GOVERNORS SHUFFLED; CABINET EXPANSION LIKELY TODAY

The appointment of four new Governors and the transfer of four others Tuesday, has set the stage for the much-anticipated expansion of the Union Council of Ministers.

While there was no official word, multiple sources confirmed that the first reshuffle in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second term is slated for Wednesday evening.

The BJP headquarters was abuzz with names of those who have been summoned to the capital, an indication that they could be inducted into the new Council. Congress-turned-BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, former Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane reached New Delhi Tuesday.

While there can be 81 members in the Council of Ministers (15% of the Lok Sabha strength), the current strength stands at 52.

Senior Minister and Dalit leader Thaawarchand Gehlot has been sent to Karnataka as Governor. The other new gubernatorial appointments are that of former Lok Sabha MP Hari Babu Kambhampati as Governor of Mizoram; Mangubhai Chhaganbhai Patel, a tribal leader from Gujarat who is set to go to Madhya Pradesh; and former Goa speaker Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, who will be Governor of Himachal Pradesh.

Ramesh Bais, Governor of Tripura, has been transferred to Jharkhand, an Opposition-ruled state; Satyadev Narayan Arya has been moved from Haryana to Tripura; former Kerala BJP chief P S Sreedharan Pillai will move from Mizoram to Goa; and Bandaru Dattatreya, Governor of Himachal Pradesh, has been sent to Haryana.

The reshuffle comes in the wake of the devastating second Covid wave that has set off widespread criticism of the Government – including by several courts – for the mismanagement of the crisis.

The Narendra Modi government has also decided to create a new Ministry of Cooperation with an aim to strengthen the cooperative movement in the country.

DELIMITATION TALKS: PDP STAYS AWAY, CONGRESS SAYS STATE FIRST

The Mehbooba Mufti-led People’s Democratic Party Tuesday said the Delimitation Commission lacked “constitutional and legal mandate” and stayed away from discussions with the panel which is currently in the Valley to deliberate with political parties, public representatives and UT administration officials and seek their inputs.

The two other key constituents of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) — National Conference and the CPM — however, met the Commission. On Monday, in its first joint statement since June 24, the PAGD had said it was “disappointed” with the outcome of the PM’s meeting and said that “any Assembly election must be held only after restoration of full statehood for J&K”.

Among the other parties that met the Commission on Tuesday were the Congress, BJP, Sajad Lone’s People’s Conference and Altaf Bukhari-led J&K Apni Party.

The National Conference and CPM did not oppose delimitation, but stressed on the need for transparency in the exercise since, according to them, the events of August 5, 2019, and later, have broken the trust and confidence of the J&K people.

After meeting the Commission, Congress state President Ghulam A Mir said delimitation of J&K was not required at the moment, and that such exercises meant little unless statehood was restored. “Until full statehood for J&K as part of the Union of India is restored, there would be no meaning for the Delimitation Commission to undertake any exercise. Unfortunately, the meeting called by the Prime Minister gave no concrete assurance in this regard. This is an essential confidence building measure…,” the party said in its memorandum to the Commission.

INDIA REJECTS CRITICISM OVER HANDLING OF STAN SWAMY’S CASE

India on Tuesday rejected mounting international criticism over the handling of the case of Father Stan Swamy, an undertrial who died on Monday. The Ministry of External Affairs said India remains committed to the promotion and protection of the human rights of all its citizens and that the country’s democratic polity is complemented by an independent judiciary and a range of national and state-level human rights commissions.

Noting that Father Stan Swamy was arrested and detained by the National Investigation Agency following due process under law, the ministry said because of the specific nature of charges against him, his bail applications were rejected by courts.

“Authorities in India act against violations of law and not against legitimate exercise of rights. All such actions are strictly in accordance with the law,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

Earlier, the UN body on human rights said it was “deeply saddened and disturbed” by the death of 84-year-old activist in pre-trial detention. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet and the UN’s independent experts have repeatedly raised the cases of Swamy and 15 other human rights defenders with the government of India over the past three years and urged their release from detention, it said.

PM GREETS DALAI LAMA ON HIS 86TH BIRTHDAY

In a departure from last year when New Delhi still entertained expectations of a border rapprochement with China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished the Dalai Lama on his 86th birthday on Tuesday. Last year, PM Modi had been conspicuously silent on Dalai Lama’s 85th birthday.

