The Evening Wrap: CBI takes over Kolkata doctor rape and murder case

The Calcutta High Court on August 13 transferred the investigation in the rape and murder of a doctor at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital to the Central Bureau of Investigation. A division bench of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya said that prima facie there has been no significant progress has been made in the investigation in the case and the place of occurrence of crime assumes extraordinary importance. Following the High Court order, the CBI took over the case and team of officers accompanied by forensic and medical experts will arrive in Kolkata on Wednesday (August 14, 2024) and visit the scene of the crime. The court observed that it would be well-justified in making an observation that the administration was not with the victim or the family of the victim. The division bench noted that the facts and circumstances of the case warrant appropriate orders without further loss of time and because even after a lapse of five days there appears to be no significant progress in the investigation. Along with the family members of the victim five others have filed petitions demanding CBI probe in the case. The Court directed the police to hand over the case diary to the officer of CBI present in the court. “The other records, CCTV footages, statements, if any and all material and matters concerning the case shall be handed over to the C.B.I. by 10:00 a.m. tomorrow,” the court added. Observing that the Court was truly appreciative of the feelings vented out by the doctors and the medical students and in particular, those at R. G. Kar Medical College & Hospital the Bench also urged the protesting doctors to call off their strike. During the proceedings in the court the Chief Justice had asked why a murder case was not registered by the principal of the medical college at the outset and an unnatural death case was initiated at Tala police station and called it serious lapse, giving room for suspicion. The division bench came down heavily on the principal of the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital Sandip Kumar Ghosh and said that he could have lodged a complaint with the police since the death occurred within the hospital premises. The Court said that it was a clear dereliction of duty on the part of the Principal and the officers under his command. Observing that Professor Ghosh has been made a principal of another government medical college and hospital the court said that it is not clear as to what was the tearing urgency in doing so. Noting that several submissions were made at the bar with regard to how highly influential Professor Ghosh was, the Court directed that he should be sent on leave and not permitted to hold the post of principal of the National Medical College and Hospital, Calcutta until further directions. Centre’s centralised birth and death portal faces glitches The Union government’s centralised portal — the Civil Registration System (CRS) — to register births and deaths is facing glitches since the past four months, several State government officials told The Hindu. The malfunction has led to delays in issuance of birth and death registration certificates. According to the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Act, 2023, all reported births and deaths in the country occurring from October 1, 2023, are to be digitally registered through the Centre’s portal — crsorgi.gov.in. The digital birth certificates will be a single document to prove the date of birth for various services such as admission to educational institutions, government jobs, marriage registration among others. The centralised database will also update the National Population Register (NPR), ration cards, property registration and electoral rolls. The NPR, first collected in 2010 and updated in 2015 through door-to-door enumeration, already has a database of 119 crore residents. The NPR is the first step to the creation of National Register of Citizens (NPR), as per the Citizenship Act. So far, 23 States and six union territories have migrated to the new portal. States such as Tamil Nadu which have their own portals send the data compulsorily to the Centre in real-time basis as mandated by the 2023 amendment. The Hindu has accessed an August 5, 2024 letter by the Chief Registrar (Birth and Death), Bihar government, addressed to the Registrar General of India (RGI) flagging the issues faced by district authorities while registering births and deaths. Bihar migrated to the new portal on June 10. “Due to the revamped CRS portal being extremely slow, the OTPs (one-time password) not being generated in time and continuous display of error message on the page, there has been a huge backlog in all the registration units in the State. As a result, the Registrars are forced to face the ire of the people and public representatives. The glitches are leading to disruption of the entire system,” said the letter in Hindi. It added, there is a mismatch between 1,408 registration IDs in the State and those available on the portal and despite informing the RGI multiple times, several difficulties remain on the ground. An official in Nagaland said sometimes they were not able to issue certificates for three days in a row. “Nagaland migrated to the new portal on May 13. Since then, many complaints are piling up. We have complained to the RGI office in Delhi. District authorities are not able to generate certificates,” said an official. A district official in Chhattisgarh said ever since the State started using the new portal in March this year there “appears to be teething problems” with the system. The system often freezes up for hours while registering a birth or death and