INDIA, CHINA CORPS COMMANDERS MEET AGAIN TODAY

XIV Corps Commander Lt General Harinder Singh will today hold talks with South Xinjiang Military Region Commander Major General Liu Lin on the next phase of disengagement of troops along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh.

This will be the fourth round of discussions between the two Corps Commanders to resolve the standoff which started early May.

The meeting will start Tuesday morning at the Chushul border point with Moldo — the first two meetings took place at Moldo on the Chinese side on June 6 and June 22 while the third meeting was at Chushul. The last two meetings lasted over 12 hours each.

Top sources in the Army said the Corps Commanders will discuss modalities for further disengagement, including relocation of troops in the friction areas.

In the second stage of disengagement, the situation at Pangong Tso, sources said, will also be discussed where Chinese troops continue to be present on the Indian side of the LAC — they had come in 8 km west of Finger 8 which India says marks the LAC.

A source from the security establishment said the situation at Depsang Plains is also likely to be taken up. Chinese troops, the source said, are “preventing Indian troops to patrol till the traditional patrolling points in the area”. It is close to India’s strategic outpost in the north at Daulat Beg Oldie near the Karakoram Pass.

Other than disengagement underway at the friction points, India also wants to discuss reduction of troops strength and artillery, air defence radars, jammers, rocket forces and other military equipment from the depth areas as well.

Mirroring the Chinese build-up, India has brought in additional divisions and deployed more IAF and air defence assets in the region. Whenever de-escalation takes place, all additional deployments on both sides will have to return to original locations.

CONGRESS LETS GEHLOT SHOW STRENGTH, REACHES OUT TO PLACATE PILOT

The Congress central leadership Monday attempted a balancing act as it navigated the crisis in Rajasthan which showed no sign of an early resolution.

The party allowed Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot a show of strength in Jaipur to signal that a majority of the MLAs are with him. At the same time, it tried to placate state unit chief and Deputy CM Sachin Pilot.

Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Vadra, and party veterans Ahmed Patel, P Chidambaram and K C Venugopal got in touch with Pilot who skipped a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party in Jaipur and remained closeted with a little over a dozen MLAs close to him at a five-star hotel in Manesar.

The Congress message, however, was clear — the high command will back Gehlot since a majority of the MLAs are with him; the leadership holds no grudge against Pilot despite his revolt, will listen to his grievances and find “working solutions,” but not buckle under pressure.

Sources close to Pilot said he has not met any Congress leader or emissary and contested the party’s official claim that Gehlot has the support of 109 MLAs.

Ved Prakash Solanki, an MLA, who is with Pilot at the hotel said: “We all won elections because of him (Pilot), we are ready to face any action,” he said.

Asked whether he will follow Pilot if he joined the BJP, he said “Abhi tak aisa kuchh bi nahi hai. (There’s nothing like that right now). Wherever he requires us, we will go. Our demand is that Sachinji be made the Chief Minister for we won because of him…the youth voted because of him,” he said.

For his part, Gehlot isn’t taking any chances and has moved MLAs to a resort in Jaipur.

Meanwhile, the Income-Tax department carried out search and survey operations in 43 premises in Jaipur, Kota, Mumbai and Delhi of businesspersons and associates close to him.

AICC spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala termed the I-T, ED and Central Bureau of Investigation as “BJP’s three frontal organisations.” “Whenever BJP has to murder democracy, BJP’s these three departments are the first ones to come forward. Since last night, these departments have again arrived in the brave land of Rajasthan to show cowardice,” Surjewala said.

PAK TO RESTORE AFGHAN EXPORTS WITH INDIA THROUGH WAGAH FROM WEDNESDAY

Pakistan said on Monday that it will restore Afghanistan’s exports through the Wagah border with India from Wednesday at the special request of Kabul and to facilitate Afghan Transit Trade.

Pakistan closed the Wagah border with India in mid-March in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Pakistan Foreign Office stated that with this step, Pakistan has fulfilled its commitments under Pakistan-Afghanistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA).

But there was no word about Indian exports to Afghanistan through Wagah

SC RULES IN FAVOUR OF ROYAL FAMILY IN PADMANABHASWAMY TEMPLE CASE

The Supreme Court on Monday set aside the 2011 verdict of the Kerala High Court which had directed the state government to set up a trust to take control of management and assets of the historic Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala.

