MODI ASKS BJP MPs TO EXPOSE OPPOSITION FOR NOT LETTING PARLIAMENT FUNCTION

Addressing the party MPs at the BJP’s Parliamentary Party meeting on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked them to "expose the opposition parties as they have been deliberately obstructing and not letting the Parliament conduct any business". The Prime Minister’s suggestion to the party MPs has come at a time when both Houses of Parliament have been facing multiple adjournments due to ruckus created by opposition parties repeatedly.

During the media briefing about the deliberations at the meeting Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said that the Prime Minister also spoke about “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav”, and said that people have blessed us, and it is an opportunity to inculcate the feeling of serving the country. “Between August 15, 2022, and Aug 15, 2023, two workers will be handpicked to visit 75 villages per Assembly constituency. They will spend 75 hours in each village to collect ideas and noteworthy initiatives, which will be collated further for the development of the country,” Meghwal said.

RAHUL CHAIRS OPPOSITION MEETING, TO PUSH JOINTLY IN HOUSE FOR PEGASUS DISCUSSION

Amid the continuing standoff in Parliament, a meeting on Tuesday of floor leaders of opposition parties in the Lok Sabha, chaired by senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, decided that they would come together on the Pegasus spyware phone hacking row and mount pressure on the government for a discussion in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah.

The government’s move to push through two Bills during the din in the Lok Sabha on Monday has also infuriated opposition parties.

Besides Gandhi, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and the party’s floor managers, the meeting was attended by, among others, the DMK’s T R Baalu and Kanimozhi, the NCP’s Supriya Sule, the Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant, the Kerala Congress (M)’s Thomas Chazhikadan, the National Conference’s Hasnain Masoodi, the RSP’s N K Premachandran, the Muslim League’s E T Mohd Basheer and the CPM’s S Venkatesan and AM Ariff.

During the meeting, some of the opposition floor leaders argued that the message that needs to go out to the BJP should be of Opposition unity and there should be no division or misunderstanding among them.

BLINKEN ARRIVES, MEETINGS PLANNED FOR TODAY

US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday on a brief visit that is expected to lay the groundwork for the Quad leaders’ summit later this year in the US, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to attend.

Blinken is scheduled to meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Wednesday noon and PM Modi at 4 pm, before flying to Kuwait later in the evening. Blinken is also likely to meet NSA Ajit Doval.

RISE IN DAILY COVID CASES IN 22 DISTRICTS

The Union Health Ministry Tuesday reported a rise in daily new Covid cases in 22 districts across seven states, calling it a “cause for concern”. Seven of these districts are in Kerala, and two in Maharashtra, with the rest spread across the Northeast.

While Alappuzha, Kottayam, Malappuram, Thrissur, Wayanad, Ernakulum and Pathanamthitta in Kerala are seeing a rise in daily cases, in Manipur, Chandel, Churachandpur, Imphal East, Noney and Thoubal are showing a similar increase, apart from West Garo Hills, South-West Khasi Hills and South-West Garo Hills in Meghalaya, Papum Pare, Lohit and West Siang in Arunachal, Nalbari in Assam, and West Tripura in Tripura. The two districts in Maharashtra causing concern to officials are Solapur and Beed.

Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Health, said, “In Malappuram in Kerala, a weekly figure of 1,428 cases was reported during the period between June 28 and July 4, which has gone up to 2,270 in the last week — an increase of around 59%… Similarly, in Kottayam, the number of weekly cases has increased by 63% to 849 in the last week from 519 weekly cases a month ago… We are in constant discussion with states on how we should focus on containment efforts, early detection, so that the number of cases can be reduced.”

In terms of positivity rate, Agarwal said 54 districts were reporting more than 10% positivity for the week ending July 26. This figure stood at 46 in the week ending July 20 — showing that the virus remains active in areas.