sometimes it might even take a day for the system to resume working, the official said. A source in a Bihar district added that they have been facing problems in entering corrections into the system, which crashes every time an operator tries to make corrections. They said the transfer to the new system has also led to inconsistencies in the data of some people, such as addresses getting mixed up in the syncing process. At Noida in Uttar Pradesh, the portal has been down for over a month. Pappan Singh, a local said he had been trying to get his wife’s death certificate for the past one month but the hospital turned him away saying the portal was down. An official in Uttar Pradesh said, “After the portal was launched on June 18, there have been technical issues. A private firm is the technical partner and the problem largely appears to be while feeding the data. There are issues but certificates are being issued,” the official said. A Central government official said thousands of certificates are being generated through the portal on a daily basis and as and when a State migrates to the new system they may face minor issues due to the revamping of the system. Some of the problems flagged by the States are that after the registration data is entered, instead of saving the information, the system reloads the page and shows an error message. Further, OTPs were taking too much time; and some forms such as the ones for summary monthly reports on births, deaths, and stillbirths were not available on the dashboards of the Chief Registrar and District Registrars. Another issue highlighted was that the portal, at the stage of attaching documents, seemingly requires a mandatory Aadhaar e-sign-in. Many also called for the new portal to display daily registration numbers as the older portal did. The officials also noted that a comment box that appears for seeking clarifications does not have enough space and should have room for at least 100 words. The Chief Registrar of Births and Deaths is the implementing authority and the registration is done by the local registrars appointed by the State governments. In respect of birth or death occurred in a hospital or a health centre, the medical officers are responsible for reporting the event to the registrar. Patanjali misleading advertisements: Supreme Court sheaths contempt sword against Ramdev The Supreme Court on August 13 closed contempt proceedings against yoga guru Baba Ramdev, his close associate Acharya Balkrishna, and Patanjali Ayurved Limited, the company they co-founded, for defying a court undertaking to not publish misleading advertisements of their herbal products in violation of the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act, and making derogatory statements about other systems of treatment. A Bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah accepted the unconditional apology submitted by the contemnors, and also published in various regional and national dailies. However, the court noted that the “wisdom of tendering an unconditional apology had dawned belatedly” on the yoga guru, his aide and the company. Their first affidavits submitted in court and the initial publication of their apology in newspapers had been “qualified”. But since then, the contemnors had got their act together and had made sincere efforts to purge themselves. Justice Kohli, who authored the judgment, said “any apology tendered by a party in contempt proceedings must be unconditional and unqualified”. “Tendering a qualified apology is akin to a game of dice. It could either have a positive outcome or a negative result. If the contemnor tenders a conditional apology and expects luck to play a role in the outcome of such an apology, then he should be ready to face the consequence of an outright rejection,” Justice Kohli wrote. The Bench cautioned the yoga guru and the two other contemnors that the consequences of any future breach of their undertakings to the Supreme Court would have grave consequences for them. “Any future intransigence on their part, whether by act, deed or speech that could tantamount to violating the orders of the court or dishonouring the terms of the undertakings, shall be viewed strictly, and the ensuing consequences could indeed be grave. In that eventuality, the sword of contempt that has now been returned to rest in its sheath, shall be flourished as swiftly as these proceedings were originally initiated,” Justice Kohli warned. The court had reserved the contempt case for judgment on May 14 after the original newspaper cuttings of the public apologies issued by the trio were placed on record. Under fire from the apex court for negligence and apathy, the Uttarakhand State Licensing Authority had finally woken up to suspend the manufacture of 14 Patanjali products. The Bench had made it clear that the objectionable and misleading advertisements issued by Patanjali, and endorsed by Ramdev, to cure everything from diabetes and obesity to liver dysfunction and even COVID-19 during the months of the pandemic, were “deliberate and wilful violations” of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act of 1954 and its Rules. BSF holds 83 flag meetings with BGB to monitor situation along Bangladesh border The Border Security Force (BSF) has held 83 flag meetings with Border Guards Bangladesh in the past three days, in conformity with the directions of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), to monitor the current situation in the neighbouring country, the BSF said on August 13. A senior BSF official told The Hindu that in the past three days, no gathering of people had been reported along the eastern border. From August 5 to 9, four such instances were reported from the north Bengal border. The first