The services on the Supreme Court’s YouTube channel, which was hacked on Friday, has resumed.

“This is to inform all concerned that the YouTube channel of Supreme Court of India is live and up. The services on YouTube channel of Supreme Court of India has been resumed,” said a notice uploaded on the apex court’s website on Friday.

The top court’s YouTube channel was hacked on Friday and showed videos promoting a cryptocurrency developed by US-based company Ripple Labs.

A blank video with the title “Brad Garlinghouse: Ripple Responds To The SEC’s $2 Billion Fine! XRP PRICE PREDICTION” was live on the hacked channel.

Later in the day, a notice posted on the apex court’s website informed that the court’s YouTube channel was taken down.

“This is to inform all concerned that the YouTube channel of Supreme Court of India has been taken down. The services on YouTube channel of Supreme Court of India will be resumed shortly,” said the notice posted on the top court’s website earlier on Friday.

Later, another notice was uploaded on the website, saying the YouTube channel was live and the services have resumed.

The Supreme Court has been using YouTube to stream live hearings of cases listed before the Constitution benches and matters involving public interest.

In a unanimous decision taken by the full court meeting headed by the then CJI UU Lalit, the top court decided to live-stream proceedings of all Constitution bench hearings following a path-breaking verdict on the matter in 2018.

Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman chairs the 54th meeting of the GST Council

New Delhi: GST Council headed by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday decided to set up a Group of Ministers (GoM) on reducing tax rate on life and health insurance and cut GST on cancer drugs and namkeens.

Briefing reporters on the outcome of the 54th GST Council meeting, Sitharaman said it has decided to have a Group of Ministers (GoM) to look into the GST rate on life and health insurance.

The GoM will be headed by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, who is currently heading the panel on GST rate rationalisation.

Sitharaman said that new members would be joining the GoM to look into GST on health insurance.

The GoM will be submitting its report by October end, she said.

The issue of taxation of insurance premiums had figured in Parliament discussions with Opposition members demanding that health and life insurance premiums be exempt from the GST. Even Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari wrote to Sitharaman on the issue.

Sitharaman in her reply to a discussion on the Finance Bill had said that 75 per cent of the GST collected goes to states and the Opposition members should ask their state finance ministers to bring the proposal at the GST Council.

The GST Council in its meeting on Monday also decided to cut tax rates on cancer drugs to 5 per cent from 12 per cent and namkeens from 18 per cent to 12 per cent.

Sitharaman further said that a GoM will also be constituted to deal with the issue concerning compensation cess which will cease after March 2026.

The Council also deliberated on the GoM’s status report on rate rationalisation and online gaming.

The minister further said that a committee of secretaries headed by Additional Secretary (Revenue) will be formed on the IGST which is currently facing a negative balance. It will look into ways to retrieve the money from states.

Balasore (Odisha): India on Friday successfully test-fired an Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile, Agni-4, from the Integrated Test Range in Chandipur off the Odisha coast, defence sources said.

The launch successfully validated all operational and technical parameters.

It was conducted under the aegis of the Strategic Forces Command, the sources said.

Nitin Gadkari

New Delhi: Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said there is no need to provide subsidy for electric vehicles (EVs) market as consumers are on their own now choosing EVs or CNG vehicles.

Addressing BNEF Summit, Gadkari said initially costs of manufacturing electric vehicles were high, but as demand has increased, production costs have dropped, making further subsidies unnecessary.

“Consumers are now choosing electric and compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles on their own and I do not think we need to provide much subsidy for electric vehicles,” the road transport and highways minister said.

The minister pointed out that GST on electric vehicle is lower than petrol and diesel vehicles.

“In my opinion, manufacturing of electric vehicles no longer needs to be subsidised by the government.

“The ask for subsidies isn’t justified anymore,” he said.

At present, 28 per cent GST is levied on vehicles powered by internal combustion engines, including hybrids, and 5 per cent on electric vehicles.

On Wednesday, Union Heavy Industries Minister H D Kumaraswamy had said the government is expected to finalise the third phase of its flagship electric mobility adoption scheme FAME in a month or two.

He said that an inter-ministerial group is working on the inputs received for the scheme, and efforts are being made to address the issues in the first two phases of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicle (FAME) scheme.

FAME 3 will replace the temporary Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme (EMPS) 2024, which is set to expire in September.

A Delhi-based entrepreneur, Sivesh Kumar, co-founder and COO of Coffea India, has gained widespread attention for creating a LinkedIn profile for his two-year-old son, Tiger Chauhan. Earlier this week, Kumar set up the profile and has been regularly posting updates.

Tiger Chauhan’s LinkedIn bio states, “I am just a kid, trying to find my place in this world. My father’s friend always says that ‘network is Net worth’. So I am here to network which will help me in my career.”

In his first post on August 26, the young boy shared that he is “here to network” in hopes of securing a spot in a prestigious pre-school. “I turned two today and already started to feel the pressure of this world. With all the talks at home to get me into school. Hmm, the pressure is real and me ‘nanhi si jaan’,” the post reads.

The post continues, “My father Sivesh Kumar’s friend Praveen Kumar Rajbhar always says that ‘Network is Networth’, so I am here to network which will help me (to start with) get into a good pre-school. And further will take one step at a time. I am trying to stay away from social media (as nobody gives me the phone at home), but still for my career will try to log in once a week. Looking for all the help.”

