INDIA, PAK AT AFGHAN MEET TODAY; NO BILATERAL TALKS ON CARDS SO FAR

Foreign ministers of India and Pakistan will participate in a key meeting on Afghanistan, to be held in Dushanbe on Tuesday, along with about 30 countries and a dozen regional and international organisations.

No bilateral meeting has been scheduled so far between the two foreign ministers - Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmoud Qureshi, but given the thaw in relations with last month’s recommitment to the 2003 ceasefire — sources did not rule out a meeting.

This will be the first time since the decision to adhere to the ceasefire that the two foreign ministers will come face-to-face.

DON’T DEPLOY SECURITY PERSONNEL FROM STATES RULED BY BJP: TMC TO EC

The ruling Trinamool Congress on Monday urged the Election Commission to not deploy forces from the states governed by the BJP or the NDA, especially in East Midnapore district, where the second phase of voting will take place on April 1.

The TMC also lodged a complaint with the Election Commission, alleging that Nandigram BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari is harbouring criminals and putting them up in different hotels and guest houses of West Bengal. Party spokesman Derek O’Brien claimed that in spite of the local police being apprised of this, no action had been taken.

TMC supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is locked in a fierce contest with her protege-turned- adversary Adhikari in Nandigram in East Midnapore district.

Mamata hit out at Suvendu Adhikari and his father Sisir Adhikari, saying the family “will remain “na ghar ka, na ghat ka [neither here nor there]” after the Assembly elections.

Taking a dig at her former aide, the chief minister said, “It was my fault. I never thought that the person whom I gave the transport, irrigation, environment ministries, made his father the chairman of the development board in Digha, made his brother the municipality chairman of Contai, would betray my trust. After doing so much, he made so much money that the BJP asked him to either join their party or face action. After the election, the Adhikaris will remain na ghar ka na ghat ka [neither here nor there].”

Reacting to the chief minister’s remarks, Suvendu said she had sensed her defeat in the polls. “By sensing her imminent defeat, she has lost her mental balance. She needs to go to a doctor for treatment. The BJP is winning this election and forming the government after May 2,” he claimed.

FULL LOCKDOWN UNLIKELY IN MAHARASHTRA YET, TIGHT RESTRICTIONS FIRST

Amid rising Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra, the state government is likely to release a standard operating procedure (SOP) by April 1 specifying more curbs on public movement, without implementing a full lockdown yet.

The state has recorded close to six lakh cases this month and registered over 2,100 deaths.

On Monday, Mumbai recorded 5,890 new cases on Monday, Pune 4,972 and Nagpur 3,243 cases.

Concerns are high in districts such as Aurangabad, Nashik, Nagpur and Pune, where the hospital infrastructure is falling short and positivity rates are high.

State officials said that for now, local trains will continue to run and economic activities will have minimal impact, but restaurants, malls, public places, private offices and pubs are set to witness strict protocols to reduce overcrowding. Officials said offices will be asked to ensure less than 50 per cent attendance.

Aseem Gupta, secretary, Relief and Rehabilitation department, said they plan to announce some measures to reduce movement for a few days. “If the desired outcome of reduction in cases is not seen, we will go to the next level and implement harsher measures,” he said, adding, “We don’t want to create a situation where migrant labourers panic and return home. The hardships that happened last year will not be repeated. But people who violate norms will be punished and there will be strict implementation of existing norms.”

Gupta added that they expect cases in Maharashtra to peak by mid-April and then follow a gentle declining trajectory. “Till then, people can expect restrictions in some form for a few days,” he said, adding lockdown will be implemented if all these measures fail.

KEY COVID NUMBERS:

Current Active Cases Countrywide: 5,37,511

New Cases in last 24 hours: 56,112

Recovered in last 24 hours: 37,102

Increase in Active cases in last 24 hours: 18,744

No. of deaths in last 24 hours: 266

Most Affected States:

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

Maharashtra     3,36,584           /           ↑31,643 /           ↑102

Kerala              24,219  /           ↑1,549  /           ↑11

Punjab              24,143  /           ↑2,868  /           ↑59

Karnataka         23,849  /           ↑2,792  /           ↑16

Chhattisgarh     20,181  /           ↑1,423  /           ↑20

Madhya Prad    15,150  /           ↑2,323  /           ↑9

Tamil Nadu       13,983  /           ↑2,279  /           ↑14

Gujarat 12,041  /           ↑2,252  /           ↑8

Haryana           9,312    /           ↑995     /           ↑2

Uttar Pradesh   8,669    /           ↑1,280  /           ↑4

Delhi                8,032    /           ↑1,904  /           ↑6

Rajasthan         7,794    /           ↑902     /           NIL

Andhra Prad     6,104    /           ↑997     /           ↑5

West Bengal     5,152    /           ↑639     /           ↑1

Telangana        4,583    /           ↑403     /           ↑2

Himl Pradesh    2,634    /           ↑321     /           ↑3

JnK                  2,110    /           ↑235     /           NIL

Jharkhand        1,969    /           ↑155     /           NIL

Uttarakhand      1,724    /           ↑109     /           ↓1

Odisha             1,619    /           ↑208     /           ↑1

Bihar                1,487    /           ↑239     /           ↑1

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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EVER GIVEN REFLOATED, SUEZ TRAFFIC RESUMES

Shipping was on the move again late on Monday in Suez Canal after tugs refloated a giant container ship which had been blocking the channel for almost a week, causing a huge build-up of vessels around the waterway.

With the 400-metre-long Ever Given dislodged, 113 ships were expected to transit the canal in both directions by early Tuesday morning, Suez Canal Authority (SCA) chairman Osama Rabie told reporters. He said a backlog of 422 ships could be cleared in 3 -1/2 days.

Evergreen Line said the ship would be inspected for seaworthiness in the Great Bitter Lake. "The ship was ready for limited navigation after an initial inspection and not a single container was damaged, but a second investigation will be more precise and if it was affected it will show," Rabie said.

At dawn on Monday, rescue workers from the SCA working with a team from Dutch firm Smit Salvage partially refloated the ship and straightened it in the canal. After several hours it shifted briefly back across the canal before being manoeuvred free by tugs as the tide changed, a canal source said. The company said approximately 30,000 cubic metres of sand had been dredged to refloat the 224,000-tonne container ship and a total of 11 tugs and two powerful sea tugs were used to pull the ship free.

TWO MONTHS AFTER COUP, INDIA ATTENDS MILITARY PARADE IN MYANMAR

India was among eight nations that attended an annual military parade in Myanmar’s capital Naypitaw on March 27 — nearly two months after the military staged a coup to depose the Aung San Suu Kyi government and launched a deadly crackdown against protesters demanding the return of democratic rule.

Russia, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand also sent representatives to Myanmar to be part of the parade to mark Tatmadaw Day on Saturday.

A senior official in South Block said that “since diplomatic relations between both the countries continue, diplomatic commitments are also continuing”.

The Myanmar military’s crackdown, including firing at protesters and using tear gas, is estimated to have led to nearly 500 deaths and drawn condemnation from across the world. It has also led to a refugee influx into neighbouring Mizoram, mostly by policemen who have fled the crackdown.

The annual parade took place a day after the military chiefs of nearly a dozen nations condemned the excessive use of force by the Myanmarese military against the protesters. In a statement issued Friday, General Mark A Milley, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, joined fellow chiefs in condemning the use of lethal force against protesters.

THE REST

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AIADMK FANS PROTEST, DMK’S A RAJA SAYS SORRY

After widespread protests and an AIADMK campaign that accused DMK deputy general secretary A Raja of denigrating Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his mother while campaigning on Saturday, the former Union minister apologised to the CM, with subtle riders.

“I express my regret from the bottom of my heart for the speech which was quoted out of context. If CM Palaniswami was genuinely hurt, without any politics in it, I have no hesitation in offering my heartfelt apology,” Raja said. He said the AIADMK was using the issue for political mileage. “Still, I don’t want these remarks to be a stain on my political career. So, I am offering an apology,” he said.

While AIADMK social media groups churned out content to project the episode as a DMK-is-against-women poll plank, the police on Sunday filed a case against Raja. Chief electoral officer Satyabrata Sahoo on Monday said a report, along with a video clip of the speech, has been sent to the Election Commission.

Raja, in his speech, had metaphorically referred to the ‘births’ of EPS and Stalin, arguing that Stalin had come to be the leader the natural way, while EPS becoming the CM was abrupt. Raja said his speech was about the “political personalities” of EPS and Stalin, and it was not a personal attack.

CONGRESS LODGES FIR AGAINST SONOWAL, NADDA, 8 ASSAM NEWSPAPERS

The Congress has filed a police complaint against Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal, BJP chief J P Nadda, state president Ranjeet Kumar Dass and eight leading newspapers for "camouflaging an advertisement as news" predicting the party's victory in all the seats in Upper Assam that went to polls in the first phase on March 27.

