• India and the United States on Tuesday signed a defence pact that would allow sharing of sensitive satellite and map data, deepening the relations between the two countries amid increasing aggression by China — along India’s borders and elsewhere.
• The Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) provides for real-time exchange of geo-spatial intelligence through advanced satellite imagery, topographical and aeronautical digital data for long-range navigation and pinpointed strikes against enemy targets. The new agreement follows the COMCASA information-sharing pact signed in 2018 and the military logistics pact LEMOA in 2016.
• With these pacts in place, India can now acquire armed drones like Reapers or Predators, reports the Times of India. Indian forces had been pushing for the acquisition of 30 weaponised Sea Guardian or MQ-9 Reaper drones, which would cost around $3 billion. The two countries also decided to deepen their defence cooperation through the maritime information sharing technical arrangement (MISTA).
• That the pact was signed just days ahead of the US presidential election shows the significance accorded to the Indo-US relations, says analyst, since a new administration could take time to settle in. “A year lost is a year gained by China.”
• Speaking to Times Now, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said India and the US are “force multipliers” as both countries share a democratic vision, and could provide “joint deterrence” against Chinese Communist Party’s tyranny.

• A Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) gazette notification issued on Tuesday, which came into force with immediate effect, now allows any Indian to buy land in UT of Jammu and Kashmir. As per the notification, the phrase, “permanent resident of the state” stands deleted from Section 2 of the new rules notified in the gazette.
• However, there’s still a bar on the sale of agricultural land to non-agriculturists, except when it’s for purposes such as setting up of educational institutes or healthcare facilities. The new MHA rule nullifies 11 land laws of the former J&K state.
• The notification has been criticised by the opposition parties. While National Conference vice-president and former CM Omar Abdullah called it “hostile to the interests of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh”, another former CM and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said the new law was “putting land in J&K up for sale”. Even the Apni Party, which is not a part of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration, termed it unacceptable.
• Furthermore, the government may, on the written request of an Army officer not below the rank of Corp Commander, declare an area “strategic” within a local area. This can only be for the direct operational and training requirements of the Armed forces, which may be excluded from the operation of this Act, as per the notification.

• The election: Over two crore voters in Bihar will decide the fate of 1,066 candidates across 71 assembly segments and 16 districts in the first phase of elections today. Six ministers in the Bihar government are in the fray in this phase.

• The speeches: Even as Bihar votes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing rallies at Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur and Patna in the state. This is likely to be telecast live including to those voting today. PM Modi’s election day speeches are not new. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi would be addressing two rallies too.
• The code: The model code of conduct prohibits public meetings within the 48 hours of the polls closing. The ‘silence period’ is meant to ensure that voters get a peaceful break to decide on their vote without being influenced by the campaign. However, the rule applies only in the area where the elections are taking place.
• A controversy: A day before the first phase of Bihar elections in 2015, opposition parties had complained to the Election Commission about PM Modi’s planned speech in the state. The EC had ruled that there was no legal bar on campaigning outside constituencies going to polls.
• The ruling: Last year, the EC amended the model code to say that in a multi-phased election, “there should not be any direct or indirect reference amounting to soliciting support for parties or candidates in the constituencies observing the silence period”. It also asked star campaigners and other political leaders to “refrain from addressing the media” during the silence period.

• Facebook India’s public policy chief Ankhi Das, who as per a Wall Street Journal report showed bias towards the BJP in enforcing the company’s hate-speech rules, has decided to quit the company. “We were a small unlisted startup back then guided only by our mission and purpose to connect people in India. After nine long years, I feel that mission has largely been met,” Das wrote in a Facebook post.
• “Ankhi has decided to step down from her role in Facebook to pursue her interest in public service,” Ajit Mohan, managing director of Facebook India said in a statement.
• The resignation comes weeks after Facebook and Das faced questions internally from employees over how political content is regulated in India, reports news agency Reuters. Last week Das also appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill, though a company statement called it a “discussion” on data privacy.
• Shivnath Thukral, WhatsApp’s public policy director, has been asked to take over Das’s duties on an interim basis until a replacement can be found, TIME reports. Thukral also worked on behalf of the BJP during the party’s 2014 election campaign, it added.

• Clue 1: Bollywood legends Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar were born here.
• Clue 2: Under Kanishka’s rule, it became the capital of the Kushan Empire.
• Clue 3: It was known in Sanskrit as ‘Purusapura’, literally meaning ‘city of men’.

