Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be introducing the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2019 in the Upper House ad the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2019 in the Lok Sabha.

Parliament: The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019 which was passed on Monday evening in the Lok Sabha will be taken up for discussion in the Rajya Sabha today. The Bill came under fire as several Opposition parties insisted that the amendments to the law were “dangerous” to the fundamental rights of the citizens and a “threat to the Constitution and the Parliament”. The Bill will be moved by the Minister of State (MoS) for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr Jitendra Singh.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be introducing the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2019 in the Upper House and Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2019 in the Lok Sabha.

Meanwhile, the Lower House had cleared the Appropriation and Finance Bill, the Modi 2.0-government’s maiden budget. On Donald Trump’s claim that Narendra Modi asked him to act as a mediator with Pakistan on Kashmir issue, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar denied that Prime Minister made the request and reiterated that all outstanding issues between India and Pakistan can be discussed only bilaterally.

Presence of monsoon trough across Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Assam towards Nagaland is likely to cause widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy and extremely heavy falls over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh during next 24 hours.

 Five people lost their lives Monday as heavy rains continued to pound North Kerala.  Over 300 people were shifted to relief camps in the state as monsoon intensified, PTI reported. All the five deaths reported were due to drowning. A red alert has been issued in Kozhikode, Wayanad and Kannur districts till Tuesday. A holiday has been declared for all educational institutions, including professional colleges, in Kasaragod, Kannur and Kozhikode till Tuesday.

The IMD Tuesday said that strong convergence of monsoon disturbances are likely to continue over the southernmost states of Kerala, Karnataka and adjoining ghat districts of Tamil Nadu during next 24 hours causing widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy and extremely heavy falls during the period. The rainfall activity is also likely to increase over central India, adjoining northern parts of peninsular India and also along the northern plains from Wednesday for the subsequent 3-4 days.

Meanwhile, light to heavy rains in parts of the national capital brought the minimum temperature down to three notches below the normal on Monday, even as humidity levels shot up to 100 per cent. The weatherman has predicted rains and cloudy sky for Tuesday.

Hima still needs to qualify for the World Championships, and from there on work even harder to claim a ticket for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 in order to mark herself out as one of the world’s top athletes.

Hima Das received as much, if not more, attention as the Indian cricketers this month with the sprinter winning a series of gold medals in various competitions. The flood of tweets and media reports focusing on the Indian athlete has been refreshing as well as positive for the sport.

But where do we place these competitions in terms of their importance, value or even difficulty levels when their purpose is to help her prepare and advance to bigger competitions like IAAF World Championship in Athletics and the Olympics next year.

Hima, who won the U-20 World Championships last year, grabbed her fifth gold of the month on Saturday as she returned to her pet event, the 400m race, in the Czech Republic. She clocked 52.09 seconds, a season-best for Hima, overtaking her previous timing of 52.88 seconds, which she had recorded in Patiala earlier this year.

From the Indian Army to Bollywood stars to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, congratulatory posts have flooded Hima’s Twitter feed, who has been tagged as India’s ‘golden girl’ and India’s next potential Olympic medallist. But there is more than what meets the eye. Not many are aware that Saturday’s women’s 400m event was an all-India race, with all the other athletes taking longer than 54 seconds to cross the finish line.

As important as it is to celebrate achievements, it is equally important to not lose perspective by getting caught in the social media game. The 19-year-old clocked 23.65 seconds and 23.97 in Poland, 23.43 and 23.25 seconds in the Czech Republic to win four successive 200m events. Her timing of 23.25 seconds, her best performance among these four, was the 128th fastest 200m lap run in the world in the year, as of July 22. 128th! Yes, you read that right! 128th!

A couple of years ago, the Indian Under-17 football team beat a lower-tier side of the Italian league but the Indian media ran it with headlines- ‘Indian U-17 team defeats Italy U-17’. However, lost in the translation were a few important details. The team India beat was not the Italy U-17 national team but in fact Italy Lega Pro U-17 Representative, a side comprising youth players from clubs in Lega Pro and Lega Pro 2, the third and fourth-tiers of Italian football.

Hima’s gold medals over the last month in Poland and Czech Republic, since they were won against a lack of competition, could be put in the same category. None of the 20 athletes she has competed against over this period have a better personal anywhere close to the figures Hima had achieved last year.

The immediate target for Hima is to qualify for the World Championships, scheduled in September, and the series of golden performances this month are only stepping stones to that competition. The qualifying mark for 400m, Hima’s strength, is 51.80 seconds (she recorded 52.09 in Czech Republic) and the 19-year old will get another chance to qualify when she steps onto the track at the Senior Athletics Inter-State Championships happening in Lucknow in late August.

