Political updates: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena defies SC order on Janmashtami

New Delhi: Mint brings to you your daily dose of political news reported by newsrooms across the country.

Devendra Fadnavis ropes in companies, celebrities for developing 1,000 villages

India’s top companies and celebrities will join the Maharashtra government in transforming 1,000 villages over four to five years through a first-of-its-kind initiative, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced on Thursday. The state government will form a governing council headed by the chief minister and comprising all participating companies to formulate a holistic strategy for this transformation and implement it, Fadnavis told reporters. Read more

Eastern India struggles to evacuate reluctant villagers as floods wreak havoc

Authorities in eastern India are struggling to evacuate more than 100,000 people stranded in villages after floods intensified, killing more than 300 and driving hundreds of thousands from their homes, officials said on Thursday. The heavy rains have caused rivers including the Ganges and its tributaries to burst their banks forcing over 200,000 people into relief camps in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. Read more

Kashmir crisis: Alternatives to pellet guns soon, says Rajnath Singh

Home minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday signalled a rethink on the use of pellet guns as a non-lethal weapon to disperse crowd even as he remained non-committal on the possibility of holding a dialogue with separatists and members of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference. Read more

Talks with Pakistan only after terror ends: S. Jaishankar

India has drawn a red line on talks with Pakistan with foreign secretary S. Jaishankar asking Islamabad to first address its concerns on cross-border terrorism, which was India’s core concern, before seeking talks on disputes including Kashmir. Read more

MNS defies SC order during Janmashtami celebrations

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) defied the Supreme Court on Thursday, building a 40-ft high pyramid—twice the limit set by the court—and allowing minors to participate. The violations come despite the top court setting a maximum height of 20 feet—about the height of a two-storey building—for the human pyramids formed during Janmashtami celebrations and restricted minors from participating. Read more

Modi touching base in Gujarat after two years

The Hindu reported that over two years after he left Gujarat for New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address his first public meeting in the state—at Dhrol in Jamnagar district—on 30 August, marking the completion of the first phase of the Rs.12,166 crore Saurashtra Narmada Avatarana Irrigation Yojana. Read more

GST bill: Halfway house

The ratification of the crucial goods and services tax (GST) Bill has reached the halfway mark with eight states ratifying it. The Bill needs to be ratified by 16 states before it can be sent for presidential assent. Mint takes a look at the states which have ratified the bill so far. Read more

#Donate4AAP: AAP falls back on retweet campaign to fund polls

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is set to contest polls in Punjab, Goa and Gujarat amid a deepening fund crunch. To replenish the party coffers, AAP has now gone back to strategies it had used before the Delhi election, including re-tweet campaign on Twitter. Delhi chief minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal earlier this week also made an appeal for funds. Read more

Scorpene submarine documents stolen, not leaked: report

Documents relating to Indian submarines were stolen from French naval contractor DCNS and not leaked, people in the French government who are familiar with the matter said on Thursday, adding that the information published so far showed only operational aspects of the submarines. India and France opened investigations after The Australian newspaper published on Wednesday documents about its Scorpene submarines being built in India. Read more

Left looses majority in Siliguri

A Telegraph report said that in Siliguri, where the Left was in a majority, suffered a jolt when the combine was reduced to a minority in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation with the defection of a Forward Bloc member to Trinamool Congress. Left’s strength in the municipal corporation fell one short of the majority mark of 24, making it vulnerable to a no-trust motion. However, TMC with 18 members is still short of a majority by six members. Read more

Hillary Clinton tops 50% support from US voters in latest poll

More than half of respondents in a new poll said they plan to vote for Hillary Clinton—the first time the Democratic presidential candidate has breached that all-important 50% threshold. The poll released on Thursday by Quinnipiac University found the former secretary of state leading Trump 51 to 41% in a head-to-head race. Read more

Maulik Rajnikant Pathak from Ahmedabad, Abhiram Ghadyalpatil from Mumbai and Soumonty Kanungo from Kolkata contributed to the story