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India to deport all Rohingya Muslims, flood situation worsens in Bihar, Pakistan govt websites hacked: Top stories to bring you up to date
Gorakhpur tragedy, deportation of Rohingya Muslims, heavy rains in Bihar, Bengal and northeast India: A digest of important news stories in the last 24 hours.
1- Gorakhpur tragedy: NHRC criticises UP govt, minister hints at anomaly in oxygen cylinder purchase
The NHRC criticised the Uttar Pradesh government for its “gross callousness” and demanded a report on the death of at least 64 children at BRD Medical College, even as five more children died at the state-run facility on Monday. The deaths have caused nationwide outrage. The opposition is gunning for chief minister Yogi Adityanath, refusing to buy his argument that the children died of encephalitis and not because of the lack of oxygen supply. “This indicates towards gross callousness on part of the hospital administration and the medical education and health departments of the government of Uttar Pradesh,” the National Human Right Commission said.
Read the story here.
2- India must be compassionate and egalitarian: President Ram Nath Kovind
President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday lay down the markers for a New India, one that would be compassionate towards the disadvantaged and would not discriminate on the basis of gender or religion, as he pitched for a people-government partnership. In his first address to the nation on the eve of the 71st Independence Day, Kovind hailed the government’s demonetisation decision, people’s support in the battle against corruption and the roll out of GST. “New India must be a society rushing towards the future... A compassionate society where the traditionally disadvantaged, whether SCs, STs, or OBCs, are part of our national developmental process,” said Kovind.
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3- India aims to deport all Rohingya Muslims, even those with UN registration: Govt
All of an estimated 40,000 Rohingya Muslims living in India are illegal immigrants, even those registered with the UN refugee agency, and the government aims to deport them, a senior government official told Reuters. Junior interior minister Kiren Rijiju told parliament last week the central government had directed state authorities to identify and deport illegal immigrants including Rohingya, who face persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has issued identity cards to about 16,500 Rohingya in India that it says help them “prevent harassment, arbitrary arrests, detention and deportation”.
Read the story here.
4- Heavy rains kill 41 in Bihar, flood Bengal and northeast; train services disrupted
Heavy rains in the last three days triggered flash floods in parts of Bihar, where 41 people have died so far, and inundated large areas in Assam and North Bengal, paralysing normal life and snapping rail link to the northeast from the rest of the country. In Arunachal Pradesh too, the flood situation continued to be grim in several districts with recurring landslides disrupting road traffic. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who conducted an aerial survey of flood-hit areas, said Araria was the worst effected district and water has entered the district headquarters.
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5- Soon, all court proceedings may be recorded on camera
The Supreme Court on Monday appeared open to the audio and video recording of its proceedings, which it has resisted so far, along with those of high courts, saying it would usher in transparency in the justice delivery system. It put forward these views as it ordered all 24 high courts to install closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in trial courts across the country and asked the government to consider the same for tribunals. “Constitutional courts in other countries have audio and video recordings. It is not a matter of privacy of judges,” a bench of justice AK Goel and justice UU Lalit said.
Read the story here.
6- Larger bench to hear pleas on Article 35A?
Indicating it might refer petitions challenging the validity of the controversial Article 35A to a larger bench, the Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a fresh matter where a woman has assailed the provision on the grounds that it is gender discriminatory. Article 35A accords special rights and privileges to the citizens of J-K and empowers state legislature to frame laws without attracting a challenge on the grounds of violating Right to Equality of people from other states under Indian Constitution. “If we feel that the challenge to the validity is to be entertained, then it has to go to a five-judge bench,” a bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra told the counsel representing the petitioner in the new case.
Read the story here.
7- Several websites of Pakistan govt hacked on Independence Day
Several websites of the Pakistan government were defaced on Monday allegedly by hackers from India. The hackers attacked websites of some key ministries on the day the country celebrated its 70th Independence Day. The sites hacked included ministry of Defence, ministry of Climate Change, ministry of Inter-provincial coordination, ministry of Water and Power, ministry of Information Technology and others. An official of the ministry of Information Technology said the attack was carried out by a group calling themselves “LuluSec India”. The hackers posted pro-India material on the web pages of hacked websites.
Read the story here.
8- Trump condemns white supremacist groups
US President Donald Trump -- under pressure to explicitly condemn a weekend rally by white supremacists in Virginia that ended in bloodshed -- denounced racism as “evil” Monday, singling out the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis as “repugnant.” “Those who spread violence in the name of bigotry strike at the very core of America,” Trump said in nationally televised remarks from the White House, where he travelled early Monday to meet with his top law enforcement aides. “Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.” Trump had taken heat from Democrats and Republicans alike for his response to Saturday’s violence in Charlottesville.
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9- Pharma CEO quits US advisory panel, Trump lashes out at him
Donald Trump has lashed out against the CEO of a major pharmaceutical company who resigned from a federal advisory panel over the US President’s failure to unequivocally criticise white supremacists widely blamed for recent race clashes that claimed three lives. Trump, resisting mounting pressure even from fellow Republicans to offer a more muscular condemnation, said of the resignation, “Now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President’s Manufacturing Council, he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!” Read the story here.
10- Friendship with Pakistan stronger than steel, sweeter than honey: China
Chinese vice premier Wang Yang, the “special guest” at Pakistan’s Independence Day celebration, said on Monday the two countries have always stood by each other and their friendship was “stronger than steel”. Wang, a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of China’s ruling Communist Party, is among the country’s top leaders. He arrived in Islamabad on Sunday on a two- day visit. Addressing the Independence Day ceremony in Islamabad, he said China stands with Pakistan in its efforts to achieve progress and development.
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11- Mumbai police arrest four for leaking ‘Game of Thrones’ episode online
Four men were arrested on Monday for allegedly leaking episode 4 from Season 7 of the popular television series Game of Thrones. The private firm, which has the season’s airing rights, filed a complaint after the episode was found on the internet sites in the first week of August with the channel’s watermark on it. It was a low-quality video of the episode. An internal inquiry initiated by the company found two employees leaked it online. During investigation, two other names cropped up. Among the four arrested, three are employees of the firm and one is its former employee.
Read the story here.
Photos| India at 70: Watershed moments in the journey
In the 70 years since the independence of the world’s largest democracy, a look at landmarks along the way that left indelible marks on India’s consciousness and shaped the nation as it stands today.
See pictures here.
Photos: Flood situation turns grim in Bihar, thousands affected
Heavy rains in the last three days triggered flash floods in parts of Bihar, where 41 people have died so far, and inundated large areas in Assam and north Bengal, paralysing normal life and snapping rail link to the Northeast from the rest of the country.
See pictures here.
