PRESIDENTIAL POLL TODAY

Nearly 4,800 elected MPs and MLAs will vote today to elect the 15th President of India, with NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu having a clear edge over Opposition's Yashwant Sinha as over 60 per cent votes are expected to be cast in her favour.

Sinha yesterday launched a scathing attack on Murmu, saying if elected, she will become a “silent, pliant and rubber-stamp Rashtrapati”. He made a fervent appeal to parliamentarians and legislators across the country to vote for him regardless of party affiliations to help “save the Constitution, democracy, secularism and India”. “This election is your last chance to introduce much-needed course correction in the BJP,” he told BJP lawmakers.

The polling will take place in Parliament House and state legislative assemblies between 10 am and 5 pm for which ballot boxes have already reached their destinations.

The counting of votes will take place at Parliament House on July 21 and the next President will take oath on July 25.

The electoral college which elects the President through the system of proportional representation comprises elected MPs and members of state legislative assemblies.

The system of secret ballot is followed and parties cannot issue whip to their MPs and MLAs with regard to voting.

The value of the vote of a member of Parliament has gone down to 700 from 708 in this presidential poll due to the absence of a legislative assembly in Jammu and Kashmir.

The value of vote of an MLA varies in different states. In Uttar Pradesh, the value of vote of each MLA stands at 208, followed by 176 in Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu. In Maharashtra, it is 175. In Sikkim, the value of vote per MLA is seven, while it is nine in Nagaland and eight in Mizoram.

MARGARET ALVA IS JOINT OPPN CANDIDATE FOR VICE PREZ POLL

Opposition parties on Sunday decided to field former Rajasthan Governor Margaret Alva as their joint candidate for the Vice Presidential election.

Alva, 80, would file her nomination papers on Tuesday, July 19 which is the last date for filing nominations for the August 6 election.

The ruling NDA has fielded West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar as its joint candidate for the post of Vice President.

The decision to field Alva was taken at a meeting of opposition leaders of 17 parties at the residence of Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar. "We have unanimously decided to field Margaret Alva as our joint candidate for the post of Vice President," Pawar announced after the two-hour meeting.

Among the attendees were members from Congress, CPM CPI, Shiv Sena, DMK, SP, TRS and MDMK.

MONSOON SESSION BEGINS TODAY; GOVT, OPPOSITION BRACE FOR A STORMY START

At an all party-meeting ahead of the monsoon session starting today, Opposition leaders demanded that the alleged misuse of investigation agencies, the Agnipath scheme for recruitment in the defence forces, price rise, alleged attacks on the federal structure and the “Chinese incursion”, be taken up for discussion.

With the session scheduled to end on August 12 — during which 32 Bills are likely to be introduced — the Opposition said it anticipates that key Bills would “bulldozed” through. Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said that with the session “leaving us effectively with only 14 days”, the govt did not offer them clear answers on how it plans to discuss the proposed legislation in such a short time.

PM Modi’s absence in the meeting also drew criticism from the Opposition camp, with Congress general secretary (communication) Jairam Ramesh tweeting, “Isn’t this ‘unparliamentary’?”

“Because of some reason, the PM did not come. In fact, before 2014, the PM never used to attend these meetings. A senior Cabinet member like Rajnath Singh presided over the meeting, unlike the Congress, which used to send the chief whip to take the meeting during its rule. How many times did (former prime minister) Manmohan Singh attend all-party meetings?” Prahlad Joshi, union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, said

Among other parties, the Trinamool Congress said it will firmly oppose the updated list of unparliamentary words, the circular banning protests and dharnas on Parliament premises, apart from “the anti-people policies and schemes such as Agnipath”, inflation, and matters of foreign policy.

The govt, meanwhile, suggested that it was not likely to give in to the Opposition’s demands to discuss the issue of “unparliamentary words“, reiterating Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s statement that the compilation of the words and phrases is merely an updation of practice being carried out since 1954. The circular on dharnas and protests is also issued routinely ahead of any session, Joshi said.

