KEY COVID NUMBERS

Current Active Cases Countrywide: 9,08,547

New Cases in last 24 hours: 59,925

Recovered in last 24 hours: 1,17,337

Change in no. of Active cases in last 24 hours: -60,144

No. of deaths in last 24 hours (Total Covid Deaths so far): 2,732 (3,77,061)

Daily Tests (Sunday): 14,92,152

Daily Positivity Rate (Proportion of Positives among total Tested): 5.8%

Percentage of Population Vaccinated (At Least One Dose / Two Doses): 15.5% / 3.6%

Most Affected States:

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

1          Karnataka         1,72,141           /           6,835    /           120

2          Maharashtra     1,47,354           /           8,129    /           1,592

3          Tamil Nadu       1,36,884           /           12,772  /           254

4          Kerala  1,13,821           /           7,719    /           161

5          Andhra Pradesh            80,013  /           4,549    /           59

6          Odisha 47,741  /           4,339    /           44

7          Assam  39,362  /           3,678    /           43

8          Telangana        20,461  /           1,511    /           12

9          West Bengal     18,921  /           3,519    /           78

10        Jammu and Kashmir     13,532  /           599       /           9

11        Chhattisgarh     12,660  /           600       /           17

12        Punjab  11,913  /           622       /           40

13        Gujarat 9,542    /           405       /           6

14        Manipur            8,443    /           459       /           16

15        Uttar Pradesh   8,111    /           313       /           72

16        Rajasthan         6,467    /           277       /           20

17        Tripura 5,207    /           235       /           7

18        Puducherry       4,947    /           309       /           7

19        Bihar    4,771    /           324       /           13

20        Meghalaya        4,529    /           403       /           10

21        Himachal Pradesh         4,432    /           326       /           7

22        Goa      4,406    /           253       /           9

23        Haryana           4,077    /           268       /           40

24        Madhya Pradesh           3,941    /           242       /           36

25        Uttarakhand      3,908    /           296       /           25

26        Mizoram           3,414    /           97        /           7

27        Sikkim  3,306    /           36        /           Nil

28        Delhi    3,226    /           131       /           16

29        Nagaland          3,201    /           109       /           3

30        Jharkhand        3,062    /           151       /           1

31        Arunachal Pradesh        2,889    /           366       /           6

32        Lakshadweep    520       /           27        /           Nil

33        Chandigarh       507       /           50        /           2

DISENGAGEMENT OF TROOPS: CHINA SUGGESTS MAJOR GEN-LEVEL TALKS

Four months after Indian and Chinese troops disengaged in Pangong Tso, and two months after Corps Commander-level talks failed to make headway on pullback of troops from other areas of eastern Ladakh, China has suggested negotiations at the level of Division Commanders — an offer that the Indian side is said to be considering.

The Chinese suggestion comes at a time when there is a stalemate over the disengagement process. The Corps Commander-level talks on April 9 made no progress.

Recently, Army Chief General M M Naravane mentioned that negotiations take time, and had cited the example of the 1986 Sumdorong Chu standoff near Tawang which took eight years to be resolved.

PM MODI DOESN’T FORGET FRIEND NETANYAHU

In an unusual move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the new Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett as well as the previous incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu who lost his chair by a solitary vote.

“As you complete your successful tenure as the Prime Minister of the State of Israel, I convey my profound gratitude for your leadership and personal attention to India-Israel strategic partnership,” PM Modi posted on Twitter in English and Hebrew while tagging Netanyahu.

The tweets were posted shortly after PM Modi had congratulated Bennett for taking over as the Israel PM and said he looked forward to meeting him to deepen the strategic partnership between our two countries

Netanyahu was the first Prime Minister to congratulate Modi on his 2019 victory. And when Modi became the first Indian PM to travel to Israel, Netanyahu himself was at the Ben Gurion Airport. After a grand official welcome, the PM was embraced by Netanyahu who said in Hindi, “Aapka swagat hai mere dost.”

AYODHYA LAND DEAL: OPPN TARGETS BJP

A day after the AAP and SP alleged corruption in the purchase of a piece of land in Ayodhya by the Ram Janmabhoomi Tirth Kshetra Trust in March, Opposition parties on Monday targeted the ruling BJP, accusing one of its local leaders of involvement, and alleged donations made by devotees for construction of the Ram temple were misused.

While the AAP targeted Ayodhya Mayor and BJP leader Rishikesh Upadhyay — one of the two witnesses in the deal in which the land was bought by the trust allegedly at an inflated rate — the Congress demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the allegations.