KEY COVID NUMBERS

Current Active Cases Countrywide: 3,93,499

New Cases in last 24 hours: 42,895

Recovered in last 24 hours: 41,452

Change in no. of Active cases in last 24 hours: +803

No. of deaths in last 24 hours (Total Covid Deaths so far): 640 (4,22,054)

Daily Tests (Monday): 17,20,110

Daily Positivity Rate (Proportion of Positives among total Tested): 1.8%

Percentage of Population Vaccinated (At Least One Dose / Two Doses): 26.0% / 7.2%

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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BIDEN SAYS RUSSIA MESSING WITH 2022 POLLS, WARNS IT COULD LEAD TO WAR

Joe Biden, the president of the United States of America, on Tuesday, accused his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, of trying to disrupt the 2022 US midterm elections, slated to be held in November next year, when all 435 seats in the US House of Representatives and 34 of the 100 seats in the Senate will be contested.

Biden made these remarks to about 120 representatives of the US intelligence. "Look at what Russia doing already about the 2022 elections and misinformation," said the US president, referring to the information he received during his daily briefing. Without elaborating much on the matter, Biden said that the Russian president's actions are a "pure violation" of the United States' sovereignty.

"Putin has a real problem," Biden said. "He is sitting on top of an economy that has nuclear weapons and nothing else. He knows he is in real trouble, which makes him even more dangerous in my view."

TOKYO HITS RECORD COVID-19 CASES, SEEKS MORE HOSPITAL BEDS

Tokyo's 2,848 Covid-19 infections on Tuesday were the Olympic host city's highest since the pandemic began, officials said, as media reported that authorities had asked hospitals to prepare more beds for patients as the Delta variant drives the surge.

It also spells trouble for the Olympics, as many Japanese fear the influx of athletes and officials for the event could add to the surge. About 31% in a survey by the Nikkei daily on Monday said the Games should be cancelled or postponed again.

By Sunday, only 20.8% of the Japanese capital's 12,635 Covid-19 patients had been able to obtain hospital treatment, government data showed. A government advisory panel says that if the ratio falls below the threshold of 25%, a state of emergency should be triggered.

THE REST

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BS BOMMAI IS BJP'S PICK FOR KARNATAKA CM

A formidable Lingayat Basavraj Somappa Bommai has been elected as the new chief minister of Karnataka at the meeting of the BJP Legislature Party on Tuesday in the presence of central observers Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and G Kishan Reddy, and Arun Singh, the party general secretary in charge of the state.

Outgoing chief minister BS Yediyurappa was also present at the meeting that took place at a city Hotel in Bengaluru. "Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot has invited me to form the government. I will take oath at 11 am on July 28," Bommai said after Pradhan announced the decision taken at the legislature party meeting at a press briefing.

Born on January 28, 1960, Bommai, the son of former chief minister of the state SR Bommai, belongs to the Sadara Lingayat community, to which Yediyurappa also belongs.

DELHI STEPS IN, BUT ASSAM, MIZORAM BORDER STILL TENSE

A day after six Assam Police personnel and a civilian were killed in firing and clashes at a disputed border point between Assam and Mizoram, the Ministry of Home Affairs summoned the Chief Secretaries and Director Generals of Police of the two states to Delhi Wednesday as part of efforts to dial down tensions.

As the Centre stepped in, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said his government would deploy 4,000 commandos along the state’s 165-km boundary with Mizoram, and move the Supreme Court to ensure that the reserve forest in the disputed area is protected and no settlement comes up there.

Sarma’s remarks followed a statement Monday night from Mizoram Home Minister Lalchamliana who accused the Assam Police of “forcibly” crossing over and overrunning a post manned by Mizoram Police. Calling it an “intrusion and aggression into the territory of Mizoram,” Lalchamliana, while regretting “the needless injuries on both sides”, urged Assam to “create congenial environment for peaceful resolution of the dispute”.

COVISHIELD GIVES 93% PROTECTION AGAINST COVID, 98% MORTALITY REDUCTION, FINDS AFMC STUDY

Covishield gives 93 per cent protection against Covid-19 and a 98 per cent mortality reduction, the government said on Tuesday referring to a study by the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) during the second Covid-19 wave that was driven by the Delta variant.

Addressing a press conference, NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr VK Paul presented findings of the study which was conducted on 15 lakh doctors and frontline workers.

