ASSEMBLY POLLS TURNOUT: GOA 79%, U’KHAND’S 65%, UP 2ND PHASE 63%

Goa’s Valentine’s Day date at the hustings yielded the highest voter turnout of nearly 79% among the three states that went to polls on Monday, but Uttarakhand was the only one that marginally surpassed its 2017 turnout with 65% while the nine UP districts that voted in the second phase fell short of the previous benchmark with just under 63%.

In the previous elections in UP’s Rohilkhand region, which has six districts with a large Muslim electorate, the turnout had been a little over 65%. Goa’s preliminary figure almost rivalled the last election's turnout of 81%,.

PM LEADS TRIBUTES TO PULWAMA BRAVEHEARTS

Top leaders of the country yesterday paid homage to the bravehearts on the third anniversary of the Pulwama terror attacks, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the bravery of the CRPF personnel, who lost their lives in the incident, motivated every Indian to work towards a strong and prosperous country.

On February 14, 2019, Jaish-e-Mohammed had attacked a convoy of the CRPF at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir, killing 40 personnel of the force.

In a retaliatory strike, the Indian Air Force had carried out an airstrike in Pakistan’s Balakot on February 26, 2019, targeting terrorist camps.

Several events were organised across the country to mark the occasion.

FM NIRMALA SITHARAMAN, RBI GOV. ANSWER QUERIES

The government and the RBI are “on board” with respect to the treatment of cryptocurrencies even as discussions are on concerning regulatory treatment digital virtual currencies, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday at a press conference.

Reiterating the central bank’s serious concerns over cryptocurrencies, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das last Thursday said these are a big threat to the country’s financial and macroeconomic stability and also warned investors that cryptocurrencies do not have any underlying asset, not even a tulip. The Union Budget 2022-23 has proposed a 30 per cent tax on private cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens.

To a query on whether the plan to include government securities in international bond indices is being held back, Das on Monday said the work and process is underway with regard to this proposal.

On inflation, Das said that the “momentum of inflation is on a downward slope” and the central bank would continue to strike a delicate balance between the need to contain price rise and ensure economic growth. Retail inflation rose to a seven-month high of 6.01 per cent in January, breaching the upper tolerance level of the medium-term inflation target of 4+/-2 per cent set by the RBI.

To a query on whether the CBI has been slow in taking action in ABG Shipyard case, Sitharaman said bankers actually took “lesser than what is normally an average time to detect these kinds of frauds.” The CBI Saturday said it has booked ABG Shipyard Ltd (ABGSL) and its directors for fraudulent loan default to the tune of Rs 22,842 crore. “This is actually an account which became an NPA in November 2013. After that, because it is a consortium of banks who had a business with them, they had all sat together to see how best restructuring can be done, which is due process done for any account under stress more so it is a big account and also becoming a NPA. So that initiative was taken by the consortium, SBI had been the lead, ICICI Bank is another big bank, all of them sat together and started working on it. So 2014 onwards this process was going on,” she said.

54 MORE CHINESE APPS TO BE BANNED: MHA

The Ministry of Home Affairs has recommended a ban on 54 more Chinese mobile applications that pose a threat to the country’s security. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is expected to formally issue a notification banning the operations of these applications in India.

The latest government move will take the number of Chinese apps banned since the Galwan Valley clash to over 300.

The apps against which the Home Ministry found adverse security inputs include SweetSelfie HD, Beauty Camera, Music Player, Music Plus, Volume Booster, VideoPlayers Media, Viva Video Editor, Nice Video Baidu, AppLock and Astracraft. Some of the hugely popular Chinese apps in India such as Tik Tok, UC Browser, WeChat and Bigo Live were banned in the first phase in June 2020 when the government said they were indulging in unauthorised transfer of user data to servers outside India. It also said “elements hostile to national security and defence of India were surreptitiously transferring data for profiling that was impinging on national security”.

China has in the past said these bans were in violation of the WTO non-discriminatory principles and fair competition and “severely damaged” the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.

