AMID ROW, INDIA ASKS CANADA TO WITHDRAW 40 OF ITS DIPLOMATS

Days after India asked Canada to reduce its diplomatic presence in the country amid the raging diplomatic row over the killing of a Canada-based pro-Khalistan separatist, New Delhi has now told Ottawa to withdraw 41 of its diplomats to bring parity with the Indian diplomatic presence in Canada.

The Financial Times reported yesterday that India has told Canada that it must repatriate 41 diplomats by October 10, and has threatened to revoke the diplomatic immunity of those diplomats told to leave who remained after the deadline. Canada has 62 diplomats in India and India had said that the total should be reduced by 41, the British newspaper said.

There was however, no official word from the Indian government or the Canadian authorities.

Apart from the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi, Canada has consulates in Chandigarh, Bengaluru and Mumbai. It also has Trade Commissioner Service offices – a total of eight – in New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

India has a High Commission in Ottawa and consulates in Toronto and Vancouver. Of the 20-odd Indian diplomats stationed in Canada, about 12 are in Ottawa, while the remaining are in the two consulates in Toronto and Vancouver.

NEWSCLICK EDITOR PRABIR PURKAYASTHA ARRESTED, OFFICE SEALED

The Delhi police on Tuesday arrested two persons including NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha in connection with a probe in the portal's foreign funding, officials said.

Earlier in the day, the Delhi police sealed the office of NewsClick in connection with its probe into a case filed under the anti-terror law UAPA following allegations that it received money for pro-China propaganda.

The Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Samajwadi Party as well as the Press Club of India criticised the government for the action. They alleged that the BJP government's "coercive" actions are directed only against those who speak truth to power and not against those who spread hatred and divisiveness.

More than 750 eminent citizens, including historian Romila Thapar, economist Jean Dreze and actor Naseeruddin Shah, came out in support of NewsClick. In a statement, they said, "The hounding of NewsClick is an attack on the freedom of expression enshrined in our Constitution."

Addressing a gathering in Bhubaneswar, Union I&B Minister Anurag Thakur said probe agencies in the country are independent and work in accordance with law. "... If someone has done something wrong, probe agencies work on it... Nowhere is it written that if you have got money through illegal manner or done something objectionable, then probe agencies cannot investigate that," Thakur said.

BJP FINDS COUNTERPLAY TO OPPN’S CASTE CENSUS DEMAND

In light of the Bihar caste survey findings, the BJP has countered the Opposition’s renewed push for a caste census by projecting the survey as a cover for appeasement politics and arguing that its social engineering formula has been far more effective in empowering backward castes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the lead on Tuesday in poll-bound Chhattisgarh, saying at a rally in Jagdalpur, Bastar, that the Opposition was “trying to divide the country in the name of caste”. Referring to his predecessor Manmohan Singh’s speech at a meeting of the National Development Council in December 2006, Modi said, “He (Singh) used to say that the minority has the first right to the country’s resources… But now the Congress is saying that the population of the community will decide who will have the first right to the country’s resources. So, now do they (Congress) want to reduce the rights of minorities? Do they want to remove the minorities?… So, should Hindus, who have the largest population, come forward and take all their rights?”

To establish that the caste survey exercise is “appeasement politics”, the BJP has claimed that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his predecessor Lalu Prasad included Muslim forward castes in the Extremely Backward Class (EBC) category, thereby depriving “genuine EBCs” among Hindus. EBCs are Nitish’s core support base.

BJP MP from Bihar, Sanjay Jaiswal alleged that the caste data had only served as the “appeasement tactics” of the ruling combine in the state. “And this is a violation of B R Ambedkar’s original spirit and intention regarding reservation. In fact, the Sarkaria Commission and Mandal Commission recommended only those who are originally lower castes should be given reservation.”

CONTRACT WITH HAL FOR ADDITIONAL 97 TEJAS JETS BY YEAR-END: IAF CHIEF

Looking to add more fighter jets, IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari on Tuesday said the contract for 97 additional Tejas Mark-1A is expected to be signed this year.

