A look at the headlines right now:

  1. Trinamool team detained at Silchar airport over NRC row, Mamata Banerjee calls it ‘political vendetta’: Assam Trinamool Congress President Dwipen Pathak resigned from his post, saying that he was upset with the West Bengal chief minister’s remarks.
  2. Opposition parties may request poll panel to use ballot papers during 2019 elections, say reports: Seventeen political parties are planning to send a delegation to the Election Commission next week.  
  3. Maharashtra asks Centre for troops ahead of fresh Maratha protests on August 9: The state’s police arrested 18 people in connection with the violence that broke out in Chakan near Pune on July 25.
  4. Three men arrested for forcefully shaving Muslim man’s beard in Gurugram: This was an isolated incident and no organisation was involved in it, said a top police officer. 
  5. Lok Sabha passes bill to grant constitutional status to panel for backward classes: Rajya Sabha chairperson Venkaiah Naidu adjourned the House after protests by Opposition legislators against the National Register of Citizens draft.
  6. Death penalty is inadmissible in all cases, says Pope Francis: The pontiff changed the teachings to say that the punishment was an attack on the ‘inviolability and dignity of the person’.  
  7. Top-ranking monk at Beijing monastery accused of forcing nuns into sex: Beijing Longquan Monastery came out in support of Xuecheng after a document written by two former monks, detailing his transgressions, was leaked online.
  8. Two militants killed in gunfight with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara: The militants opened fire on the security forces who were on patrol duty in Lolab Valley following which an encounter began.  
  9. Three boys living at remand home in Arrah allege sexual assault, seven people arrested in Bihar: The matter came to light when the boys, booked in a murder case, told their family members during a court hearing that fellow inmates assaulted them.
  10. Beauty contests can be hosted in paddy fields if it will attract youngsters to farming, says Goa minister: Vijai Sardesai said there was a need to incentivise agriculture.