“You and I… in this beautiful world”. Those words are enough to invoke memories of Cheeka the pug following a boy around. The image is of one of the most successful ad campaigns, run by Hutch in the early 2000s. Since then, the group has changed hands and is now known as Vi. But for how much longer? Aditya Birla group now says it is willing to give it up to the govt to keep the company afloat.
IN PARLIAMENT
Din Continues: Both houses continued to remain disrupted even and the govt is, without bothering for a discussion, passing bills. Defence minister Rajnath Singh reached out to the Opposition but they refused anything short of a debate on Pegasus.
Bill Passed: Lok Sabha passed the amendment to the insurance laws to allow the govt to offload its stake in one of its general insurance companies. This happened, of course, without discussion. Rajya Sabha passed the inland vessels bill.
INDIA NEWS
The Thaw: Following a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi with key leaders from the north-east, police in Assam and Mizoram withdrew cases against each other, including the one filed against Assam CM Himanta Sarma and the other against Mizoram MP L K Vanlalvena.
Coronavirus News: Covaxin is effective against Delta Plus, said manufacturer Bharat Biotech citing laboratory studies that are yet to be peer-reviewed.
Frustration: J-K Apni Party, which was launched soon after Article 370 was abrogated, said they may resign from the district development councils due to interference from the UT administration.
Control Yourself: The Supreme Court said that mere apprehension of a possible breach of law is not enough for the state to invoke preventive detention against a person. The court said police could challenge a bail on grounds of possible breach of law instead.
Pegasus Row: JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar became the first of BJP’s allies to call for an investigation into the issue.
Climate Woes: Heavy rain lashed south Bengal forcing the evacuation of 250,000 people.
Delhi’s Bane: In what politicians are calling a “repeat of Hathras incident in Delhi”, a nine-year-old was raped, killed and cremated allegedly by a priest and employees of a crematorium in the Capital.
“Knowing the influence that the Left parties wielded in the United Progressive Alliance government of Dr Manmohan Singh, China perhaps played on their fears about India’s tilt to the Americans. This may have been the first example of China’s foray into domestic politics, but they were careful to remain behind the scenes”
Vijay Gokhale, former foreign secretary in his new book The Long Game. The CPI(M) said they had no contact with China over the matter.
WORLD
Afghanistan’s Nightmare: President Ashraf Ghani told his parliament that an “imported and hasty” peace process had created doubt and ambiguity in the minds of the Afghans. He blamed US forces’ speedy withdrawal for current crisis. Taliban have taken over radio and TV stations in Lashkar Gah and replaced normal broadcast with religious songs.
An Offer They Can Refuse: Palestinians rejected an offer from Israel’s top court to rent out their own homes in Sheikh Jarrah from a Jewish organisation. Earlier, the UN human rights chief’s office had warned that evicting people from their homes in the area might constitute a war crime.
River of Bodies: Sudan says it has found 50 bodies in the river between it and Ethiopia’s Tigray where govt forces and local milita had clashed since November. The crisis in that country may have forced people to flee to Sudan by swimming the river.
Tension: The UK and Iran have summoned each other’s respective envoys to protest the incident off the coast of Oman when a merchant ship came under fire and killed two persons, one of them a UK national. Israel has blamed Iran, which it has denied.
Coronavirus News: 70% adults vaccinated at least once in the US. Spain is planning to recruit foreigners to infiltrate parties and flag violation of norms to police who cannot do this because they are “known to locals”.
Man Missing: A Belarusian man named Vitaly Shishov has gone missing from Ukraine after failing to return home from his morning jog. Shishov is the head of an organisation that helps dissenting Belarusians to flee the country.
Not too Old for Justice: A 100-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard will be put on trial in Germany for assisting the holocaust.
“There is fighting all around.”
A doctor in Lashkar Gah, one of three provincial capitals under attack from Taliban in Afghanista, the others being Kandahar and Herat.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Good & Bad News: Manufacturing was back up in July with the purchasing managers’ index growing to 55.3 from 48.1. International demand too was up, that helped the cause. Exports also recorded hit a record high with July being the fifth straight month that the country exported goods worth more than $30 billion. 3.2 million people lost their jobs in the same month.
“It is with a sense of duty towards the 270 million Indians connected by Vodafone Idea, I am more than willing to hand over my stake in the company to any entity—public sector/government /domestic financial entity or any other that the government may consider worthy of keeping the company as a going concern.”
K R Birla in a letter to cabinet secretary Rajib Gauba in June.
News Of Today 