Hitting back at the Opposition, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, said, “The official answer will be given by the Trust. I would say in one line that there are some people in the Opposition who do not like anything positive in context to the Ram Janmabhoomi. Sometimes they say Lord Ram was fictional, and that the Ram Setu did not exist …They do not hesitate in leaving any opportunity to defame the Ram Janmabhoomi.”

At a press conference, senior AAP leader and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, “Many people donated money towards the construction of the Ram Mandir… More land being bought for the construction of the temple was a matter of pride for most people but this pride has now turned into disappointment and shame. They [the people] never thought that Rs 2 crore worth land would be bought for Rs 18.5 crore.”

AICC general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted: “Crores of people made their offerings at the feet of God out of their faith and devotion. Misuse of those donations is unrighteous, a sin and an insult to their faith.”

The Trust leaders claim that the price of Rs. 2 crore was agreed upon a long time ago while the current price is around Rs. 60 crores. They claim they bought the land cheap at Rs. 18.5 crores.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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

NATO LEADERS DECLARE CHINA A GLOBAL SECURITY CHALLENGE

NATO leaders on Monday declared that China poses a constant security challenge and is working to undermine global order, and they said they’re worried about how fast the Chinese are developing nuclear missiles.

In a summit statement, the leaders said China’s goals and “assertive behaviour present systemic challenges to the rules-based international order and to areas relevant to alliance security.”

While the 30 heads of state and government avoided calling China a rival, they expressed concern about what they said were its “coercive policies,” the opaque ways it is modernising its armed forces and its use of disinformation. They called on Beijing to uphold its international commitments and to act responsibly in the international system.

The statement comes as President Joe Biden has stepped up his effort to rally allies to speak in a more unified voice about China’s human rights record, its trade practices and its military’s increasingly assertive behaviour that has unnerved US allies in the Pacific.

Biden, who arrived at the summit after three days of consulting with Group of Seven allies in England, pushed for the G-7 communique there that called out what it said were forced labour practices and other human rights violations impacting Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in the western Xinjiang province. The president said he was satisfied with the communique, although differences remain among the allies about how forcefully to criticise Beijing.

Biden told Nato leaders on Monday that the defence of Europe, Turkey and Canada was a “sacred obligation” for the US, a marked shift from Trump’s diminution of the alliance.

THE REST

=========

UNCLE DUMPS CHIRAG PASWAN, TAKES ALL LJP MPS

Less than a year after Ram Vilas Paswan’s death, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) that he founded in 2000 is headed for an imminent split with five of the party MPs rebelling against the sixth —Paswan’s son and the party’s national president, Chirag Paswan.

The five MPs — Pashupati Kumar Paras (Hajipur), Choudhary Mehboob Ali Qaisar (Khagaria), Chandan Kumar (Nawada), Veena Devi (Vaishali) and Prince Raj (Samastipur) —met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Sunday evening and again on Monday, saying that they have elected Paras as LJP parliamentary party leader and Kaiser as deputy leader. Late Monday night, the Lok Sabha Secretariat issued a circular confirming Paras as leader of the LJP in the Lok Sabha.

Of the five MPs, two are related to the Paswan family —Hajipur MP Paras is Ram Vilas Paswan’s younger brother and Samastipur MP Prince Raj is Paras’s son.

The series of dramatic events come months after the Bihar Assembly elections in October-November last year, in the run-up to which Chirag Paswan had attacked the JD(U) and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and stepped out of the NDA, all along maintaining that he wanted to work with the BJP. The LJP had, however, fared poorly in the elections, with its lone MLA eventually crossing over to the JD(U).

On Monday, the rebel MPs, while making it clear that the five MPs want to rejoin the NDA, also placed their confidence in “vikas purush” Nitish Kumar.

In Patna, JD(U) spokesperson and former minister Neeraj Kumar denied talk of his party having played a part in the LJP split, saying, “The name of our MP Lalan Singh has been unnecessarily dragged into this by the Opposition and the media. We have always valued LJP leader Pashupati Kumar Paras and had made him a minister in the Bihar government.”

TWO W BENGAL WOMEN ALLEGE GANGRAPE BY TMC MEN AFTER POLLS, MOVE SC

Two women from West Bengal have moved the Supreme Court alleging rape by supporters of the ruling Trinamool Congress during the post-poll violence in the state in May, immediately after Mamata Banerjee led her party to a third term in power.

Seeking a court-monitored probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) or the CBI, both the women — a 60-year-old and a 17-year-old — have in separate pleas sought to be made parties in a pending petition filed by Biswajit Sarkar, brother of Bengal BJP worker Abhijit Sarkar, who was murdered, allegedly by TMC workers, during the post-poll violence in May.

