GOVT SETS BALL ROLLING, FOR ONE NATION, ONE ELECTION

Setting the ball rolling on its party’s manifesto promise of working towards simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the country, the govt Friday announced a committee that would submit its report to Parliament. While details of the committee’s composition were not announced, it is learnt that former President Ram Nath Kovind will head it.

This comes a day after the govt, in a surprise announcement, called a special session of Parliament from September 18-22 without citing any reason.

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said that once the committee submits its report, it will be discussed in the public domain and Parliament.

In a tweet, Joshi said, “India is the mother of democracy and our democracy is a mature democracy. There has been a long and rich tradition of discussing subjects related to the interest of the country. Right now only a committee has been constituted to discuss the topic of ‘One nation, One election’ and to know the opinion of the people. The agenda for the upcoming special session of Parliament will be shared with the nation soon.”

Opposition leaders alleged that the meeting of the INDIA alliance had rattled the ruling BJP and forced the govt to take a decision to set up the committee. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge called the govt’s move a “diversion and distraction”.

In 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the All-India Presiding Officers’ Conference, said there was a need to deliberate on “one nation, one election”. He had said that one electoral roll should be used for Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. “Why are we wasting so much money and time?” he had asked.

In its manifesto for the 2019 and the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had promised to work towards simultaneous polls.

In 2015, when a Parliamentary Standing Committee sought their view, the Opposition Congress, TMC, CPI and NCP, now part of the INDIA alliance, had all rejected the idea of holding simultaneous elections.

The Congress had said “the proposal of holding simultaneous elections, ideal as it may sound is impractical, unworkable and can lead to a scenario where the necessary balance in Indian democracy given the diversity of the country is lost.”

OPPN ALLIANCE DIVIDED OVER SEAT-SHARING TIMELINE

Leaders of the Opposition INDIA bloc put up a united face after their two-day meeting in Mumbai on Friday, but the Trinamool Congress is said to be unhappy with the failure to decide on a timeline for a seat-sharing agreement. Some other parties — including the AAP, RJD, SP and the JD(U) — also want a seat-sharing pact to be decided at the earliest.

TMC chairperson and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee did not attend a joint press conference addressed by the alliance leaders after the meeting. Banerjee and Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee, her nephew, left the venue for the airport soon after the meeting was over. Senior TMC leader Derek O’Brien also did not attend the press conference. At the meeting, both Abhishek and O’Brien argued that the most pressing issue before the parties was seat sharing and it should be taken up first.

The third meeting of the INDIA bloc — the first two were held in Patna and Bengaluru — passed a resolution that read, “We, the INDIA parties, hereby resolve to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections together as far as possible…”

AIRDROP SUPPLIES IF NEED BE IN MANIPUR AREAS HIT BY VIOLENCE: SC TO GOVT

The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre and Manipur govt to ensure that food, medicine and other essential supplies reach the violence-hit areas of the state, which has been witnessing ethnic clashes since May.

Told about blockades preventing supplies from reaching the affected populations, a bench presided by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud asked agencies to consider all options, including airdropping essential supplies if necessary, keeping in mind the humanitarian situation. “The manner in which the blockade should be dealt with is for the law enforcement agencies to determine, but bearing in mind the humanitarian situation involved, the govt should explore all possible options, including the airdropping of supplies if it becomes necessary,” he said.

The directions were issued after Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora, appearing for the SC-appointed committee of former judges, pointed out that there was blockade at Moreh as a result of which food supplies could not be delivered. She also informed the bench that there is an outbreak of chicken pox and other diseases in some of the relief camps.

ISRO ALL SET TO LAUNCH MISSION TO STUDY SUN

ISRO is ready to launch its Aditya-L1 mission to study the Sun at 11.50 am today from the second launch pad at Sriharikota.

The 1,480 kg spacecraft will be carried by India’s workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and put in a highly elliptical orbit of 235 km x 19,500 km around the Earth. The PSLV in its XL configuration, which has six solid fuel-based boosters, will take just over an hour to place the satellite in orbit.

