AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES FTA WITH INDIA

The Australian Parliament on Tuesday approved the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India as well as with the UK. The announcement was made about both agreements in separate tweets by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Holding a press conference after Albanese’s announcement, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said the first such FTA with a developed country in 10 years would increase bilateral trade from the present USD 27.5 billion to USD 45-50 billion in the next five years. It would help provide duty-free access to the Australian market for over 6,000 broad sectors, including textiles, leather, furniture, jewellery and machinery.

Immigration to Australia will also receive a boost as “visas for Indian chefs and yoga instructors along with the assurance that every child who goes will be given an opportunity for employment there. STEM graduates, doctoral students will get four years of work visa in Australia. Postgraduates will get three years’ work visa,” said Goyal.

Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell in a statement said Australian exporters, businesses, workers and consumers would soon be able to reap the opportunities and benefits of more open trade with India.

Goyal said these approvals were quickly doable and would be accompanied by harmonisation of codes and customs regime so that “we can enter into force at an early date” while describing the deal as fair and good for India.

SILENCE OF CONSTITUTION EXPLOITED: SUPREME COURT ON APPOINTMENT OF CEC, ECS

The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned the Centre on the absence of a law to govern the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs), saying the “silence of the Constitution” was being exploited by successive govts.

In 10 years of the UPA govt, they had six CECs and the present NDA govt, in nearly eight years, has had eight CECs. This is a disturbing trend. SC Bench

Terming it a “disturbing trend”, a five-judge Constitution Bench led by Justice KM Joseph pointed out that since 2004, no CEC had completed the six-year tenure.

The Bench, which also included Justice Ajay Rastogi, Justice Aniruddha Bose, Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice CT Ravikumar, was hearing petitions seeking a Collegium-like system for the appointment of the CEC and ECs referred to it in 2018. Last week, the Centre had vehemently opposed it, saying any such attempt would amount to amending the Constitution.

“Looking at the list of the CECs since 2004, the majority of them do not have more than two-year tenure. As per law, they have fixed a tenure of six years or up to the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. Most of them were former bureaucrats and the govt knew about their age. They were appointed at such a point that they were never able to complete six years and had a truncated tenure,” the Bench told Attorney General R Venkataramani.

The Bench pointed out that Article 324 of “the Constitution talks about the appointment of CEC and ECs, but it does not provide for the procedure for such appointments and it left it to Parliament to enact a law for the purpose. But it has not been done in the last 72 years, leading to exploitation by the Centre”. "What is important is that we put a fairly good procedure so that apart from competence, someone of strong character is appointed as the CEC."

The bench went on to say that the Constitution has vested enormous powers on the "fragile shoulder" of the chief election commissioner and the two election commissioners and it wants a CEC of strong character like late T N Seshan (1990 to 1996)

INDIA CONDEMNS NORTH KOREA'S INTERCONTINENTAL BALLISTIC MISSILE LAUNCH

India made a clean break from Russia and China on the issue of the latest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test by the North Korea, which was reported to have landed about 200 km from Japan’s coastline.

India joined a US-led joint statement helmed by Norway at the UNSC to condemn the launch. The 13 members of the UNSC were joined by South Korea in a statement delivered by US Permanent Representative to the UN that urged North Korea to “abandon its unlawful weapon programmes”.

India had gone against Russia and China in May when the UNSC wanted to impose tougher sanctions on Pyongyang. But Russia and China had vetoed a UNSC resolution to this effect.

Speaking at the UNSC, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ruchira Kamboj condemned the ICBM and said: “North Korea’s actions are a violation of the resolution by the UN body. They affect the peace and security of the region and beyond. India calls for full implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions relating to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea).’’ “The proliferation of nuclear and missile technologies is a matter of concern, as they have an adverse impact on peace and security in the region, including India. We hope the international community and the Security Council can be united on this front,” she added.

SURE INDIA WILL CONVEY ITS VIEWS IN STRONGEST TERMS: HARDEEP PURI ON ZAKIR NAIK’S FIFA WORLD CUP ‘INVITE’

Amid reports of Qatar inviting controversial Islamic preacher and Indian fugitive Zakir Naik to the FIFA World Cup, Union Minister Hardeep Puri on Tuesday said he was sure that India would convey its views on the matter in the “strongest possible terms” to the concerned authorities.

At the same time, the minister for Housing and Urban Affairs said he has no knowledge of the invitation being extended to Naik.

Naik, a televangelist, reportedly left India in 2016 and moved to Malaysia, where he was granted permanent residency. India had sent a request to Malaysia for his extradition.

Asked about Qatar reportedly inviting Naik to the FIFA World Cup, Puri said, “I have no knowledge of that”.

Replying to a related question, the minister said, “We (India) have our views on him and I am sure they will be conveyed in the strongest possible terms to the concerned authorities.”

Naik is banned in the UK and Canada for his hate speech against other religions.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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BLINKEN: US-SAUDI TIES UNDER REVIEW DESPITE KHASHOGGI IMMUNITY RULING

The US relationship with Saudi Arabia is still under review despite a Biden administration ruling that the Saudi crown prince has immunity from a lawsuit over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Tuesday.

Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist then living in the United States, was killed and dismembered in 2018 by Saudi agents in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul, in an operation US intelligence believes was ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The prince has denied ordering the killing, which has cast a pall over relations between the two countries. Khashoggi’s fiancee has sued the prince in US court, but in a ruling last week, US Justice department lawyers concluded that the prince had immunity as a result of having been named PM in the Saudi govt in September.

“The opinion that we provided does not in any way speak to the merits of the case or the status of the bilateral relationship,” Blinken said.

The Biden administration’s ruling last week came at a time of increased strains between Washington and Riyadh over energy supplies, after the OPEC+ oil group decided at its last meeting to cutoutput targets over US objections.

ZELENSKY URGES UKRAINIANS TO CONSERVE ENERGY FOR SURVIVAL

President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to Ukrainians to conserve energy amid relentless Russian strikes that have halved the country’s power capacity, as the UN health body warned of a humanitarian disaster in Ukraine this winter. Authorities said millions of Ukrainians, including in the capital Kyiv, could face power cuts at least until the end of March due to the missile attacks, which Ukraine’s national grid operator Ukrenergo said had wreaked “colossal” damage.

“The systematic damage to our energy system from strikes by the Russian terrorists is so considerable that all our people and businesses should be mindful and redistribute their consumption throughout the day,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.

The WHO, meanwhile, warned that millions of lives are at risk in Ukraine this winter due to damaged or destroyed infrastructure that has left 10 million people, or around one quarter of the population, without power. “Ukraine’s health system is facing its darkest days in the war so far. Having endured more than 700 attacks, it is now also a victim of the energy crisis,” Hans Kluge, WHO’s regional director for Europe, said in a statement after visiting Ukraine.

THE REST

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6 KILLED AS VIOLENCE BREAKS OUT IN ASSAM-MEGHALAYA BORDER

Six people, including a forest guard, were killed in violence at the disputed Assam-Meghalaya border in the early hours of Tuesday after a truck allegedly laden with illegally felled timber was intercepted by forest guards from Assam.

Apprehending law and order situation following the incident, Meghalaya has suspended mobile internet services in seven districts, while the Assam police has sounded ‘alert' in the border districts and also ordered an enquiry by a retired high court judge into the matter

In a tweet tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Assam CM Himanta Sarma, Meghalaya's Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, whose party is an ally of the BJP, complained that the Assam police and forest guards 'entered Meghalaya and resorted to unprovoked firing.'

Assam police officials however said the truck was intercepted in West Karbi Anglong district of the state by a state Forest department team and a mob from the Meghalaya side had later attacked the team of forest guards and policemen from the state, which led firing by the Assamese side to control the situation.

"Five of the six killed at Mukroh village in West Jaintia Hills district were Meghalaya residents and one is from the Assam forest guard," Sangma said.

PM’S ECONOMIC COUNCIL CHALLENGES GLOBAL INDICES

The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister on Tuesday challenged the global agencies that have consistently downgraded India on a host of perception based indices and asked the World Bank to ensure the accountability of such agencies.

The EAC’s working paper authored by leading economist Sanjeev Sanyal also said independent Indian think tanks should be encouraged to “do similar perception-based indices for the world in order to break the monopoly of a handful of western institutions”.

In the paper, Sanyal says that in recent years, India’s rankings and scores have declined on a number of global opinion-based indices that deal with subjective issues such as democracy, freedom and so on.

The working paper analyses three perception-based indices: Freedom in the World Index, V-DEM indices, and EIU Democracy Index.

“Freedom in the World Index and V-DEM indices have placed India at the same level as during the Emergency of the 1970s. Moreover, India has been placed below countries like Northern Cyprus. Surely, this is not credible,” the authors note.

They say there are serious problems with the methodology used in these perception-based indices.

PROMOTION OF WOMEN OFFICERS: SC QUESTIONS ARMY OVER 'BIAS'

Questioning the Army over holding Special Selection Boards only for male officers’ promotion and not for their women counterparts, the Supreme Court asked the Centre to respond to a petition by 34 Army women officers seeking promotions to higher ranks.

The 34 women Army officers submitted that despite the Supreme Court’s direction in the historic Babita Punia case in February 2020, the promotions of women officers had not been given effect to.

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Monday asked the Centre and the Army to the plea of 34 permanent commissioned women officers and posted the matter for further hearing after two weeks.

AMBANI SAYS INDIAN ECONOMY TO GROW 13-FOLD TO $40 TRILLION BY 2047

India is likely to become a USD 40 trillion economy by 2047-- a 13-fold jump from its current size -- driven primarily by a clean energy revolution and digitalisation, billionaire Mukesh Ambani said on Tuesday.

Ambani's estimate for the Indian economy, currently the fifth largest in the world behind only the US, China, Japan and Germany, is more optimistic than Asia's richest man Gautam Adani, who last week stated that India will become a USD 30 trillion economy by 2050 on back of rising consumption and socio-economic reforms.

