1. Parliament Winter Session: Rajya Sabha Chairman Dhankhar speaks on NJAC verdict in his remarks in Upper House
2. India’s global interest growing, its footprint expanding: EAM in RS
3. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge to hold meeting of ‘like-minded’ opposition parties
4. Face-off in Lok Sabha on Maharashtra-Karnataka border row, NCP seeks Centre’s intervention
5. India’s c.bank set to raise rates; outlook on growth, inflation in focus

What Else

6. Grenade attack outside police post in J&K’s Jammu district
7. RBI backs Centre on demonetisation move in Supreme Court
8. India home to great diversity of faiths: US
9. Delhi MCD Election 2022 Results: AAP ends BJP’s 15-year rule;
10. China pivots from ‘zero-Covid’ policy, eases more curbs
11. China loses grip on global manufacturing-Axios
12. China’s Xi Jinping to visit Saudi Arabia for 3-day visit: Report
13. US to boost Taiwan’s stretched air force with $428 million in spare parts
14. Pakistan concedes to China’s demand
15. Arshad Sharif’s murder ‘planned assassination’, says fact-finding team
16. More than 50,000 social accounts, pages pushing anti-Pakistani agenda banned
17. AJK PM asked to apologize to Shehbaz

Parliament Winter Session: Rajya Sabha Chairman Dhankhar speaks on NJAC verdict in his remarks in Upper House

• Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Chairman of the Rajya Sabha on Wed spoke on the 99^th Constitutional Amendment Bill for the NJAC which was undone by the SC in 2015.
• “… On Aug 13, 2014, the Lok Sabha unanimously voted in its favor with there being no abstention. This House too passed it unanimously on Aug 14, 2014, with one abstention,” Dhankhar said.
• “This process fructified into a Constitutional prescription, after 16 State Assemblies out of 29 States ratified the Central Legislation,” he said.
• The Chairman further said, “This historic parliamentary mandate was undone by the SC on Oct 16, 2015, by a majority of 4:1.”
• He added, there is no parallel to such a development in democratic history where a duly legitimized constitutional prescription has been judicially undone.
• This a glaring instance of severe compromise of parliamentary sovereignty and disregard of the mandate of the people of which this house and the Lok Sabha are custodians. (here)

India’s global interest growing, its footprint expanding: EAM in RS

• External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wed stated that India’s diplomacy continued apace amid the country’s growing global interests, expanding footprint, and more intensive partnerships.

• Diplomatically we have been clear with China. Will not allow unilateral change…if they have built up forces, then our relationship is not normal, he said on Sino-India relations.
• On India importing energy from Russia, he stated, “We don’t ask our companies to buy Russian oil. We ask them to buy oil. ..it’s a sensible policy to go where it best”
• We are very clear on Palestine. We support a two-state solution. Our financial support for Palestine has gone up: Jaishankar on Indian policy changing on Palestine

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge to hold meeting of ‘like-minded’ opposition parties

• Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wed called a meeting of like-minded opposition party floor leaders to chalk out the floor strategy, at 9.45 am.
• The Winter Session of Parliament will begin on Wed and continue till Dec 29.
• The session also had delayed by a month due to the Gujarat election schedule.
• At the all-party meeting chaired by Def Min, yesterday – both Congress and TMC, raised the issue of rampant unemployment.
• Parties also asked for more time to be given to the Opposition and that their voices should not be muzzled. (here)

Face-off in Lok Sabha on Maharashtra-Karnataka border row, NCP seeks Centre’s intervention

• As the Winter Session in the Parliament started on Wed, the Belagavi border dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra reached the Lok Sabha.
• The face-off between the ruling party and the Oppn began soon after NCP, MP raised the issue of vehicles with Maharashtra number plates attacked at the border on Dec 6.
• Retorting to the statement made by Supriya Sule, BJP MP Shivkumar Udasi said “Maharashtra politicians from Opposition are habitual offenders!”.
• Requesting the speaker, Udasi said, “Since the matter is still in the Supreme Court, do not let the Opposition talk on it.”
• The border row escalated after a letter was sent to Maharashtra’s chief secretary by the Karnataka govt to cancel our Belagavi visit of ministers to avoid law and order situation. (here)

