1. GDP Growth Hits Three-Year Low of 5.7%, India Inc Upset; Govt Hopes GST Will Improve Situation
The GDP growth of India slumped to a three-year low of 5.7 percent during April-June as manufacturing slowed ahead of the GST launch amid demonetisation effect. The GDP growth was lesser than China which registered a record 6.9 percent growth in January-March as well as April-June quarters.
The expansion in gross domestic product (GDP) was 6.1 percent in the preceding quarter and 7.9 percent in the same period last fiscal. The previous low of 4.6 percent was recorded in January-March 2014.
Demonetisation of high-value currency notes in November last year impacted economic activities in the January-March quarter as GDP growth slipped to 6.1 per cent and further to 5.7 per cent in the three months to June.
Gross value added (GVA) in the manufacturing sector also fell sharply to 1.2 percent, from 10.7 per cent year on year, as the businesses focussed more on clearing inventories rather than production ahead of the July 1 launch of GST.
A separate set of official data showed that growth of eight core sectors slowed to 2.4 percent in July due to contraction in output of crude oil, refinery products, fertiliser and cement.
Source: Indian Express
2. Cabinet Reshuffle Set in Motion as Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Two Other Union Ministers Resign, More Likely to Quit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi set in motion the reshuffle of his council of ministers with the resignation of at least half-a-dozen ministers, according to sources in the ruling BJP and the government.
HT could independently confirm the resignation of skill development minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, minister of state for human resource development Mahendra Nath Pandey and minister of state for water resources Sanjiv Baliyan.
Sources in the party said that at least three other ministers were likely to quit, including two ministers of Cabinet rank — small and medium enterprises minister Kalraj Mishra and water resources minister Uma Bharti.
While Bharti met BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday, Mishra called on him on Thursday. Party sources said these were routine meetings.
Rudy was among three ministers — the other two were steel minister Choudhury Birendra Singh and minister of state for human resource development Upendra Kushwaha — who met the BJP president last week.
Source: Hindustan Times
3. Mumbai Building Collapse: Bhendi Bazaar Accident Leaves 24 Dead, CM Devendra Fadnavis Assures Strict Action
A five-storey building collapsed in Mumbai’s Bhendi Bazaar area leaving 24 dead and many injured on Thursday. At least 37 people have been rescued with several others reported to be trapped under the rubble of the dilapidated Husaini Building.
The accident that has been categorised as a level III emergency by the fire brigade, witnessed teams of the NDRF and the Fire Brigade at the spot engaged in rescue operations.
At least 90 NDRF personnel, dog squad, 10 fire tenders, two rescue vans and several ambulances were engaged at the site of the collapse. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences to families of those who lost their lives in Mumbai’s building collapse and said the news is saddening.
Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis announced an ex-Gratia of Rs five lakh for the kin of those who died and assured strict action in case of any negligence.
The Maharashtra government will conduct an inquiry into the Bhendi Bazaar building collapse.
Source: Indian Express
4. 39 Successes Later, PSLV Launch Fails
In a double whammy to the Indian space programme, the PSLV-C39 mission carrying the replacement navigation satellite IRNSS-1H failed on Thursday evening.
This was the PSLV’s first failure — in what was seen as a routine mission — after 39 continuously successful launches and only the second such instance since 1993. “The mission was unsuccessful,” said AS Kiran Kumar, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, a few minutes after the 7 pm launch.
He said the spacecraft was stuck in the heat shield in the last and fourth stage; it did not release into space as planned.
A PSLV flight lasts 19 minutes. Normally the heat shield separates three minutes into launch but ISRO officials apparently waited through the entire flight period before conceding the failure.
“We could see the satellite circling along the orbit with the heat shield,” Mr Kiran Kumar said at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, from where ISRO launches Indian and foreign commercial satellites.
Source: The Hindu
5. Build Cow Sanctuaries on Forest Land to Prevent Violence in Cow's Name: MoS Home
To prevent “violence due to cattle-smuggling”, Union Minister of State (Home) Hansraj G Ahir has proposed that 1,000 hectares of forest land be allotted to set up cow sanctuaries in every district of the 16 states where cow slaughter is banned. According to official sources, Ahir is expected to meet Union Environment and Forests Minister Harsh Vardhan early in September to “take the proposal forward”.
