DUE TO 'RIGHT DECISIONS TAKEN AT RIGHT TIME' INDIA BETTER PLACED IN COVID-19

FIGHT: PM MODI

India is in a much better position than other countries in the fight against

COVID-19 as a result of "right decisions taken at the right time", Prime

Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday, asserting that the country has

expanded its health infrastructure at a rapid pace.

Speaking after virtually launching COVID-19 testing facilities in Noida,

Mumbai and Kolkata, Modi said in the fight against coronavirus, India has

come to a point where it does not lack in awareness, its scientific data is

expanding and resources are also increasing.

The deaths due to the coronavirus in India are much lower than many big

countries, the prime minister said.

Modi also pointed to the rapid pace of health infrastructure development,

from testing labs, personal protection equipment to COVID facilities. "In

January, where we had only one centre for COVID-19 testing, now there are

about 1,300 labs operating in the country," he said.

RAJASTHAN GOVERNOR RETURNS PROPOSAL; ASKS GOVT IF IT WILL TAKE FLOOR TEST

Rajasthan political crisis seems nowhere near end with Governor Kalraj

Mishra and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot continuing to engage in a battle of

nerves over a plain issue of calling an assembly session.

Two days after the Gehlot-led cabinet sent a fresh proposal to the governor

asking for a session from July 31 and answering his queries, the governor on

Monday returned the proposal to the Chief Minister asking him categorically

if he wanted to take a floor test during the proposed session. The

governor's letter mentions that if a floor test is planned, the government

should consider giving a 21-day notice to the MLAs.

In the revised proposal to the governor, who earlier flagged the part about

missing agenda in the first cabinet note on the session, the state cabinet

had mentioned COVID-19 as the principal agenda along with other political

matters and had also said the governor did not have the right to seek the

session agenda before the session is called.

"Listing of the agenda is the prerogative of the government and is done once

the session is notified," Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi said, adding that

if the governor house didn't know this elementary fact, it indicated a sorry

state of affairs.

The Congress had earlier clarified to the Governor that sessions had been

called at short notices and even at five-day notices in the past. The

Congress doesn't want to specify the political agenda for the session and

says the agenda would be fixed by the business advisory committee once the

session is notified.

Congress workers across eight states protested in front of Raj Bhavans,

claiming that the saffron party was trying to topple non-BJP governments.

Protests were held by Congress state unites in Uttarakhand, Maharashtra,

Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Delhi.

FIVE RAFALE JETS LEAVE FOR INDIA, ARRIVING ON WEDNESDAY

The first batch of the much-awaited Rafale fighter jets took off from France

on Monday and are enroute to India. India had bought 36 twin-engine fighter

planes from Dassault Rafale for an estimated Rs 58,000 crore, through an

inter-governmental agreement signed in 2016.

The first batch includes five aircraft, being flown by Indian Air Force

pilots. They took off from the Merignac airbase near Bordeaux in France.

Ten aircraft have been delivered on schedule, as per a statement by the

Indian Embassy in France on Monday. Of these ten, five have left for India,

while the other five will remain in France for training missions.

These first five jets will reach Ambala Air Force Station on Wednesday. They

will take a break at Al Dhafra French air base near Abu Dabhi on Monday, and

will take off from there for Ambala on Wednesday morning.

BJP HITS BACK AT RAHUL OVER HIS LATEST LADAKH FACE-OFF REMARKS

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said he was not going to lie about

Chinese transgressions in eastern Ladakh even if it costs him politically.

Gandhi made his remarks in a tweet, along with an over-a-minute-long video,

as part of a series launched by him on the India-China face-off along the

LAC in eastern Ladakh. "If you want me to lie that the Chinese have not

entered this country, I am not going to lie. I will simply not do it. I do

not care if my whole career goes to hell. I am not going to lie. This

disturbs me. Frankly, it makes my blood boil. How can some other nation just

come into our territory? Hiding the truth is anti-national. Bringing it to

people's attention is patriotic," Gandhi said in his video.

Hitting back at Rahul Gandhi, the BJP Monday said he was again insulting the

bravery of 20 soldiers who sacrificed their lives in Galwan Valley, and

alleged his family ceded thousands of kilometres of land to China.

With his repeated utterances on the India-China face-off, Rahul Gandhi is

trying to present falsehood as truth, BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao

said.

"Rahul Gandhi has not learnt from his mistakes. He had insulted our soldiers

at the time of the surgical strike, the Balakot airstrike and now again he

has insulted them," Rao said.

He further said Rahul Gandhi's political career ended in 2019 after he

insulted the soldiers.

