US, RUSSIA HARDEN STANDS AHEAD OF G20 FOREIGN MINISTERS’ MEETING TODAY

While US Secretary of State Antony Blinken missed the inaugural dinner of the G20 foreign ministers hosted by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday, battlelines were drawn between Washington and Moscow, in the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war, ahead of the day-long meeting today.

New Delhi said the Russia-Ukraine conflict will be an important part of the deliberations. “Given the nature and the developing situation in Russia-Ukraine conflict, naturally, that would be an important point of discussion during the G20 foreign ministers meeting,” Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said.

As Blinken arrived in New Delhi late on Wednesday night, the US State Department said: “The US strongly supports India’s G20 priorities to provide action-oriented solutions to global challenges”. “Russia’s brutal affront to the international rules-based order… cannot stand. The US will continue to hold the Russian Federation to account for its unprovoked and unjust war of choice against Ukraine, including in multilateral institutions and bodies. Russia’s war against Ukraine blatantly violates UN Charter principles,” it said.

“The US will continue to engage with G20 and other international partners to address the immense humanitarian challenges stemming from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, especially the damaging effect the Kremlin’s war of aggression has had on global food and energy security. The G20 must hold Russia accountable now for its failure to respond to UN efforts to reopen the sea lanes for grain delivery… The answer to meeting these challenges is close international cooperation and clear resolve to ensure such brazen aggression does not go unchecked. We must hold those responsible to account; there can be no return to business as usual with the Kremlin while it wages war,” the US said.

Moscow, in its statement, said: “We support India’s G20 presidency in its commitment to promote a unifying agenda that will restore confidence in multilateral diplomacy and prevent the fragmentation of the global economy.” “During the regular foreign ministers’ meeting, we intend to firmly and openly talk about the reasons and instigators of the current serious problems in world politics and global economy. We will focus on the attempts by the West to take revenge for the inevitable disappearance of the levers of dominance from its hands… the destructive policy of the US and its allies has already put the world on the brink of a disaster, provoked a rollback in socio-economic development and seriously aggravated the situation of the poorest countries,” it said.

‘PM HAS CROSSED ALL LIMITS, JUST LIKE INDIRA DID’: KEJRIWAL

Days after his deputy Manish Sisodia was arrested, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday took the fight to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, comparing him to former PM Indira Gandhi.

“Jaise ek zamaane main Indira Gandhi ne ati kar di thi, aaj pradhan mantri ji ati kar rahe hain. Aur jab ati ho jaati hai, prakriti apna kaam karti hai (the PM has crossed all limits, just like Indira Gandhi did once. And when limits are crossed, nature takes its course),” he said.

Announcing that AAP MLAs and councillors will go from door to door and educate people about the excise policy case, Kejriwal said the arrest of Sisodia, as well as of Satyendar Jain, were nothing but harassment.

“A question must be asked. If Manish Sisodia ji had not done good work in the field of education, would Modi ji have him arrested? No. He was arrested because Sisodia ji did good work in education, which he (Modi) wanted to stop. If Satyendar Jain had not done good work in health, would he have been arrested? No. The aim was to stop the good work being done in health. Another question is raised. If Sisodia ji joins BJP today, will he not be released tomorrow? All cases against him will end. If Jain joins BJP, all cases will end, he will be out of jail tomorrow. Corruption is not an issue. Their aim is to stop work and harass opposition leaders by setting CBI and ED on them,” Kejriwal said.

He also announced that MLAs Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj would replace Sisodia and Jain in the cabinet. “They will take over now. The good work that Sisodia ji and Jain sahab were doing will be taken forward by them now at double speed,” he said.

“They are not able to digest our win in Punjab. I want to tell BJP, AAP is a storm, you cannot stop it. No one can stop an idea whose time has come. And the Aam Aadmi Party’s time has come… What is this whole excise policy scam? If we explain this in layman’s terms, what is it… I will explain it to you in four lines. These people are alleging that Sisodia ji took bribes from those in the liquor business. They quote figures of Rs 100 crore 1,000 crore, 10,000 crore. They raided his house, tore mattresses, broke walls, checked ban lockers, but they did not find anything….How will they find it when he didn’t take a bribe?” he said.

AN OOPN UNITY PITCH AT STALIN’S BIRTHDAY PARTY

M K Stalin’s 70th birthday celebrations in Chennai on Wednesday were attended by a host of senior Opposition leaders, with Farooq Abdullah calling on the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to “come to the national scene” and “build the nation” as he has built the state.

The event served as an opportunity to project the Tamil Nadu chief as one of the national faces of the Opposition and provide “like-minded” Opposition parties with a platform to come together. The event came at a time when the DMK leader is facing certain challenges on the administrative front.

Apart from Abdullah, those who attended the celebrations in Chennai were Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, and Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Among those conspicuous by their absence were the Trinamool Congress (TMC); the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), and the Left.

