PM MODI, CHINESE PRESIDENT XI JINPING AT BRICS TABLE IN NOV, FIRST MEET

SINCE STANDOFF

In what could be the first interaction between Prime Minister Narendra Modi

and Chinese President Xi Jinping since the start of the border standoff in

Ladakh this May, the two leaders are scheduled to attend the BRICS summit

meeting via virtual mode on November 17.

Modi and Xi, who have met at least 18 times in the last six years, have not

spoken to each other or met since the border standoff.

Incidentally, the two-and-half-month-long Doklam border standoff between

Indian and Chinese troops was resolved just ahead of the BRICS summit in

Xiamen in September 2017.

The Chumar standoff in September 2014 also ended after Modi raised the issue

with Xi who was visiting Ahmedabad.

GST DEADLOCK: OPPOSITION STATES REJECT COMPENSATION PLAN

The deadlock over compensation between states and the Centre remained

unresolved at the 42nd Goods and Services Tax Council meeting Monday, with

10 non-BJP-ruled states rejecting the two borrowing options floated by the

Centre. The Council, however, approved extension of the levy of compensation

cess on luxury and sin goods beyond the five-year transition period ending

June 2022.

During the meeting, Opposition-ruled states reiterated that the Centre

needed to borrow money, instead of states, to bridge the compensation

deficit of Rs 2.35 lakh crore this fiscal - and not make any distinction in

revenue shortfall on account of GST implementation and the pandemic.

In the previous meeting on August 27, the Centre had proposed two options to

states: borrow Rs 97,000 crore (on account of GST implementation) from a

special window facilitated by the RBI or the complete shortfall of Rs 2.35

lakh crore (including Rs 1.38 lakh crore due to Covid) from the market.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, meanwhile, said cess collection this

year so far, amounting to Rs 20,000 crore, would be disbursed to states

Monday. The Council also decided to disburse Rs 24,000 crore to states by

next week as the share from Integrated GST (IGST) from the first year of

implementation.

WAS PREPARED FOR STRIKE AFTER GALWAN, CHINA CAN'T GET THE BETTER OF US: IAF

CHIEF

Sending a tough message to China amid the Ladakh crisis, Air Chief Marshal

RKS Bhadauria said Monday that the IAF is "determined to handle any

contingency" and its "deployment of combat-ready units in response to the

standoff along the LAC in the North is indicative of our operational state

today".

Stating "we are very well positioned and there is no question that in any

conflict scenario there that China can get the better of us", Air Chief

Marshal Bhadauria, responding to a query on whether the IAF had come close

to carrying out strikes against China after the Galwan Valley clashes, said:

"Did we come close to striking? No. But were we prepared for it? Yes."

Addressing the press ahead of the IAF Day, he said the situation along the

LAC over the next three months will largely depend on how talks between the

two countries progress.

"Talks towards disengagement followed by de-escalation are on. And we do

hope that the talks progress along the lines that are expected. The current

progress is slow. What we see is an increase in efforts to dig in for the

winter, in terms of forces on ground, in terms of deployment of air assets

in the airfields close by."

He said Indian forces are also taking actions accordingly. "The whole focus

is on talks. our further actions will depend upon the ground realities". He

said "there is no step-up in terms of air assets deployment" by China.

"Our offensive strike capability has been honed with upgradations and new

inductions of weapons and platforms, ably supported by combat enablers and a

networked decision-making environment, including an integrated approach to

handle incoming threats. We have the largest strategic airlift capability in

our region comprising IL-76, C-17 and C-130 platforms. We have significantly

enhanced our helilift capabilities with our helicopter inductions," he said.

"Our airlift capability was also brought into focus as we supported the

Indian Army in rapid mobilisation of troops and equipment to operational

areas at a pace which our adversary didn't expect," he said. "Our position

as a credible combat-ready force is vital given the role the air force will

play towards ensuring victory in any future conflict. we have grown from

being a tactical force to a strategic one with trans-oceanic reach," the IAF

chief said.

"UNNECESSARY, UNWARRANTED": INDIA ON UN OFFICIAL'S REMARK ON UP RAPES

India on Monday termed the UN Resident Coordinator's statement regarding

recent cases of violence against women as "unwarranted."

Anurag Srivastava, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson, told the

United Nations Resident Coordinator in India, "Some unwarranted comments

have been made by the UN Resident Coordinator regarding some recent cases of

violence against women. UN Resident Coordinator in India should be aware

that these cases have been taken extremely seriously by the government."