“They do not have any major issue against the govt because the govt is functioning extremely well, people have accepted the leadership of Narendra Modi. Even foreign delegates and the diaspora have recognised his leadership. That’s why these kinds of non-issues are being raised and they are trying to portray that in India even in Parliament they are not allowed to speak. They are trying to belittle the image of Parliament. I condemn the attitude of the opposition parties,” Joshi said.

COVID DASHBOARD – INDIA

As of 0800 IST / July 18

from mohfw.gov.in ,

New Cases on Sunday  16,935

Active Cases 1,44,264 (+815)

Total Deaths (Deaths Yesterday) 5,25,760 (27)

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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SUNAK 4TH IN CONSERVATIVE POLL

Indian-origin Rishi Sunak was pushed to fourth place as Conservative top choice to succeed Boris Johnson as UK PM in a poll of party members that gave wild card candidate Kemi Badenoch, a former equalities minister, the lead. It could be a setback for former treasury chief Sunak, the frontrunner among Conservative lawmakers.

It is the party members who get to make the final decision on their next leader and the future PM once Tory MPs have whittled down the candidates to the final two. There are now question marks as to how popular Sunak is with Conservative members who seem to have taken a shine to Badenoch after a Channel 4 debate on Friday.

KHASHOGGI TALKS: BIDEN DISPUTES SAUDI ACCOUNT

US President Joe Biden on Saturday differed with Saudi Arabia in their account of discussions at a bilateral summit about the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a point of contention between the two countries. US intelligence agencies believe Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing in 2018 of Khashoggi, a Saudi-US citizen, which the de facto Saudi ruler denies.

Answering reporters as he arrived at the White House from his first West Asia trip as president, Biden disputed the Saudi foreign minister’s account that he did not hear Biden blame Mohammed bin Salman for the killing of the Washington Post columnist, a critic of his native Saudi Arabia.

Asked whether the minister of state for foreign affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, was telling the truth in recounting the exchange between Biden and the crown prince, the president said “No”.

Jubeir told Fox News on Saturday he “didn’t hear that particular phrase” from Biden blaming the crown prince. A Saudi official who was present at the meeting said the exchange was not as Biden described and discussion over Khashoggi occurred before the official meet in “an informal way”. ”

THE REST

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INDIA, CHINA TALK TROOP PULLBACK AT HOT SPRINGS

Military Commanders of India and China on Sunday sat down with their delegations to hold discussions to end the Line of Actual Control (LAC) stalemate in eastern Ladakh.

Yesterday’s meeting was the first such interaction in four months and the 16th round of talks since June 2020 to ease the military build-up that has come up on both sides of the LAC since April 2020.

The meeting, which started around 9.30 am on the Indian side of the Chushul-Moldo meeting point in eastern Ladakh, carried on till 10 pm.

The two sides discussed the disengagement of troops at Patrolling Point (PP)-15, also known as Hot Springs. The issue of Depsang Bulge, a 972-sq km plateau, will be taken up after the Hot Springs issue gets resolved. Also, the resumption of patrolling in disputed areas which has been suspended since April 2020 will come up for discussion.

India has suggested a graded resolution and a three-step process to ease the standoff: disengagement of troops, de-escalation of tension and deinduction of all troops, weapons and equipment. Till these steps are completed, Indian troops intend to remain at the LAC, which is un-demarcated on the ground.

There was no official word on the outcome of yesterday’s talks.

TMC RADIO SILENCE ON JAGDEEP DHANKHAR’S V-P NOMINATION FUELS TALK OF ‘UNSPOKEN PACT’

More than a day after the BJP announced that it would field West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar as its vice-presidential candidate, the Trinamool Congress has not yet commented on the matter.

The party on Sunday also kept away from the Opposition meeting at the residence of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar in New Delhi at which former Union minister and governor Margaret Alva was chosen as the Opposition’s candidate for the vice-presidential election.

While several TMC leaders said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would decide on the strategy following her meeting with all party MPs on July 21, the Opposition alleged that the Trinamool was reluctant to take on the BJP-led NDA in the August 6 vice-presidential poll because of an understanding between the two.

