ALL SET FOR PM MODI’S PARIS VISIT

A 25-year vision statement for India-France bilateral ties, a private dinner at the Elysee Palace, guest of honour at the Bastille Day parade, and a state banquet at the Louvre Museum — Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Paris, starting tomorrow, is high on both symbolism and substance.

Ambitious outcomes are expected on defence, space, geo-strategy, infrastructure, energy, climate action, museology, student mobility, people to people, sports, culture. Separate joint statements are expected on Indo-Pacific, as well as on the strategic pillar.

While French President Emmanuel Macron will host Modi at the Elysee Palace for a private dinner on July 13, he is also expected to host a state banquet at the Louvre Museum the next day.

On July 14, Modi will be guest of honour at the Bastille Day celebrations, and a tri-services contingent from India, including the IAF’s Rafale aircraft, will participate in the parade.

DAC MEET THIS WEEK: RAFALE JETS, SCORPENE SUBS ON AGENDA

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting Paris this week as the chief guest at the Bastille Day Parade on July 14, the Defence Acquisition Council is expected to meet in the next two days to decide on the procurement of 26 Rafale-M fighters and three additional Scorpene submarines for the Indian Navy, alongside co-development of fighter jet engines.

Officials privy to the development said there is likely to be an announcement on these procurements during PM Modi’s visit.

The approval for procurement of the platforms by the DAC, headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, will be the first step in the defence acquisition process, followed by agreement on commercial terms, price negotiations and a final nod from the Cabinet Committee on Security before the deal is finalised.

PLEA TO DEPLOY ARMY IN MANIPUR: SC SAYS WILL NEVER DIRECT THE FORCES

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to accede to a request to direct the Army and paramilitary forces regarding security deployments in strife-torn Manipur.

On Monday, the SC had asked the parties in the matter to come up with constructive suggestions it can consider.

On Tuesday, senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, representing some tribal groups from the state, sought to draw the attention of the bench, also comprising Justices P S Narasimha and Manoj Mishra, to what he claimed was one-sided attacks on people belonging to tribal communities.

Taking exception, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said, “This can’t be the tenor of suggestions. For instance, you are asking the court to direct the Indian Army and paramilitary to take particular steps. Frankly…in the last over 70 years, the Supreme Court has not given directions to the armed forces…. One of the great hallmarks of democracy (is) civilian control over the armed force. Let’s not breach that. That’s one of the strong points of this nation. We will not do that. We are not going to issue directions to the Army.”

The court asked both the Centre and the state govt to “make sufficient arrangements to ensure protection of lives and property of all citizens and residents of Manipur”.

INDIAN MUSLIMS’ INVOLVEMENT IN GLOBAL TERRORISM INCREDIBLY LOW, SAYS DOVAL

National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval on Tuesday said it was no coincidence that despite having 200 million Muslims, the involvement of Indian citizens in global terrorism had been incredibly low.

“Yet the challenge of extremism and global terrorism compels us not to lower our guard. Islam occupies a unique and significant position of pride among religious groups in the country. India is home to the second largest population of Muslims in the world — almost equal to the combined population of 33 OIC countries,” said Doval at an event in New Delhi organised by the Khusro Foundation and the India Islamic Cultural Centre. Visiting Saudi cleric Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa was the guest of honour.

“Dissidents from every school of thought found a home in India which helped create a syncretic consciousness. India continues to play its role as a refuge for heterodox ideas with an infinite capacity to absorb dissent,” reasoned Doval

In his speech, Al-Issa said religious awareness should be seen as a tool for co-existence and cooperation between different segments of society. “India is a great model for coexistence. There is a pessimist theory in the world that clash of civilisations is unavoidable. But diversity is a tool to protect the constitution around the world. We need to protect harmony among countries,” he observed.

SC SETS ASIDE EXTENSION TO ED CHIEF, ASKS GOVT TO CHOOSE SUCCESSOR

In a setback to the Centre, the Supreme Court yesterday set aside the extension given to Sanjay Kumar Mishra as the Director of Enforcement Directorate (ED), terming it “illegal” and an attempt to annul its previous directions on the issue.