He further added: "Since the investigation process is still underway, any

unnecessary comments by an external agency are best avoided. The

Constitution guarantees equality to all citizens of India. As a democracy,

we have a time-tested record of providing justice to all sections of

society."

Earlier yesterday, UN in India had put out a statement regarding the alleged

rape cases occurring in Hathras and Balrampur regions of Uttar Pradesh in

India. "Cases of the alleged rape, murder in Hathras, Balrampur are another

reminder that women, girls from disadvantaged social groups are at greater

risk of gender-based violence," said UN in India.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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

TRUMP RIPS OFF MASK ON RETURN TO WHITE HOUSE, FAUCI URGES US TO PUT IT ON

In a remarkable split screen moment that will serve as an eerie reminder of

America's chaotic response to the coronavirus pandemic, the country's top

infectious diseases doctor Anthony Fauci issued yet another urgent plea for

Americans to mask up, at precisely the same time Monday when US president

Donald Trump, now a COVID-19 patient, climbed up the steps to the White

House South Portico balcony, ripped off his mask, stuffed it in his pocket

and struck a double thumbs-up pose for the photographers assembled below.

Trump, still contagious and "not out of the woods", according to his medical

team, walked into the White House without putting his mask back on. Trump

came back after three days at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center,

where he was being treated for COVID-19.

"If you have a problem wearing masks and have a problem avoiding crowds, we

can have a serious situation as we get into Fall and the winter", Fauci said

at a ticketed event Monday night, as the sun went down on Washington DC.

Fauci has steered clear from Trump-centered soundbites and especially so

after the president got infected. On Monday, at a pre-scheduled event, he

warned about the dangers of throwing caution "to the wind." He did not

mention Trump by name and refused to be drawn into hypotheticals about the

US president.

VIRUS-HUNTING TRIO WIN NOBEL IN MEDICINE FOR HEPATITIS C DISCOVERY

Two Americans and a Briton won the 2020 Nobel Prize for Medicine on Monday

for identifying the Hepatitis C virus, in work spanning decades that has

helped to limit the spread of the fatal disease and develop antiviral drugs

to cure it.

The discoveries by scientists Harvey Alter, Charles Rice and Briton Michael

Houghton meant there was now a chance of eradicating the Hepatitis C virus -

a goal the WHO wants to achieve in the next decade. The three share the 10

million Swedish crowns ($1.1 million) award for discovering and proving that

a bloodborne virus could cause Hepatitis C, which afflicts over 70 million

people and causes about 4,00,000 deaths each year.

"Before the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus it was a bit like Russian

roulette to get a blood transfusion," Nobel Committee member Nils-Goran

Larsson said, adding that millions now receive safe transfusions and blood

products.

The shared prize recognises research dating back to the 1960s when Alter,

who was working at the US National Institutes of Health, found liver disease

could be spread by blood transfusions that weren't caused by Hepatitis A or

B.

THE REST

========

RAHUL: MODI GOVT WILL FINISH FARMERS, LABOURERS

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh yesterday

interacted with farmers and addressed rallies in Sangrur, Bhawanigarh and

Samana on the second leg of the party's Kheti Bachao Yatra. Navjot Sidhu did

not attend any of these rallies.

Terming the Centre's farm laws as an "attack on India's soul", Rahul Gandhi

alleged that all of Modi government's policies were "made for their three or

four select friends" and that the PM would "finish" farmers and labourers

with the new farm laws just as he had "destroyed" small shopkeepers with

demonetisation and GST.

"PM Modi has been trying to destroy the mandi and MSP system - the

foundation of India's agriculture sector. If the BJP-led government succeeds

in breaking the backbone of the farmers, industrialists Ambani and Adani

will capture the country's farm system," Rahul warned. "Ambanis and Adanis

will not use labour but deploy machines for farm sector operations,

rendering lakhs of people jobless. The need of the hour is to strengthen the

mandi system, to correct the flaws rather than destroy it," he maintained.

YOGI CITES CONSPIRACIES, U.P. POLICE SLAPS SEDITION FIRs ON PROTESTERS

Facing criticism for its handling of the murder and alleged gangrape of the

19-year-old Dalit woman in Hathras, the Uttar Pradesh Police has filed 21

cases across the state against, among other charges, attempts to "incite

caste and communal tension and defame the state government" using social

media platforms and public meetings. The charges include sedition, criminal

conspiracy and promoting enmity.

