1. CM Mamata disowns Partha: CM Mamata Banerjee has sacked cabinet minister and party colleague Partha Chatterjee from various positions. She also suspended him from the TMC. The move comes after the minister was arrested by ED in a school jobs scam and recovered a huge haul of money from his close aide.
2. IAF trainer aircraft crashes killing both pilots: A twin-seater MIG 21 aircraft flown by two IAF pilots met with an accident during a training sortie near Barmer in Rajasthan. Sadly, both pilots have succumbed to fatal injuries.
3. One more targetted killing, this time a man from the minority community: A man belonging to the Muslim community, Mohammed Fazil, was hacked and killed by unidentified armed assailants in Surathkal, near Managluru, Karnataka. Police have imposed section 144 CrPc at Surathkal, Mulki, Bajpe, and Panambur and are investigating the murder.
4. SpiceJet aborts flight before takeoff: A SpiceJet Q400 airplane scheduled to fly to Kandla in Gurajat from Mumbai aborted take-off at the runway due to a caution alert. The current incident on Thursday comes just after DGCA’s directive to the airline to reduce its operational flights by 50 percent.
5. EC amends laws for getting Voter’s ID: Youth turning 18 need not wait for the beginning of the year to apply for their Voter ID. The Election Commission has decided to allow those turning 18 to register on January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1.
6. Niti Aayog Governing Council meeting: PM Modi to chair the Governing Council of Niti Aayog on August 7. Members of the Council, which include State Chief Ministers, Lieutenant Governors of UTs, and Union ministers, will be part of the meeting to discuss issues concerning the economy, health, and agriculture sectors.
7. India to export an additional 1.2 mt of sugar: With the production of sugar above 36 mt, above the expected 35 mt for FY22, the government is said to allow the export of an additional 1.2 mt of sugar. A formal announcement in this regard is expected soon.
8. Congress leader apologizes for comments on President Murmu: Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has submitted a written apology to president Droupadi Murmu for referring to her as ‘Rashtrapatni.’
9. Jaishankar to meet Taliban foreign minister Muttaqi in Tashkent: External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, who is in Uzbekistan to attend the SCO meeting for foreign ministers, is expected to hold his first bilateral with the Taliban government.
10. Ola and Uber rubbish merger talks: Ola and Uber Technolohies Inc have denied any merger talks. An economic times report saying that the heads of both companies met in San Francisco, United States, sparked the speculation.