India’s c.bank set to raise rates; outlook on growth, inflation in focus

• The Reserve Bank of India is widely seen raising its key lending rate by 35 basis points on Wed as inflation continues to stay above its tolerance band but markets will be looking to its outlook on growth and prices for direction.
• Reuters claimed that it was still too soon for the RBI to take its eye off inflation, which slowed to 6.77% in Oct but has stayed above the upper end of the RBI’s 2-6% tolerance band all year.
• Global crude oil prices have been falling in recent months but have yet to be reflected in domestic prices.
• Brent crude has fallen in six of the last 7 months and was trading at around $83 a barrel versus its peak of $139 touched in March.
• In its last statement in Sept, RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee projected GDP growth for the 2022/23 financial year (Apr-Mar) at 7% and retail inflation at 6.7%. (here)
• The battered rupee will not recoup most of its recent losses over the coming year thanks to a persistent current account deficit and a central bank nearing the end of its rate-hiking cycle, Reuters reported. (here)

Grenade attack outside police post in J&K’s Jammu district

• A High alert has been sounded across Jammu and Kashmir after a grenade attack.
• The attack took place late Tue evening near the police post in the Sidhra area of Jammu district outside the police building.
• “The lever of the grenade was recovered from the blast site and no casualty occurred because of the explosion,” sources said. (here)

RBI backs Centre on demonetisation move in Supreme Court

• The Reserve Bank of India told the SC on Tue that demonetization was not a “thoughtless” move while backing the Centre’s 2016 contentious decision.
• The petitioners had submitted to the court that the controversial demonetization was a “thoughtless move”.
• To which the RBI said that the court should refrain from scrutinizing it because it was an economic policy decision.
• The attorney stated before a 5-judge constitution bench that it was an intrinsic aspect of nation-building and that there was consensus on it except for a few who opposed it.
• The attorney stated, citing various SC decisions, that courts should not intervene in policy matters until the policy is proven to be discriminatory and arbitrary. (here)
• Supreme Court reserves judgment on various petitions. Court says “judgment reserved”.

India home to great diversity of faiths: US

• India is the world’s largest democracy and home to a great diversity of faiths, the US said on Tue.
• In a presser, US Department of State said, “Our annual report on international religious freedom outlines some of the concerns we’ve taken note of when it comes to India.”
• “We encourage and will continue to encourage the Indian government to hold its commitment to protecting religious freedom for all,” said spokesperson Ned Price.
• This statement came after the Biden administration released the name of countries that are designated under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. (here)

Delhi MCD Election 2022 Results: AAP ends BJP’s 15-year rule;

• The counting for the Municipal body of Delhi election results is underway since 8 am.
• The Aam Aadmi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party are the two main contenders for the majority of the total 250 seats of the Delhi civic body.
• Till 5 pm, The AAP has crossed the majority mark of 126 in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi election, while the BJP has got 97.

[NEIGHBORHOOD]

China pivots from ‘zero-Covid’ policy, eases more curbs

• China on Wed rolled back more of its controversial ‘zero-Covid’ policies including allowing mild or asymptomatic patients to quarantine at home rather than at centralized facilities
• It has also undone the nucleic acid tests (NAT) to travel within the country, less than 2 weeks after facing widespread protests against the curbs.
• The govt also said people do not need to show NAT results to enter most venues in the country other than designated places like schools and hospitals.
• The 10 new rules announced on Wed by the State Council, the country’s Cabinet, means that China is finally, and rapidly, dismantling the ‘zero-Covid’ policy.
• The changes mean that China is finally looking to “live with the virus”, which is what the rest of the world is doing.

China loses grip on global manufacturing-Axios

• Global manufacturing’s center of gravity is moving away from China.
• Decades of geopolitics built on economic dependence stand to be impacted.
• Apple has accelerated plans to move some of its production outside of China as its business is being hurt by stringent COVID policies, according to a WSJ over the weekend.
• A small portion of Apple’s newest iPhones is already being made in India, where that share could grow to potentially 25% of all iPhones by 2025. (here)

