DESPITE PANGONG DE-ESCALATION, CHINA THREAT REMAINS: ARMY CHIEF

Despite the de-escalation on Pangong Lake in Ladakh, the threat from China has not entirely dissipated, Army chief MM Naravane said Thursday as he stressed on the need to demarcate the Line of Actual Control.

“Unless a substantial amount of de-escalation takes place and the troops that had come from multiple places and are currently within striking distance of the border go back, the threat remains,” Naravane said at the Times Now International Economic Conclave.

On the recently concluded military level talks with Pakistan, the Chief of Army Staff said: “There were talks between the DsGMO of both sides and a joint statement was issued on February 25, agreeing to resuscitate the ceasefire understanding of 2003 which was being honoured more in its breach. The whole month of March, we didn’t witness even a single round being fired on the LC barring one incident. It is for the first time in about five to six years that the LC has been silent. This really bodes well for the future. With peace and tranquillity prevailing on the border, it will contribute to the peace and stability of the country.”

Dwelling upon the reasons for ceasefire violations in the past and Pakistan now agreeing to honour it, he said: “Ceasefire move was prompted by the futility of duels on the LC which was not resulting in any forward movement. They were also facing internal problems and over a period of time, even they realised that it was time to change tack and extend an olive branch. However, terror infrastructure and terrorists still remain in place and we will have to wait till the snow melts in order to see the seriousness with which Pakistanis treat this ceasefire.”

He added that there were primarily three reasons for Pakistan’s move for peace—the threat of FATF sanctions, domestic compulsions, and situation on its Western border with Afghanistan.

The Army chief also spoke about the situation in Jammu and Kashmir which he said was “getting better”. He said the statistics on security situation in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 show that the condition in the Valley is getting better. This, he said, is confirmed by the high number of tourists in the peak winter months.

BUDGET SESSION CURTAILED DUE TO STATE POLLS; LS OUTPUT 114%

Parliament was yesterday adjourned sine die with the Budget session cut short by 14 days in view of the Assembly elections in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.

The second leg of the session, which began on March 8, was scheduled to end on the April 8. Members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha had urged the govt to curtail the session keeping in view of state elections. The demand had become stronger after Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla tested positive for Covid-19.

In his valedictory speech, presiding officer Bhartruhari Mahtab said 18 Bills were passed and 17 introduced in the House. The productivity of the Lok Sabha stood at 114 per cent during the Budget session and 146 MPs participated in the discussion on the Union Budget, he said.

In a media briefing, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said the Budget session remained highly productive due to the cooperation of parliamentarians from all parties.

CONGRESS TO CHALLENGE NCT, MINES BILLS IN SC

The Opposition Congress on Thursday said every Bill passed in the Budget session of Parliament’s second half would be challenged legally, especially the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill and the NCT Amendment Bill.

The Congress termed “panic privatisation by govt a conspiracy to eliminate central quotas for SCs, STs and OBCs”. Congress chief whip in the Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh led the offensive saying every Bill passed in this Budget session would be challenged in the SC.

“I will personally challenge the Bill amending the Mines and Minerals Act, 1957. It violates the SC order declaring as illegal any mine that violates environment protection laws. The Bill does away with this definition” Ramesh said.

He questioned the lack of Central probe agencies oversight on the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development to be established through another Bill the Parliament cleared.

Ramesh accused the govt of denying the opposition right to move any calling attention or short duration discussion in the concluded session. Earlier, Leader of Opposition in RS Mallikarjun Kharge questioned the PM’s absence in the session saying he was “busy campaigning”.

MODI LEAVES FOR BANGLADESH ON TWO-DAY VISIT

Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for Bangladesh on Friday on a two-day visit during which he will take part in a wide range of programmes aimed at furthering cooperation between the two countries.

'PM @narendramodi emplanes for Dhaka. During his Bangladesh visit he will take part in a wide range of programmes aimed at furthering cooperation with our friendly neighbour,' the PMO tweeted, sharing a picture of Modi boarding the aircraft.