The top court, however, allowed Mishra to continue on the post till July 31 in view of FATF review and to “ensure the transition to be smooth in the larger public interest”. It asked the Centre to appoint his successor in the meantime.

The order came on petitions filed by Congress leaders Jaya Thakur and Randeep Singh Surjewala; TMC leaders Saket Gokhale and Mahua Moitra; and Krishna Chander Singh, Vineet Narain and Manoharlal Sharma challenging the third extension given to Mishra.

Home Minister Amit Shah said those rejoicing were delusional for many reasons. “It’s not important who the ED Director is because whoever assumes this role will take note of the rampant corruption of a cosy club of entitled dynasts,” said Shah.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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TURKIYE WON’T STAND IN WAY OF SWEDEN’S ENTRY INTO NATO

Nato opened its summit on Tuesday with fresh momentum after Turkiye withdrew its objections to Sweden joining the alliance, a step toward the unity that Western leaders have been eager to demonstrate in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The decision by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a significant move toward Sweden’s membership.

The deal was reached after days of intensive meetings, and it’s poised to expand the alliance’s strength in Northern Europe. Erdogan has been uncharacteristically quiet since the agreement was publicised, declining to comment on the reasons for his apparent change of heart. He has been seeking advanced US fighter jets and a path toward membership in the EU.

Washington will move ahead with the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey in consultation with Congress, Said US national security adviser Jake Sullivan soon after.

Erdogan said he would ask Turkiye’s parliament to approve Sweden joining Nato. Hungarian PM Viktor Orban, another holdout, is expected to take a similar step. Hungary’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that his country’s ratification of Sweden’s Nato membership was now just a “technical matter”.

Sweden says it has cracked down on the activities of people connected to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has waged a 39-year insurgency in Turkiye. Under the agreement outlined on Monday, Sweden said it would also work against the Syrian wing of the PKK, known as the YPG.

The outcome is a victory for President Joe Biden as well, who has touted Nato’s expansion as an example of how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has backfired on Moscow. Finland has already become the 31stmember of the alliance, and Sweden is on deck to become the 32nd. Both Nordic countries were historically nonaligned until the war increased fears of Russian aggression.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky blasted as “absurd” the absence of a timetable for his country’s membership in Nato.

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TMC WINS BIG IN BENGAL PANCHAYAT POLLS, COUNTING STILL UNDERWAY

After the bitterly fought West Bengal panchayat elections marked by violence, the results on Tuesday showed the ruling Trinamool Congress sweeping the three-tier elections in every district, except Darjeeling and Kalimpong.

The BJP, which is now established as the main Opposition party in the state, was at the second position, with the Left-Congress alliance behind it at third.

The Indian Secular Front (ISF), which is emerging as a force in Muslim pockets in Bengal, performed well in its stronghold of Bhangar. The ISF’s alliance with the CPI(M) and an anti-land acquisition committee was giving a neck-and-neck fight to the TMC in some blocks of Bhangar, which saw some of the worst violence in the polls.

By 10 pm Tuesday, with results trickling in slowly due to ballot box polling, the TMC had won 29,665 gram panchayat seats, of the total 63,229 that saw a contest. The BJP was a distant second with 8,021 seats, followed by the CPM at 2,472 and the Congress at 2,094.

Independent candidates had won 1,726 gram panchayat seats.

In terms of control of panchayats, the TMC was headed to win 2,302 of the total 3,317, the BJP 239, the Congress 57 and the Left Front 62. Other parties, including Independents, were leading in 21 gram panchayats across the state, while 176 gram panchayats got hung results.

RAIN CONTINUES TO BATTER NORTH INDIA,

The rain ebbed in some places in north India and pelted down in others on Tuesday with several more people dead and hundreds stranded as raging waters gushed through villages, towns and fields – from the desert state of Rajasthan to the hills of Himachal Pradesh. At least four persons were killed and several others injured after three vehicles were hit by falling boulders on the Uttarkashi-Gangotri highway in early hours of Tuesday due to excessive rain in the area. The rest died in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab. This is in addition to the 37 deaths reported till Monday.

