5 THINGS FIRST Nirmala Sitharaman to meet US Defence Secretary James Mattis on the sidelines of ASEAN defence ministers' meet in Singapore; Sri Lankan PM Ranil Wickremesinghe on a two-day visit to India; PM Modi in Shirdi to hand over keys of houses to beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana; Bombay HC to hear filmmaker Vikas Bahl's defamation case against Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane; Chinese GDP data to be released 1. Why a law may not help build the Ram temple Countdown: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's call to Parliament for enacting a law to build a Ram Temple in Ayodhya may not work out the way he thinks it would — while the BJP-led NDA may have majority in the Lok Sabha, some of its own allies, such as the JD(U), may not support the legislation, while in the Rajya Sabha, the NDA is not in a majority. Both houses of the parliament need to pass a bill before it is sent to the President for his assent, to make it a law. Time's up: While passing of the bill, in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, followed by the Presidential assent, takes its own time, following the due procedure that starts with the drafting of the text of the proposed law, the implementation of the law takes on an average 9-10 months, as after the President gives his assent, the rules and regulations for the law to come into effect need to be framed in accordance with the Constitution. Given that the RSS is in a hurry, to garner political gains for the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, which are less than 6 months away, it is highly unlikely that a law can come into force in that short a time. Courting the law: On a matter as politically sensitive as Ayodhya, the aggrieved parties are likely to approach the Supreme Court challenging the law's constitutional validity. SC has in the past struck down laws or amendments that violated the Indian Constitution, as was the case in its recent verdict on Section 377 that criminalised homosexuality. The Supreme Court has, in fact, asserted its right to strike down any law it feels is unconstitutional. Meanwhile, in another temple 2,770 kilometres south of Ayodhya, women were denied entry into the sanctum sanctorum of Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala for the second consecutive day, despite the SC order striking down the temple’s rule that bar women in the age group of 10-50 from entry; the temple’s high priest has asked women devotees to stay away. 2. Indians are getting richer faster and becoming more indebted Adults only: In the last 18 years, since the start of the 21st century and the second millennium, adult population in India has grown by less than one and a half times, from over 578.56 million in 2001 to 850.21 million till the middle of 2018 — in the same period, wealth per adult has increased nearly three and a half times, from $2,025 in 2001 to $7,024 in 2018, according to a Credit Suisse report. Cash conundrum: Indians aren't known for holding onto cash for too long — financial assets, which were 13.28% of an adult's wealth in 2001, constitute a little over 10% in 2018, whereas non-financial assets have grown by almost 4 times in the last 18 years. Borrowed wealth? The average debt per adult Indian has grown by over 14 times between 2001 and 2018 — debt as a percentage of total wealth has more than doubled in the same period, from 5.09% of total wealth in 2001, to 10.79% of total wealth in 2018. Cheaper than a car: Almost 91% of the adult Indians have less wealth than the top variant of an entry level sedan — with an average wealth of less than $10,000 — while the number of high networth individuals (HNIs), with a minimum wealth of $1 million, is a minuscule 0.04%. Read more here 3. Expect a lot more CBSE schools in the coming years The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has cleared over 8,000 pending applications from schools across India and abroad for affiliation as the Union ministry of Human Resource Development looks to streamline the process of school verification. This would make way for near 40% increase in the number of CBSE schools — at present 20,783 schools in India and abroad are affiliated to it. To enable this the ministry on Thursday announced a new CBSE Affiliation Bye-laws, under which the board will no longer inspect school infrastructure, instead would leave it to the states. Henceforth, CBSE's inspection will be more "outcome-based" and more academic and quality oriented — its focus will be on matters such as academic excellence, quality of pedagogy, the capacity of teachers and teacher training, inclusive practices and such. The ministry said the new approach will take away the duplicity in the inspection that is prevailing in the country, as it said that a school is already verified by