Former Union minister Smriti Irani was appointed as one of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s eight national general secretaries, while Amit Malviya was dropped as the chief of the party’s social media department. Ram Madhav, a leader of the BJP’s parent organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, was named as one of its 13 vice presidents.

Union minister Piyush Goyal will replace Rajesh Agarwal as the party treasurer.

This was part of the first major changes in the Hindutva party’s national leadership since Nitin Nabin became the BJP chief in January. Read on.

The Supreme Court directed the Allahabad High Court to defer the hearing of a case involving allegations of disproportionate assets against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. The bench also told the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate not to file any report in response to directions by the High Court.

The High Court had in May directed the two central agencies to verify claims made by a Bharatiya Janata Party worker that Gandhi possesses assets disproportionate to his income. Gandhi had challenged the directions before the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court bench headed by the chief justice said that the High Court appeared to have passed orders without giving the Opposition leader the opportunity to be heard. Read on.

The Central Bureau of Investigation filed a chargesheet against retired judge Giribala Singh and her son Samarth Singh in a case pertaining to the death of his wife Twisha Sharma, who was allegedly harassed for dowry. The central agency invoked sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to dowry death, matrimonial cruelty, abetment to suicide and acts done with common criminal intention, as well as provisions of the Dowry Prevention Act.

Sharma, a 33-year-old model-turned-actor from Noida, was found dead at her marital home in Bhopal on May 12, five months after her wedding. Her husband’s family claimed that she had died by suicide. However, her family alleged that she was harassed for dowry and murdered. Read on.

India’s dowry problem is actually a marriage problem, writes Divya Aslesha.

The Delhi Police said that they were looking into a complaint alleging that Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi disrupted the singing of Vande Mataram at the party’s Independence Day function in the national capital. The complaint filed by a lawyer alleged that the Congress leaders intentionally obstructing the singing of the national song at the event on Saturday.

The complaint came days after the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Amendment Act, which criminalises insults to the national song, came into effect.

A video from the event posted by news agency ANI showed Sonia Gandhi gesturing and speaking to a party worker while the full version of Vande Mataram was being played. It was not clear what she was saying. Read on.

The Union government should restore the E10 fuel option at petrol pumps for older vehicles, Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran said in an article published in The Indian Express. Nageswaran and Akash Poojari, a consultant with the Department of Economic Affairs, said that India has up to 80 million older carburettor-based two-wheelers, which may run hotter due to petrol blended with 20% ethanol.

They also said that older rubber seals that are not designed to withstand ethanol. The condition of the seals can deteriorate when exposed to the fuel, irrespective of engine temperature, they said.

In July 10, the government said that the suggestions from the public that petrol not blended with ethanol and the E10 variant should be available at fuel stations alongside E20 “ignores the realities” of India’s fuel distribution network. Read on.

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