PM LAYS FOUNDATION OF FACILITY TO PRODUCE C-295 TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT

Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the C-295 transport aircraft manufacturing plant, in Vadodara, Gujarat yesterday. The C-295 transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force will be manufactured by Tata-Airbus.

At the event, addressing the crowd that gathered to see PM Modi, he said, “The transport aircrafts that'll be manufactured here will not only give power to our Army but also develop a new ecosystem of manufacturing aircraft... Soon, India will witness the passenger aircraft that will be made with the tag of 'Make In India'".

Under the agreement, Airbus will deliver the first 16 aircraft in 'fly-away' condition from its final assembly line in Seville, Spain. The subsequent 40 aircraft will be manufactured by Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL) in India as part of an industrial partnership between the two companies. The 16 fly-away aircraft are scheduled to be delivered to the IAF between September 2023 and August 2025.

The first Made-in-India aircraft is being rolled out of the manufacturing facility in September 2026 and the remaining 39 will have to be produced by August 2031.

IAF officials said the aircraft would be able to operate from Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) and even unprepared runways.

It is also the first time that the C-295 aircraft will be manufactured outside of Europe.

After the completion of the delivery of 56 aircraft to IAF, Airbus Defence and Space will be allowed to sell the aircraft manufactured in India to civil operators and export to countries which are cleared by the government of India.

Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar said the indigenous content in the planes will be the highest ever in India, and that 96 per cent of the work that Airbus does in Spain to produce the plane will be done at the manufacturing unit in Vadodara.

CAA DOESN’T AFFECT CITIZENSHIP REGIME, CENTRE TELLS TOP COURT

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 is a “narrowly tailored” piece of legislation that does not affect the existing regime for obtaining Indian citizenship, and legal migration, on the basis of valid documents and visa, continues to be permissible from all countries, the Union government told the Supreme Court on Sunday.

These submissions were part of an affidavit filed by the government in response to petitions by various entities challenging the validity of the CAA.

Urging the top court to dismiss the pleas, the government said in its affidavit that the Act “does not in any way encourage illegal migration into Assam” and termed it an “unfounded…apprehension”.

“It is submitted that the existing regime for obtaining citizenship of India by foreigners of any country is untouched by the CAA and remains the same. It is submitted that the legal migration, on the basis of valid documents and visa, continues to be permissible from all countries of the world including from the three specified countries”, the government said.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to take up the petitions today.

POWERS BEING SEIZED BY A SECTION, SAVE DEMOCRACY, DIDI URGES JUDICIARY

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday claimed that democratic powers were being seized by a “section of people” which she felt may lead to a presidential form of government in the country.

Urging the judiciary and leaders in different fields to “save democracy”, the CM said at a programme here that if the trend continued, a day would come when the country would have a presidential form of government.

Without naming the BJP, she implied that the ruling party was behind the move.

Speaking at the convocation ceremony of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), she urged the judiciary to ensure that the federal structure of the country remains intact. "All democratic powers are being seized by a section of people. This might be going on for (bringing in) a presidential form of government," said Mamata, who was the chief guest at the convocation.

ANTONY BLINKEN, EAM S JAISHANKAR DISCUSS UKRAINE CONFLICT, TERROR

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a telephonic conversation with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and discussed the ongoing Ukraine war, counter-terrorism and other regional and global issues.

Jaishankar thanked Blinken for his “strong and clear message” on counter-terrorism as well as his call for holding those responsible for the 26/11 Mumbai attacks accountable.

“The two discussed regional and global issues, including counter-terrorism cooperation and Ukraine,” Ned Price, a State Department spokesperson, said.

“Good to speak to US Secretary of State @SecBlinken. Thanked him for his strong and clear message yesterday on counter-terrorism and 26/11 accountability. Discussed the Ukraine conflict and other issues,” Jaishankar tweeted.

