Supreme Court to hear plea for CBI inquiry in judge Loya’s death; Motor Vehicle bill may be discussed in Parliament; UK court hearing on Vijay Mallya's extradition; Auto-manufacturing nations meet in Geneva to plot response to Trump tariff threats; Russian, Japanese foreign and defence ministers meet in Moscow

• It’s about people: Names of 40.7 lakh residents of Assam is missing from the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) published on Monday — 3.29 crore had applied. The register is meant to identify illegal migrants in the state.
• A long fight: Those not included in the list can raise objections between August 30 and September 28. If they still can’t make it, there are 100 foreigners tribunals in the state to appeal, then the high court and finally Supreme Court. So, lakhs of foreigners could mean thousands of court cases that will take years to be resolved. The final list will be published by December this year.
• About money: While the government spent Rs 1,200 crore on the exercise, the big question that’s yet to be answered is what happens to the land and property of those who’ll be declared ‘foreigners’. In some past cases, the Gauhati High Court has asked authorities to acquire land owned by those declared foreigner by tribunals.

• About politics: Imagine 40 lakh Assamese being struck off voter lists before 2019 polls. Politics in districts where these ‘foreigners’ are in large numbers won’t be the same again. Add to this the multiple fault lines for politicians to exploit: natives vs outsiders, Assamese vs Bengalis (that’s why Mamata Banerjee jumped in), Barak valley (dominated by Bengalis) vs Brahmaputra valley (Assamese dominated), Hindu vs Muslim (a bill in Parliament is aimed at giving citizenship to Hindu migrants from neighbouring countries may end up making this only about Muslims).

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• The ugly: The Maratha reservation agitation claimed another life when Pramod Patil, a father of two who was preparing for his state civil services exam, committed suicide by jumping before a train. A note on his Facebook page said he was doing so in support of the demand for reservation for Marathas.
• The bad: No protest in India is complete without the mandatory violence and damage to public property — in Chakan, near Pune, protesters set afire 90 vehicles, including 80 public transport buses, and also stormed into a police station, injuring four policemen, including the Pune rural DSP.
• The Me-toos: The state’s Muslim groups have come out in support of the Maratha protest, while also demanding the restoration of 5% quota in government jobs that the Bombay High Court had scrapped.

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• It’s a hike: In a clear indication that interest rates will be hiked in RBI’s monetary policy review that began on Monday, the country’s largest bank, SBI, hiked the fixed deposit interest rates by 0.05% to 0.10% for amounts up to Rs 1 crore.
• At tens and fives: The hike in rates on deposits of two years or less is limited to 5 basis points, or 0.05%, while on deposits longer than two years, the hike is 10 basis points, or 0.10%, which means that for a deposit of Rs 1 lakh for one year, you now earn Rs 4.16 more per month than you did earlier.

• More gets less: However, SBI has cut the short term interest rate on deposits less than 2 years for amount in excess of Rs 1 crore by 0.25% to 0.45%, meaning on a deposit of Rs 1 crore for one year, you will now earn almost Rs 2,500 less per month than earlier.

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• BJP’s support: BJP-led NDA government and Congress were on the same side in Supreme Court demanding discontinuance of NOTA for indirect elections like in Rajya Sabha.
• Congress’ case: The petition was filed by Gujarat Congress chief whip on the eve of RS elections last year due to the defection of Congress MLAs to BJP. Ahmed Patel had scraped through by registering a narrow win. Its argument: since there was no secrecy for the voting in Rajya Sabha election, the purpose of NOTA was not much of use and it may lead to corruption.
• EC’s stand: NOTA has been operating smoothly in RS polls since it was introduced in 2014, except last year’s Gujarat RS elections.
• SC’s words: “Are you facing less complication in conducting elections that you want to make it more complicated?” the SC bench said on EC’s defence of use of NOTA in RS polls.

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Teenage years are proving harsh on Indigo —12 years after its launch, the airline that was once known for its efficiency, is going through a rough patch. On Monday, it posted a 97% drop in quarterly profit, burdened by high fuel price — which rose 54.4 % — and a weakening rupee.