UDDHAV’S ‘KALANK’ ON NAGPUR REMARK: FADNAVIS HITS BACK

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray’s remark calling Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis a “kalank” (blot) on Nagpur has fuelled a verbal duel between the two sides with the latter hitting back, stating that Thackeray needs to see a psychiatrist.

While speaking in Nagpur, the hometown of Fadnavis, Thackeray took a jibe at Fadnavis, saying he was a “kalank” on Nagpur.

Thackeray played an audio clip of Fadnavis’s statement from a 2015 TV interview in which the Deputy CM said the BJP will never ally with the NCP, rejecting the possibility with three “No’s”. Fadnavis had made the analogy of staying unmarried rather than choosing a toxic alliance.

“He said ‘no’ thrice but it actually meant ‘yes’. This is a blot on the reputation of your Nagpur,” Thackeray said while addressing party workers in Nagpur on Monday evening.

“I pity my old friend and today’s political rival Uddhav Thackeray for his thinking and his behaviour. I think he needs to see a psychiatrist. Perhaps the situation around him had a huge impact on his thinking and his thinking has been adversely affected. When a person speaks things in such a mindset, then one should not react to it. So I will not comment on him,” Fadnavis said on Tuesday.

OMAR: IF APPLIED, UCC HAS TO BE UNIFORM FOR ALL

Stating that if implemented, the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) has to be “uniform for everyone”, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said an impression is being created that the UCC is only for Muslims.

“If you decide to exempt someone — whether the person is a Christian, a Dalit, a tribal or a Sikh — then it is evident that Muslims will also not just seek exemption but also get it,” Omar told the media in Srinagar.

Omar’s criticism of the UCC came after former J&K CMs Mehbooba Mufti and Ghulam Nabi Azad warned the Centre against trying to implement it.

On the BJP raking up plans to implement the UCC, Omar said, “Every party has the right to place its agenda before people and seek votes… It is another matter that we do not personally like BJP’s agenda. But it is their democratic right…”

UN: 415 MN LIFTED OUT OF POVERTY IN INDIA IN 15 YEARS

A total of 415 million people moved out of poverty in India within just 15 years from 2005/2006 to 2019/2021, the UN said on Tuesday, highlighting the remarkable achievement by the world’s most populous nation.

The latest update of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) was released by the United Nations Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative at the University of Oxford.

It said 25 countries, including India, successfully halved their global MPI values within 15 years, showing that rapid progress is attainable.

These countries include Cambodia, China, Congo, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Serbia and Vietnam. In April, India surpassed China to become the world’s most populous nation with 142.86 crore people, according to UN data. “Notably, India saw a remarkable reduction in poverty, with 415 million people exiting poverty within a span of just 15 years (2005/6–19/21),” the report said.

The report noted that deprivation in all indicators declined in India, and “the poorest states and groups, including children and people in disadvantaged caste groups, had the fastest absolute progress.”

ARTICLE 370 ABROGATION: SC TO HOLD DAY-TO-DAY HEARING FROM AUGUST 2

Almost four years after Jammu and Kashmir’s special status was revoked, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would commence day-to-day hearing from August 2 on a batch of petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution that bestowed special status on the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The hearing will be on a day-to-day basis except on Mondays and Fridays, when the top court takes up miscellaneous matters, a five-judge Constitution Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud said, fixing the modalities of the hearing.

There are more than 20 petitions challenging the Presidential Orders nullifying Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories.

The Bench allowed pleas of two petitioners — IAS officer Shah Faesal and activist Shehla Rashid — seeking deletion of their names from court records on the issue.

GST COUNCIL: 28% TAX ON ONLINE GAMING, CASINOS AND HORSE-RACING

The GST Council, in its 50th meeting on Tuesday, decided to levy a uniform 28 per cent tax on full face value for online gaming, casinos and horse-racing.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the intent was not to end any industry linked to online gaming, casinos and horse-racing, but there was discussion on the moral question of whether these should be taxed at the same rate as essential items.

