ONCE AGAIN, FOREIGN DIPLOMATS VISIT KASHMIRAs the government on Wednesday took a second batch of 25 foreign envoys toJammu and Kashmir to assess the "security situation, and witness forthemselves the progressive normalisation of the situation", Afghanistan'senvoy Tahir Qadiry, who was part of the delegation, said mediapersons in theValley have "seriously urged the government to restore internet broadband".Qadiry tweeted, "In our interaction with Kashmiri media outlets, mediapeople seriously urged the govt to restore internet broadband as it iscausing them so much problems to report and broadcast." "As a part of theoutreach efforts, visit of a second group of foreign Heads of Mission isbeing organised.. Upon arrival, we enjoyed a #Shikara ride on Dal Lake inSrinagar. Beautiful lake and hospitable people." he tweeted.The delegation was supposed to go to Baramulla but had to cancel it due tobad weather.After the shikara ride, the envoys went to the hotel on the banks of thelake and met several delegations of politicians, journalists, trade bodiesand social groups to assess the situation of J&K after abrogation of specialstatus. For the third consecutive time - following foreign diplomats' visitsto the Valley in October 2019 and January this year - the same set of localpoliticians, journalists and traders met the envoys.The envoys had an hour-long meeting with a select group of journalists. Asource said, "One of the women journalists told the envoys about scaryconditions journalists here are working in. She drove their attentiontowards the recent report of the Kashmir Press Club, which accused police ofharassing journalists. some reporters spoke about how the internet ban ishampering work".The three major mainstream political parties in the Valley - NationalConference, PDP, and the Congress - stayed away from the meeting involvingpolitical representatitives.The delegation comprises New Delhi-based Ambassadors from 25 countries,including the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Canada, the Czech Republic,Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand,Poland, and the Republic of Uzbekistan.DELHI POLL DEFEAT SPRINGS UP QUESTIONS WITHIN CONGRESSA day after it was blanked in the Delhi Assembly elections with its lowestvote share ever, a row erupted in the Congress after AICC Delhi in-charge PC Chacko sought to blame the late Sheila Dikshit for the start of thedecline in the party's fortunes. He also said "any sensible person wouldhave anticipated the defeat of the Congress in Delhi".Latika Dikshit, daughter of the former Chief Minister who ruled Delhi for 15year, struck back, saying "Mr Chacko should be answering this. how hisconscience allows him to say things like this for a person who has passedaway".Sheila Dikshit's former aide Pawan Khera also responded to Chacko's commentswith a tweet:"Just a data point. In 2013, when we lost, Congress vote share in Delhi was24.55 pc. Sheilaji was not involved in 2015, when the vote share slipped to9.7 pc. In 2019, when she was back in charge, the vote share came up to22.46 pc."Delhi Mahila Congress chief Sharmishtha Mukherjee, daughter of formerPresident Pranab Mukherjee, directly confronted veteran P Chidambaram whodescribed the Delhi vote as an example for other states to follow. Shetweeted: "With due respect sir, just want to know - has the Congressoutsourced the task of defeating the BJP to state parties? If not, then whyare we gloating over AAP victory rather than being concerned about ourdrubbing? And if yes, then we - PCC - might as well close shop!" Mukherjee'sresponse was to Chidambaram's tweet Tuesday saying that AAP's win was thedefeat of bluff and bluster.The Congress officially denounced sparring leaders with AICC media headRandeep Surjewala saying, "The party disapproves of the blame game,allegations and counter-allegations being hurled at each other by Delhileaders. It would have been better had Delhi leaders looked at their ownrole, responsibility and commitment to the party and defined their ownduties towards the Delhi campaign."GOVT APPROVES CHANGES IN 'VIVAD SE VISHWAS' BILLThe government today approved changes in the Direct Tax Vivad se VishwasBill, 2020, with a view to increase its scope to cover litigations pendingin various debt recovery tribunals (DRTs).As the Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha earlier this month with the aimof reducing litigations related to direct taxes, Union Minister PrakashJavadekar, while briefing the media after the Union Cabinet meeting, said,"The Narendra Modi government is quite receptive and good suggestions areaccepted and implemented quickly. Even after its introduction, consultationscontinued and good suggestions are being incorporated in the legislation."It was earlier proposed to cover tax disputes pending at the level ofcommissioner (appeals), Income Tax Appellate Tribunals (ITAT), high courtsand the Supreme Court.Javadekar said it had now been decided to cover disputes pending in DRTsalso. He added that cases involving over Rs 9 lakh crore of direct taxeswere pending in various forums.BANGLADESH'S PER CAPITA GDP NOW HIGHER THAN EASTERN AND NORTHEASTERN INDIABangladesh's per capita GDP is now higher than most Indian states in easternand northeastern India, with the exception of small hill states such asMizoram and Sikkim.According to the data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF),Bangladesh's per capita GDP was $1,905 in 2019, against West Bengal's $1,566in 2018-19 (FY19) - economically the most developed state in eastern India.Bangladesh's lead over other states in eastern India is even bigger. Forexample, Bangladesh's per capita GDP is now nearly 50 per cent higher thanAssam's, nearly three times Bihar's, and twice of Jharkhand's.Assam's per capita GDP was estimated to be $1,185 in FY19, while Bihar isthe poorest - its per capita GDP was $627 during the year ended March 2019.Bangladesh shares its border with four Indian states - Tripura, Assam,Meghalaya, and West Bengal.IN A YEAR, MUMBAIKARS SPEND 11 DAYS IN TRAFFIC OVER THEIR COMMUTE TIME: UBERDATAEach year, the average Mumbaikar wastes about 11 days stuck in traffic. Theaverage commute time on Mumbai's major routes is over an hour, more thandouble the averages of Singapore, Hong Kong and New York.A 30-km trip from the city's international airport to South Mumbai duringrush hour can take over one-and-a-half hours as compared to the 45 minutesfor the 45-km trip from Shanghai's city centre to its airport.While it is well-known that Mumbai's traffic is among the worst in theworld, researchers are now able to quantify the fallout. Data scientists atthe think tank, IDFC Institute, analysed over half a billion data points,between 2016 and 2018, from Uber's 'Movement' tool to come up with thesefigures.The paper says that "long commutes are eradicating the economic productivityof India's financial capital".INDICATORSSensex 41,566 (+350), Nifty 12,201 (+93), Trading Value NSE (Rs.crores)35,861Nasdaq 9,726 (+87) Dow 29,551 (+275), S&P 3,379 (+22)US$-Rs. 71.18 GBP-Rs. 92.28, Euro-Rs. 77.58, UAE Dhm-Rs.19.37, Can$-Rs.53.64, Aus$- Rs. 47.94GBP 0.77 /US$, Euro 0.91 /US$, Jap.Yen 109.96 /US$, Aus$ 1.48 /US$, Sing1.38 /US$, Bang Taka 83.30 /US$, Can$ 1.32 /US$, Mal Ring 4.13 /US$,Pak Re 153.59 /US$, Phil Peso 50.52 /US$, Russian Rouble 63.15 /US$, NZ$1.54 /US$, Thai Baht 31.09 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 24.20 /US$, Norway NOK 9.22/US$Bitcoin - USD 10,344Dollar Index 98.90 Brent Crude 55.95 BDI 418Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,572 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 3990 / 3812,Silver (Rs. Per KG) 49,500THOUGHT FOR THE DAYSuccess usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. -Henry David Thoreau