DailyOh! Two CBSE board exams in a year, to why Britney Spears came up in SC today
The CBSE has announced a new policy under which the board exams for Classes X and XII will be conducted twice from the coming year.
The week seems to have started on the note of multiple low-intensity earthquakes that were reported across various countries in Asia. There was one in Myanmar of magnitude 3.5 on the Richter scale, in Bhutan of magnitude 2.9, and in China of magnitude 4.6.
You might have felt mild tremors if you were near Thoubal or in Delhi-NCR.
Our Word Of The Day, tremor is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “a small earthquake in which the ground shakes slightly.” It comes from the Latin word tremere that translates ‘to tremble’.
That was the earth trembling, but one tiny little invisible organism has been making all of us tremble at its mere mention, since last year. No prizes for guessing that we are talking about the Coronavirus. However, we have some good news on that front.
This morning, India reported 34,703 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. The good news is that this is the lowest count in the past 111 days — nearly four months.
While the country has a good reason to rejoice, but the cricket buffs are quite disappointed as three England players and four backroom staff have tested positive for Covid-19. The rest of the squad is deemed as close contacts and are in isolation. This comes two days before the start of the ODI series against Pakistan. The first ODI is on Thursday in Cardiff, and the match will still go ahead, England Cricket Board has confirmed. However, the Board is now forced to select a completely new team to play against Pakistan.
From cricket to the Cabinet reshuffle now. On the same day that England’s new team will play against Pakistan, in India, PM Modi is likely to renew his team and rejig his council of ministers. The reshuffle will likely happen at 10.30 am on July 8. In the run-up to the reshuffle, several important developments have emerged that you can read here.
This is the first major rejig of the Cabinet since 2019. One person who will not be a part of it will be Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thawarchand Gehlot.
No, he has not fallen out of favour with the government but has been appointed as Governor of Karnataka. Along with Karnataka, seven other states got new Governors today.
The Cabinet reshuffle will leave some happy and others disappointed. But right now, the student community is most disappointed. The CBSE has announced a new policy under which the board exams for Classes X and XII will be conducted twice from the coming year.
This is in view of the Covid-19 pandemic and how it has disrupted the current and last academic session in schools. Needless to say, the students are disgruntled, and obviously so. It was bad enough to take these exams once a year. Imagine having to face them twice!
Meanwhile, Twitter’s troubles are far from over. In a public interest litigation hearing at the Delhi High Court today, Twitter informed that it has not yet complied with the Centre's new IT rules. However, the social media giant added that it is currently “in the process” of doing so. The High Court was not too happy with the response. It ruled that the Centre is free to take action against Twitter and no protection will be provided to the company.
From the High Court to the Supreme Court now, where a reference to Britney Spears came up while hearing a case. The Court was hearing a petition by a 42-year-old spiritual practitioner, seeking the release of his 21-year old partner from the custody of her parents. Of course, SC refused to interfere and cited the case of Spears, where the pop singer is fighting a legal battle to end the conservatorship by her father.
Staying with international celebrities, today we mourn the death of the man who gave us some phenomenal Hollywood hits and television series — from the modern superhero blockbuster Superman to Lethal Weapon, the American buddy cop action comedy-drama television series. Filmmaker Richard Donner is no more.
While many of the characters he brought to life on the large screen will live on as his legacy, none more so than Superman (1978). There are many wow facts associated with Donner and Superman. For starters, the offer he received to direct the film — a then-unheard-of whopping USD one million! It was his choice to cast Christopher Reeve in the title role — something that Reeve was associated with for the rest of his life.
In fact, Donner (right, in the photograph above) is said to have blacked Christopher Reeve’s (left) hair with boot polish for the latter’s screen test in February 1977!
Donner was a perfectionist who loved Superman, the character. And he spared none of that in channelling it in making the film. He had multiple face-offs with the producers. For starters, he insisted on the need for special effects that would convince the audience that a superhero could really fly. However, what got the producers Ilya and Alexander Salkind’s goat was when Donner rejected Mario Puzo’s screenplay!
When the Salkinds began the project, they wanted a high-profile writer to boost the film’s profile. Who better than the author of The Godfather — Mario Puzo? Now Puzo was more of a novel author and went on to generate a massive script that spanned two films and the screenplay ran on to 500 pages! When Donner was given the script (after being assured by Alexander Salkind that it was “perfect”), the director was appalled. Reportedly his reaction to the script was, “It was disparaging.”
As a tribute to Donner, we suggest you watch Superman, streaming on Amazon Prime Videos. And if you need something to slurp as you enjoy Reeves in action, we recommend you make yourself an ice cream soda.
That's all for today. See you tomorrow.
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