LADAKH STANDOFF: INDIA, CHINA AGREE TO DISENGAGE FROM A KEY PATROL POINT

India and China have agreed to pull back troops from one of the friction points — called PP 17-A, also referred to as Gogra — along the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

The impasse over another friction point — PP 15, also referred to as Hot Springs — will need further discussions as the LAC claims of both sides differ and overlap.

The 832-km LAC in Ladakh is undefined on the ground and both sides have claims and counterclaims.

The mutual disengagement from PP 17-A is expected to be physically implemented over the next 3-4 days. The disengagement at this point would entail increasing the distance between fully armed troops of either side, it’s like creating a “wider buffer zone” to prevent any flare-up. Currently, tanks, guns, missile launchers and troops are lined up within striking distance of each other on the Ladakh plateau, which is at an altitude of 14,000 ft. The Gogra disengagement was agreed upon at the 12th round of India-China Corps Commander-level talks held at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on July 31. There was no discussion on disengaging from the Depsang Bulge, a 972-sq km plateau.

The cautiously worded joint statement released by the Ministry of Defence on Monday said: “They (the two sides) agreed to resolve these remaining issues in an expeditious manner in accordance with the existing agreements and protocols and maintain the momentum of dialogue and negotiations.”

AMID SIGNS OF TRUCE, ASSAM DROPS FIR AGAINST MIZORAM MP, OFFICIALS

Deescalating further the border tension with Mizoram, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma yesterday announced that he has directed the police to withdraw cases against the officials of the neighbouring state and deputed two of his cabinet colleagues — Atul Bora and Ashok Singhal — to visit Aizawl on August 5 for a meaningful dialogue.

The Assam Police have already withdrawn the FIR against Mizoram Rajya Sabha member K Vanlalvena on Sarma’s direction, as he said this was done in response to Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga’s desire to settle the border dispute amicably.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday assured amicable and early resolution of the Assam-Mizoram border issue in a meeting with BJP MPs from the North-East

The Assam CM also said that while the “healing process is on”, a long-term solution to the “complex” issue is in the hands of the Supreme Court.

“When they [Congress] formed the states, they did not define the boundaries clearly and they left it to states to fight among themselves. When the Congress govt carved out Mizoram, Nagaland and Meghalaya, they should have defined the boundaries also. But they did not do so. It was a time when the Congress had govts in every state. Had they made efforts and made the demarcation clear, the situation would have been different,” said Sarma, who joined the BJP from the Congress in 2015.

RAJNATH DIALS KHARGE, BUT NO END TO IMPASSE

As the logjam in Parliament continued over the Pegasus snooping issue, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday spoke to Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and sought his cooperation to end the impasse. With the govt not agreeing to a debate on Pegasus, the Opposition signalled that it was hardening its position and is drawing up plans to step up its offensive against the govt.

The Opposition parties have been disrupting both houses of Parliament for two weeks, demanding a structured discussion on the snooping issue in the presence of either Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Home Minister Amit Shah. They want Shah to reply to the discussion.

Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday backed the demand for a thorough probe into Pegasus snooping row. The JDU leader, who runs the NDA govt in Bihar in alliance with the BJP, said, “Such things should not be done to disturb and harass people. There should be an investigation into this and the findings be made public.”

COVAXIN EFFECTIVE AGAINST DELTA PLUS VARIANT, SAYS ICMR STUDY

Data from the Indian Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, has shown that the effective reproduction number of SARS-Cov2, the Covid-19 causing virus, for India has crossed 1 for the first time after May 7.

Meanwhile, Covaxin has been shown to be effective against the Delta plus variant by a new study of ICMR.

KEY COVID NUMBERS

Current Active Cases Countrywide: 3,98,910

New Cases in last 24 hours: 30,008

Recovered in last 24 hours: 39,021

Change in no. of Active cases in last 24 hours: -9,433

No. of deaths in last 24 hours (Total Covid Deaths so far): 420 (4,25,228)

Daily Tests (Sunday): 14,28,984

Daily Positivity Rate (Proportion of Positives among total Tested): 2.8%

Percentage of Population Vaccinated (At Least One Dose / Two Doses): 27.6% / 7.8%

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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

GOP-LED HOUSE REPORT INDICTS CHINA FOR WUHAN LAB LEAK

A report released by a US Republican congressional panel, citing copious open source data, renewed allegations on Monday that the virus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) lab before September 12, 2019.