Meanwhile, 24-year-old Indian sprinter Mohammed Anas Yahiya completed the 400 metre event in 45.21 seconds to make it to the World Championship, also setting a new national record in the men’s category.

Hima still needs to qualify for the World Championships, and from there on work even harder to claim a ticket for Tokyo Olympics in order to carve out her own niche as one of the world’s top athletes.

Magenta Line runs from Janakpuri West to Botanical Gardens in Noida. Under normal conditions, the journey – a distance of approximately 40 kilometres – takes 56 minutes to complete

The delay cause overcrowding at stations as trains ran at increased 20 minute intervals
NEW DELHI: 

Trains on Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line were delayed by more than 30 minutes today morning, with services affected by what the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) called a “technical snag”. The delay led to trains running at 20 minute intervals instead of the usual 10, and scenes of overcrowding.

The Magenta Line runs from the Janakpuri West station to Botanical Gardens in Noida. Under normal conditions, the journey – a distance of approximately 40 kilometres – takes 56 minutes to complete.

“The snag occurred sometime around 7 am between Palam and Terminal 1 stations, leading to a delay in services between Janakpuri West and Terminal 1 IGI Airport stations,” a senior DMRC official said.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said, “Impossible. We have never done this before. Tomorrow we may see to it.”

Supreme Court said it may take up the plea tomorrow.
NEW DELHI: 

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to urgently list a plea of two Independent Karnataka MLAs seeking holding of floor test forthwith, but said it may consider listing of the petition Tuesday.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said, “Impossible. We have never done this before. Tomorrow we may see to it.”

The bench’s remarks came when senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi, appearing for the two legislators — R Shankar and H Nagesh, said he has filed a new petition in the Karnataka matter and seeks its urgent listing.

Mukul Rohatgi said the floor test is being delayed on one pretext or the other.

He said when the Congress-JD(S) coalition can take orders for holding of floor test earlier, then same order can be issued now.

To this the bench said, “We will see tomorrow.”

The two MLAs, who withdrew support to the Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka, moved the top court seeking a direction for conducting a floor test forthwith in the state Assembly.

They said that the state has plunged into a political crisis after they withdrew their support to the government and 16 lawmakers of the ruling coalition tendered their resignations.

Chandrayaan 2 launch: The mission was aborted last week after a technical snag was discovered in the unmanned the launch vehicle system.

Chandrayaan 2 launch: The mission will take nearly two months to complete.SRIHARIKOTA, ANDHRA PRADESH: 

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will make a second attempt to launch the ambitious moon mission Chandrayaan-2, a week after it was aborted just before lift-off. Chandrayaan-2 will be launched this afternoon at 2.43 pm from Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota. The 20-hour countdown for the launch began Sunday evening at 6.43 pm.

The mission was stopped 56 minutes and 24 seconds before its launch last week, after a technical snag was discovered in the unmanned launch vehicle system. The glitch was with the critical cryogenic stage, the last such stage space vehicles enter just before they are about to launch.

Chandrayaan-2’s success will make India the fourth country after the US, Russia and China to pull off a soft landing on the moon. ISRO’s budget is less than 20 times that of USA’s NASA. The success of the mission would be a giant boost for India’s space plans.

Navjot Singh Sidhu had refused to join the new Punjab ministry allocated to him after a state cabinet reshuffle under Captain Amarinder Singh on June 6 stripped him of the local bodies ministry

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh accepted Navjot Singh Sidhu’s resignation today
CHANDIGARH: 

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has accepted Navjot Singh Sidhu’s resignation as state minister and forwarded the letter to the Governor, sources said.

Mr Sidhu had refused to join the new ministry allocated to him after a state cabinet reshuffle on June 6 stripped him of the local bodies ministry.

Mr Sidhu is in New Delhi, and is expected to meet Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra after she returns from Uttar Pradesh’s Mirzapur, where she has been taken into custody after she tried to meet the families of those who were killed in a shootout in Sonbhadra between tribals and a village chief.

Mr Sidhu had sent his resignation as Punjab minister to the Chief Minister’s home on Monday.

News that he had resigned from the Punjab cabinet, not now but a month ago, was revealed when the cricketer-turned-politician shared a letter he had submitted to Rahul Gandhi on June 10. The 55-year-old leader had met Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi in Delhi after he lost key portfolios in a cabinet shuffle following his public spat with Amarinder Singh.

The Chief Minister reshuffled the state cabinet in the first meeting after national elections on June 6. He took away the Local Government portfolio from Mr Sidhu and assigned him Power and New and Renewable Energy Sources. Mr Sidhu’s other portfolio of Tourism and Cultural Affairs was also taken away.