As was the case in 2019 after he returned for a second term, the PM this time spoke on the phone with the Dalai Lama to wish him a long and healthy life.

KEY COVID NUMBERS

Current Active Cases Countrywide: 4,54,516

New Cases in last 24 hours: 43,953

Recovered in last 24 hours: 47,136

Change in no. of Active cases in last 24 hours: -4,113

No. of deaths in last 24 hours (Total Covid Deaths so far): 930 (4,04,240)

Daily Tests (Monday): 16,47,424

Daily Positivity Rate (Proportion of Positives among total Tested): 2.1%

Percentage of Population Vaccinated (At Least One Dose / Two Doses): 21.8% / 5.0%

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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US TROOPS LEFT BAGRAM AIRFIELD SILENTLY AT NIGHT

US forces plunged their main operating base in Afghanistan into darkness and abandoned it to looters when they slipped away in the middle of the night after two decades at the site without notifying their Afghan allies.

The furtive departure from Bagram airbase, which is vital to the security of Kabul and holds about 5,000 mostly Taliban prisoners, infuriated the Afghans. Many saw it as emblematic of a withdrawal they say is being carried out entirely to fit an American political schedule, with no heed for the collapsing security situation on the ground.

The new commander of Bagram airbase, Gen Mir Asadullah Kohistani, only discovered the Americans’ had gone several hours after their 3am departure.

“People are saying: ‘The Americans didn’t ask Afghans about coming here, and they didn’t consult Afghans about leaving’,” said one senior official. He said the US forces’ stealthy departure had thrown away 20 years of goodwill.

Much of northern Afghanistan, once an anti-Taliban stronghold, has fallen to the group in the last two weeks, and the militants have made substantial advances across the rest of the country.

RANSOMWARE ATTACK AFFECTS 1,500 BUSINESSES WORLDWIDE

As many as 1,500 businesses around the world have been affected by the biggest ransomware attack to be recorded in history, the chief executive of American IT firm Kaseya has said. A software developed by the company was used as a conduit by hackers linked to Russia to launch the attack.

Kaseya is a company which provides software tools to IT outsourcing shops: companies that typically handle back-office work for companies too small or modestly resourced to have their own tech departments.

The disruption has been felt more keenly in Sweden, where hundreds of supermarkets had to close because their cash registers were inoperative, and New Zealand, where schools and kindergartens were knocked offline.

A German IT company and two big Dutch IT services companies were also among the victims.

The hackers who claimed responsibility for the breach have demanded $70 million to restore all the affected businesses' data. They got in touch with news agency Reuters and one of their representatives, without identifying the name, said, "We are always ready to negotiate."

THE REST

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LEGENDARY ACTOR DILIP KUMAR PASSES AWAY AT 98 AFTER PROLONGED ILLNESS

Legendary actor Dilip Kumar, who had been admitted to the ICU of Mumbai's PD Hinduja Hospital, passed away at the age of 98 today. The 98-year-old screen icon was admitted in suburban Khar-based Hinduja Hospital, a non-Covid-19 facility, last week to address age-related "medical issues" days after being discharged from the same hospital.

Dilip Kumar''s career spans over five decades with hits like "Mughal-e-Azam", "Devdas", "Naya Daur", and "Ram Aur Shyam". His last big screen appearance was in the 1998 film "Qila".

WHEN UPA DEFENDED STRINGENT BAIL RULE IN ANTI-TERROR LAW

Congress president Sonia Gandhi was among the 10 Opposition leaders who wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind asking him to direct the Union Government to act against those responsible for foisting “false cases” on Father Stan Swamy. And asking for the “release forthwith” of those detained under “politically motivated cases, misusing draconian laws like UAPA…”

That very same “draconian” law and its stringent provision for bail were strongly defended by the Congress-led UPA government and its then Home Minister P Chidambaram.

Introducing The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, in Rajya Sabha in December 2008, in wake of Mumbai terror attacks, Chidambaram, in fact, had minced few words: “Broadly what we are doing is imposing restrictions on the path of grant of bail.”

And he justified these restrictions. “I think some people thought that refusing bail is an unusual provision, but it is not. For heinous crimes, even today bail is refused until the case is completely tried and the court reaches its conclusions. So, there is nothing unusual about it,” Chidambaram said.

