Infosys Foundation Chairman Sudha Murthy, music maestro Shankar Mahadevan, economist Sanjeev Sanyal and 16 others are part of a new committee constituted by the NCERT to revise textbooks according to the new curriculum.

The 19-member National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee (NSTC) will be headed by National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) chancellor MC Pant and develop textbooks for classes 3 to 12.

The committee is mandated to prepare the textbooks, and other teaching learning materials, which will, in turn, be published and used by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)

.The committee will work to align the curriculum with the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) developed by the K Kasturirangan-led steering committee as a part of the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

While the final NCF-SE has already been submitted to the Union Ministry of Education, it is yet to be released in the public domain. The draft of the framework was released in April.

The committee is co-chaired by Manjul Bhargav, a professor of mathematics at Princeton University.

Its other members include mathematician Sujatha Ramdorai, badminton player U Vimal Kumar, chairperson of Centre for Policy Studies MD Srinivas, and chairperson of Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti Chamu Krishna Shastry.

The dropping of several topics and portions from NCERT textbooks in May triggered a controversy, with the opposition blaming the BJP-led Centre for "whitewashing with vengeance".

At the heart of the controversy was the fact that while the changes made as part of a rationalisation exercise were notified, some of the controversial deletions were not mentioned.

This led to allegations about a bid to delete these portions surreptitiously.

The NCERT said the removals were made based on the recommendations provided by experts.

A Hindu temple in Canada's British Columbia has been allegedly vandalised on Aug 12 , with pro-Khalistan posters pasted on the temple's gate. This is the fourth such instance where a temple has been vandalised in Canada this year.

The gate outside Lakshmi Narayan Mandir in Surrey, British Columbia was allegedly desecrated with posters of the Khalistan referendum. The poster carried a photo of slain extremist Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

The Khalistan Tiger Force is an extremist organisation involved in the Khalistan movement since the Punjab insurgency.

The Miss Universe Organization has cut ties with its Indonesia franchise, it announced days after allegations of sexual harassment, and will cancel an upcoming Malaysia edition.

In the complaint, more than a half dozen women said all 30 finalists for Miss Universe Indonesia were unexpectedly asked to strip for a supposed body check for scars and cellulite two days before the pageant's crowning ceremony in Jakarta.

The Jakarta competition was held from July 29 to August 3 to choose Indonesia's representative to the 2023 Miss Universe contest, and was won by Fabienne Nicole Groeneveld.

Miss Universe said it would make arrangements for her to compete in the finale, scheduled for November in El Salvador.

Senator Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar was picked as Pakistan's caretaker Prime Minister to govern the cash-strapped country and oversee general elections later this year.

Outgoing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the Leader of Opposition Raja Riaz finalized his name after two rounds of deliberations over the matter.

Kakar, a lawmaker belonging to the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), will lead a caretaker government until a new election later this year.

Prime Minister Sharif recommended the dissolution of the National Assembly on August 9, three days before the mandated term, therefore, according to the Constitution, the next general elections will be held in 90 days.

The polls are expected to be delayed for a couple of months as new census results have been approved by the outgoing government, which makes it a constitutional obligation to carry out delimitation before elections.

The Board of Directors FIT Hon Teng Ltd (Foxconn) approved the investment of USD 400 million in Telangana, V Lee, a Foxconn India representative said in a social media post.

Taiwan-based contract manufacturer Foxconn is Apple's biggest supplier.

Posting the company's disclosure on his social media handle, V Lee said "Moving so fast, Telangana! Another US$400M is coming."

Reacting to V Lee's post, Telangana Minister for IT and Industries KT Rama Rao tweeted saying the fresh investment proposal is in addition to the already committed USD 150 million earlier.

Electronics major Foxconn Interconnect Technology in May laid the foundation for a new electronics manufacturing facility in Telangana as part of its investment in the state.

Earlier this year, Foxconn Technology Group chairman Young Liu along with his senior officials met Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

The Digital Personal Data Protection bill, passed by Parliament this week, has received President's assent, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.

Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) law aims to protect the privacy of Indian citizens while proposing a penalty of up to Rs 250 crore on entities for misusing or failing to protect digital data of individuals.

Companies handling user data will be required to safeguard the individual's information, and instances of personal data breach have to be reported to the Data Protection Board (DPB) and the user.

On August 9, the Rajya Sabha approved the DPDP bill that introduces several compliance requirements for the collection and processing of personal data, has provisions to curb misuse of individuals' data by online platforms, and entails up to Rs 250 crore penalty for any data breach.

Data of children can be processed after consent from guardians, as per the DPDP law.

The Lok Sabha had approved the bill on August 7. The government expects to implement the Act within 10 months, IT Minister Vaishnaw had said earlier this week.

The bill lays down the manner in which companies should process users' data, and gives the government power to seek information from firms and issue directions to block content on the advice of a data protection board appointed by the Union government.

It allows users the right to correct their personal data.

The bill applies to the processing of digital personal data in India, where the personal data is either collected in digital form or in a non-digitised format and subsequently digitised.

The bill defines 'personal data' broadly to include any data about an individual who is identifiable by or in relation to such data.

'digital personal data' is defined to mean personal data in digital form.

DPDP gives the government powers to exempt state agencies from the law.

It moots creation of Data Protection Board of India to handle grievances of individuals around personal data privacy if data fiduciaries or firms using personal data fail to address individuals' complaints.

The government’s net direct tax collections increased 17.33% to Rs 5.84 lakh crore so far this fiscal, reaching 32% of the full-year budget estimates (BE). The Income Tax department in a statement said the collections from the direct taxes, which include personal income tax and corporate tax, up to August 10, 2023, continue to register “steady growth”.

On a gross basis, direct tax collection increased 15.73% to Rs 6.53 lakh crore till August 10 in the current fiscal. Rs 69,000 crore worth of refunds have been issued so far, 3.73% higher than last year.

Net direct tax collection, after adjusting refunds, stands at Rs 5.84 lakh crore, which is 17.33% higher than the net collections for the corresponding period of last year, it said.

The government’s net collection is 32.03% of the total budget estimates of direct taxes for

the current fiscal of Rs 18.23 lakh crore. The 2023-24 budget has pegged the government’s direct tax collection at a little over Rs 18.23 lakh crore, a 9.75% higher than Rs 16.61 lakh crore mopped up last fiscal.

Parliament on Aug 11 approved amendments to the goods and services tax (GST) laws, enabling the imposition of a 28% GST on the full value of bets placed in casinos, horse racing, and online gaming.

The amendments to the Central and Integrated GST laws were passed in the Lok Sabha without discussion. However, for the 28% levy to take effect, states will also need to make changes to their own GST Acts through legislative measures. The Rajya Sabha returned the Bill to the lower House, clearing the path for its enactment.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has set a target date of October 1 for implementation of the new tax, which will be reviewed six months after its introduction. The online gaming sector, which has expressed concerns about the tax’s negative impact on investments and job opportunities, will be closely monitored by the government for its effects.