China’s Xi Jinping to visit Saudi Arabia for 3-day visit: Report

• Chinese President Xi Jinping will arrive in Saudi Arabia on Wed for a 3-day visit, his first to the world’s biggest crude oil exporter since 2016, state media reported on Tue.
• The visit will include a bilateral summit chaired by Saudi King Salman and attended by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
• Xi will also attend a summit with rulers from the 6-member Gulf Cooperation Council and talks convening leaders from elsewhere in the Middle East.
• The Chinese leader’s arrival coincides with heightened tensions between Saudia and the US over issues ranging from energy policy to regional security and human rights.
• Also, the OPEC oil bloc agreed to cut production by 2 million barrels a day, a move the WH said amounted to “aligning with Russia” on the war in Ukraine.
• Analysts say leaders from the two countries are expected to discuss potential deals that could see Chinese firms become more deeply involved in mega-projects.
• Those projects include a futuristic $500 billion megacity, a so-called cognitive city that will depend heavily on facial recognition and surveillance technology. (here)

US to boost Taiwan’s stretched air force with $428 million in spare parts

• The U.S. has approved the potential sale of $428 million in aircraft parts for Taiwan to help its air force, which is strained from repeatedly intercepting Chinese jets operating close to the island.
• Taiwan’s air force is well-equipped but aging and is dwarfed by that of China.
• The Pentagon, in two statements on Tue, said the parts would support Taiwan’s F-16s, Indigenous Defence Fighter jets, and all other aircraft and systems of U.S. origin.
• Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said on Wed the sale was expected to “take effect” within one month and offered its thanks. (here)

Pakistan concedes to China’s demand

• Pakistan on Mon caved into China’s demand for opening a revolving bank account that would partially save Chinese power plants from circular debt but it may cause concern to IMF.
• It also allowed the import of 580k tons of wheat at $372/ton + other charges, which would cost a min of $216 mn and $224 mn if add the incidental charges.
• The ministry informed the ECC that the title of the fund had been reviewed to bring it in conformity with the original CPEC agreement dated Nov 8, 2014.
• Pakistan took 8 years to implement the clause and the delay not may cause friction in with China but also led to over $1 bn being stuck in arrears for Chinese companies.
• With this approval, the govt has so far permitted the import of 2.24 mn tons of wheat.
• The country still has to import another 355k tons to bridge the projected shortfall of 2.6 million tons.
• Last month, Prodintorg – the state-owned company of the Russian govt – also signed a contract for the supply of 300,000 tons of wheat at $372/ton. (here)

Arshad Sharif’s murder ‘planned assassination’, says fact-finding team

• The fact-finding team for Arshad Sharif has concluded that his killing was planned and targeted by transnational characters and not a case of mistaken identity.
• According to the report, the “transnational roles” of individuals from Kenya, Dubai, and Pakistan cannot be ruled out in the case.
• The report stated that Waqar – who sponsored and hosted the journalist – was connected to Kenya’s National Intelligence Service and other international agencies.
• It furthered that the fact that Waqar handed over Sharif’s personal cell phone and iPad to a NIS officer, rather than to the police, ‘established’ his link with the NIS.
• Rather, the journalist was hit from the back and the bullet exited from the right side of his chest. (here)
• The fact-finding committee has written a letter to the Dubai police seeking information about slain journalist Arshad Sharif, who was shot dead in Kenya in Oct.

More than 50,000 social accounts, pages pushing anti-Pakistani agenda banned

• Over 55,000 anti-Pakistan social media accounts and pages – the majority of which were located in India and Iran – were shut down at Pakistan’s request.
• The Pakistani govt had reportedly sent 75 letters to 15 different nations and sought action against groups pushing anti-Pakistan agenda on social platforms.
• As many as 78,000 complaints were lodged by Pakistan against anti-state platforms.
• More than 17,000 applications are still pending.
• A large number of anti-Pakistani accounts were managed from locations like India, Germany, US, Afghanistan, and Iran.
• The data shows that over 3 years, these accounts created over 3 billion anti-Pakistan posts targeting the Pakistani military and govt.
• The platforms included websites, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, TikTok channels, and others. (here)

AJK PM asked to apologize to Shehbaz

• A day after a verbal spat between PM Shehbaz Sharif and ‘Azad Kashmir’ PM Sardar Tanveer Ilyas in Mangla, Assistant to PM Sharif on Tue accused Ilyas of damaging the Kashmir cause to protect his business interests.
• He said to pressers that Tarar alleged that Ilyas was running a housing scheme – Taj Residencia – without a NOC and wanted to pressurize the federal govt to secure it.
• He said Centaurus Mall in Islamabad had been issued 4 notices before the building caught fire over violations and not following the building plans. (here)