This comes a day after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath alleged "conspiracies"

against his government by "those who want to incite caste and communal

riots". He reiterated this on Monday, saying "some anarchists who can't bear

to see development in the state are conspiring to promote communal frenzy

and violence on caste lines".

A statement issued by the State DGP's office said the FIRs had been filed

against individuals and organisations for forwarding fake information to

incite people, violating Section 144 CrPC and Covid-19 guidelines among

other charges.

"Even though the local administration, keeping in mind the Covid-19

protocol, had given permission to five persons each of political parties to

visit, members and leaders of different political organisations gathered in

large numbers and initiated violence, while breaking down the system set up

by the police. The police had to use minor force to bring the situation

under control," said the statement.

CBI REGISTERS DA CASE AGAINST SHIVAKUMAR, CONDUCTS SEARCHES

The CBI yesterday registered a Disproportionate Assets (DA) case against

former Karnataka minister and Congress leader DK Shivakumar and has

conducted searches at 14 locations.

The CBI has registered a fresh case against the Congress leader based on

source information from another agency, they said, adding that the

information relates to assets amassed during his tenure as a minister in the

Karnataka Government.

The Congress accused the BJP of playing an "insidious game of intimidation"

through its "puppet CBI". It questioned the timing of the raids, as

byelection to two Assembly seats in Karnataka is to be held on November 3,

and termed it as "witch-hunt" by the BJP against its political rivals.

GETTING READY FOR COVID-19 VACCINE: EXPERT GROUP BEGINS TO MAP COLD CHAINS

As several experimental vaccines against the novel coronavirus near the end

of late stage clinical trials, the National Expert Group on vaccine

administration for Covid-19 has begun to map cold chain storage facilities

across the country, including those available with the food processing

industry.

A temperature-controlled cold chain, including equipment and procedures used

in transport, storage, and handling, is a critical aspect of the

administration of the potential vaccine. Poor handling, including exposing

the vaccine to temperatures outside the recommended range, can result in

reduction of potency and wastage.

The decision to augment cold chain storage comes in the backdrop of the

government asking states to submit lists of priority population groups for

receiving the vaccine. On Sunday, Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan had said

that the government expects to receive and utilise 400-500 million doses,

and cover approximately 20-25 crore people by July 2021.

Oxford's vaccine candidate, which will be manufactured in India by

Pune-based Serum Institute, will have to be refrigerated at 2-8 degrees

Celsius. It is learnt that the Expert Group is at the moment not considering

the m-RNA vaccine candidate being developed by Moderna, which must be stored

in much lower temperatures.

VJAY MALLYA EXTRADITION: 'SECRET' PROCEEDINGS GOING ON IN THE UK, CENTRE

TELLS SC

Vijay Mallya's extradition to India will have to wait until some

"confidential" proceedings in this connection are completed in the UK. On

Monday, the Centre informed the Supreme Court bench of Justices U U Lalit

and Ashok Bhushan, which had asked him to appear before it in connection

with a contempt case, that there were some "secret" proceedings going on in

the UK, but the Government of India does not have knowledge about it as it

is not a party to the process and the UK side has not shared any details.

Mallya has exhausted all legal remedies but the UK Home Office then

intimated that "there is a further legal issue" which needs to be resolved

before his "extradition may take place".

The UK side said that "this issue is outside and apart from the extradition

process, but it has the effect that under the United Kingdom law,

extradition cannot take place until it is resolved. The High Commission was

further informed that the issue is confidential and so it cannot be

declared."

RUPEE GETS CUSHION FROM STOCK FLOWS, CURRENT ACCOUNT SURPLUS

India's strongest surplus in more than a decade is supporting a currency

battered by the worst pandemic outbreak in Asia.

The currency has advanced more than 2% in the third quarter - the gains come

even with an economy ravaged by 6.6 million infections.

The support comes from a rare current account surplus, stock inflows and

asset sales that had already seen billions of dollars in inflows. The

country could post $72.5 billion in balance-of-payment surplus for the

fiscal year ending March, according to Barclays Plc. That would be the most

since the year ended March 2008.