When contacted by The Indian Express, Ahir confirmed the move and said:
By setting up cow sanctuaries at district levels, the incidents of cow slaughter can be reduced. Violence due to cattle-smuggling in states where slaughter is banned has led to a law-and-order situation. The Home Ministry faces questions in Parliament on these incidents. I have taken up this matter in the past, too.
Asked about the cost involved, Ahir said, “The cost is zero and fodder can be accumulated from the forest using MGNREGA, which will also provide employment to locals. I have also suggested that gaushalas (cow shelters) across the country be shifted to these sanctuaries.”
Source: Indian Express
6. GJM Lifts Shutdown, Causes Confusion Within Party
A section of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha's central committee met in Kurseong on Thursday and decided to suspend the indefinite shutdown in Darjeeling and Kalimpong till September 12, when the Hills parties would be meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Siliguri for a second round of talks.
But the suspension of the shutdown, instead of giving any relief to residents, resulted in turmoil and confusion within the GJM as another group — apparently with party president Bimal Gurung’s blessings — removed Tamang from the chief coordinator’s post.
"He may be expelled from the GJM on Friday," GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said.
The Bengal CM welcomed the decision to lift the shutdown as a precursor to lasting peace. "It's very good news. Let peace return to the Hills. People want it, so do I," Mamata said at Nabanna on Thursday soon after the GJM decision, which followed 48 hours after her meeting with Hills parties' representatives (that delegation included Tamang). However, GJM president Bimal Gurung himself declared from an undisclosed location that the strike would continue.
Source: The Times of India
7. Smartphones Share Data of 40 per Cent Indians With World, CIA: Govt
Questioned on possible threats to privacy with the linking of Aadhaar to various services, Rajiv Mehrishi, who retired as Union Home Secretary Thursday, told a parliamentary panel last month that 40 percent of people who use smartphones and top applications, knowingly or unknowingly, share data with the entire world including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It is learnt that Mehrishi made this remark on July 21 when he appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, chaired by senior Congress leader P Chidambaram.
Mehrishi, sources said, called the sharing of mobile data by private companies a nuisance. He was said to have referred to an American design of a timeline 2030.
Mehrishi said fingerprints and biometrics were being captured and this had happened with 40 percent of the population who owned smartphones.
He replied in the affirmative when he was asked if it would be 100 per cent if every Indian started using a smartphone, sources said.
Mehrishi also flagged the dangers of data theft through use of applications, saying movement of people could be tracked through the day.
Source: Indian Express
8. Over 4,200 People Recommended Rape Convict Ram Rahim for Padma Award
The government received more than 4,000 recommendations for a 2017 Padma award to Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, five of them from the spiritual leader himself.
The Union home ministry was flooded with applications nominating the 50-year-old burly, bearded “godman” who has scripted and starred in own films and commands a near-devotional following that runs into millions.
This happened before he was sentenced early this week to 20 years in jail for raping two sadhvis, or woman devotees, in cases that date back to 2002.
The overwhelming number of applications appears to be an orchestrated effort to recommend his name for the 2017 Padma awards. There was not a single recommendation for him for the awards given in 2015 and 2016.
The nominations are open as anyone can propose a name for the national civilian awards given by the government — Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.
Source: Hindustan Times
9. Can Use Child Rape Law in Teen Marriages, Says Supreme Court
Marriage is not an exemption under the law to protect children from sexual offences even though marital rape is not recognised as a crime and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) protects any man having sexual intercourse with his minor wife above 15 years of age, the Supreme Court said on Thursday.
The SC’s observations came in a case where an NGO has challenged the exception for sex in marriages where the wife is between 15 and 18 years of age.
The provision that sex in a marriage where the wife is not less than 15 is not rape has been defended by successive governments on the plea that this reflects a social reality.
The NGO Independent Thought has argued that the husband should be prosecuted under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta, examining the validity of the provision that "sexual acts by a man with his own wife, not being under 15 years of age, is not rape", said cases of a minor wife could well be dealt with under the POCSO law and proceedings could be initiated against the husband.
Source: The Times of India
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