"This is a blatant violation of MCC, Representation of People Act, 1951 and the ECI's relevant instructions and media policies by BJP leaders and members, who after realising that their defeat is inevitable have resorted to desperate illegal and unconstitutional methods to influence the voters across the state," APCC Legal Department Chairman Niran Borah said.

"In a pre-planned conspiracy to deceive voters in the second and third phases, CM, BJP national president, state chief and other members of the party have knowingly issued advertisements camouflaged as headlines on front pages of various newspapers claiming that the BJP will win all the constituencies of Upper Assam," Borah said.

The state Congress had filed a complaint with the Assam Chief Electoral Officer Nitin Khade and the AICC with the Election Commission of India against the publication of the advertisements on Sunday.

LDF ALLY RAKES UP ‘LOVE JIHAD’; BJP, CATHOLIC BODY SEEK CM RESPONSE

LDF ally and Kerala Congress (M) leader Jose K Mani’s remarks that “love jihad” has come up as an issue has left the ruling Left alliance in an embarrassing position on the eve of polls — with the BJP and the Catholic Church expressing support for the regional Christian party leader.

While Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said he was not aware of what Mani said, CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran came down heavily on the leader, saying LDF leaders should not speak the language of religious fundamentalists. Under pressure, Jose on Monday tried to bury the controversy saying that “love jihad” is not an issue and election is contested on developmental agenda.

Asking the Chief Minister to clarify his position, BJP state president K Surendran said Jose talked about an “issue” which the BJP has raised several times in the past. The Kerala Catholic Bishops Council said Jose’s opinion on “love jihad” was “constructive”. Its secretary Fr Jacob Palakkappally demanded that the CPI(M) should clarify its position.

HAD WARNED THAT SACHIN VAZE COULD CREATE PROBLEMS FOR MVA GOVT: SANJAY RAUT

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on   Monday claimed he had warned some party leaders that Sachin Vaze, the suspended Mumbai police officer who is currently in the NIA’s custody, could create problems for the Maharashtra government.

Raut also said the Sachin Vaze episode taught some lessons to the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra.

“When there was plan to reinstate Sachin Vaze into the Maharashtra police force, I had informed some leaders that he could create problems for us. His behaviour and style of working could lead to some troubles for the government,” Raut told a TV channel. The Rajya Sabha member further said he cannot reveal names of those leaders, but “they are well aware of my conversation with them”.

Raut said he has been a journalist for some decades and hence, knows about Vaze. A person is not bad, but sometimes a particular situation makes him so, he said.

“This whole incident of Vaze’s activities and controversies thereafter taught a lesson to the MVA government. It was good in a way that it happened and taught us some lessons,” the Sena’s chief spokesperson said.

On Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray backing the suspended police officer, Raut said they did not have enough information about Vaze and his activities. “The chief minister supported him, but with his (Vaze’s) activities having surfaced, there is no reason to shield the officer,” he said.

MARKET RALLY, LIQUIDITY DROVE UP IPOs IN FY21

After raising over Rs 31,000 crore from the primary market in fiscal 2020-21, Indian companies have got the Sebi approval to raise around Rs 30,000 crore through IPOs in the coming months.

Big IPOs in the pipeline include LIC, HDB Financial Services, NCDEX and ESAF Small Finance Bank. LIC alone is expected to raise around Rs 70,000 crore to Rs 1 lakh crore from the market in the third quarter of the next financial year.

According to data available with the stock exchanges, 30 firms raised Rs 31,277 crore through initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2020-21, significantly higher than Rs 20,352 crore mopped up through 13 initial share-sales in the preceding fiscal year. As many as 14 companies had floated IPOs in 2018-19 to raise Rs 14,719 crore and 45 main-board IPOs during 2017-18 collectively raised Rs 82,109 crore.

Apart from IPOs, 2020-21 witnessed Rs 15,000-crore follow-on public offer of Yes Bank. Companies from diverse sectors like jewellery, technology, specialty chemicals, banking and financial services have made their way to the IPO space during the period under review. “As interest rates are at rock bottom and there is no intention of the Fed to increase rates in the near future, the excess liquidity in the system is a key catalyst fuelling the IPO frenzy,” said Nirali Shah, Head- Equity Research, Samco Securities.