The deal will cost around Rs 1.15 lakh crore, the IAF Chief said while answering queries at the annual press conference ahead of the Air Force Day on October 8. The 97 aircraft were not in lieu of any existing projections of procuring the Tejas Mark-2 or any other jet, he clarified. Asked whether or not these 97 aircraft would have any improvement over already ordered 83 jets, the IAF Chief said changes in technology would be catered to.

Asked about the pending supply of S-400 air defence regiments from Russia, the IAF Chief said: “Three (of the five) were supplied. The Russia-Ukraine conflict led to a delay. We are hopeful of getting the remaining two in a year.”

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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MCCARTHY BECOMES FIRST US SPEAKER EVER TO BE OUSTED FROM JOB IN HOUSE VOTE

Speaker Kevin McCarthy was voted out of the job in an extraordinary showdown, a first in US history that was forced by a contingent of hard-right conservatives and threw the House and its Republican leadership into chaos.

McCarthy's chief rival, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, forced the vote on the motion to vacate, drawing together more than a handful of conservative Republican critics of the speaker and many Democrats who said he was unworthy of leadership.

Stillness fell as the presiding officer gavelled the vote closed, 216-210, saying the office of the speaker "is hereby declared vacant.

Moments later, a top McCarthy ally, Rep. Patrick McHenry, was named speaker pro tempore, to serve in the office until a new speaker was chosen.

The House then briskly recessed so lawmakers could meet and discuss the path forward.

It was a stunning moment for the battle-tested McCarthy, a punishment fuelled by growing grievances but sparked by his weekend decision to work with Democrats to keep the federal government open rather than risk a shutdown.

BIDEN CALLS ON 11 SHAKEN US ALLIES TO REASSURE THEM ON UKRAINE AID

President Biden convened a call with world leaders on Tuesday morning to reassure them about the US’ ongoing commitment to supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Biden spoke with 11 leaders, including the prime ministers of Canada, Italy, Japan, and the UK, and the presidents of Poland and Romania. The chancellor of Germany and the foreign minister of France also joined the call, along with the leaders of the European Commission, the European Council and Nato. A senior White House official had said on Monday that the president was expected to call his counterparts in the aftermath of congressional passage of a 45-day stopgap spending bill that did not include new funding for Ukraine.

Biden, his top aides and congressional Democrats have said they are confident that further financial commitments would be agreed to in a final spending bill, but the failure to do so when the House and Senate passed the bill over the weekend highlighted the decreasing willingness of some Republicans to fund Kyiv’s war effort.

LEAVE BY NOV 1 OR FACE FORCIBLE EVICTION, PAK TELLS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Pakistan set Tuesday a one-month deadline for all “illegal immigrants” (Afghan nationals) to leave the country and warned that strict action would be taken after November 1, including forcible eviction.

The move will likely further deteriorate Pakistan’s shaky relations with Afghanistan. Kabul has already expressed reservations over a recent crackdown against Afghans across Pakistan. September had seen an alarming rise in the detention of Afghan refugees, with at least 700 Afghans being arrested in Karachi alone and hundreds more detainedin other cities. The government cited illegal immigration and rising crime as the reasons behind the crackdown.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad after a high-level meeting by caretaker PM Anwaarul Haq Kakar and attended by Army chief General Asim Munir, interim interior (home) minister Sarfraz Bugti warned that the government would seize the properties of illegal immigrants who had not left Pakistan by November 1.

Bugti said DNA testing would also be utilised to detect people who hold Pakistani identity cards despite not being Pakistani.

THE REST

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PROTEST IN CAPITAL OVER CENTRAL FUNDS: POLICE OUST TMC LEADERS FROM MINISTER’S OFFICE

Police on Tuesday night removed TMC leaders from Krishi Bhavan in New Delhi, where they were sitting on dharna after Union Minister of State for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti refused to meet more than five members of the TMC delegation, which comprised over 30 people. The TMC delegation had gone to ask the minister to clear dues of MGNREGA workers in West Bengal pending for almost two years.