CPM’s Sitaram Yechury had then slammed the provision in the Bill to double the detention period to 180 days if the court was “satisfied” with the prosecutor’s report and his reasons for extending the detention.

Claiming that the provisions added are stringent “without trampling upon the fundamental human rights” or due process, Chidambaram had said: “While the POTA provision said that you shall go beyond 90 days…Here we have given the power to the court, the court may if it is satisfied. Secondly, the POTA provision said, go beyond 90 days, it did not put a cap. Here we have put a cap and said, ‘cannot go beyond 180 days’.”

In 2012, an amendment in UAPA criminalised the right to form associations by expanding the definition of person to include “an association of persons or body of individuals, whether incorporated or not”. That’s the provision that linked Stan Swamy with Persecuted Prisoners’ Solidarity Committee which NIA claims is a “frontal organisation of CPI (Maoist).” This link was then invoked to oppose his bail plea.

COVID-19 CASES LOW BUT HEALTH MINISTRY WARNS AGAINST 'REVENGE TRAVEL'

Some are calling it revenge travel as pictures from Manali broke the internet, showing massive crowds descending on the hill town, escaping a brutal North India heatwave. Others are calling it a final hurrah before an impending third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

On Tuesday, the health ministry expressed concerns regarding people visiting hill stations, or even local markets, in droves.

Ministry of Health Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said, “The pandemic isn’t over once restrictions are relaxed. Such a casual approach towards Covid-appropriate behaviour will only have the virus mutate further.”

Even as India is reporting a steady decline in daily case additions, the health ministry data shows that nearly 80 per cent of the new Covid cases in the country are being reported from 90 districts alone. Most of these districts are in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Karnataka, Manipur, Goa, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura, among others.

The data reveals that 43 of the 73 districts, or around 59 per cent of these districts, are in the Northeast. These 73 districts still report over 10 per cent case positivity rate. Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Manipur, Kerala, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Sikkim are some of the states where these districts are located.

POST-KUMBH, UTTARAKHAND SCRAPS KANWAR YATRA

Two months after it hosted over 36 lakh people for the Kumbh Mela, just before the second Covid wave, the BJP government in Uttarakhand has cancelled the annual Kanwar Yatra in the state citing the pandemic.

The Yatra was not held last year also due to Covid restrictions.

The appeal for this year was issued during an inter-state coordination meeting, which was chaired by DGP Ashok Kumar, with police officers of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Delhi, on the yatra.

In 2019, nearly 3.5 crore devotees — known as kanwariyas — visited Haridwar for the yatra, up from 2.8 crore in 2018.

WILL GO WITH HIGH COMMAND: AMARINDER AFTER MEETING SONIA

With the Congress central leadership finally stepping in to tackle the crisis that has gripped its Punjab unit months ahead of Assembly elections, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Tuesday met Sonia Gandhi and said he will abide by any decision taken by the party president.

Singh, however, told reporters that he does not “know anything about (Navjot Singh) Sidhu” when asked whether the meeting also covered issues raised by the former cricketer, who has emerged as the face of dissent in the Punjab Congress.

YOU ARE FREE TO ACT AGAINST TWITTER: DELHI HIGH COURT TO GOVT

In a major setback for Twitter in India, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday pulled up the micro-blogging site for failing to appoint a resident grievance officer (RGO), saying, "How long will your process take place? This cannot be allowed".

The high court told central government counsel: "We are not stopping you from taking action, court has not granted any protection to Twitter. If they are in violation, you know what to do." The Centre submitted that Twitter India is in clear violation of IT Rules,2021.

The bench said, "I am not giving them any protection. I have already made it clear that they have to comply."

Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya, representing Twitter India, submitted that an interim grievance officer was appointed, but he had withdrawn his candidature on June 21. The bench responded that after June 21, and till July 6, the least it could have done was appoint another person.

"How long does your process take? If Twitter thinks it can take as long it wants in our country, I will not allow that," said the bench.

SC TURNS DOWN A HABEAS CORPUS PLEA

The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down a 42-year-old spiritual guru’s plea for release of his 21-year-old live-in partner from her parents’ alleged illegal custody in Kerala, saying his credentials were suspect and the girl was in a fragile state of mind.

