Newsletter 14 July

July 14, 2021
 Team

Important Picks of the Day

NATIONAL​

PM chairs first in-person Union Cabinet meet in over a year

With the Monsoon session of Parliament round the corner, the first in-person meeting of the Union Cabinet was held at PM Narendra Modi’s official residence on Wed. (↓)

PM Modi to inaugurate the International Cooperation and Convention Centre, ‘Rudraksh’, tomorrow

Jaishankar meets Afghan counterpart in Dushanbe amid India’s security concerns in Afghanistan (↓)

This is the first meeting between the two ministers since India’s decision to evacuate its diplomatic staff from Kandahar, owing to the Taliban’s advancement there.

S Jaishankar likely to have a bilateral meet with his Chinese counterpart

Official sources said Jaishankar is expected to emphasize the need for an early, complete, and sincere disengagement at the LAC in eastern Ladakh for improvement in ties that have been marred since April last year.

Monitoring activities by PLA: Army on eastern Ladakh situation

There has been no attempt by the Indian or the Chinese side to occupy the areas in eastern Ladakh from where they disengaged in Feb and both sides are engaged in talks to resolve the remaining issues in the region, the Army said on Wed.

Soldier dead, 7 injured in Army vehicle accident in Arunachal

Upper Siang (Arunachal Pradesh), One jawan reported dead while 7 were seriously injured when Army’s heavy vehicle met with an accident due to bad weather conditions in Arunachal Pradesh on Wed.

$700 million fighter jet engine deal with the US soon, negotiations almost done

India is set to sign another major defense deal with the US, with negotiations almost over to acquire fighter jet engines worth $700 million to power the indigenous Tejas Light Combat Aircraft. The jet engines, to be bought from General Electric (GE), are for the recent order of 83 of the LCA Mk1A version placed by the Indian Air Force.

'Hizb chief Salahuddin’s sons facilitated terror funding many times while in govt service'

Syed Ahmad Shakeel and Shahid Yusuf — sons of Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin who were recently terminated by the J&K Govt — had allegedly facilitated terror funding on 6 and 9 occasions respectively while in govt service, according to sources in the central investigation agencies.

NEIGHBORHOOD

Pakistan bus blast kills 10, including six Chinese nationals

The Pakistani army has suffered major casualties during an operation against banned terror group Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan or Pakistan Taliban. The incident that happened on Mon saw the Pakistani army suffering 12 casualties includes Captain Abdul Basit from the 28 Baloch Regiment. Basit was on deputation to Thal Scouts of Pak Frontier Corps Wing.

The incident happened in Pakistan’s northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or KPK province where 6 employees of Pakistan’s Jazz Mobile Operator were abducted by a militia operating the region. The exact location is Kurram District of Kohat division of KPK. The Pakistani forces had gone to rescue the abducted employees when the incident happened.

China calls for probe: China has condemned the blast and asked Pakistan to thoroughly investigate the attack, the Chinese foreign ministry said. Beijing asked Pakistan to protect the safety of Chinese personnel, institutions, and projects, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular news briefing on Wed. In its statement, the Pakistani foreign ministry said it “is closely in contact with the Chinese Embassy for coordination and facilitation”.

Taliban's existence not possible without the support of countries in the region, Afghan envoy Farid

Afghan envoy Farid Mamundzay said, ‘without the support of the countries in the region’, the Taliban’s ‘existence may have not been possible. Pakistan’s support for the Taliban has been well-known. The envoy’s comments come even as the group is making rapid territorial gains in the country. In a telephonic conversation, PM Narendra Modi and Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Wed took stock of the overall bilateral relations and the ongoing substantive cooperation between the two countries.

China-Myanmar border city detains 61 people for forging nucleic acid reports-Chinese State Media

Southwest China’s Yunnan Province detained 61 people for forging nucleic acid test reports over the last month amidst a recent epidemic resurgence in China-Myanmar border city Ruili. From Jun 8 to Jul 13, the public security bureau in Lianghe county detained 61 people in 43 cases for forging and using the forged nucleic acid test reports at two border checking points, according to police.

