Newsletter 18 August

Sino-Indian Standoff: Condition seems officially cool but unofficially heatin

'Ready to work with India to enhance mutual trust': China reacts to PM's I-Day speech

So far China has put the blame for the Galwan clash on India and also stated that there is no violation of the LAC.
China on Mon said it was ready to work with India to enhance mutual trust and properly manage differences adding that the “right path” ahead for the two countries is to respect each other.
The Chinese FM made these comments while reacting to PM Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech on Sat in which he said the country’s territorial integrity was supreme.
FM spokesman Zhao Lijian said: “We have noted Prime Minister Modi’s speech. We are close neighbors, we are all emerging countries with over one billion people.“
It is unclear whether these words could imply that China was willing to step back from the places it had intruded into, across the LAC in Ladakh.
In simple word, Beijing is happy with the incursion it has already made and this might have get support from the PM statement “our soldiers are giving befitting reply on both fronts, LoC and LAC” and it wants New Delhi to accept New LAC, with buffer zones.
Chines FM also blamed multiples times that clash on June 15^th was due to the aggression of Indian soldiers.

Amid border tensions with China, indigenous fighter LCA Tejas deployed on western front

In a significant development for the indigenous fighter aircraft program, the Indian Air Force (IAF) deployed the home-grown Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas on the western front along the Pakistan border in view of the tensions with China on the Ladakh front.
“The LCA Tejas was deployed by the Indian Air Force on the western front close to the LoC to take care of any possible action by the adversary there,” Govt sources to ANI.
The first LCA Tejas squadron, 45 Squadron (Flying Daggers) based out of Sulur under the Southern Air Command, was deployed in an operational role there, the sources said.
While the first squadron of the planes is of the Initial Operational Clearance version, the second 18 Squadron ‘Flying Bullets’ is of the Final Operational Clearance version and was operationalized by the IAF chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria at the Sulur airbase on May 27.
The IAF and the Def Min are expected to finalize the deal for the 83 Mark1A aircraft by the end of this year. In view of the Chinese aggression on the borders, the IAF had deployed its assets all along the borders with both China and Pakistan.

Terrorist attack in J&K's Baramulla yesterday

One more terrorist killed (total 3). Incriminating material, including arms & ammunition, recovered. Search going on, since 24hrs: Kashmir Zone Police.

Hideout has blasted by IED, but intermittent firing still going on (1800hrs IST) between security forces and Militants.

Trump elevated ties with India like no other US president: White House official: Sources, Ahead of US election

“Given the two countries’ democratic foundations and their mutual interests in rebuilding the global economy following COVID-19, diversifying global supply chains, and ensuring the Indo-Pacific region remains free and open, President Trump will continue to build this critical partnership in the years to come,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In a separate statement, Al Mason, co-chair for the Trump Victory Indian American Finance Committee, said Trump has elevated India’s stature on the world stage, and asserted that credit also goes to PM Modi.

External Affairs Minister and Foreign Minister of UAE Co-Chair 13th India-UAE JCM

The 13^th Session of the India-UAE Joint Commission Meeting on Trade, Economic and Technical Cooperation was held virtually on Aug 17^th, 2020. The meeting was co-chaired by Dr. S Jaishankar, MEA, India and SA Bin Zayed, MEA and International Cooperation of the UAE.
On Aug 13^th, the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) was also held virtually between S Bhattacharyya, Secy, MEA, India and AN Al Shaali, Astt Min of Economic and Trade Affairs, MEA and International Cooperation of the UAE.
EAM Jaishankar thanked UAE for its call last Fri sharing its thinking about full normalization of your relations with Israel.

Supreme Court dismisses plea to transfer PM CARES Fund to NDRF

SC on Tue dismissed a petition seeking the transfer of money in PM CARES Funds to National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF).
The SC said that fresh national disaster plan for coronavirus COVId-19 is not needed and observed that funds collected in PM CARES fund are meant for charitable trust.
“50,000 ventilators provided to take care of emergency needs of Covid patients is the highest since independence as far as ventilator provision are concern”: Min RS Prasad on PMCares Fund after the SC dismissed the petition.
Set up on Mar 28, the PM Cares Fund is a public charitable trust with the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation.
The PM is the ex-officio chairman of the fund and the defense, home and finance ministers are ex-officio trustees.

