NDRF teams dispatched for rescue operations
At least 88 people have been killed so far and over one million more evacuated to relief camps in various parts of the country due to the heavy rains and floods caused by Cyclone Komen, which made landfall in Bangladesh on Thursday. Rajasthan, Odisha, Manipur and West Bengal were reported to be the worst-affected states, with over 3.6 million people being affected by the rains and flooding in West Bengal alone. Separately, the death toll due to heavy rains in Gujarat rose to 53 on Sunday. Teams from each state’s Disaster Response Force as well as eight teams of the National Disaster Response Force were dispatched to the affected areas for relief-and-rescue operations. Officials said that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh was monitoring the situation closely, adding that Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju would soon visit the affected areas as well.
BJP, Congress in row ahead of all-party meet
Ahead of an all-party meeting called by the Narendra Modi-led Central government on Monday, a row broke out between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, with each side accusing the other of failing to do enough to break the ongoing logjam in Parliament. While Union Minister Arun Jaitley accused the opposition of indulging in “obstructionist tendencies”, the Congress questioned the sincerity of the National Democratic Alliance government to break the logjam. Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu further said that while the government would welcome a debate on the controversies surrounding various BJP Union and Chief Ministers, he also ruled out the possibility of the ministers resigning. However, senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia said that the logjam would continue unless all “corruption issues” involving the ministers were resolved. “Congress is firm on its stand on these issues,” Scindia said.
Deputy Registrar did not quit over Memon execution: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on Sunday said that Deputy Registrar Anup Surendranath, who resigned from his post on July 30, did not quit because of the court’s order which allowed for the execution of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon. The court said that Dr Anup Surendranath had been "repatriated to his parent institution w.e.f. 31-7-2015 on his own request” to continue his legal research at the National Law University in Delhi, where he is a professor. The professor, who resigned on the same day Memon was executed, had earlier said in a Facebook post that the verdict that allowed Memon to be hanged represented an instance of “judicial abdication” that would count among the apex court’s “darkest hours”.
Pakistan releases 163 Indian fishermen
Pakistani authorities on Sunday released 163 Indian fishermen from the Malir jail in the southern port city of Karachi. The jail’s superintendent told news agencies that 163 out of the total 660 Indians in the prison had been released as a gesture of goodwill. The superintendent further said that those freed had been originally arrested for “violations of territorial waters” in the Arabian Sea over the last two years. Also among those released were five children aged between 10 and 14-years-old. A Pakistani charity, the Edhi Foundation, paid for the travel expenses the Indian nationals. The move came amid rising tensions between the two neighbours over various security issues, including ceasefire violations in Jammu and Kashmir and an attack by three gunmen on a police station in the Gurdaspur district of Punjab last week. The National Security Advisers of both countries are expected to hold talks later this month.
India-Bangladesh border guards to hold talks
The border security forces of both India and Bangladesh will begin their annual Director-General-level talks in New Delhi from Monday. The four-day-long talks will see the DGs and senior officials of both the Indian Border Security Force and the Border Guard Bangladesh hold discussions on various security issues affecting both countries. The talks assume significance as this is the first official visit by a Bangaldeshi delegation to India after the Land Boundary Agreement was implemented by both countries on Friday. A senior official said that the two sides would also discuss the “emerging border scenario” after the implementation of the Agreement. Other officials said that the two sides would also discuss, among other, issues, the illegal movement of fake Indian currency, the activities of various Indian militant groups in Bangladesh and illegal cattle smuggling as well.
At least 88 people have been killed so far and over one million more evacuated to relief camps in various parts of the country due to the heavy rains and floods caused by Cyclone Komen, which made landfall in Bangladesh on Thursday. Rajasthan, Odisha, Manipur and West Bengal were reported to be the worst-affected states, with over 3.6 million people being affected by the rains and flooding in West Bengal alone. Separately, the death toll due to heavy rains in Gujarat rose to 53 on Sunday. Teams from each state’s Disaster Response Force as well as eight teams of the National Disaster Response Force were dispatched to the affected areas for relief-and-rescue operations. Officials said that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh was monitoring the situation closely, adding that Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju would soon visit the affected areas as well.
BJP, Congress in row ahead of all-party meet
Ahead of an all-party meeting called by the Narendra Modi-led Central government on Monday, a row broke out between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, with each side accusing the other of failing to do enough to break the ongoing logjam in Parliament. While Union Minister Arun Jaitley accused the opposition of indulging in “obstructionist tendencies”, the Congress questioned the sincerity of the National Democratic Alliance government to break the logjam. Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu further said that while the government would welcome a debate on the controversies surrounding various BJP Union and Chief Ministers, he also ruled out the possibility of the ministers resigning. However, senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia said that the logjam would continue unless all “corruption issues” involving the ministers were resolved. “Congress is firm on its stand on these issues,” Scindia said.
Deputy Registrar did not quit over Memon execution: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on Sunday said that Deputy Registrar Anup Surendranath, who resigned from his post on July 30, did not quit because of the court’s order which allowed for the execution of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon. The court said that Dr Anup Surendranath had been "repatriated to his parent institution w.e.f. 31-7-2015 on his own request” to continue his legal research at the National Law University in Delhi, where he is a professor. The professor, who resigned on the same day Memon was executed, had earlier said in a Facebook post that the verdict that allowed Memon to be hanged represented an instance of “judicial abdication” that would count among the apex court’s “darkest hours”.
Pakistan releases 163 Indian fishermen
Pakistani authorities on Sunday released 163 Indian fishermen from the Malir jail in the southern port city of Karachi. The jail’s superintendent told news agencies that 163 out of the total 660 Indians in the prison had been released as a gesture of goodwill. The superintendent further said that those freed had been originally arrested for “violations of territorial waters” in the Arabian Sea over the last two years. Also among those released were five children aged between 10 and 14-years-old. A Pakistani charity, the Edhi Foundation, paid for the travel expenses the Indian nationals. The move came amid rising tensions between the two neighbours over various security issues, including ceasefire violations in Jammu and Kashmir and an attack by three gunmen on a police station in the Gurdaspur district of Punjab last week. The National Security Advisers of both countries are expected to hold talks later this month.
India-Bangladesh border guards to hold talks
The border security forces of both India and Bangladesh will begin their annual Director-General-level talks in New Delhi from Monday. The four-day-long talks will see the DGs and senior officials of both the Indian Border Security Force and the Border Guard Bangladesh hold discussions on various security issues affecting both countries. The talks assume significance as this is the first official visit by a Bangaldeshi delegation to India after the Land Boundary Agreement was implemented by both countries on Friday. A senior official said that the two sides would also discuss the “emerging border scenario” after the implementation of the Agreement. Other officials said that the two sides would also discuss, among other, issues, the illegal movement of fake Indian currency, the activities of various Indian militant groups in Bangladesh and illegal cattle smuggling as well.
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