Top stories on 24th July in a capsule

Maratha Reservation Protests: Bandh to be observed in Mumbai today

The Maratha Kranti Morcha is all to set to observe protests in Mumbai today, continuing their agitation of yesterday against the death of a youth protestor. Issuing a official statement on Tuesday a spokesperson of the group had said,“We will observe a peaceful bandh in Thane, Navi Mumbai and Raigad on Wednesday." Violence erupted across Maharashtra over the issue of Maratha reservations on Tuesday, hours after a 28-year-old protester Kakasaheb Shinde committed suicide by jumping into river Godavari. The protesting Maratha community organization, Maratha Kranti Morcha have been seeking reservation in government jobs and education. Following the incident, the group resorted to burning a police van and a state transport bus, disturbing traffic and blocked the Ahmednagar-Aurangabad highway. 

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Pakistan General elections 2018: Voting for a new government begins

Pakistan is all set to vote for its 19th Prime Minister, in the nation where the power clash is clearly defined between the country’s armed forces and the political parties. The voting will begin at 8 am, with 105,955.407 registered voters participating in 85,000 polling booths. The country has arranged for heavy security by deploying 4,00,000 police officers and 3,71,000 army troops- the largest ever arrangement for an electoral process. The key players in the contest for the 272 general seats of the National Assembly and 577 general seats of the four provincial assemblies are- jailed former PM Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N, dynast Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s PPP and cricketer turned politician Imran Khan’s PTI.

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Alwar Lynching Case: Rajasthan Home Minister admits to police negligence 

Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria on Tuesday admitted that the all the evidences in the Alwar lynching case pointed towards negligence on part of the police leading to the death of the victim. Addressing a press conference, Mr Kataia said, "According to the evidence we have collected, it looks like a custodial death.” Khan and his friend Aslam were attacked by a group of people with sticks and firearms, while they were taking a herd of cows they had purchased to their village. Media agencies, based on eyewitnesses account had reported that the police wasted time in tending to the victim by securing the cows first and then stopping for 'tea' on their way.
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Heatwave in Japan kills 80, declared 'natural disaster'

The death toll in Japan’s ever-rising heat wave reached to 80 on Tuesday, with 65 of the deaths being recorded just in a week and the country’s weather agency declaring it a ‘natural disaster’. According to a report by news agency BBC, “more than 22,000 people have been taken to hospital with heat stroke, nearly half of them elderly,” quoting a source from the weather agency. The highest ever temperature was recorded in Japan on Monday with the city of Kumagaya witnessing 41.1 Celsius. Moreover, as per news reports, the Japan Meteorological Agency has said that the temperatures would continue to be on a high at 35C or higher until early August.
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4 women lynched, stripped naked by mob in West Bengal

Four women were beaten and stripped naked by a mob in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district on Monday on suspicion of being child-lifters. This is the fourth such incident in the district in which people were attacked on suspicion of being child lifters. The women had gone to the Daukimari village market, about five km from where they live (Dhupguri). Some people in the market reportedly created panic by saying that the women were child abductors, and a mob gathered to attack the women, also stripping two of them. Jalpaiguri superintendent of police Amitabha Maity said, “The rumour of child-lifting was spread by people who wished to disturb the law and order in the district. “We are creating awareness on this through media. People should contact the police on the helpline if they find someone suspicious, but not take law into their own hands,” he said.

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At least 60 dead, 26 bodies recovered in Greece forest fire tragedy

At least 60 people were dead, out of which the bodies of 26 were recovered as massive wildfires raged near the capital city of Athens in Greece on Tuesday. The fires traveling at a speed 80 kilometers/per hour forced the public to seek shelter at the beaches in the country which receive a good number of tourists around the year. According to a report by Aljazeera, officials quoted the number of injured at 150. As of now, a state of emergency has been declared in Greece, with rescue operations being carried out by the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC). Countries like Cyprus and Spain have offered their assistance in controlling the disaster.

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Indian deposits in Swiss banks have gone down: Piyush Goyal

Finance Minister Piyush Goyal told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday that the Indian deposit in Swiss Banks have fallen by 34.5 percent in 2017 and by 80 percent since the NDA government has come to power in 2014. The minister made the following statements in a rebuttal against the Opposition Congress party’s allegations that the deposits have increased in the international bank. Giving the statements during the question hour of the Rajya Sabha, the minister said the correct way to assess the figures is not according to the Swiss National Bank (SNB) statistic, but as per the Locational Banking Statistics (LBS) of Bank of International Settlements (BIS), which takes in consideration the ‘non-bank loans and deposits, which constitute the individual and corporate deposits and exclude inter-bank transactions,’ according to Economic Times.

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