The tax would be levied on full value of bets or full value of consideration paid. Earlier, the ministerial panel on online gaming, casinos, horce-racing had discussed the other option of levying tax on gross gaming revenue or platform fee, that is, the charge paid to avail the gaming services, but it did not find favour.

MOBILE PHONE EXPORTS RISING RAPIDLY

In a major upsurge, Apple has breached exports from India valued at Rs. 20,000 crore of iPhones in just the first quarter of FY24, which accounts for half of what it had achieved in the full financial year of FY23. The Q1 numbers represent a staggering 400 per cent growth in iPhone exports over the last financial year in the same quarter when it exported only Rs. 4,950 crore. What’s more, under the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme, its three vendors — Foxconn Hon Hai, Wistron and Pegatron — have committed exports of Rs. 61,000 crore in FY24 in the third year of the scheme.

In the second full year of the PLI for mobile devices of FY23 when all three vendors were eligible for financial incentives, their combined iPhone exports hit Rs. 40,000 crore. In that financial year, Apple alone contributed 45 per cent of the total Rs. 90,000 crore mobile phone exports from the country.

Last year, exports of mobile phones from India increased by nearly 100 per cent from Rs. 45,000 crore in FY22.

Mobile phone exports have also helped propel electronics into being one of the top five exports in the last financial year, after engineering goods, petroleum products, gems and jewellery, organic and inorganic chemicals. 

WIMBLEDON: SINNER, DJOKVIC IN LAST 4S

After the pain of four previous Grand Slam quarter-final defeats, Jannik Sinner made it fifth time lucky on Wimbledon’s No.1 Court as he outplayed Roman Safiullin in four sets to move into the final four at a Slam for the first time.

But for a peculiar period in the second set, when Sinner lost five successive games, the Italian had too much quality for an opponent ranked 84 places below him during a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory.

On Friday, the 21-year-old will become only the third Italian man to play a Wimbledon semi-final, after Nicola Pietrangeli reached the same stage in 1960 and Matteo Berrettini was runner-up two years ago.

Sinner will go up against Novak Djokovic who blew away Andrey Rublev. When Djokovic stepped on to Centre Court on Tuesday afternoon, he had not lost on its grass in just over 10 years; 43 consecutive matches, 3,655 days. He beat the No 7 seed, Andrey Rublev, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 in an extremely high‑quality match of multiple extended rallies and showmanship.

In women's singles, the top seed Iga Swiatek lost 5-7, 7-6, 2-6 to unseeded Ukrainian Elina Svitolina while No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula lost 4-6, 6-2, 4-6 to unseeded Czech player Markéta Vondroušová

INDIA VS WEST INDIES: FIRST TEST BEGINS TODAY

A Test series begins today in Rousea, with both teams hoping for a fresh start. There will be interest as well in some of the new players who are about to take their first steps in red-ball cricket.

India are in transition. West Indies are in shock -they've not qualified for the ODI World Cup to be held in India later this year.

The two teams will play 2 Tests, followed by 3 ODis and 5 T20is during this tour.

INDICATORS

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GBP 0.77 /US$, Euro 0.90 /US$, Jap.Yen 140.58 /US$, Aus$ 1.49 /US$, Sing 1.34 /US$, Bang Taka 107.43 /US$, Can$ 1.32 /US$, Mal Ring 4.65 /US$, Pak Re 276.91 /US$, Phil Peso 55.28 /US$, Russian Rouble 90.33 /US$, NZ$ 1.61 /US$, Thai Baht 34.81 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 36.66 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 30,561, Dollar Index 101.16, Brent Crude 79.37, BDI 1024

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,935 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 5,941 / 5,445, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 73,400

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us. – Voltaire

OFF TRACK

A man was sitting next to me in one of the two "husband chairs" in a ladies' clothing store.

After 30 minutes and five outfits, the fellow's wife came out of the changing room again.

He looked at her and immediately said: "That looks good on you. Get that one."

"Honey," she replied, "this is what I was wearing when we came in."