GOVT CONFIRMS: IN BALI, MODI AND XI SPOKE ON NEED TO STABILISE RELATIONS

Eight months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 Summit in Bali for their first in-person meeting in public view since the start of the standoff along the LAC in May 2020, the govt, for the first time, said Thursday that the two leaders had spoken about the “need to stabilise bilateral relations”.

In November last year, Indian officials had said that the “Prime Minister and President Xi Jinping, who were both attending the G20 dinner hosted by the Indonesian President, exchanged courtesies at the conclusion of the dinner”.

But this week, after National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi in South Africa on the sidelines of a meeting of BRICS NSAs, the Chinese Foreign Ministry mentioned the “important consensus” between Xi and Modi at the Bali Summit.

“At the end of last year, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Modi reached an important consensus on stabilising China-India relations in Bali,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said.

On Thursday, while responding to questions, Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, said, “Prime Minister (Modi) and President Xi Jinping, at the conclusion of that dinner hosted by the Indonesian President, exchanged courtesies and also spoke of the need to stabilise our bilateral relations. As you are aware, we have steadfastly maintained that the key to resolution of this whole issue is to resolve the situation along the LAC on the western sector of the India-China boundary, and to restore peace and tranquillity in the border areas.”

OPPOSITION BLOC TO SEND MPs TO MANIPUR, PARTIES HIT BACK AT PM MODI

After moving a no-confidence motion against the BJP govt, the 26-party Opposition INDIA alliance on Thursday decided to send a multi-party delegation of MPs to Manipur over the weekend, in an attempt to keep the issue alive and to mount more pressure on the govt in the run-up to the no-trust motion discussion in Lok Sabha.

The decision to send a delegation to Manipur came on the day the alliance saw a minor discord over the Congress rushing to give the notice for no-confidence in Lok Sabha, without getting the signatures of MPs of other parties. Many of the parties conveyed their displeasure to the Congress, prompting Mallikarjun Kharge, party chief and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, to admit it was a mistake which could have been avoided.

The Opposition MPs coordinated their moves on Thursday, wearing black clothes to Parliament as a mark of protest over the govt not agreeing to their demand for a suo motu statement by Modi in Parliament on the Manipur situation followed by a comprehensive debate.

The Opposition also objected to the govt clearing Bills dealing with policy changes at a time when the Lok Sabha is in the process of taking up a no-confidence motion.

Quoting from M N Kaul and S L Shakdher’s Practice and Procedure of Parliament — the reference book for rules of the House — Senior MP and RSP leader N K Premachandran said: “When leave of the House to the moving of a motion has been granted, no substantive motion on policy matters needs to be brought before the House by the govt till the Motion of no Confidence has been disposed of.” He said this especially held true for legislation on policy matters such as the forest Bill.

EAM SLAMS OPPN FOR DISRUPTING FOREIGN POLICY STATEMENT

India is now recognised as a voice that speaks for all and stands for peace, security and prosperity, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in Parliament on Thursday.

Making a suo motu statement on ‘Latest Developments in India’s Foreign Policy’ in both Houses of Parliament, he also said India’s G20 presidency has served as a catalyst in invigorating the country’s foreign policy and also realising the vision of ‘atmanirbhar and viksit Bharat’.

Making the statement amidst din, he listed overseas engagements by top dignitaries with a prominent mention of PM Modi’s US visit to make the case that Indian foreign policy was vigorously active.

“Today, the world recognises that when India speaks, it speaks not only for itself, but for many others. And that India speaks as a voice of peace, security and prosperity for all,” he said.

Jaishankar later said he felt bad that the Opposition was not ready to listen. “They claim to be ‘INDIA’, the name of their alliance, but if they are not prepared to listen about India’s national interests, then what kind of INDIA are they?”

PM MODI CARRIES ON ABOUT OPPN ALLIANCE I.N.D.I.A.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday accused the Congress-led opposition, which he accused of changing the name to INDIA to conceal “UPA’s past sins”.

In a belligerent attack on the Opposition, Modi said that just as “Quit India” was the slogan at the height of the freedom struggle, the mantra for a developed India is “corruption quit India, dynasties quit India, appeasement quit India”.

“To erase the misdeeds of the UPA, they (the Opposition) have changed their name from UPA to INDIA.... Their modus operandi is the same as that of the nation’s enemies. East India Company also had the name INDIA, but its motive was to plunder the nation. During the Congress rule, Students’ Islamic Movement of India was formed. It also had the name INDIA but its mission was to destroy India with terror attacks. When SIMI was banned, it surfaced with a new name, Popular Front of India, which too had INDIA but the same old sinister designs.... They have changed their name to hide the sin of bowing before terrorism and betraying the poor...,” said the PM in an unusually ballistic address that invited sharp reactions from the Opposition.

While Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge accused him of “tarnishing democracy” by speaking “here and there when Parliament was in session”, Rahul Gandhi said the PM had “become so arrogant as to abuse even a pure word like INDIA”.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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BIDEN OVERRIDES PENTAGON, ORDERS US TO SHARE RUSSIA WAR CRIMES EVIDENCE WITH ICC

President Joe Biden is said to have ordered the US govt to begin sharing evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine with the International Criminal Court in The Hague, signalling a major shift in the policy. The decision, made by Biden in recent days, overrides months of resistance by the Pentagon, which argued that it could pave the way for the court to prosecute American troops, according to the officials.

The ICC, a permanent war crimes tribunal, in March issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for suspected deportation of children from Ukraine, which would be a war crime.

It was unclear why Biden let the impasse linger or what finally led him to resolve it, but he has been under mounting bipartisan pressure to act. Last week, for example, a Senate committee approved a govt funding bill that had a provision stating that the president “shall provide information” to the court to assist with its investigations into war crimes in Ukraine.

US intelligence agencies are said to have gathered information including details about decisions by Russian officials to deliberately strike civilian infrastructure in Ukraine and forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children from occupied territory.

N KOREA SHOWS OFF BANNED MISSILES TO RUSSIA DEFENCE MIN

Russia’s defence minister on Thursday accompanied North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to a defence exhibition that featured the North’s banned ballistic missiles as the neighbours pledged to boost ties. Russia’s Sergei Shoigu and a Chinese delegation arrived in North Korea this week for the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, celebrated in North Korea as “Victory Day”. The nuclear-capable missiles were banned under UNSC resolutions adopted with Russian and Chinese support. United by their rivalry with the US, the three nations this week provided a show of solidarity reminiscent of the Cold War era.

THE REST

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GOVT PUSHES FOR SIMULTANEOUS POLLS TO LOK SABHA, STATE ASSEMBLIES

Simultaneous elections would result in huge savings to the public exchequer, avoidance of replication of effort on part of administrative and law and order machinery in holding repeated elections and bring considerable savings to political parties and candidates in poll campaigns, the govt informed Parliament on Thursday.

Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal highlighted certain major impediments and imperatives for simultaneous polls such as obtaining consensus of all political parties and amendments in not less than five Articles of the Constitution

“Further, asynchronous Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly elections (including by-elections) result in prolonged enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct with its concomitant adverse impact on developmental and welfare programmes,” Minister of State for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply in response to a question from BJP MP Kirodi Lal Meena.

CBI TO PROBE MANIPUR SEXUAL ASSAULT VIDEO

Investigation into the sexual assault of Kuki women in Manipur, whose video of being paraded naked set off outrage across the nation, will be handed over to the CBI and the Centre will request the Supreme Court to allow the trial to be moved out of the state to Assam, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said Thursday.

The individual who allegedly recorded the video has been apprehended and the mobile phone that was used to record it has been retrieved, Shah said in an interaction with editors at his Atal Akshay Urja Bhavan office.

The recovery of the phone and its forensics will help connect the dots and expose the “chain” of complicity, Shah said.

On the eve of the hearing on the matter, the Centre, in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, said it wanted deterrent punishment for the culprits.

RED DIARY VS RED TOMATOES: MODI, GEHLOT IN WAR OF WORDS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday exchanged jibes over the red diary that a sacked state minister claims records financial misdeeds of the CM and his colleagues.

Addressing a rally in Sikar, Modi called the diary a product of the loot ki dukan run by the Congress.

After the event, Gehlot accused the prime minister of real loot for selling the red (cooking gas) cylinder for Rs 1,150, complaining also about the price of red tomatoes .

Modi's Rajasthan visit his seventh this year in the Congress-run poll-bound state comes amid the red diary row, which recently led to pushing and shoving in the state assembly. Congress MLA Rajendra Gudha had tried to table the diary in the assembly, a day after he was sacked as a minister for criticising his own govt's record on law and order.

YSRC TO STAND BY MODI GOVT

The YS Jaganmohan Reddy led YSRCP has decided to support the Narendra Modi govt in Parliament and vote against the no-confidence motion moved by the opposition bloc.

"How does bringing a no-confidence motion help the country? Trying to weaken the Central govt at this time of disturbance in Manipur and two hostile neighbours is not in the national interest," YSRCP Parliamentary Party leader Vijayasai Reddy said.

"It is the time to work together not against each other. The YSRC Party shall support the govt and vote against the motion," he said.

YSR Congress Party has 22 members in the Lok Sabha and nine in the Rajya Sabha.

ON PAK TV SHOW, SHEHBAZ AIDE ADMITS DRONES ARE DROPPING DRUGS IN PUNJAB

Pakistani smugglers are increasingly using drones to send drugs across the border to India, a senior Pakistan govt functionary has said, in a first such admission that corroborates allegations that Pakistani peddlers are using hi-tech means to pour narcotics into the country.

Malik Mohd Ahmad Khan, Special Assistant on Defence to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s, made the remarks in an interview to senior Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir in Kasur city, which borders the Indian Punjab. Khan is a Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) from Kasur.