PM chaired first in-person Union Cabinet meet in over a year

  • With the Monsoon session of Parliament round the corner, the first in-person meeting of the Union Cabinet was held at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official residence on Wed.
  • Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held the first meeting with the Council of Ministers virtually after the Union Cabinet reshuffle on July 7. A day after the expansion of the Union Cabinet, the PM had back-to-back meetings with the union cabinet and council of ministers on Thu.
  • In the meeting, sources had said that PM had cautioned Ministers against any complacency in the fight against COVID-19, saying that over the past few days there have been pictures and videos of crowded places and people roaming about without masks or social distancing, and “it should instill a sense of fear in us”.
  • Ministers including Bhupender Yadav, Sarbananda Sonowal, Mansukh Mandaviya, Giriraj Singh, and Smiriti Irani were named in the all-important Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (one of the most important committees that take decisions on political strategy), which includes PM Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home, and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi.
  • In the CCPA, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, and Information and Broadcasting and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur have been included as members for the first time, along with Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda.
  • While Rijiju takes the place of Ravi Shankar Prasad, Thakur has replaced Prakash Javadekar in this committee. Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Virendra Kumar has also been included in place of Thawarchand Gehlot, who has recently taken charge as Karnataka Governor.
  • Union Ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal, and V. Muraleedharan have been included as special invitees to this committee.
  • The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs includes PM Modi, Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Narendra Singh Tomar, S Jaishankar, Piyush Goyal, and Dharmendra Pradhan.
  • The Cabinet Committee on Accommodation includes Union Ministers Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal, and Hardeep Singh Puri.
  • In 2019, the reconstitution of various Parliamentary committees had led to controversy after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was left out of key CCPA. Later the Govt had to amend the composition of CCPA to include Singh in the key decision-making body.
  • The Monsoon session of Parliament is set to commence from July 19 and will conclude on Aug 13.

Union Cabinet Decisions:

  • The continuation of rebate of state and Central taxes and levies on the export of apparel, garments, and made-ups. The rebate will continue till Mar 31, 2024, said I&B Minister Anurag Thakur.
  • Cabinet approved revision of various components of Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying schemes with an investment of Rs. 54,618 crore.
  • Cabinet approved the addition of Ayurveda and change of name of North Eastern Institute of Folk Medicine to North Eastern Institute of Ayurveda & Folk Medicine Research.”
  • The scheme for promotion of flagging of merchant ships in India by providing subsidy support to Indian shipping companies in global tenders floated by Ministries and CPSEs.
  • The continuation of the National AYUSH Mission from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026. This will cost Rs. 4,607 crores and reduce the national disease burden.
  • A scheme for infrastructure development for district and subordinate courts will also be extended from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026, said Mr.Thakur.
  • Dearness Allowance of Central Government employees has been increased to 28% from 17%. This will be applicable from July 1, 2021.

Afghanistan cannot be its past, should not let them down: India at SCO

In the backdrop of a surge of Taliban violence in Afghanistan, India at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of the foreign minister said that the peace process is the way out and “we must not let the Afghans down”. Speaking at SCO meet in Dushanbe, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said, “Peace negotiations in earnest is the only answer. An acceptable compromise that reflects the Doha process, Moscow format, and Istanbul process is essential. The future of Afghanistan cannot be its past. A whole new generation has different expectations. We should not let them down.”

India presents a 3-point road map for Afghanistan, opposes seizure of power by force

India on Wed presented a three-point road map for an end state in Afghanistan, including cessation of violence and attacks and political dialogue for a settlement, which ensures that countries in the region aren’t threatened by terrorism and extremism

  1. An independent, neutral, unified, peaceful, democratic, and prosperous nation,” Jaishankar said in a string of tweets after the meeting of the SCO Contact Group on Afghanistan as he outlined the three-point roadmap.
  2. Ceasing violence and terrorist attacks against civilians and state representatives, settle the conflict through political dialogue, and respect the interests of all ethnic groups, and
  3. Ensure that neighbors are not threatened by terrorism, separatism, and extremism.

Jaishankar meets Afghan counterpart in Dushanbe amid India’s security concerns in Afghanistan

Jaishankar Tue met his Afghan counterpart Mohammed Haneef Atmar in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, as the security situation in Afghanistan continued to deteriorate significantly. The meeting came on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers Conference and the SCO Contact Group on Afghanistan.

  • Jaishankar is on a back-to-back trip to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, which began Tue, to attend the SCO Foreign Minister’s meeting as well as the SCO Contact Group on Afghanistan, with the single biggest agenda of Afghanistan and the state of play there post the US’ withdrawal from the country by 31 Aug.
  • This is their first meeting since India’s decision last week to evacuate its diplomatic staff from its mission in Kandahar owing to the rapid advancement of the Taliban fighters there.
  • According to sources, both sides also discussed the state of play in the Doha peace talks, which is going on between an Afghan government delegation and Taliban leaders at the Qatari capital.
  • According to a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry of Afghanistan, Atmar referred to “escalation” of the Taliban attacks in collusion with foreign fighters and regional and international terrorist networks against civilians and the Afghan defense forces.
  • Expressing concern over the escalation of violence and stressing the need to end the bloodshed in Afghanistan, Jaishanakr assured Atmar of India’s “continued cooperation in strengthening regional and global consensus to achieve a political settlement in Afghanistan,” it said.
  • India, as per ThePrint, is now also increasingly getting worried about the presence of its diplomats in Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan, where it has a fully operational consulate.
  • An 11-member Afghan government delegation, which includes their key peace and reconciliation leaders Abdullah Abdullah and former President Hamid Karzai among others, are reportedly planning to visit Doha to meet the Taliban leaders there.