Police forcibly took members of the delegation, led by TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, from the ministry in two buses. The delegation was later let off by the police.

“Today is a dark, sinister day for democracy, a day when @BJP4India revealed their disdain for the people of Bengal, their disregard for the rights of the poor and a complete abandonment of democratic values,” West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee tweeted following the incident. “First, they callously withheld crucial funds meant for the poor of Bengal and when our delegation arrived in Delhi, determined to peacefully protest and draw attention to the plight of our people, they were met with brutality – first at Rajghat and then at Krishi Bhavan,” she added.

Later, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti tweeted, “TMC MPs and West Bengal minister had taken an appointment for a 6 pm meeting. But they came along with TMC workers, who they masqueraded as people, and insisted on meeting me. This is against the system. They stepped away from agreed points of discussion because their intention was not to meet but to do politics. This is shameful on part of the TMC.”

DIDN'T LET KCR JOIN NDA: PM AT TELANGANA RALLY

In a revelation that is set to raise political heat in election-bound Telangana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said he had refused Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s overtures to join the NDA after the declaration of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation results in December 2020, a “reason the BRS president is angry with me”.

Addressing a rally in Telangana’s Nizamabad, the PM said: “After the Hyderabad MC election results, KCR came to Delhi to meet me, honoured me with a shawl and showered affections uncharacteristic of him... I asked him what else he wanted and he said he wanted the BJP’s support in Hyderabad MC”. He further said he declined KCR’s offer saying, “I can never align with you even if it means sitting in the opposition in the MC.” Modi said it was after this episode that KCR was rattled and started distancing himself.

ED MUST GIVE GROUNDS OF ARREST IN WRITING TO ACCUSED: SC

Underlining that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is “not expected to be vindictive in its conduct”, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the agency must furnish the grounds of arrest in writing to the accused at the time of arrest.

“We hold that it will be necessary, henceforth, that a copy of grounds of arrest is furnished to the arrested person as a matter of course and without exception,” the bench of Justices A S Bopanna and PV Sanjay Kumar ordered while directing that the agency act fairly and in a transparent manner.

The judgement came on a plea by Pankaj Bansal and Basant Bansal, Directors of M3M real estate group, who had challenged an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court which declined to set aside their arrest by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

MoE DRAFT GUIDELINES ON SUICIDE TO FOCUS ON 'VULNERABLE' STUDENTS

The Union Ministry of Education has framed draft guidelines under the banner “Every Child Matters” to prevent student suicides in schools. The guidelines prioritise the establishment of wellness teams within schools to identify students displaying warning signs and those at risk of self-harm to offer them crucial support.

“UMMEED” (Understand, Motivate, Manage, Empathise, Empower, Develop) guidelines emphasise the formation of school wellness teams (SWT), led by the school principal, consisting of members trained to handle crisis situations. When any of the stakeholders identifies a student with warning signs, they are to report it to the SWT for immediate action.

The draft also emphasises the need for collaboration between schools, parents, and the community to create a supportive environment and reduce the stigma surrounding suicidal behaviour. It advocates discarding harmful notions, such as comparing students with their peers, perceiving failure as permanent and solely measuring success based on academic performance.

The guidelines have also suggested measures like securing empty classrooms, improving lighting in dark areas, and maintaining garden spaces to enhance the overall school environment.

Recognising that students face various transitions during their school life which can cause extreme stress, the draft calls for the capacity-building of all stakeholders, including teachers, school staff, students, and families. It also includes promoting peer support, organising stress-relief activities, and integrating mental well-being into school functioning.

TRIO WIN PHYSICS NOBEL FOR TINY LIGHT PULSES TO CAPTURE CHANGES IN ATOMS

Scientists Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics for creating ultra-short pulses of light that can give a snapshot of changes within atoms, potentially leading to better detection of disease.

