THE HEADLINES:-
- Electioin to Vice President of India to be held on 9th of September; Last date for filing nominations will be on 21 August.
- Showdown continues in Parliament over Bihar’s voter list row; Opposition demands discussion on the issue; Rajya Sabha adjourned for the day.
- Election Commission shares Draft Electoral Roll 2025 with all 38 District Election Officers cum District Magistrates of Bihar.
- National Payments Corporation of India implements new set of UPI rules starting from today.
- US President Donald Trump imposes tariffs on several nations including 25 per cent on India, effective from 7th August.
- In Cricket, India to resume their first innings at 204 for six against England on second day at Oval in London.
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The Election Commission of India today announced the schedule for the election to the office of the Vice President of India. According to the ECI, the election will be held on 9th september. More from our correspondent.
“The election is necessitated following resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar from the post of Vice-President last month. This will be the 17th Vice Presidential election. The Vice-President is elected by an Electoral College, which consists of the members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The notification for the election will be issued on 7th of this month and interested candidates can file their nominations by 21st of this month. The Scrutiny of the nominations will take place on the 22nd August while the last date of the withdrawal of candidature will be 25th of this month. The counting of the votes will be held on 9th September.SAKLEN AKHTAR AKASHVANI NEWS, DELHI.”
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The Rajya Sabha has been adjourned for the day following opposition uproar over various issues, including Special Intensive Revision of electoral roll in Bihar. When the House met after the first adjournment at 12 noon, the opposition members again started sloganeering demanding discussion on Special Intensive Revision of electoral roll in Bihar. After that, the Presiding Officer Ghanshyam Tiwari tried to run the Question Hour but the proceedings were disrupted following the opposition uproar. As the pandemonium continued, the Chair adjourned the House for the day.
Amid the noisy scene, Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw replied to a question related to implementation of Digital Personal Data Protection, DPDP fact -2023.
The Lok Sabha has also been adjourned till 2:00 PM amid sloganeering by the opposition members over various issues. When the Lok Sabha met at 11 AM, Speaker Om Birla tried to run the Question Hour, but the opposition members started sloganeering over various issues including roll back of Special Intensive Revision in Bihar. Mr Birla appealed to the opposition to allow Question Hour saying that it is an important business and the opposition must participate in it.
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BJP MP Biplab Kumar Deb has accused the opposition parties of not allowing the Parliament to function. Talking to Akashvani News, he said that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise is not a matter of the parliament but of the Election Commission of India.
JDU MP Sanjay Jha has justified the SIR exercise of the Election Commission in Bihar. Talking to Akashvani News, he said that the commission has given one month’s time from today to file any objection.
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Meanwhile, the Draft Electoral Roll 2025 was shared with all 38 District Election Officers cum District Magistrates of Bihar today. The claims for inclusion and removal of names of voters in this preliminary tentative Electoral Roll will be accepted till the 1st of September. The list will be shared later in the day with recognised political parties by the Election Commission of India.
“In Bihar the genuine aggrieved voters can file their claims and objections regarding inclusion and removal of name from the Draft Electoral Roll to their respective Electoral Registration Officers known as EROs.
The 243 EROs for all the assembly constituencies will verify the claims of voters, political parties, genuine citizens and complete the verification by 25th September. More than 90,000 Booth Level Officers have also been deployed for this process. For the convenience of voters and their grievances a large number of special Camps will also be organised from tomorrow to receive applications of claims and objections.
After the completion of the process of verification the Final Electoral Roll will be published on 30th September. On the basis of final voters list the Bihar Assembly Elections 2025 will be conducted later this year.”
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Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, today declared a significant hike in the honorarium for several categories of support staff in government schools, including cooks, night watchmen, and physical education and health instructors. This announcement is the latest in a string of measures rolled out by the Nitish Kumar government in the lead-up to the Assembly elections this year.
As per the revised honorarium, cooks employed under the Mid-Day Meal Scheme saw their monthly payment increase from 1,650 rupees to 3,300 rupees, while night watchmen deployed in secondary and higher secondary schools have seen a monthly honorarium increase from 5,000 rupees to 10,000 Rupees. Similarly, physical education and health instructors’ monthly honorarium increased from 8,000 to 16,000 rupees.
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President Droupadi Murmu today attended the 45th Convocation Ceremony of Indian Institute of Technology – Indian School of Mines (IIT-ISM Dhanbad) on the second day of her two-day visit to Jharkhand.
Earlier, the President visited the exhibition on Community Innovation at Atal Innovation Centre set up in the institute. She gave away gold medals to 20 meritorious students on the occasion.
A commemorative stamp was also released to mark the institution’s centenary.
