REGULATE CROWDS IN MARKETS, HOLD OFFICIALS LIABLE, CENTRE TELLS STATES

Citing a rise in Covid-related R-factor (reproduction rate) in various parts of the country amid overcrowding, the Centre on Wednesday advised states and UTs to reimpose curbs on people’s movement and make individual officials at the district level “personally” responsible for enforcement.

Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, in a letter to state chief secretaries and UT administrators, cautioned against lax public behaviour amid fears of a third wave. The warning came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed concern over overcrowding in hill stations and markets.

The Home Secretary insisted that the states and UTs consider reimposing restrictions in places and establishments where Covid norms were flouted.

The Home Ministry’s standing advisory to states is strict containment in districts with over 10 per cent positivity and over 60 per cent occupancy of oxygen and ICU beds. As of today, 55 districts of the total 736 have more than 10 per cent positivity rate. Of these, 35 are in the northeast and the rest in Rajasthan (9), Kerala (8), Maharashtra, Odisha and Puducherry (one each).

KEY COVID NUMBERS

Current Active Cases Countrywide: 4,26,028

New Cases in last 24 hours: 41,841

Recovered in last 24 hours: 39,387

Change in no. of Active cases in last 24 hours: + 1,874

No. of deaths in last 24 hours (Total Covid Deaths so far): 580 (4,12,019)

Daily Tests (Tuesday): 19,15,501

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

Percentage of Population Vaccinated (At Least One Dose / Two Doses): 23.4% / 5.7%

LAC SITUATION IMPACTING BILATERAL TIES IN A NEGATIVE MANNER: JAISHANKAR TO WANG

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday firmly conveyed to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that the prolongation of the existing situation in eastern Ladakh was visibly impacting the bilateral ties in a “negative manner” and said that there was no forward movement from the Chinese side since the disengagement in Pangong lake areas in February.

During a one-hour meeting on the sidelines of an SCO conclave in Dushanbe, Jaishankar also told Wang that any unilateral change in the status quo along the LAC was “not acceptable” to India and that the overall ties can only develop after full restoration of peace and tranquility in eastern Ladakh.

The two foreign ministers agreed to hold the next round of military dialogue at the earliest and that it should discuss all the remaining issues and seek a mutually acceptable solution, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.

The in-person meeting took place in the midst of a stalemate in the disengagement process between the two militaries in remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh.

“The External Affairs Minister recalled that both sides had agreed that a prolongation of the existing situation was not in the interest of either side. It was visibly impacting the relationship in a negative manner,” the MEA said in a statement.

Assessing the overall relationship, Jaishankar emphasised that maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas has been the foundation for the development of ties since 1988. “The attempts to change the status quo last year that also disregarded commitments under the 1993 and 1996 agreements have inevitably affected ties,” the MEA said. “He emphasised that it was, therefore, in mutual interest that the two sides work towards early resolution of the remaining issues along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh, while fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols.”

This was the first meeting between Jaishankar and Wang after their talks in Moscow on the sidelines of another SCO conclave in September last year. In those Moscow talks, both sides had reached a five-point agreement to resolve the border row.

MEA said yesterday that the ministers agreed that the next round of military talks should be convened at the earliest. “They also agreed that in this meeting, the two sides should discuss all the remaining issues and seek a mutually acceptable solution. There was also an understanding that both sides will continue to ensure stability on the ground and neither side will take any unilateral action that could increase tension,” the MEA said.

RUSSIA RULES OUT MILITARY TIE-UP WITH INDIA ON AFGHANISTAN ISSUE

Russia is not in favour of a military alliance with India to help out the Government in Kabul, but is interested in close coordination while the Afghan issue seems to be acquiring new dimensions with the rise of the Taliban, a senior Russian Embassy official said on Wednesday.

“We have got some real experience in Afghanistan but let us be very clear, the situation doesn’t require foreign military involvement. We are not considering this option. We will be acting through the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) to fortify the borders, if required. It will be important for all of us to maintain coordination. India has been training army personnel. So too is Russia. All options are possible,” said Russian Deputy Head of Mission Roman Babushkin at a media conference.

The CSTO is a six-nation grouping comprising Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Belorussia and Kyrgyzstan. The Russian assessment is that the new Taliban is fragmented. There are some hardliners who want to fight on, but others favour a political solution. “We have heard commitments, but have to see their implementation,” he said.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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TALIBAN PRESS ADVANCES, TAKE KEY BORDER POST WITH PAKISTAN

The Taliban are pressing on with their surge in Afghanistan, saying they seized a strategic border crossing with Pakistan on Wednesday — the latest in a series of key border post to come under their control in recent weeks.

The development was the latest in Taliban wins on the ground as American and NATO troops complete their pullout from the war-battered country. On Tuesday, an Afghan official said a senior government delegation, including the head of the country’s reconciliation council, would meet the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, to jump-start the long-stalled peace talks between the two sides.

The Taliban have in recent weeks taken a string of major Afghan border crossings, including with Iran, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Last week, the Taliban said they now control 85% of Afghanistan’s territory — a claim that is impossible to verify but that was considerably higher than previous Taliban statements that more than a third of the country’s 421 districts and district centers were in their control.