In Kolkata, police said that while one person has been arrested for the rape of the 60-year-old, three persons have been held in the case of the minor’s gangrape.

In her applications in the Supreme Court, the 60-year-old alleged that she was gangraped by five TMC workers in the presence of her six-year-old grandchild.

About the 60-year old, Tapas Dolui, general secretary of a BJP organisational district, said, “She is our supporter and used to come for our meetings. The Trinamool Congress targeted her because of that.”

In the second case, a 17-year-old girl filed an application through advocate Ravi Sharma, alleging she was gangraped by TMC workers on May 9, “solely for her family’s political affiliations and religious beliefs”.

Rajib Hossain, a district general secretary of Trianamool Congress, said, “There is no truth in the allegation. We have faith in the judiciary. The BJP is taking these matters to the Supreme Court because they cannot accept their defeat.”

ADANI GROUP STOCKS TUMBLE AMID REPORTS OF NSDL FREEZING 3 FPI ACCOUNTS

Shares of Adani Group companies witnessed a massive drubbing in morning trade on Monday, tumbling up to 25 per cent, amid reports that the National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) has frozen certain FPIs accounts that have holding in some of these firms.

Billionaire Gautam Adani’s group on Monday said it has written confirmation that accounts of three foreign funds that are among its top shareholders are not frozen and reports to the contrary are “blatantly erroneous and misleading”.

Following the statement, shares of some of the group firms witnessed partial recovery from their early losses.

Adani Enterprises, the conglomerate’s flagship company, as also Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Adani Green Energy Ltd, Adani Transmission Ltd, Adani Power and Adani Total Gas Ltd in identical filings to the stock exchanges said the reports of NSDL freezing accounts of Albula Investment Fund, Cresta Fund and APMS Investment Fund holding shares in the group firms were “blatantly erroneous and is done to deliberately mislead the investing community.”  “This is causing irreparable loss of economic value to the investors at large and reputation of the group,” they said.

Given the seriousness of the issue and its consequential adverse impact on minority investors, “we requested Registrar and Transfer Agent, with respect to the status of the Demat Account(s) of the aforesaid funds and have their written confirmation vide its e-mail dated 14th June, 2021, clarifying that the Demat Account(s) in which the aforesaid funds hold the shares of the company are not frozen,” the firms said.

CENTRE INVITES BIDS FOR JAB DELIVERY VIA DRONES

After the successful trial run of the plan to use drones for Covid-19 vaccine delivery, the government on Monday invited bids from companies with expertise in the area.

The bid requires the use of unmanned aerial vehicles capable of covering aerial distance of a minimum 35 km, vertical takeoff and carriage of at least 4-kg payload. The vehicles should be able to return to the command station after the specified delivery.

The bid document, prepared by the Indian Council of Medical Research which led the pilot project in Telangana to try the drone delivery of jabs and drugs, says the aim of the project is to ensure last mile coverage.

NOVAVAX COVID-19 SHOT SHOWS 90% EFFICACY, SERUM INSTITUTE STARTS PRODUCTION

US based Novavax on Monday said that its nano-particle protein based Covid-19 vaccine candidate has demonstrated an overall 90.4 percent efficacy in phase 3 clinical trials. In India its partner Serum Institute of India (SII) has started manufacturing the vaccine it has named Covovax already.

In fact, the Centre expects availability of 200 mn doses of Covovax between August and December. India will allow entry of this vaccine here once the USFDA approves it.

The vaccine candidate NVX-CoV2373 has shown 100 percent protection against moderate and severe disease, 90.4 percent efficacy overall, and also met the primary endpoint in the PREVENT-19 phase 3 trial, the company said in a statement.

SII is a crucial partner to achieve the production targets as it is going to make around 50 mn doses of Covovax a month at Pune. The company has not disclosed the volumes it is making now, but it is less than the targeted volume of 50 mn monthly doses at the moment.

SII CEO Adar Poonawalla had hinted a couple of months back that shortage of raw material supplies from the US had affected the scale up plan for Covovax.

FRANKLIN MF HEAD, FUND MANAGERS FINED ₹15CR

Markets regulator Sebi on Monday imposed a total fine of Rs 15 crore on several Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund officials, including its head Sanjay Sapre and chief investment officer Santosh Kamat, along with a trustee and five fund managers for violating regulatory nor ms.

Sebi said that although the six funds were sold as having different investment strategies, they were actually managed almost with a similar high-risk investment approach. The fines relate to FTMF’s six debt schemes which are under a winding-up process since April 2020.

