MIZORAM, CHHATTISGARH TO KICK OFF ELECTIONS TO FIVE STATES TODAY

The last major set of state elections in the country before the Lok Sabha poll will kick off tomorrow with the polling for all 40 constituencies of Mizoram and the first phase of voting for 20 of the 90 Assembly seats in Chhattisgarh.

In Mizoram, stage is set for a triangular contest between the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF), Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) and the Congress.

12 of 20 seats going to the polls in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday are in Naxal-hit Bastar division.

The polling for the remaining 70 constituencies of Chhattisgarh and all 230 seats of Madhya Pradesh Assembly will be held on November 17. Rajasthan and Telangana ill go to the polls on November 25 and 30, respectively. The results for all five states, scheduled for December 3, are expected to reflect the popular mood in the country before the General Election.

In Chhattisgarh, the ruling Congress has chosen to go with incumbent CM Bhupesh Baghel as the chief ministerial candidate while the BJP is banking on the popularity of PM Modi. The campaigning for the first phase battle in Chhattisgarh saw PM Modi attacking CM Baghel over the alleged Mahadev betting app scam. The Congress rested its campaign on the promise for a caste census and slew of welfare schemes for different sections of society.

SUPREME COURT CAUTIONS GOVERNORS AGAINST KEEPING BILLS PENDING

The Supreme Court on Monday asked why states need to come to courts against Governors for keeping bills pending and said “Governors must act” before the issue reaches the courts.

A three-judge bench, presided by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, was hearing a plea by the Punjab government saying Governor Banwarilal Purohit had kept as many as seven Bills pending.

“This happened in the case of Telangana also. Why do parties have to come to the SC? The Governors must act before it comes to the SC… Only after they come to the SC, that the Governors start acting. This has to stop,” CJI Chandrachud said.

Fixing it for hearing next on November 10, the court asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for Governor Purohit, to apprise it of “the action which has been taken by the Governor” by then.

CJI Chandrachud also called for a “little bit of soul searching” by everyone to resolve such issues.

PM MODI DISCUSSES WEST ASIA, CHABAHAR PORT WITH IRAN PRESIDENT

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke with Iranian President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi in which the two sides discussed the wider ramifications of the Israel-Hamas conflict and increased use of the India-operated Iranian port of Chabahar.

“Good exchange of perspectives with (the) President of Iran on the difficult situation in West Asia and the Israel-Hamas conflict…. Welcomed the progress in our bilateral cooperation, including on the Chabahar port,” wrote PM Modi on X after the phone call.

While India and Iran do not concur on the Israel-Hamas conflict in which Tehran has a pivotal role, the leaders’ highlighting of the Chabahar port in their conversation on Monday comes at a time when a high-level Afghan delegation is visiting Iran to discuss its use.

“Terrorist incidents, violence and loss of civilian lives are serious concerns. Preventing escalation, ensuring continued humanitarian aid and early restoration of peace and stability are important,’’ added PM Modi on X which, however, did not contain any call for a ceasefire.

FITCH HIKES INDIA’S MID-TERM GDP GROWTH FORECAST TO 6.2 PER CENT

Fitch Ratings has increased India‘s medium-term growth rate by 0.7 percentage point (PP) to 6.2 per cent “given an improvement in the employment rate and a modest increase in the working-age population forecast”.

According to Fitch, India’s projected labour supply growth is also lower relative to 2019 given the expected negative growth in the participation rate. “While the participation rate has recovered from its pandemic slump, it remains significantly below levels recorded in the early 2000s, partly as the employment rate among women remains very low,” it said in its latest Global Economic Outlook (GEO) report on ten emerging economies (EM10)

Fitch’s projection for unweighted average potential growth for the EM10 is unchanged from its previous assessment (published in July 2021) at 3 per cent. “But this disguises big changes at the individual country level. We have cut Russia and China’s projections by 0.8pp and 0.7pp, respectively, and those of Korea and South Africa by 0.2pp,” it said.