The spiritual guru -- Kailas Natarajan -- had moved the Supreme Court challenging a Kerala High Court order rejecting his habeas corpus petition seeking the release of his 21-year-old woman he called his spiritual partner.

Noting that the petitioner’s credentials were suspect, a three judge headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana said, :The girl is in fragile state of mind. She is 21 and does not know what she is doing. The man (spiritual guru) is married with two children.” The facts of the case and the petitioner’s antecedents did not inspire confidence, it added.

On behalf of the petitioner, senior counsel Sankaranarayanan contended that the woman was an adult illegally detained by her parents.

“There is nothing illegal. She is with her parents…You also know about some of these gurus,” the Bench told Sankaranarayanan citing parents’ concern about such spiritual gurus.

MEDVEDEV KNOCKED OUT OF WIMBLEDON BY HURKACZ IN LAST 16

Poland's Hubert Hurkacz ousted second seed Daniil Medvedev after the pair returned on Tuesday to finish their rain-hit match and reached his maiden major quarter-final where he will meet eight-time Wimbledon winner Roger Federer.

World No.2 Medvedev was leading Hurkacz by two sets to one on Monday with the fourth set on serve when play was cancelled for the day because of rain after the players had spent two hours and 25 minutes on Court Two.

But the 24-year-old Hurkacz, seeded 14th, looked a completely different player when the match restarted under the closed roof of Centre Court, triumphing 2-6 7-6(2) 3-6 6-3 6-3.

WOMEN’S SINGLES SEMI FINALS LINE UP READY

Former champion Angelique Kerber reached the Wimbledon semi-finals for the fourth time on Tuesday with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic.

The German world number 28, who won the title in 2018, will face top seed Ashleigh Barty who won the first all-Australian quarter-final since Evonne Goolagong beat Wendy Turnbull in 1980. Barty beat Ajla Tomljanovic, her fellow Australian, 6-1, 6-3 in 66 minutes.

Second seed Aryna Sabalenka proved too powerful for Tunisian Ons Jabeur as she stormed into the Wimbledon semi-finals with a 6-4, 6-3 victory under the Centre Court roof on Tuesday. She meets Karolina Pliskova, who reached her first Wimbledon semi-final on Tuesday with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Switzerland's Viktorija Golubic.

ITALY KNOCK-OUT SPAIN 4-2 IN PENALTY SHOOT OUT

Spain's Alvaro Morata missed a penalty as Spain were knocked out of Euro 2020 losing 4-2 on penalties against Italy. Italy will face either Denmark or England in the final.

Federico Chiesa put Italy in front in the 2nd half as he scored in the 60th minute to give Italy the lead.  Alvaro Morata, who started off from the bench, equalised in the 80th minute. No goals were scored in Extra Time and match went to penalties.

INDICATORS

Sensex 52,861 (-19), Nifty 15,818 (-16), Trading Value NSE (Rs.crores) 67749.56

Nasdaq 14,664 (+24) Dow 34,577 (-209), S&P 4,344 (-9)

US$-Rs. 74.45 GBP-Rs. 103.02, Euro-Rs. 88.17, UAE Dhm-Rs.20.26, Can$-Rs. 60.07, Aus$- Rs. 56.11

GBP 0.72 /US$, Euro 0.84 /US$, Jap.Yen 110.72 /US$, Aus$ 1.32 /US$, Sing 1.34 /US$, Bang Taka 83.26 /US$, Can$ 1.23 /US$, Mal Ring 4.15 /US$,

Pak Re 157.91 /US$, Phil Peso 49.59 /US$, Russian Rouble 73.77 /US$, NZ$ 1.41 /US$, Thai Baht 32.16 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 27.06 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 34,083

Dollar Index 92.52 Brent Crude 74.48  BDI 3,179

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,800 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,775 / 4,675, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 74,900

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there. - John Wooden

OFF TRACK

"That was nice of you to set up a blind date for your ex-boyfriend."

"I know, but I don't hold any grudges."

"I'm surprised he trusted you enough to agree to go out with her."

"Well, I had to swear to him she's Katrina Kaif’s double."

"Wow! Is that true?"

"I wouldn't lie. She's twice her weight and twice her age."