Citing a reply given by the Congress-led UPA government in November 2012 in

the Parliament, Rao said during the tenure of various governments led by the

Gandhi family, they ceded more than 43,000 sq kms of land to China.

At a Congress party press conference yesterday, P Chidambaram, former

Finance Minister, was asked whether he has been consulted on Mr Gandhi's

airing of his foreign policy perspective. Chidambaram tellingly responded

that he has not served as Defence or Foreign Minister. He said Mr Gandhi

does sometimes seek his opinion " but not for these videos".

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

(Indian data from covid19india / and World Data from

worldometers.info/coronavirus/ )

Total Cases 14,82,080 (+46,482) / 1,66,44,067 (+2,30,113)

Total Deaths 33,448 (+636) / 6,56,550 (+4,493)

Total Recovered 9,53,189 (+34,454) / 1,02,32,050 (+1,89,466)

Active Cases 4,95,443 (+11,392) / 57,55,467 (+36,154)

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

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

Cases

1 USA 44,33,410 / 1,50,444 /

21,36,603 / 21,46,363

2 Brazil 24,43,480 / 87,679 /

16,67,667 / 6,88,134

3 India 14,82,503 / 33,448 /

9,53,189 / 4,95,866

4 Russia 8,18,120 / 13,354 /

6,03,329 / 2,01,437

5 South Africa 4,52,529 / 7,067 /

2,74,925 / 1,70,537

6 Mexico 3,95,489 / 44,022 /

2,56,777 / 94,690

7 Peru 3,89,717 / 18,418 /

2,72,547 / 98,752

8 Chile 3,47,923 / 9,187 /

3,19,954 / 18,782

9 Spain 3,25,862 / 28,434 / N/A

/ N/A

10 UK 3,00,111 / 45,759 / N/A

/ N/A

11 Iran 2,93,606 / 15,912 /

2,55,144 / 22,550

12 Pakistan 2,74,289 / 5,842 /

2,41,026 / 27,421

17 Bangladesh 2,26,225 / 2,965 /

1,25,683 / 97,577

113 Sri Lanka 2,805 / 11 /

2,121 / 673

TOP IMPACTED INDIAN STATES SO FAR

State / Confirmed Cases / Active Case / Recovered /

Deceased

Maharashtra 3,83,723 / 1,47,592 /

2,21,944 / 13,883

Tamil Nadu 2,20,716 / 54,896 / 1,62,249

/ 3,571

Delhi 1,31,219 / 10,994 / 1,16,372

/ 3,853

Andhra Pradesh 1,02,349 / 51,701 /

49,558 / 1,090

Karnataka 1,01,465 / 61,818 / 37,685

/ 1,953

Uttar Pradesh 70,493 / 26,204 / 42,833 /

1,456

West Bengal 60,830 / 19,502 / 39,917 /

1,411

Gujarat 56,874 / 13,048 / 41,482 / 2,344

Telangana 55,532 / 12,955 / 42,106 /

471

Bihar 41,111 / 13,011 / 27,844 / 255

Rajasthan 37,564 / 9,997 / 26,934 /

633

Assam 33,577 / 8,085 / 25,403 / 86

Haryana 32,127 / 6,684 / 25,046 /

397

Madhya Pradesh 28,589 / 7,978 / 19,791 /

820

Odisha 26,892 / 9,337 / 17,374 / 181

Kerala 19,728 / 9,609 / 10,045 / 64

Jammu and Kashmir 18,390 / 7,667 / 10,402 /

321

Punjab 13,769 / 4,387 / 9,064 / 318

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

======================

BE MORE LIKE PAKISTAN, CHINA TELLS AFGHANISTAN AND NEPAL AT FOUR-COUNTRY

MEET

China on Monday urged Afghanistan, Nepal and Pakistan to forge "four-party

cooperation" to overcome the Covid-19 crisis and continue work on projects

under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), including the China-Pakistan

Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Presiding over a virtual meeting with his counterparts from the three

countries, China's foreign minister Wang Yi said the four states should work

together to extend CPEC to Afghanistan.

Wang, one of China's senior-most diplomats with the rank of state

councillor, said the four states should give "full play to geographic

advantages, strengthen exchanges and connections between the four countries

and Central Asian countries, and maintain regional peace and stability",

according to a statement in Mandarin issued on Monday night.

The four countries should also "actively promote the construction of the

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the trans-Himalayan three-dimensional

interconnectivity network, support the extension of [CPEC] to Afghanistan,

and further release the regional interconnection dividend", he said.

Even for China, it is rare to call for four-party cooperation in South Asia

without involving India. But the move fits Beijing's current narrative.

