INDIA BRINGS BACK 392 PEOPLE IN THREE FLIGHTS FROM KABUL

India on Sunday brought back 392 people, including two Afghan lawmakers, in three different flights as part of the mission to evacuate its nationals and Afghan partners from Kabul in the backdrop of increasing hostilities by the Taliban and deteriorating security situation in the city after it fell to the militant outfit a week back.

A total of 168 people, including 107 Indians and 23 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, were flown from Kabul to Hindon airbase near Delhi in a C-17 heavy-lift military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force.

Another group of 87 Indians and two Nepalese nationals were brought back in a special Air India flight from Dushanbe, a day after they were evacuated to the Tajikistan capital in an IAF 130J transport aircraft.

Separately, 135 Indians, who were earlier evacuated from Kabul to Doha in the last few days by the US and NATO aircraft, were flown back from the Qatari capital city to Delhi on a special flight, they said.

The group of 168 people, who were evacuated from Kabul, included Afghan lawmakers Anarkali Honaryar and Narender Singh Khalsa and their families. "India is our second home. Even if we are Afghans and live in that country, people often call us Hindustanis. I thank India for extending its helping hand," Khalsa told reporters at the Hindon airbase near Delhi. He expressed hopes that he will manage to go back to his country after it rebuilds itself.

With Sunday's evacuation, the number of people evacuated by India from Kabul reached around 590 since last Monday.

India carried out the evacuation missions in coordination with the US and several other friendly countries.

It is learnt that a small group of Indian officials is coordinating the evacuation mission at the Kabul airport and another batch of Indians is expected to be brought back from the Afghan capital on Monday. However, it will depend on whether a sizeable number of Indians, as well as Indian-origin people, manage to reach the airport.

India has decided to vaccinate Afghanistan returnees against polio for free as a preventive measure against the wild polio virus, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Sunday. Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two countries in the world where polio is still endemic.

TAX PORTAL STILL NOT WORKING, FM SUMMONS INFOSYS CEO TODAY

With the new income tax portal continuing to face glitches and remaining unavailable for the last two days, the Finance Ministry has summoned Infosys MD & CEO Salil Parekh on Monday to explain to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman the reasons for the continued glitches even after more than two months have passed since it was launched.

The new tax portal executed by the Bengaluru-based software major was launched on June 7 and, within hours, started to face issues such as the inability to generate OTP for Aadhaar validation, password generation glitches, failure to link old data for past returns, and problems in filing returns.

“Ministry of Finance has summoned Sh Salil Parekh, MD & CEO @Infosys on 23/08/2021 to explain to hon’ble FM as to why even after 2.5 months since launch of new e-filing portal, glitches in the portal have not been resolved. In fact,since 21/08/2021 the portal itself is not available,” the Income Tax department tweeted.

Seven hours after the posting of the tweet, Infosys claimed the portal was “live”. Infosys India Business, which is the Twitter handle of Infosys India Business unit, said in a late night tweet on Sunday: “The emergency maintenance of the @IncomeTaxIndia portal has concluded and the portal is live. We regret any inconvenience caused to taxpayers.”

Sitharaman had then called a meeting with key officials of Infosys on June 22 to review the problems with the portal. Infosys was asked to address all issues without further delay, improve their services, and redress grievances on priority.

INDIA, US, OZ, JAPAN ALL SET FOR 4-DAY MALABAR WARGAME IN WESTERN PACIFIC

Indian stealth frigate INS Shivalik and anti-submarine warfare corvette INS Kadmatt arrived in Guam, an island territory of the US in the Western Pacific, on Saturday to take part in the exercise that will feature an array of complex drills, Indian Navy officials said on Sunday.

"The Malabar-21 would witness high-tempo exercises among destroyers, frigates, corvettes, submarines, helicopters and long-range maritime patrol aircraft of the participating navies," Indian Navy spokesperson Commander Vivek Madhwal said.