The orbit as well as the velocity of the spacecraft will then be increased till it is slingshot towards the Sun. The distance of 1.5 million km to L1 point will be covered in nearly four months (125 days). The spacecraft will then be inserted in a halo orbit around the L1 point. The seven science experiments onboard will continue collecting data for the next five years.

The range the spacecraft will travel is just 1% of the 150 million km distance to the Sun.

The L1 point lies much beyond the orbit of the Moon and it does not have any other planet crossing by so the view from the spacecraft will remain free of an eclipse even when it is experienced on the Earth. Studying the sun from space also ensures that there are no distortions to the measurements that would be experienced on Earth due to the atmosphere, magnetic field and dust particles.

The spacecraft will reach its designated orbit in early 2024, allowing it a good few months of observation of the ascending solar cycle and then the descending cycle in 2025,” said Prof R Ramesh from Indian Institute of Astrophysics, whose team was involved in developing the scientific experiments that will be carried by the mission. The solar cycle usually follows an 11-year pattern.

There are five Lagrange points between any two celestial bodies – these points can act as parking spots in space where the gravitational pull of the celestial objects equals the centripetal force required to keep a satellite in orbit. This means satellites placed at Lagrange points do not need to expend a lot of fuel to remain in position.

The main objective of the mission is to get a deeper understanding of the star closest to us and how its radiation, heat, flow of particles, and magnetic fields affect us.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

======================

INDIAN-ORIGIN THARMAN SHANMUGARATNAM ELECTED SINGAPORE PRESIDENT

Tharman Shanmugaratnam (66), an Indian-origin Singapore-born economist, registered a landslide victory in Singapore’s presidential election on Friday, winning over 70% of the 2.48 million votes cast in the country’s first contested presidential poll since 2011. His Chinese-origin rivals Ng Kok Song and Tan Kin Lian received 15.72% and 13.88%, respectively, the Elections Department said.

Tharman has become Singapore’s third Indian-origin President. PM Lee Hsien Loong congratulated Tharman, who served as Singapore’s Deputy PM from 2011 to 2019, on winning the presidential election. “Singaporeans have chosen Tharman Shanmugaratnam to be our next President by a decisive margin. As head of state, he will represent us at home and abroad, and exercise custodial powers, including over the reserves and key appointments,” he said.

SIMULATED NUCLEAR ATTACKS ON SOUTH KOREA; REHEARSED OCCUPATION OF RIVALS: NORTH KOREA

North Korea said, on August 31, its latest missile launches simulated “scorched earth” nuclear strikes on South Korea and that it's also been rehearsing an occupation of its rivals' territory in the event of conflict.

Pyongyang has previously tested nuclear-capable missiles and described how it would use them in potential wars with South Korea and the U.S. “But the North’s disclosure of detailed war plans reaffirmed its aggressive nuclear doctrine to intimidate its opponents, as it escalates its protest of the ongoing South Korean-U.S. military exercises that it views as a major security threat,” observers say.

North Korea's military said it fired two tactical ballistic missiles from the capital on Wednesday night (August 30) to simulate “scorched earth strikes” at major command centres and operational airfields in South Korea, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. The North's military said the missiles carried out their simulated strikes through air bursts, suggesting it confirmed the explosions of dummy warheads at a set altitude.

North Korea said its missile tests were response to the United States' flyover of long-range B-1B bombers for a joint aerial training with South Korea earlier on Wednesday as part of the allies' field exercises.

THE REST

=========

EC'S WAY FORWARD ON ONE NATION ONE POLL

Holding simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha and all assemblies would need any no-confidence motion to be coupled with a 'confidence motion' by a leader proposed as next prime minister or chief minister, while any mid-term election can be conducted only for remainder of the term, the Election Commission had said earlier.

Proposing amendments to the Constitution, the EC had said the term of Lok Sabha would normally commence and expire on a particular date (and not on the date on which it completes five years from the date of its first sitting).