The statement from China's foreign ministry indicated Beijing is looking at

a more permanent cooperation mechanism with the three South Asian countries

than just working together to counter the pandemic.

The meeting added to Beijing's own narrative that it is ready to play a

bigger role in war-torn Afghanistan's peace process. For Nepal, it was an

opportunity to send out a message about its increasingly snug ties with

China amid the strained relations with India.

As for Pakistan, Wang himself cited the example of "iron brother" ties

between Islamabad and Beijing. Emphasising that having good neighbours is

"good fortune", Wang called on Nepal and Afghanistan to follow the example

of Sino-Pakistan cooperation to fight the pandemic.

THE REST

========

MODERNA'S COVID-19 VACCINE CANDIDATE MOVES INTO LATE-STAGE TRIAL

Moderna Inc said on Monday it had started a late-stage trial to test the

effectiveness of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, the first such study under

the Trump administration's program to speed development of measures against

the novel coronavirus.

Moderna has received nearly $1 billion from the U.S. government, which has

chosen it as one of the first to enter large-scale human trials.

Trial volunteers will receive two injections about 28 days apart, with

volunteers randomly assigned to receive either two 100 microgram injections

of mRNA-1273 or two shots of a saline placebo. The study is blinded, so the

investigators and the participants will not know who is assigned to which

group.

Results of a small early-stage study published earlier this month showed

volunteers who got two doses of Moderna's vaccine had high levels of

virus-killing antibodies that exceeded the average levels seen in people who

had recovered from COVID-19.

"WON'T FORGET...": OMAR ABDULLAH ON MEETING PM DAYS BEFORE ARTICLE 370 MOVE

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah has said that he "will not be

contesting any assembly elections" while Jammu and Kashmir remains a Union

Territory. "As for me, I am very clear that while J&K remains a Union

Territory I will not be contesting any Assembly elections. Having been a

member of the most empowered Assembly in the land and that, too, as the

leader of that Assembly for six years, I simply cannot and will not be a

member of a House that has been disempowered the way ours has," wrote Mr

Abdullah, in a stinging piece in The Indian Express.

On the reasons given by the government for its big move in the region on Aug

5, 2019, Abdullah said "none stands the test of basic scrutiny".

Omar also wrote about his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi days

before the sweeping developments in Jammu and Kashmir last year. "It's not a

meeting I will forget in a hurry. One day I may write about it but propriety

precludes me from saying more than that we left the meeting with a

completely different impression about what was going to unfold in the next

72 hours. In one fell swoop, everything we had feared came to pass," he

wrote.

SC ASKS UGC TO RESPOND TO PETITIONS AGAINST EXAMS BY SEPT

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the UGC to respond to petitions

challenging its directive to universities/colleges to conduct final year

examinations by September 30. A Bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan asked

the UGC to spell out its stand on more than a dozen petitions filed by

students from across India and posted the matter for further hearing on July

31.

The petitioners have demanded quashing of the July 6 UGC circular directing

universities to hold final year examinations by September 30 this year.

The petitioners wanted the UGC to follow the CBSE which has decided to hold

examinations at a later date for students not satisfied with their marks

given on the basis of internal assessment.

EX-JUDGES, ACTIVISTS COME OUT IN SUPPORT OF PRASHANT BHUSHAN

Days after the Supreme Court initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against

activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, a group of 131 former judges,

ex-bureaucrats and activists have come out in his support, terming it as an

attempt at stifling criticism.

The Supreme Court had on July 22 issued notices to Bhushan and Twitter Inc

for his tweets allegedly scandalising the Judiciary. Two days later, a Bench

headed by Justice Arun Mishra had also decided to resume hearing in another

contempt of court case against Bhushan pending since 2009. The two cases are

listed for hearing on August 4 and 5.

The group, which included former Supreme Court judge Madan B Lokur, former

Delhi High Court Chief Justice AP Shah and several retired bureaucrats and

academics, appealed to the top court to drop the criminal contempt

proceedings against Bhushan.

Describing Bhushan as a relentless crusader for the rights of the weakest

sections of society, the group asked the court to withdraw the contempt

proceedings at the earliest in the "interest of justice and fairness" and to

maintain dignity of the court.

The signatories to the statement also included author Arundhati Roy, former

Navy chief Admiral L Ramdas, CPI General Secretary D Raja, CPI(M) Politburo

member Brinda Karat, former Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and RTI

activists Aruna Roy, Anjali Bharadwaj and Nikhil Dey, besides others.

YES BANK FPO: SEVERAL BROKERS UNDER SEBI SCANNER OVER SHARE FREEZE

Several brokers have come under the lens of the SEBI for facilitating the

sale of YES Bank shares issued in the follow-on public offer (FPO) last

week, defying a freeze on them.

