News of the day

1. A 4-day breather from action, not politics The court: The Rajasthan High Court that is hearing a petition filed by former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot’s camp against the disqualification notices issued to them, directed the state assembly speaker not to take any action on the rebel MLAs before 5:30 pm on Tuesday. The speaker was supposed to take up the matter on Friday. The court hearing would resume on Monday. The politics: The ruling party demanded the arrest of Union minister and BJP leader Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and a rebel Congress MLA (who it later suspended) after two audio clips surfaced in which some people are purportedly heard discussing plans to topple the state government. The minister denied that it was his voice in the clips. The police registered two FIRs to probe the clips and “horsetrading of MLAs”. The rebels: In a surprising move, Sachin Pilot, who has taken the Congress to court spoke to senior party leader P Chidambaram on Thursday to "seek his advice". A team of Rajasthan Police was stopped for about one-and-a-half hours by Haryana Police from entering the hotel in Manesar where the Congress MLAs are staying. The team was there to collect voice samples of rebel MLA Bhanwar Lal Sharma, who, according to the Congress, is heard on tape discussing bribes from the BJP. Two days ago, the Haryana chief minister had said: “Private hotels are open for everyone, anyone can stay there. The Haryana government has no role in it (rebels’ accommodation)," Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said. Meanwhile, Bihar’s nine opposition parties came together to oppose Election Commission’s decision to prohibit the traditional mode of campaign and allow only a virtual one, reports The Hindu. Their joint memorandum pointed out that only 34% of Bihar’s voters had a smartphone and therefore “it will be a travesty of unparalleled proportion to officially legitimise a mode of election campaign which is not only severely limiting but exclusionary by design”.

2. No respite for inundated Assam Heavy rains continue to pummel the eastern and northeastern states of India, and would continue to do so for the coming days. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast heavy rainfall, thunderstorms or squall in Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, among other states, for the coming days. In its Friday bulletin, IMD said “favourable meteorological conditions” may “accentuate existing flood conditions and also lead to landslides in some areas of northeastern states and sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim”. In Assam, the floods have claimed 76 lives to date, including five on Friday. Including casualties from landslides, the number rises to 102. As many 3.6 million people across 28 districts have been affected by the floods, Assam State Disaster Management Authority said. The Brahmaputra is flowing above dangerous levels. Nearly 50,000 people have been rendered homeless in 19 districts, the Times of India reported on Thursday. At the Kaziranga National Park, 76 animals have been killed, as per official record. This includes at least two one-horned rhinos. Nearly 90% of the Kaziranga is submerged. The Tea Association of India has said the combined weight of the pandemic and floods have brought the industry “to its knees”. Assam’s tea industry was already struggling with a shortage of workforce, and now most gardens of upper Assam have been inundated, The Telegraphreported. Also: The Dalai Lama, in a letter to Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal, said he is making a donation from the Dalai Lama Trust towards flood relief efforts. India national team captain and football icon Sunil Chhetri urged the country to assist Assam; “Assam needs as much attention and help as possible,” he wrote on Twitter. In Bihar, at least nine rivers, swollen by heavy downpours in Nepal rose beyond their danger levels and submerged several villages. Bagmati river was flowing above the danger mark in Sitamarhi, Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga; Kamla Balan in Madhubani; and Kosi and Mahananda rivers in Purnia, Katihar and Khagaria districts. Though water level of Gandak and other rivers originating in Nepal was receding, the accumulated floodwaters continue to leave a trail of misery. Masan river has damaged crops in over 100 acres in West Champaran.

3. India’s new urban Covid hotspots Among India’s nine largest urban centres (with 5 million+ population), it is now Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune that are witnessing the most rapid rise in Covid cases, while the outbreak in earlier epicentres — Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Ahmedabad — is slowing down. Bengaluru has witnessed the highest rate of increase in cases — at an average 12.9% per day in the past four weeks. The city has also seen a surge in deaths with fatalities growing at 8.9% per day for the same period. An analysis of data over the last four weeks suggests that the outbreak is moving towards newer urban centres even within states and regions. The average daily growth in cases is declining in Mumbai, for instance, but increasing in Pune. Cases in Ahmedabad are increasing at a much lower rate than the national average, but the increase in Surat is above the national average. Chennai seems to have slowed down, but there is a surge in Hyderabad and Bengaluru. Fresh Covid-19 cases reported in the country remained above 35,000 for the second day running and 671 deaths were added to the overall toll on Friday. In the five days of this week (Monday-Friday), India added as many as 47,761 active cases to its tally, a 49% rise from the same period last week. Recoveries numbered 81,758, an 8% rise from the same period last week. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday said community transmission of Covid has been detected in two coastal hamlets in Thiruvananthapuram. More than 150 cases have been reported each in Poonthura and Pulluvila. Testing rate has been increased in both the hamlets after 112 cases were detected there on Friday alone. Airlines from the US, Germany and France have been allowed to bring in certain categories of passengers as well as fly out Indians from the country. Air India also announced a slew of flights to the US till August-end, and to Paris and Frankfurt, and said it would lower its fares further. Finally, PM Narendra Modi, addressing the High-Level Segment of the UN Economic and Social Council, said India's grassroots health system is helping the country ensure one of the best recovery rates in the world. "We have tried to make the fight against the pandemic a people's movement, by combining the efforts of government and society,” he added. “We have put forward a vision of 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' a self-reliant and resilient India, integrated with the global economy.”