The period for general election to constitute the new house should be so determined that Lok Sabha could commence its term on the pre-determined date.

To avoid premature dissolution of Lok Sabha, any no-confidence motion against the govt should "necessarily include" a further 'confidence motion' in favour of a govt to be headed by a named individual as the future prime minister and voting should take place for the two motions together, the EC had said while sharing its suggestions on simultaneous polls.

The poll panel had also suggested that in case the dissolution of the house cannot be avoided, then fresh elections can be held if the remainder of the term is long. In such a case, the term of the house should be for the rest of what would have been the original term.

It had said if the remainder of the term of the Lok Sabha is not long, there could be a provision for the President to carry out the administration of the country on the aid and advice of the council of ministers to be appointed by him/her till, the time the next house is constituted at the prescribed time.

It had suggested similar arrangement for state legislative assemblies.

It had said the terms "long" and "not long" should be defined.

If a govt has to resign for some reason and an alternative is not possible, then provision can be considered for a fresh election if the remainder of the term is comparatively longer period and in other cases, rule by the governor or President's Rule.

The EC said two windows of one-and-a-half months each may be fixed for holding all by-elections that become due in a particular year.

The EC also pointed out several difficulties which might be encountered for conducting simultaneous elections. The chief issue highlighted by it was that simultaneous conduct of elections would require large scale purchase of Electronic Voting Machines and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines.

DO SOME SOCIAL SERVICE WHILE ON LEAVE: ARMY TO ITS SOLDIERS

The Army wants its troops to take part in social service while they are on leave to enhance “nation-building efforts”.

Starting this month, all Army formations across the country are expected to provide feedback on this effort every quarter. A letter to this effect, addressed to all Command Headquarters, was issued in May by the Ceremonials and Welfare Directorate of the Adjutant General’s Branch of Army Headquarters.

The letter lays emphasis on gainfully utilising the time which soldiers spend on leave in order to perform various social service duties — these have been suggested in an annexure to the letter.

“It is recommended that every soldier proceeding on leave volunteers to choose any subject/domain as per own interest/competency and the felt need of one’s local community and engages citizens, thereby making an individual contribution to the Indian Army’s nation-building effort,” the letter stated.

The directive goes on to say that while the aim of granting leave to soldiers is to enable an individual to spend time with his family and address personal commitments, adequate scope exists to gainfully utilise the time spent on leave to engage with the local community in a constructive manner.

“Each soldier of the Indian Army possesses a unique resume, based on individual qualities, skill sets and service imbibed character and value system. Our human resource pool, has a pan India footprint, comprising diverse areas and communities, with the majority hailing from a rural background. This connect with the society can be meaningfully leveraged for augmenting our national-building efforts, by impacting lives of citizens and local communities, by our personnel, while on leave,” it states.

ED ARRESTS JET AIRWAYS FOUNDER NARESH GOYAL IN BANK FRAUD CASE

The ED yesterday arrested Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal in an alleged money laundering case linked to the Rs 538-crore Canara Bank loan fraud case. His arrest in Mumbai came after seven hours of  questioning during the day. He will be produced before the special PMLA court today.

The Jet Airways (India) Ltd had dealings with Canara Bank since 2005, and all exposures to the company were under a State Bank of India-led consortium arrangement.

According to the bank’s complaint, when Goyal’s companies started defaulting on repayment of loans availed from the consortium, the bank called in a forensic auditor to scrutinise all transactions and documentations processed between April 1, 2011 and June 19, 2019.

The forensic audit report, submitted on February 10, 2021, pointed out “glaring irregularities”.

According to the CBI, the audit report found fraudulent features such as diversion and siphoning of funds by the accused companies.

MAGSAYSAY AWARD FOR THIS DEDICATED CANCER SURGEON

IN 2007, Dr Ravi Kannan left his life in Chennai behind to take over as director of a small charitable cancer hospital started by a group of locals in far-away Silchar, Assam. As the hospital and its list of patients grew over the years, so did word of the surgical oncologist’s work, and on Thursday, he was announced as one of the four winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Award this year.