SC to examine when corruption allegations against judiciary can be made public

A three-judge Bench also decided to hear arguments on laying down a procedure to be adopted if such statements of corruption are made in public
The SC on Mon decided to consider what procedure should be adopted if statements are made in public alleging corruption in sitting and retired judges.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra, B R Gavai and Krishna Murari said the court would also consider what could be circumstances when a statement on judicial corruption was made in public.
The court decided to examine these issues while considering a 2009 contempt case against adv. P Bhushan for alleging corruption in past CJI.
Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for Bhushan, said the matter can be referred to the Constitution bench after closing the present matter.
He, along with senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for then editor of Tehelka magazine Tarun Tejpal, asked the court to put a quietus to the case.
“Putting a quietus was not an issue but the question before us was when a matter is sub-judice, to what extent, it can be argued through media,” the bench asked.

Facebook Row: FIR against Facebook policy head Ankhi Das for 'hurting religious sentiments, inciting communal animosity’

An FIR was filed against Ankhi Das, (+2) FB’s Director, Public Policy, India, South, and Central Asia, by a Raipur-based journalist, Awesh Tiwari lodged a complaint.
Tiwari had lodged the case after he was named in a complaint by Das to Delhi Police, alleging that she had been receiving threats to her life.
As per ‘The Quint’, the FIR has alleged that Das had “pressured her employees to not take down several hate speech posts prior to the Lok Sabha elections.” This was done “to make political gains in the Indian market.”
Congress repeatedly raised issue of bias with many Facebook executives. Would suggest to set up a high-level inquiry into Facebook India leadership team and submit report to Facebook Inc. within a reasonable period of time: KC Venugopal, AICC Gen Secy to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
In the past, Sonia Gandhi had said this is ‘aar-par ki ladaai’ & Rahul Gandhi said ‘Public will beat PM Modi with sticks’; Is this not hate speech? : Min RS Prasad commented on Congress’ letter to FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg regarding hate speech.

Odisha GST squad arrests accused in multi-crore scam

He had generated fake invoices worth ₹712 crore and passed bogus input tax credit of ₹129 crore.

Odisha Goods Service Tax enforcement squad has arrested a person for his alleged involvement in generation of fake invoices worth ₹712 crore and passing of bogus input tax credit (ITC) of ₹129 crore.

The accused identified as KK Agarwal, Director of Madhumita Steels Industries Pvt. Ltd. was arrested from Sambalpur.

Mr. Agarwal, who had been under the scanner of State GST Enforcement Squad since long, used to frequently change his address from Rourkela to Haryana and from Jamshedpur to Sambalpur.

Freelance journalist Prashant Kanojia arrested by Uttar Pradesh Police from his Delhi residence over a social media post about Ayodhya’s Ram Temple.

Kanojia had shared the video on Facebook with a purported sarcastic remark of his own which said, “Yogi ji video chatting kar sakate ho, to ishq ka izahaar kyon nahin? Yogi ji aap daro nahin, mat socho samaaj kya kahega bas bhaag jao ham sab aapakee shaadee karava denge. (Yogi ji, if you can chat via video call, then why can’t you express your love? Yogi ji, don’t be afraid, don’t think what the society will say, just elope. We are all with you, we will get you married.)”

However, Police didn’t confirmed on which post this arrest has made.

