| 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. Former President Pranab Mukherjee passes away Former President Pranab Mukherjee passed away today at the age of 84. The news was announced via Twitter by his son Abhijit. "With a heavy heart , this is to inform you that my father Shri #PranabMukherjee has just passed away in spite of the best efforts of doctors of RR Hospital & prayers, duas & prarthanas from people throughout India! I thank all of you," Abhijit Mukherjee tweeted. Mukherjee developed a lung infection on August 19. Earlier, on August 10, he underwent lifesaving emergency surgery for a brain clot and has since been on ventilator support. He had also tested positive for Covid-19. President Ram Nath Kovind, Mukherjee's immediate successor at Rashtrapati Bhavan, condoled his death and said it was the "passing of an era." "India grieves the passing away of Bharat Ratna Shri Pranab Mukherjee. He has left an indelible mark on the development trajectory of our nation. A scholar par excellence, a towering statesman, he was admired across the political spectrum and by all sections of society," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also expressed condolences on the passing of Mukherjee. "With great sadness, the nation receives the news of the unfortunate demise of our former president Shri Pranab Mukherjee, I join the country in paying homage to him," he said. India's GDP contracted by 23.9% in April-June quarter India's GDP shrank by a steep 23.9% in the April-June quarter as coronavirus lockdowns battered an already slowing economy, official data showed on Monday. This is the economy's worst ever performance since 1996, when India began releasing quarterly figures. This was also "worse than any of the world's biggest economies", Bloomberg reported. Data also showed that manufacturing was in full recession, as output fell by a whopping 39.3% in the June quarter, close on the heels of a 1.4% drop in the previous quarter. Analysts believe that India is on course for its first full-year contraction in four decades.  On the day the GDP numbers came in, the BSE index fell 839 points (2.13%)to close at 38,628, while the NSE Nifty settled 260 points (2.23%) lower at 11,388. Prashant Bhushan fined ₹1 by Supreme Court for contempt of court A three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Arun Mishra on Monday punished civil rights lawyer Prashant Bhushan with a ₹1 fine for committing criminal contempt with his two tweets. The court said Bhushan, who was present at the sentence hearing held via video conference, had to pay the fine by September 15 or face three months' simple imprisonment and a three-year ban on legal practice. Bhushan duly paid the fine but indicated that he will seek a review of the original judgement that convicted him of contempt of court.  Activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan during a press conference on the judgement by Supreme Court at Press Club, in New Delhi on August 31, 2020. Justice Mishra, who read out the sentence judgment, said the court had on "not one, but several occasions" asked Bhushan to express regret for his tweets. It had, nonetheless, considered Attorney General K.K. Venugopal's suggestion to take into account the professional good done by Bhushan. Reacting to the sentencing, Bhushan, in a statement said, "I propose to submit myself to this order and will respectfully pay the fine, just as I would have submitted to any other lawful punishment." Another escalation in Ladakh as PLA intrudes again In an escalation of the ongoing standoff on the border in Ladakh, Chinese troops carried out aggressive moves to change the status quo on the South Bank of Pangong Tso and the attempts had been thwarted, the Army said on Monday. "On the night of August 29/30, 2020, PLA troops violated the previous consensus arrived at during military and diplomatic engagements during the ongoing standoff in Eastern Ladakh and carried out provocative military movements to change the status quo," the Army said in a statement. Indian troops pre-empted this PLA activity on the Southern Bank of the Pangong Tso Lake, undertook measures to strengthen our positions and thwart Chinese intentions to unilaterally change facts on ground, the Army said. A Brigade Commander-level flag meeting was in progress at Chushul to resolve the issues, the Army added.  Indian army trucks drive near Pangong Tso lake near the India China border in India's Ladakh area. File While the Army is not sharing operational details at this point, a defence source said that there was movement by PLA troops in the Chushul sector, following which the Indian Army, too, repositioned its troops as a precaution to foil any misadventure. Around 25 PLA soldiers intruding across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) were blocked by Indian troops, a defence source said. Around 100 PLA soldiers were also seen below Black Top hill just across the LAC. There was no physical clash, a second source stated. In the wake of this latest confrontation in Ladakh, the Kashmir-Ladakh road has been closed for civilian traffic to ensure that movement of military vehicles is not disturbed. Adani Enterprises gets majority stake to run Mumbai airport Adani Enterprises Ltd. has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire majority stake in the company that runs the Mumbai International Airport. With this, Adani also will get control of the new airport coming up at Navi Mumbai. This deal is subject to regulatory approval. "We would like to inform that Adani Airport Holdings Ltd. (AAHL), the flagship holding company of Adani Group for its airports business (and a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd.) has entered into an agreement to acquire the debt of GVK Airport Developers Ltd. (GVK ADL)," Adani Enterprises said in a filing with stock exchanges. GVK ADL is the holding company through which the GVK Group holds 50.50% equity stake in Mumbai International Airport Ltd. (MIAL), which in turns holds 74% equity stake in Navi Mumbai International Airport Limited (NMIAL). Along with Mumbai, the Adani Group, headed by billionaire Gautam Adani, has also won concession agreements for six other airports—Jaipur, Guwahati, Ahmedabad, Mangaluru, Lucknow and Thiruvananthapuram. First commercial flight between Israel and UAE The first historic commercial flight between Israel and the UAE left for Abu Dhabi on Monday from the Ben-Gurion airport, days after the normalisation of relations between the two countries under U.S. mediation. The flight was carrying a high-level Israeli delegation led by National Security Adviser Meir Ben Shabbat and a U.S. delegation headed by President Donald Trump's adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, and U.S. National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien. Israel and the UAE announced on August 13 that that they were establishing full diplomatic relations, following a U.S.-brokered deal that required Israel to suspend its plan to annex parts of the West Bank. UAE is only the third Arab country to establish diplomatic ties with Israel. Egypt and Jordan, are the other two Arab nations that recognise the Jewish state. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has extended the suspension of scheduled international flights till September 30. "However, international scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on a case-to-case basis," the DGCA circular said. International flights have been barred since March 23. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah was on Monday discharged from Delhi's All India Institute Of Medical Sciences after post Covid-19 care. He had been admitted on August 18. West Bengal will observe a complete lockdown on September 7, 11 and 12. A notification in this regard was released today. As per Unlock 4 guidelines issued by the Centre, the Union government has to be consulted before such lockdown decisions. However, the state's Chief Secretary said that the West Bengal government will go ahead with this lockdown schedule. The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 36,79,751 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 65,436. In Brief: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a review petition filed by fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya against a 2017 verdict of contempt. The court had found Mallya guilty of contempt for wilful disobedience of its order to come clean on his assets, and for not disclosing that he had received a sum of $40 million from British liquor major Diageo Plc. following his resignation as Chairman of United Spirits Limited in February 2016.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
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