Kharge said it was imperative to take on “divisive forces” on a united front and indicated that the question of a PM candidate was “not the question”. The Congress president added, “All like-minded Opposition parties must come together in this fight against divisive forces. I never said who will lead, who will become the Prime Minister. We (the Congress) are not telling who will lead or not going to lead. It is not the question. We want to fight together unitedly, that is our desire. That is why we have sacrificed many times in the name of secularism, in the name of liberty, in the name of freedom of expression.”

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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COVID LIKELY ORIGINATED FROM WUHAN LAB, 'CONFIRMS' FBI CHIEF

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday confirmed that the COVID-19 pandemic originated from a lab incident in Wuhan, China.

'FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed that the Bureau has assessed that the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic likely originated from a lab incident in Wuhan, China,' tweeted the FBI.

This development comes after new intelligence had prompted the Energy Department to conclude that an accidental laboratory leak in China most likely caused the novel coronavirus pandemic, reported The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

"The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan... I will just make the observation that the Chinese govt... has been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate the work here, the work that we're doing, the work that our US govt and close foreign partners are doing," said FBI chief.

CHINA POSES ‘EXISTENTIAL’ THREAT TO US, SAY LAWMAKERS AT CONGRESSIONAL HEARING

Top American lawmakers have described China as an “existential” threat to the US during a first hearing on China by the Republican-majority House of Representatives. They also called for an all-out effort within the country and in coordination with its allies to successfully address the challenge posed by the Communist Party-led China.

“This is not a polite tennis match. This is an existential struggle over what life will look like in the 21st century — and the most fundamental freedoms are at stake,” Congressman Mike Gallagher, chairman of the committee on, told his colleagues in his opening remarks on Tuesday.

“We must act with a sense of urgency. Our policy over the next ten years will set the stage for the next hundred,” Gallagher said.

Ranking member, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Indian American, joined him in underscoring the threat posed by China. Over the last three decades, both Democrats and Republicans assumed that trade and investment would inevitably lead to democracy and greater security in the Indo-Pacific region. Instead, the opposite happened, he said. “As China’s economy has grown more than tenfold since gaining access to US and world markets, CCP has among other things: Strengthened its authoritarian control at home, including engaging in the genocide of the Uighur people. The CCP has funded a massive military build-up, threatening its neighbours including Taiwan, And it has pursued economic and trade policies that flat-out undermine the US economy. ”

China was quick to lash out US insinuations. “We demand the relevant US institutions and individuals discard their ideological bias and zero-sum Cold War mentality,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said. They must “stop framing China as a threat by quoting disinformation, stop denigrating the Communist Party of China and stop trying to score political points at the expense of China-US relations.”

THE REST

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JAISHANKAR, CLEVERLY TALK BBC TAX SURVEY ROW; MALLYA, NIRAV MODI

India and the UK mentioned the legal process to each other over the BBC tax “survey” and the extradition of Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly that “all entities operating in India must fully comply with relevant laws” when the latter raised the BBC tax surveys during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 ministerial. “UK Foreign Secretary brought up the BBC tax issue with the EAM today. He was firmly told that all entities operating in India must comply fully with relevant laws and regulations,” said an official source.

When Jaishankar raised the issue of the pending extradition of Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya from London, Cleverly said: “The legal process in the UK, just as it is in India, is independent of the govt. We always want to see the machinery of the justice system working promptly but those are the decisions of the British judicial system.”

BJP TOPS WITH RS 1917-CR INCOME IN FY22, TMC SECOND AT RS 546 CR

Eight recognised national parties have declared a total income of Rs 3289.34 crore collected from all over India in the financial year 2021-22, with the BJP accounting for more than half of it, according to a prominent NGO working for electoral reforms.

The Trinamool Congress declared the second highest income of Rs 545.745 crore, which forms 16.59 per cent of the total income of the eight national parties, the Association for Democratic Reforms said on Wednesday, citing documents shared by parties with the Election Commission.

The BJP declared a total income of Rs 1917.12 crore during 2021-22.

The Congress' total income was Rs 541.275 crore.

The eight parties given national status by the Election Commission include BJP, Indian National Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India-Marxist, All India Trinamool Congress and National People's Party.

"Given the anonymity provided to donors by the scheme, it is seen that electoral bonds emerged as the most popular mode of donations to national political parties for FY 2020-21 as well," the ADR said. The BJP received donations through electoral bonds worth Rs 1033.70 crore, TMC Rs 528.143 crore, Congress Rs 236.0995 crore and NCP Rs 14 crore.

VETERAN BJP LEADER DEFENDS SISODIA, BLAMES SYSTEM

Veteran BJP leader and former Himachal Pradesh CM Shanta Kumar on Wednesday lauded Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia for his 'clean image' but suggested that he might be 'collecting money' for his party to fight elections.

He said the AAP leader is being accused of framing a liquor policy that brought profits to traders. The Himachal leader said it appeared that 'Sisodia is totally honest as an individual but might have done all this to collect money for the party and the elections'.

'In my opinion this is the truth, and if this is the truth, the country very seriously needs to take some new decisions,' he said in Hindi.

He argued that political parties take money from big business people, who make up for the amount through corruption with the help of the govt that come to power. After elections, the winning candidates file false expenditure accounts with the Election Commission, he charged.