India’s channels of communication with the Taliban

  • ThePrint reported citing sources that New Delhi has now “opened” channels of communication with the Taliban, but a distinction has to be made between the moderates and the extremists, even as it aims to play a larger role as a stakeholder in the Afghan peace process. It further added that Indian officials have been meeting the Taliban in Doha, not individually on a one-on-one basis but in groups.
  • Suhail Shaheen, spokesperson of the Taliban in Qatar, recently said in an interview that they expected India to remain impartial in the Taliban’s struggle to establish an Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan and that New Delhi should align with the Afghan people and not with a Govt, which has been “imposed” on them.
  • The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces are now busy fighting the Taliban, who have escalated their fighting in Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second-largest city in the south after Kabul and Ghazni City in south-eastern Afghanistan.
  • According to the Ministry of Defence of Afghanistan, the ANDSF have killed 267 Taliban terrorists, wounded 119, and arrested four in a series of operations in Nangarhar, Laghman, Kandahar, Herat, Balkh, Faryab, Jowzjan, Helmand, Badakhshan, Kunduz, Takhar, Kapisa and Kabul provinces since Mon, while diffusing 13 IEDs.
  • The SCO Foreign Minister’s meeting and the SCO Contact Group on Afghanistan will also be attended by Chinese FM Wang Yi, Pakistan FM Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and Russian FM Sergey Lavrov among others.
  • Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent, where Jaishankar is next headed, will be hosting the international conference ‘Central and South Asia: Regional Interconnectedness. Challenges and Opportunities.

Taliban's existence not possible without the support of countries in the region, Afghan envoy Farid

  • Without taking any names, Afghan envoy Farid Mamundzay has said “without the support of the countries in the region’, the Taliban’s ‘existence may have not been possible”.
  • Pakistan’s support for the Taliban has been well-known, and the envoy’s comments come even as the group is making rapid territorial gains.
  • Speaking to our diplomatic correspondent Sidhant Sibal, Farid Mamundzay called India ‘very critical’ for his country even as he highlighted that the Indian mission’s “services remain uninterrupted and as open and active as it should have been” in the country.
  • India has shifted its diplomats from the southern city of Kandahar to Kabul as violence escalates.

Overseas Pakis¬tanis sent remittances worth record $29.4 billion in 2020-21

To help the country meet its widening trade deficit, overseas Pakis­tanis remitted a record $29.4 billion in 2020-21. It will help achieve the expected current account deficit in the last month of the just-ended fiscal year. The central bank said workers’ remittances continued their unprecedented streak of above $2bn for a record 13th consecutive month with inflows of around $2.7bn in June (9% growth year-on-year) and 8% (month-on-month)

  • To help the country meet its widening trade deficit, overseas Pakis­tanis remitted a record $29.4 billion during 2020-21. It will also help in achieving the expected current account deficit in the last month of the just-ended fiscal year, said a Dawn report. 
  • According to the central bank, workers’ remittances continued their unprecedented streak of above $2bn for a record 13th consecutive month with inflows of around $2.7bn in June (9% growth year-on-year) and 8% (month-on-month). 
  • The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) data, which was released on Tuesday, showed that remittances posted a 27% year-on-year growth. It was the fastest rate of expansion since FY03. 
  • The remittances’ growth has helped in improving the country’s external sector position despite the challenging global economic conditions in the past year, said the State Bank. It also added that the seasonal pre-Eid-related inflows helped to further boost remittances level during June. 
  • Last month, two of Pakistan’s main lenders, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), have withheld approval of another $1 billion (7,300 crore rupees) worth of loans due to a failure to fulfill certain conditions, according to Pakistani media sources.
  • On June 28, the World Bank was expected to approve $800 million (Rs 5,800 crore) in policy loans, down from the initial plan of $1.5 billion. Similarly, the ADB has postponed clearance of the second tranche of the $300 million loans for the energy sector.  
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