News in Short

• Union Minister Jitendra Singh said male government employees who were single parents were now entitled to child care leave.
• “Single male parent” included employees who were unmarried or widower or divorcee and might therefore be expected to take up the responsibility of caring for a child single-handedly, he said.
• An employee on child care leave might now leave the headquarters with the prior approval of the competent authority.
• In addition, the Leave Travel Concession (LTC) might be availed by the employee even if he was on child care leave.

• The Ministry of Home Affairs has designated 18 more individuals as terrorists under the amended Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2019.
• This includes Hizbul Mujahideen commander Syed Salahudeen, founders of Indian Mujahideen Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal, and gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s close aide Chota Shakeel.
• Before the UAPA was amended, only organisations could be designated as terrorist outfits. But under the new law, individuals who commit or participate in acts of terrorism, prepare for them, or promote or encourage such acts can be designated as terrorists.

• Hero MotoCorp said that it has entered into a distribution and licensing agreement with American motorcycle maker Harley Davidson to develop and sell a range of premium motorcycles under the Harley Davidson brand name.
• The announcement comes almost a month after Harley-Davidson Inc. announced that it will discontinue sales and manufacturing operations in India as part of a global strategic restructuring plan ‘The Rewire’.
• As part of a licensing agreement, Hero MotoCorp will develop and sell a range of premium motorcycles under the Harley-Davidson brand name.

• People as well as investors outside Jammu and Kashmir can now purchase land in the Union Territory (UT) as the Centre notified new land laws for the region, ending the exclusive rights of locals over the land granted under now abrogated Article 370.
• Under the newly introduced J&K Development Act, the term “being permanent resident of the State” as a criteria has been “omitted”, paving the way for investors outside J&K to invest in the UT.
• The Centre has been arguing that Article 370 hampered development in the U.T. as investors were unable to purchase land prior to August 5, 2019. The Centre is likely to notify separate land laws for the UT of Ladakh soon.

• Ankhi Das, the senior Facebook executive who was caught in a raging controversy recently over allegations of political bias in the running of Facebook and WhatsApp in India, has quit the company.
• Das, who had joined Facebook in 2011 when it started gaining in global scale and was also expanding in India, leaves the company with immediate effect.
• The departure, which is being portrayed as a routine exit, comes after she faced allegations of meddling with Facebook’s content moderation policy in order to favour the governing dispensation.
• Das had been in charge of Facebook’s public policy and government initiative for India, South and Central Asia regions, and was often the face of the company in interactions with the government and regulators.