The apex court upheld the rights of the Travancore royal family in the administration of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, which is considered one of the richest temples in the country. A bench headed by Justice U U Lalit said that as an interim measure, the District Judge of Thiruvananthapuram will head an administrative committee to manage the affairs of the temple.

The sprawling temple, an architectural splendour in granite, was rebuilt in its present form in the 18th century by the Travancore Royal House, which had ruled southern Kerala and some adjoining parts of Tamil Nadu before integration of the princely state with the Indian Union in 1947.

While pronouncing the judgement, the apex court held that the death of the earlier ruler of the Travancore royal family does not affect the right of 'Shebaitship' (the right to manage the deity and the temple as a priest) of Marthanda Varma, the brother of the last ruler of the royal family, and his legal heirs.

COVID-19 DASHBOARD – (Nos. IN INDIA / Nos. WORLDWIDE)

(Indian data from covid19india / and World Data from worldometers.info/coronavirus/ )

Total Cases 9,07,261 (+28,177) / 1,32,35,760 (+1,99,210)

Total Deaths 23,727 (+540) / 5,75,525 (+3,951)

Total Recovered 5,72,112 (+17,683) / 76,96,381 (+1,14,290)

Active Cases 3,11,422 (+9,954) / 49,63,854 (+80,969)

TOP IMPACTED NATIONS SO FAR: (AND SOME OF INDIA’S NEIGHBOURS)

Country, Total Cases / Total Deaths / Recovered Cases / Active Cases

1 USA 34,79,483 / 1,38,247 / 15,49,469 / 17,91,767

2 Brazil 18,87,959 / 72,921 / 12,13,512 / 6,01,526

3 India 9,07,645 / 23,727 / 5,72,112 / 3,11,806

4 Russia 7,33,699 / 11,439 / 5,04,021 / 2,18,239

5 Peru 3,30,123 / 12,054 / 2,21,008 / 97,061

6 Chile 3,17,657 / 7,024 / 2,86,556 / 24,077

7 Mexico 3,04,435 / 35,491 / 1,89,063 / 79,881

8 Spain 3,03,033 / 28,406 / N/A / N/A

9 UK 2,90,133 / 44,830 / N/A / N/A

10 South Africa 2,87,796 / 4,172 / 1,38,241 / 1,45,383

11 Iran 2,59,652 / 13,032 / 2,22,539 / 24,081

12 Pakistan 2,51,625 / 5,266 / 1,61,917 / 84,442

17 Bangladesh 1,86,894 / 2,391 / 98,317 / 86,186

107 Sri Lanka 2,646 / 11 / 1,981 / 654

TOP IMPACTED INDIAN STATES SO FAR

State / Confirmed Cases / Active Case / Recovered / Deceased

Maharashtra 2,60,924 / 1,05,638 / 1,44,507 / 10,482

Tamil Nadu 1,42,798 / 48,199 / 92,567 / 2,032

Delhi 1,13,740 / 19,017 / 91,312 / 3,411

Gujarat 42,808 / 10,946 / 29,806 / 2,056

Karnataka 41,581 / 24,569 / 16,249 / 759

Uttar Pradesh 38,130 / 12,972 / 24,203 / 955

Telangana 36,221 / 12,177 / 23,679 / 365

West Bengal 31,448 / 11,279 / 19,213 / 956

Andhra Pradesh 31,103 / 14,274 / 16,464 / 365

Rajasthan 24,936 / 5,788 / 18,630 / 518

Haryana 21,929 / 4,984 / 16,637 / 308

Madhya Pradesh 18,207 / 4,336 / 13,208 / 663

Assam 17,808 / 6,343 / 11,417 / 45

Bihar 17,421 / 4,923 / 12,364 / 134

Odisha 13,737 / 4,391 / 9,255 / 91

Jammu and Kashmir 10,827 / 4,545 / 6,095 / 187

Kerala 8,323 / 4,028 / 4,257 / 34

Punjab 8,178 / 2,388 / 5,586 / 204

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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US DENOUNCES CHINA’S CLAIMS TO SOUTH CHINA SEA AS ‘COMPLETELY UNLAWFUL’

The Trump administration rejected China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea, reversing a previous policy of not taking sides in territorial disputes in the region and escalating tensions with Beijing on yet another front.