The prize-awarding academy said their studies had given humanity new tools for exploring the movement of electrons inside atoms and molecules, where changes occur in a few tenths of an attosecond — a unit so short that there are as many attoseconds in one second as there have been seconds since the birth of the universe.

The prize, which was raised this year to 11 million Swedish crowns (about $1 million), is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. “The ability to generate attosecond pulses of light has opened the door on a tiny, extremely tiny, time scale and it’s also opened the door to the world of electrons,” said Eva Olsson, member of the Nobel Prize in Physics Selection Committee.

ASIAN GAMES, DAY 10 HIGHLIGHTS

Two gold, two silver and five bronze medals yesterday took India only one short of their record - 70 at the 2018 Asian Games. With squash and boxing medals assured, India are poised to create a new record in Hangzhou.

Annu Rani and Parul Chaudhary won the nation’s first-ever gold medals in women’s javelin throw and women’s 5000m, respectively.

Annu Rani threw the spear a season best 62.92m long to win the women's javelin throw gold medal.

Parul Chaudhary came up with her best in the last 50 meters, finding ounces of energy inside her body as she surged past Japan's Ririka Hironaka to win India's first gold medal in women's 5000m at the Asian Games on Tuesday. Parul was sixth midway through the race and then pulled ahead getting past one competitor at a time and finally surged past the Japanese opponent in the last 10 meters to take the gold medal in a timing of 15:14.75.

Tejaswin Shankar scripted history by securing the silver medal in decathlon. He finished with a total score of 7,666 points and broke the national record in the process. Tejaswin was only behind home favorite Sun Quihao, who finished with the gold medal with a score of 7,816 points.

Mohammed Afsal, meanwhile, bagged the men’s 800m silver. Praveen Chitharavel, a men’s triple jump national record holder, settled for bronze at Hangzhou while Vithya Ramraj won the women's 400m hurdles bronze.

The Indian men's canoe double 1000m team, featuring Arjun Singh and Sunil Singh Salam also won the bronze medal. It was India’s second canoe medal, a first in 29 years!

Lovlina Borgohain punched her way to the women's 75kg gold medal bout while also securing an Olympic quota for India in the category. Boxers Preeti Pawar and Narender Berwal ended their campaigns with bronze.

The Indian men’s cricket team entered the semi-finals after a 23-run win against Nepal on their Asian Games debut. Yashasvi Jaiswal smashed his first T20I ton, becoming the youngest T20I century-maker from India.

The women’s kabaddi team returned to winning ways against the Republic of Korea while the men’s team beat neighbours Bangladesh in their opener.

Saurav Ghosal along with mixed doubles pairs Dipika Pallikal-Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu and Anahat Singh-Abhay Singh assured squash medals. Meanwhile, PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy made a winning start to their badminton singles campaigns.

In Medals Tally, India is currently placed 4th (15G, 26S, 28B), behind China (161G, 90S, 46B), Japan (33G, 47S, 50B) and S Korea (32G, 42S, 65B)

INDIA VS NETHERLANDS WC WARM-UP MATCH WASHED OUT

India's second ICC World Cup warm-up match against Netherland was washed out due to incessant rain in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday. The game was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

The hosts' first warm up game against England also met with a similar fate in Guwahati last week.

INDICATORS

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GBP 0.82 /US$, Euro 0.95/US$, Jap.Yen 149.50 /US$, Aus$ 1.58 /US$, Sing 1.37 /US$, Bang Taka 109.27 /US$, Can$ 1.37 /US$, Mal Ring 4.72 /US$, Pak Re 285.73 /US$, Phil Peso 56.81 /US$, Russian Rouble 99.40 /US$, NZ$ 1.69 /US$, Thai Baht 37.06 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 36.54 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 27,310, Dollar Index 106.79, Brent Crude 91.18, BDI 1780

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,823 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 5,738 / 5,360, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 73,500

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof. - John Kenneth Galbraith