Live news updates: SC dismisses review plea against OROP judgement

Live news updates: A bench comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and Vikram Nath said there was no merit in the review petition

2:53 PM

J-K highway reopened for traffic, stranded vehicles, Amarnath pilgrims allowed

Vehicular traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway resumed on Friday after blockades caused by shooting stones and mudslides in Ramban district were cleared, officials said.

"Jammu-Srinagar highway is through. Many stretches are still single way open for traffic and intermittent shooting stones still going on, a traffic advisory said.

It said stranded vehicles were being cleared and people are advised not to travel on the highway without confirmation from traffic police.

Convoys of Amarnath pilgrims from Jammu have been allowed to move towards Kashmir valley, officials said.

2:48 PM

Supreme Court judge Justice Khanwilkar retires

Justice A M Khanwilkar, the second senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, retired on Friday and thanked bar association leaders for their "love and affection”.

 

“As parting words I will only say thank you to all for the love and affection. Thank you so much. God bless you,” Justice Khanwilkar said.

 

He was sitting with Chief Justice N V Ramana and two other judges at the time of the rising of the ceremonial bench.

Justice Khanwilkar, who was elevated as the apex court judge on May 13, 2016, delivered several path-breaking judgements and was part of benches which rendered many important verdicts during his over five-year-long tenure.

 

2:48 PM

Coal Scam: Court convicts former Coal Secy, others

A Delhi Court on Friday convicted former Coal Secretary H C Gupta and former joint-Secretary in the Ministry of Coal (MoC), K S Kropha, for criminal conspiracy, cheating, and corruption in a coal scam case related to the irregularities in allocation of Lohara East coal block in Maharashtra.

 

Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj also convicted Grace Industries Ltd. (GIL) and its Director Mukesh Gupta for criminal conspiracy and cheating, and posted the matter for August 4, when the court will hear arguments on the quantum of sentence to be awarded to four convicts.

2:32 PM

High Court tells SDMA to keep watch on artificial lake near Gangotri glacier

The Uttarakhand High Court has directed the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) to conduct annual surveys of an artificial lake formed near the Gangotri glacier from May to September.

 

A division bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice R C Khulbe issued the order on Thursday while disposing of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Delhi resident Ajay Gautam.

 

The PIL claimed the artificial lake may pose danger in the future as it is located right at the point where the Ganga originates in the form of the Bhagirathi from the snout of Gaumukh.

 

2:32 PM

President Wickremesinghe initiates talks with Opposition parties for forming all-party govt in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has initiated negotiations with the Opposition parties to persuade them to join an all-party government led by him as part of his efforts to establish trust in his administration and help the bankrupt country to recover from the worst economic crisis, according to media reports on Friday.

Talks are expected to be completed in one week, the Daily Mirror newspaper quoted sources as saying.

Wickremesinghe on Thursday held talks with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) of former president Miathripala Sirisena.

The main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party, however, will not join the government, the newspaper reported.

2:21 PM

For Taiwan, Pelosi visit is about US, China controlling risk

The crisis sparked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's potential visit to Taiwan misses a key point, experts say: that the real focus should be on how the United States and China manage their differences so the risks of confrontation don't spiral out of control.

 

News of a possible visit by Pelosi has set off intense speculation about China's potential diplomatic and military responses. But for Taiwan, the visit — if it occurs — would be merely the latest point of strife in an already tense situation that has shadowed the island democracy for decades.

 

“The main point is not in Pelosi coming to Taiwan, but it's to look at how the U.S. and China effectively control the risks that may arise,” said Arthur Zhin-Sheng Wang, a defense studies expert at Taiwan's Central Police University.

2:01 PM

Govt demonstrated commitment to tiger conservation by increasing tiger reserves: Bhupender Yadav

The government has demonstrated its commitment to tiger conservation by increasing the number of tiger reserves from nine in 1973 to 52 at present, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said on Friday.

 

The government is also committed towards the well-being of the people who inhabit these tiger-bearing landscapes through creation of livelihood opportunities and interventions, he said at an event organised at the Chandrapur Forest Academy, Maharashtra, to mark the International Tiger Day.

 

According to the 1028 tiger census, India has a tiger population of 2,967. The tiger estimation is conducted once every four years.