“By contrast, we have increased Mexico and Poland’s potential growth estimates by 0.6pp and 0.4pp, respectively. We have increased India’s estimate by 0.7pp while those of Brazil, Turkiye and Indonesia are all now higher by 0.2pp,” Fitch said.

“But it also highlights the legacy of economic disruptions from the pandemic. GDP fell in all the EM10 except China and Turkiye in 2020, with very steep declines in India, Mexico and South Africa. Even after subsequent recoveries, GDP in 2022 was generally still far below levels implied by extrapolating prepandemic trends, particularly in India, Indonesia and Mexico,” Fitch said.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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ISRAEL OPEN ONLY TO "LITTLE PAUSES" IN WAR WITH GAZA, SAYS NETANYAHU

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would consider "tactical little pauses" in Gaza fighting to facilitate the entry of aid or the exit of hostages, but again rejected calls for a general ceasefire despite growing international pressure. Speaking in a US television interview, Netanyahu, whose country has vowed to destroy Gaza's Hamas rulers, said he thought Israel would need security responsibility over the Palestinian enclave for an "indefinite period" after the war.

Asked about the potential for humanitarian pauses in fighting, an idea supported by Israel's top ally the United States, Netanyahu said a general ceasefire would hamper his country's war effort.

"As far as tactical little pauses - an hour here, an hour there - we've had them before. I suppose we'll check the circumstances in order to enable goods, humanitarian goods to come in, or our hostages, individual hostages, to leave," Netanyahu told ABC News on Monday.

"But I don't think there's going to be a general ceasefire."

Both Israel and the Hamas operatives who control Gaza have rebuffed mounting international pressure for a ceasefire. Israel says hostages taken by Hamas during its rampage in southern Israel on Oct. 7 should be released first. Hamas says it will not free them nor stop fighting while Gaza is under assault.

The health ministry in the Hamas-controlled enclave said at least 10,022 Palestinians have since been killed, including 4,104 children.

International organizations have said hospitals cannot cope with the wounded and food and clean water are running out with aid deliveries nowhere near enough.

"We need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. It's been 30 days. Enough is enough. This must stop now," said a statement from the heads of several United Nations bodies on Monday, including U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths.

Washington has been pushing hard to arrange pauses in the conflict to allow aid to enter. But it has argued, like Israel, that Hamas would take advantage of a full ceasefire to regroup.

JUDGE CHIDES TRUMP AS HE TESTIFIES IN FRAUD TRIAL: ‘THIS ISN’T A POLITICAL RALLY’

A combative Donald Trump clashed repeatedly with the judge on Monday as he took the stand in the New York civil fraud case threatening to cripple his real estate empire. “This is not a political rally,” New York Supreme Court justice Arthur Engoron told the former president after admonishing him to keep his answers short. “Please, just answer the questions, no speeches,” Engoron said before asking one of Trump’s lawyers, Christopher Kise, to “control your client”.

Trump, the first former US president to take the stand as a defendant in a court case in more than a century, complained in testimony about what he called a “very unfair” and “crazy trial” brought by Democrats “coming after me from 15 different sides”.

Trump, his eldest sons Don Jr and Eric, and other Trump Organization executives are accused of exaggerating the value of their real estate assets by billions of dollars to obtain more favourable bank loans and insurance terms. Testifying under oath, Trump dismissed allegations that the company’s statements of financial condition were fraudulent, and said “they were not really documents that the banks paid much attention to”. He said the value of the “Trump brand” was also not taken into account in the valuations of his real estate assets. “I became president because of my brand,” Trump said under questioning from Kevin Wallace, a lawyer for the New York attorney general’s office which brought the case.

THE REST

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ARVIND KEJRIWAL WILL NOT RESIGN EVEN IF SENT TO JAIL, DECLARES AAP

Apprehending the possibility of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest in relation to the excise policy case, the AAP Monday said he will continue to run the city even if he is behind bars.

AAP had maintained that the excise case was “false” and there was no proof to link party leaders to any wrongdoing. Former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and party communications in-charge Vijay Nair have been arrested in the matter. Neither has been granted bail.

Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said the ministers will visit Kejriwal in jail if need be for directions regarding the government’s functioning. In a meeting where MLAs and senior party leaders were present, a discussion on the steps ahead was held where it was decided “unanimously” that since it was Kejriwal that the people of Delhi elected to run the government, he will not resign, said Bharadwaj.

ODD-EVEN CAR SCHEME TO BE BACK IN DELHI A DAY AFTER DIWALI; AIR QUALITY STILL 'SEVERE'

The air quality in the national Capital showed a slight improvement on Monday despite continuing to be in the ‘severe’ category after recording an AQI above 400 even as the Delhi Government announced that the odd-even car rationing scheme would be enforced from November 13 to 20.

Aimed to combat air pollution, the car rationing scheme would come into force for eight days a day after Diwali, said an official. Under the scheme, cars with odd registration numbers would be allowed to ply only on odd dates (November 13, 15, 17 and 19) and those with even numbers on even dates (November 14, 16, 18 and 20).

SUPREME COURT REJECTS PLEA SEEKING SETTING UP OF PANELS ON POLLUTION

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea seeking the setting up of a permanent expert committee at the district level for assessment of pollution.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said it was purely a policy matter.

“Do you think pollution is going to end if we have committees all over districts across the country,” the bench also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said.

When the Bench expressed disinclination to entertain the matter, the counsel for the petitioner withdrew the PIL and the matter was dismissed as withdrawn.

The top court was hearing a plea filed by one Ajay Narayanrao Gajbahar seeking directions for setting up a permanent expert committee at the district level for the assessment of pollution.

MoD CONTRADICTS OWN STAND BY CONTESTING DISABILITY PENSION

By deciding to contest in court hundreds of cases of disability pension of retired officers and jawans, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has contradicted its own stand as well as a Supreme Court judgement that advised it not to appeal against “settled matters”.

The Army’s Adjutant General’s branch, in a letter to legal cells of all commands, has said that “as directed by the competent authority in the MoD, writ petitions be filed in the jurisdictional high court”. These petitions will be against judgments of various Armed Forces Tribunals (AFTs).

The move is opposite to what happened in the past. In December 2014, the SC took up 900 appeals filed by the government against verdicts by AFTs and high courts favouring disabled soldiers. The SC dismissed all appeals on a single day.

In July 2015, then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar questioned the move to challenge the verdicts favouring disabled soldiers, military widows and old pensioners. He constituted a high-level committee of experts directly under him to objectively recommend reduction of litigation. The same year in November, the ‘Defence Ministers Committee of Experts’ said these were “ego-fuelled” litigations initiated against own employees and former employees.

The committee recommended withdrawal of all appeals, especially those involving disabled soldiers. The committee also pointed out the link between stress and strain of military service, resulting in aggravation of disabilities among soldiers, and also its effect on mental health.

BOY’S MURDER IN SCHOOL: SC JUNKS PLEA BY JUVENILE CHALLENGING HC ORDER FOR TRYING HIM AS AN ADULT

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by a juvenile, accused of killing a child at a private school in Gurgaon in 2017, challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict which upheld an order for his trial as an adult.

The high court had in May this year upheld the order passed by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) which said the child-in-conflict with law be treated as an adult. The plea challenging the high court order came up for hearing before a bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Rajesh Bindal which dismissed it.

In the plea filed in the apex court, the juvenile had claimed the high court had “mechanically upheld” the orders of the JJB and the Children’s Court, which had dismissed his appeal, and ignored the inherent contradictions in the orders.

“On the one hand, the JJB records that the JCL (juvenile in conflict with law) had not faced any abuse or trauma at home, and that his family environment was good and healthy, however, (it) fails to consider that the entire case of the prosecution is based on the fact that the alleged offence was committed since the JCL wanted to get the PTM (parent-teacher meeting) postponed,” it said.

BIG TECH’S DEEPFAKE PROBLEM

A popular Indian actor entering an elevator in revealing clothes. Football fans in a stadium in Madrid holding an enormous Palestinian flag. A video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling on his soldiers to lay down their weapons. The pope wearing a Balenciaga puffer jacket.