COVID DASHBOARD – INDIA

As of 0800 IST / Feb 15

from mohfw.gov.in ,

New Cases on Monday 27,309

Active Cases 4,23,127 (-55,755)

Total Deaths (Deaths Yesterday) 5,09,358 (286)

Total Vaccination: 173.42 Crores (+44,68,365)

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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RUSSIA READY FOR MORE TALKS WITH WEST AMID STANDOFF

Russia suggested on Monday that it was ready to keep talking to the West to try to defuse a security crisis in which it has massed a huge force within striking distance of Ukraine. In a televised exchange, President Vladimir Putin was shown asking his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, whether there was a chance of an agreement to address Russia’s security concerns, or whether it was just being dragged into tortuous negotiations. Lavrov replied: “We have already warned more than once that we will not allow endless negotiations on questions that demand a solution today”. But he added: “It seems to me that our possibilities are far from exhausted . . . At this stage, I would suggest continuing and building them up. ” Putin responded simply: “Good."

Moscow has demanded that Ukraine never be allowed to join Nato and has also called for a rollback of Nato forces from across Eastern Europe. The US and Nato formally rejected those demands, but they proposed several areas, including nuclear arms control and limits on military exercises, where they were willing to negotiate. But the Kremlin has yet to respond.

PAK PM DEFENDS CHINA ON UIGHURS, SAYS ‘IT’S NOT WHAT WEST PORTRAYS’

Turning a blind eye to Uighur Muslim suppression in China, Pakistan PM Imran Khan said that the situation in Xinjiang Uigur Autonomous Region is not what Western media portrays. Defending China, Khan in an interview with Fareed Zakaria for CNN, said that Pakistan’s ambassador to China Moinul Haq had visited XUAR and said that the situation over there is “not what the Western media portrays”.

Khan supported Beijing on the Xinjiang issue and also backed China on the South China Sea dispute as well as oneChina principle during the inaugural ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

When questioned about China’s treatment of Uighurs, Khan in usual move pointed fingers towards India and said that a comparison of Pakistan’s condemnation of “India committing genocide in Kashmir” and the issue of Xinjiang is not fair. “Kashmir is a disputed territory between Pakistan & India and India is ruled by an RSS ideology,” Khan said.

CANADA TO WELCOME 1.3 MN IMMIGRANTS OVER 3 YEARS FOR POST-PANDEMIC GROWTH

Canada, a country that relies heavily on immigration to grow its labor force, has set an ambitious plan to bring in more than 1.3 million newcomers over the next three years to support its post-pandemic growth.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government aims to add more than 431,000 permanent residents this year, 447,000 in 2023 and 451,000 in 2024, according to the 2022-24 Immigration Levels Plan released on Monday. Figures for this year and 2023 have been revised higher from earlier targets of 411,000 and 421,000, respectively.

“Immigration has helped shape Canada into the country it is today,” Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said in a statement. “We are focused on economic recovery, and immigration is the key to getting there.”

Immigration had been one of the main drivers of Canada’s economy, and accounts for almost all of the nation’s employment growth. Last year, Canada welcomed more than 405,000 newcomers, the largest single-year increase in its history.

Under the plan, overall admissions will amount to 1.14% of the Canadian population by 2024, and nearly 60% of newcomers will qualify as economic immigrants, selected on the basis of their skills and work experience.

THE REST

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IS EACH TENET IN QURAN ESSENTIAL PRACTICE, ASKS HC. ‘NOT THE ISSUE HERE’, SAYS HIJAB PETITIONER

One of the petitioners challenging the hijab ban on students in Karnataka Monday asked the Karnataka High Court not to go into a larger question of whether every practice mentioned in the Quran is an essential religious practice and an inviolable right.

“I would not comment on whether any tenet in the Quran is an essential religious practice. For the purpose of this case, it is not the issue before this court,” senior advocate Devadutt Kamat, representing the petitioner, told a three-judge bench led by HC Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, when the latter put the query to him.

The bench, also comprising justices Krishna S. Dixit and J.M. Khazi, asked Kamat if whatever is stated in the Quran is an essential practice. “Holy Quran is considered to be the first source of Islamic law. Our question is what all is stated in the holy Quran, is it to be treated as inviolable?” the bench wondered.

“What does not arise for consideration, the court should not get into that area,” he said, emphasising the issue before the court was concerned with Muslim girls’ right to religious practice of wearing the hijab. “Court must not enter into a larger canvas of whether certain parts of the Quran are essential or not, as it does not arise for consideration over here,” he told the bench.