Evidence cited in the report included satellite imagery showing a surge in hospital traffic around the WIV’s headquarters and an increase in the use of internet search terms related to Covid symptoms soon after the outbreak was detected on September 12, a surfeit of spending on safety protocols for the facility even through it was less than two years old, and a virtual military takeover followed by the virus database being taken offline in the middle of the night.

Shortly after the removal of the database, the lab requested bids for additional security at the lab, such as gatekeepers, guards, video surveillance, security patrols, and people to handle the registration and reception of foreign personnel, the GOP report said, revealing that Major General Chen Wei, a biology and chemical weapons defence expert, had taken control of one of the institute’s labs in late 2019.

“I believe it’s time to completely dismiss the wet market as the source of the outbreak. Instead, as this report lays out, a preponderance of the evidence proves that all roads lead to the WIV,” Congressman Mike McCaul, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said in a statement accompanying the report, which parallels efforts by the Biden administration and the WHO to determine the origins of the pandemic.

The report also cited “ample evidence” that scientists from WIV, aided by US experts and Chinese and US govt funds, were conducting gain of function research under unsafe conditions, and working to modify coronaviruses to infect humans. It called for a bipartisan inquiry.

GHANI SAYS HE HAS 6-MONTH SECURITY PLAN

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced in the parliament on Monday that he had a six-month security plan to bring the deteriorating situation in his war-torn country under control. Presenting his plan to challenge the Taliban assault before a joint session of parliament, he blamed the “sudden” US exit for the worsening security in the country.

“The reason for our current situation is that the decision was taken abruptly,” he told parliament, adding he had warned Washington the withdrawal would have “consequences”. “We have a security plan, a six-month security plan, to change the situation on the battleground and to stabilise the security situation. The security forces are capable enough to stabilise the situation,” Ghani said in his speech. The president, however, did not give details about the plan.

Ghani said an “imported” and “hasty” process was imposed on Afghanistan, which resulted in legitimising an insurgent group instead of achieving peace. “We have paid a high price for peace and showed great gentleness, but instead war was imposed on us,” Ghani said, indirectly referring to the release of the 5,000 Taliban prisoners by his govt earlier as part of a peace process. He said the Taliban are “not committed to any values”.

After Ghani’s address, both Houses of parliament released a joint statement expressing their full support for his security plan. Responding to the plan, the Taliban released a statement calling Ghani’s statements “nonsense” and saying “his time is over”.

OLYMPICS: POLAND GRANTS BELARUS ATHLETE HUMANITARIAN VISA

A Belarusian athlete who took refuge in the Polish embassy in Tokyo on Monday, a day after refusing her team's orders to board a flight home from the Olympic Games, has been granted a humanitarian visa by the Warsaw govt.

Sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya plans to leave for Poland in the coming days, a Polish deputy foreign minister, Marcin Przydacz, told Reuters. She is "safe and in good condition" after walking into the embassy on Monday morning, he said.

The incident has focussed attention on Belarus, where police have cracked down on dissent following a wave of protests triggered by an election last year which the opposition says was rigged to keep Lukashenko in power.

THE REST

=========

CHINA TRIED TO USE LEFT TO SCUTTLE N-DEAL: EX-FOREIGN SECY VIJAY GOKHALE

China used its “close connections” with Left parties in India to “build domestic opposition” to the Indo-US nuclear deal between 2007 and 2008. This might have been the “first instance for China to operate politically in Indian domestic politics”.

This revelation, that could have political and diplomatic ramifications, is part of former foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale’s new book, The Long Game: How the Chinese Negotiate with India, published by Penguin Random House India, which hit the stands recently.

In his diplomatic career of 39 years, Gokhale, who is proficient in Mandarin, has spent more than 20 years in China, seven years on the China desk in MEA and seven years in East Asia. He has served as India’s ambassador to China and is considered one of the top China-watchers in the country. In January 2018, he replaced S Jaishankar as foreign secretary and retired last year.