“Protection to the extent of 93 per cent was seen (in people who were administered the Covishield vaccine) and this was during the second wave which was driven by the Delta variant... also 98 per cent mortality reduction was seen,” he said.

Reiterating the usefulness of vaccines in battling Covid-19, Paul said inoculation reduces infection but it is not a total guarantee. “No vaccine guarantees that infection will not happen but serious disease gets prevented and nearly eliminated. I urge you to please be vigilant, be careful, have faith in our vaccines and continue to be careful in the weeks and months ahead,” he added.

IMF LOWERS INDIA’S GDP FORECAST TO 9.5%

The IMF Tuesday lowered India’s growth forecast for the year 2021-22 by 3 percentage points to 9.5 per cent, citing severe setback to economic recovery due to the second wave of the pandemic.

In April, the IMF had forecast that the Indian economy will grow at 12.5 per cent in 2021-22. However, this was before the devastation wreaked by the aggressive second Covid wave in India in April and May this year.

In its latest edition of the World Economic Outlook (WEO) report, released Tuesday, the IMF also raised India’s growth forecast for 2022-23 to 8.5 per cent. This is an increase of 1.6 percentage points from the forecast of 6.9 per cent made by the international organisation in its April report.

However, this was primarily because of the downward revision in growth forecast this current year.

BHAVISH AGGARWAL SPEAKS OUT AGAINST CALLS FOR DUTY CUTS FOR TESLA

Tesla’s call for a cut in duty on imported electric cars has prompted heads of other companies to react. On Tuesday, Ola Cabs founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said he was not in favour of the government paring duty on imported electric vehicles. Aggarwal’s comments went viral on the micro blogging platform Twitter after reports that Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc had sought a lower duty on imported EVs.

SS Kim, managing director of Hyundai India, added his bit to back Tesla on the duty cut issue in an interview to Autocar India. “Lower duties will help grow the EV market,” Kim said.

Taking on the two industry majors, Aggarwal said he believed that India should have confidence in its own ability to build EVs indigenously. ‘’Strongly disagree with both. Let’s have confidence in our ability to build indigenously and also attract global OEMs to build in India, not just import. We won’t be the first country to do so," he tweeted.

The debate on imported duty on EVs comes at a time when India's nascent EV market is getting the much-needed policy push from the Centre as well as state governments.

INDIA AT TOKYO OLYMPICS

Indian sports enthusiasts had something to cheer about at the Tokyo Olympics after two gloomy days thanks to heartening performances from Lovlina Borgohain and Achanta Sharath Kamal on Tuesday.

BADMINTON

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty beat Great Britain’s Ben Lane/Sean Vendy 21-17, 21-19 in Men's doubles Group A, but failed to advance to knock-out round.

BOXING

Lovlina Borgohain beat Germany’s Nadine Apetz in Women's 69kg Round of 16 bout 3-2. The Assam boxer needs to beat the Chinese Taipei's Nien-Chin Chen in the next round to make sure of at least a bronze medal.

SHOOTING

10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Qualification:

Saurabh Chaudhary/Manu Bhaker finished seventh in Qualification 2, after topping the first phase with 582.  Yeshahswini Deswal/Abhishek Verma failed to clear Qualification 1 and finished in 17th place.

10m Air Rifle Mixed Team Qualification:

Elavenil Valarivan/Divyansh Singh Panwar finished 12th among 29 pairs.

Anjum Moudgil/Deepak Kumar finished 18th out of 29 pairs.

TABLE TENNIS

Achanta Sharath Kamal lost to China’s Ma Long 7-11, 11-8, 11-13, 4-11, 4-11 in Men's Singles Round 3. At 39 years of age, he showed he is still a force to reckon with on the international firmament by winning a game against reigning World and Olympic champion Ma Long before exiting in Round 3 of the men’s table tennis competition.

HOCKEY

India got their men's hockey campaign at the Olympics back on track with a 3-0 victory over Spain, in Tokyo, on Tuesday morning.

The eight-time Olympic champions forged ahead through Simranjeet Singh in the 14th minute and added another goal through Rupinder Pal Singh from a penalty-stroke in the next minute after forcing a series of penalty-corners. Rupinder Pal made it 3-0 from another penalty-corner in the 51st minute, his powerful drag-flick packing too much power and racing through the Spanish defence into goal.

