New criminal laws will prioritise justice: Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that it would take up to three or four years for the "entire process" and relevant "technical aspects" of the three new criminal laws to become fully applicable.

The Home Minister said the three laws were available in all the languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, which included Ta- mil, and the court proceedings would also take place in those languages.

June's gross GST revenue growth slows to a three-year low; no official statement

Growth in India's gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections slowed to a three-year low in June, with revenues rising about 7.74% to about ₹1.74 lakh crore from ₹1,61,497 crore collected in the year-earlier period, according to numbers shared informally by officials.

The Finance Ministry, which generally releases monthly GST revenue collections on the first of every subsequent month, including details about trends on State-wise collections and revenues collected from domestic transactions and imports, had not officially issued any statement on June's indirect tax receipts.

Govt. undecided on deadline to fix boundaries for Census

The deadline to freeze administrative boundaries of districts, tehsils, towns, municipal bodies and others for the Census exercise ended on Sunday, but a new date has not been announced. 

The ambiguity has a direct impact on the dates of the Census exercise that was previously held in 2011. The deadline has been extended nine times since December 2020. 

A former Census official said an order for a post-facto extension could be issued on a later date, but if that was not done, it meant doors were open for the Census exercise in the next three to six months. 

The order on December 30, 2023, which extended the freezing of administrative boundaries by State governments till June 30, 2024, effectively pushed the decennial Census exercise at least till October 1 as it usually takes three months to prepare the enumerators for the task. 

NHRC issues notice to Centre, T.N. govt. over recruitment practices at Foxconn

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued notice to the Secretary, Union Ministry of Labour and Employment, and the Chief Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu calling for a detailed report on reports that Foxconn, a major manufacturer of Apple devices, "systematically excluded" married women from jobs at its iPhone assembly plant in Sriperumbudur. 

It was alleged by a former human resources (HR) executive at Foxconn India that verbal directions were given to the Indian hiring agencies by the company in this regard. It was also stated that the company did not hire married women because of cultural issues and societal pressure.

"The Commission has observed that the contents of the media reports, if true, raise a serious issue of discrimination against married women causing the violation of the right to equality and equal opportunity," the NHRC said.

Sense of uncertainty

The three new criminal laws have come into force in the country, amidst widespread fears that the policing and judicial systems are not yet ready for their introduction. 

Barring reports of some rudimentary training to station-house police personnel, some workshops here and there, and an upgrade to the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems, which will help ease the filing of complaints in electronic form, the exact level of preparedness among the upper and lower echelons of the police is unknown. 

Israel is facing a strategic defeat in Gaza

When Israel declared its war on Gaza, following a cross-border attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, killing at least 1,200 people, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his forces would "crush" the Islamist militant group. 

Since then, Israeli leaders have said, several times, that "eliminating" Hamas is the top objective of the war. 

Gaza, the tiny Palestinian enclave sandwiched between Israel proper and the Mediterranean Sea, has practically been under an Israeli blockade since 2007. 

After the October 7 attack, Israel imposed a total siege on Gaza. It first pounded the enclave with heavy air strikes before launching an all-out invasion. 

What is on the agenda for the 16th Finance Commission?

Despite the efforts of five commissions since the 11th Finance Commission, financial devolution to cities remain inadequate. The fiscal health of municipalities is poor, affecting both city productivity and quality of life.

The 13th Finance Commission observed that "parallel agencies and bodies are emasculating local governments both financially and operationally."

The 16th FC must consider India's urbanisation dynamism and ensure IGTs to urban areas are at least doubled. 

Will ensure complete synergy with Navy, Air Force, says Army chief

The Chief of the Army Staff, General Upendra Dwivedi, said it would be his "endeavour to ensure that the Army is always ready to operate in the full spectrum of conflict, maintaining complete synergy with the Navy, Air Force, and other stakeholders". 

General Dwivedi was speaking after inspecting a Guard of Honour on South Block lawns. "This will ensure that India's interests are secured, and we become a major pillar of nation-building to achieve the vision of Viksit Bharat-2047," he said. 

Field evaluation trials of submarine bids under Project 751 complete

The Navy's mega-submarine deal under Project-751, estimated at over 43,000 crore, has crossed a major milestone in the process with the field evaluation trials (FET) to check the compliance of the bids received now complete. 

There are two contenders in the fray: Germany's Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) and Navantia of Spain.

The evaluation report will now be compiled and presented to the Defence Ministry, which will declare the technical complaint bids which is expected to take about two months, a defence official explained.

Diplomatic sources said that Navantia would be demonstrating the Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system fitted in a submarine operating on the surface and not submerged and that the submerged performance would be demonstrated in due course. 

After scorching June, surplus rainfall predicted in July

Rainfall in July typically the rainiest of the four monsoon months is likely to be 'above normal' or greater than 106% of the 28 cm that is usual for July, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Monday. After 'below normal' rainfall in June, the surplus rainfall in July is expected to help agriculture and boost prospects for kharif sowing.

The munificent July rain is premised on a 60% chance of the emergence of a La Nina the converse of an El Nino and the cooling of the central equatorial Pacific by a degree or more. 

Historically, 20 of the 25 years since 1950 that have seen 'below normal' rain in June have resulted in 'normal' or 'above normal' rain in July, Mr Mohapatra said. 

India, Pak. exchange lists of civilian prisoners, fishermen

India and Pakistan exchanged the lists of civilian prisoners and fishermen in each other's custody, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said and added that 2,639 Indian fishermen and 71 civilian prisoners have been repatriated from Pakistan since 2014 as a result of New Delhi's sustained efforts. 

Under the provisions of the bilateral Agreement on Consular Access 2008, such lists are exchanged every year on January 1 and July 1, the MEA said in a statement. "India and Pakistan exchanged, through diplomatic channels simultaneously at New Delhi and Islamabad, the lists of civilian prisoners and fishermen in each other's custody," it said. 

PMI signals manufacturing rebound

Manufacturing activity rebounded in June, with an uptick in new orders, output and input purchases, even as producers raised goods' prices by the greatest extent in more than two years, and scaled up hiring to the highest level in at least 19 years, as per a survey-based index.

The HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) increased to 58.3 in June, from May's 57.5, indicating a sharper improvement in business conditions. 

RBI, and ASEAN to create a platform for instant retail payments

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and ASEAN countries have decided to create a platform to facilitate instant cross-border retail payments.

The platform is expected- ed to go live by 2026.

In a statement, RBI said it had joined Project Nexus, a multilateral international initiative to enable instant cross-border retail payments by interlinking domestic fast payments systems (FPSs).

Nexus, conceptualised by the Innovation Hub of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), aims to connect FPSs of four ASEAN countries (Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand); and India, who would be the founding members and first mover countries of this platform. 

Taliban to bring up economic curbs at talks

Taliban authorities said on that they would press the international community over economic sanctions as they attended a UN-hosted summit in Doha with special representatives to Afghanistan for the first time.

senior Foreign Ministry official Zakir Jalaly said the Taliban delegation would use the meetings to address "financial and banking sanctions" and the "challenges" these pose to Afghanistan's economy.