1. As Rest of Kerala Picks up Pieces, Kuttanad Waits for Flood to Recede
It has been a week since Kuttanad – known as Kerala’s granary and for its backwater tourism – has turned into a ghost town. The flood water from the eastern hills and towns of central Kerala have submerged the region twice this monsoon, flushing out 2 lakh people from their houses.
While flood-hit people elsewhere in Kerala have begun to pick up the pieces, the residents of Kuttanad remain refugees in the mainlands of Alappuzha and Changanassery in Kottayam district, where they have been lodged in camps since 15 August.
(Source: The Indian Express)
2. Centre Wants Supreme Court to Get Tough with FB, YouTube
Finding the efforts by internet giants to curb circulation of online videos of sexual violence against women and children inadequate, the government is likely to seek “stricter directions” to service providers, such as Facebook and YouTube, from the Supreme Court.
The directions sought will include considerably reducing the time taken by the intermediary to comply with content removal requests under certain Sections of the IT Act to less than 10 hours from about 36 hours at present, an official source said.
(Source: The Hindu)
3. Veteran Journalist Kuldip Nayar Dies at 95, PM Modi Pays Tribute
Eminent journalist and author Kuldip Nayar, who fiercely fought for press freedom and protecting civil liberties, passed away on Thursday, 23 August. He was 95.
Nayar died at around 12.30 am at the Escorts hospital, his elder son Sudhir Nayar said. He was suffering from pneumonia and was admitted to the hospital five days back, Sudhir Nayar said.
The journalist is survived by his wife and two sons. His last rites will be performed at Lodhi crematorium at 1 pm. Nayar, known as a crusader for civil rights and press freedom, worked in several newspapers including as the editor in the Statesman.
He had also served as the Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom in the 1990s and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1997.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
4. Arun Jaitley Back in Red-Hot Seat
Arun Jaitley on Thursday, 23 August returned to his familiar corner office at North Block's finance ministry, around three months after a kidney transplant.
Jaitley assumed office after President Ram Nath Kovind reassigned the portfolios of finance and corporate affairs to him through a notification.
Piyush Goyal, who had been put in charge of Jaitley's bailiwick, will revert to being cabinet minister for railways and coal.
(Source: The Telegraph)
5. Can Reservation Be Continued in Perpetuity, Asks Supreme Court
Weighing the legality and desirability of introducing the "creamy layer" elimination concept in reservation in promotion, the Supreme Court asked on Thursday, 23 August whether the backwardness of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes would persist forever, requiring the perpetuation of quotas.
This response from a five-judge bench led by CJI Dipak Misra came after a clutch of senior advocates – additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta, Nidhesh Gupta, Dinesh Dwivedi, Indira Jaising, Rupinder S Suri, A Mariarputham and and Sanjay Hegde – appearing for states and SC/ST employees, argued that the correctness of the SC's 2006 Nagraj judgment putting a spoke in quota in promotion needed to be tested by a seven-judge bench.
(Source: The Times of India)
6. Rahul Gandhi Questions PM Modi over Unnao Witness Death
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday, 23 August questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the sudden death of key witness in Unnao gangrape and murder case.
Quoting a DNA report, Gandhi took to Twitter and said that ‘the mysterious death and hurried burial without an autopsy, of the key witness in the #Unnao rape & murder case, involving BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar, smells of a conspiracy (sic).’
Taking a dig at the Prime Minister, Gandhi asked, ‘Is this your idea of “justice for our daughters”, Mr 56 ?’
(Source: DNA)
7. Early Poll Suspense Up as KCR Rushes to Delhi
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will rush to Delhi on Friday evening after holding the TRS party's state committee meeting to discuss calling early polls. Mr Rao will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and union ministers.
However, the CMO claimed that the CM’s visit was aimed at taking up pending bifurcation-related issues concerning the TS with PM and Union ministers and express resentment over the Centre not granting approvals to pending issues despite repeated representations.
But the CM's sudden trip generated political heat in the state with Mr Rao keeping up the suspense on dissolving the Assembly and going for early polls in December along with Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh etc. Political speculation is rife that Mr Rao may seek the PM's help to ensure early elections in December if the TS Assembly is dissolved next month.
(Source: Deccan Chronicle)
8. PM Modi Hands over 1 Lakh Houses in Gujarat: ‘Home for All My Dream’
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, 23 August handed over one lakh houses built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna through a video-conference linking beneficiaries spread across 24 districts of Gujarat.
From Jujwa village in Valsad, he handed over 1,15,551 houses constructed under the ambitious housing scheme in his home state.
“With the festival of Raksha Bandhan approaching there can be no better and bigger gift than the gift of houses in their own names for my mothers and sisters across the state…,” he told the beneficiaries who were huddled in different locations as part of the event described as ‘e-Grihapravesh’.
(Source: The Indian Express)
9. EPFO Data Not the Right Gauge of Employment Level
The recent downward revision in the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation data for September-June does not imply a decrease in formal sector employment, according to labour economists, who add that there are several problems with the EPFO data and caution against its use as a gauge of formal sector employment in the country.
The EPFO on Monday revised down the net enrolment numbers for the period from September 2017 to May 2018 by 5.54 lakh (12.4%) to 39.2 lakh from its earlier estimate of 44.74 lakh made last month.
(Source: The Hindu)
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