COVID DASHBOARD – INDIA

As of 0800 IST / Oct 29

from mohfw.gov.in ,

New Cases on Friday 1,601

Active Cases 18,317 (-485)

Total Deaths (Deaths Yesterday) 5,29,016 (5)

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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LULA DEFEATS BOLSONARO TO AGAIN BECOME BRAZIL’S PRESIDENT

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has done it again: Twenty years after first winning the Brazilian presidency, the leftist defeated incumbent Jair Bolsonaro Sunday in an extremely tight election that marks an about-face for the country after four years of far-right politics.

With more than 99% of the votes tallied in the runoff vote, da Silva had 50.9% and Bolsonaro 49.1%, and the election authority said da Silva’s victory was a mathematical certainty.

It is a stunning reversal for da Silva, 77, whose 2018 imprisonment over a corruption scandal sidelined him from the 2018 election that brought Bolsonaro, a defender of conservative social values, to power.

Da Silva is promising to govern beyond his leftist Workers’s Party. He wants to bring in centrists and even some leaning to the right who voted for him for the first time, and to restore the country’s more prosperous past. Yet he faces headwinds in a politically polarized society where economic growth is slowing and inflation is soaring.

The highly polarized election in Latin America’s biggest economy extended a wave of recent leftist victories in the region, including Chile, Colombia and Argentina.

Da Silva’s inauguration is scheduled to take place on Jan. 1. He last served as president from 2003-2010.

BIDEN SAYS RUSSIA ‘WEAPONISING’ FOOD BY HALTING GRAIN SHIPMENTS

The United States called Russia’s announcement that it would withdraw from an agreement to allow the export of grain from Ukrainian ports “outrageous” on Saturday and said Moscow was using food as a weapon.

“It’s really outrageous to increase starvation,” President Biden said.

His secretary of state, Antony J Blinken, said Russia’s move would take an outsize toll on lower-income countries that were depending on Ukrainian products like wheat, corn and sunflower oil. “In suspending this arrangement, Russia is again weaponizing food in the war it started, directly impacting lowand middle-income countries and global food prices, and exacerbating already dire humanitarian crises and food insecurity,” Blinken said. “We urge all parties to keep this essential, lifesaving initiative functioning. ”

The grain deal, which was brokered by the UN and Turkey in July, allowed commercial vessels carrying agricultural products to leave Ukraine and cross the Black Sea to Turkey. Russia said on Saturday that it would suspend its participation in the deal indefinitely because Ukrainian attacks against its Black Sea Fleet’s ships and infrastructure — including drone strikes that damaged a mine-sweeping vessel in the port of Sevastopol — threatened the security of its ships involved in the initiative.

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60 KILLED AS OVERCROWDED CABLE BRIDGE COLLAPSES IN GUJARAT

Over a 100 people lost their lives when a cable bridge collapsed on the Machchhu river in Gujarat's Morbi on Sunday evening.

There was a rush of people on the bridge, which was reopened for the public just four days ago following the renovation work, when it snapped around 6.30 pm, officials said.

Due to the Diwali vacation and being a Sunday, there was a rush of tourists on the bridge, a major tourist attraction.

People fell on top of each other after the bridge snapped. Videos showed many desperately clinging to the remains of the bridge while some were seen swimming to safety.

A private operator had carried out the repair work of the bridge for nearly six months before it was reopened to the public on October 26.

Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said that he is cancelling all his events and leaving for Morbi where the incident took place.

The death toll in Morbi suspension bridge collapse rose to 141 on Monday, Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi said. The rescue operation is in its last stage in the Machchhu river. It will be over soon, the minister told reporters.

KCR PARADES PARTY MLAs, SAYS BJP OFFERING RS 100 CRORE EACH

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday accused the BJP of 'trying to buy' 20 or 30 MLAs of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti and topple his government and claimed that 'brokers' from Delhi offered the sitting legislators Rs 100 crore each. Addressing a poll rally at bypoll-bound Munugode segment, Rao said, however, the legislators, who are 'sons of the soil', rebuffed the offer.

Hitting back, the BJP said the MLAs were not worth Rs 100 crore and asserted it had no intention of toppling the TRS government.

Rao said, "You have seen yesterday. (The BJP thinks) there is one KCR who is talking loudly. Let's see his (political) end. They have sent brokers to buy each MLA for Rs 100 crore. They wanted to buy 20 or 30 MLAs and topple KCR's government and encroach Telangana so that they can implement privatisation as per their will."

