News in Short

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched Atma Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Yojana through video-conference in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
• The initiative is focused on providing employment, promote local entrepreneurship, and create partnerships with industrial associations and other organizations to provide employment opportunities to migrants who have returned.
• The Prime minister said that UP will benefit immensely from clusters of industries being created to promote such local products across the country under the AatmaNirbhar Rojgar Abhiyan.

• U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was imposing visa restrictions on Chinese officials responsible for restricting freedoms in Hong Kong.
• The move comes ahead of a three-day meeting of China's Parliament that is expected to enact new national security legislation for Hong Kong that has alarmed foreign governments and democracy activists.
• Pompeo's announcement comes at a time of intensified U.S. rhetoric against Beijing as Mr. Trump campaigns for re-election. Opinion polls have shown voters increasingly angry towards China, especially over the coronavirus, which began there.

• Olympus Electronics, one of the leading camera making brands during the pre-smartphone era, is planning to move out of its camera business.
• The camera maker’s move to spinout its imaging business comes after Olympus posted losses for three consecutive fiscal years up the term ending March 2020.
• Changing consumer preferences with the advent of smartphones has significantly dented the fortunes of camera makers, leaving the top few companies to hold on to their turfs.

• The railways said that all regular mail, express and passenger services as well as suburban trains have been cancelled till August 12. The decision was taken keeping in mind the increasing number of coronavirus cases in the country.
• However, all special trains, 12 pairs running on the Rajdhani routes since May 12 and 100 pairs operating since June 1, will continue.
• The limited special suburban services, which began recently in Mumbai to ferry essential services personnel identified by the local authorities will also continue to run.

• Vini Mahajan, a 1987-batch IAS officer, became the first woman bureaucrat in the history of Punjab to be elevated to the top post of the state’s Chief Secretary.
• With her elevation, it is also for the first time in Punjab’s history that both the civil and police administrations in the state are headed by an IAS-IPS couple. Mahajan is the wife of state DGP Dinkar Gupta.
• The new Chief Secretary has superseded five IAS officers senior to her and has affected the chances of elevation of a batch-mate. She replaces Karan Avtar Singh, who has been posted as Special Chief Secretary, Governance Reforms and Public Grievances.