The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has banned the use of plastic bottles around the banks of Uttarakhand here to check the menace of pollution in and around the river Ganga. The tribunal has appointed a local commissioner and asked him to furnish a detailed progress report. Local district officials have been asked to cooperate with the official.

Yakub Memon case: 4 judges and AG get 'Z' category security cover
The government has provided 'Z' cover to four judges of the supreme court (justice Dipak Mishra,  Prafulla C Pant,  Amitava Roy and Anil R Dave)  and attorney general Mukul Rohatgi. The judges had heard Yakub Memon's mercy plea and  rejected his plea against execution order, while Rohtgi had argued for the government for Memon's execution. All five earlier enjoyed 'Y' category security. 'Z' category security entitles a person to nearly 24 security personnel, a bullet proof vehicle and commandoes who are deployed as per the scenario, while under 'Y' category there are nearly 11 security personnel to protect the VIP in various shifts.

Moderate signs of economic revival in Q1: CII Ascon
According to the CII ASCON Industry survey for the first quarter of fiscal 2016 indicate a reversal in industrial activity, from slowdown to a modest recovery, adding to evidence that the economy is looking up despite many challenges.The survey shows 16.1 per cent of 93 sectors observed reported over-20 per cent growth in the April-June quarter, compared with just 7.1 per cent out of 111 sectors a year earlier. The survey tracks growth across sectors through responses collected from sectoral industry associations.

Congress MPs's suspension from parliament ends
Congress MPs, who were suspended by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan last week will rejoin Parliament after their five-day ban comes to an end today. Meanwhile, both Congress and BJP are holding strategic meetings this morning as the joint parliamentary committee meeting is scheduled to take place at 12:30 pm today, regarding Land acquisition bill.

Over 7.5 lakh returns verified, 11 lakh Aadhaar linked
In less than a month after the income tax department's ambitious OTP-based ITR filing system for taxpayers was launched on the official portal of the department, the department  has electronically verified 7,53,677 ITRs while Aadhaar linkages with the Permanent Account Number (PAN) has been achieved in 11,46,581 cases. The new e-filing system, enabled last month, allows online verification of a person's Income Tax Returns (ITR) by using either Aadhaar number, internet banking, ATM or email, thereby ending the practice of sending paper acknowledgement to its office in Bengaluru. The online ITR filing portal of the department is available at https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in.

Mobile app to aid digital literacy in Bihar
Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has launched a mobile app to aid digital literacy in Bihar as the state gets ready for elections. The app, Disha, is expected to help people learn about computers and Internet through selflearning modules. It is free and available on Google Play Store. Meanwhile, to improve digital connectivity in Bihar, BSNL will install 1,000 new base stations in the state and 184 of these will be located in Naxal-affected areas. All 8,354 gram panchayats of Bihar will be connected under Bharat Net in next three years.

Debris of missing chopper found in Arunachal's Tirap district
The wreckage of Pawan Hans helicopter, which went missing after taking off on August 4, has been found in Arunachal Pradesh's Tirap district. However, the fate of the three occupants, including a young IAS officer Kamalesh Joshi, of the chopper is yet to be known. The massive search operation was launched to locate the chopper which went missing after taking off from Khonsa in Arunachal Pradesh's Tirap district on August 4.

11 killed, 50 injured in temple stampede in Jharkhand
Eleven pilgrims were killed and over 50 injured in a stampede outside world-famous Baidyanath Dham temple in Deoghar district, 350km from Ranchi, in the early hours on Monday. The pilgrims were waiting outside the temple for it to open. The temple opens for pilgrims at 4:30am. As soon as the temple opened pilgrims rushed towards the temple in an effort to be ahead of others in offering prayers, which led to the stampede.

Summons issued to ‘godwoman’, told to remain present at police station on Friday
The police on Sunday delivered summons to self-styled godwoman Radhe Maa in connection with a dowry harassment case in which she has been made an accused. The summons require her to be present for questioning at Kandivli police station on August 14. Radhe Maa, who was in Aurangabad and Nanded for the past few days, returned to Mumbai on Sunday. On Saturday, Radhe Maa's website was hacked. The hacker left a message asking people "to have faith in themselves and work hard instead of believing in godmen/ women." The website was restored by Sunday.

Amit Shah calls Gujarat state leaders to discuss Patel quota stir
Worried about civic elections in Gujarat, BJP national president Amit Shah has reportedly called the Gujarat state leaders to Delhi to discuss the issue of reservation stir of the Patel or Patidar community that is steadily gaining momentum. The stir has the potential to inflict severe damage to the electoral prospects of the party and the state leadership has not  come up with a solution.

Rs 10,600 crore allocation by Coal India to increase output
State-run Coal India, the country's largest producer of the fuel, will spend Rs 10,600 crore this fiscal year on raising its production capacity and ramping up infrastructure, according to its annual report. In 2014-15, Coal India had spent Rs 5,173 crore on projects against a targeted investment of Rs 5,225 crore. For the current fiscal, the company has earmarked Rs 5,990 crore for ramping up capacity and taking on new projects, which will help it achieve a production target of 1 billion tonne by 2020. Of this, 908 million tonne has already been firmed up while the rest is being charted