Today's News -August4,2024

TODAY'S  NEWS 

1.  Heavy Rain in Himachal: Normal life hit, over 190 roads closed across Mandi, Shimla, Kullu; heavy downpour predicted till 7 August. 

2.  The Kerala government on Saturday announced that a township will be established in a secure area to rehabilitate those displaced by the catastrophic landslide that occurred in the Mundakkai region of Wayanad district.

3.  The India Meteorological Department on Saturday issued a red alert for Maharashtra's Palghar, Pune and Satara districts for August 4. The IMD has also issued an orange alert for Thane, Mumbai, Raigad, Sindhudurg and Nashik.

4.  PM Modi has assured that the government is strengthening the agriculture sector with reforms and measures aimed at improving the lives of farmers. Addressing the 32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists in New Delhi. 

5.  PM Modi said, India is promoting chemical-free natural farming. He said, in the Union Budget 2024-25, there is a big focus on sustainable agriculture. He said, India is using digital technology in the agriculture sector and under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, funds are transferred to the bank accounts of ten crore farmers by one click.

6.  Government mandates Public Sector Insurance companies to expedite claims of landslide victims in Kerala.

7.  Relief and rescue operations in full swing in rain affected areas of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

8.  The Ministry of External Affairs has denied political clearance to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for visiting to Paris to support the Indian hockey team at the ongoing Olympic Games, an official source said. 

9.  Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has congratulated Chandana Jayaram on being selected for the Miss Universe-India competitions to be held in Mumbai.  She hails from M.K. Puram of Santipuram mandal in Kuppam Assembly constituency. 

10.  The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE is set to release class 10 supplementary results soon. Students who took these exams can view their scores and download the provisional mark sheet from the official websites: cbse.gov.in or cbseresults.nic.in.

11.  The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast extremely heavy rainfall over Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and East and West Madhya Pradesh today..

12.  Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi veteran Yamini Krishnamurti died at the Apollo hospital New Delhi on Saturday. She was 84.

13.  Aadi Amavasai (04 Aug) is one of the unique festival, which is celebrated in South India by Tamil people. This is a New Moon day or Amavasya when Sun and Moon align together in the same zodiac sign. According to Tamil Calendar. Aadi Amavasai holds a great religious significance and people seek blessings from departed souls.

LEGAL REPORT 

1.  The Madras High Court on Friday declared as unconstitutional Section 77-A of the Registration Act, 1908, on the ground that it conferred excessive quasi-judicial power on the District Registrars to cancel documents related to any immovable property in the State if they were found to have been registered through fraud or on submission of forged revenue records.

2.  Controversial former IAS trainee Puja Khedkar has reportedly gone missing and a media report in Firstpost claimed that she has fled to Dubai after her anticipatory bail was rejected by a Delhi court on Thursday.  She has been accused of cheating and wrongly availing of OBC and disability quota benefits. 

3.  Violence broke out in Manipur’s Jiribam district on Friday, just a day after an agreement was reached to restore normalcy between the Meitei and Hmar communities. Armed men set fire to an abandoned house in Lalpani village and fired multiple gunshots, heightening tensions in the region. 

4.  Tamil Nadu Minister of Transport SS Sivasankar stirred up a controversy after he claimed that there was no historical evidence of Lord Ram's existence.

""""""""" MISHAPS""""""""""

1.  Himachal Pradesh: Death toll rises to 9 in flash floods, over 400 rescuers continue to search for missing.  The cloudbursts, which struck on the night of 31 July, caused widespread devastation in Kullu's Nirmand, Sainj, and Malana; Mandi's Padhar; and Shimla's Rampur subdivision.

2.  In Ladakh, a landslide in the Kabaddi Nalla area of Kargil caused a building to collapse in the early hours of the morning,  resulting in injuries to 12 people.

The Indian Army, Ladakh Police and Rescue Teams swiftly initiated rescue operations, and all injured individuals were safely transported to District Hospital in Kargil for medical treatment.

FINANCE 

1.  The RBI has re-approved Inderjit Camotra as MD and CEO of Unity Small Finance Bank for two more years, and Govind Singh as MD and CEO of Utkarsh Small Finance Bank for three years, recognizing their contributions to expanding their banks' operations and growth.

2.  IRDAI has fined HDFC Life Rs 2 crore for regulatory breaches related to policyholders' interests and outsourcing irregularities. The penalty, split equally between these issues, must be paid within 45 days.

3.  RBL Bank has announced integration of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) services on RuPay Credit Cards it sells.

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS 

1.  The Malayalam actor Mohanlal on Saturday visited the landslide-hit Wayanad. He reached the Meppadi region from Kozhikode.  The actor has announced Rs 3 crore donation for the rehabilitation works. The actor, who was conferred the Lt Colonel post in the territorial army in 2009, had talks with the army officials before heading to the disaster-hit areas with soldiers. 

