| Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day's biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying safe. Gehlot moves MLAs to another resort ahead of trust vote Over 50 Congress MLAs belonging to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's camp, who were lodged in a hotel on the Jaipur-Delhi Highway amid the ongoing political crisis in Rajasthan, were being shifted to Jaisalmer today, Congress sources said. Three chartered flights carrying 54 MLAs to Jaisalmer did the first round of ferrying. The remaining legislators will go in the second round, the sources said. The MLAs were shifted after Rajasthan Chief Minister indicated that he will seek a confidence vote when the Assembly convenes next fortnight and claimed that the money offered to the MLAs to switch sides had increased sharply ahead of the session. In a related development, Congress chief whip in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly Mahesh Joshi on Friday moved the Supreme Court against a State High Court direction to the Speaker to maintain status quo in the disqualification proceedings initiated against ousted Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and 18 other dissident MLAs under the anti-defection law. Joshi said the High Court order on July 24 violated a Constitution Bench judgment of the Supreme Court passed in 1992. That verdict had categorically held that courts should not intervene in disqualification proceedings prior to a final decision from the Speaker. Judicial review of disqualification proceedings was very limited, his petition said. Output of eight core industries contract by 15% The much awaited "green shoots" continue to elude the Indian economy, with the output of eight core industries shrinking for the fourth consecutive month. The output of eight core infrastructure industries shrank by 15% in June due to a fall in the production of coal, crude oil, natural gas, steel, cement and electricity.  Image for representational purpose only. The eight core sectors had expanded by 1.2% in June 2019, data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on Friday showed. Barring fertilizer, all seven sectors -- coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, steel, cement, and electricity -- had recorded negative growth in May. During April-June 2020-21, the sector's output dipped by 24.6%, as compared to a positive growth of 3.4% in the same period previous year. These eight industries account for 40.27% of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of coronavirus cases reported from India stood at 16,89,388 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 36,469. India on Friday reported a record 55,078 new coronavirus cases. The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre to ensure that salaries of doctors and frontline healthcare workers who are involved in tackling the coronavirus pandemic were paid on time, PTI reported. The Centre informed that four states – Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka and Tripura – are yet to follow its orders on timely payment of salaries. Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation extended the suspension of international flights in the country till August 31. Spurious liquor claims 21 in Punjab, high-level probe ordered At least 21 people have died in several districts of Punjab after allegedly consuming toxic liquor. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has ordered a high-level probe into the tragedy. The senior Congress leader later tweeted that the guilty will not be spared. "I have ordered a magisterial enquiry into suspected spurious liquor deaths in Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran. Commissioner, Jalandhar Division, will conduct the enquiry and coordinate with concerned SSPs and other officers. Anyone found guilty will not be spared," Singh tweeted. Mehbooba Mufti's detention extended, Sajad Lone released The J&K government has released Peoples Conference (PC) chief Sajad Lone after 360 days, but extended the detention of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti by another three months. Both Mufti and Lone had been in detention since the clampdown was imposed on August 5 last year following the revocation of J&K's special status.  Former chief minster of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti. File Regional parties in J&K claimed that over two dozen mainstream leaders continue to remain under house arrest, even after completing detention periods in different sub-jails in Kashmir since August 5 last year. Lone was released today after having spent 360 days in house detention in Srinagar. "Finally, five days short of a year I have been officially informed that I am a free man. So much has changed. So have I," said Lone, son of assassinated leader Abdul Ghani Lone. The former J&K Minister said jail was not a new experience for him. "Earlier ones were harsh with usual doses of physical torture. But this was psychologically draining. Much to share hopefully soon," he said. UGC sticks to its guns on college exams by September-end The University Grants Commission (UGC) orally made a submission in the Supreme Court that students should not break their preparation for final year exams to be conducted "by the end of September 2020".  File photo for representation only. Though a UGC affidavit filed on July 31 said the exams were scheduled "by the end of September 2020" to give varsities sufficient time to make arrangements amid the pandemic, the same affidavit also goes on to inform the court that information received from 818 universities show that 603 varsities had conducted their final year exams or were in the process of conducting exams during August-September 2020. On Friday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the UGC, said, "Let nobody be under the impression that final exams will be stayed because Supreme Court is hearing the case. Students should continue to prepare for their exams." Hong Kong postpones election by a year, citing Covid-19 Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Friday postponed a September 6 election for seats in the city legislature for a year. She cited a spike in Covid-19 cases as the reason for the decision. The development is a blow to the pro-democracy opposition hoping to make gains in the vote, Reuters reported. The opposition was hoping to win a historic majority in the Legislative Council, where only half the seats are directly elected and the other half filled mostly by pro-Beijing appointees. Lam's postponement of the vote comes after 12 pro-democracy candidates were disqualified from running in the poll, for reasons that included perceived subversive intentions and their opposition to a new security law. In Brief: The coronavirus pandemic has given the world a chance to reflect and take "outrageously bold decisions" to create a new order, Nobel laureate and founder of the Grameen Bank Muhammad Yunus said in a virtual conversation with former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday. Instead of being eager to "get back to where they were", societies should think anew and create a world order where "there is no global warming, no wealth concentration and no unemployment," Yunus said. The conversation with the Nobel laureate is part of the dialogue series launched by Gandhi since pandemic outbreak in India. The Congress leader has interacted with experts from different fields and shared the videos online. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. | 
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