Spain launched an all-out attack in the last five minutes, forcing a couple of penalty-corners, but were unable to breach India's defences. 

India beat New Zealand 3-2 in their opening match and were thrashed by Australia 7-1 in the next.

Spain drew 1-1 with Argentina before losing 3-4 to New Zealand.

‘DON’T PROMOTE POLITICIANS’: OLYMPIAN BHAVANI DEVI TROLLED

India’s first-ever fencing athlete at the Olympics, Bhavani Devi’s journey in Tokyo 2020 began with a flourishing start, especially after she won her first match with a dominating score of 15/3 against Tunisia's Nadia Ben Aziz. However, her chase for a medal came to a halt suddenly, when she was faced off against the world’s top-three player Manon Brunet.

Disappointed and heartbroken, Devi shared the message, apologising to the whole nation about not being able to get a victory, despite giving the contest everything that she’d got.

Little did she expect, the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi ensured that Devi’s contribution towards the Indian Olympic contingent doesn’t go unheard and responded to her motivation while calling her an inspiration. “You gave your best and that is all that counts. Wins and losses are a part of life. India is very proud of your contributions. You are an inspiration for our citizens,” PM Modi wrote.

Overwhelmed to see the support, Devi responded with yet another tweet, this time addressing the Prime Minister directly, and talking about how he has been a source of inspiration for the 27-year old fencer. “When ur inspiration icon calls u an inspiration, what better day i can ask for? Ur words motivated me @narendramodi ji, U stood by me even at loosing the match, this gesture & leadership has given me boost & confidence to work hard & win upcoming matches for Flag of India Jai Hind @PMOIndia,” she wrote in response.

And while the two sides were sharing a moment of mutual admiration, the Indian athlete got drastically criticised for “promoting politicians” and was advised to “focus on sports”.

SHOOTING ASSOCIATION CHIEF TAKES AIM AT COACHES, INFIGHTING

On a day when the Indian shooters were reasonably confident of winning at least one olympic medal but ended with none, National Rifle Association of India president Raninder Singh took aim at the coaching staff and pointed to why India missed the target by such a wide margin.

He said there would be an overhaul of coaching staff, highlighted the internal wrangling within the team and warned that no one was indispensable — even himself, although he cheekily added that he felt “less responsible” for the below-par performances.

The timing of these remarks was intriguing, though. The NRAI chief was speaking moments after the 10m air pistol qualifying round, where the pairing of Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary made a tepid exit, and just when the two rifle teams were about to begin their match. Besides, India’s shooting campaign was yet to conclude. Anjum Moudgil, Tejaswini Sawant, Sanjeev Rajput and Aishwary Pratap Tomar are still to shoot.

Singh issued a clarification later, saying “post-mortems can wait till after the Games”, but his comments exposed the pressure-cooker situation within the shooting team.

KRUNAL PANDYA TESTS POSITIVE, 2ND T20i POSTPONED

The second T20 International between India and Sri Lanka on Tuesday was postponed by a day after visiting all-rounder Krunal Pandya tested positive for Covid-19, forcing him out of the series with seven days of isolation.

The second and Third T20is will be played on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

For now the three-match series is on as even if there are a couple of more cases, the Indian team has enough players with negative RT-PCR reports to field a team.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

We tell lies when we are afraid... afraid of what we don't know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger. - Tad Williams

OFF TRACK

The elevator was packed to the maximum. However, Mr. Smith, pressed against a beautiful blonde, showed no sign of discomfort. His wife, travelling with him in the same elevator, was disappointed and at the same time furious to see her husband take advantage of the situation.

The moment elevator stopped at the ground floor and passengers started getting off, the blonde turned and slapped Mr. Smith hard on his face and said, "This should teach you not to pinch ladies."

Wide-eyed and shocked, Mr. Smith watched the lady go and then finally choked, "I...I did not pinch that blonde."

"Of course, you didn't. I believe you Smith," replied his wife, consolingly. "I did."