Given that the hearing remained inconclusive even Monday, with more petitioners waiting to make submissions, the bench will take up the matter Tuesday.

HIMANTA BISWA SARMA, KCR SPAR OVER SURGICAL STRIKES

The politics over the Pulwama terror attacks and subsequent surgical strikes was back in the news on the third anniversary of the incident today, as Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma released a video purportedly of the Indian Army’s action in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and slammed his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao for questioning the turn of events.

Sarma posted a video on Twitter and said: “Dear KCR, here is the videographic evidence of the surgical strikes by our brave Army. In spite of this, you question the valour of our armed forces and insult them. Why are you so desperate to attack and malign our Army? New India will not tolerate insults against our Army.”

The video shared by Sarma comprises screenshots of maps, satellite images and cut shots of various videos.

Rao had on Sunday said, “Even today, I am asking for the proof. Let the government of India show (the proof). The BJP makes false propaganda. This is the reason people are asking for it.”

Union Minister V Muraleedharan posted a message on Twitter: “Such a disgrace! Telangana CM KCR raises doubts over armed forces in surgical strikes.”

CONGRESS CAN GO ITS OWN WAY, REGIONAL PARTIES MUST UNITE: MAMATA

Having reached out to regional satraps MK Stalin and K Chandrasekhar Rao to push for an anti-BJP alliance a day before, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Monday sought to edge the Congress out of any such prospective formation, saying no regional outfit shared cordial ties with it and that the “Congress can go its own way”.

Amid signs of increasing bonhomie between her and her Telangana and Tamil Nadu counterparts Rao and Stalin, Banerjee had approached the two on Sunday to set up meetings of Opposition CMs. “The country’s federal structure has been bulldozed...the country’s Constitution is being demolished. We all need to come together to protect it,” she said on Monday after her party swept the municipal corporation elections in West Bengal, dealing yet another body blow to the BJP after the latter’s humiliation in the Assembly elections in 2021.

“Together, we are trying to protect the federal structure. All regional parties must come to an understanding,” she said, referring to her telephone calls to Rao and Stalin.

Banerjee, who has intensified her efforts to form a coalition of opposition parties after she fell out with the Congress over cobbling together an alliance in Goa, claimed no regional outfit was on friendly terms with the main Opposition party. “The Congress can go its way, we will go ours,” she asserted.

Interestingly, Congress is an alliance partner of the DMK in Tamil Nadu.

Meanwhile, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday registered a landslide victory in the February 12 civic polls in West Bengal, winning all four municipal corporations. The BJP, which emerged as the main opposition party in the Assembly polls last year, has been pushed to the third position in terms of vote share while the Left Front ended up as a distant second.

TATA GROUP APPOINTS FORMER TURKISH AIRLINES CHAIRMAN AS NEW AIR INDIA MD AND CEO

The Tata Group has appointed Ilker Ayci — former Turkish Airlines Chairman — as Air India’s Managing Director and CEO effective on or before April 1. The development is in line with the Tata Group’s plans to appoint an expatriate chief to run the airline it took over from the Indian government last month.

During his professional career, Ayci has been an advisor to the then Mayor of Istanbul Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the Metropolitan Municipality of Istanbul, where he took part in a number of development projects in Turkey’s largest city. Erdoğan is currently the President of Turkey.

Ayci's appointment is subject to requisite regulatory approvals,” the Tata Group said in a statement.

COVID: DCGI PANEL CLEARS CORBEVAX FOR 12-18 AGE GROUP

The subject experts committee of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has recommended granting emergency use authorisation to Biological E’s Covid vaccine for 12 to 18-year-olds.

The DCGI had on December 28 last year approved Corbevax, which is India’s first indigenous RBD protein sub-unit vaccine, for restricted use in emergency situation in adults. It has not been included in the country’s vaccination drive yet. The government is yet to take a decision on vaccinating those aged below 15 years.

QANDEEL BALOCH: PAKISTANI COURT ACQUITS BROTHER FOR ‘HONOR KILLING’

A Pakistani appeals court on Monday acquitted the brother of a social media star who was murdered in an “honor killing,” lawyers said.

