July 29, 2024 2:53 PM

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Midday News

THE HEADLINES:

  • External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar says, Quad is working to ensure Indo-Pacific remains free, open, secure and prosperous; Attends Quad Foreign Ministers meeting in Tokyo today.
  • UPSC aspirants’ death case raised in both houses of Parliament; Delhi Police arrests five more persons.
  • CBI files chargesheet against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi liquor policy case.
  • Supreme Court refuses to stay Patna High Court order of scrapping 65 percent caste-based reservation in Bihar.
  • International Tiger Day is being celebrated today to raise awareness about tiger conservation.
  • And In Paris Olympics, Manu Bhaker, Sarabjot Singh duo enters mix team bronze medal final in shooting; Ramita Jindal finishes 7th in 10 meter Women’s Air Rifle final.

 

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External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar today said that it is only the collaboration of Quad that can ensure that the Indo-Pacific remains free, open, stable, secure and prosperous. Making an opening remarks in the QUAD summit in Tokyo the commitment to doing global good that the member nations have undertaken has a resonance far beyond this region.  He said, it is, therefore, essential that the political understanding strengthens, economic partnerships grow, technology collaborations expand and the people-to-people comfort intensifies. Dr Jaishankar said, the meeting should send a clear message that the Quad is here to stay, here to do and here to grow.

 

Dr Jaishankar said, these are not easy times, a major challenge is to ensure global economic growth while also de-risking it. He said, supply chains are a particular focus for resilience, just as we push for trusted and transparent digital partnerships.

 

He said, it is only the collective endeavours that can prove the international system against man-made or natural disruptions. The Quad Foreign Ministers’ meeting was held in Tokyo today. External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar along with his counterparts from Japan, United States of America and Australia attended the meeting.

 

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The issue related to the death of UPSC aspirants due to drowning in a coaching centre in Delhi was today raised in the  Lok Sabha with BJP and Congress demanding a probe into the matter. During the Zero hour, BJP member Bansuri Swaraj alleged that it is a result of criminal negligence of Delhi Government. She said, Aam Aadmi Party has been in power in Delhi for the last ten years and it is also ruling Municipal Corporation of Delhi for the last two years but no up-gradation and desilting of drains have been done. Ms Swaraj demanded that the Union Home Ministry should set up a probe committee to look into the matter.

 

Shashi Tharoor of Congress said, no compensation would be enough in such an incident. He said the violations of basic norms including building codes, fire safety and flood safety are rampant in the city and  the  corporation also has responsibility. Mr Tharoor demanded a comprehensive investigation into the matter.

 

Akhilesh Yadav of Samajwadi Party said officers are responsible for issuing no objection certificates to run the coaching centers. He wanted to know what action is being taken against them so far.

 

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Rajya Sabha has taken up short duration discussion on the recent tragic incident of death of students in a coaching institute in Delhi due to alleged negligence of authorities. Initiating the discussion, Dr. Sudhanshu Trivedi of BJP termed the incident as  criminal negligence demanding detailed investigation into this matter and fixing the responsibilities. He alleged that despite raising concerns about the building bylaws, no step was taken to clean the drainage system. Questioning the Delhi government, he said, Delhi Jal Board’s deficit has reached to 74 thousand crore rupees and several allegations of corruption have been levelled against the Board.

 

Derek O’Brien of TMC also expressed concern over the incident. He however questioned why the house was not allowed to discuss the issue related to Railway accident, Manipur violence, NEET examination, floods in Assam as well as unemployment and farmer’s issue. He also raised the issues of suicide of students across the country.

 

Tiruchi Siva of DMK also spoke on the issue. The discussion is underway.

 

Earlier, allowing short duration discussion, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said the coaching has become virtually commerce and every time he reads a newspaper, the front one or two pages are of coaching centres advertisements.

 

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Delhi Police has arrested five more persons in the IAS coaching centre flooding incident including the owners of basement and the person who appeared to have damaged the gate of the building. It said, so far, seven persons have been arrested. Delhi Police said, it is committed to ensuring strict action against all those involved in the case.

 

DCP Central M Harshavardhan says, the investigation is going on from all angles. He said, there was no permission to carry out commercial activity in the basement.

 

Meanwhile, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has sealed 13 coaching centres in the Old Rajinder Nagar area of Delhi that were found violating rules. The move comes a day after sudden flooding in the basement of an IAS coaching centre in Delhi that killed three students.

 

Municipal Corporation of Delhi also terminated a junior engineer and also suspended an assistant engineer of Karol Bagh Zone with immediate effect.