meeting of the five-member committee constituted by the MHA to communicate with the Bangladesh authorities “to ensure the safety and security of Indian nationals, Hindus, and other minority communities living there” was held on August 10. The BSF reached out to their counterparts in the BGB up to the company commander level, and the border guarding forces had around 241 ‘simultaneous coordinating patrolling’ exercises in vulnerable areas along the Bangladesh border. The BSF in a statement appreciated the BGB’s role. “While appreciating the BGB Role in preventing the Bangladeshi nationals coming to border, BSF authorities impressed upon to protect safety of Indian citizens and people belonging to minority communities in Bangladesh. It may be mentioned that BGB has not only been cooperating with BSF on International Border on operational matters but also taking all steps for safety of Indian citizens and people belonging to minority communities in Bangladesh in collaboration with their civil authorities,” the BSF said. The BSF said that on August 9, when 1,500 Bangladeshi nationals had assembled near zero line on the Cooch Behar border in north Bengal, the BGB had made efforts in collaboration with the civil authorities of Bangladesh’s Lalmonirhat district to persuade them to return. The BSF said that in the bilateral field meetings, matters related to border security and other mutual interests were also discussed. “Also, Commanders devised channels for effective coordinated mechanism to share real time information on various operational matters with the BGB,” the BSF said. Additionally, 232 meetings have been conducted with Indian villagers residing along the eastern border to make them aware of the prevalent situation on Bangladesh, and to seek their cooperation in border management. “BSF is in active communication with BGB at all levels through available channels to monitor security scenario and prepared to address any kind of unforeseen situation along Indo-Bangladesh,” the BSF said. Punjab farmers to resume ‘tractor march’ to Delhi soon after roads open at Punjab-Haryana State boundaries A day after the Supreme Court asked the Punjab and Haryana State police chiefs to chalk out a plan for the partial reopening of roads on the inter-State boundary, where farmer groups have been camping since February, the farmer leaders on August 13 asserted that they would resume their ‘tractor-trolley-Delhi Chalo’ march to lay siege to the national capital — New Delhi as soon as the roads were open. The group of farmers under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) — the two umbrella bodies that are spearheading farmer’s agitation in Punjab — have been, since February 13, camping at Shambhu-Ambala and Khanauri-Jind (the inter-State boundaries between Haryana and Punjab) after being stopped from entering Haryana. They had earlier given the call for the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march to press for fulfillment of their demands, a legal guarantee for purchasing their crops at a Minimum Support Price (MSP) and a farm loan waiver are among the key ones. KMM coordinator Sarwan Singh Pandher told The Hindu: “We welcome the direction from the Supreme Court about plan to open the roads. Once the roads are open, we will resume our ‘tractor-trolley Delhi Chalo’ march. We are waiting for directives of Supreme Court and also the State governments actions. We will hold a meeting in the next few days to announce a date to resume our march. As soon as the roads are open we will start the arrangements for resuming the march.” Four rounds of meetings were held between the Centre government and farmer leaders before the Lok Sabha elections but it didn’t not result in anything concrete. The farmers are on the streets ruing that the primary issue of concern for them is that still no law on MSP has been enacted and also the Centre government is turning a blind eye to their other demands despite repeated appeals. The MSP is the price at which the government promises, on paper, to procure agricultural produce from farmers. There are MSPs for 22 crops, primarily grains, pulses and oil seeds, paddy and copra. According to studies, only a small share of farmers in the country benefits from MSPs. Farmers accuse that even as the Centre government promised to look into their demands during the earlier agitation on the controversial (repealed) farm laws, it has been going slow on its commitments. The Supreme Court on August 12 urged neighbouring Punjab and Haryana to work together towards a phased opening of the long-blockaded at Shambhu between the two States. In Brief: Hamas fired two rockets at Israel’s commercial hub Tel Aviv on August 13 for the first time in months and Israeli airstrikes killed at least 19 Palestinians in Gaza, as mediators aimed to resume ceasefire talks later in the week. There were no reports of casualties in Israel. Two rockets had been fired from Gaza, the Israeli military said, one of which fell in the sea and the other had not reached Israeli territory. Hamas’ military wing said in a statement: “We have bombed the city of Tel Aviv and its suburbs with two ‘M90’ missiles in response to the Zionist massacres against civilians and the deliberate displacement of our people.” [logo] The Evening Wrap 13 August 2024 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [View in browser]( [More newsletters]( Kolkata doctor rape and murder: CBI takes over case after Calcutta High Court order The Calcutta High Court on August 13 [transferred the investigation in the rape and murder]( of a doctor at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital to the Central Bureau of Investigation. A division bench of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya said that prima facie there has been no significant progress has been made in the investigation in the case and the place of occurrence of crime assumes extraordinary importance. Following the High Court order, the CBI took over the case and team of officers accompanied by forensic and medical experts will arrive in Kolkata on Wednesday (August 14, 2024) and visit the scene of the crime. The court observed that it would be well-justified in making an observation that the administration was not with the victim or the family of the victim. The division bench noted that the facts and circumstances of the case warrant appropriate orders without further loss of time and because even after a lapse of five days there appears to be no significant progress in the investigation. Along with the family members of the victim five others have filed petitions demanding CBI probe in the case. The Court directed the police to hand over the case diary to the officer of CBI present in the court. “The other records, CCTV footages, statements, if any and all material and matters concerning the case shall be handed over to the C.B.I. by 10:00 a.m. tomorrow,” the court added. Observing that the Court was truly appreciative of the feelings vented out by the doctors and the medical students and in particular, those at R. G. Kar Medical College & Hospital the Bench also urged the protesting doctors to call off their strike. During the proceedings in the court the Chief Justice had asked why a murder case was not registered by the principal of the medical college at the outset and an unnatural death case was initiated at Tala police station and called it serious lapse, giving room for suspicion. The division bench came down heavily on the principal of the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital Sandip Kumar Ghosh and said that he could have lodged a complaint with the police since the death occurred within the hospital premises. The Court said that it was a clear dereliction of duty on the part of the Principal and the officers under his command. Observing that Professor Ghosh has been made a principal of another government medical college and hospital the court said that it is not clear as to what was the tearing urgency in doing so. Noting that several submissions were made at the bar with regard to how highly influential Professor Ghosh was, the Court directed that he should be sent on leave and not permitted to hold the post of principal of the National Medical College and Hospital, Calcutta until further directions. Centre’s centralised birth and death portal faces glitches The Union government’s centralised portal — the Civil Registration System (CRS) — to register births and deaths is [facing glitches since the past four months]( several State government officials told The Hindu. The malfunction has led to delays in issuance of birth and death registration certificates. According to the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Act, 2023, all reported births and deaths in the country occurring from October 1, 2023, are to be digitally registered through the Centre’s portal — crsorgi.gov.in. The digital birth certificates will be a single document to prove the date of birth for various services such as admission to educational institutions, government jobs, marriage registration among others. The centralised database will also update the National Population Register (NPR), ration cards, property registration and electoral rolls. The NPR, first collected in 2010 and updated in 2015 through door-to-door enumeration, already has a database of 119 crore residents. The NPR is the first step to the creation of National Register of Citizens (NPR), as per the Citizenship Act. So far, 23 States and six union territories have migrated to the new portal. States such as Tamil Nadu which have their own portals send the data compulsorily to the Centre in real-time basis as mandated by the 2023 amendment. The Hindu has accessed an August 5, 2024 letter by the Chief Registrar (Birth and Death), Bihar government, addressed to the Registrar General of India (RGI) flagging the issues faced by district authorities while registering births and deaths. Bihar migrated to the new portal on June 10. “Due to the revamped CRS portal being extremely slow, the OTPs (one-time password) not being generated in time and continuous display of error message on the page, there has been a huge backlog in all the registration units in the State. As a result, the Registrars are forced to face the ire of the people and public representatives. The glitches are leading to disruption of the entire system,” said the letter in Hindi. It added, there is a mismatch between 1,408 registration IDs in the State and those available on the portal and despite informing the RGI multiple times, several difficulties remain on the ground. An official in Nagaland said sometimes they were not able to issue certificates for three days in a row. “Nagaland migrated to the new portal on May 13. Since then, many complaints are piling up. We have complained to the RGI office in Delhi. District authorities are not able to generate certificates,” said an official. A district official in Chhattisgarh said ever since the State started using the new portal in March this year there “appears to be teething problems” with the system. The system often freezes up for hours while registering a birth or death and sometimes it might even take a day for the system to resume working, the official said. A source in a Bihar district added that they have been facing problems in entering corrections into the system, which crashes every time an operator tries to make corrections. They said the transfer to the new system has also led to inconsistencies in the data