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 HEADLINES 

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• Centre reiterates unwavering support to Kerala to deal with devastating landslide in Wayanad; Death toll rises to 240.

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asserts Union Budget strikes fine balance between growth and financial consolidation.

• UPSC cancels provisional candidature of IAS trainee Puja Khedkar; Debars from all future exams.

• Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh killed in Tehran; Iran vows to retaliate.

• IMD forecasts heavy rainfall along West Coast of the country during next five days.

• In Paris Olympics, Boxer Lovlina Borgohain powers into quarterfinal; Shuttlers PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen, and Table Tennis player Sreeja Ankula enter Singles pre-quarterfinals; Shooter Swapnil Kusale qualifies for final of Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event.

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The Central government has reiterated unwavering support to Kerala to deal with the devastating landslide in Wayanad district. Replying to a calling attention in the Lok Sabha today regarding loss of lives and property due to landslides and floods in various parts of the country, Home Minister Amit Shah assured the people of Kerala that the Central government will provide all possible assistance following the Wayanad tragedy. Mr Shah said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is himself monitoring the situation.

Intervening in the discussion, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said the Centre has issued 33 advisories towards the management of high risk disasters including floods and landslides. He said the State governments can make preparations according to the advisories.

Initiating the discussion K C Venugopal of the Congress said, the Wayanad tragedy is a painful incident and some strong measures should be taken for assistance, rescue operations and rehabilitation.

Other members also participated in the discussion.

Earlier, intervening in the calling attention motion in the Rajya Sabha today on the devastation in the district, Home Minister Amit Shah said that an early warning about heavy rainfall and landslides in Wayanad district of Kerala was given to the State government on the 23rd of this month and again on the 24th and 25th of July.

The Home Minister stated that the losses in Wayanad could have been minimized if the Kerala government had become alert following the arrival of the NDRF teams.

Arun Singh of BJP, Jhon Brittas of CPI(M), Manoj Jha of RJD, Tiruchi Shiva of DMK, M Thamidurai of AIADMK, Praful Patel NCP, Haris Beeran of IUML, Saket Gokhale of TMC, Raghav Chadha of AAP, Muzibulla Khan of BJD participated in the discussion among others.

 

Meanwhile, the death toll in landslide-hit Wayanad district has risen to 240. Rescue and relief operations are on a war footing in the region.

“As Kerala faces an unprecedented disaster, rescue operations by joint forces are leaving no stones unturned to evacuate maximum people to safety. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan informed that 1,592 people had been rescued so far. Army is constructing a temporary bailey bridge to speed up the rescue operations in the region. Over 8000 people are there in 82 relief camps in Wayanad. Death toll is likely to increase as over hundred people are still missing. An all-party meeting will be convened by Chief Minister tomorrow on account of the disaster. Meanwhile heavy rain is predicted in the State in the coming hours and the authorities had urged people in landslide prone regions to move to safer places.”

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the Union Budget strikes a fine balance among priorities like growth, employment, welfare, capital investment and financial consolidation. Ms Sitharaman was replying to the debate on the Union Budget 2024-25 in the Rajya Sabha today. Saying that the Government believes in the motto of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayaas, the Finance Minister stressed that the Budget has proposed unflinching support to cooperative federalism.

Ms Sitharaman rejected the opposition’s allegation of reduction in allocation in the agriculture sector. Ms Sitharaman informed that 1.48 lakh crore rupees has been allocated for education, employment and skilling. 

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The Rajya Sabha took up the discussion today on the Working of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. Initiating the discussion in the House, Ghanshyam Tiwari of BJP stressed on the need for developing the cities to achieve the goal of a developed India. Ajay Maken of Congress stressed on the need to increase the allocation from 0.7 per cent of GDP to 1.1 per cent for Urban development.

Other members including Jawahar Sircar of AITC, Meda Raghunadha Reddy of YSRCP, R Girirajan of DMK, Muzibulla Khan of BJD, Dr M Thambidurai of AIADMK , Neeraj Dangi of Congress, Sumitra Balmik and Mithilesh Kumar of BJP and Vikramjit Singh Sahney of AAP participated in the discussion. However, the discussion remained inconclusive.

After this, the House took up special mentions in which the members raised issues of public importance. Later, the House was adjourned for the day.

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The Lok Sabha today took up further discussion on the demands for grants under the control of the Ministry of Railways 2024-25. Participating in the discussion, Sandhya Ray of the BJP said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, unprecedented development is being witnessed in the Railways and work is being done at a tremendous pace. N K Premachandran of RSP said the Railways is the major mode of transportation for the common people and more focus should be given to it. He also demanded a separate budget for Railways. The discussion is underway.

