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In the SC: Goa mining case, UGC case on final exams, Tablighi Jamaat issue; Delhi HC to hear Pinjra Tod member’s bail plea; Padmanabha Swamy temple reopens; Haryana assembly session begins; IAEA chief meets Iranian officials

• Wrapping up the probe into the suicide attack on a CRPF convoy that killed 40 paramilitary personnel in Pulwama district, South Kashmir in February last year, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday filed a 13,500-page chargesheet.
• Named: Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, his brother and deputy, Rouf Asgar, cousin Ammar Alvi — all based in Pakistan — and Rouf’s ex-bodyguard Mohd Ismail, suspected to be in India, as the prime masterminds. Azhar’s nephew Mohammed Umer Farooq, who was tasked to carry out the attack, had infiltrated into India in 2018 and was subsequently killed in one of the encounters in South Kashmir.
• Also: A second attack had been planned but was aborted in view of the international scrutiny on JeM and Pakistan, following the IAF strikes on terror facilities in Balakot. The chargesheet also has references to the role of Pakistani state actors, including ISI.
• How: The NIA solved the “blind case” after piecing together the electronic evidence, besides statements of terrorists and their sympathisers arrested in different cases from time to time.
• Challenges: Establishing the ownership of the car used by suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar. There was nothing available from the vehicle which carried a cocktail of explosives like ammonium nitrate, nitro glycerine and RDX.
• Bringing to light the use of e-commerce platforms by the planners for purchasing of high-end batteries, phones and chemicals.
• Till now: Of the total 19 accused, seven have been arrested, six are absconding and six have died.

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The Reserve Bank of India released its annual report on Tuesday (the central bank follows a July-June financial year). The highlights:

• Banks reported more frauds: The value of frauds (of over Rs 1 lakh) reported by banks more than doubled to Rs 1.85 lakh crore and the number of cases went up by 28%. Banks, on an average, took two years to detect fraud after it had occurred but the delay for frauds of Rs 100 crore or more was 63 months on an average. So, the cases are spread over previous years too. Public sector banks accounted for 80% of the reported frauds, most of which were related to loans.
• RBI earned less: The central bank’s total income fell 22% (to Rs 1.49 lakh crore) as it had to pay huge amounts in interest to banks that instead of lending, had parked it with the RBI under the reverse repo window. That resulted in a lower dividend payment to the Centre compared to last year.
• Economy will continue shrinking: The contraction in economic activity will continue due to the lockdowns imposed by various states. “Upticks that became visible in May and June after the lockdown was eased ... appear to have lost strength,” the bank said. Inflation will remain high due to disruption in supply chains.
• Till you start spending… Consumer confidence was at an all-time low in July and it will take time for Indians to start spending because of the pay cuts, job losses and behavioural restraints. While government spending will support the economy during the pandemic, it is private consumption that will have to drive any economic recovery once the coronavirus threat eases.
• And the cash? Not even a single Rs 2,000 currency note was printed in 2019-20. The overall supply of banknotes was also lower by 23% than in the previous year due to the disruptions caused by the lockdown.

Those demanding the postponement of NEET and JEE entrance exam in view of the pandemic got a high-profile, international supporter on Tuesday: Greta Thunberg. This a day after the Supreme Court declined to set up exam centres abroad, a week after it dismissed a petition to postpone the exams.

A wave of attacks killed at least 17 and injured many more in Afghanistan even as a Taliban delegation was in Pakistan to discuss “recent developments in Afghanistan’s peace process”.

• In northern Balkh province, a truck suicide bomb killed three people, including two Afghan commandos and a civilian, and injured over 40. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. In a separate attack in Balkh, gunmen shot dead five people, including former warlord Abdul Raouf and two of his sons aged 10 and 11. No one claimed responsibility.
• In western Ghor province, an attack on a checkpoint killed eight troops and wounded five. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but authorities blamed the Taliban.
• In the capital of Kabul, a roadside bombing killed a police officer while a policewoman and her driver were wounded when unknown attackers opened fire on them. Both the Taliban and the Islamic State group are active in the capital.

Ant Group, the payments giant under China’s Alibaba group, has filed for dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai’s Nasdaq-like STAR Market. The highly anticipated IPO could, if market conditions are right, raise as much as $30 billion, which would be the world’s biggest public listing yet.

• ICICI Bank is the first bank in the country (and among few globally) to use imagery from Earth observation satellites to assess credit worthiness of farmers.
• The satellite data includes rainfall and temperature data of past years, soil moisture levels in past years, surface water availability, agriculture land location details including latitude, longitude and boundary.

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James Anderson. The 38-year-old Englishman became the first fast bowler to take 600 wickets in Test cricket. He dismissed Pakistan captain Azhar Ali on the final day of the third Test at The Ageas Bowl, Southampton to join a club previously occupied by only spinners Muttiah Muralitharan (800 Test wickets), Shane Warne (708) and Anil Kumble (619). With the third Test ending in a draw, England wrapped up the series 1-0.