of some people, such as addresses getting mixed up in the syncing process. At Noida in Uttar Pradesh, the portal has been down for over a month. Pappan Singh, a local said he had been trying to get his wife’s death certificate for the past one month but the hospital turned him away saying the portal was down. An official in Uttar Pradesh said, “After the portal was launched on June 18, there have been technical issues. A private firm is the technical partner and the problem largely appears to be while feeding the data. There are issues but certificates are being issued,” the official said. A Central government official said thousands of certificates are being generated through the portal on a daily basis and as and when a State migrates to the new system they may face minor issues due to the revamping of the system. Some of the problems flagged by the States are that after the registration data is entered, instead of saving the information, the system reloads the page and shows an error message. Further, OTPs were taking too much time; and some forms such as the ones for summary monthly reports on births, deaths, and stillbirths were not available on the dashboards of the Chief Registrar and District Registrars. Another issue highlighted was that the portal, at the stage of attaching documents, seemingly requires a mandatory Aadhaar e-sign-in. Many also called for the new portal to display daily registration numbers as the older portal did. The officials also noted that a comment box that appears for seeking clarifications does not have enough space and should have room for at least 100 words. The Chief Registrar of Births and Deaths is the implementing authority and the registration is done by the local registrars appointed by the State governments. In respect of birth or death occurred in a hospital or a health centre, the medical officers are responsible for reporting the event to the registrar. Patanjali misleading advertisements: Supreme Court sheaths contempt sword against Ramdev The [Supreme Court on August 13 closed contempt proceedings against yoga guru Baba Ramdev]( his close associate Acharya Balkrishna, and Patanjali Ayurved Limited, the company they co-founded, for defying a court undertaking to not publish misleading advertisements of their herbal products in violation of the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act, and making derogatory statements about other systems of treatment. A Bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah accepted the unconditional apology submitted by the contemnors, and also published in various regional and national dailies. However, the court noted that the “wisdom of tendering an unconditional apology had dawned belatedly” on the yoga guru, his aide and the company. Their first affidavits submitted in court and the initial publication of their apology in newspapers had been “qualified”. But since then, the contemnors had got their act together and had made sincere efforts to purge themselves. Justice Kohli, who authored the judgment, said “any apology tendered by a party in contempt proceedings must be unconditional and unqualified”. “Tendering a qualified apology is akin to a game of dice. It could either have a positive outcome or a negative result. If the contemnor tenders a conditional apology and expects luck to play a role in the outcome of such an apology, then he should be ready to face the consequence of an outright rejection,” Justice Kohli wrote. The Bench cautioned the yoga guru and the two other contemnors that the consequences of any future breach of their undertakings to the Supreme Court would have grave consequences for them. “Any future intransigence on their part, whether by act, deed or speech that could tantamount to violating the orders of the court or dishonouring the terms of the undertakings, shall be viewed strictly, and the ensuing consequences could indeed be grave. In that eventuality, the sword of contempt that has now been returned to rest in its sheath, shall be flourished as swiftly as these proceedings were originally initiated,” Justice Kohli warned. The court had reserved the contempt case for judgment on May 14 after the original newspaper cuttings of the public apologies issued by the trio were placed on record. Under fire from the apex court for negligence and apathy, the Uttarakhand State Licensing Authority had finally woken up to suspend the manufacture of 14 Patanjali products. The Bench had made it clear that the objectionable and misleading advertisements issued by Patanjali, and endorsed by Ramdev, to cure everything from diabetes and obesity to liver dysfunction and even COVID-19 during the months of the pandemic, were “deliberate and wilful violations” of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act of 1954 and its Rules. BSF holds 83 flag meetings with BGB to monitor situation along Bangladesh border The Border Security Force (BSF) has held [83 flag meetings with Border Guards Bangladesh]( in the past three days, in conformity with the directions of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), to monitor the current situation in the neighbouring country, the BSF said on August 13. A senior BSF official told The Hindu that in the past three days, no gathering of people had been reported along the eastern border. From August 5 to 9, four such instances were reported from the north Bengal border. The first meeting of the five-member committee constituted by the MHA to communicate with the Bangladesh authorities “to ensure the safety and security of Indian nationals, Hindus, and other minority communities living there” was held on August 10. The BSF reached out to their counterparts in the BGB up to the company commander level, and the border