Over 12.5 billion new shares issued in the FPO commenced trading on Monday.

However, these were allotted to FPO applicants on Friday, with a separate

international securities identification number (ISIN) that was frozen. In

other words, these shares appeared in investors' dematerialised (demat)

accounts but couldn't be sold as yet.

Some brokers are said to have allowed their clients to execute sell orders

in YES Bank on Friday, ahead of the listing of the newly allotted shares. In

doing so, they permitted clients to rake in a profit. The stock had closed

at Rs 13.7 on Friday - 14 per cent above the FPO price of Rs 12.

Shares hit the lower circuit of 10 per cent at Rs 12.3 on Monday, following

the listing. A

"If brokers allowed clients to sell non-FPO YES Bank shares last week, then

there is no violation. However, if they facilitated the sale of shares

issued in the FPO, before Monday, then it is clear violation," said a

regulatory official.

AISHWARYA RAI DISCHARGED AFTER TESTING NEGATIVE FOR COVID

Actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and daughter Aaradhya Bachchan were on Monday

discharged from Mumbai's Nanavati Hospital after they tested negative for

Covid-19.

Abhishek Bachchan tweeted: "Thank you all for your continued prayers and

good wishes. Indebted forever. Aishwarya and Aaradhya have thankfully tested

negative and have been discharged from the hospital. They will now be at

home. My father and I remain in hospital under the care of the medical

staff."

Aishwarya, 46, and eight-year-old Aaradhya were diagnosed with coronavirus

on July 12, a day after the actor's father-in-law, megastar Amitabh

Bachchan, and husband Abhishek Bachchan tested positive for the COVID-19.

The mother-daughter duo was self-quarantining at home at the beginning.

Meanwhile, Amitabh, 77, and Abhishek, 44, both are in the isolation ward of

Nanavati hospital.

'I AM AT THE END OF MY CAREER': ROGER FEDERER

Roger Federer addressed speculations about his retirement after he confirmed

last month that he will be out of action for the remainder of the year due

to knee surgery.

The 20-time Grand Slam winner, who will turn 39 next month, was last seen in

action at the Australian Open in January where he was knocked out of the

competition in the semi-final by winner Novak Djokovic.

Although, he suffered an injury setback amidst the coronavirus pandemic in

June, he has confirmed that he won't be retiring before 2021 as he has

committed himself in participating in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

In an interview with SportsPanorama, Federer again clarified the retirement

rumours, claiming the media has been speculating about it for more than a

decade. "Since I won the French Open in 2009, the media has been chopping on

this topic. But it is already clear that I am at the end of my career," said

Federer.

"I can not say what will be in two years. That's why I plan year after year.

I'm still happy right now. But when the cogwheels don't grip anymore, I

stop." "When I am old, I will definitely still play tennis. But no longer

train, just ball," the Swiss added.

Federer's decision to forego the 2020 season has paved the way for Djokovic

and Rafael Nadal to stake their claim on the two Grand Slams that, as of

now, are expected to be held this year.

Nadal sits on 19 major wins, just one short of Federer's record haul of 20,

and is likely to level the tally at the French Open. The top-ranked Serbian,

on the other hand, has 17 majors.

INDICATORS

Sensex 37,935 (-194), Nifty 11,132 (-62), Trading Value NSE ,(Rs.crores)

56,338

Nasdaq 10,536 (+173) Dow 26,584 (+115), S&P 3,239 (+24)

US$-Rs. 74.52 GBP-Rs. 95.80, Euro-Rs. 87.39, UAE Dhm-Rs.20.28, Can$-Rs.

55.70, Aus$- Rs. 53.17

GBP 0.77 /US$, Euro 0.85 /US$, Jap.Yen 105.44/US$, Aus$ 1.40 /US$, Sing 1.37

/US$, Bang Taka 83.07 /US$, Can$ 1.33 /US$, Mal Ring 4.25 /US$,

Pak Re 166.31 /US$, Phil Peso 49.15 /US$, Russian Rouble 71.59 /US$, NZ$

1.49 /US$, Thai Baht 31.47 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 27.56 /US$, Norway NOK 9.09

/US$

Bitcoin - USD 10,885

Dollar Index 93.75 Brent Crude 43.47 BDI 1,317

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,939 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 5,166 / 5,066

Silver (Rs. Per KG) 61,220

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.

- Jiddu Krishnamurti

OFF TRACK

The new bride: "Darling, I took the recipe for this cake out of the cook

book."

Husband: "And you did right, my love; it should never have been put in."