Many LinkedIn users commented on the post, welcoming Tiger to the “real world” and noting, “At just two, you’re already ahead of the game—most of us only realized the importance of networking after several cups of chai and a few gray hairs.” Others shared their best wishes and birthday greetings, with one user saying, “Happy birthday Tiger. I hope you sail through all the struggles of preschool really well! All the very best for the journey ahead. You can do it, master.”
Sivesh Kumar’s second post featured Tiger dressed as Lord Krishna for Janmashtami celebrations.

Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh): ISRO on Friday launched its third and final developmental flight, Small Satellite Launch Vehicle-D3, carrying Earth Observation Satellite EOS-08.

The rocket lifted off majestically from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here, situated about 135 km east of Chennai at a pre-fixed time of 9.17 am.

The objectives of the SSLV-D3-EOS-08 mission include designing and developing a microsatellite and creating payload instruments compatible with the microsatellite bus, the Bengaluru-headquartered national space agency said.

Built on the Microsat/IMS-1 bus, EOS-08 carries three payloads–Electro Optical Infrared Payload (EOIR), Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflectometry payload (GNSS-R) and SiC UV Dosimeter.

The EOIR payload is designed to capture images in the Mid-Wave IR (MIR) and Long-Wave IR (LWIR) bands, both during the day and night, for applications such as satellite-based surveillance, disaster monitoring, environmental monitoring, fire detection, volcanic activity observation and industrial and power plant disaster monitoring.

The GNSS-R payload demonstrates the capability of using GNSS-R-based remote sensing for applications such as ocean surface wind analysis, soil moisture assessment, cryosphere studies over the Himalayan region, flood detection, and inland waterbody detection.

The SiC UV Dosimeter monitors UV irradiance at the viewport of the Crew Module in the Gaganyaan Mission and serves as a high-dose alarm sensor for gamma radiation.

I&B Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

New Delhi: Facing widespread criticism, the government has withdrawn the new draft of the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2024, which had sparked concerns over potential government overreach in regulating online content. The draft Bill, which was privately shared with select stakeholders last month, faced pushback from independent content creators and tech companies.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has reportedly asked stakeholders to return their copies of the draft Bill. The ministry is expected to revise the proposal and release a new draft after further consultations.

The draft Bill, which was an expansion of the November 2023 version, aimed to regulate not just OTT platforms and digital news but also social media accounts and online video creators. This move raised alarms about the freedom of speech, particularly among independent creators who would have been categorized as “OTT broadcasters” under the proposed regulations.

The draft also sought to establish a “Code of Ethics” for online content, which had already been challenged in court. The ministry’s statement, however, did not acknowledge the newly withdrawn draft, leading to confusion among stakeholders about the status of their feedback on the earlier version.

New Delhi: All the ten Adani group stocks slumped in early trade on Monday, with Adani Energy tumbling 17 per cent, after the US short-seller Hindenburg Research alleged that SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband had undisclosed investments in obscure offshore funds in Bermuda and Mauritius, the same entities allegedly used by Vinod Adani to round-trip funds and inflate stock prices.

Adani Energy Solutions nosedived 17 per cent, Adani Total Gas tanked 13.39 per cent, NDTV plunged 11 per cent and Adani Power dropped 10.94 per cent on the BSE.

Stocks of Adani Green Energy declined 6.96 per cent, Adani Wilmar slumped 6.49 per cent, Adani Enterprises tumbled 5.43 per cent, Adani Ports dived 4.95 per cent, Ambuja Cements skidded 2.53 per cent and ACC dipped 2.42 per cent.

Hindenburg Research had on Saturday alleged that SEBI chairperson Buch and her husband had undisclosed investments in obscure offshore funds in Bermuda and Mauritius, the same entities allegedly used by Vinod Adani – the elder brother of group chairman Gautam Adani – to round-trip funds and inflate stock prices.

Buch and her husband issued a statement calling Hindenburg’s latest tirade as an attack on the credibility of SEBI and attempted “character assassination”.

In the equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 479.78 points to 79,226.13. The NSE Nifty dropped 155.4 points to 24,212.10.

Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch in a joint statement on Sunday said the investments were made in 2015, well before her appointment as a whole-time member of SEBI in 2017 and the subsequent elevation as chairperson in March 2022, and in capacity as “private citizens living in Singapore”. These funds became “dormant” on her appointment in SEBI.

“SEBI was tasked with investigating investment funds relating to the Adani matter, which would include funds Ms Buch was personally invested in and funds by the same sponsor which were specifically highlighted in our original report. This is obviously a massive conflict of interest,” Hindenburg said.

Equity benchmark indices declined in early trade on Monday dragged by Reliance Industries and Kotak Mahindra Bank along with weak global market trends.

The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 504 points to 80,100.65 in early trade. The NSE Nifty dropped 168.6 points to 24,362.30.

Among the Sensex pack, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank and Axis Bank were the biggest laggards.

UltraTech Cement, NTPC, HDFC Bank and Power Grid were among the gainers.

HDFC Bank climbed 1.57 percent after the company’s consolidated net profit grew 33.17 percent to Rs 16,474.85 crore in the June 2024 quarter.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo and Shanghai were trading lower while Hong Kong quoted in the positive territory.

The US markets ended lower on Friday. Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.67 percent to USD 83.18 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,506.12 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

The BSE benchmark hit its new all-time high of 81,587.76 in the initial trade on Friday but failed to carry forward the winning momentum and tanked 738.81 points or 0.91 percent to settle below the 81,000-mark at 80,604.65.

The NSE Nifty tumbled 269.95 points or 1.09 percent and ended at 24,530.90 after hitting its fresh record peak of 24,854.80 during the opening bell on Friday.