guarding forces had around 241 ‘simultaneous coordinating patrolling’ exercises in vulnerable areas along the Bangladesh border. The BSF in a statement appreciated the BGB’s role. “While appreciating the BGB Role in preventing the Bangladeshi nationals coming to border, BSF authorities impressed upon to protect safety of Indian citizens and people belonging to minority communities in Bangladesh. It may be mentioned that BGB has not only been cooperating with BSF on International Border on operational matters but also taking all steps for safety of Indian citizens and people belonging to minority communities in Bangladesh in collaboration with their civil authorities,” the BSF said. The BSF said that on August 9, when 1,500 Bangladeshi nationals had assembled near zero line on the Cooch Behar border in north Bengal, the BGB had made efforts in collaboration with the civil authorities of Bangladesh’s Lalmonirhat district to persuade them to return. The BSF said that in the bilateral field meetings, matters related to border security and other mutual interests were also discussed. “Also, Commanders devised channels for effective coordinated mechanism to share real time information on various operational matters with the BGB,” the BSF said. Additionally, 232 meetings have been conducted with Indian villagers residing along the eastern border to make them aware of the prevalent situation on Bangladesh, and to seek their cooperation in border management. “BSF is in active communication with BGB at all levels through available channels to monitor security scenario and prepared to address any kind of unforeseen situation along Indo-Bangladesh,” the BSF said. Punjab farmers to resume ‘tractor march’ to Delhi soon after roads open at Punjab-Haryana State boundaries A day after the Supreme Court asked the Punjab and Haryana State police chiefs to chalk out a plan for the partial reopening of roads on the inter-State boundary, where farmer groups have been camping since February, the farmer leaders on August 13 asserted that they would [resume their ‘tractor-trolley-Delhi Chalo’]( march to lay siege to the national capital — New Delhi as soon as the roads were open. The group of farmers under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) — the two umbrella bodies that are spearheading farmer’s agitation in Punjab — have been, since February 13, camping at Shambhu-Ambala and Khanauri-Jind (the inter-State boundaries between Haryana and Punjab) after being stopped from entering Haryana. They had earlier given the call for the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march to press for fulfillment of their demands, a legal guarantee for purchasing their crops at a Minimum Support Price (MSP) and a farm loan waiver are among the key ones. KMM coordinator Sarwan Singh Pandher told The Hindu: “We welcome the direction from the Supreme Court about plan to open the roads. Once the roads are open, we will resume our ‘tractor-trolley Delhi Chalo’ march. We are waiting for directives of Supreme Court and also the State governments actions. We will hold a meeting in the next few days to announce a date to resume our march. As soon as the roads are open we will start the arrangements for resuming the march.” Four rounds of meetings were held between the Centre government and farmer leaders before the Lok Sabha elections but it didn’t not result in anything concrete. The farmers are on the streets ruing that the primary issue of concern for them is that still no law on MSP has been enacted and also the Centre government is turning a blind eye to their other demands despite repeated appeals. The MSP is the price at which the government promises, on paper, to procure agricultural produce from farmers. There are MSPs for 22 crops, primarily grains, pulses and oil seeds, paddy and copra. According to studies, only a small share of farmers in the country benefits from MSPs. Farmers accuse that even as the Centre government promised to look into their demands during the earlier agitation on the controversial (repealed) farm laws, it has been going slow on its commitments. The Supreme Court on August 12 urged neighbouring Punjab and Haryana to work together towards a phased opening of the long-blockaded at Shambhu between the two States. In Brief: [Hamas fired two rockets at Israel’s commercial hub Tel Aviv]( on August 13 for the first time in months and Israeli airstrikes killed at least 19 Palestinians in Gaza, as mediators aimed to resume ceasefire talks later in the week. There were no reports of casualties in Israel. Two rockets had been fired from Gaza, the Israeli military said, one of which fell in the sea and the other had not reached Israeli territory. Hamas’ military wing said in a statement: “We have bombed the city of Tel Aviv and its suburbs with two ‘M90’ missiles in response to the Zionist massacres against civilians and the deliberate displacement of our people.” Today’s Top Picks [[Why are recent patent and trademark grants under scrutiny? | Explained] Why are recent patent and trademark grants under scrutiny? | Explained]( [[How did the near-extinction of vultures in India contribute to thousands of additional human deaths? | In Focus podcast] How did the near-extinction of vultures in India contribute to thousands of additional human deaths? | In Focus podcast]( [[ILO to help eliminate child labour, forced work in cotton fields] ILO to help eliminate child labour, forced work in cotton fields]( [[Global mpox infections: Symptoms, treatment, and status of outbreak | Explained] Global mpox infections: Symptoms, treatment, and status of outbreak | Explained]( Copyright© 2024, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. 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