2.  Ajay Devgn and Tabu's new film, Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha, had a disappointing opening day, earning only Rs 1.85 crore nett. The film also featured a Buy One Get One (BOGO) offer, but it did little to attract more viewers. Despite the discount, the film struggled to gain traction.

DEFENCE 

1.  Lieutenant General VPS Kaushik has assumed the appointment of the Adjutant General of the Indian Army.

2.  The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Home Affairs for the appointment of 1989-batch Odisha Cadre IPS officer Amrit Mohan Prasad as Special Director General of CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force).

3.  Daljit Singh Chawdhary, the Director General of Sahastra Seema Bal (SSB), took over the additional charge of Director General Border Security Force on Saturday said.

4.  The 14th India-Vietnam Defence Policy Dialogue took place in New Delhi (01 Aug), focusing on strengthening bilateral defence cooperation. Key discussions included new cooperation areas such as cyber security and military medicine, culminating in the signing of a Letter of Intent to enhance training exchanges.

5.  The Madras Engineering Group of the Indian Army in Bengaluru, also called Madras Sappers, on Thursday completed the construction of the 190-ft-long Bailey bridge in Wayanad district which was hit by devastating landslides on Tuesday.

The construction of the 190-ft Bailey bridge, led by Major Seeta Ashok Shelke which will help connect the landslide-hit Mundakkai and Chooralmala in Wayanad district, it was started at 9.30 pm on Wednesday and was completed by 5.30 pm on Thursday. 

The massive landslides which struck Wayanad on Tuesday claimed the lives of at least 300 people. Indian Army, NDRF along with local emergency response departments have undertaken a massive search and rescue operation to trace people feared to be trapped in the tragedy.

✈ INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

1.  The External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar  held a meeting with the leadership of India-Japan Council in Delhi. Dr Jaishankar appreciated their commitment to realize the full potential of this important relationship.

2.  India has selected Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair for the Axiom-4 mission to the ISS, with Shukla as the primary mission pilot and Nair as the backup.

🌎 WORLD NEWS 🌍

1.  United States will deploy additional fighter jets and Navy ships to West Asia in order to defend Israel, the US Department of Defence said.

2.  Amid heightened regional tensions in West Asia, the United States and the United Kingdom on Saturday (Aug 3) urged their citizens to leave Lebanon.

3.  Students in Bangladesh called for a nationwide civil disobedience campaign over the police crackdown on protesters as demonstrations against civil service job quotas continued. 

4.  In Somalia, at least 35 people killed in suicide bombing and gun attack on a hotel in its capital Mogadishu.  Al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda-linked armed group has claimed responsibility for the yesterday's attack on Lido Beach.

5.  Eastern Indonesia hit by 5.0-magnitude earthquake. The quake struck at 12.32 p.m. local time, with its epicentre located 28 km northeast of Puncak Jaya Regency at a depth of 100 km. There have been no preliminary reports of damages or casualties after the earthquake.

6.  The US Embassy in Dhaka has issued a security alert for US nationals residing in Bangladesh.

7.  Turkey blocked access to the social networking platform Instagram in the country. The Turkish government has accused Meta, the US-based parent company of Instagram of blocking condolence posts on the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. 

🚣🚴🏇🏊 SPORTS 

1.  The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the upcoming of a new National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. The new NCA will feature three world-class playing grounds, 45 practice pitches, indoor cricket pitches, Olympic-size swimming pool and state-of-the-art training, recovery and sports science facilities. 

2.  OLYMPIC GAMES PARIS 2024 (26 JULY 2024 – 11 AUGUST 2024)

 INDIA AT PARIS OLYMPICS 2024 DAY 8 HIGHLIGHTS : India had to endure a day of close misses as Manu Bhaker finished fourth in the final of 25m Pistol women’s final. She was aiming for a historic third medal but missed out on a chance after losing the shoot-off.

(b)  Archers Deepika Kumari and Bhajan Kaur were also shown the exit door before boxer Nishant Dev was ousted in the quarterfinal of the 71 kg men’s event.

(c)  Golfers Shubhankar Sharma and Gaganjeet Bhullar stood tied at 34th and 48th with 2 under par and 2 over par respectively at the end of the third round of play.

(d)  Sailors Netra Kumanan and Vishnu Saravanan finished their dinghy events placed 24 and 23 respectively.

3.  Zheng Qinwen became the first Chinese player to win an Olympic tennis singles gold medal when she held off Croatia's Donna Vekic for a 6-2 6-3 win in a tense final on Saturday.