Top stories on 9 August in a capsule

RS Sharma reappointed for 2 yrs as TRAI Chief 

Telecom Regulatory Association of India (TRAI) Chairperson RS Sharma, who had infamously made his Aadhaar number public on microblogging site Twitter in a bid to challenge hackers, got an extension of two years just a day before his retirement. The Union government through the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) issued the cancellation of Ram Sewak Sharma’s resignation while the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi passed the order. A 1982 Jharkhand cadre batch IAS, Sharma joined as the TRAI Chief in 2015. During his tenure he worked on issues like cancelling the interoperability fee, slashing pricing of operators and more.

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Conflict in Bengal cricket grows over Ganguly, Banerjee debate

Legendary cricketer Sourav Ganguly who is currently heading the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) engaged with a war of words with state association ombudsman Ushanath Banerjee over the controversy of selectors on the board. Days ago Banerjee had received an anonymous letter talking about Ganguly being upset over the hierarchy in the recently inducted members of the Bengal selection committees Palash Nandy and Madan Ghosh, with Ghosh being a junior. Reacting to the letter, Ganguly said “the official ombudsman of the Association should not entertain such letters, which as per me is written with notorious intent rather than actual awareness of the facts.” Meanwhile, while addressing media agencies Banerjee in his response stated not revealing such details would ‘further depict and permit non-transparent acts and conducts.’
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SC questions Maha govt on dance bars licensing

The Supreme Court on Thursday slammed the Maharashtra government for providing licenses for dance bars to operate even after the court gave orders in its favour. “It seems like total moral policing is going on in the state,” the bench of Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said while hearing final petitions challenging a new law, which put restrictions on the licensing and functioning of dance bars in the state. As for the state, the law titled Maharashtra Prohibition of Obscene Dance in Hotels, Restaurants and Bar Rooms and Protection of Dignity of Women Act, 2016 protects woman from dances and acts that are ‘derogatory to their dignity’ and ‘injure public morality.’
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Cabinet approves provision of bail in Triple Talaq

The union cabinet on Thursday approved inclusion of a provision of granting bail to men found guilty of giving instant triple talaq to men. The 'Muslim Women Protection of Rights on Marriage Bill' was cleared by Lok Sabha and is pending in Rajya Sabha where the government lacks numbers. Provision of bail was one of the demands of the opposition parties. A woman can also seek the custody of her minor children from the magistrate who will take a final call on the issue. The proposed law would only be applicable on instant triple talaq or 'talaq-e-biddat' and it would give power to the victim to approach a magistrate seeking "subsistence allowance" for herself and minor children.

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Sensex ends above 38,000 for first time led by banking stocks 

Indian equity benchmarks extended record breaking spree with BSE Sensex closing above 38,000 for first time. Nifty too rose 20.70 points, or 0.18 per cent, to close at 11,470.70, surpassing its previous high of 11,450 reached on Wednesday. Today’s up move was fueled by a rally in banking shares. The index has taken 11 sessions to scale the 38,000 mark from 37,000 level reached on July 26. ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, NTPC and Vedanta were among the top gainers, whereas Bharti Airtel, ONGC, Titan, Kotak Bank and Cipla were among the major losers.

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22 killed in Kerala due to heavy rains, major dams opened 

At least 22 deaths were reported from Kerala as heavy rains lashed across the state, bring flood like situation and landslides on Thursday. With water levels of many river on a dangerous rise, around 22 dam were opened including the Idukki dam that drained out the water for the first time since 1992. With the incessant rain creating a havoc, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan addressing the media he has requested for help from the national security forces. “We have sought help from the Indian Army, Navy, Coast Guard & National Disaster Response Force (NDRF),” he said. Moreover, train and flight services suffered a few delays but had no major changes in schedule. In a recent update, the Kerala warned public against high levels of water, at 2399.56 ft, after the Idukki dam was opened.

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9 states refuse to follow SC order on audit of shelter homes

The investigation around cases of sexual assault in shelter homes across India took an ugly turn on Thursday as nine states refused to comply with the government orders of providing an audit of all the child care intuitions based within them. The states that refused include- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Delhi, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh. As per a report by Times of India, ‘the agency appointed for pan-India mapping and audit of children’s homes as per the directions of the Supreme Court has been denied access to child care institutions in nine states.’ The top court on September 2017 had set a deadline for December last year to give details of shelter homes across India after 57 girls were reported missing from Agra protection home on May 2017. Recently, the government of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were shamed after cases of sex racket and minors missing were reported from shelter homes.

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Death toll in Indonesia earthquake rises to 259, island suffers 355th tremor

The death toll in Indonesia's Lombok region which had experienced a massive earthquake on Sunday, raised to 259 after another tremor shook the island nation on Thursday morning. The new quake, measured 6.2 magnitude in Richter scale, was the biggest one of the 355 aftershocks that were activated since Sunday. The large amount of damage and deaths seems to be confusing official recirds, as according to a report by The Guardian Data from the national army indicated that as many as 381 have died, while the governor of West Nusa Tenggara region put the figure at 226. The national disaster agency has reported 259 deaths so far.

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