News in Short

• Eminent fashion designer Sharbari Dutta died following a stroke at her residence in Kolkata. She was 63.
• The daughter of Bengali poet Ajit Dutta, she showed her prowess in fashion designing after passing from college and made her mark in designing men's ethnic wear.
• Her label became popular for her unique blend of ethnicity with modernity in fabric and vibrancy in colour.
• Later, Dutta set up her own brand Shunyaa which has its outlets in Kolkata. She dabbled into women's wear and was a known face in fashion shows organised in the city.

• Newly elected Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka Ashok Gasti passed away in Bengaluru due to Covid-19. He was 55.
• Gasti, a lawyer by profession and former general secretary of BJP’s Other Backward Classes (OBC) Cell, was also a former chairperson of the Backward Class Development Corporation in Karnataka.
• Known for his booth-level work, Gasti,  who hails from Raichur in north Karnataka, took oath as Rajya Sabha MP on July 22.

• Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MP and Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned from the Union Cabinet in protest over Agriculture Market Reforms Bill.
• Her party is one of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) oldest allies, and Ms. Badal was its sole representative in the Modi government.
• Farmers groups, especially in Punjab and Haryana, have risen in protest against the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, which replace the Ordinances promulgated in June.

• Nigeria's Kaduna state passed a law under which men convicted of rape will face surgical castration, and death penalty in case of child sex abuse where the victim is under the age of 14 years.
• The drastic penalties are essential to protect children from such heinous crimes under the law. This move came after Nigeria reported a dramatic rise in cases of rape amid the COVID-19 restrictions.
• This new law will be one of the strictest laws against rapists in Nigeria. Previously Nigeria's Kaduna state had a law under which rapists were sentenced to 21 years of imprisonment for the rape of an adult and life imprisonment in case of the rape of a child.

• Pakistan has decided to elevate Gilgit-Baltistan's status to that of a full-fledged province, a Pakistani media quoted a senior minister as saying.
• India has clearly conveyed to Pakistan that the entire union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas of Gilgit and Baltistan, are an integral part of the country.
• Prime Minister Imran Khan would soon visit the region and make the formal announcement to elevate Gilgit-Baltistan to the status of a full-fledged province with all constitutional rights.