A senior TMC functionary said the party was not as active in the selection process of the vice-presidential candidate because of realpolitik. If Dhankhar gets elected, the ruling party in the state will be rid of one of its most vocal critics.

WILL SEE IF NEW UNPARLIAMENTARY WORDS LIST IS ENFORCED: THAROOR

Amid the row over a new set of unparliamentary words, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor Sunday said he would treat the list as indicative rather than definitive, and 'speak normally' in the House and see whether it is applied in a 'draconian manner' to stifle meaningful criticism.

In an interview with PTI, Tharoor said the list is a compilation of words that have been deemed unparliamentary by various presiding officers in the last couple of years, and asserted that what will matter is how it is applied in practice.

Some are regular words which feature in parliamentary debates all the time and it is possible they were expunged in a specific context that would not apply in other contexts, the former Union minister said. "In any case a ruling by one presiding officer is not necessarily binding on another. So I would treat this list as indicative rather than definitive, I would speak normally and see whether it is applied in a draconian manner to stifle meaningful criticism," Tharoor said.

Asked about some seeing the list as a 'gag order', Tharoor said it is not an instruction but an indication.

There has been massive Opposition uproar over certain words of common use being categorised as unparliamentary in a booklet by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

Use of terms like 'jumlajeevi', 'baal buddhi', 'Covid spreader' and 'Snoopgate' and even commonly used words like 'ashamed', 'abused, 'betrayed', 'corrupt', 'drama', 'hypocrisy' and 'incompetent' will henceforth be considered unparliamentary in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, according to the new booklet by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

APPROVAL FOR SINGAPORE VISIT PENDING, KEJRI WRITES TO PM MODI

Apparently riled by the Centre not yet having given clearance for his visit to Singapore to attend the World Cities Summit to present the Delhi model, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today sought the intervention of PM Narendra Modi in the matter.

“It is against the interests of the country to stop a Chief Minister from visiting such an important stage,” Kejriwal stated in a letter to Modi, while urging for speedy clearance for his visit. In the letter, the AAP convener said the Singapore govt had invited him to present the Delhi model at the conference, to be held in the first week of August.

“Today, the whole world wants to know about the Delhi model. The good management of Delhi schools and hospitals has evinced interest at the world level,” Kejriwal said.

TELANGANA CM TALKS OF A POSSIBLE ‘FOREIGN’ HAND IN ‘CLOUDBURSTS’

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) smelt a foreign conspiracy in the flooding of Godavari region as well as in other parts of the country, saying he has “gloomy” information that there might be a suspected “foreign hand” behind the cloudbursts.

They have been done in Kashmir, Leh, Ladakh and even Uttarakhand, KCR said Sunday, adding that he has the information that it is being done over the Godavari river region, too, in the southern region.

Telangana has been reeling after heavy rains for nearly a week caused flooding in several parts, including Bhadradri-Kothagudem district. The state govt even shut all educational institutions, entirely last week, in the wake of heavy rains.

“There is this new phenomenon called ‘cloud burst.’ There are also theories that there might be some conspiracies – we are unsure how far that is true. Foreign countries, on purpose, have been creating cloud bursts in our country. In the past, it has been done in Kashmir, Leh, Ladakh and even in Uttarakhand,” the chief minister said.

“We also have gloomy information that, of late, it is being done over Godavari region too. Anyway, disturbances in climate and environment can lead to such situations and it is important to keep people safe in such situations,” he added.

COMMODITY PRICES’ FALL CAN HELP INDIA ESCAPE GLOBAL INFLATION TRAP

The RBI has said that the Indian economy can escape the global inflation trap if the moderation in commodity prices witnessed in recent weeks endures, alongside an easing of supply-chain pressures.

“The biggest source of relief is from inflation coming off its recent peak, albeit at an elevated level still,” the central bank has said in its latest ‘State of the economy’ report. Nonetheless, the signs of its generalisation and the potential unhinging of inflation expectations have elicited a pre-emptive and frontloaded monetary policy response, the RBI said.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had recently said that inflation was likely to “ease gradually in the second half of 2022-23, precluding the chances of a hard landing in India”. Prior to that, Deputy Governor Michael Patra had noted that there were signs of inflation peaking, and harsh policy may not be needed to contain price pressures.