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The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has implemented new set of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) rules starting from today. Under the new rules, name of the recipient will be shown to the sender before each transaction. Each UPI app will allow users to check their bank balance 50 times a day. UPI apps will also be able to limit or stop balance enquiry requests to reduce the load on UPI during peak hours.
NPCI has also mandated that the done of auto payment transactions will only be processed during non-peak hours. Customers will now be able to see the list of banks linked to their mobile number. In case of unconfirmed payments, users will be able to check the payment status only three times, with a minimum time gap of 90 seconds between attempts.
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The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall over Assam, Meghalaya, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh today. The Met department also predicted heavy rainfall over various parts of Northeast and Southern Peninsular India as well as Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Haryana, Chandigarh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and West Rajasthan today. Meanwhile, thunderstorm accompanied by lightning and gusty winds are expected over Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bihar, Sikkim and West Madhya Pradesh.
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The India Meteorological Department has issued a red alert for East Khasi Hills district with a warning of heavy to very heavy rainfall with isolated spells of extremely heavy rain today. The impact-based forecast warns of possible flooding in low-lying areas, landslides, and disruption of road and air traffic, particularly in riverbank regions and areas with weak slopes.
“According to the IMD’s district-wise warning maps, the weather is expected to intensify over the southern belt of Meghalaya. In the next 24 hrs East Khasi Hills will remain under red alert, while South West Khasi Hills and adjoining districts move to orange alert. While on August 3, the red zone expands to cover West Khasi Hills and South West Khasi Hills, signalling extremely heavy rain in the central and southern region. From Akashvani News, Oshila, Shillong.”
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Continuous rainfall in Himachal Pradesh has disrupted normal life. Due to landslides at several locations, 315 roads, including three national highways, are blocked across the state. In addition, 360 electricity transformers and 259 drinking water schemes are also non-functional. The Meteorological Department has issued a yellow alert for heavy rainfall in several districts of the state until August 5.
“In Himachal Pradesh, rain has been continuing since morning in several places including the capital, Shimla. In the past 24 hours, Bhatiyat in Chamba district recorded the highest rainfall at 118 mm. Taking into account the safety of children, the district administration Chamba has ordered the closure of all educational institutions today. The Chandigarh-Manali National Highway near Pandoh Dam in Mandi district has been blocked due to a major landslide. Mandi Superintendent of Police, Sakshi Verma, stated that the administration is present at the site and efforts are underway to restore traffic. Ritesh Kapoor, Akashvani News, Shimla.”
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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today said that Armed Forces Headquarters (AFHQ) Civilian Services has always worked to strengthen the country’s defense framework. Speaking on the AFHQ Civilian Services day in New Delhi today, Mr Singh said that AFHQ Civilian Services has played a crucial role in internally fortifying the nation’s security system. He noted that its role is significant in the efficient and strategic functioning of the country’s defense organisations.
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US President Donald Trump yesterday signed a sweeping executive order imposing higher tariffs on several nations including India and the 27-member European Union. The order, titled “Further Modifying The Reciprocal Tariff Rates”, is set to take effect from August 7, seven days after its issuance, with rates going up to 41 per cent.
The tariff hike is part of Trump’s effort to rebalance what he terms unfair trade deficits and national security risks. According to new Executive order the steepest hikes include 41 per cent on Syria, 40 per cent on Laos and Myanmar, 39 per cent on Switzerland, 35 per cent on Iraq, Serbia and Canada. India faces a 25 per cent tariff, while Pakistan has been hit with 19 per cent. While the initial tariff deadline was August 1, the implementation was deferred to August 7 to allow US Customs and Border Protection time to update its systems.
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Benchmark domestic equity indices, Sensex and Nifty, were trading around 0.4 per cent down in afternoon trade today. On the sectoral front, pharma, healthcare and IT were dragging the most while FMCG and media lent some support. The 30-share BSE Sensex dipped 281 points, to 80 thousand 904.
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In Cricket, India will resume their first innings play at the overnight score of 204 for six against host England on the second day of the fifth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at The Oval in London today. Karun Nair not out at 52, and Washington Sundar, unbeaten at 19 will look to futher continue their partnership of 51 runs.
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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN:-
- Electioin to Vice President of India to be held on 9th of September; Last date for filing nominations will be on 21 August.
- Showdown continues in Parliament over Bihar’s voter list row; Opposition demands discussion on the issue; Rajya Sabha adjourned for the day.
- Election Commission shares Draft Electoral Roll 2025 with all 38 District Election Officers cum District Magistrates of Bihar.
- National Payments Corporation of India implements new set of UPI rules starting from today.
- US President Donald Trump imposes tariffs on several nations including 25 per cent on India, effective from 7th August.
- In Cricket, India to resume their first innings at 204 for six against England on second day at Oval in London.
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