1. Modi’s South Africa Trip May Bring Back NSG Talks
As the Prime Minister arrived in Pretoria on Thursday, officials said that his visit to South Africa will also be a chance to kick-start is next round of talks for the NSG membership.
Former High Commissioner to Pretoria, Rajiv Bhatia told The Hindu:
You must understand the backdrop to South Africa’s hesitation regarding NSG. When South Africa ended apartheid, it also destroyed its nuclear arsenal which it revealed only later [in 1993]. Therefore it retains a strong interest in non-proliferation.
A second area of concern for India is China’s influence over south Africa, which has grown over the past few decades, with Beijing standing as Africa’s biggest trading partner with more than $60 billion in trade.
Read the full story in The Hindu.
2. Impenetrable Confidentiality Between Modi and Amit Shah
The BJP headquarters have become as impenetrable as South Black and 7 Race Course – which are Modi’s office and residence, The Telegraph reported.
Unlike during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s rule, when the knowledge of the affairs of the party were porous, everything about the recent cabinet reshuffle was tight-lipped.
None except for Modi and Shah were aware of what exactly the changes would be. A change as big as Smriti Irani’s portfolio was the least expected.
The morning after her so-called “demotion”, Smriti did not show up to hand over charge to Javadekar. On Thursday Javadekar said:
She was busy in a family programme, so she could not come.
Read the full story on The Telegraph.
3. ‘Anytime’ a Signal for Terrorist Attacks in Bangladesh
Bangladesh is more than just taken back after the second terrorist attack in a week during the festival of Eid at Kishoreganj, which killed four.
Eid has so far been terror free in Bangladesh. Only a celebration of the Bengali New Year in 2001 had witnessed a series of bomb attacks by Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami.
Brigadier M Sakhawat Hossain, a Dhaka-based retired officer and security analyst, told The Telegraph:
The message was loud and clear – that they can attack any day and at any time.
Investigating agencies reportedly found similarities in the explosive device used at Holey Artisan Bakery and at the Kishoreganj’s Sholakia ground.
Read the full story on The Telegraph.
4. No Factional Fight in Congress, Says Rahul Gandhi
Following demands of the removal Kerala PCC president VM Sudheeran after the party’s defeat in the assembly polls, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has tried to keep factional politics at bay, saying that ‘he is against the attempts to pin the blame on a single person for the assembly poll defeat.’
According to The Economic Times, Gandhi’s ‘stern warning’ against factional politics is against a state Congress unit which has a history of thriving through factionalism.
The protection that Gandhi has offered to Sudheeran is a reminder of the position he took earlier in protecting former Punjab PCC Chief, BS Bajwa, until Captain Amarinder Singh forced his removal by threatening to quit the Congress, and after Bajwa, former CM of Assam, Tarun Gogoi, which resulted in Himanta Biswa Sarma’s exit from the party and joining BJP.
Read the full story on The Economic Times.
5. Bihar Topper Scam: Actual Topper Dethroned, Dreams Dashed
Vikas Kumar was the Intermediate science topper from 2015, who had his glory for a little while – until it was taken away when Vishal Kumar, a student of Vishun Roy College in Vaishali, was declared the topper as a part of a scam.
According to The Telegraph, Vikas had begged and pleaded to the arrested chairman of the Bihar School Examination board (BSEB) , Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh for a re-test to get his position back, but that fell on deaf ears.
Board science toppers can get direct admission at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani irrespective of their result in the admission test. But Vikas’ entry to BITS Pilani was snatched away due to the Bihar topper scam.
Lalkeshwar, however, had ignored an education department committee report that had recommended derecognition of the Vishun Roy College, whose jailed owner Bachcha Rai is said to be the kingpin of the scam.
Read the full report on The Telegraph.
6. Rajnath Singh Demands Armed Security Guards on Flights
Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, sought the aviation ministry’s permission to allow armed security guards to accompany him on domestic commercial flights, The Hindustan Times reported.
This request was made in April, keeping in the mind the security threats to the home minister, who is the most heavily guarded politician in the country.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), which reports to the aviation ministry, had initially said that security is provided only to a select group of VVIPs including the PM and President.
They later said that the facility can be extended in rare cases where security is a major concern.
Read the full report on The Hindustan Times.
7. Environmental Supplement Plan a Direct “Copy-Paste” From Document Adopted by the US
More than three quarters of the Environment Ministry’s Environment supplement Plan (ESP) is a direct lift from the Supplemental Environmental Projects Policy (SEP) which was adopted by the US in March 2015.
The draft notification proposes to allow those who go ahead with project work without prior environmental clearance under Environment Impact Assessment Notification (EIA), 2006 to “remediate the damage caused” and compensate by implementing the ESP. Under existing laws, these are criminal offences punishable with imprisonment.Report in The Indian Express
In an interview with The Indian Express, Joint Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh, who had issued the draft notification denied having copied the content, and maintained the idea was only “borrowed”.
Read the full report in The Indian Express.
8. Cash-Strapped Municipal Corporations on a Renaming Spree
Unable to initiate any development work, the cash-strapped municipal corporation in Delhi is on an renaming spree.
According to The Hindustan Times, the ‘surrogate’ campaign is done in the hope that civic bodies can woo the public before the civic polls next year.
In 2015, the municipal corporation cleared around 70 projects, in 2016, only they cleared only 400 projects for naming and renaming. The naming committee which usually meets twice a year, met over four times in the last sx months.
Read the full story on The Hindustan Times.
9. CPCB Directs Office to Consider Flexible Office Timings For Traffic Control
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has directed Delhi and other NCR states to consider introduction of flexible office timings to reduce peak-hour traffic, The Times of India reported.
With flexible office hours the CPCB expects to control traffic in the routes between Delhi-NCR during the peaks hours.
But the more immediate measures for the state governments is“to initiate action on synchronising traffic lights, installation of vapour recovery system in fuel stations, introduction of mechanised vacuum sweeping of roads and closure of unauthorised brick kilns.”
Read the full story on The Times of India.
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