Qandeel Baloch was strangled in 2016 after becoming famous for her suggestive and defiant social media posts.

The case became Pakistan’s most high profile “honor killing” of recent years — where women are punished, or killed, by male relatives for purportedly bringing “shame” to a family’s reputation.

Muhammad Waseem was found guilty of murdering his sister, Baloch, and had received a life-imprisonment sentence. But after serving less than six years in prison, he is set to walk free.

In Pakistan, Islamic law has long allowed a murder victim’s family to pardon a convicted killer.

Baloch’s parents initially insisted their son would be given no absolution. But they later changed their minds and said they wanted him to be forgiven.

SENSEX TANKS OVER 1,700 POINTS AMID ESCALATING RUSSIA-UKRAINE TENSIONS

The BSE gauge Sensex crashed over 1,700 points while the NSE Nifty ended below the 17,000-level on Monday amid escalating Russia-Ukraine tensions.

On the Sensex chart, barring TCS, all shares closed with steep to moderate losses—with Tata Steel, HDFC and SBI tumbling over 4 per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia also, bourses closed in deep red after concerns that Russia may soon invade Ukraine, which sent oil prices soaring. Analysts said that domestic markets opened sharply lower in line with negative Asian bourses as also sharply lower US equities.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said, “US stocks closed sharply lower on Friday as heightened concern that Russia may soon invade Ukraine sent oil prices spiking and investors to dump risky assets like equities”. Investors also weighed a sharp drop in consumer sentiment and a pickup in near-term inflation expectations, he added.

FOR A CHANGE, RETAIL INFLATION IN US HIGHER THAN INDIA FOR 4 MONTHS

Emerging markets such as India have always run higher inflation rates than developed economies such as the US and countries of Western Europe.

But for the first time in the past 30 years, the US reported a higher consumer price inflation (CPI) rate than India in five consecutive months. The US reported a CPI rate of 7.5 per cent in January 2022 against 6.01 per cent in India and analysts expect the trend to continue for at least a few months more.

In the past 30 years, inflation in India has been higher than in the US by, on average, 4.75 per cent.

A sharp rise in the retail inflation rate in the US has raised fears of a quicker increase in interest rates in the world’s biggest economy, which could hurt capital inflows into India and other emerging markets.

While lower inflation is generally believed to be a positive indicator for an economy, many experts say India’s relatively low CPI is not beneficent but hints at a lack of demand in the economy.

“A low CPI in India largely indicates a lack of consumer demand, making it tough for firms to raise prices despite rising input costs. In the US, on the other hand, consumer spending has been exceptionally strong in the post-Covid period, allowing firms to raise prices,” said Dhananjay Sinha, managing director and chief strategist, JM Finance Institutional Equity.

INDICATORS

Sensex 56,406 (-1747), Nifty 16,843 (-532), Trading Value NSE (Rs.crores) 62,399

Nasdaq 13,791 (-0) Dow 34,566 (-172), S&P 4,401 (-17)

US$-Rs. 75.49 GBP-Rs. 102.13, Euro-Rs. 85.46, UAE Dhm-Rs.20.54, Can$-Rs. 59.24, Aus$- Rs. 53.74

GBP 0.73 /US$, Euro 0.88 /US$, Jap.Yen 115.44 /US$, Aus$ 1.40 /US$, Sing 1.34 /US$, Bang Taka 84.58 /US$, Can$ 1.27 /US$, Mal Ring 4.18 /US$,

Pak Re 174.77 /US$, Phil Peso 51.34 /US$, Russian Rouble 76.91 /US$, NZ$ 1.51 /US$, Thai Baht 32.48 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 28.19 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 43,505

Dollar Index 96.17 Brent Crude 96.4 BDI 1,984

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,872 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 5,051 / 4,630, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 68,200

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

A new position of responsibility will usually show a man to be a far stronger creature than supposed. - William James

OFF TRACK

Still not grasping just how important cricket was to her new husband, the young woman plunked herself down next to him on the sofa while he watched a match and began to chat. After being shushed a few times, she gave him a look. 

Immediately contrite, he picked up the remote. "I'm sorry, honey," he apologized. "I'm being rude. You go ahead and talk--I'll just turn up the volume."