1. Kovind Set to Take Buggy Ride to Prez Office Today
Ram Nath Kovind will take oath as the 14th President of India at the Central Hall of Parliament at 12.15pm on Tuesday.
Chief Justice of India Justice JS Khehar, will administer the oath of office, after which Kovind will exchange the chair with outgoing President Pranab Mukherjee. Kovind, 71, is a former BJP member and RSS swayamsevak.
As is the norm, Justice Khehar will be deemed the President of the country for the few seconds while the exchange takes place.
Interestingly, the famed buggy, which was brought out of retirement for the first time after 1984 by Mukherjee for the Beating Retreat ceremony in 2014, will have another outing on Tuesday. Official sources said Kovind will take a buggy ride from Rashtrapati Bhavan to Parliament along with Mukherjee.
Source: The Times of India
2. Nithari Killings: Koli, Pandher Get Death Sentence for Murder
A CBI court awarded the death sentence to Moninder Singh Pandher and his aide, Surinder Koli, on Monday in one of the 16 cases of the macabre Nithari serial killings in 2005 and 2006.
The duo was arrested on 29 December 2006, after the discovery of bones and skulls from the backyard of Pandher’s Sector 31 home in Noida’s Nithari. Police found the mortal remains during investigation when children and young women disappeared mysteriously in the area.
The Nithari horror, in which victims were raped, killed and the corpses cannibalised, sent shockwaves and stirred the collective conscience of the country.
Source: Hindustan Times
3. Terror Funding: 7 Held by NIA in J&K, Separatists Call for Bandh
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday arrested seven Kashmiri separatists, including the son-in-law of Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani and a close aide of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, in connection with a case of alleged terror funding from Pakistan.
Sources said the NIA decided to arrest the seven since they were not cooperating with the investigation and the agency had found evidence against them in connection with the case.
We have ascertained financial trails which are leading to some of these accused. It has also been ascertained that some of the funding has been coming from Pakistan.NIA Officer
Source: The Indian Express
4. Iraq Not Sure of Fate of 39 Indians
Iraq on Monday said it could not confirm if the 39 Indian nationals who were kidnapped by the Islamic State in 2014 were alive.
Speaking to the media after holding bilateral discussions with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, visiting Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said there was no “substantial evidence” with Baghdad to prove that the men were alive or dead.
The case is not just the concern of the Indian government and the families of the men in India; this issue is also a concern of the Iraqi government. We have no substantial evidence that they were killed or they were still alive, so we can’t say anything to you in that regard. We are making serious efforts to find out more in this issue.Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Iraqi Foreign Minister
Source: The Hindu
5. SC Asks Experts to Examine If 10-Year-Old Can Abort
The Supreme Court has asked Chandigarh’s Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research to examine a 10-year-old rape victim to ascertain if her 30-week-old pregnancy can be terminated.
A bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar also asked member secretary of the state legal services authority to assist the panel in the examination to be held on Wednesday.
“The panel will affirm one way or the other whether health of the girl concerned and the child would be adversely affected if the pregnancy is allowed to be full term,” the bench said, fixing Friday for the next hearing.
Source: Hindustan Times
6. Pull out or We Step up Deployment, China Tells India
Ratcheting up the rhetoric as it urged India to “abandon impractical illusions”, the Chinese Ministry of Defence Monday warned that it would step up troop deployment and training at the China-India border if Indian troops were not withdrawn immediately from the trijunction point in Bhutan where they have been facing off with troops of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for month a month now.
While there was no official response to Beijing’s latest statements, New Delhi maintained that the matter can be resolved peacefully if both sides withdraw their troops and have a bilateral conversation.
The External Affairs Minister’s statement in Parliament clearly states our position. We are looking for a peaceful resolution, there cannot be any unilateral withdrawal.Government source
Source: The Indian Express
7. Censor Board Chief Pahlaj Nihalani May Lose Job
Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chairman Pahlaj Nihalani, who has been at the centre of several controversies, could be on his way out, according to government sources.
A meeting of CBFC members has been called by Nihalani in Thiruvananthapuram on 28 July. Ministry of information and broadcasting sources said it has been indicated to Nihalani that he might be replaced.
Source: Times of India
8. 24 Protected Monuments Have Disappeared: Govt
Encroachments and rapid urbanisation have led to the 'disappearance' of 24 protected monuments in India over the years, Union minister of culture Mahesh Sharma said in Parliament on Monday.
The sites and structures, the minister added, remain untraceable.
Sharma was responding to Lok Sabha questions on whether a large number of historical and protected structures in the country had been encroached upon by individuals or groups, and if the Centre had conducted a survey to ascertain the numbers of monuments that had gone missing.
Source: The Times of India
9. Only Office-Bearers Can Attend SGM: SC to BCCI
In a blow to former BCCI president N. Srinivasan, the Supreme Court on Monday directed that only office-bearers of State cricket associations and member bodies are allowed to attend the Special General Body (SGM) meeting of the Board scheduled on 26 July.
You send your office-bearers. Don’t send Mr N Srinivasan. We do not want the meeting to be stalled. Implement as much of the Lodha Committee reforms as you can. All members shall only send their office-bearers.Justice Dipak Misra
The court passed the order on the basis of a report filed by Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) led by former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai that ousted BCCI president N Srinivasan and Saurashtra Cricket Association representative Niranjan Shah.
Source: The Hindu
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