Scroll below for answer

• The ministry of home affairs designated 18 individuals, all based in Pakistan, as “terrorists” under the amended anti-terror law that was passed by Parliament last year.
• The names include Syed Sallahudin (in pic), the chief of the banned Hizbul Mujahideen; the Bhatkal brothers — Riyaz and Iqbal — who founded the Indian Mujahideen outfit; and four close aides — Chhota Shakeel, Mohammad Anis Shaikh, Tiger Memon and Javed Chikna — of fugitive mob boss Dawood Ibrahim. The hijackers of an Indian Airlines plane in 1999 — Abdul Rauf Asghar, Ibrahim Athar and Yusuf Azhar — have also been named.
• Earlier, only terror outfits could be designated as such under the stringent law and not individuals. But the amended anti-terror Act, passed by Parliament in August 2019, introduced a provision to designate as “terrorists” individuals who commit or participate in acts of terrorism, prepare for them, or promote or encourage such acts.
• The new additions brought the total number of terrorists to 31, with 13 individuals — including Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, and Dawood — designated earlier.

• Delivering its verdict on a bunch of pleas by activists who said a fair probe in the Hathras rape case wasn’t possible in Uttar Pradesh (UP), the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday directed the Allahabad High Court (HC) to monitor the probe being conducted by the Central Bureau of Investgation (CBI).
• Last month, a 19-year old Dalit woman was raped, allegedly by upper cast men in UP’s Hathras. She later died at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital while undergoing treatment and was cremated in a hush-hush manner by the UP Police in the middle of the night, with the victim’s family alleging the police forced them to cremate her hurriedly.
• The SC also directed the HC to take into consideration all aspects of the case, including provision of security to the victim’s family and the witnesses. The apex court bench, headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde, said the plea for transfer of trial in the case from out of UP would be considered after the CBI probe is over.

• Amy Coney Barrett, 48, was on Monday confirmed as a US Supreme Court judge, shifting the court further to the right in a boost to President Donald Trump, eight days before the presidential election. No Supreme Court justice had ever been confirmed so close to a presidential election.
• Barrett’s confirmation as a successor to liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last month, creates a 6-3 conservative majority in the US Supreme Court. Establishing a conservative majority in the top court has been a major aim of the Republican party, in the hope it can succeed in challenging laws on abortion, Obamacare, immigration. Barrett is Trump’s third appointee to the court.
• Also looming large on the horizon is a potential legal battle over the election. The Supreme Court has only once decided the outcome of a presidential election, in 2000. But the pandemic has meant more people than ever are to opt for vote-by-mail or early voting — over 60 million have already cast their vote.
• Republicans argue vote-by-mail is open to fraud — last week, it lost a related case over Pennsylvania. The 2020 election results, too, could be challenged in the courts as more mail-in votes mean counting could take days.

• The story: With Sunrisers Hyderabad posting the best Powerplay score this IPL (77) — thanks to some phenomenal hitting from openers David Warner and Wriddhiman Saha (also the Man of the Match) — and their talisman Rashid Khan managing the cheapest four-over spell of this edition, there could be only one result versus Delhi Capitals (DC). And a thumping victory at that, keeping them alive in the tournament.
• For DC, it was a third consecutive defeat. Are they at risk then of dropping out of the top four and missing out on the playoffs? With higher-placed teams MI and RCB to follow, the one-time table toppers will be sweating. Further, the teams who have spent so long in the bottom half are refusing to go quietly into the night.
• Well, this is the first season of the IPL when no team has gone past 14 points with 47 games done (among the 10 editions featuring 8 teams). No team has qualified for the playoffs for sure yet and it’s been most competitive on the points table. More on the playoffs scenarios here.
• The scorecard: SRH 219/2 (Saha 87, Warner 66) beat DC 131 (Rashid 3/7) by 88 runs

• US bike maker Harley Davidson (HD) formalised its tie-up with Hero Motocorp on Tuesday under which the latter will sell and service the former’s motorcycles in India. Hero Motocorp will also set up a brand exclusive chain of dealerships across the country that will also sell HD’s spare parts, accessories, general merchandise as well as apparel.
• As per the licensing agreement between the two biker manufacturers, Hero Motocorp will also develop and sell a range of premium motorcycles under the HD brand name. This will allow India’s and the world’s largest manufacturer of bikes and scooters to boost its presence in the premium bikes segment where it has been struggling to make a mark.
• The US bike maker had last month announced that it would be exiting India, shut down its plant in Haryana and trim its sales force as part of Rewire strategy that, among other things, will see the company prioritise on markets that matter.

Peshawar. A powerful bomb blast at a religious seminary in the Pakistani city on Tuesday killed at least seven people and injured 120. The bombing happened as a prominent religious scholar was delivering a lecture.