- Rupee Crosses 69-Mark Against US Dollar In Early Trade, Sheds 8 Paise
The rupee fell 8 paise to trade at 69.03 against the US dollar in early trade today on appreciation of the American currency overseas and sustained foreign capital outflows. This is the rupee’s third straight slide, which dealers say is mostly due to demand for the US currency and a lower opening in the domestic equity market. With the US set to impose tariffs on Chinese goods today, investors feared it could trigger a full-scale global trade war. Read more here.
- Rajasthan: BJP Govt Spends Rs 7.23 Crore On PM Modi’s July 7 Rally; Trains People To Answer Modi’s Questions ‘Positively’
The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) government in Rajasthan has allocated a whopping Rs 7.23 crore only for transportation of attendees to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Jaipur on July 7. Ironically, the Vasundhara Raje dispensation has arranged 5,579 buses to bring over 2.5 lakh “beneficiaries” of Modi government’s schemes, from different parts of the state to the rally. Read more here.
- You Could Be Next- 6 Reasons People Have Been Lynched, Including Trying To Protect Their Face From The Sun
The Indian Express, in its report on Friday, revealed that 27 people have lost their lives in 15 cases of lynchings, across nine different states in the past one year. The fact that all these innocents died because of rumours spread on social media is utterly disturbing. According to The Indian Express report, on an average, the nearest police station was within 10 kms from the crime scene in these 27 killings. Read more here.
- MSP Hike An Eyewash, Centre’s Claim Misleading: Agriculture Experts
Agriculture experts and activists from Maharashtra have criticised the Centre for its “false and misleading” claim that the MSP of kharif crops has been hiked by 50 per cent. According to them, the government first reduced the input costs of supplements required for farming and then increased the MSP. They also said that the Centre considered all the input costs lower than what they were in the previous financial year, before raising the MSP. Read more here.
- Man Followed By PM Modi Says Women Must Stop Wearing Mini Skirts And Start Doing Pooja
A Twitter user ‘Madhav’ on Thursday shared his views on women’s dressing while citing an incident which took place when he visited a Mumbai restaurant. Madhav, who is also ‘blessed’ to be followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes that women wearing short-length clothes are trying to ‘attract others by exposing their bodies’. This open display of misogyny is a common trait among right-wing trolls. They are tasked with spreading vile comments and spewing their thoughts on Indian culture and tradition to demean others. Read more here.
- Yale, Harvard, Princeton Scholars Register Protest As Pakistanis Denied Visa To Attend Conference In Delhi
Around 80 scholars from universities like Yale, Harvard and Princeton protested against Ministry of External Affairs’ decision to deny visa to Pakistanis to attend the Association of Asian Studies (AAS) – in Asia conference in Delhi from July 5-8. As the news that Pakistani scholars will not participate in the conference surfaced, the other participants, who were already in Delhi to take part in the event decided to register a crowd-funded protest. Read more here.
- Uttar Pradesh: Woman Tied To Tree, Beaten On Panchayat’s Order In Muzaffarnagar
A woman was allegedly tied from a tree and beaten up on the orders of a panchayat in a village here over an “illicit relationship” with her brother-in-law’s son, police said today. The incident happened yesterday in Toda village under Ratenpuri police station in the district and came to light after a purported video of the “punishment” went viral on the social media, Circle Officer Hariram Yadav said. Read more here.
- High Court Pulls Up Adityanath Police For Lucknow University Vandalism
The Allahabad High Court today pulled up the Uttar Pradesh Police for the manner in which it responded to the complaint of the Lucknow University authorities about an incident of vandalism on its campus earlier this week. The Lucknow bench of the high court expressed indignation when the DGP, Lucknow SSP, LU vice-chancellor, registrar and proctor appeared before it on a summons in connection with the incident. Read more here.
- Gherao Over Admissions Continue At Jadavpur University; JUTA To Observe Ceasework Today
The gherao of Jadavpur University Vice-Chancellor Suranjan Das and other executive committee members has been continuing for over 24 hours now, as a section of a students’ union protest against the varsity’s move to scrap admission tests for six humanities subjects. The university yesterday announced that it would admit undergraduate students in English, Comparative Literature, Bengali, History, Political Science and Philosophy only on the basis of board marks, reversing its last week’s decision to hold entrance tests. Read more here.
- Lynching Makes Me Happy: BJP Tripura CM Biplab
In an attempt to doge a reporter’s question about the increasing cases of lynching in the state, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb underlined that “there is a wave of happiness”. At the newly renamed Agartala airport on Wednesday, Deb said,“I think that you all should think that today there is a wave of happiness in Tripura. You should also enjoy this happiness wave and you will also become happy. And you think for once…. Look at my face, how happy I am.” Read more here.
- Nawaz Sharif Sentenced To 10 Years
An accountability court in Pakistan today sentenced ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif to 10 years in prison in one of the three corruption cases against him in the high-profile Panama Papers scandal. The court delivered the verdict after postponing it for four times in the Avenfield corruption case — pertaining to the ownership of four flats in the posh Avenfield House in London. Read more here.