and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda at his residence in Bengaluru and held discussions on “various topics of national importance”.
• The Telangana CM has been meeting leaders from various opposition parties across the country in a bid to project a united front against the BJP in 2024.

Modi’s south India tour

• At an event of the Indian School of Business (ISB) in Hyderabad, Modi said India is the fastest growing economy among the G-20 nations, adding that last year, the country attracted a record amount of foreign direct investments (FDIs).
• Later in Tamil Nadu, he unveiled a slew of projects and lauded the Tamil language as eternal and its culture as global. CM M K Stalin sought a raise in funding to the state and outlined that Tamil Nadu’s growth is unique as it is based on the “Dravidian model” of inclusive growth.

It was a day of political dogfight in states with Maharashtra witnessing a BJP leader telling an NCP leader to “go home and cook”. In Delhi, an IAS officer sparked off the row while in Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stepped up her campaign against the governor.

• Maharashtra: Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil drew flak for saying that Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule should quit politics, “go home and cook” during a protest in Mumbai. Seeking Madhya Pradesh-like OBC quota in Maharashtra local polls, Patil said, “Why are you [Sule] even in politics, just go home and cook…Despite being a Lok Sabha member, how come you don’t know how to get an appointment with the chief minister.” Earlier, Sule had said that she could not get an answer from MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan about how the state secured a Supreme Court order for OBC quota in local polls.
• West Bengal: The Mamata government has decided to bring a law to make the chief minister the chancellor of all state universities – a move that will draw a new battleline between the ruling TMC and the BJP. The governor is the ex officio chancellor of state universities. In January this year, Dhankhar alleged that the TMC government appointed vice-chancellors of 25 state universities without his consent.
• Delhi: A row erupted over a news report that the athletes had to curtail their practice sessions in Delhi government-run Thyagraj Stadium for the past few months so that a top Delhi bureaucrat could walk his dog at the facility. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal subsequently directed all government-run sports facilities to stay open for athletes till 10 pm. While the officer refuted the allegations, the Union home ministry decided to relieve him from the Delhi government.

• In a scoreline reminiscent of an era when Indian hockey dominated the global stage — Olympics 1932, India bt USA 24-1, 1954 India bt Hong Kong 22-1 and more recently, Asian Games 2018 India bt Hong Kong 26-0 — India, who are ranked third globally in hockey, annihilated Asia Cup hosts Indonesia in a do-or-die match of Pool A, scoring 16 goals to nil to advance to the next round of Super 4.
• The victory on Thursday came when India had their backs against the wall, looking at a possible ouster from the tournament in the league stage itself after the 5-2 drubbing by Asian Games gold medallists Japan on Tuesday and a 1-1 draw against Pakistan in their opening match on Monday. That meant India needed a goal difference of at least 16 to overtake Pakistan who were at the second spot at the start of the match and are now out of the tournament, as only the first two teams from Pool A and Pool B would advance to the Super 4.
• Despite the inexperience abounding in the Indian team — which was evident when they lost to Japan — the blue jerseys rose to the occasion right the from the word go, dominating the ball possession for almost two thirds of the first quarter, which bore fruit with a flurry of goals in the 11th, 12th and 14th minute to give India a 3-0 lead at the end of first quarter.
• From then on, there was absolutely no stopping the Indians, who made it 6-0 at half time and 10-0 at the end of the third quarter — which meant they slammed six goals in the final 15 minutes of play. The dominance of the Indian side can be gauged from the fact that India made 43 circle penetrations against the Indonesians, against the latter’s one, with India having ball possession for 80% of the time and converting 8 of their 21 penalty corners to Indonesia’s zero conversion rate.
• Two Indian players — Dipsan Tirkey and Sudev Belimagga — also managed to score a hat-trick each, with Tirkey scoring a total of 4 goals.

Calling off his “peace protest”, ousted Pakistani PM Imran Khan on Thursday gave a six-day ultimatum to the Shehbaz Sharif government to hold elections.

Sit-in cancelled

• Khan cancelled a planned, open-ended sit-in in Islamabad on Thursday, temporarily assuaging fears of protracted civil conflict after he led thousands on a march toward Parliament demanding the government’s resignation.
• On Wednesday, clashes erupted in Lahore, where riot police fired tear gas and pushed back hundreds of pro-Khan demonstrators. The government says it has arrested more than 1,700 Khan supporters in the past couple of days.

Now what?

• Khan gave PM Shahbaz Sharif less than a week to call for new elections, warning that if his government didn’t comply, he’d return to the capital with three million supporters.
• “I am giving you six days,” Khan said, demanding the dissolution of Parliament as well. “If you don’t do it after six days, I will return,” he said.
• Khan was prime minister for over three and half years until he was ousted last month by a no-confidence vote in Parliament.