In the big story of the day, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, relating to the Enforcement Directorate’s power of arrest, attachment, search, and seizure. Deciding a bunch of petitions, a bench presided by Justice AM Khanwilkar also upheld the reverse burden cast under PMLA on the accused to prove innocence, saying it has a reasonable nexus with the object sought to be achieved under the Act. A look at the key points in the verdict.
The Rajya Sabha adopted a motion to suspend Aam Aadmi Party member Sanjay Singh for the remaining part of the week for his “unruly behaviour” in the House. The suspension comes a day after 19 MPs of Opposition parties were suspended for disrupting House proceedings. Earlier, four Congress MPs were suspended from Lok Sabha for the remainder of the current session for their alleged misconduct. The government said it would consider revoking the suspension of the Congress Lok Sabha MPs if the Opposition “guarantees” that their members would not enter the Well of the House and show placards.
In Bengal, BJP leader and actor Mithun Chakraborty claimed that 38 MLAs of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) are ‘in touch’ with the BJP and 21 are in ‘direct contact’ with him. Mamata Banerjee-led TMC has, however, denied Chakraborty’s claims. “He was admitted to a hospital for some time. Maybe that has made a psychological impact on him. No one in his right mind will make such claims because the party itself does not know how many MLAs it has,” TMC Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen said.
Down south, tension prevailed in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district after a worker of the BJP youth wing was hacked to death by two bike-borne attackers last night. The protesters heckled Karnataka BJP chief Nalin Kumar Kateel and state energy minister V Sunil Kumar today as they arrived to pay their last respects. The state home minister Araga Jnanendra, meanwhile, said 10 people have been taken into custody in connection with the incident.
In Kerala, the Cabinet has decided to amend a 2019 decision and exclude human settlements from the purview of eco-sensitive zones around the boundaries of protected forests. The Cabinet decision will help CPI(M) save face in the backdrop of the Opposition alleging that the government was not sincere in its approach to protect the interest of farmers. Also, read our Explainer on why Kerala has struggled to identify buffer zones.
Political Pulse
Almost a month since Maharashtra got a new government, the process to finalise the expansion of the council of ministers seems to have entered its final stretch. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday held the sixth Cabinet meeting since they took the oath of office on June 30. The two are likely to meet the BJP central leadership to take a call on the Cabinet expansion. Alok Deshpande reports.
Seeking to expand its support base in Bihar by stepping up its social engineering, the central BJP is all set to hold a joint meeting of all its seven frontal organisations – including its youth, women, farmers, Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and minorities wings – in Patna during July 30-31. It will be the BJP’s first such joint meeting of its wings that will involve about 700 delegates from across the country. The JD(U) has, however, said there is not much to read into the BJP event, adding that “we are different parties with separate programmes.” Read Santosh Singh’s report.
Express Explained
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch India’s first bullion exchange — the India International Bullion Exchange (IIBX) — at Gujarat’s GIFT City on July 29. Who can trade on the IIBX? What products will be made available for trade initially? What are the advantages of having a bullion exchange in India? We explain.
Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav tweeted that five more Indian wetlands have got Ramsar recognition as “wetlands of international importance”. The Ramsar Convention, which came into existence in 1971, is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. What are Ramsar sites and what is the significance of the listing? Read our Explained piece here.
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