Chief Electoral Officers of the election going states shall prepare a comprehensive plan within 3 days for State/ district concerned for COVID19 related measures, taking into account the local conditions, during the conduct of elections: Election Commission of India

Neighborhood

Chinese Authorities Demolish Mosque in Xinjiang, build Public Toilet

China’s war against Xinjiang has touched a new law as reports claim that Chinese authorities have built a public toilet on the site of a demolished mosque.
The incident took place in the Atush region of Xinjiang.
The mosque in the Suntagh village was demolished in 2018.
Two years later, a public toilet stands in its place.
The people of Suntagh have toilets at home and the village barely receives tourists, so locals say there is no need for the public toilet.
Chinese authorities know it as well that’s why the new stalls have not even been opened to the public.
The bitter truth is China wants to target the Uighur Muslims of Xinjiang. China has destroyed 70% of the mosques in Xinjiang and with this toilet, it is only adding insult to injury, media claimed.

Exclusive: Nepal and China to jointly announce Mount Everest's new height

Nepal and China are likely to make a joint announcement regarding the new height of Mount Everest, the highest mountain of the world, according to sources.
The proposition was a part of a MoU called the ‘height of mount Zhumulangma/Sagarmatha’ that was exchanged between China’s ministry of natural resources and Nepal’s ministry of land management, cooperatives and poverty alleviation.
Article one of the MoU states that political parties of both the countries will discuss the date and details about the announcement as per a joint statement between the China and Nepal issued on Oct 13, 2019.

Korean EV maker Edison to invest up to Rs 5,000 cr in UP, create 5,000 jobs

Project to be set up in three phases; company is scouting for land near Lucknow & Yamuna Expressway.
The company has proposed to invest Rs 500-700 Cr in the 1^st phase, Rs 1,000-1,500 Cr in the 2^nd phase and Rs 2,000-3,000 Cr in the 3^rd phase of its electric vehicle plant in the state.
A delegation led by Edison Motors managing director Y K Lee called upon UP CM Adityanath at his official residence in Lucknow and expressed a desire to set up an electric vehicle plant in the state.
The state cabinet had cleared the new UP investment policy, which promises to reimburse state goods and services tax (SGST) by 200-300% of the capital investment, subject to differential ceiling depending upon the geography, made by the industries in the Purvanchal (Eastern UP), Bundelkhand regions and Madhyanchal (Central UP) regions, considered to be under developed.
To woo investments, the government had recently eased norms for the allotment of industrial land.

Describing it as an “important decision”, Mr. SRS Chouhan said in a video message, “We are making the required legal provisions for it. Resources of MP for the children of Madhya Pradesh.

Punjab seeks re-assessment of river water share, while Haryana wants neighbor to complete SYL Canal

On Water shearing, CMs Capt Amarinder Singh and ML Khattar meet over video-conference for first time to discuss contentious Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal issue.
The meeting follows the SC’s direction to the Centre on July 28 to mediate between the two states to resolve the long-pending SYL issue and report is to be submitted to SC.
The availability of water in the Sutlej, Ravi and Beas rivers over 40 yrs has reduced drastically and the Centre knows that fact, said CMO Punjab.

Goa Governor Satya Pal Malik Moved To Meghalaya, 3rd Shift in 2 Years

SP Malik was appointed Goa governor in Oct last yr.
He was the Governor of JnK when its special status under Article 370 was scrapped and it was divided into two union territories.
Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has been given additional charge of Goa.
Recently, Mr Malik was seen to disagree with CM Pramod Sawant of the BJP-led Goa government on the coronavirus situation in the coastal state.
He also sharply refuted a statement by the CM, who had quoted Mr Malik as saying the media was giving “wrong information” on the COVID-19 situation in the state.
“This is a big impropriety on part of CM. I have never said anything against media, print media or social media. Media is our strength and it informs us about lacunas. On the basis of the information, I called a meeting. It is wrong to say. It is highly improper. Any civilized man should not do it,” Mr Malik was quoted as telling news agency ANI on Mr Sawant’s remarks.

IIT, Madras retains its 1^st position in the list of top innovative educational institutes in India for the second consecutive year, followed by IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi, under Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) announced Tue. All 3 are central Govt Orgs.

Nation Amid COVID-19

Amid COVID-19, India records 2721 swine flu cases till July this year.
India’s Index of Industrial Production IIP has plummeted to minus 45.9% during the Apr-June quarter hitting a blow to the economic growth. As COVID reaches the rural areas, the recovery maybe slower than expected.