The weak profit of Rs 27.79 crore in the April-June quarter, however, isn't Indigo’s only worry.

• Engine trouble: Indigo, this March, had to cancel 488 flights due to faulty engines. Last year, too, the airline cancelled hundreds of flights. It isn’t the only airline to face the issue, though; many Airbus A320neo planes, which run on Pratt & Whitney engines, faced the same trouble. Yet, Indigo’s scale stands out: its revised number of snags in 2017 stood at 14,628. This year’s disruption? 1,824 flights or over 1 lakh passengers till date.
• Bruised customers: Indigo, once known for its excellent customer relations, has had a series of run-ins with flyers, most notably when its staff roughed up a flyer last year. This year, the government ordered an enquiry after Indigo offloaded a passenger who complained of mosquitoes inside plane.
• GST trouble: On Monday, the GST anti-profiteering authority asked Indigo if it had passed on the GST benefits to flyers. Indigo could be hit with a fine if it is found to have not done so.

Yet, it isn’t all doom and gloom, with the airline arriving on time more often than others.


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Not so long ago, Donald Trump screamed at Harley Davidson on Twitter, “The U.S. is where the Action is!”. But as is often the case with Trump’s statements, this one too is far from the truth — as the latest move by the American bike maker shows.

• What: The maker of iconic huge cruiser bikes now wants to make smaller 250 cc to 500 cc bikes — most likely in India.
• Why: Making in India will cut the import duty on bikes sold in India, and possibly skirt around the US-China trade tariffs when exporting. Harley has made, or assembled, a model in India in the past: the Street 750, which is its best-selling model.
• Who else: Harley is not the only international bike maker to ride into India with mid-segment bikes. BMW recently launched two 300cc bikes built at the TVS factory in India — its cheapest offering at around Rs 3 lakh. Triumph has a tie-up with Bajaj, too.

At present, 40% of Harley’s worldwide sales come from outside the U.S; taking it past the halfway mark would be symbolic.

Trump may find a soul-brother in wanting Harley to stay in the U.S.: the segment leader Royal Enfield. If companies such as Harley and Triumph — who target similar customers — make bikes in India for cheap, the “Bullet” will feel the heat.

• Who dunnit? What happened to Malaysia Airlines MH370 is known — that it veered off course while on a routine flight on March 8, 2014 — but what the investigators haven’t been able to figure out after more than four years is who veered it off course, according to a report released by Malaysian safety investigators that said that the controls of the Boeing 777 aircraft were deliberately manipulated.
• Banking on wreckage: The report pins its hopes of finding answers to one of aviation’s biggest mysteries to locating its wreckage, which remains lost at sea despite a tri-nation search that cost $147 million — which means that the disappearance of MH370 will, in all likelihood, remain a mystery.
• Ghost in the cockpit: The report also absolves both the pilot and the co-pilot of the aircraft, saying that both were in sound mental health and well trained — some earlier reports had indicated that the pilot may have deliberately taken the plane down with 239 people on board.

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Heartbreak #1: The setback in the Pakistan elections, where Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) [PML-N] were comprehensively beaten by Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, which emerged as the party with the most number of seats.

Heartbreak #2: Days later, Sharif, who was serving a 10-year sentence at the Adiala Prison in Rawalpindi on corruption charges, started complaining of chest pains. The cardiac complications resulted in him being transferred to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Science (PIMS) in Islamabad.

Heartbreak #3: Hours after Sharif was moved, the doctor leading the medical board examining the ex-Pakistan PM, Dr Ijaz Qadeer, himself suffered a heart stroke on Sunday night. Qadeer has reportedly been shifted to the same centre of PIMS.
All this, after Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, Sharif's wife suffered a heart attack in London earlier, in June

Smriti Mandhana. The 22-year-old lefthander equalled the record for the fastest Women’s T20 fifty, smashing 52 off 19 balls with four sixes and five fours, while playing for Western Storm against Loughborough Lightning in England’s Kia Super League.