GOVT UNVEILS SPECIAL SESSION AGENDA

Hours after it called an all-party meeting on the eve of Parliament’s special session starting September 18, the government Wednesday gave some indication of what was on the table.

As per a bulletin issued Wednesday evening by the Lok Sabha Secretariat for MPs, the two Houses will discuss the “Parliamentary Journey of 75 years starting from Samvidhan Sabha — Achievements, Experiences, Memories and Learnings”, and take up for consideration four Bills.

The Bills include the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, introduced during the Monsoon Session in the Lok Sabha; the Advocates (Amendment) Bill and the Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, passed by the Rajya Sabha in the Monsoon Session; and the Post Office Bill, introduced in the Rajya Sabha during the Monsoon Session.

The Rajya Sabha agenda also lists the Repealing and Amending Bill, 2023, which was passed by the Lok Sabha in July.

Since the government sprang a surprise by announcing the special session, just over a month after the Monsoon Session had ended, speculation has been rife over what could be on its pre-poll agenda.

While the agenda outlined by the government on Wednesday was unexceptional, and included legislation in various stages of discussion already in Parliament, there’s speculation that there could still be some surprises, and “something more substantive”, over the five days of the session.

Jairam Ramesh, the Congress general secretary in-charge of communications, posted on X that the Modi government had been “compelled” to announce the agenda under “pressure”, after Sonia Gandhi wrote to the PM. He added: “The agenda as published at the moment, is much ado about nothing – all this could have waited till Winter session in November. I am sure the legislative grenades are being kept up their sleeves to be unleashed at the last moment as usual.”

Senior Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien said the agenda has a caveat, “not to be taken as exhaustive”, and wondered whether the government was up to some “dirty tricks”.

However, a section of BJP leaders said one reason the government wanted to hold the special session was that the Winter Session of Parliament, otherwise held in November-December, could be delayed due to the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram. The government wanted to highlight its recent “successes” such as hosting of the G20 Summit and the Chandrayaan 3 mission, in the House before the polls, they said.

INDIA ALLIANCE TO START SEAT-SHARING TALKS IN STATES SANS UNIFORM FORMULA

The 28-member Opposition INDIA bloc Wednesday decided to start the difficult process of electoral seat-sharing at the state level without any across-the-board or uniform formula. The disparate parties appeared to be banking on their chemistry to get their arithmetic right.

The Opposition alliance also decided to hold its first joint public meeting in Bhopal in the poll-bound Madhya Pradesh in the first week of October. The choice of Bhopal as the venue of the bloc’s first rally is interesting given that the parties have not worked out any seat-sharing arrangement for MP so far.

The Aam Aadmi Party, one of the alliance members, has already announced its first list of ten candidates for the MP Assembly polls. It is to be seen whether the Congress – a dominant player in MP which is fighting a “do-or-die” battle in a bid to oust the BJP from power – will agree to offer some seats to the AAP, which despite its virtual non-existence in the state is keen to make inroads there. In fact, the situation is the same in another poll-bound state, Chhattisgarh, where the Congress is the incumbent party.

IAF TAKES DELIVERY OF FIRST C295 TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT

The indian Air Force on Wednesday received delivery of the first of the 56 C295 aircraft which are set to replace its ageing Avro-748 fleet.

In a statement, Airbus Defence and Space said that the C295, in transport configuration and with an indigenous electronic warfare suite, will leave the Airbus production site in Seville, Spain, for Delhi in the next few days, piloted by a joint IAF-Airbus crew.

In September 2021, India formalised the acquisition of 56 Airbus C295 aircraft to replace the legacy Avro fleet of the IAF at a cost of Rs 21,935 crore.

The first 16 C295s of the 56 aircraft on order will be assembled at the San Pablo Sur site in Seville. The remaining 40 C295s of the IAF order will be manufactured and assembled – in partnership with Tata Advanced Systems Limited – at a Final Assembly Line in Gujarat’s Vadodara.

WISH SUCH DEBATES TOOK PLACE IN OUR PARLIAMENT, P CHIDAMBARAM

Congress leader P Chidambatam on Wednesday took a swipe at the government citing a debate in UK Parliament between Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and opposition members after his return from India following G20 Summit, and said he wished such a debate took place in India's Parliament.

Chidambaram in his post on X said, "Please read the reports of the debate in the House of Commons when MPs questioned Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on his talks with Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi. Hard questions by the Opposition, prompt answers by the Prime Minister."

"It is not important who prevailed in the debate. What is important is that a debate took place in Parliament within hours of the Prime Minister's return to Britain. How I wish such a debate took place in India's Parliament. Such questions and answers were normal in Parliament when Jawaharlal Nehru was prime minister," the former Union minister said.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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OVER 6,000 KILLED, MORE THAN 30,000 DISPLACED AFTER FLOODS IN LIBYA

More than 6000 people have lost their lives due to heavy flooding that caused massive devastation across Libya. According to workers, mortuaries are overflowing in hospitals that are still closed despite the pressing need to treat disaster survivors.

