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The Supreme Court is demanding accountability from states on lynch mobs. On Tuesday, the apex court ruled that mob violence was a crime irrespective of the motive, and that states were obliged to stop lynch mobs, The Indian Express reports. “We do not want lynchings. We do not want mob violence. We want to protect victims,” said a bench comprising CJI Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud.
The government has approached WhatsApp to control rumours: As cases of lynchings continue to rise, the ministry of electronics and IT has sent a letter to WhatsApp’s senior management, asking them to take urgent steps to prevent the spread of “irresponsible and explosive messages” on its app, The Times of India reports. WhatsApp is owned by Facebook.
Now, states must consult the UPSC before appointing their directors general of police. The Supreme Court Tuesday directed states to send a list of potential candidates to the UPSC three months before the incumbent DGP retires so that they can shortlist three names, The Hindu reports. For context, the court passed seven directives in 2006 to “ensure that state governments do not exercise unwarranted influence or pressure on the police”.
Congress and BJP swap leaders in Gujarat. State Congress working president Kunwarji Bavaliya quit the party Tuesday to join the BJP. The Indian Express reports that, within hours, he was made a cabinet minister in the Vijay Rupani government. Meanwhile, Bholabhai Gohel, who had joined the BJP last year, made his way back to the Congress.
1,600 Indian pilgrims are stranded in Nepal and Tibet after landslides and rains blocked their journey back from the Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra. Hindustan Times reports that the cold, wet weather and difficulties associated with flying at altitudes of more than 3,000 metres continued to affect rescue efforts Tuesday.
The Congress and the NCP are getting back together. NCP president Sharad Pawar confirmed to The Hindu that his party will form an alliance with the Congress for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Maharashtra assembly elections. “Myself and Rahul Gandhi have had three meetings. We have come to the conclusion to contest the elections jointly,” he said.
Monsoon has brought Mumbai to a standstill yet again. A pedestrian bridge at Andheri collapsed early Tuesday, injuring six persons, one of them critically. Hindustan Times tells us that the incident also disrupted peak-hour commute, thereby affecting thousands of office-goers and college students. This comes nine months after a railway bridge stampede killed 23 people at Elphinstone station.
News it’s just kinda cool to know
Virat Kohli has created a world record by scoring the fastest 2,000 runs in Twenty20 Internationals. The Times of India tells us that Kohli took just 56 innings to surpass former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, who achieved the record in 66 innings.
This time, it’s actually rocket science and China wants to be the best at it. News agency AFP reports that a leading Chinese space expert was quoted as saying Monday that the country was working on a “super-powerful rocket” that would be capable of delivering heavier payloads than NASA to low orbit, where TV and Earth observation satellites currently fly.
The century’s longest total lunar eclipse will be visible from all parts of India on 27 July. It will start at 11.54 pm and last for one hour and 43 minutes, The Hindu reports.
Business Class
E-commerce giant Flipkart is set to enter the financial services sector, and may soon offer credit and insurance products on the website, Business Standard reports. It has reportedly initiated the process of getting a licence for a non-banking financial company (NBFC), the report adds.
Former RBI deputy governor K.C. Chakrabarty, who now lives in the UK, was stopped from traveling to London when he arrived at the Mumbai airport on 1 May this year as the CBI had issued a lookout circular (LOC) against him, reports The Economic Times. “The LOC was issued in connection with a forgery case filed by Indian Overseas Bank against a Delhi based travel company — Airworth Travels & Tours Pvt Limited, its promoters and ‘unnamed public servants’,” the report adds. The FIR reportedly does not mention Chakrabarty and a person close to him was quoted as saying that he was just a witness and not an accused in the case.
Point of View
Mob violence or mob justice are no longer strange words. The Indian Express, in its editorial, writes that Prime Minister Modi should speak about rumours spread on social media, including Whatsapp, on Mann ki Baat. It writes, “PM Modi should talk about, and warn against, rumours spread by social media platforms, including WhatsApp, that prey upon primal fears and, in many cases, trigger horrific violence, even murder.”
Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the PM’s official app, NaMo, has launched a survey asking respondents various questions. Business Standard, in its editorial, calls this step inappropriate. It writes, “Had the Prime Minister launched this survey on his party’s app…the survey and its tenor would not have been open to question. To do so on an app that is maintained by the government’s IT set-up and is, therefore, financed by the taxpayer’s dime surely raises issues of propriety.”
As the United States celebrates its 242nd Independence Day, it seems the global order set by it is crumbling. MP Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda writes in his column in The Times Of India that there is a need to understand the policy changes brought in by the Trump administration and reap their benefits, rather than sulking all the time.
Prime Time
The ‘railway minister is concerned’
Nine months after the Elphinstone stampede, a bridge at the Andheri suburban station coallapsed due to heavy rains, injuring several people. “Are netas ignoring urban voters?” questioned CNN News 18’s Bhupendra Chaubey on his show Faceoff.
While former Shiv Sena MP Bharat Kumar Raut, Congress’ Shama Mohamed, and a relative of one of the victims, Nandini Das, criticised the BJP-ruled state government, the BJP’s Atul Shah said the railway minister was extremely concerned about Mumbai city. He added that “the government will leave no stones unturned in fixing” the situation.
Clean, cleaner, not cleanest
India Today TV discussed the Modi government’s claims on cleaning the Ganga. The BJP’s Narendra Taneja pointed out that Germany’s Rhine river took 30 years and millions of dollars to be cleaned. “And it is just half the size of Ganga. We got hold of UP only a year ago,” said Taneja.
Anchor Rahul Kanwal cited Narendra Modi’s statements claiming that Ganga will be rejuvenated by October 2018. “I travelled to Rishikesh and Varanasi recently, and the situation has certainly improved,” claimed the VHP’s Shriraj Nair.
Good, bad and ugly
Swati Joshi on Times Now revealed that Rajasthan minister Dhan Singh Rawat’s son thrashed a citizen on the road but walked out of the police station in 10 minutes. “Is this the ugly face of the BJP’s rule?” asked Joshi.