"How can everything be well in a country where democracy begins with black money and lies," he said.

INDIA CAN BE INNOVATION HUB FOR WORLD, SAYS BILL GATES

The first 25 weeks of the Covid pandemic destroyed 25 years of progress in global health and three years later, most countries’ health systems are still not completely back on track, said Bill Gates Wednesday, adding that the pandemic “catalysed” a wave of health innovation in India.

With its record of vaccine development and digital public infrastructure platform, India has the potential to develop into a hub of “innovation and ingenuity,” to herald a “new era of global partnership” which can overcome the world’s greatest challenges, Gates said, delivering the Fifth Ramnath Goenka Memorial Lecture in New Delhi

When it comes to overcoming the world’s greatest challenges like climate change or healthcare, India has a significant role to play, Gates said, flagging the country’s low-cost innovations like the rotavirus vaccine that saved lives globally, and affordable solutions like making biofuels and fertilisers from waste to address climate change.

NITHYANANDA’S FICTIONAL NATION WORMS WAY INTO UN PANEL DISCUSSION

Recently rape-accused fugitive self-styled godman Nithyananda created quite a storm online after he shared the photo of a representative of the 'United States of Kailasa' at a United Nations event.

The photos gave the impression that Nithyananda's fictional nation of 'Kailasa', which nobody knows the geographical location of, has been recognised by the United Nations.

The UN has 193 member states, which are sovereign countries and has stringent rules for admission that require the approval of both the Security Council and the General Assembly.

What the Permanent Ambassador of Kailasa attended was an open meeting of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) which is established to monitor compliance with obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

CESCR is a “body of 18 independent experts that monitors the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by its State parties.”

The UN human rights outfits in Geneva are very generous in allowing people to come in and speak at open sessions of their meetings, often drawing charlatans and dubious organisations who make weird claims. The organisations' open procedures allow them to submit presentations that are included in their archives, which makes it seem official.

CHIP, LOGISTICS WOES FRUSTRATE CAR DELIVERY TIMELINES

Auto companies are staring at a long road to delivery as open order books (as of February) range between 700,000 and 720,000 units, with waiting periods for some models stretching into more than a year.

Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) could only produce 700 units of the Ciaz, its midsize sedan, in February, leading to sales of 792 units — a 58.5 per cent drop year-on-year.

Of the 700,000-odd units of open bookings, MSIL has 369,000 units of pending deliveries. The Grand Vitara has around 37,000 open bookings and a 30-week wait period. The Vitara Brezza has 61,500 open bookings, with a 25-week wait period. The Ertiga, one of the most in-demand cars from the MSIL stable, has over 94,000 open bookings and a waiting period of 36 weeks.

Naveen Philip, one of the promoters and a non-executive director of Kerala-based Popular Vehicles & Services, says: “Some of the higher-end vehicles across brands have issues related to supply. It is not just because of chip shortage. The entire logistics globally started with the pandemic. Some of the cars in the price band of Rs 20-25 lakh have a 14-16-month waiting period.”

INDORE TEST: AUSTRALIAN SPINNERS TAKE HONOURS ON DAY 1

Australia bundled out India for 109 and batted resolutely to reach 156 for four in reply, giving the home side a taste of their own medicine on a raging turner in Indore on Wednesday.

On a track where the ball spun viciously from the first session, Matt Kuhnemann (5-16) and Nathan Lyon (3-35) engineered India's spectacular collapse in 33.2 overs.

Usman Khawaja then showed how to master those conditions as he made 60 and raised 96 runs for the second wicket with Marnus Labuschagne to put Australia ahead.

The visitors, who are 2-0 behind in the four-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, finished the frenetic opening day 47 runs ahead with six wickets in hand.

India captain Rohit Sharma was left to rue his decision to bat first and he himself could have been dismissed twice in the first over from Starc, but Australia did not challenge those on-field decisions. It did not really matter though once the spinners took over.

INDICATORS

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GBP 0.83 /US$, Euro 0.93 /US$, Jap.Yen 136.05 /US$, Aus$ 1.48 /US$, Sing 1.34 /US$, Bang Taka 103.5 /US$, Can$ 1.36 /US$, Mal Ring 4.47 /US$,

Pak Re 262.73 /US$, Phil Peso 54.90 /US$, Russian Rouble 75.13 /US$, NZ$ 1.60 /US$, Thai Baht 34.79 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 36.70 /US$)

Bitcoin - USD 23,497

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Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,833 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 5,629 / 5,160, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 70,200

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually be afraid you will make one. - Elbert Hubbard

OFF TRACK

A young girl adopted a stray cat. To her mother’s distress, the cat began to use the back of the new sofa as a scratching post. "Don't worry," the father said. "I'll have him trained in no time."

The mother and daughter watched for several days as the father patiently "trained" the new pet. Whenever the cat scratched, the father deposited him outdoors to teach him a lesson.

The cat learned quickly. For the next 16 years, whenever he wanted to go outside, he scratched the back of the sofa.