Daily Bulletin: Narendra Modi sets up two Cabinet panels for job creation, economic growth, six more suspected Nipah patients quarantined; today's top stories

Two Cabinet panels set up to spur investment, create jobs In a bid to spur investment and create new employment opportunities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday set up two Cabinet committees to deal with the two crucial issues. It is perhaps for the first time that the Cabinet committees on the two issues have been set up. Formal notification by the Cabinet Secretariat would be issued by Thursday. Government sources said both the panels, respectively on Investment and Growth and on Employment and Skill Development, will be headed by the prime minister. The Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth will have Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sithataman, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and Railways and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal as its members. The Cabinet Committee on Employment and Skill Development will include, besides Shah, Sithataman and Goyal, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Skill Development MN Pandey, Labour Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar and Housing and Urban Development Minister Hardip Puri. [caption id=“attachment_4504669” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A family wearing masks at a health centre in the wake of the nipah virus. PTI[/caption] Condition of Nipah patient stable, six more quarantined The Kerala government on Wednesday said the condition of the college student being treated at a private hospital for Nipah virus is stable while six others have been kept under watch at a local government medical college hospital. Authorities have scrambled to trace the source of the potentially deadly virus which resurfaced in the state a year after it struck two north Kerala districts, claiming 17 lives. A total of 314 people from various districts are currently under observation, a government bulletin said Wednesday evening. According to the bulletin, of the 314, six people have been shifted to the isolation ward of the medical college hospital. Two more persons were admitted to the Government Medical College (GMC), Ernakulam, on Wednesday, 5 June taking the numbers of suspected Nipah infections to seven. After uproar over plea to bring in Tamil as an optional language in other states, EPS deletes tweet Facing a backlash after tweeting a request to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to introduce Tamil as an optional language in other states, Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday deleted the tweet. “Request Hon’ble PM @narendramodi ji to include Tamil as an optional language for study in other states. This will be a great service to one of the most ancient languages of the world,” Palaniswami had said in the now-deleted tweet. The tweet received criticism from the opposition parties in the state. The DMK raised the issue and asked Palaniswami if his government wants the Central government’s proposed three-language formula to be implemented in the state. NEET topper Nalin Khandelwal credits parents, teachers support for the feat Nalin Khandelwal, hailing from Sikar district of Rajasthan, topped the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2019 Wednesday. Apart from Khandelwal, three more students from the state secured positions in the top ten ranks in the examination. Khandelwal, whose parents are doctors, said he prepared for the examination for two years. He scored 701 marks out of 720 to top the exam. “I fully focused on studies for two years in Jaipur. Since my parents are doctors and my elder brother is also doing his MBBS, I got full support from them as well as from my teachers,” he told reporters. The topper said he took a break from social media and smartphones. RBI monetary policy to be announced today The RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is slated to announce its bi-monthly policy today (Thursday) amidst Narendra Modi-led government starting its second term. The central bank had cut the short-term lending rate (repo rate) by 25 basis points each in its last two policy reviews. The MPC headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das began its three-day meet beginning 3 June to firm up the second bi-monthly monetary policy of the fiscal. India’s largest bank, SBI, in a recent research report had said that the RBI needs to go in for a larger rate cut, more than 25 basis points, in the next monetary policy review in June to reverse the current slowdown in the economy. Rain washes out French Open 2019 action on Wednesday; Novak Djokovic, Simona Halep to feature in Thursday’s quarter-finals Torrential rain caused a complete washout of the French Open 2019 quarter-final action in Paris on Wednesday with Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep amongst the biggest victims. Djokovic will be in action against Alexander Zverev, whereas Halep will face USA’s Amanda Anisimova. Madison Keys will face Ashleigh Barty in the other women’s quarterfinal, whereas Dominic Thiem locks horns with Karen Khachanov. Australia face West Indies in Match 10 of ICC Cricket World Cup Aaron Finch-led Australia will face Jason Holder’s West Indies in match 10 of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 to be held at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on Thursday. While Australia beat Afghanistan in their first match, West Indies thrashed Pakistan. West Indies expects opener Chris Gayle and all-rounder Andre Russell to be fit to play in Thursday’s match.