In a video tweeted by him on July 17, Mir is seen asking Khan a question on cross-border smuggling of narcotics in Kasur, to which Khan replies in the affirmative. “Yes, and it (smuggling) is very scary,” Khan said. “Recently there have been two incidents where 10 kg heroin was tied to each drone and thrown across. Agencies are trying to stop this.”

SC ALLOWS ED CHIEF EXTENSION TILL SEPTEMBER 15, BUT….

The Supreme Court on Thursday extended Sanjay Kumar Mishra’s tenure as the Enforcement Directorate Director till September 15 in view of the ongoing Financial Action Task Force (FATF) review even as it wondered if the govt was not giving an impression that the entire department was full of incompetent persons.

“We find that though in ordinary circumstances, such an application would not have been entertained. However, taking into consideration the larger public interest, we are inclined topermit the respondent no. 2 (Mishra) to continue…as Director, ED, till September 15, 2023,” a three-judge Bench led by Justice BR Gavai said, partially allowing the plea of the Centre, which urged the top court to allow him to function till October 15.

Citing the FATF review, the Centre had on Wednesday moved the apex court urging it to extend the tenure till October 15. Justice Gavai wondered how the govt could be so dependent on one person.

INDIA PULLS OUT OF GAMES IN CHINA OVER STAPLED VISAS FOR ARUNACHAL ATHLETES

As a mark of protest against China’s decision to issue stapled visas — instead of stamped ones — to three athletes from Arunachal Pradesh, India withdrew its entire wushu (martial art) team from the World University Games which begin today in Chengdu.

The decision came hours after airport authorities in New Delhi stopped an eight-member contingent, comprising five athletes, a coach and two support staff, at the boarding gate minutes before departure Thursday midnight, according to coach Raghvendra Singh.

Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, called the Chinese decision “unacceptable”, adding that “India reserves the right to suitably respond to such actions”. “Our long-standing and consistent position is that there should be no discrimination or differential treatment based on domicile or ethnicity in the visa regime for Indian citizens holding valid India passports,” Bagchi said.

“It has come to our notice that stapled visas were issued to some of our citizens representing the country in an international sporting event in China. This is unacceptable and we have lodged our strong protest with the Chinese side, reiterating our consistent position on the matter,” he said.

GYANVAPI CASE: HC RESERVES ORDER, SURVEY OF MOSQUE ON HOLD TILL AUG 3

The Allahabad High Court on Thursday reserved its judgment on an application filed by the Gyanvapi mosque committee challenging the Varanasi district court’s order in which it had directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a scientific survey of the mosque for ascertaining whether the “present structure” was “constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple”.

Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker, who heard the matter, said the survey would not be conducted till the High Court passes its order on August 3.

While challenging the district court’s order in the High Court, the mosque committee argued that such a survey to collect evidence is done at a later stage in the case after both parties submit evidence. The mosque committee also told the court that excavation work may damage the structural integrity of the Gyanvapi mosque.

“We argued that the suit filed by five women in the Varanasi court is not maintainable as it is barred by the Places of Worship Act, which says that the religious character of any religious place will remain the same as it was in 1947. We also told the court that the burden to collect evidence lies on the litigants and the district court can’t do it for them,” said Senior Advocate SFA Naqvi, who appeared on behalf of the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee, the caretaker of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi.

1ST ODI AGAINST W INDIES: KULDEEP, KISHAN POWER INDIA TO EASY WIN

Skipper Rohit Sharma and senior pro Virat Kohli, who have 76 international hundreds between them, decided to give game time to middle-order batters as India beat West Indies by five wickets in the opening ODI, riding on exploits from spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav.

After Jadeja (3/37 in 6 overs) and Kuldeep (4/6 in 3 overs) set it up beautifully, shooting out the Windies for 114 in 23 overs, Ishan Kishan helped himself to a half-century (52 off 46 balls) in India's successful chase in just 22.5 overs.

With 12 ODI matches in hand to find the perfect combination and some pieces of the puzzle still to be fixed before the World Cup, Rahul Dravid and Rohit's decision gave game time to middle-order batters.

While it didn't exactly go as per plan for Suryakumar Yadav (19), who played a non-existent sweep shot, and Hardik Pandya (5), freakishly run-out at the non-striker's end, Kishan did his cause no harm with his fourth half-century.

For India, skipper Rohit came in as late as No. 7 and Kohli didn't even come out to bat.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. - C Nanton

OFF TRACK

A magician was working on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. The audience would be different each week, so the magician allowed himself to do the same tricks over and over again.

There was only one problem: The captain's parrot saw the shows each week and began to understand how the magician did every trick. Once he understood he started shouting in the middle of the show:

"Look, it's not the same hat."

"Look, he is hiding the flowers under the table."

"Hey, why are all the cards the Ace of Spades?"

The magician was furious but couldn't do anything; it was, after all, the captain's parrot.

One day the ship had an accident and sank. The magician found himself on a piece of wood in the middle of the ocean with the parrot, of course.

They stared at each other with hate, but did not utter a word. This went on for a day and another and another.

After a week the parrot said, "OK, I give up. Where's the ship?"