Many Afghan districts have fallen to the Taliban without a fight as Afghan forces abandoned their posts.

In northern Afghanistan, a traditional stronghold of US-allied warlords, more than 1,000 Afghan military men fled across the border into northern Tajikistan last week ahead of the advancing Taliban. Iran also reported a few hundred Afghan troops crossing into Iran.

The taking of key border crossings will likely mean significant revenue for the Taliban while also strengthening their hand in any future negotiations with the Kabul government.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is set to begin evacuations of Afghans who aided the U.S. military effort in the nearly 20-year war during the last week of July, according to a senior administration official. U.S. President Joe Biden has faced pressure from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to come up with plan to help evacuate Afghan military helpers ahead of next month's U.S. military withdrawal.

COVID-19 CASES, DEATHS RISE AGAIN GLOBALLY

Covid-19 deaths and cases are on the rise again globally in a dispiriting setback that is triggering another round of restrictions and dampening hopes for a return to normal life.

The WHO reported Wednesday that deaths climbed last week after nine straight weeks of decline. It recorded more than 55,000 lives lost, a 3% increase from the week before.

Cases rose 10% last week to nearly 3 million, with the highest numbers recorded in Brazil, India, Indonesia and Britain, WHO said.

Daily coronavirus deaths in Russia hit record highs this week. In Belgium, Covid-19 infections, driven by the delta variant among the young, have almost doubled over the past week. Britain recorded a one-day total of more than 40,000 new cases for the first time in six months.

In Myanmar, crematoriums are working morning to night. In Indonesia, which recorded almost 1,000 deaths and over 54,000 new cases Wednesday, up from around 8,000 cases per day a month ago, people near Jakarta are pitching in to help gravediggers keep up.

In the US, with one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, newly confirmed infections per day have doubled over the past two weeks to an average of about 24,000, though deaths are still on a downward trajectory at around 260 a day.

THE REST

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CONG MPS RAISE LAC, WALK OUT OF DEFENCE PANEL MEET

Rahul Gandhi and other Congress MPs today left the meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on defence, demanding an urgent discussion on the Line of Actual Control, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The discussion was not granted with panel chairman Jual Oram telling Rahul that the agenda listed for the day was “Review of the working of cantonment boards”.

Panel sources said Rahul demanded that the committee be given a briefing on India’s security situation in the wake of the developments along the LAC, Taliban actions post US announcement of troop withdrawal and the situation with respect to Pakistan and J&K.

“Don’t waste our time discussing cantonment boards. We want a briefing on the security issues,” he said, walking out of the meeting even as Oram pointed out that the agenda items were pre-decided and circulated to members in advance.

DELHI RIOTS CASE INVESTIGATION DONE IN CASUAL, FARCICAL MANNER: COURT

A Delhi court came down strongly against the quality of police investigation in the 2020 Delhi riots that claimed 53 lives and led to massive destruction of property, and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on law enforcement personnel for procedural lapses in the probe.

Highlighting the loopholes in the investigation into one of the northeast Delhi cases, Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Yadav Tuesday termed the Delhi Police’s investigation into the matter “a very shocking state of affairs”.

The police were pulled up in court for not maintaining a proper case diary, which according to the mandate of the CrPC should be filed in an orderly fashion in a single book, in a bound volume and properly paginated.

Instead, the court noted, investigation details such as witness statements were spread across different booklets in the case at hand.

The police had also clubbed more than one complaint in the said FIR, which the court said were essentially two complaints of separate offences that required two different FIRs.

The court said it was evident the police had sought to “create defence” for the accused named in the complaint.

The judge has sent the order to the Commissioner of Police “for bringing to his notice” the level of investigation and supervision in the matter, and also asked him to take remedial action. The facts and circumstances of the case reveal “a very shocking state-of-affairs,” said the judge.

STOP FILING CASES UNDER SCRAPPED SECTION OF IT ACT: CENTRE TO STATES

Days after the Supreme Court expressed displeasure over the continued use of Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which it had struck down in 2015, the Centre has written to states, asking them not to register cases under the repealed provision and withdraw any such case that may have been filed.

The advisory reminded the states that in its judgment on March 23, 2015, in the matter of Shreya Singhal Vs. Union of India, the Supreme Court had struck down the provision.

On July 5, responding to a petition filed by NGO PUCL, a bench of Justices R F Nariman, K M Joseph and B R Gavai had expressed shock that cases were still being filed by law enforcement agencies under the Section and had asked the Centre to file a counter affidavit.

Section 66A empowered police to make arrests over any online posts that policemen, in terms of their subjective discretion, could construe as “offensive” or “menacing” or for the purposes of causing annoyance and inconvenience among others. It prescribed the punishment for sending messages through computer or any other communication device such as a mobile phone or a tablet, and a conviction could fetch a maximum of three years in jail.