If the commodity-price moderation seen in recent weeks continues, along with an easing of supply-chain pressures, the worst of the recent inflation surge will be left behind, and the economy can escape the global inflation trap and enjoy the fruits of the ebullient supply response that is taking place, the RBI report said.

ED FINDS FIRM OF MUMBAI EX-CP ‘SNOOPED ON 91 NSE STAFFERS’

The Enforcement Directorate has found that a firm linked to former Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey snooped on as many as 91 office-bearers of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on the directions of its then Managing Director Chitra Ramkrishna.

The agency Thursday booked Pandey and arrested Ramkrishna in a money-laundering case linked to alleged phone tapping.

“We are interrogating Ramkrishna as it was on her directions that the tapping was done by Pandey’s company. We want to know the motive behind tapping the phones of so many NSE office-bearers,” an ED official said.

The ED has found documentary and electronic evidence to show that phones of 91 NSE employees had been tapped by Pandey’s company, iSec Services Pvt Ltd.

AVIATION UPTURN SEES NEW TRENDS: TOURISM ROUTES POPULAR

The steady recovery in India’s commercial aviation sector has lifted traffic to near pre-Covid levels — but with a clear realignment in capacities and routes.

On the domestic front, the numbers show a push for tourism routes and direct connectivity to smaller airports. At the same time, international passenger traffic for Indian carriers has already surpassed pre-Covid levels with airlines that were dependent on China and the far-east now looking at other geographies, including India.

Within the country, destinations such as Srinagar and Goa have seen significant capacity addition by airlines, which underlines the “revenge travel trend” after the Covid curbs. But the relatively slower rebound in business travel means trunk routes like Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Chennai, Mumbai-Bengaluru and Delhi-Hyderabad remain subdued.

Another emerging trend is the increasing direct connectivity to smaller airports. “…in 2019, just over one-third of capacity growth between 2016 and 2019 in India’s domestic market came from new routes that were not previously operating.

SINDHU OUTWITS ZHI YI FOR SINGAPORE OPEN CROWN

P V Sindhu won the Singapore Open Super 500 badminton tournament, prevailing over China's Wang Zhi Yi in the women's singles final, on Sunday.

In a hard-fought title round, the Indian double Olympics medallist stayed strong in the key moments to win 21-9, 11-21, 21-15 over the 22-year-old reigning Asian Championships gold medallist.

The title run will be a big boost for Sindhu, who will lead the Indian charge at the Commonwealth Games, starting July 28, in Birmingham.

This was her third title of the season -- having won two Super 300 crowns in Syed Modi International and Swiss Open -- and an addition to her brimming cabinet which has a gold, two silver and two bronze medals from the World Championships and two Olympic medals.

HOW INDIA TAMED ENGLAND TO WIN ODI SERIES

Rishabh Pant's unbeaten 125 and Hardik Pandya's superb all-round display helped India seal a five wicket victory over England in the third and final One-Day International at Old Trafford in Manchester on Sunday and complete a 2-1 series victory.

Chasing 260 for victory, India lost skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for 17 runs each after both experienced batsmen fell to Reece Topley, before Pandya took charge with a fluent 71 off 55 balls in the company of Pant.

The pair stitched together 133 runs for the fifth wicket to set up a comfortable win. India's explosive wicketkeeper batsman Pant took them home with 47 balls to spare.

Earlier, England, having been put in to bat, were dismissed for 259 in 45.5 overs after Pandya picked up four wickets.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it. - Benjamin Franklin

OFF TRACK

Two guys were standing at heaven's gate, waiting to be interviewed by St. Peter.

The first guy: "How did you get here?"

The second guy: "Hypothermia. You?"

The first guy: "You won't believe it. I was sure my wife was cheating on me, so I came home early one day hoping to find the guy. I accused my wife of unfaithfulness and searched the whole house without any luck. Then I felt so bad about the whole thing I had a massive heart attack."

The second guy: "Oh, man, if you had checked the walk-in freezer we'd both be alive!"