A shrinking trade deficit saw India post a record current account surplus in

the April-June quarter. The nation's stocks have lured $6.5 billion of

inflows in the third quarter largely due to share sales by banks. The sale

of stakes in billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd. telecom

business helped, and he's also selling part of his retail business.

chart

The question now is whether the rupee can continue to hold up in the final

months of the year as the economy shows few signs of improvement and the

hands of policymakers are tied by high inflation. Consensus forecasts by

analysts surveyed suggest the rupee could struggle in the fourth quarter.

The median estimate is for the the currency to end the year at 73.83 per

dollar, slightly weaker than the 73.2875 it closed at on Monday.

TSITSIPAS MAKES HISTORY FOR GREECE; SINGLES DOWN TO LAST 8s

Stefanos Tsitsipas was a man on a mission as he marched past Grigor Dimitrov

6-3, 7-6(9), 6-2 to become the first Greek player in history to reach the

quarter-finals at Roland-Garros.

The No.5 seed probably won't be able to forget his recent defeat to his next

opponent Andrey Rublev, who had the upper hand against Tsitsipas in their

Hamburg final just eight days ago.

Tsitsipas, who has now won 12 consecutive sets after he dropped his first

two against Spain's Jaume Munar in the opening round, has tapped a rich vein

of form over his last three matches.

The 22-year-old was so focused on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Monday that he

didn't even bother to change his shirt when he was caked in clay after

tumbling across the baseline during the third set. He just grabbed a towel,

brushed off and went back to the business at hand.

Men's Singles Quarter Finals Line-Up

N.Djokovic (1) Vs P.Carreno Busta (17)

A.Rublev (13) Vs S.Tsitsipas (5)

D.Schwartzman (12) Vs D.Thiem (3)

J.Sinner Vs R.Nadal (2)

Women's Singles Quarter Finals Line-Up

I.Swiatek Vs M.Trevisan

E.Svitolina (3) Vs N.Podoroska

(((O.Jabeur (30) Or D.Collins))) Vs S.Kenin (4)

P.Kvitova (7) Vs L.Siegemund

IPL: ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE FAIL MISERABLY IN CHASE

Delhi Capitals defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by 59 runs in Dubai on

Monday. Sent into bat, Delhi Capitals scored 196 for four in their

stipulated 20 overs. Marcus Stoinis top-scored for DC with 53 off 26 balls

while Prithvi Shaw (42), Rishabh Pant (37) and Shikhar Dhawan (32) also made

substantial contributions at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Chasing a formidable target of 197, RCB were restricted to 137 for nine .

With 43 off 39 balls, RCB skipper Virat Kohli was the highest scorer for his

side even as the others failed to impress.

Out of their 5 matches each, DC have 4 wins while RCB have 3

INDICATORS

Sensex 38,974 (+277), Nifty 11,503 (+86), Trading Value NSE ,(Rs.crores)

51,599.6

Nasdaq 11,332 (+257) Dow 28,149 (+466), S&P 3,409 (+60)

US$-Rs. 73.06 GBP-Rs. 94.68, Euro-Rs. 85.91, UAE Dhm-Rs.19.88, Can$-Rs.

55.05, Aus$- Rs. 52.47

GBP 0.77 /US$, Euro 0.85 /US$, Jap.Yen 105.64 /US$, Aus$ 1.39 /US$, Sing

1.36 /US$, Bang Taka 83.19 /US$, Can$ 1.32 /US$, Mal Ring 4.15 /US$,

Pak Re 164.02 /US$, Phil Peso 48.38 /US$, Russian Rouble 78.21 /US$, NZ$

1.50 /US$, Thai Baht 31.34 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 28.18 /US$, Norway NOK 9.24

/US$

Bitcoin - USD 10,765

Dollar Index 93.46 Brent Crude 41.32 BDI 2,020

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,909 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,998 / 4,898

Silver (Rs. Per KG) 60,600

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Conservatism stands on man's confessed limitations; reform on his

indisputable infinitude - Ralph Waldo Emerson

OFF TRACK

A man's printer was behaving erratiocally, so he called a local repair shop.

A friendly young man informed him, "Well, you could bring it in for a

cleaning, but we charge $50 for that, so you might be better off just

reading the manual and trying the job yourself."

Pleasantly surprised by this candor, the man said, "Thanks, son. Does your

boss know that you discourage business?"

"Actually, it was my boss's idea," said the young employee. "He says that if

we let people try to fix things themselves first, we end up making even more

money!"