“We are making clear: Beijing’s claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them,” Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said in a statement Monday.

In the past, the US has called for protecting “freedom of navigation” in the contested waterway while stopping short of taking a position on specific territorial claims.

Most recently, the US had raised concerns over China’s decision to conduct military exercises in the contested waters around the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. The Defense Department last week called the actions “unlawful.”

CHINA IMPOSES VISA RESTRICTIONS ON TOP U.S. OFFICIALS, POLITICIANS

China on Monday imposed visa restrictions on some top U.S. officials and politicians in the latest tit-for-tat response to America’s move to sanction several Chinese officials for alleged human rights abuses targeting ethnic minority groups in the Muslim-majority Xinjiang province.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told the media in Beijing that the behaviour of the U.S. officials and politicians and visa ban on some Chinese officials from Uyghur Muslim dominated Xinjiang province “severely damaged China-U.S. relations,” and should be condemned.

Hua made the comments in response to the U.S. sanctions and visa restrictions on three senior officials of the ruling Chinese Communist Party from Xinjiang for alleged human rights abuses targeting Muslim Uyghurs.

WHITE HOUSE PINS BLAME ON FAUCI

The White House is throwing Dr Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease specialist who has been leading the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, under the bus, blaming him among other things false and erroneous projections that nearly tanked the US economy.

Tension between President Trump and Fauci that has been simmering for several weeks now bubbled over this past weekend when the White House released statements detailing the number of times the scientist, who has served six presidents, has been wrong about the pandemic since it surfaced early this year. They also indicated Fauci has lost Trump’s confidence, letting it be known that he no longer briefs the president or enjoys access to the Oval Office. It was also disclosed that his public appearances are controlled so that contradiction between Trump’s roadmap, which is primarily aimed at reviving the economy, and his outlook, which emphasises getting the pandemic under control, are minimised.

White House officials listed nearly a dozen past comments by him earlier in the pandemic that they said had ultimately proven erroneous. They range from his doubts about asymptomatic transmission, to advising people not to rush to wear masks, to suggesting the pandemic is not too serious and would recede, including advice in late-February that “at this moment, there is no need to change anything that you’re doing on a day-by-day basis.”

Fauci’s supporters acknowledge some of those early mistakes, attributing them to a learning process about a pathogen that is still revealing itself.

THE REST

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BENGAL MLA WHO JOINED BJP FOUND HANGING

The body of a West Bengal MLA was found hanging near his home in Bindal village of the state’s North Dinajpur district on Monday morning. Police found a suicide note in his shirt pocket, but members of the MLA’s family and the state BJP alleged that he had been murdered.

Debendra Nath Ray, 55, had won the Hemtabad seat on a CPI-M ticket in the 2016 Assembly elections, but had joined the BJP along with several others soon after the Lok Sabha elections of 2019. He had not resigned his Assembly seat, however, and was technically still a CPI-M MLA.

The BJP accused the Trinamool Congress of murdering Ray, and called a 12-hour bandh in North Bengal on Tuesday.

BJP leaders met Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar in Kolkata, after which Dhankhar posted on Twitter about a “cover-up” and “police prejudice”, tagging Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the tweet.

BJP national president J P Nadda “strongly condemned” the “suspected heinous killing”.

NEPAL PM IGNITES NEW ROW WITH CLAIM ON LORD RAM’S BIRTHPLACE

Stoking a potential controversy, embattled Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli on Monday claimed that the “real” Ayodhya lies in Nepal, not in India and that Lord Ram was born in Thori in southern Nepal.

Condemning Oli for his remarks, BJP national spokesperson Bizay Sonkar Shastri said that the Left parties even in India played with people’s faith, and the Communists in Nepal will be rejected by the masses in the same way they have been here.

Speaking at an event on the birth anniversary of Nepalese poet Bhanubhakta at the Prime Minister’s residence in Kathmandu, Oli said that Nepal “has become a victim of cultural encroachment and its history has been manipulated.”

GUJARAT WOMAN CONSTABLE TRANSFERRED FOR ARRESTING MINISTER'S SON

Woman constable Sunita Yadav was transferred hours after the son of a Gujarat minister and his two friends were arrested for allegedly violating the lockdown and the night curfew orders in Surat.