Authorities fear 10,000 more people remain missing, maybe swept out to sea or buried beneath rubble strewn over the metropolis that formerly housed over 100,000 people.

UKRAINE HITS HQ OF RUSSIA’S BLACK SEA FLEET IN CRIMEA

Ukraine said it struck Russian naval targets and port infrastructure early on Wednesday in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, in what appeared to be the biggest attack of the war on the headquarters of the Russian navy’s Black Sea fleet. The strike on Crimea, which was seized and annexed by Russia in 2014, was confirmed by Moscow. It highlighted Kyiv’s growing missile capabilities.

“We confirm a large landing vessel and submarine were hit. We do not comment on the means (used) for the strike,” Ukrainian military intelligence official Andriy Yusov said in a rare acknowledgement, giving no further details. Russia’s defence ministry said Ukraine had attacked a Black Sea shipyard with 10 cruise missiles and three uncrewed speedboats in the early hours, damaging two military vessels that had been undergoing repairs. It said it downed seven of the incoming missiles and that the attack boats had been destroy ed by a Russian patrol ship.

KIM SUPPORTS ‘COMRADE’ PUTIN’S ‘SACRED’ WAR AGAINST ‘EVIL’ WEST

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin met for a rare summit on Wednesday at which they discussed military matters, the war in Ukraine and possible Russian help for the secretive Communist state’s satellite programme. Putin showed Kim around Russia’s most advanced space rocket launch site in Russia’s Far East after Kim arrived by train from North Korea.

During lunch, Kim raised a toast to Putin’s health, to the victory of “great Russia” and to Korean-Russian friendship, predicting victory for Russia in its “sacred fight” with the West in the Ukraine war. “The Russian army and people will certainly win a great victory in the sacred struggle for the punishment of a great evil that claims hegemony and feeds an expansionist illusion,” he said.

THE REST

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TWO OFFICERS FROM ARMY, ONE FROM POLICE KILLED IN GUNFIGHT WITH MILITANTS IN ANANTNAG

An army Colonel, a Major and a Deputy Superintendent of Police of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Police were killed in a gunfight with militants in Anantnag district of South Kashmir on Wednesday morning.

Police identified the dead security personnel as Colonel Manpreet Singh, Commanding Officer of 19 Rashtriya Rifles in Kokernag, Major Aashish Dhonchak, and Deputy Superintendent of Police Himayun Muzamil Bhat.

Official sources said a joint team of the J&K Police and Army had launched an operation in Gadool forest of Kokernag, in Anantnag district, Tuesday evening following inputs about movement of militants in the area. On Wednesday morning, the search party, led by the senior officers, came under heavy fire, leaving the three officers critically injured. They were airlifted to Srinagar, where they succumbed to their injuries.

While there were no reports of any militant deaths, officials said the operation was underway until late night.

SHASHI THAROOR HAILS MODI GOVT FOR G20 NEW DELHI DECLARATION

Shashi Tharoor of the Congress said the New Delhi Declaration at the 18th G20 Summit is “undoubtedly a diplomatic triumph for India”. He also praised the Narendra Modi government for bringing all member states to a consensus on the New Delhi Declaration. The Congress MP, however, criticised the government for instrumentalising the G20 Summit as something that would turn out to be an asset for it.

“The Delhi Declaration is undoubtedly a diplomatic triumph for India. It's a good achievement because right until the G20 summit was being convened, the widespread expectation was there would be no agreement and, that, therefore, a joint communique might not be possible, and, that we might have to end up with a chairman's summary," Tharoor told news agency ANI on Sunday.

Tharoor was all praise India's G20 sherpa Amitabh Kant, foreign minister jaishankar and the very competent committed team of foreign service officers.

“Things that were remarkable about the government's conduct of the presidency was that they did something that no previous G20 presidency has done. They actually made it a nationwide event, 200 meetings in 58 cities with a huge amount of action, they converted the G20 into a sort of people G20. With public events, the university connect programmes, civil societies, all these things were done under our presidency. That is in some ways both a credit to India for taking a message of G20 to the entire people. But it was also an attempt by the ruling party to instrumentalise the G20 as something that would turn out to be an asset for them,” Tharoor said.

But he also added that while many countries have hosted the G20 event, never has any ruling party celebrated its leadership in such a way, the whole Vishwaguru concept, the posters of Mr Modi every 50 meters in Delhi. All of these are advertising the G20 as if it was the personal achievement of Mr Modi and the BJP government and that I think has raised some eyebrows.”

SANATAN DHARMA ROW: STALIN SAYS BJP TRYING TO DISTRACT FROM MAIN ISSUES

Indicating that the DMK was digging its heels in, as the BJP mounts attack on it over the Sanatan Dharma controversy, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin accused the BJP of trying to divert people’s attention from pressing national issues and its corrupt practices.

In a detailed statement, Stalin said, “The Prime Minister has not fulfilled any poll promises made before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP government has lost the people’s faith and is engaging in a publicity spree,” Stalin said, adding that the party was hence trying to “masterfully” divert attention “through media sensationalism and other tactics”.

