Top news of the day: Death toll in Wayanad landslides rises to 167; Delhi LG forms committee for regulation of coaching centres, and more

Top news of the day: July 31, 2024

Wayanad district administration confirmed that 167 people dead in Wayanad landslides. Earlier in the day, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on July 31 refuted Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s claim that the State government was warned as early as July 23 regarding a possible natural calamity in Wayanad due to heavy rains. Mr. Vijayan said that the India Meteorological Department had only issued an orange alert in the district ahead of the landslides. However, the district received over 500 millimeters of rainfall, which was extremely higher than what was predicted by the IMD. The CM also said that this was not the time for “blame game” and that he was not taking Shah’s remarks in an adversarial manner.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena on July 31 formed a committee headed by the Chief Secretary to frame guidelines and regulate coaching centres in the city and redress issues faced by students, Raj Niwas officials said. The move comes in the wake of a tragedy that claimed the lives of three civil services aspirants in a flooded basement library of a coaching centre in Old Rajinder Nagar. The committee will comprise five to six representatives of coaching institutes, students and officials of the departments concerned.

A court in Delhi on July 31 rejected the bail pleas of an SUV driver and four owners of the coaching centre basement in the Old Rajinder Nagar area which was flooded with rainwater and led to the death of three civil services aspirants. Judicial Magistrate Vinod Kumar rejected the bail plea of driver Manuj Kathuria and basement owners Tejinder Singh, Parvinder Singh, Harvinder Singh, and Sarabjeet Singh.

The Delhi High Court on July 31 directed civic authorities to clear all encroachments on drains in Old Rajinder Nagar by August 2, following the drowning deaths of three civil service aspirants in a coaching centre basement. A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela summoned the MCD commissioner, the concerned Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) as well as the investigating officer to be present in court will all relevant files on August 2 (Friday), the next date of hearing.

The Lok Sabha witnessed noisy scenes on July 31 as Opposition members sought an apology from BJP leader Anurag Thakur over his remarks on Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and persisted with their demand for a caste census. The proceedings were adjourned for around 20 minutes till noon. As soon as the Question Hour began, Opposition members, mainly from the Congress, were on their feet and sought to raise the issues but Speaker Om Birla did not entertain their requests.

Congress MP Charanjit Singh Channi on July 31 moved a Privilege Motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for sharing portion of BJP MP’s Anurag Thakur speech from July 30 Lok Sabha proceedings, that was later expunged from the record. The BJP member had made remarks against Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s caste during a discussion on the Union Budget in the Lower House on July 30.

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on July 31 cancelled Puja Khedkar’s provisional candidature for the Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2022. “She has also been debarred permanently from all the future Examinations/Selections of the UPSC,” the Commission said. The UPSC stated it neither has the mandate nor the wherewithal to check the veracity of thousands of certificates submitted by the candidates every year. “However, it is understood that scrutiny and verification of genuineness of certificates is carried out by the authorities mandate with the task,” the UPSC said in a statement.