The prime minister had on Thursday said he will hold substantive discussions with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina during the visit, as he expressed happiness that his first foreign tour after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic will be to a friendly neighbouring country with which India shares deep ties.   –

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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SUEZ CANAL: EVER GIVEN REMAINS STUCK FOR NOW

The Japanese owner of the giant cargo ship that has been blocking Egypt's Suez Canal since Tuesday has apologised for the disruption to global trade. Shoei Kisen Kaisha said it was trying to resolve the situation as soon as possible, but that dislodging the Ever Given was proving extremely difficult. Marine and salvage engineers failed in their latest attempt on Thursday. A flotilla of tugboats, as well as dredgers and diggers had resumed efforts to move the Ever Given at high tide on Thursday morning, after stopping overnight.

Shoei Kisen Kaisha said all the crew aboard Ever Given came from India. Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the company that manages the Ever Given, said the ship's 25-member crew are safe and accounted for.

Global crude oil prices rose 6% on Wednesday after traffic through the canal was suspended, though they fell more than 4% on Thursday.

BIDEN SAYS XI DOESN’T HAVE A DEMOCRATIC BONE

US President Joe Biden on Thursday said he had made it clear to Chinese President Xi Jinping that the US was not looking for confrontation, but would insist that China play by international rules for fair competition and fair trade.

Biden said he spent “hours upon hours” with Xi when he served as vice president under former President Barack Obama, and was convinced the Chinese leader believed that democracy doesn’t have a future. “He’s one of the guys, like (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, who thinks that autocracy is the wave of the future, (and) democracy can’t function in an ever-complex world,” Biden said at the first formal White House news conference of his presidency. “He doesn’t have a democratic — with a small ‘d’ — bone in his body, but he’s a smart, smart guy,” he said. Biden said the US would work with allies to hold China accountable.

THE REST

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TOP LEADERS SWEAT IT OUT AS CAMPAIGN ENDS FOR 1ST PHASE

Curtains came down on the campaigning for the first phase of the West Bengal elections on Thursday with 30 of the state’s total 294 seats slated to go to the polls on March 27.

In neighbouring Assam, where elections for the 126 Assembly seats are being held in three phases, the campaigning for 47 constituencies going to polls in the first phase on March 27 ended today.

While PM Narendra Modi addressed a number of rallies in Bengal to bolster the BJP, WB Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee has also been touring the state canvassing for TMC candidates.

Modi has been mainly targeting Mamata on the issue of corruption, while the latter is playing up her local roots and trying to corner the BJP by calling it a “party of outsiders”.

The CPM-led Left Front has joined hand with the Congress and Indian Secular Front. However, in terms of impact on the election scene, this alliance, Sanjukta Morcha, is trailing behind the two main players — TMC and BJP.

ULTIMATELY, ONLY EWS QUOTA MAY REMAIN, BUT THESE ARE POLICY MATTERS, SAYS SC

“You may be right. This may be a beginning. All reservation may go and only (quota for) EWS (Economically Weaker Sections) may remain. But these are policy matters,” said Justice Ashok Bhushan, heading a five-judge Constitution bench hearing the challenge to the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act — which provides for a quota to the Maratha community in jobs and admissions.

The bench is also considering whether there is a need to revisit its 1992 nine-judge Constitution bench decision in the Indra Sawhney case capping the maximum quota limit at 50 per cent.

The judge made the remarks after Advocate Shriram P Pingle contended that caste-based reservation were being politicised. Pingle told the bench, also comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao, S Abdul Nazeer, Hemant Gupta and S Ravindra Bhat, that “I think the elephant that needs to be addressed in the room is caste”. He said that the Indra Sawhney judgement “for good or bad, recognised caste as a ground for extending reservations”. The counsel stressed the need to make an endeavour to remove caste-based reservations in a phased manner.

“Your thoughts are very radical and good. But it is for the govt to take a decision that caste and reservation should go,” the bench responded.

“Over-reservation is anti-reservation,” Pingle said, adding that since this case has a larger magnitude on the social life of the country, it may be appropriate to consider all the pending cases and take a holistic view.

LOWER FATALITY RATE OF SECOND WAVE; BUT…….

The rapid rise in coronavirus cases has begun to show its impact on the death numbers as well. The daily death count, which had dropped to double digits in February, has risen to more than 250 for the last three days.