His statement comes a day after three people who tried to 'poach' four TRS legislators were arrested and remanded to judicial custody.

The CM paraded all the four legislators during the public meeting, praising them that such people were required in politics.

BJP HAS ILL-INTENTIONS: KEJRI ON UCC MOVE

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday questioned the intention of the BJP government in poll-bound Gujarat behind its move to constitute a committee to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and said if the BJP wanted to do so, it should do it across the country.

Kejriwal asked whether the BJP-led central government was waiting for the Lok Sabha elections to make a move in this direction.

Kejriwal was addressing a press conference in Bhavnagar on the third day of his visit to Gujarat where the Assembly polls are due this year-end.

The Gujarat Government on Saturday said it has decided to form a committee headed by a retired High Court judge to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC).

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi also claimed the BJP is raising the issue of Uniform Civil Code to get votes in the forthcoming Gujarat Assembly elections and to push its Hindutva agenda.

“Isn’t it true that Babasaheb Ambedkar said the Uniform Civil Code should be voluntary and not mandatory?...But the BJP only wants to move ahead with its Hindutva agenda and it has the habit of raising such issues before elections to get votes,” he alleged.

A law commission had in 2018 said the UCC was neither necessary nor desirable, he said.

“For a Muslim, marriage is a contract, for a Hindu it is living forever after, for a Christian it is ‘I do’. This is India’s pluralism which has been made possible through Articles 25, 26, 14, 19 and 20 (of the Constitution). Can anyone make a law against Article 29 (which protects the interests of minority groups) by enacting the UCC?” he asked.

RBI BEHIND THE CURVE ON CONTAINING INFLATION

On Thursday, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the RBI will convene to formulate its response to the Government of India about the high rate of inflation in the country.

The RBI is by law responsible for maintaining price stability. Under the “inflation-targeting” regime that began in 2016, the central bank is required to target an inflation rate of 4 per cent, with a leeway of 2 percentage points on either side. Thus, for any given month, RBI’s comfort zone for inflation lies between 2 per cent and 6 per cent.

Retail inflation for September was 7.4 per cent — which means the price level for retail consumers last month was 7.4 per cent higher than what it was in September 2021. This also means that retail inflation — which is calculated using the Consumer Price Index has been outside the RBI’s comfort zone for three consecutive quarters beginning January.

Under the RBI Act, 1934, if the central bank fails to meet the inflation target for three consecutive quarters, it is required to provide the following information to the government:

reasons for the failure to achieve the inflation target;

remedial actions proposed to be taken; and

an estimate of the time period within which the inflation target shall be achieved pursuant to timely implementation of the proposed remedial actions.

RESTRAIN CHINESE LENDING APPS, CENTRE TELLS STATES

The Centre in a communication to all states and UTs has directed them to take urgent and strict action against predatory lending apps as harassment, blackmail and harsh recovery practices by such Chinese-controlled entities have led to multiple incidents of suicides, sources said.

In the communication, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has said the issue had caused a serious impact on national security, economy and the safety of citizens.

The MHA had sensitised the states/UTs, saying a large number of complaints had been reported across the country related to illegal digital lending apps providing short-term loans or micro-credits at exorbitant interest rates with processing or hidden charges, especially to vulnerable and low-income group people. The lenders were using borrowers’ confidential personal data like contacts, location, photos and videos for blackmail and harassment, it noted.

The sources said the MHA had advised states to take help of domain experts for investigating such cases.

SATWIK-CHIRAG CLAIM FRENCH OPEN CROWN

Three years after losing in the final, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won the French Open Super 750 tournament with a straight-game victory against Lu Ching Yao and Yang Pa Han of Chinese Taipei 21-13, 21-19 in the final. The Indian duo, known for their attacking prowess, staved off a stiff challenge, particularly in the second game, to emerge triumphant on Sunday night. This is the first BWF 750 title for the duo.

In the 2019 final in Paris, Satwik-Chirag had lost to Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia.

