News in Short

• The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed its intention to push for the sport’s inclusion in the Olympics. It is set to start preparations for a bid with the primary target being its addition to the Los Angeles 2028 itinerary.
• A Working Group, headed by England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chair Ian Watmore, has been convened by the council to lead the bid.
• Cricket has made just one appearance in the Olympics and it was way back in Paris 1900, when only two teams competed at the event – Great Britain and host France.
• Cricket will also feature in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, which shapes as a perfect showcase for what the sport can bring to the Olympics.

• Parliament passed a constitutional amendment aimed at restoring the rights of the States and the Union Territories to maintain their own list of socially and educationally backward classes (SEBCs).
• The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Seventh Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed unanimously by the Rajya Sabha, a day after the Lok Sabha passed it.
• While the Bill received support from across party lines, at least 10 parties, including NDA’s Janata Dal (United), called for a caste-based census and 12 parties demanded the removal of the 50% cap on reservation.

• Kaziranga has become the first National Park in India to have been equipped with satellite phones.
• The decision to provide satellite phones for boosting anti-poaching measure was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Himanta BiswaSarma on May 27.
• The satellite phones will be used in pockets of the park’s six ranges with no wireless or poor mobile connectivity.
• The satellite phones will give an edge to the forest personnel over the poachers and also during emergencies like floods.

• Indian Space Research Organisation suffered the loss of an important earth observation satellite during launch when the GSLV rocket carrying it malfunctioned about five minutes from the lift-off.
• The launch was supposed to place EOS-03, an earth observation satellite, into a geostationary orbit. However, five minutes after the lift-off, the GSLV rocket malfunctioned leading to the failure of the mission.
• Performance of first and second stages was normal. However, Cryogenic Upper Stage ignition did not happen due to technical anomaly.

• Ten people lost their lives and 14 were rescued after a landslide struck a bus in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur.
• The busgot buried under the debris along with a couple of other vehicles. The rescue operation was immensely difficult because of the shooting rocks and the condition of the terrain.
• Earlier on July 25, nine people were killed and three others injured in multiple landslides near Batseri in Kinnaur district.