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India will host its first multinational air exercise ‘Tarang Shakti 2024’ in two phases from the 6th of next month. In this exercise, nearly 30 countries will participate, and out of 30, ten countries will join the exercise with their fighter aircraft. The exercise will showcase India’s defense prowess and provide a platform for participating militaries to foster interoperability.

Addressing a curtain raiser press conference in New Delhi today, Vice Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal A P Singh informed that the first phase is to be held at Sular in Tamilnadu from the 6th to the 14th August, and the second phase at Jodhpur in Rajasthan from the 29th August to the 14th September. He added that 10 countries including Australia, Bangladesh, France, Germany, Greece, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, United Kindom, USA, and Singapore will join the exercise with their aircraft and 18 countries will attend as observers.  

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The eight core industries that include sectors such as coal, cement, steel and electricity posted a four per cent growth in June this year compared to the same month of the previous year. The data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry today elaborated that production of Coal, Electricity, Natural Gas, Steel, Fertilizer and Cement recorded positive growth in June this year. 

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The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has cancelled the provisional candidature of IAS trainee Puja Khedkar and permanently debarred her from all its future Exams. The UPSC announced in a release that after examining available records, it has found Ms Khedkar guilty of violating Civil Services Examination – CSE 2022 Rules. The Commission had earlier issued a show cause notice to her for fraudulently availing attempts beyond the permissible limit by faking her identity. It added that despite giving her an extension till yesterday for a response, she failed to submit her explanation within the prescribed time.

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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed to avenge the killing of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who died in an overnight air strike in Tehran today. He said that it was Iran’s duty to avenge the assassination of the Hamas leader. Iran and Hamas blame Israel for the strike. Local media reports that Iran has announced three-days of public mourning across the country. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said, Haniyeh was killed alongside one of his bodyguards at his residence in the Iranian capital while he was in the town to attend Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian’s swearing-in ceremony.

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Sudan’s military leader Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has survived an assassination attempt today. Army spokesman Nabil Abdallah blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for the attack. He said two drones had struck an army graduation ceremony killing five people at a base in Gebeit, a town in eastern Sudan. Meanwhile, RSF denied their hand in the attack. This attack came ahead of peace talks between the army and the rebel RSF faction in Switzerland. Sudan is facing a civil conflict for over a year, with the army fighting a powerful paramilitary group RSF.

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The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall to continue along the West Coast of the country during the next five days. The IMD also forecast isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall over Northwest, Central and East India during the next three to four days. The IMD said, isolated extremely heavy rainfall very likely over Central Maharashtra till Saturday, over East Madhya Pradesh for the next two days. and over Konkan and Goa on Friday and Saturday. It forecast extremely heavy rainfall  over Gujarat Region on Saturday. In Delhi, the weather department forecast light to moderate rain for the next five days.

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Now news from the ongoing Summer Olympics at Paris in France.

“It has been a day of success for Indian athletes at Paris Olympics in venues across this beautiful city. The Indian contingent were in action in Boxing, Badminton and Shooting on day five of the mega quadrennial event. In Boxing, Olympic Bronze medallist, Lovlina Borgohain defeated Norwegian pugilist Sunniva Hofstad to power into quarterfinal of women’s 75kg category. She will next take on China’s Li Qian on Sunday. In Archery, Deepika Kumari cruised into Round of 16 of women’s individual event, defeating Dutch player Quinty Roeffen. In Table Tennis, Sreeja Ankula created history by becoming second Indian paddler to enter prequarterfinals at Olympics. She defeated world number 52 Singapore’s Jian Zeng 4-2. In Badminton, PV Sindhu upset Kristin Kuuba of Estonia in her final group game 21-05, 21-10 to sail into pre-quarterfinals of Women’s Singles. Lakshya Sen overpowered World Number 4, Jonatan Christie of Indonesia 21-18, 21-12 to advance into the Round of 16 of Men’s Singles. In Shooting, Swapnil Kusale entered the final in the Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event after finishing seventh in the qualification round. The final will take place tomorrow. So far, India have won two medals, both bronze in Shooting.”

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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN :

• Centre reiterates unwavering support to Kerala to deal with devastating landslide in Wayanad; Death toll rises to 240.

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asserts Union Budget strikes fine balance between growth and financial consolidation.

• UPSC cancels provisional candidature of IAS trainee Puja Khedkar; Debars from all future exams.

• Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh killed in Tehran; Iran vows to retaliate.

• IMD forecasts heavy rainfall along West Coast of the country during next five days.

• In Paris Olympics, Boxer Lovlina Borgohain powers into quarterfinal; Shuttlers PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen, and Table Tennis player Sreeja Ankula enter Singles pre-quarterfinals; Shooter Swapnil Kusale qualifies for final of Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event.

 

SOURCE-NEWSONAIR

 

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