News in Short

• Kumar Mangalam Birla has stepped down as the non-Executive Director and Non-Executive Chairman of Vodafone Idea with immediate effect.
• Birla has been spearheading the group’s telecom business since he took over as chairman of the Aditya Birla Group in 1995, at the age of 28.
• The latest move comes after Birla offered to hand over his stake in Vodafone Idea to the Government in exchange for a bailout package as the company is reeling under a massive debt of nearly ?1.8-lakh crore and a cash balance of only ?350 crore.
• Birla will be replaced by HimanshuKapania who is currently a Non-Executive Director. Kapania was earlier the Chief Executive Officer of Idea Cellular before it was merged with Vodafone’s India operations.

• The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued a show cause notice of about ?10,600 crore to e-commerce major Flipkart and its promoters for alleged violation of the foreign exchange law.
• The notice was issued after completion of investigation and the charges include violation of the foreign direct investment (FDI) rules and those that regulate multi-brand retail.
• The company and its executives will now undergo adjudication that will be conducted by a Special Director-rank officer of the agency based in Chennai.
• Proceedings under the FEMA are civil in nature and the final penalty, post adjudication, can be at least three times the amount contravened under the law.

• Political strategist Prashant Kishor has resigned as Principal Advisor to Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh ahead of the 2022 state Assembly election.
• He was appointed Principal Advisor by the chief minister in March this year and had already held meetings with state government officials and MLAs. He was expected to design Amarinder’s campaign for the next assembly election.
• Kishor had designed Amarinder’s strategy ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections and was credited with giving Congress an edge over Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), perceived at that time to get huge traction in the state.
• After he designed the Congress campaign, the party had won a handsome majority with 77 seats in an Assembly of 117 members.

• Indian wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya bagged the silver medal after losing in the final of men's 57kg freestyle category to Russian Olympic Committee’s (ROC) Zavur Uguev.
• This is India's fifth medal at the Tokyo Olympics and the second silver of the campaign. Dahiya had lost to Uguev at the 2019 World Championship also.
• Ravi Kumar is the fifth Indian wrestler after KD Jadhav, Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, and Sakshi Malik to finish on the Olympic podium.

• The Indian men's hockey team rewrote history as it claimed an Olympic medal after 41 years, beating Germany 5-4 to claim the bronze.
• The eight-time former gold-winners, who battled a heart-breaking slump in the last four decades, made the resurgence of the last couple of years count in the best way possible with an Olympic medal.
• Simranjeet Singh (17th, 34th minutes) scored a brace, while Hardik Singh (27th), Harmanpreet Singh (29th) and Rupinder Pal Singh (31st) were the other goal getters for India.
• It is India's third hockey bronze medal in the history of the Olympics. The other two came in 1968 Mexico City and the 1972 Munich Games.