POLICE COMPLAINT AGAINST KAREENA KAPOOR FOR HURTING RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS

A Christian group has taken objection to the title of a book written by actress Kareena Kapoor and filed a police complaint in Beed city of Maharashtra against her and two others on Wednesday, accusing them of hurting religious sentiments of the community, an official said.

Alpha Omega Christian Mahasangh president Ashish Shinde submitted the complaint at the Shivaji Nagar Police Station in Beed over the book, which has a second author. In the complaint, Shinde has referred to the title of the book, “Pregnancy Bible”, authored by Kareena Kapoor and Aditi Shah Bhimjani, and published by Juggernaut Books.

The holy word ”Bible” has been used in the book’s title and this has hurt the religious sentiments of Christians, he has said.

Kareena launched her book on July 9.

ZOMATO IPO OVERSUBSCRIBED ON DAY-1

Food delivery platform Zomato’s IPO was oversubscribed on the opening day on Wednesday with retail investors bidding for 2.7 times the number of shares reserved for them.

The IPO, the biggest in India this year, is open for subscription till Friday in a price band of Rs 72-76 per share.

Zomato has already mobilised Rs 4,196.51 crore from 186 anchor investors on July 13, a day before the issue opened. The IPO size has been reduced to Rs 5,178.49 crore from Rs 9,375 crore earlier.

The company, backed by Jack Ma’s Ant Group Co, is the first from a long list of Indian unicorn startups to launch an IPO. It is also the first among Indian online food aggregators.

The IPO, which will give Zomato a valuation of Rs 64,365 crore, is being touted as the second-biggest since SBI Cards and Payment Services’ Rs 10,341 crore issue in March 2020. It will surpass Indian Railway Finance Corp offering in January.

MASTERCARD BARRED FROM ADDING CLIENTS

The RBI on Wednesday imposed restrictions on Mastercard Asia Pacific Pte Ltd from onboarding new domestic customers (debit, credit or prepaid) onto its card network from July 22, citing non-compliance of storage of data in India.

The RBI order will not impact existing customers of Mastercard, it said. The central bank said Mastercard should advise all card issuing banks and non-banks to conform to these directions.

In April this year, the RBI had imposed restrictions on American Express Banking Corp and Diners Club International Ltd from on-boarding domestic customers from May 1, 2021, citing non-compliance.

The RBI order is expected to hit customer acquisition of many banks, particularly those which issue credit and debit cards predominantly with Mastercard as the payment system operator, like Citi and RBL Bank.

CONSENT OF MOST SHAREHOLDERS NEEDED FOR SHUTTING DOWN DEBT SCHEMES: SC

In a key verdict, the Supreme Court Wednesday held that the consent of majority unit-holders will be required before closing debt schemes and markets regulator Sebi will have the power to intervene if the trustees violate the regulations.

The apex court's judgement came on pleas, including the appeal filed by Franklin Templeton, against the Karnataka High Court order restraining the company from winding up its six of mutual fund schemes without obtaining the consent of its investors by a simple majority.

The apex court had upheld on February 12 the validity of e-voting process for winding up of the MF schemes and said that disbursal of funds to unit-holders will continue.

INDIAN CRICKETER IN ENGLAND TESTS POSITIVE, QUARANTINED

A player of the Indian cricket team in England has tested positive for Covid -19 virus and is staying in home isolation at the moment. The player is home quarantined at his relatives’ place at present and is likely to join the tour party in Durham later. The Indian squad sans the player will return to bio-bubble in Durham on Thursday.

The news of the Indian cricketer testing positive comes in the wake of the virus sweeping through the England camp ahead of their limited-overs home series against Pakistan. Last week before the first ODI against Pakistan, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed that seven members of the team including three players and four staff members tested positive for Covid-19.

The development forced an overhaul of the England ODI squad, with Ben Stokes being appointed the captain of the team. A second-string England clean-swept Pakistan 3-0 in the ODI series, but the question of how the virus breached the bubble was left answered.

Sri Lanka toured England before the Pakistan series and upon returning home, they had a virus outbreak in their camp, which forced the postponement of their limited-overs series against India. After Sri Lanka’s batting coach Grant Flower and data analyst GT Niroshan were tested positive, the series was pushed back to July 18 instead of its scheduled commencement on July 13.

The Indian players were allowed to leave the bio-bubble in England and spent time on their own after the World Test Championship final that ended on June 23. The BCCI approved their departure from the bubble with the instruction that the players and the support staff should enter the bubble again mid-July ahead of their five-Test series against England. The first Test starts on August 4.

INDICATORS

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Bitcoin - USD 32,751

Dollar Index 92.46 Brent Crude 74.12 BDI 3,139

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,825 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,808 / 4,708, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 73,900

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

You must do the thing you think you cannot do. --Eleanor Roosevelt

OFF TRACK

Otto von Bismark, the first Chancellor of the German Empire from 1871-90 had been conversing with the British Ambassador to Germany when the latter posed the question, "How do you handle insistent visitors who take up so much of your valuable time?"

Bismark answered, "Oh, I have an infallible method. My servant appears and informs me that my wife has something urgent to tell me."

At that moment there was a knock at the door, and a servant entered with a message from his wife.