However, compared to the sharp increase in cases, the rise in deaths has been quite low as of now. The fatality rate in the ongoing second wave is still significantly lower than what was seen in the peak months of July, August and September last year. But for the last two weeks, it has begun to rise.

The fatality rate in the second wave, starting February 9, has been significantly lower than not just in the previous wave, but also the overall fatality rate. Since the start of the epidemic, about 14 out of every 1,000 infected persons in the country have died due to the disease. During the second wave, this number has been below ten.

In Maharashtra, which accounts for more than a third of all coronavirus-related deaths in the country, 24 out of every 1,000 infected persons have died. But after February 8, this number has come down to ten. This trend has been visible in almost every other state as well.

The first time that the daily case count had breached the 50,000-figure was on July 29 last year. On that day, 775 deaths were reported. That was because the daily case count at that time had already remained in the 30,000 and 40,000 range for two weeks before hitting the 50,000 mark. This time, the rise in cases has been much more rapid. India has spent only five days in the 40,000s and two days in the 30,000s, before reaching the 50,000 range on Wednesday. It is possible, therefore, for the daily death count to show a sudden rise in the coming two weeks. Because the deaths usually happen only two to three weeks after the infection is detected, the impact of the rise in cases after March 9 is still to get reflected fully in the death numbers.

KEY COVID NUMBERS:

Current Active Cases Countrywide: 4,17,813

New Cases in last 24 hours: 59,026

Recovered in last 24 hours: 32,912

Increase in Active cases in last 24 hours: 25,857

No. of deaths in last 24 hours: 257

Most Affected States:

(S. No. / State / No. of Active Cases / New Cases in last 24 Hrs / Deaths in Last 24 Hrs)

S. No.   States  Active Cases                New Cases                   New Deaths

1          Maharashtra     2,62,685           /           ↑35,952 /           ↑111

2          Kerala              24,377  /           ↑1,989  /           ↑12

3          Punjab              21,405  /           ↑2,661  /           ↑43

4          Karnataka         18,207  /           ↑2,523  /           ↑10

5          Chhattisgarh     13,318  /           ↑2,419  /           ↑15

6          Madhya Prad    11,004  /           ↑1,885  /           ↑9

7          Tamil Nadu       10,487  /           ↑1,779  /           ↑11

8          Gujarat 9,372    /           ↑1,961  /           ↑7

9          Haryana           7,229    /           ↑1,053  /           ↑7

10        Delhi                5,497    /           ↑1,515  /           ↑5

11        Rajasthan         5,149    /           ↑715     /           Nil

12        Uttar Pradesh   5,049    /           ↑830     /           ↑4

13        West Bengal     3,950    /           ↑516     /           ↑4

14        Telangana        3,684    /           ↑493     /           ↑4

15        Andhra Prad     3,469    /           ↑758     /           ↑4

16        Chandigarh       2,286    /           ↑226     /           ↑3

17        Him. Pradesh    1,903    /           ↑315     /           ↑2

18        JnK                  1,593    /           ↑172     /           Nil

SUPREME COURT FROWNS UPON GOVT SITTING OVER COLLEGIUM RECOMMENDATIONS

Frowning upon the govt sitting over dozens of names recommended by the Collegium for appointment as judges in various High Courts, the Supreme Court on Thursday said the Ministry of Law and Justice should process the Collegium’s recommendations within a reasonable time-frame.

During the hearing on a PIL by ‘Lok Prahari’ seeking appointment of retired judges to clear the backlog of cases, a three-judge Bench, headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, hinted at issuing guidelines for appointment of ad hoc judges to reduce pendency.

The court’s comments assume significance as over 400 posts of judge of 1,079 posts in High Courts are vacant. Saying names sent by the Collegium had not been responded to by the ministry, the Bench asked the Attorney General to inform it about the status of recommendations for appointment of HC judges made by the Collegium.

SYSTEMIC BIAS IN CRITERIA FOR WOMEN’S PERMANENT COMMISSION, SAYS SC

The evaluation criteria set by the Army for granting permanent commission (PC) to women SSC officers constituted “systemic discrimination”, the Supreme Court said on Thursday.