state authorities to obtain recognition under RTE Act. The bye-laws also give CBSE greater power to monitor and penalise exam malpractices in schools, besides enforcing a full disclosure of fees — no hidden charges or levies — by the schools. The school-board revamp follows the Modi government's plan to a radical overhaul of India's higher education, where it proposed to replace the University Grant Commission (UGC) with a new Higher Education Commission of India that aims to focus on academic matters and monetary grants. After strong feedback from academia, the government later told the parliament that there would be two commissions — one for academic matters and the other to issue grants. Read the full story here 4. To Trump, India is an ally but not Indians The Trump administration is planning to "revise" the definition of employment and speciality occupations under the H-1B visas by January, a move that will have an adverse impact on Indian IT companies and workers in the US even as the two countries grow closer together on geopolitics. By revising the definition of speciality occupation, the administration aims to let companies hire foreign workers only for high-end, specialised jobs — H-1Bis a non-immigrant visa that allows companies hire foreign workers in sectors such as IT, and is largely availed of (74%) by Indians, whose count stood at 276,423 in 2017. The visa setback will not be limited to "upscaling of vacancies"; the administration also plans to cancel certain criteria that allow spouses of H-1B visa holders — covered under H4 visa — get employed in the US. This will affect the total family income of such workers in the US, thus making working in the US less attractive. Trump hopes to force US companies to hire more American workers through the policies. Yet, US and India are getting closer on world politics, with a landmark defence agreement, a special exception on Iran sanctions to buy oil, and even making way for the defence deal between India and Russia. Read the full story here NEWS IN CLUES 5. Which fruit is also called Chinese strawberry? Clue 1: India grows more than a dozen varieties of the fruit, including Dehra Dun and Kalkattia. Clue 2: It's a perennial plant that can survive around 1,000 years in the wild. Clue 3: On average, consuming nine peeled fruit would meet an adult's daily vitamin C requirement. Scroll below for answer 6. Your small savings help Air India and VVIPs fly Air India flies: Air India's long wait for equity infusion is finally over. The government has given the cash-strapped airline 1,000 crore from the National Small Savings Fund (NSSF). All deposits that you make in small savings schemes are credited to NSSF. Earlier this month, oil companies had threatened to discontinue jet fuel supply to domestic flights of AI Group airlines at eight cities. VVIPs fly: When government needed funds to modify two Boeing 777 aircraft by Air India for use by VVIPs, including the President, the Vice-President and the Prime Minister, it tapped NSSF, which is your small savings. The cost of the modification was $132 million and in the Union Budget 2018-19, Rs 4469.5 crore was allocated for the purchase of two Boeing 777 planes. There's more: NSSF has a budget to invest Rs 1.3 lakh crore in public agencies like Food Corporation of India, the National Highways Authority of India, and Air India in 2018-19. For the first time this year the annual investment in public agencies would exceed that in Central and state government debt. Read the full story here 7. Divorce was dying till it got a new life The change: The Supreme Court last month permitted a couple to part ways after waiving the cooling-off period after being convinced that the couple has taken a 'conscious decision to part as friends'. It was following its own ruling of last year that said the mandatory six-month cooling off-period - the norm for divorce by mutual consent - can be waived. This month a Pune family court granted divorce (by mutual consent) to an estranged couple within 40 days of filing the petition. In April, Bombay HC directed family courts not to insist on personal presence of the parties. The norm: While a divorce by mutual consent takes a minimum of six months, it can drag on from anywhere between three to seven years if either husband or wife contests the petition. The long winded legal process of going through a divorce was forcing many couples to just separate instead of suffering the trial. What numbers say: For every divorced person in India (13.6 lakh according to Census), there are three (35.35 lakh) who prefer to live apart to avoid legal hassles. Twice as many villagers (23.7 lakh) are separated from their spouses than city residents (11.6 lakh) but that could be due to the distance of family courts from villages or because men just abandon their wives without social or legal repercussions. For every two women who are separated or divorced (32.7 lakh), only one man (16 lakh) stays separated or divorced. That means more divorced or separated men remarry than women. 