1. Rupee Hits All-Time Low at 70 Per Dollar
The Indian rupee fell past the 70 per dollar mark for the first time, weighed down by an emerging market currency rout.
The rupee fell 0.2 percent to 70.08 against the dollar at 10:35 am, following a 1.6 percent drop in previous session, its worst performance since September 2013. The currency is down almost 9 percent this year, making it Asia’s worst performer.
The local currency has hit hard from a recently Turkey-led sell off in emerging assets and the trade spat between US-China. A weaker rupee could complicate the Reserve Bank of India’s task of keeping inflation in check.
Read the full story here.
2. ABP News-CVoter Survey Predicts BJP Loss in MP, Raj & Chhattisgarh
A recent ABP-CVoter opinion poll shared ahead of the Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh – scheduled for later this year – shows the Congress getting a majority in all the three states, with the incumbent BJP falling much behind.
For the 200-seat Rajasthan Assembly, the Congress has been projected to get a whopping 130 seats, while the BJP is getting 57 seats. The projection for the Others is 13. This marks a complete reversal of the number of seats bagged in the 2013 Assembly elections, wherein BJP bagged 163 seats, far ahead of the 21 seats the Congress got.
Read the full story here.
3. Attack on JNU’s Umar Khalid Was Not Staged, Confirms Delhi Police
A senior Delhi Police officer has confirmed to The Quint that JNU student leader Umar Khalid was attacked outside the Constitution Club on Monday, 13 August, by a man who was carrying a gun.
On the basis of Khalid’s statement, the police have registered an FIR under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 27 of Arms Act.
The CCTV footage clearly shows Umar Khalid was attacked by a miscreant, there was a bit of a scuffle between them and then he ran away from the spot. We cannot confirm whether the attacker shot at Khalid. As of now, we don’t know who the attacker was. We have no reason to believe that the attack was staged.A senior Delhi Police officer
Read the full story here.
4. Sridevi & Her Heroes: Why the Actor Stopped Working With Big B
The following is an excerpt from Sridevi’s biography titled Sridevi: Queen of Hearts by Lalita Iyer.
Hero No. 1
While Sridevi was riding high in the ‘80s, Anil Kapoor jumped on the bandwagon; so did Mithun Chakraborty, Sunny Deol, Rishi Kapoor, Vinod Khanna and Shatrughan Sinha. Sridevi made a beautiful foil for all of them. At the time, Rajesh Khanna was desperate for a second innings, so he too also joined the party. He graduated from doing two-heroine films to two-hero films and Sridevi managed to keep Kaka relevant for a few more years with Maqsad, Masterji, Nazrana and Naya Kadam.
She resuscitated Rishi Kapoor’s career and they went on to do five films together: Chandni, Banjaran, Nagina, Gurudev and Kaun Sachcha Kaun Jhootha. Among these, Chandni and Nagina were the most successful of the lot, with the songs smashing all records.
Read the full excerpt here.
5. This Independence Day, Raise Your Voice in Our Hashtag Ki Duniya!
Yeh duniya hai,
Yeh hashtag ki duniya hai.
Iss hashtag ki duniya mein,
Tu zor-shor se ‘Bol’
Tu tweet kar,
Retweet kar aur khullam khulla Bol.
Lights, camera, action,
Ho gaya… now roll!
Selfie-shelfie, Facebook, Insta,
ROFL, LMAO, LOL.
Iss bheed bhaad main,
ched chaad main, tu azaadi se ‘Bol’
Shor sharaba, khoon kharaba, aisa waisa jhol,
Phone utha, button daba aur khol de sabki pol.
Zara sar utha ke !
Haath baja ke! zor zor se ‘Bol’
Kuch teekhe-meekhe, tedhe-medhe, seedhe-saadhe ‘Bol’
Odia, Tamil ya Malayalam...koi bhi bhasha ‘Bol’
tu shaad hai, azaad hai, so c'mon now just ‘Bol’ !
Watch the video here.
Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)