“…China utilized the close connections with the Left parties in India. Top leaders of the Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India (Marxist) would travel to China for meetings or medical treatment. “Both parties were avowedly nationalist when it came to the Boundary Question and other matters of bilateral interest, but the Chinese were aware that they had fundamental concerns about the Indo-US nuclear deal,” Gokhale writes.

“Knowing the influence that the Left parties wielded in the UPA govt of Dr Manmohan Singh, China perhaps played on their fears about India’s tilt to the Americans,” he writes.

SC NOTICE TO STATES OVER ABUSE OF DEAD SEC 66A

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to all states, Union territories and registrars general of High Courts on a plea highlighting continued use of Section 66A of Information Technology Act even though it was held unconstitutional by the court in 2015. “This cannot continue,” the court said.

“As this matter pertains to not only the courts but the police as well, in fitness of things notice be issued to all States & UTs and Registrar of High Courts,” a bench of Justices R F Nariman and B R Gavai ordered while hearing the plea by the NGO People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).

The bench asked senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, who appeared for the petitioner, to also make all states parties to his petition, as police is a state subject. The plea pertains to continued use of the provision by law enforcement agencies in states and even lower judiciary.

PM MODI LAUNCHES E-RUPI – A NEW TOOL TO CURB WELFARE LEAKAGES

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched e-RUPI, a person and purpose specific digital payment solution, for cashless and contactless payment in lieu of services ranging from vaccination, arrangement of food for the poor, school textbooks, uniforms and other services.

The PM said the e-RUPI voucher would play a huge role in making direct benefit transfer (DBT) more effective in digital transactions in the country and give a new dimension to digital governance.

e-RUPI is a person-specific and purpose-specific payment system that will ensure that the benefits reach its intended beneficiaries in a targeted and leak-proof manner.

e-RUPI connects the sponsors of the services with the beneficiaries and service providers in a digital manner without any physical interface. It also ensures that the payment to the service provider is made only after the transaction is completed.

Since it is prepaid in nature, it assures timely payment to the service provider without the involvement of any intermediary. The one-time payment mechanism of e-RUPI will allow users to redeem the voucher without a card, digital payments app or internet banking access, at the service provider.

The digital payment solution has been built by NPCI on its UPI platform.

HIT BY PEGASUS, SCRIBES MOVE APEX COURT

Ahead of the August 5 hearing on noted journalist N Ram’s petition for a judge-led probe into the Pegasus snooping scandal, five other scribes have moved the Supreme Court seeking direction to the Centre to disclose all material/documents pertaining to the use of spyware on them.

Claiming to be directly affected by the use of Pegasus spyware, petitioners, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, SNM Abdi, Prem Shankar Jha, Rupesh Kumar Singh and Ipsa Shatakshi contended that it violated their fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution.

“The unique and incomparable nature of harms posed by the state-sponsored illegal hacking of inter alia the petitioners’ smartphone are an ex facie violation of his fundamental rights under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution and the impugned acts have caused irreparable injury and harm that warrant payment of damages or other rehabilitative measures to be imposed qua respondents to secure and enforce the Petitioner’s fundamental rights,” they submitted.

BIRLA OFFERS VODA IDEA STAKE TO GOVT

Unable to work out a revival for the ailing telcom company Vodafone Idea (VIL), company chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla has offered his group’s stake to the govt or any other entity that it deems fit, saying that the measure is required in “national interest” as the operations are headed towards an “irretrievable point of collapse”.

Birla’s appeal, through a letter written to cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba on June 7, displays a last-ditch effort by the Indian group — which holds around 27% stake in VIL (UK’s Vodafone Plc holds about 44%) — to salvage the company ahead of possible defaults on statutory payments and bank dues.

OLYMPICS: INDIA STUN AUSTRALIA IN WOMEN’S HOCKEY, REACH FIRST EVER SEMIS

India's women hockey team created history on Monday, scoring an upset victory over fancied world No. 2 Australia to enter the Olympics semi-finals for the first time.