"Three game-changing revolutions will govern India's growth in the decades ahead," Ambani said. "The clean energy revolution, the bio-energy revolution and the digital revolution."

"While the clean energy revolution and the bio-energy revolution will produce energy sustainably, the digital revolution will enable us to consume energy efficiently," Ambani said. "All three revolutions will together help India and the world save our beautiful planet from the climate crisis."

​ELON MUSK'S LATEST QUIP AT CRITICS WHO PREDICTED TWITTER WON'T SURVIVE

Elon Musk yesterday continued with his relentless attacks on those critical of how he is running Twitter even as his flagship $8 verification plan was temporarily put on hold amid a surge in impersonation. In his latest quip, he targeted those who predicted the microblogging site won't survive due to the changes and job cuts he implemented following the takeover last month.

"Wasn't Twitter supposed to die by now or something...?" he asked.

"Hope all judgy hall monitors stay on other platforms - please, I'm begging u," wrote the world's richest man who took over Twitter last month.

Users have been criticizing a wave of changes that Twitter witnessed in the past one month.

The company had massive layoffs and is now left with less than half of its earlier workforce. There were mass resignations too as the new boss issued an ultimatum for employees to commit to a "hardcore" work environment. Twitter was forced to shut its office till Monday due to the exodus last week.

FOOTBALL WC: A HUGE UPSET AS ARGENTINA LOSE 1-2 TO SAUDI ARABIA

Unheralded Saudi Arabia notched one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history on Tuesday with a 2-1 win over Lionel Messi's Argentina thanks to a scintillating second half come back.

On his fifth and final quest for the only major trophy to elude him, the 35-year-old Messi scored a 10th minute penalty in a dominant first half display where he and Lautaro Martinez also had three goals disallowed for offside.

But Saudi Arabia, the second-lowest ranked team in the tournament after Ghana, threw caution to the wind at the start of the second half, charging at Argentina's defence in front of a frenzied 88,012 crowd.

Saleh Al-Shehri squeezed in a low shot in the 48th minute while Salem Al-Dawsari curled in a scorching strike from the edge of the penalty area in the 53rd minute to leave Argentina and Messi looking utterly shell-shocked in the Group C opener.

Despite plenty of possession after that, Argentina were unable to penetrate Saudi Arabia, who were competing in their sixth World Cup but had never previously won an opening game.

The entire game was played in an extraordinary atmosphere at the Lusail Stadium, with Argentina's traditionally massive and raucous following matched by the thousands of Saudis who had come over the border to cheer on their team.

In the other matches yesterday, the results were thus:

DENMARK 0-0 TUNISIA

MEXICO 0-0 POLAND

FRANCE 4-1 AUSTRALIA

RAIN-HIT 3RD T20i TIED; INDIA WIN NZ SERIES

India won the T20 International series against New Zealand 1-0 after the rain-marred third and final match, at McLean Park in Napier, on Tuesday, ended in a tie.

Chasing 161 for victory, India were 75 for 4 after nine overs when rain interrupted play. India's score was at par with the Duckworthbbbbb-Lewis revised target of 75 after nine overs.

India had won the second match by 65 runs after the series opener was washed out.

Chasing the modest total, skipper Hardik Pandya, who did not bowl during the series due to a stiff neck, scored an unbeaten 18-ball 30 as India were 75 for 4 in 9 overs when rain stopped play.

Rishabh Pant (11), after a couple of intent-filled boundaries, played a lousy shot while Suryakumar Yadav (13) had a rare low score.

After 2020, India again won a T20 series in New Zealand. However the last time, it was a comprehensive 5-0 win during the summer season; this time around, there was little context post the T20 World Cup.

The sole point of interest was to check how India's probable long-term T20 captain Pandya and the new-look team fared.

RONALDO TO LEAVE MAN UNITED ‘WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT’

Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo will leave with immediate effect, the Premier League team said on Tuesday, marking a bitter end to the Portugal captain’s second spell at Old Trafford after he said he felt betrayed by the club.

An explosive interview with TalkTV this month — in which Ronaldo also said he did not respect manager Erik ten Hag — had put him on shaky ground at the club he rejoined in August 2021 after winning eight major trophies with them from 2003-2009.

United said last week they would address Ronaldo’s comments only after establishing the complete facts and added last Friday that they had initiated “appropriate steps” in response.

“Cristiano Ronaldo is to leave Manchester United by mutual agreement, with immediate effect. The club thanks him for his immense contribution across two spells at Old Trafford, scoring 145 goals in 346 appearances, and wishes him and his family well for the future,” United said in a statement.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is, in fact, a return to the idealised past. - Robertson Davies

OFF TRACK

This woman rushes to see her doctor, looking very much worried and all strung out. She rattles off, "Doctor, take a look at me. When I woke up this morning, I looked at  myself in the mirror and saw my hair all wiry and frazzled up, my skin was all wrinkled and pasty, my eyes were blood-shot and bugging out, and I had this corpse-like look on my face! What’s wrong with me, Doctor?"

The doctor looks her over for a couple of minutes, then calmly says, "Well, I can tell you that there aint nothing wrong with your eyesight."