Sunita Yadav has been sent to police headquarters and a probe has been initiated into the matter.

The arrests came a day after audio clips of a heated exchange of Prakash Kanani, son of MLA and Minister of State for Health Kumar Kanani, and his friends with Sunita Yadav, who tried to stop them, surfaced on social media.

Prakash Kanani and two of his friends were later released on bail.

In the audio clips, the men are heard telling the constable that they had the power to "make you stand at the same place for 365 days".

The constable shouts back that she is not their slave or a servant of their fathers that they can make her stand there for 365 days.

PAY ₹84CR FOR BREACH OF LEASE: GOVT TO PTI

Less than a month after Prasar Bharati threatened to snap ties with Press Trust of India (PTI), the government has now served a Rs 84.48 crore bill on the agency for allegedly flouting the terms of the lease agreement on the basis of which it was allotted land for its New Delhi office. PTI was charged with not paying rent since 1984, and for carrying out “illegal construction” on premises.

Last month, amid widespread criticism from journalists’ organisations, the government had referred to PTI’s coverage of the border tensions with China as “detrimental to India’s national interest”, and bordering on “anti-national”. At the root of the sudden cold shoulder was PTI’s interview with the Chinese ambassador to India, and also PTI’s 16-member board’s denial, so far, of a seat at the table to India’s public broadcaster Prasar Bharati.

The bill is in continuation of the pressure the government appears to be mounting on the news agency.

SERIOUS IMPACT EXPECTED ON HIV, TB, AND MALARIA PATIENTS

Some low and middle income countries (LMICs) could see a surge in HIV, TB and malaria deaths by as much as 10, 20, and 36 per cent, respectively, over the next five years due to the Covid-19 outbreak’s impact on health services, a new study published in The Lancet Global Health on Monday has found.

Researchers estimate that in areas heavily affected by these major infectious diseases, the public health impact of Covid-19 on years of life lost (the number of years a person would have lived had he or she not died of a particular disease) could, in the worst case, be on a similar scale to the direct impact of the pandemic itself.

“The Covid-19 pandemic and actions taken in response to it could undo some of the advances made against major diseases such as HIV, TB and malaria over the past two decades, compounding the burden caused by the pandemic directly,” says Professor Timothy Hallett from Imperial College London, UK, who co-led the research.

According to health data, malaria deaths worldwide have reduced by half since 2000, but progress has stalled as mosquitoes and parasites gain resistance to treatment. As many as 94 per cent of deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa, where malaria claimed an estimated 380,000 lives in 2018.

Similarly, global HIV/AIDS deaths have halved in a decade driven by the availability of antiretroviral therapy (ART). In 2019, at least 690,000 people died from the disease worldwide, the vast majority in LMICs.

An estimated 49 million lives were saved through TB diagnosis and treatment between 2000 and 2015, but the disease still claimed the lives of 1.8 million people in 2018 — with over 95 per cent of these deaths occurring in LMICs.

GOOGLE TO INVEST RS 75,000 CRORE IN INDIA OVER NEXT 5-7 YEARS: CEO PICHAI

Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday announced an investment of US $ 10 bn in India over the next 5-7 years through 'Google for India Digitisation Fund'.

Addressing Google for India event, Pichai asserted that the latest move is a reflection of the company's confidence in future of India and its digital economy.

"Today, I am excited to announce Google for India digitisation fund. Through this effort, we will invest Rs 75,000 crore or USD 10 billion in India over the next 5-7 years," Pichai said.

Investments will focus on four key areas of India's digitisation, he said. This includes enabling affordable access and information to every Indian in their own language, building new products and services relevant to India's unique needs, empowering businesses as they continue to embark in digital transformation, and leveraging technology and Artificial Intelligence for social good in areas like health care, education and agriculture.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Pain divides the champion from all others. What most people lack is having the guts to go on through the pain no matter what happens. - Arnold Schwarzenegger

OFF TRACK

A woman from California and another from New York were seated side-by-side on an airplane.

The woman from New York, being friendly and all, said, "So, where are you from?"

The woman from California said, "From a place where they know better than to use a preposition at the end of a sentence."

The woman from New York sat quietly for a few moments and then replied, "So, where are you from, you silly bitch?"