Crores of rupees lost due to disruptions

TOP NEWS IN NUTSHELLS (1 August 2021)

**NATIONAL NEWS**

• PEGASUS ROW: More than Rs 133 crores of Taxpayer’s money lost due to ongoing disruptions by the oppositions in both Houses of Parliament. Congress says, Govt. ploy to curtail monsoon session. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi terms the controversy over Pegasus snooping a “non-issue”. He said that Govt. is always ready for discussions on people-related issues.
• Business transaction disrupted: Ever since the Monsoon session began on 19 July, both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha witnessed repeated disruptions by the oppositions. Both Houses failed to transact any business after opposition uproar in favor of their demand for discussion on the Pegasus snooping row. The session is to conclude on 13 August.
• COVID-19: The Govt. has expressed concern over high positivity rate in 10 states. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday reviewed the Covid situation in Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Manipur. With over 80% active cases in these states in home isolation and in the absence of stringent monitoring the chances of spike in the cases are high. The govt. advised these states for stricter micro-containment zones.
• Covid-19 curbs extended in Karnataka: Karnataka CM B R Bommai announces extension of COVID-19 Guidelines for 15 more days in the state. CM’s announcement came following surge in the cases. Guidelines for Covid-19 surveillance, containment and caution, and additional activities permitted will remain in force throughout the state till 16 August morning. Bommai also said that resorts, homestay bookings have to be done only after mandatory procurement of negative RT-PCR report not older than 72 hours.
• Schools to reopen in Punjab: Punjab govt. allows the reopening of schools for all classes from August 2. The govt. has further relaxed restrictions in view of decline in Covid cases.
• Zika virus case: The first case of Zika virus reported in Maharashtra. A 50-year-old woman patient was found in Purandar tehsil in Pune district, said the Maharashtra Health deptt.
•  National Lokmanya Tilak Award: Cyrus Poonawalla, founder of the Serum Institute of India (SII) Pune, has been named the winner of the prestigious National Lokmanya Tilak Award 2021.SII is manufacturing covid vaccine named Covishield.
• Ayushman Bharat Scheme has covered nearly 10 crores families across the country, said in a report of Minister of Health and Family Welfare.  Presently 50 crore people are eligible for free treatment of up to an amount of Five lakh rupees under the scheme.
• E-RUPI: PM Modi will launch new digital payment solution e-RUPI on August 2. Apart from being a cashless and contactless instrument for digital payment, e-RUPI is a QR code or SMS string-based e-Voucher, which is delivered to the mobile of the beneficiaries.
• J&K encounter: Two top Jaish terrorists involved in Pulwama attack case were gunned down by security forces in an encounter on Saturday. One terrorist was identified as Abu Saifullah, the other one was later on identified as Sameer Dar. Sameer Dar was the cousin of Pulwama attacker Adil Ahmad Dar. NIA had charge sheeted both Sameer and Saifullah for 2019’s Pulwama attack case.
• IT raids: Income Tax detected unaccounted transactions of more than Rs 400 crores during the raid on a north India based ‘Pan Masala’ manufacturing group. Searches were carried out on 31 premises spread out in five cities. The said group is said to be involved also in the real estate business.

 **INTERNATIONAL NEWS**

• CORE COMMANDER LEVEL TALKS:12th round of Core Commander-level talks held on Saturday at the Moldo border point on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh. The main focus of the talk was to work out an agreement for 2nd phase of disengagement from Gogra & Hot Springs in Eastern Ladakh.
• TAJIKISTAN: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh took stock of the construction of a key road by the Border Road Organisation in Tajikistan. Tajikistan is a strategically key country for India in Central Asia.
• BRICS MEETING: Member countries of BRICS schedule to  meet in this month. BRICS members likely to adopt counter-terrorism action plan at a meeting of the National Security Advisers from the member countries.
• INDRA NAVY: The two-day biennial maritime exercise between Indian Navy and Russian Navy concluded in the Baltic Sea on 29^th July. After Navy, contingent of Indian Army leaves for Moscow for joint counter-terrorism exercise with Russian army. A 13-day mega military exercise will be held in Volgograd. Counter-terrorism operations will be the focus of the joint exercise and will help in strengthening the bilateral military relations between the two countries.
• SAUDI ARABIA TOURIST VISA: Saudi Arabia Govt. has allowed entry for tourist visa holders starting from today. The Tourism Ministry said that vaccinated tourists will be allowed to enter without having to be institutionally quarantined upon providing a negative Covid-19 PCR test and a vaccination certificate. Accepted vaccines will be Pfizer, Astrazeneca, Moderana and Johnson & Johnson.