1:48 PM

India converting obstacles into opportunities: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that India is at the forefront in many sectors and is converting obstacles into opportunities.

 

Listing out the growth in industrial sectors despite the pandemic, Prime Minister Modi said, "India became second largest mobile phone manufacturer. Innovation has become a way of life. In the last six years, the number of recognised startups increased by 15,000 per cent. Last year India received a record FDI of 83 billion dollars. Our start-ups too received record funding post-pandemic."

 

Addressing the 42nd Convocation of Anna University in Chennai, PM Modi said that in just the past 6 years, the number of recognised start-ups has increased by 15 per cent. Every sector in India is bustling with a new life. Industry, investment, innovation or international trade, all are seeing India at the forefront, he said.

1:38 PM

India tops list of nations seeking blocking scribe, news co tweets: Twitter report

India made the highest number of legal demands globally to remove content posted by verified journalists and news outlets on Twitter during July-December 2021, the microblogging platform said.

 

In its latest transparency report, Twitter said India was only behind the US in seeking Twitter account information, accounting for 19 per cent of global information requests.

 

It was among the top five countries to issue content-blocking orders to Twitter during July-December 2021 for all kinds of users.

1:31 PM

UK PM race: Finalists Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss grilled at first hustings

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, the two finalists in the race to succeed Boris Johnson as the Conservative Party leader and British Prime Minister, were grilled on their policies in the first hustings directly addressing Tory party members who will be voting in the election.

While the economy and cost-of-living crises were the focal point as in earlier television debates, there were wider questions at the hustings in Leeds in Yorkshire, northern England, on Thursday night from the membership reflecting their loyalty to Johnson.

In a dramatic moment, a Tory member questioned Sunak's decision to quit as Chancellor earlier this month and accused the former minister of back-stabbing his former boss.

1:30 PM

SC dismisses review plea against One Rank-One Pension judgement

The Supreme Court has dismissed a plea seeking review of its order upholding the One Rank-One Pension (OROP) principle adopted by the Centre in its 2015 communication issued to the Chiefs of three defence forces, saying it neither suffers from any Constitutional infirmity nor is it arbitrary.

A bench comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and Vikram Nath said there was no merit in the review petition.

Application for listing the review petition in open Court is rejected. We have carefully gone through the review petition and the connected papers. We find no merit in the review petition and the same is accordingly dismissed, the bench said.

The apex court on March 16 had upheld the One Rank-One Pension (OROP) principle adopted by the Centre.

1:28 PM

HC issues summons to Cong leaders on Smriti Irani's defamation suit

The Delhi High Court on Friday issued summons to Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera and Netta D'Souza on a civil defamation suit filed by Union minister Smriti Irani seeking damages of over Rs 2 crore for allegedly making baseless allegations against her and her daughter.

 

Justice Mini Pushkarna directed the three Congress leaders to remove tweets, retweets, posts, videos and photos from social media in relation to the allegations made against Irani, who is holding the portfolio of Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of Minority Affairs, and her daughter.

1:16 PM

Future of fintechs is in lending-led players, not payments: Report

With the funding to fintechs seeing a sharp 30 per cent drop in the June quarter, valuation is expected to shift from payments to lending-led fintechs that will get the maximum wallet share ahead, according to a report.

As against this sharp fall, funding to the sector jumped a whopping 157 per cent year-on-year growth to USD 8 billion in 2021. Most of the funding went to payments at USD 2.7 billion, closely followed by lending at USD 2.6 billion, global consultancy BCG said in the report on Thursday.

However, this is going to change as the lending segment is saddled with low margins as everyone tries to outbid each other for the market share volumes, the report said, adding that by 2025, the valuation of lending-led fintechs will jump nearly three times to 35 per cent from 13 per cent in 2021, while that of payments companies it will more than halve to 22 per cent from 50 per cent.

Credit quality continues to be a key priority for fintechs, given that the industry-wide gross NPAs hover at 20 per cent now.

1:07 PM

Murmu added a new chapter in Odisha's glorious identity: Patnaik

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has said that the election of the daughter of the soil Droupadi Murmu as the 15th president of the country has added a chapter in the glorious identity of the state.

