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. Rajasthan saga: Will approach President if needed, says Gehlot Addressing his MLAs at a Congress Legislature Party meeting today, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said that the Congress would even approach the President, if needed, for resolving the political stalemate in the State. "The BJP conspiracy will not be allowed to succeed. I will go to Rashtrapati Bhavan if needed," he said. Gehlot has accused the BJP of trying to topple his government by pressuring Governor Kalraj Mistra to stall a test of strength in the Assembly. On Friday night, Mishra had asked Gehlot to re-submit his request for an Assembly session. Meanwhile, the Rajasthan High Court's decision on Friday to hear in detail the challenge made by the Congress rebel MLAs against anti-disqualification laws has opened up the debate on what was considered settled law on the Tenth Schedule of Constitution. In 1992, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the apex court had upheld the constitutional validity of the 52nd amendment to the Constitution, through which anti-defection laws were introduced. Also, a Constitution Bench judgment of the Supreme Court has held that a Governor is bound to convene a meeting of the Assembly for a floor test on the recommendation of the Cabinet. The five-judge Constitution Bench judgment of the Supreme Court in Nabam Rebia versus Deputy Speaker on July 13, 2016 held that a Governor cannot employ his 'discretion', and should strictly abide by the "aid and advice" of the Cabinet to summon the House. Shivraj Singh Chouhan tests positive for coronavirus Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday announced on Twitter that he had tested positive for Covid-19. In a post, 61-year-old Chouhan wrote, "My beloved residents of the State, I was having Covid-19 symptoms, and after a test my report has come out to be positive." A motorcade transports Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to a COVID-19 coronavirus care centre in Chirayu Hospital from the Chief Minister's house after he was tested positive for COVID-19, in Bhopal on July 25, 2020. He appealed to those who came in contact with him to get themselves tested, and his close contacts to go into quarantine. BJP State media in-charge Lokendra Parashar said Chouhan would be admitted to Chirayu hospital, a private Covid-19 facility, for treatment. 'Significant numbers of ISIS terrorists in Kerala, Karnataka: UN report A UN report on terrorism has warned that there are significant numbers of ISIS terrorists in Kerala and Karnataka. It said that the al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent terror group, which reportedly has between 150 and 200 militants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, is planning attacks in the region. The flag of Islamic State. File The 26th report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team concerning ISIS, al-Qaida and associated individuals and entities said that the al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) operates under the Taliban umbrella from Nimruz, Helmand and Kandahar provinces of Afghanistan. According to the report, one member state reported that the ISIL Indian affiliate (Hind Wilayah), which was announced on May 10, 2019, has between 180 and 200 members, with a good number of them in Kerala and Karnataka. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of coronavirus infections reported from India stood at 13,83,769 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 32,090. India has really ramped up testing. For the first time, it has recorded more than 4.2 lakh Covid-19 tests being conducted in a single day. 4,20,898 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, while tests per million (TPM) have further increased to 11.845, and cumulative testing to 1,58,49,068, the Union Health Ministry said today. Chennai Corporation health worker takes a swab sample of a person for COVID-19 test in Kodambakkam in Chennai on July 24, 2020 Meanwhile, the Director of the Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH) Prof GVS Murthy has said that there cannot be a uniform peak in Covid-19 cases in a large country like India, since each State would have its own trajectory based on when people there were exposed to the infection. The peak could be witnessed in States like Delhi by July-end or early August while it may be around September in others such as Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka, Murthy said. "In states such as Jharkhand, it may take a longer time as the spread had started only after the return of the migrant labourers, he added. Congress sends objections to draft EIA Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday sent in his strong objections to the draft Environment Impact Assessment Notification (EIA) Notification 2020 to Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, stating that the proposed changes display a mindset that "environmental regulations are unnecessary regulatory burden". The former Environment Minister, who now heads the Parliamentary Committee on Science & Technology, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, said the notification ignores the health and welfare aspect of the people. "These changes are not based on the three As — audits, assessments and analyses…They reflect a mindset that sees environmental regulation as an unnecessary regulatory burden and not as an essential obligation to be met for the health and welfare of our people and for ensuring development that is sustainable," Ramesh said in the letter, which he posted on Twitter. "It allows for post facto approvals which go against the very principle of assessment and public participation prior to environment clearance and has provisions that will routinely legitimise illegality," the letter added. The draft notification is right now open to public comments before the government gives its final seal of approval. In Brief: During the four-day meeting of its top office-bearers that began on July 21 and concluded on Friday, the RSS discussed the Ram temple, the India-China border stand-off, and issues related to the Covid-19 pandemic, the PTI reported. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and other senior office-bearers discussed ways to hold the proposed "bhoomi pujan" of a Ram temple in Ayodhya in compliance with Covid-19 protocols. The conclave, held n the Sharda Vihar area on the outskirts of Bhopal, also saw discussions on ways to strengthen the Swadeshi movement to counter Chinese expansionism. In a declaration to the United Nations, Australia has formally rejected China's territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea, aligning itself more closely with the U.S. as tensions rise, the BBC reported. In its declaration, Australia said the claims, which take in the majority of the sea, have "no legal basis". Apart from the U.S. and Australia, other countries that have contested China's claims over the South China Sea region include Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. |
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