All Short Service Commission women officers (SSCWOs) who fulfilled the cut-off criterion of 60 per cent in the Special No 5 Selection Board held in September 2020 shall be entitled to the grant of permanent commission, the apex court said.

A Bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud, however, said it would be subject to SSCWOs meeting the medical criteria prescribed by the General Instructions dated August 1, 2020, and receiving disciplinary and vigilance clearance.

“All consequential benefits, including the grant of time-scale promotions shall necessarily follow as a result of the directions contained in the judgment in Babita Puniya (2020) and steps to do so shall be completed within three months from the date of the judgment,” it said. Noting that the structures of Indian society have been created by males for males, the SC directed the Centre and the Army to remove the requirement of benchmarking the SSCWOs with the last male officer who had received permanent commission in their corresponding batches.

“We must recognise that the structures of our society have been created by males and for males. As a result, certain structures that may seem to be the ‘norm’ and may appear to be harmless, are a reflection of the insidious patriarchal system……A facially equal application of laws to unequal parties is a farce, when the law is structured to cater to a male standpoint,” the Bench said.

The verdict came on petitions filed by women officers seeking compliance of its 2020 directions to the Centre for grant of permanent commission, promotions and consequential benefits to them.

“It is not enough to proudly state that women officers are allowed to serve the nation in the Armed Forces, when the true picture of their service conditions tells a different story. A superficial sense of equality is not in the true spirit of the Constitution and attempts to make equality only symbolic,” the Bench said.

BEING MADE A SCAPEGOAT: SACHIN WAZE TELLS COURT

The special court in Mumbai on Thursday extended till April 3 the National Investigation Agency custody of suspended police officer Sachin Waze in the Ambani security scare case, with the probe agency claiming that the alleged crime fell in the category of "terrorist act".

The National Investigation Agency also told the court it wanted to confront Waze with the other accused in the Mansukh Hiran murder, a related case, and also probe 62 unaccounted for bullets found at Waze's house.

Waze (49), an assistant police inspector with Mumbai crime branch, was arrested on March 13 by the NIA.

"I have been made a scapegoat and have nothing to do with the case," Waze told judge P R Sitre during the hearing. "I was investigating officer of the case for one and a half days, and did whatever I could in that capacity. But there was suddenly change in some plan somewhere. I went to the NIA office on my own and was arrested," he said.

Waze's lawyer Aabad Ponda contended that the UAPA could not be invoked in this case. The gelatin sticks in the SUV were without a detonator and hence their recovery does not fall under the purview of the UAPA, he argued.

INDIA SHARE HONOURS WITH OMAN IN FIRST INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY AFTER LOCKDOWN

The Indian football team made a fine comeback in the second half to hold fancied Oman 1-1 in its first international match in more than a year though the Gulf side dominated the friendly in Dubai yesterday.

India head coach Igor Stimac gave debuts to as many 10 players. He had said before the match that he would give chances to maximum number of players for them to gain the experience of playing in big matches.

The first half was all about Oman attacking in waves with India not getting a single shot on target.

INDICATORS

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GBP 0.72 /US$, Euro 0.84 /US$, Jap.Yen 109.06 /US$, Aus$ 1.31 /US$, Sing 1.34 /US$, Bang Taka 83.25 /US$, Can$ 1.25 /US$, Mal Ring 4.13 /US$,

Pak Re 154.67 /US$, Phil Peso 48.55 /US$, Russian Rouble 76.26 /US$, NZ$ 1.43 /US$, Thai Baht 31.08 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 27.70 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 51,694

Dollar Index 92.79 Brent Crude 62.30  BDI 2,194

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,723 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,492 / 4,392, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 69,400

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. - Winston Churchill

OFF TRACK

A Businessman went to see a politician to get his work done.

He said  "Sir, we want to present you a Brand new car in lieu of the approval for our work"...

Minister: No. No. No.... I don't want to get it free. I want to give some money for this car.....

Businessman after high persuasion agreed and said okay sir! Please give one rupee.

The minister did not have change and gave two rupee coin.

Businessman jokingly said: Sorry sir. I have no change of one rupee to return ...

Minister: No problem.  You give me another car for my wife....