In his first signed article in 22 years of his helming the state, which was published in all the leading Odia dailies on Thursday, Patnaik spoke of his joyful experience while attending the swearing-in ceremony of Murmu, the first from the state to assume the country's topmost constitutional post.

He was among the 100 people from Odisha who attended the ceremony at the central Hall of Parliament on July 25.

1:06 PM

Rajya Sabha adjourned for the day after opposition uproar

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day on Friday after the opposition created an uproar over various issues.

 

This is the second week in a row when the upper house failed to transact any significant business due to disruptions caused by opposition members.

 

So far 23 Rajya Sabha MPs have been suspended for the remainder of the week for creating disruptions in the house.

 

12:49 PM

Places of Worship Act: SC asks six petitioners to file intervention application

The Supreme Court on Friday asked six petitioners challenging the validity of certain provisions of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 to file an intervention in a pending matter.

 

A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and J B Pardiwala said the petitioners will be able to supplement the grounds of challenge in the pending petitions.

 

“We grant liberty to intervene in the two pending petitions,” the bench said.

12:37 PM

Lok Sabha adjourned for the day

Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day on Friday amid protests by opposition and BJP members over Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's remark on President Droupadi Murmu.

 

The House proceedings were first adjourned till 12 noon soon after the House had assembled for the day. Similar scenes were witnessed when the House re-assembled at 12 noon.

 

Congress members were in the Well of the House raising slogans against the government, while BJP members and union ministers, including Sarbananda Sonowal were on their feet demanding an apology from Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

 

12:37 PM

Lok Sabha adjourned for the day

Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day on Friday amid protests by opposition and BJP members over Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's remark on President Droupadi Murmu.

 

The House proceedings were first adjourned till 12 noon soon after the House had assembled for the day. Similar scenes were witnessed when the House re-assembled at 12 noon.

 

Congress members were in the Well of the House raising slogans against the government, while BJP members and union ministers, including Sarbananda Sonowal were on their feet demanding an apology from Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

 

12:35 PM

Suspended MPs continue 50-hour day-night sit-in protest in Parliament

Opposition MPs continued their 50-hour day-night sit-in protest on Friday morning in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue inside Parliament premises to mark their strong protest against their suspension and the central government which they claimed was not ready to hold discussion over key issues like price rise and increased GST rates.

A total of 27 MPs including 23 Rajya Sabha MPs and 4 Lok Sabha MPs have been suspended for "unruly behaviour" during the ongoing Monsoon session of Parliament. This is learnt to be the highest number of single-batch suspensions in the Upper House.

The 50-hour long sit-in is likely to end around 5 pm on Friday. MPs, who were suspended for the week for their "unruly behaviour and disrupting proceedings" in the Parliament, had started the sit-in protest Wednesday afternoon.

12:21 PM

Covid-19 pandemic 'unprecedented', once in a century crisis, which India faced confidently: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday termed the COVID-19 pandemic as 'unprecedented' and once in a century crisis and said the country faced it confidently due to its scientists and common people.

 

There was a "temperament" for reforms in the government, which is not restrictive but responsive, he said about the ruling NDA at the Centre and listed out various reforms, including in the drones and geospatial and infrastructure sectors.

 

In his address at the 42nd Convocation of Anna University here, the PM described the COVID-19-19 pandemic as "unprecedented" and "once in a century crisis" for which nobody had a user manual.

 

12:18 PM

5G spectrum auction: Bidding enters day 4; bids worth Rs 1.49 trn received so far

The auction of 5G spectrum for ultra-high-speed internet services entered day four on Friday after garnering bids worth Rs 1,49,623 crore in 16 rounds of bidding conducted so far.

 

The high interest for spectrum in the 1800 MHz band in Uttar Pradesh East circle saw Jio and Airtel locked in intense bidding on Wednesday and Thursday, sustaining the tempo and stretching the auction timelines beyond initial expectations.

 

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio, Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and a unit of billionaire Gautam Adani's flagship Adani Enterprises are in the race to bid for a 5G spectrum that offers speeds about 10 times faster than 4G, lag-free connectivity and can enable billions of connected devices to share data in real-time.

