Bakeshwar Thermal Power Plant

The eastern zone bench of the National Green Tribunal has issued a cause notice to Bakreshwar Thermal Power Plant, asking why it should not be penalised for dumping fly-ash and polluting Chandrabhaga and Bakreshwar rivers in West Bengal. The tribunal questioned why the power plant will not be liable to pay a penalty of Rs 5 crore for causing environmental degradation. It also noted that the flyash is causing severe injury to the environment, the inhabitants as well as animals dependent on the river water.

Source: Eco-Business.com

Photo: Getty Images

General Dalbir Singh Suhag is visiting the Eastern Army Command for detailed briefings by the army as well as the civilian authorities on the security situation in the region. His visit comes close on the heels of two NSCN-K terrorists being killed in an encounter in Nagaland on Wednesday night. The security forces were fired upon by NSCN-K militants when they were investigating reports of forced recruitment of school boys and kidnappings from Avangkhu and Pokhungri villages by the militants.

Source: India Today

Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Photo: Carol Guzy/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Spiritual leader and the founder of Art of Living (AoL), Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has received death threats from the Pakistan-based militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the West Asia terror group, ISIS. The TTP had carried out the gruesome attack on an army school in Pakistan in which 132 schoolchildren and teachers had died. The Union Home Ministry has directed all states to beef up the security for Sri Sri whenever he is on tour. An AoL centre in Islamabad was set on fire by the Taliban and the ISIS had sent death threats to the spiritual leader's hotel in Penang, Malaysia, when he was on a tour of the country.

Photo: Getty Images

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's criticism of dynastic politics, mentioning 'political damaads', provoked Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi to talk about BJP's poor governance in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. On a one-day tour to Jammu to celebrate the birth centenary of former J&K minister Girdhari Lal Dogra, Modi said: "We all know how political damaads can be." A short while later, addressing party workers in Jaipur, Rahul retorted: "Modiji ka 56-inch ka chhati 5.6 inch ka ho jayega (Modiji 56-inch chest will shrink to 5.6 inches)." He also questioned PM's silence on the Lalit Modi controversy and the Vyapam scam.

Photo: Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times/Getty Images

Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader from Punjab, Daljit Singh, who had openly criticised the party leadership has been expelled for his "anti-party activities." Singh had been issued a show cause notice earlier this week in which he was charged with damaging the party's image. The rift in AAP has taken place just three months after the party split, with founding members Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav leaving the party. Resentment has been brewing in AAP's Punjab unit over the highly centralised decision-making process in the party, particularly with regard to the state elections in 2017.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has vowed to launch a major offensive against the Paresh Barua-led ULFA, after tension gripped the Hindi-speaking people in Tinsukhia following the murder of a trader and his daughter. The killing of Nandalal Sahu and his daughter Kajol, allegedly by ULFA militants, has led to protests and agitations in the district. There is also apprehension among the Hindi-speaking people of the area after the incident. Gogoi also blamed the Myanmar government for harbouring the militants. Assam Environment and Forest Minister, Atuwa Munda has been in Tinsukia since 15 July view of the sensitive situation.

Ambassador Gholamreza Ansari has said in an interview that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has asked India to invest in infrastructure projects worth $8 billion, including an expanded role in developing the strategic Chabahar port for access to Afghanistan and Central Asia. Rouhani had suggested a larger role for India during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's summit in Russia, just days before the historic nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers. Ansari blamed "a wall of American pressure" for impeeding Indo-Iran ties.

A five-month-old baby girl was partly eaten and torn apart by stray pigs in Balusupally village near Hyderabad. The baby had been left by her mother, a labourer, in the care of her 11-year-old daughter. As all the five children in the family are girls, it has led to suspicions that the mother deliberately left the baby alone and unprotected. The children's father, S Narsimulu, had committed suicide four months ago as he was unable to pay his debts. The police is investigating the incident.

Photo: Getty Images

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has once again praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that he leaves a "positive impression" during his foreign visits. Tharoor added that Modi does the "right thing" in which ever country he travels to. However, Tharoor, a former Minister of State for External Affairs, also added that there has been no change in India's foreign policy, as the Prime Minister has been pursuing the ones framed by the previous UPA government. He was speaking at the launch of C Raja Mohan's book, 'Modi's World: Expanding India's Sphere of Influence'.

United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation's Director-General, Irina Bokova has called on the Indian authorities to investigate the mysterious death of TV reporter Akshay Singh, who had mysteriously died while covering the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh. She said that such crimes against journalists must not go unpunished. Bokova said: "It is essential for rule of law and for society's right to be kept informed, that the authorities do all they can to clarify the cause of Singh's death. Reporters must be able to carry out their professional duties in a safe environment and crimes against them must not go unpunished."

Due to mounting tension on the India Pakistan border, Pakistani Rangers refused to accept sweets offered by the BSF on the occasion of Eid. Security personnel at the border have maintained a tradition of exchanging sweets on important festivals, at the International Border in Jammu and along the Attari-Wagah border in Amritsar in Punjab. The BSF Deputy Inspector General in Amritsar, MF Farooqui, told reporters that their gesture of giving sweets on the occasion of Eid was not reciprocated by the Pakistanis at the Attari-Wagah border.

An attack by the Islamic State in a crowded market in Iraq's eastern Diyala province has killed 115 people. Most of those killed were Shias, in an attack thought to be one of the deadliest attacks in the past decade. A small truck blew up in a crowded marketplace at a time when people were shopping for Eid celebrations. Later, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on Twitter. Diyala, which borders Iran, is the only province in Iraq where Iranian jets are known to have conducted airstrikes against the Islamic State group earlier this year.

Upholding India's claims, the Communist Party of China's People's Daily newspaper has said that the 'spy' drone shot by the Pakistani army was made in China. The daily said that the DJI Phantom 3 drone is 'the most intelligent, most powerful, and most accessible drone to date'. The report added that the drone sells for $1,200 (Rs 75,000) each. Indian Foreign Secretary, S Jaishankar had clarified that Pakistani claims about the drone were not true, as the Indian forces did not own such a drone. Refuting the claims made by Pakistan, he had said: "It appears to be of Chinese design, and is commercially available off-the-shelf."