On the Congress’s national election tally in Punjab – eight out of 13 – Amarinder Singh said the party failed to do well in urban areas because Mr Sidhu had handled his portfolio poorly. “We have 17 ministers. I changed the portfolio of 13 ministers including Sidhu. I was told he has sent his resignation,” said the Chief Minister.

The feud escalated when Mr Sidhu went on Facebook live soon after the cabinet meet and said: “I cannot be taken for granted…I have been singled out in spite of collective responsibility.”

Three people were lynched to death in Bihar Chhapra on suspicion of cattle theft. The incident was reported from Baniapur area of the district. Any arrests into the incident have yet not been made.

In another case of mob lynching, three people were beaten to death by a mob in Bihar’s Chhapra. The incident was reported from Baniapur area of the district. 

The three were beaten to death on suspicion of cattle theft. 

Out of the three deceased, two belonged to the Dalit community. 

An enquiry into the case is underway, however, no arrests have been made in the case so far. 

Refusing urgent hearing, the bench observed that 50 per cent statements made at bar by lawyers seeking urgent listing of cases are found to be incorrect.

NEW DELHI: 

The Supreme Court today declined an urgent hearing on a plea seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against some states for their alleged failure in curbing incidents of lynching.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose said there was no urgency to hear the contempt plea.

The bench did not allow the submission of a lawyer that the top court judgements, laying down guidelines to deal with lynching and cattle vigilantism incidents in the country, have not been followed by various state governments and such incidents are allegedly rising.

Refusing urgent hearing, the bench observed that 50 per cent statements made at bar by lawyers seeking urgent listing of cases are found to be incorrect.

On July 17 last year, a bench headed by then Chief Justice Dipak Misra had said that “horrendous acts of mobocracy” cannot be allowed to overrun the law of the land and issued a slew of guidelines to deal with lynching and cow vigilantism.

It had then also asked the Centre to consider enacting a new law to sternly deal with such incidents.

The Chandrayaan-2 moon mission, which can make India the fourth country after the US, Russia and China to pull off a soft-landing on the moon, was stopped 56 minutes and 24 seconds before its July 15 launch.

NEW DELHI: 

India’s Rs. 1,000-crore Chandrayaan 2 moon mission will lift off next Monday at 2:43 pm from Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota, space agency ISRO announced today, days after the first launch attempt was called off.

The mission, which can make India the fourth country after the US, Russia and China to successfully pull off a soft-landing on the moon, was stopped 56 minutes and 24 secondsbefore its launch this Monday after a technical snag was discovered in the unmanned the launch vehicle system.

In its announcement of the mission being aborted, the space agency said that the step to delay the launch was taken “as a measure of abundant precaution“.

A technical snag was observed in launch vehicle system at 1 hour before the launch. As a measure of abundant precaution, #Chandrayaan2 launch has been called off for today. Revised launch date will be announced later.38K3:09 AM – Jul 15, 2019Twitter Ads info and privacy9,398 people are talking about this

A senior Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) official told NDTV that if the problem would not have been rectified earlier, Chandrayaan 2 would have been a “total failure”.

“The problem was serious, but simple to resolve. Luckily, we caught the problem. Alertness, prayers and the good wishes of one billion Indians helped avert the mission’s total failure,” the official said.

The technical issue in question was with the critical cryogenic stage, the last such stage space vehicles enter just before they are about to launch.

Highly flammable liquid hydrogen and oxygen used in the cryogenic stage were removed from the rocket and the problem was then addressed with the “tightening” of an errant component, the ISRO official told NDTV.

Chandrayaan-2: On lift-off, ‘Baahubali’ will launch into space an orbiter, a lander ‘Vikram’ (named after ISRO founder and eminent Indian scientist Vikram Sarabhai) and a moon rover ‘Pragyaan’

The 640-tonne rocket, officially known as the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (GSLV Mk 3) is 44 metres long or as tall as a 15-storey building.

On lift-off, the GSLV rocket will launch into space an orbiter, a lander ‘Vikram‘ (named after ISRO founder and eminent Indian scientist Vikram Sarabhai) and a moon rover ‘Pragyaan‘.

A soft landing on the moon, or as ISRO chairman K Sivan terms it, the “fifteen minutes of terror”, will then be attempted, after which the rover will undertake research, including a thorough mapping of the moon’s resources, looking for the presence of water on the moon and clicking high resolution images as well.

K Sivan has called Chandrayaan-2 the “most complex mission ever undertaken by ISRO

Considering ISRO’s budget is less than 20 times that of USA’s NASA, a success story for the Rs. 1,000-crore moon mission, which cost lesser to make than Hollywood blockbuster ‘Avengers: Endgame‘, would be a giant boost for India’s plan to acquire a significant presence in space.