Harsh Vardhan resigns as Union Health Minister ahead of Cabinet reshuffle
With the much anticipated expansion of Narendra Modi government's cabinet is scheduled to be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, several ministers, including three seniors, have tendered their resignations to pave way for new faces.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan has tendered his resignation. Education Minister Ramesh Pohriyal 'Nishank', under whose leadership the National Education Policy was released, has also quit citing health reasons. Mr. Nishank, who tested positive for COVID-19 on April 21, was admitted to AIIMS in June again following post Covid complications.
Dilip Kumar, the pole star of a golden age of Hindi cinema, no more
As Dilip Kumar transcends to a new stage, the pole star of the golden age of Hindi cinema would be remembered for setting a template of acting for generations to come.
Discovered and later rechristened by Devika Rani of the famed Bombay Talkies, Dilip Kumar, along with Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand, were part of the discovery of cinema in India as a means of mass communication as we see it today. They had had few examples to follow and perhaps it worked to their advantage as each one carved out his own niche.
PTI challenges new IT rules in Delhi HC
India’s largest news agency, Press Trust Of India (PTI), has approached the Delhi High Court, challenging the 2021 Information Technology (IT) Rules. It said the Central government was attempting to regulate digital news media.
The court tagged the plea to be heard along with similar petitions filed by several online news outlets against the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 on August 20.
PTI has challenged the constitutional validity of the rules as it purports to regulate ‘publishers of news and current affairs content’, particularly digital news portals, by imposing “sweeping” government oversight and a vaguely worded ‘Code of Ethics’.
Calcutta High Court judge recuses himself from hearing Mamata Banerjee’s election petition
Calcutta High Court Justice Kaushik Chanda on Wednesday recused himself from hearing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's election petition on the Nandigram poll results. The matter will now be assigned to a new Bench.
The Chief Minister filed the petition in June, alleging irregularities in the counting process in the Nandigram Assembly election held in 2021.
Supreme Court asks govt to give details about pendency of cases in information panel
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Central government to place on record the latest information on the appointment of Information Commissioners, vacancies and pendency of cases in the Central Information Commission (CIC), the apex adjudicatory body for disputes under the Right to Information Act.
A Bench of Justices S. Abdul Nazeer and Krishna Murari directed the government amidst submissions made by advocate Prashant Bhushan, for activist Anjali Bhardwaj that “party acolytes” and bureaucrats have been shortlisted and appointed to the CIC in an opaque manner despite a specific direction from the court in 2019 that the appointment process should be transparent and has to be put in the public domain.
Pune chemical unit fire: report says flagrant violation of safety norms, labour laws
A fact-finding team, probing the horrific Pune chemical factory blaze last month in which 17 workers, most of them women, were killed, has found that the factory owners flagrantly violated safety and labour laws and that the authorities from the State Industrial Safety and Health Department connived with the factory owners in granting the firm a licence in the absence of all safety norms.
A massive fire erupted on June 7 on the premises of SVS Aqua Technologies in Mulshi taluk. The blaze, which sounded like a bomb explosion to 37 workers trapped inside the cramped working space, spread with such rapid intensity that 17 of them, of whom more than a dozen were women, were instantly charred to death.
‘Shocked at conduct’: Delhi HC judge slams Juhi Chawla for not depositing ₹20 lakh penalty
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday expressed shock at the conduct of Bollywood actor Juhi Chawla and two others for “not willing to gracefully deposit” a penalty of ₹20 lakh imposed on them for filing a ‘frivolous’ plea against the rollout of 5G technology in India.
Justice J.R. Midha granted Ms. Chawla and two others petitioners a week’s time to deposit the penalty.
Top Hizbul militant shot dead in J&K’s Kupwara
A top Hizbul Mujahideen commander was killed in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district on Wednesday, July 7, 2021, police said.
"One of the oldest & top commander of HM #terror outfit Mehrazuddin Halwai @ Ubaid got neutralised in #Handwara #encounter. He was involved in several terror crimes. A big success," Inspector General of Police, Kashmir zone, Vijay Kumar said in a tweet.
Delhi High Court refuses to stop further circulation of film purportedly based on Sushant Rajput’s life
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to pass any direction to restrain further circulation of film ‘Nyay: The Justice’ which is purportedly based on the life of late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput and has been released on a website.
“We will have it on 14th (July). I am not inclined at this stage,” said a Bench of Justices Rajiv Shakdher and Talwant Singh while hearing the application of Rajput’s father Krishna Kishore Singh, in the appeal against single judge order refusing to stay the release of the film.
Singapore not counting Sinovac shots in COVID-19 vaccination tally
Singapore has excluded those who received Sinovac Biotech’s shots from its national COVID-19 vaccination count, according to the city-State’s Health Ministry.
“The national vaccination numbers reflect only those vaccinated under the national vaccination programme,” the Ministry said in an emailed statement on July 7.