The Daily Brief – 20th July, 2016

The Supreme Court, through a judgement by Chief Justice T.S. Thakur, has rejected the idea of consecutive life terms. The Court noted that there was no point in awarding life sentences twice or thrice to those found guilty of heinous crimes. The Court held that multiple life sentences will be served concurrently, and not consecutively.
A group of Singapore based NRIs has launched a unique goat breeding project in India. The project called Quidditas is aimed at providing a new income-generating avenue for farmers through scientific rearing of goat and harvesting of goat milk.
Panama has agreed to sign a multilateral tax treaty with India. Indian agencies believe that this will help them expedite investigations into the “Panama papers” recently made public by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The Panama Papers disclosed several wealthy individuals keeping financial information away from the government and thereby evading tax payments.
The Lok Sabha passed a landmark bill awarding statutory status to the controversial National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) from the next academic session, aimed at ensuring a uniform medical and dental entrance exam.
The Rajya Sabha has unanimously passed the Child Labour (Prohibition and Amendment ) Bill, 2012. The Bill seeks to amend the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 to widen the scope of the law against child labour and stricter punishments for violations. The Bill is aligned with the statutes of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention. It calls complete ban on child labour so they can get compulsory primary education in light of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.
The Minister of State (independent charge) of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has announced in the Lok Sabha that a majority of the glaciers in India including Gangotri are retreating (melting) at varying rates ranging from 5 to 20 metres per year due to global warming. The revelations were based on the studies carried out by ISRO, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIGH) Dehradun and other institutions.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to the Central and State government regarding the casualties in clashes between protestors and security forces in Kashmir. Violence erupted after the killing of alleged Kashmiri militant, Burhan Wani, and 44 have died, while several others are injured. the NHRC is currently chaired by retired Chief Justice H.L. Dattu.
The Supreme Court, in a historic judgement, has upheld the power of the Court to transfer cases in and out of Jammu & Kashmir. The Court noted that that the geographical boundaries drawn by the Executive cannot limit the human right of access to justice. The Court held that the SC has the power to transfer civil and criminal cases, including matrimonial disputes, out and into Jammu and Kashmir where central laws like Civil Procedure Code and Criminal Procedure Code do not apply.
Indian actor, model, and television personality Rohit Khandelwal has won the prestigious 2016 Mr. World title. With this, he became the first Indian and first Asian to win the Mr. World title.
According to a recent valuation of brands by Brand Finance India, Tata has emerged as the most valuable brand in 2015-16. The top ten brands are Tata, LIC, Airtel, SBI, Infosys, Reliance, ONGC, L&T, Indian Oil and HCL.

Mohammad Shahid, legendary hockey player, passed away after a brief illness. Born in Uttar Pradesh, he was part of the Indian team that won the gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. He was later awarded the prestigious Arjuna Award and the Padma Shri.
Malcolm Turnbull was sworn in as Prime Minister of Australia for a second term after a narrow victory in the federal election. He became the 29th Prime Minister of the country.
The Republican Party has formally nominated Donald Trump for President of the United States.