These unrelated events have something in common: they never happened.

And yet, they were some of the most viral pieces of content on various social media platforms. Thanks to artificial intelligence, which has improved greatly over the past year, there are now platforms that allow nearly anyone to create a persuasive fake by entering text into popular AI generators that produce images, video or audio.

The repercussions of the menace of AI-generated fake content, colloquially known as deepfakes, especially in a polarising world and a divided online ecosystem can be far reaching, and have given a new worry to lawmakers around the world.

A recent deepfake of actor Rashmika Mandanna is currently viral on sites like Instagram, where her face has been morphed to a video where a woman can be seen entering a lift wearing revealing clothes. On a closer look, there are moments where one can decipher that the video is not genuine, but for someone not looking closely, it may not be the case.

WORLD CUP MATCH 38: BANGLADESH BEAT SRI LANKA

Bangladesh officially knocked Sri Lanka out of the World Cup with a three-wicket victory in a dramatic match, held amid severe air pollution in New Delhi on Monday.

Despite the AQI hovering close to the 400 mark, it was business as usual after the two teams braved toxic conditions.

Bangladesh bowled Sri Lanka out for 279 in 49.3 overs, with Charith Asalanka scoring a 105-ball 108, and then did well to chase down the target with 53 balls to spare.

Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan, who scored 82 and took two wickets for 57 runs, and Najmul Hossain Shanto (90) shared a 169-run stand off 147 balls to lay the foundation in the run-chase.

From 210 for 2, Bangladesh slumped to 269 for 7 but romped home in 41.1 overs with Tanzim Hasan Sakib (9) scoring the winning runs.

The victory snapped Bangladesh's six-match losing streak.

Results so far: Bangladesh (7th) Played 8 Matches, Won 2; Sri Lanka (8th) Played 8, won 2

A FIRST IN INTERNATIONAL CRICKET – A BATSMAN TIMED-OUT

In a major moment at the Cricket World Cup 2023, Sri Lanka star Angelo Mathews was ruled 'timed out' during his team's clash against Bangladesh in Delhi on Monday. Sadeera Samarawickrama had just been dismissed and Angelo Mathews arrived at the crease at the fall of the fourth wicket. But soon there was confusion as Mathews realised that he had brought the wrong helmet and pleaded his case with the Bangladesh players and the umpires.

According to the MCC rules, "After the fall of a wicket or the retirement of a batter, the incoming batter must be ready to receive the ball, or for the other batter to be ready to receive the next ball within 2minutes of the dismissal or retirement. If this requirement is not met, the incoming batter will be out, Timed out."

The visuals showed that Mathews was indicating that the helmet strap had come off. The substitute player of the Sri Lanka team did run with the correct helmet. But by then, Bangladesh had already appealed for a 'timed out'. Angelo Mathews, quite animatedly, pleaded with the umpires and Shakib al Hasan but the appeal was not withdrawn.

Angelo Mathews is the first player in the history of international cricket to be ruled timed out.

INDICATORS

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GBP 0.80 /US$, Euro 0.93 /US$, Jap.Yen 149.71 /US$, Aus$ 1.53 /US$, Sing 1.35 /US$, Bang Taka 108.97 /US$, Can$ 1.36 /US$, Mal Ring 4.65 /US$, Pak Re 282.82 /US$, Phil Peso 55.87 /US$, Russian Rouble 92.20 /US$, NZ$ 1.67 /US$, Thai Baht 35.45 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 35.75 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 34,931, Dollar Index 105.17, Brent Crude 85.18, BDI 1462

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1975 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 6,147 / 5,635, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 78,200

Note - ***The currency rates quoted above are only indicative. At best these can give trends of currency movements. The banks' buy/sell rates can be different from these.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. - Rudyard Kipling

OFF TRACK

A man called the undertaker one afternoon and sobbed, "This is Mr. Magillicutty. I need you to bury my wife."

"Mr. Magillicutty? Sidney Magillicutty?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Didn't I bury your wife two years ago?" the undertaker asked.

"I got married again," the man sobbed.

"Oh," replied the undertaker. "Congratulations."