Despite beating several world champions and world No. 1 pairs inthe last few years, Satwik-Chirag missed out on important titles.

Though they won two Super 500 tournaments _ Thailand Open in 2019 and India Open 2022 _ they have never won a Super 750 or Super 1000 tournament. Their best show before Sunday was winning bronze at the 2022 World Championships and helping India to win the historic Thomas Cup earlier this year.

T20 WC: INDIA LOSE TO S AFRICA

Suryakumar Yadav played the best knock of his short international career but South Africa exposed India's inadequacies against extreme pace and bounce to win a low-scoring thriller by five wickets in the T20 World Cup in Perth on Sunday.

While Surya's 68 off 40 balls will easily qualify as one of the most accomplished knocks in adverse conditions, India's defence of a below-par total of 133 for 9 was always going to be a challenge. India were 49/5 after 8.3 overs.

Arshdeep Singh, the lion-hearted left-armer, did bowl another dream first spell but Aiden Markram (52 off 41 balls) and David Miller (59 not out off 46 balls), one of the best T20 finishers in the game, ensured the target was achieved in 19.4 overs.

While South Africa (5 points 3 games) are now on top of group 2, India (4 points from 2 games) with upcoming matches against Bangladesh (Nov 2 in Adelaide) and Zimbabwe (Nov 6 in Melbourne) are well within striking distance of a semi-final berth.

T20 WORLD CUP: PAKISTAN WIN BUT AZAM NOT SATISFIED

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam was a relieved man after finally getting a win in the T20 World Cup but said the batters could have done better while chasing a small total against the Netherlands in the T20 World Cup in Perth, on Sunday.

Pakistan bowlers set the tone by dismissing the Netherlands for a lowly 91 for 9 but their batting was not as clinical as they lost four wickets to achieve the target in 13.5 overs.

This was Pakistan’s first win, after losses to India and Zimbabwe. They are yet to play against Bangladesh and South Africa.

Netherlands have lost all their 3 matches so far.

T20 WC: BANGLADESH PIP ZIMBABWE AFTER CHAOTIC FINAL OVER

Bangladesh survived a dramatic final over to pull off a three-run victory over Zimbabwe in the T20 World Cup Super 12 match in Brisbane, on Sunday, where players left the ground and were called back to complete the contest after officials realised that Nurual Hasan's stumping off the final delivery was not clean.

Opener Najmul Hossain Shanto, who smashed seven fours and one maximum in his 55-ball 71-run knock, single-handedly powered Bangladesh to a competitive 150 for 7.

In reply, Zimbabwe lost wickets in a heap to find themselves in the dumps at 35 for 4 in the sixth over. Sean Williams conjured up a magnificent 42-ball 64-run innings to revive the chase, but he was dismissed in the 19th over, leaving Zimbabwe to get 16 in the last six balls.

Mosaddek Hossain then bowled the most important over of his career as he dismissed Brad Evans (2) off the second ball but Richard Ngarava slammed him for a four and a six in the next two balls to keep Zimbabwe in the hunt.

Hossain, however, had Ngarava stumped off the next delivery as Zimbabwe needed five off the last ball.

New batter Blessing Muzarabani was then stumped as the players celebrated and returned to their dugouts at the Gabba.

The umpires called it a no-ball as wicketkeeper Hasan had collected the ball in front of the stumps, giving hope to the Zimbabwe fans. However, it was not to be as Hossain showed great nerves and slipped a fullish delivery which Muzarabani couldn't connect yet again.

Zimbabwe ended their innings at 147 for 8.

Bangladesh have 2 wins from their 3 matches. They are yet to play against India and Pakistan.

Zimbabwe have one win from their 3 matches so far.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Dharma lives in the heart of public men; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no amendment, can save it. - Nani A Palkhivala

OFF TRACK

Kuchh dinon pehle ek dost bol raha tha: "Amitabh Bachchan daaru piye bina piye hue ki kitni achchhi acting karta hai."

Ab use kaun samjhaye ki daaru piye bina daru peene ki acting karna se zyada mushkil hai daaru peene ke baad ghar jaa kar daaru na piye hue ki acting karna.