News in Short

• The Supreme Court has ordered the removal of about 48,000 slum clusters located within safety zones along railway tracks in Delhi within three months.
• The court also direct stakeholders to prepare a comprehensive plan for removal of jhuggies (slum clusters). The plan is to be made and executed in a phased manner.
• A Railway affidavit in the court said there is a “predominant presence” of slum dwellings along 140 km of rail tracks in Delhi.
• The court further directed the Railways and local authorities in Delhi to remove plastic waste, garbage, etc, piled up alongside the tracks within three months. Railways shall bear 70% of the expenses and the rest will be given by the Delhi government.

• Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats have issued notifications that there will be no Question Hour and private members’ bills will not be taken up in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The two secretariats also said there will be no breaks as well during the session to be held from Sept. 14 to Oct. 1, and both Houses will function on Saturdays and Sundays as well.
• Except for the first day, the Rajya Sabha will sit in the morning shift and the Lok Sabha will sit in the evening.

• The worst fires in more than a decade are cutting through Argentina's vast wetlands, exaggerated by low water levels in the Parana River delta region that have exposed carbon-rich soil ripe for burning.
• Infrared technology and satellite imagery have detected more hot spots, or potential fires, in the country's largest wetland during August than have been found in any other month this year.
• Wetlands play a crucial role in mitigating floods and purifying water, so their destruction is a major concern for scientists. The water-logged ecosystem is home to thousands of species, including the capybara, the world's largest rodent.

• The US, UK, France, Germany and Belgium decided to block Pakistan’s move to list two Indian nationals as global terrorists under the UN Security Council 1267 sanctions committee.
• Earlier, they had put a hold on the listing, to give time for evidence to be provided. With no evidence at hand, the five countries decided to block the proposal.
• While the US, UK and France are permanent members of the UNSC, Germany and Belgium are non-permanent members.
• The listing requests concerned two Indian nationals, identified as Gobinda Patnaik Duggivalasa and Appaji Angara.

• The Ministry of Information and Technology banned more Chinese apps including popular PUBG Mobile in the country. This time the government has banned 118 China-based apps.
• PUBG Mobile has millions of downloads and active users in the country and this makes for a big loss of Tencent, the parent company. The Indian government has also banned the PUBG Lite app available on Google Play store.
• The IT Ministry has received many complaints from various sources about the misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers that have locations outside India.