8. A $1.3 billion fine for substandard vaccines China imposed a record fine of $1.3 billion on a homegrown pharmaceutical company, Changchun Changsheng Biotechnology Company, for substandard rabies vaccines. The company's chairwoman, Gao Junfang, and 14 other executives were also barred from working in the vaccine industry — they could face criminal penalties if the ongoing investigation indicts them. Besides the fine, the company has also been ordered to pay a compensation of $29,000 to $94,000 each to consumers who were injected with its rabies vaccines. For context, India's Supreme Court in 1989 had asked the Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and its India division Union Carbide India (UCIL) to pay a compensation of 470m in the aftermath of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. In 2010, the Indian government filed a petition in the Supreme Court to increase the settlement to $1.1 billion. The Chinese action is after the company was found to have fabricated data related to a rabies vaccine; the authorities did not disclose the number of doses or people affected. A report found that the company had also produced nearly 500,000 substandard vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough. Meanwhile, a study suggests a new antiviral pill taken daily by thousands of men across Sydney and other parts of Australia have led to a globally unprecedented reduction in new HIV cases. YOU SHARE YOUR B'DAY WITH... Source: Various 9. And the richest sports contract in history goes to... Boxer Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez. The Mexican, who holds the World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Council (WBC) world middleweight titles, has reportedly signed a record, five-year, 11-fight deal with London-based streaming service DAZN. Alvarez's deal, worth $365 million (Rs 2,683.7 crore) punched out the record 13-year, $325 million agreement that New York Yankees baseball player Giancarlo Stanton signed in 2014 when he was with the Miami Marlins. Again, how much moolah are we talking for Alvarez? Rs 2,863.7 crore over 5 years Rs 536.7 crore per year Rs 44.72 crore per month Rs 11.18 crore per week Rs 1.6 crore per day! Rs 6.66 lakh per hour Rs 11,093 per minute Rs 184 per second 10. Are hanging cars and flying taxis coming to India? Reliance Industries has taken a stake of around 12% in a company called SkyTran that aims to solve the urban commute problem through pods that will run on — rather under — elevated rails using magnetic levitation (as shown in pic). SkyTran is an iteration of Personal Rapid Transportconcept that aims to combine the flexibility and comfort of car with the efficiency of mass transit. SkyTran could also soon become a reality as the Israeli city of Netanya has approved its transit system to link its industrial and commercial area with the residential zones; Reliance says such a transit will solve the traffic and pollution troubles in India. SkyTran isn't the only company looking up to avoid the traffic congestion of modern roads. Uber is working on a concept of air taxis — small chopper-plane-car hybrid that would transport people from office to home like a car. And India is one of the five shortlisted countries Uber plans to launch its Elevate (no timeline, though). Even competing Hyperloop technology firms (Examples oneand two) are jostling for space in India to build their urban transit systems. And there is a reason why these global firms are keen to head to India: China and India are two of the fastest growing major nations but Beijing prefers homegrown companies, leaving India as a good bet. Also, India's traffic woes are worsening. According to a study by Ola, the average traffic speed in the top 7 cities in India dropped by 3 kmph. The city of Bengaluru registered an average speed of 17.2 kmph. But India is not an easy country to implement such projects. Legacy infrastructure, red tape, outdated laws are just a few of the hurdles. Not to mention the cost — there is still no clarity on who and how of the finances of the Hyperloop ventures that were announced earlier. Follow news that matters to you in real-time. Join 3 crore news enthusiasts. GET APP Answer To NEWS IN CLUES Litchi. After Katrani rice, Jardalu mango and Magahi paan, Bihar's Shahi litchi has got the Geographical Indication (GI) tag. The GI tag is an indication which is definite to a geographical territory, and is used for agricultural, natural and manufactured goods. The tag is expected to benefit thousands of the state’s litchi growers who can now gain access to more markets and seek better prices abroad and at home.