A day after the men's team made it to the Games’ semi-finals after a 49-year hiatus, Rani Rampal’s team, written off after losing their first three matches in the tournament, produced a stirring display to beat the three-time Olympic champions 1-0, drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur’s penalty-corner goal in the 22nd minute proving decisive.

The team that had finished 12th out of 12 teams at the Rio Olympics five years ago, last played a competitive match in October 2019, saw half-a-dozen players getting infected with Covid in the second wave, and landed in Tokyo under-prepared to get spanked in their first three matches, had somehow turned the tables.

India will next take on Argentina in the semi-finals on Wednesday. The other semi final is between Netherlands and Great Britain.

However, there was disappointment in athletics, as debutant discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur failed to reproduce the form she displayed while finishing second in the qualification round with a best throw of 64 metres and placed sixth in a world-class field.

ATHLETICS

Dutee Chand finished seventh and last in women's 200 metres Heat 4; failed to qualify for semi-finals.

EQUESTRIAN

Fouaad Mirza 25th in eventing jumping individual qualifier; 23rd in final.

SHOOTING

Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar 21st and Sanjeev Rajput 32nd in men's 50m Rifle 3 positions qualification; failed to qualify for final.

LETS BE THANKFUL TO ODISHA’S SUPPORT FOR HOCKEY OVER THE YEARS

As India celebrates the entry of the men’s and women’s hockey teams in the Olympics semifinals, the success holds a special significance for Odisha, which has been at the forefront of supporting the sport. Not only are the current vice-captains of the men’s and women’s teams from Odisha, but the state has over the years produced several national-level hockey players and stepped up to develop infrastructure and sponsor national teams.

When in 2018, the state govt decided to sponsor the Indian national hockey teams (men/women, junior/senior) for a tenure of five years, replacing Sahara, it was the first time that a state govt had decided to sponsor a national team. The govt had pledged Rs 150 crore for the purpose.

The state has hosted major tournaments in the last five years. It hosted the World Cup in 2018, the 2014 Champions Trophy, and Hockey World League final in 2017. It is also the host for the 2023 Men’s Hockey World Cup, to be played in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela.

MEN’S HOCKEY: INDIA LOSE 2-5 TO BELGIUM

India lost to Belgium in the men’s Hockey semi-final Tuesday morning. Scores were level at 2-2 at the end of 2nd and 3rd quarters. But then Belgium score 3 goals in the last quarter, making the final score 5-2.

India can now hope for a bronze in this event.

INDICATORS

Sensex 52,951 (+364), Nifty 15,885 (+122), Trading Value NSE (Rs.crores) 66,848.9

Nasdaq 14,681 (+8) Dow 34,838 (-97), S&P 4,387 (-8)

US$-Rs. 74.20 GBP-Rs. 103.13, Euro-Rs. 88.11, UAE Dhm-Rs.20.19, Can$-Rs. 59.44, Aus$- Rs. 54.59

GBP 0.71 /US$, Euro 0.84 /US$, Jap.Yen 109.48 /US$, Aus$ 1.35 /US$, Sing 1.35 /US$, Bang Taka 83.42 /US$, Can$ 1.24 /US$, Mal Ring 4.22 /US$,

Pak Re 162.49 /US$, Phil Peso 49.85 /US$, Russian Rouble 72.99 /US$, NZ$ 1.43 /US$, Thai Baht 32.91 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 26.64 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 38,998

Dollar Index 92.04 Brent Crude 72.99 BDI 3,282

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,810 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,838 / 4,738, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 73,100

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one getting burned. – Buddha

OFF TRACK

A steel company officials had collected all but one parcel of a large tract of land they needed for a new mill. The farmer who owned that parcel stubbornly refused to sell. Vice-presidents, lawyers, local mayor, everybody took a crack at trying to win him over.

The company president then went to call on the farmer at his home. They sat down together and the president put his big, genial arm around the farmer’s shoulder. Turning on the full voltage of his electric personality, he started to reason with him. The President had talked only a short time when suddenly the farmer jumped up.

“Sir,” he said, “I’ll sell you the property but thank god I’m not a woman.”