In a related matter, Sebi also imposed a fine of Rs 45 lakh on Venkata Radhakrishnan, a director with the fund house and Rs 5 lakh on his wife, Malathi Radhakrishnan, for redeeming his investments ahead of the announcement of the closure using private information.

BILLIONAIRE START-UP FOUNDER BEATS VISWANATHAN ANAND IN CHESS CELEBRITY FUNDRAISER GAME, ADMITS ‘TOOK HELP, SORRY’

It was a high-profile fund-raiser that had all the ingredients of a blockbuster: five-time former world champion Viswanathan Anand taking on Bollywood star Aamir Khan, singers Arijit Singh and Ananya Birla, cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal, young billionaire Nikhil Kamath, and film producer Sajid Nadiadwala — all at the same time.

But the celebrity online chess event ended up being marred by a bizarre controversy involving Kamath, who is the founder of Zerodha, a unicorn stock brokerage firm.

At the event to raise funds for Akshaya Patra Foundation, the 34-year-old beat Anand at the Checkmate Covid Celebrity Edition hosted by chess.com. But hours after the game, chess.com, which live-streamed the action, closed Kamath’s account for violation of its fair play policy.

Kamath later issued a public apology on Twitter, admitting that his Grandmaster-like moves were only possible because of external help.

“It is ridiculous that so many are thinking that I really beat Vishy sir in a chess game, that is almost like me waking up and winning a 100 mt race with Usain Bolt. I had help from the people analyzing the game, computers and the graciousness of Anand sir himself to treat the game as a learning experience. This was for fun and charity. In hindsight, it was quite silly as I didn’t realise all the confusion that can get caused due to this. Apologies,” he posted.

That tweet, however, appeared to have soured the situation further.

Anand’s manager and wife Aruna said: “It (Kamath’s tweet) basically alleges that Anand was helping him and it is the most outrageous thing I have heard in Anand’s career. He (Kamath) has taken a lie and used another lie to cover that. If he was helped by computers and friends, so be it. That is on his conscience. But he can’t drag Anand’s name and say Anand helped him.”

Anand chose not to get dragged into the controversy. In a short tweet, he said: “Yesterday was a celebrity simul for people to raise money. It was a fun experience upholding the ethics of the game. I just played the position on the board and expected the same from everyone.”

AFGHANS STAND IN INDIA’S WAY AS INDIA LOOK TO PROGRESS IN ASIAN CUP QUALIFYING

Up against Afghanistan in the joint 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers in Doha today, a bunch of things are at stake for India.

Atop the list is securing a spot in the third round of qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup. This task has been rendered a bit easier after Oman defeated the Afghans 2-1 on Friday. Now, just a draw from their final game of the second round would see India through.

Next in the line is a personal goal. Sunil Chhetri, the heart of the 2-0 win against Bangladesh, must be rubbing his hands together at the prospect of entering the all-time top-10 goalscorers’ list. He’s just one goal short of the feat.

INDICATORS

Sensex 52,552 (+77), Nifty 15,812 (+13), Trading Value NSE (Rs.crores) 77987.6

Nasdaq 14,174 (+105) Dow 34,394 (-86), S&P 4,255 (+7)

US$-Rs. 73.11 GBP-Rs. 103.13, Euro-Rs. 88.56, UAE Dhm-Rs.19.90, Can$-Rs. 60.17, Aus$- Rs. 56.37

GBP 0.70 /US$, Euro 0.82 /US$, Jap.Yen 109.85 /US$, Aus$ 1.29 /US$, Sing 1.32 /US$, Bang Taka 83.38 /US$, Can$ 1.21 /US$, Mal Ring 4.11 /US$,

Pak Re 155.47 /US$, Phil Peso 47.82 /US$, Russian Rouble 72.10 /US$, NZ$ 1.39 /US$, Thai Baht 31.08 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 26.83 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 40,292

Dollar Index 90.46 Brent Crude 73.12  BDI 2,944

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,862 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,876 / 4,776, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 76,500

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

He who seeks to divorce toil from knowledge deprives knowledge of its most valuable property, the strengthening of the mind by exercise. - Lord Edward Bulwer Lytton

OFF TRACK

Driving along an outback road in Australia, my wife spied an exotic bird flying overhead. The creature was black, with a huge and striking red-and-gold beak. “Hey, look! A toucan!” she yelled.

“Toucan nothin’,” said our Aussie friend. “It’s a crow with its beak stuck in a McDonald’s fries carton.