 

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Labour and Employment Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya today said that there is no dearth of jobs in the country and due to policy interventions of the present government the unemployment rate has reduced to 3.2 percent in the country. Replying to supplementaries in the Lok Sabha during the Question Hour, the Minister expressed hope that the unemployment rate will come down below 3 percent in the coming years. The Minister said, Labour Force Participation Rate and Worker Population Ratio have risen in the past couple of years. He said, Labour Force Participation Rate has reached to 44 percent and Worker Population Ratio to 40 percent.

 

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Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Pralhad Joshi today flagged off  National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation (NCCF) vans at Krishi Bhavan in New Delhi which will be selling tomatoes at 60 rupees per kg. Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution B L Verma was also present on the occasion. To provide relief from soaring tomato prices, NCCF has started selling the commodity at a subsidised rate in the Delhi-NCR region.

 

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Minister of State for Education Dr Sukanta Majumdar has said, National Education Policy-NEP 2020, aims to bring out the capabilities of each student and became a guiding light for the educational transformation in the country. He said this while addressing the inaugural session of the Akhil Bhartiya Shiksha Samagam-ABSS 2024 in the New Delhi today. Minister of State for Education Jayant Chaudhary said, the future of the nation is in the hand of our teachers and NEP-2020 has laid out an extensive road map for students and as well as teachers.

 

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the inaugural session of ‘Journey Towards Viksit Bharat: A Post Union Budget 2024-25 Conference’ in New Delhi tomorrow afternoon.

 

The Conference is being organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and is aimed at presenting the outline for Government’s larger vision for growth and industry’s role in this endeavour.

 

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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today filed a chargesheet against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the Rouse Avenue court in the alleged corruption case related to the now scrapped excise policy. Mr. Kejriwal, who is also the national convener of his Aam Aadmi Party, was arrested by CBI on 26th June from Tihar jail, where he was in judicial custody in a related money-laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate.

 

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The Supreme Court has refused to stay the Patna High Court order, scrapping the 65 percent caste-based reservation in jobs and admissions in Bihar. It also issued notice on the appeals filed by the Bihar government and agreed to hear them in September.

 

Last month, the Patna High Court had annulled the Bihar government’s notification raising reservations for backward classes, scheduled castes, and scheduled tribes from 50 percent to 65 percent in government jobs and higher educational institutions in the state.

 

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To commemorate its 75th anniversary, the Supreme Court will organise a Special Lok Adalat week from today. Speaking exclusively to Akashvani News, Justice K.V. Viswanathan said that this initiative aims to address the backlog of cases pending before the Supreme Court.

 

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In Paris Olympics, the pair of Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh have qualified for the bronze medal final match of the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event. They will be facing Oh Ye Jin and Lee Wonho of South Korea tomorrow at 13:00 IST. Oh Ye Jin had won the gold medal of the individual competition in which Bhaker bagged bronze. Indian pair of Arjun Cheema and Rhythm Sangwan were also competing in the same event. They finished 10th. More details from our Correspondent:

 

As good weather returned to Paris this morning, it was time to bask in the sunshine for India’s power duo in badminton – Ranki Reddy and Chirag Shetty who were handed a walkover after their German opponents Lamsfuss and Seidel withdrew. However, the joy in the Indian badminton camp was short lived when Ashwini Ponnapa and Tanisha Crasto lost to Japan’s N Matsuyama and C Shida 11-21, 12-21 in the group play stage of the women’s doubles. Coming up soon is India’s Lakshya Sen who will take on Julien Carraggi from Belgium in the men’s singles group play. There is a lot of shooting action Ramita Jindal has bowed out in the women’s 10m air rifle competition. In hockey India face Argentina in the second group match. The men in blue earlier defeated New Zealand 3-2 in a hard fought match. In Archery, Indian men will feature in the men’s team quarter finals. Late in the India will be cheering for Manika Batra will be playing her 2nd round women’s singles match. Savio de Noronha in the French capital of Paris.  

 

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The International Tiger Day is being celebrated today. The main aim behind this day is to promote a global system for protecting the natural habitats of tigers and to raise awareness and support about the tiger conservation.

 

Madhya Pradesh enjoys the status of having the most number of tigers in the country, today organised  a programme in Bhopal. More from our Correspondent:

 

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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN::

  • External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar says, Quad is working to ensure Indo-Pacific remains free, open, secure and prosperous; Attends Quad Foreign Ministers meeting in Tokyo today.
  • UPSC aspirants’ death case raised in both houses of Parliament; Delhi Police arrests five more persons.
  • CBI files chargesheet against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi liquor policy case.
  • Supreme Court refuses to stay Patna High Court order of scrapping 65 percent caste-based reservation in Bihar.
  • International Tiger Day is being celebrated today to raise awareness about tiger conservation.
  • And In Paris Olympics, Manu Bhaker, Sarabjot Singh duo enters mix team bronze medal final in shooting; Ramita Jindal finishes 7th in 10 meter Women’s Air Rifle final.

 

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