Here are some important reports from the biggest newspapers of India:
Nehru should have accepted Kennedy offer for N-device: Former foreign secy
India would not need to make desperate efforts now to get membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) if Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had accepted the then US President John F Kennedy’s offer of helping the country detonate a nuclear device much before China did in 1964, former foreign secretary M K Rasgotra said here Monday, as reported in The Indian Express.
He also said that if Nehru had accepted the offer, not only would India have tested the nuclear device first in Asia — before China — but it also "would have deterred China from launching its war of 1962 and even imparted a note of caution to (Pakistan's) Field Marshal Ayub Khan's plans for war in 1965".
Maharashtra: Tribal Minister unaware, OSDs issue orders using his letterhead
When Maharashtra Tribal Development Minister Vishnu Sawra was on an official trip to Europe in May this year, his Officer-on-Special Duty (OSD) Omprakash Patil issued orders using the minister’s letterhead to stay development work worth Rs 6.25 crore in Nashik.
In June, when the minister had returned from his tour, his second OSD Mahesh Devare used Sawra's letterhead to issue directives to stay Rs 19.97-crore road development work in Nandurbar, as reported in The Indian Express.
Politics of eggs: Madhya Pradesh leaders, Jain saints swim against national survey findings
While A Registrar General of India survey reveals that more men, and nearly half the women, of Madhya Pradesh have a non-vegetarian diet, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan is learnt to have agreed with a Jain saint about the need to keep midday meals at schools free of eggs, and has promised to raise the issue with the authorities, as per report in The Indian Express.
The recent survey, however, goes against this perception. It has found that 51.1 per cent men and 47.7 per cent women in MP are non-vegetarians, and right to food activists say the figures could be more if the SC/ST populations are surveyed properly.
Before and after 2014 Bengaluru blast, two arson attacks on Israel centre
A former operative of the banned SIMI, Alamzeb Afridi, 29, arrested this year by the National Investigation Agency for a December 2014 bomb blast on Bengaluru’s Church Street, had also carried out separate arson attacks on an Israeli visa facilitation centre in Bengaluru in 2014 and 2015, investigations have now revealed.
These arson attacks took place before and after the Church Street blast — where a woman on a dinner outing with her children and family was killed — but neither case was solved by Bengaluru police. Since the two arson incidents came to light, the NIA has approached the Karnataka government to take over the probe of these cases. The Bengaluru police have not initiated efforts to question Afridi in these cases since his arrest, as per a news report in The Indian Express.
'No half-ticket for kids' rule fetches railways Rs 20 crore
The railway board's decision to charge full fare for children between five and 12 years of age if a separate seat or berth is sought has proved to be money spinner, besides making lakhs of seats available to adult passengers.
Earlier, children in this age group were entitled to a separate seat or berth at half the fare. According to the available data, Central and Western railways have cumulatively earned Rs 20 crore since April 22, when the revised rule came into effect, as reported in The Times of India.
Father drops son on red-hot coal during ritual
A six-year-old boy was rushed to hospital with serious burn injuries after his father dropped him on hot coal during a Hindu ritual, a doctor said on Monday.
The father was walking barefoot with his son Kartik in his arms on the red-hot embers when he lost his balance and fell during the ritual on Sunday, an AFP photographer at the scene said.
Bystanders rushed to the rescue and took Kartik to hospital after other family members refused to accompany him, saying they had faith in God to heal him, as per a news report in The Times of India.
Block escort service sites, Centre tells ISPs
The communications and IT ministry on Monday ordered "immediate blocking" of nearly 240 websites allegedly offering escort services in a fresh attempt to block obscene content on the internet.
Last year, it had made a similar effort to block several porn sites but had to backtrack amid an uproar over its effort to play "net nanny". Read full article in The Times of India.
Nagpur: Harlequin baby dies two days after birth
A baby girl born with a rare congenital disorder with barely any external skin died on Monday in Nagpur after struggling for her life for two days.
The 1.8-kg girl was diagnosed with Harlequin Ichthyosis, a disorder that occurs once in 300,000 births, and her body was covered with thick plates of hardened, cracked skin and her internal organs visible. Read full article in the Hindustan Times.
Alibaba in investment talks with Delhivery and Xpressbees Logistics
Alibaba Group Holdings is looking to buy, or invest in, an Indian logistics company specialising in deliveries for online retail players, and towards this end has held talks with Delhivery and Xpressbees Logistics, according to two people aware of the development.
The Chinese company is also chalking out a plan to get Paytm to spin off its marketplace business and plans to top it up with more capital, said a third source. Alibaba and its affiliate Ant Financial together own about a 40% stake in the Noida-based company, as reported in The Economic Times.
New defence procurement policy lists seven conditions for employing agents
Foreign entities have been allowed to engage agents for defence deals under a strict set of conditions, which includes giving defence ministry access to company accounts, as per a news report in The Economic Times.
This is part of the new defence procurement policy, which also bars the practice of paying commissions depending on the success or failure of the effort. The policy, which has been under deliberations for more than a year, was finally put in place on June 8. A key chapter on 'strategic partners' is still not ready and will be added later, said officials.
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