In fact, as per Prime Database, the number of stocks with first-day gains on Indian exchange debut was the highest in at least three years. As many as 18 out of the 23 IPOs so far this year saw first-day gains — 78 per cent of stock listing in FY21.

The biggest factor driving companies to fund-raising through IPO is the bull run in the stock market with the Sensex crossing the 50,000 mark. Excess liquidity and better than expected economic recovery lifted the market sentiment and the same was visible in the primary market.

INVESTORS WORRIED OVER ARCHEGOS SELL-OFF IN HONG KONG

A fire sale of about $20 billion of Archegos assets, comprising Chinese and US stocks, has sent jitters in the global financial markets, raising worries that the event could be a possible “Lehman moment” that would force multiple lenders – mainly Credit Suisse and Nomura — to suffer huge losses and recognise that leverage extended to the fund had created excessive risk. The huge margin call on Archegos was the major driver behind last Friday’s steep sell-off and the subsequent hits to several global bank balance sheets.

Archegos Capital Management, a private investment firm based in New York, resorted to a huge fire sale of stocks worth $20 billion on Friday that caused big drops in the share prices of companies linked to the investment firm, putting markets on the edge about the scale of the possible fallout. Nomura said on Monday that it faced a possible $2 billion loss due to transactions with a US client while Credit Suisse said a default on margin calls by a US-based fund could be “highly significant and material” to its first-quarter results.

The fund, which had large exposures to Viacom CBS and several Chinese technology stocks was hit hard after shares of the US media group began to tumble last Tuesday and Wednesday. The decline in stock prices prompted a margin call from one of Archegos’s prime brokers, triggering similar demands for cash from other banks. Shares in Viacom CBS and Discovery tumbled around 27% each on Friday, while US-listed shares of China-based Baidu and Tencent Music plunged during the week, dropping as much as 33.5% and 48.5%, respectively, from Tuesday`s closing levels.

FOCUS TO BE ON BRINGING MRNA-BASED VACCINE PLATFORM IN INDIA: CSIR

As part of their newly announced collaboration, CSIR and Bharat Biotech will “bring” the mRNA vaccine platform to India “in the coming few months,” according to the head of CSIR.

“mRNA has emerged as one of the most powerful technologies in the Covid-19 pandemic,” said CSIR Director General Dr Shekhar C Mande on Monday. “Today, we don’t have any mRNA-based vaccine platform in the country and Dr (Krishna) Ella and us are already talking about it— how do we actually bring it.”

Mande said the focus will be on generating an mRNA platform in India so that vaccines for “any future diseases” or pandemic can be built using this technology.

CSIR-IICT, which has experience working on lipid nano-particles essential to the stability and effectiveness of such mRNA vaccines, plans to offer its expertise in this regard, said Dr S Chandrasekhar, Director, CSIR-IICT. “Using that experience, we will collaborate with Bharat Biotech to make sure that … we get end-to-end solutions for these kind of technologies,” he said,

During the Covid-19 pandemic, mRNA vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna have been among the fastest developed and approved vaccines for use.

INDICATORS

(Indian markets were closed yesterday on account of Holi)

Nasdaq 13,060 (-79) Dow 33,171 (+98), S&P 3,971 (-3)

US$-Rs. 72.74 GBP-Rs. 100.28, Euro-Rs. 85.65, UAE Dhm-Rs.19.80, Can$-Rs. 57.73, Aus$- Rs. 55.54

GBP 0.72 /US$, Euro 0.84 /US$, Jap.Yen 109.67 /US$, Aus$ 1.30 /US$, Sing 1.34 /US$, Bang Taka 83.13 /US$, Can$ 1.25 /US$, Mal Ring 4.14 /US$,

Pak Re 153.82 /US$, Phil Peso 48.43 /US$, Russian Rouble 75.77 /US$, NZ$ 1.42 /US$, Thai Baht 31.15 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 27.76 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 57,225

Dollar Index 92.92 Brent Crude 65.11  BDI 2,178.00

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,709 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,398 / 4,298, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 69,300

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

The main things which seem to me important on their own account, and not merely as means to other things, are knowledge, art, instinctive happiness, and relations of friendship or affection. - Bertrand Russell

OFF TRACK

"I can't stand cheap people. It makes me real mad when someone says something like, 'Hey, when are you going to pay me that thousand you owe me?' or 'Do you have the 500 you borrowed?' Man, quit being so cheap!"