 

12:09 PM

TMC's Derek O'Brien, AAP's Sanjay Singh spent night at Parliament protest site

Suspended Rajya Sabha members TMC's Derek O'Brien and AAP's Sanjay Singh spent the night at the protest site near the entrance of Parliament.

 

TMC's Dola Sen and Mausam Noor were there at the site till midnight.

 

The opposition parties sat on a relay protest in Parliament premises protesting against the suspension of 24 MPs in both Houses of Parliament.

12:08 PM

UP govt transfers 13 IAS officers, appoints 3 new commissioners

Uttar Pradesh government on Friday transferred 13 IAS officers, posted new commissioners in three divisions, and new district magistrates in five districts.

 

The new commissioners have been posted in Chitrakoot, Jhansi, and Prayagraj divisions and new district magistrates have been posted in Varanasi, Kushinagar, Unnao, Fatehpur, and Balrampur, the government said in a statement.

 

12:08 PM

Chhattisgarh: 4.6 magnitude earthquake hits Korea dist; two suffer minor injuries, no major damage reported

A moderate earthquake of 4.6 magnitude hit some parts of Korea district in north Chhattisgarh in the wee hours of Friday, officials said.

 

Two employees of South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) suffered minor injuries when they fell while trying to move to safety on sensing the tremor inside an underground coal mine in the district.

 

This is for the second time this month that the district has reported earthquake of above-4 magnitude. On July 11, a 4.3 magnitude earthquake had hit the same area in the district.

 

10:56 AM

Austrian Chancellor says EU embargo on Russian gas "impossible"

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has said that an embargo on Russian gas in the European Union (EU) is "impossible" due to EU countries' heavy dependence on Russian energy.

 

His comments came after a meeting with visiting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Vienna on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.

 

According to Austrian news agency APA, Nehammer added at a press conference that Germany and Austria's dependence on Russian gas makes an EU embargo "impossible," as the decline of the German economy would also impact Austria and lead to mass unemployment.

10:48 AM

Over 23,000 higher education courses to be made available for free on new portal: UGC

Over 23,000 higher education courses, including programmes on artificial intelligence (AI), cyber security and early childhood care, will now be available free of cost on a new web portal from Friday, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has said.

 

The portal is aimed at bridging the digital divide and enhancing the accessibility of higher education in remote parts of the country.

 

10:37 AM

India logs 20,409 new coronavirus cases, 32 deaths in 24 hours

India logged 20,409 new coronavirus infections pushing the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,39,79,730, while the active cases declined to 1,43,988, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

 

The death toll climbed to 5,26,258 with 32 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

 

The active cases comprise 0.33 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.48 per cent, the ministry said.

 

A decrease of 2,335 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

 

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 5.12 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 4.82 per cent, according to the ministry.

 

10:36 AM

India logs 20,409 new coronavirus cases, 32 deaths in 24 hours

India logged 20,409 new coronavirus infections pushing the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 43,979,730, while the active cases declined to 143,988, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

 

The death toll climbed to 526,258 with 32 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

 

The active cases comprise 0.33 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.48 per cent, the ministry said.

 

A decrease of 2,335 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

 

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 5.12 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 4.82 per cent, according to the ministry.

10:34 AM

357 dead, over 400 injured as monsoon rain continue to batter Pak

At least 357 people have died and over 400 others injured as heavy monsoon rain have continued to batter Pakistan for more than five weeks, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said.

Besides human loss, infrastructure, road networks and houses have also been damaged due to the heavy monsoon rains and flash flooding across Pakistan since June 14, official sources from the NDMA told Xinhua news agency on Thursday.

A total of 23,792 homes have been fully or partially damaged, making thousands of people displaced, according to the NDMA statistics, adding that the heavy downpour have also damaged dozens of bridges and shops.

9:35 AM

ndia backs UN resolution to recognise human right to clean, healthy environment; raises concern over text

India has voted in favour of a UN General Assembly resolution that recognises the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right, but dissociated itself from an operative paragraph of the text and voiced its concerns over the procedure and substance of the resolution.

The 193-member General Assembly adopted the resolution on Thursday with 161 votes in favour and abstentions by Belarus, Cambodia, China, Ethiopia, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Syria.

While India voted in favour of the resolution, it voiced its concerns over the procedure and substance of the resolution.