On the Manipur situation, the DMK chief said: “For the past four months, there has been unrest in Manipur. The BJP, which lacks a spine, is in power there. Just two days ago, there was also a shootout. Without addressing all of this, the BJP is trying to divert attention.”

NIPAH VIRUS IN KERALA: 9 PANCHAYATS IN KOZHIKODE DISTRICT DECLARED CONTAINMENT ZONES

The number of Nipah cases in Kozhikode rose to five on Wednesday after a health worker tested positive for the infection even as the source of the virus remained unknown.

The state had earlier reported four positive Nipah cases – two of them have died over the last two weeks. The 24-year-old health worker, whose samples tested positive for Nipah, belongs to a private hospital in Kozhikode, where one of the victims died of the infection on August 30. The health worker and two other people are under treatment.

As many as 153 health workers have figured in the contact list of the confirmed cases.

Meanwhile, the state government Wednesday scaled up control measures. A state-level control room was opened, nine panchayats in Kozhikode district were declared containment zones, and 800-odd persons brought under observation after they figured in the contact lists of the infected persons.

POLICE BRIEFING MUSTN'T LEAD TO MEDIA TRIAL: SUPREME COURT

Noting that police disclosure about criminal cases should not result in a media trial, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to prepare in three months a comprehensive manual on media briefings by the police on cases under investigation.

“The guidelines must ensure that disclosure does not result in a media trial so as to allow prejudging of the accused. Media trials are liable to result in deflection of cause of justice by impacting the evidence which should be adduced and its assessment by adjudicating authorities,” a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said. The Bench, including Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Manoj Misra, ordered DGPs of all states to submit their suggestions to the MHA within a month on how to go about preparing the manual.

"DEEPLY TROUBLING": INDIA ON US COP LAUGHING AFTER INDIAN STUDENT'S DEATH

India has urged the US to conduct a thorough investigation into bodycam footage of a Seattle cop joking about the death of an Indian student after she was hit by a speeding police car.

Jaahnavi Kandula, 23, was killed in January after being hit by a police vehicle driven by Officer Kevin Dave. He was driving at nearly 120 kmph on the way to a report of an overdose, the Seattle Times newspaper reported.

In a video released by the Seattle Police Department on Monday, another cop can be heard joking and laughing while discussing the accident.

In the clip, Seattle Police Officers' Guild Vice President Daniel Auderer, in a call with the guild's president, can be heard saying, "She is dead" before bursting out into laughter and calling Ms. Kandula "a regular person". He further said, through bursts of laughter, "Yeah, just write a check. Eleven thousand dollars.'' The clip ends with him saying: "She was 26 anyway, she had limited value".

Indian Consulate in San Francisco termed the handling of Kandula's death in a road accident as "deeply troubling" and sought action against those involved in the case.

BANKS MUST RETURN YOUR DOCUMENTS WITHIN 30 DAYS OF LOAN REPAYMENT

The RBI has asked all Regulated Entities (that is, banks and non-banking financial companies), to release the original documents of movable or immovable property within a month of the full repayment or settlement of loans by borrowers.

In case of delay, the lender will have to compensate the borrower at the rate of Rs 5,000 per day of delay, the RBI said. The directives will come into effect on December 1, 2023.

The RBI yesterday directed all Regulated Entities (REs) — that is banks, non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), housing finance companies, small finance banks (SFBs), regional rural banks (RRBs) and cooperative banks — to release, as part of responsible lending conduct, the original movable or immovable property documents, and remove charges registered with any registry within a period of 30 days after full repayment or settlement of the loan account by a borrower.

The RBI said a borrower will have the option of collecting the original property documents either from the banking outlet or the branch where the loan account was serviced, or any other office of the RE where the documents are available, as per their preference.

The lender will have to mention the timeline and place of return of original property documents in the loan sanction letters issued on or after December 1, 2023.

To address a situation in which the borrower(s) are no longer alive, the lenders must have a well laid out procedure for the return of the original property documents to the legal heirs, the RBI said.

RECYCLING BATTERY WASTE TO PUSH CIRCULAR ECONOMY FOR EVs

At least 59 electric vehicle (EV) makers that use lithium-ion batteries like MG Motor, Ola Electric, Ather Energy, Tata Motors, and Mahindra & Mahindra have registered for recycling battery waste on an online portal operationalised by India’s apex pollution control authority earlier this year.

Producers registering on the portal are granted a five-year certificate as part of a mandated process to facilitate the proper management of battery waste.

The European Union also requires producers in member countries to collect battery waste and recover a minimum of 50 per cent lithium from end-of-life batteries by 2027, in its efforts to promote a circular economy. In India too, EPR compliance has been mandatory for the recycling of plastic packaging waste.

PULL IPHONE 12 OFF SHELVES: FRENCH AGENCY TO APPLE

A French government watchdog agency ordered Apple to withdraw the iPhone 12 from the market, saying it emits levels of electromagnetic radiation that are too high.

The National Frequency Agency, which oversees radio-electric frequencies as well as public exposure electromagnetic radiation, called on Apple in a statement on Tuesday to “implement all available means to rapidly fix this malfunction”.

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