When those running the Cachar Cancer Hospital Society first got in touch with Dr Kannan, he was heading the department of surgical oncology at Adyar Cancer Institute in Chennai. The then director of the Cachar hospital, Dr Chinmoy Choudhury, would visit the Institute to observe and pick up practices and would refer patients to him. Then, Dr Kannan said, when he left his job at the Chennai institute, “one thing led to another” and they offered him the position of Director at the Cachar hospital.

“My wife Seeta flatly said no, because we knew the region only for bomb blasts and militancy. But they were persistent and wrote multiple letters, and so we finally visited together… During that visit, we truly felt there was a lot of need to serve the cancer patients there. So, my wife left her job with the United States India Educational Foundation and we moved here,” he said, adding that the support of his family “is the only reason I am here”.

CHILDREN BORN OUT OF VOID/VOIDABLE MARRIAGES HAVE RIGHT ON PARENT’S ANCESTRAL PROPERTY: SC

Children born out of void or voidable marriages can claim a right in their parent’s share of ancestral property, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday.

A three-judge Bench presided by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, however, clarified that they cannot claim rights in the ancestral property of anyone else in the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) governed by Mitakshara Law but only in their parents’ share.

Delving into the history of amendments made to the Hindu Succession Act, the court explained why such children can have rights only on their parent’s share of ancestral property and not in the property of the entire HUF.

CAR SALES ZOOM TO NEW HIGH IN AUGUST, SIGNAL STRONG FESTIVAL SHOW

The Indian auto mobile industry posted its highest ever monthly domestic passenger vehicle (PV) sales at 360,897 units in August, up 10.4 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y). This came ahead of festival season and on the back of  growth in the overall economy, an uptick in production due to a better chip supply, and high demand for SUVs.

Manufacturing activities in the country also gained momentum in August as new orders and output increased.

The S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 58.6 in August, against 57.7 in July.  The August figure, the highest in three months, marked 26 months of the index remaining above the 50 mark, separating expansion from contraction.

On the other hand, around 19.16 million households sought work under the rural job guarantee scheme last month, up 20 per cent Y-o-Y, which experts and activists attributed to a prolonged monsoon break. This exacerbated existing weakness in the rural job market.

The Indian automobile industry in August topped its previous domestic PV sales high of 355,400 units, achieved in September 2022.

Asked if the car industry is expecting this year's festival season to be the best in terms of sales, a senior executive at Maruti Suzuki replied: “It looks like that. Generally, the festival season is 23-26 per cent of the annual sales.”

INDICATORS

Sensex 65,387 (+556), Nifty 19,435 (+182)

Nasdaq 14,032 (-3) Dow 34,838 (+116), S&P 4,516 (+8)

US$-Rs. 82.68, GBP-Rs. 104.51, Euro-Rs. 89.47, UAE Dhm-Rs. 22.50, Can$-Rs. 61.04, Aus$- Rs. 53.46

GBP 0.79 /US$, Euro 0.92 /US$, Jap.Yen 145.69 /US$, Aus$ 1.54 /US$, Sing 1.35 /US$, Bang Taka 108.16 /US$, Can$ 1.35 /US$, Mal Ring 4.64 /US$, Pak Re 305.04 /US$, Phil Peso 56.59 /US$, Russian Rouble 96.20 /US$, NZ$ 1.67 /US$, Thai Baht 35.03 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 36.69 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 25,807, Dollar Index 104.25, Brent Crude 88.55, BDI 1086

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,940 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 6,005 / 5,505, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 80,700

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

We are a way for the cosmos to know itself. - Carl Sagan, Cosmos

OFF TRACK

This 11 year old little boy saddles up to the bar. "Hey, sweetie," he says to the waitress, "how about a Scotch on the rocks?"

She says, "Uh huh. Are you trying to get me in trouble?"

"Maybe later, honey -- but now I could really use that drink."