The Malabar exercise is taking place in the midst of growing convergence of interests in the maritime domain as well as military cooperation among the four Quad countries in the face of China's increasing assertiveness.

Though the exercise is not part of the framework of cooperation under Quad, it is increasingly seen as a reflection of increasing partnership among the four countries.

3RD WAVE LOOMS, MAY PEAK IN OCT, HIT KIDS: MHA PANEL TO PMO

A committee of experts constituted under the National Institute of Disaster Management has warned of an imminent third wave of Covid that could peak around October and sought better medical preparedness for children who might be at similar risk as adults.

The report of the committee, set up on the directions of the home ministry, has noted that “paediatric facilities doctors, staff, equipment like ventilators, ambulances, etc. are nowhere close to what may be required in case a large number of children become infected”. The report has been submitted to the PMO.

The report has called for prioritising vaccination among children with comorbidities and a special focus on those with disability. Even with “strict interventions”, the peak of the third wave is expected to arrive by late October, the experts have concurred with earlier assessments of different institutions. Several studies have spoken of the likelihood of a third wave but these are estimates.

The vulnerability of children as they haven’t been vaccinated has been discussed, with most experts of the view they are not prone to severe infections though they can pass the virus to others. Other estimates have said the third wave, seen to be the result of renewed mobility, may prove to be less severe than the second.

The recommendations made by the committee include “a holistic home care model, immediate increase in paediatric medical capacities and prioritising mental health issues among children”. It has mooted structuring of Covid wards in a way that allows kids’ attendants to safely stay with them through their recovery.

KEY COVID NUMBERS

Current Active Cases Countrywide: 3,28,343

New Cases in last 24 hours: 25,425

Recovered in last 24 hours: 44,115

Change in no. of Active cases in last 24 hours: -19,075

No. of deaths in last 24 hours (Total Covid Deaths so far): 385 (4,34,784)

Daily Tests (Friday): 16,80,081

Daily Positivity Rate (Proportion of Positives among total Tested): 1.8%

Percentage of Population Vaccinated (At Least One Dose / Two Doses): 33.8% / 9.8%

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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AFGHANISTAN’S MASSOUD REFUSES TO SURRENDER TO TALIBAN

Ahmad Massoud, the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was one of the key leaders of Afghanistan’s anti-Soviet resistance in the 1980s, said he will not surrender to Taliban the areas under his control.  He called for a comprehensive government to rule the country with the participation of the Taliban and said that war will be “unavoidable” if the Taliban refuse dialogue.

Taliban have asked former Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Afghan chief negotiator Abdullah Abdullah, a half-Tajik, to negotiate with Ahmad Massoud.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Sunday said that the international community should remain engaged with Afghanistan to help it come out of the current situation.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he will convene a meeting of leaders from the Group of Seven nations on Tuesday for “urgent talks on the situation in Afghanistan.” In a statement posted on Twitter, Johnson said it is “vital that the international community works together to ensure safe evacuations, prevent a humanitarian crisis and support the Afghan people to secure the gains of the last 20 years.”

PUTIN: DON'T WANT AFGHAN MILITANTS 'UNDER COVER OF REFUGEES' IN RUSSIA

President Vladimir Putin on Sunday rejected the idea of sending people evacuated from Afghanistan to countries near Russia, saying he did not want “militants showing up here under cover of refugees.”

Putin criticised an idea of some Western countries to relocate refugees from Afghanistan to neighbouring Central Asian countries while their visas to the United States and Europe are being processed.

“Does that mean that they can be sent without visas to those countries, to our neighbours, while they themselves (the West) don’t want to take them without visas?” TASS news agency quoted Putin as telling leaders of the ruling United Russia party.

“Why is there such a humiliating approach to solving the problem?” he said.

While some Western nations scrambled to evacuate people from Afghanistan, Moscow praised the Taliban for restoring order following its takeover of the country. Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Taliban leaders had stuck to their promises so far. “We are seeing the statements the Talibs made about ceasing combat actions, an amnesty for all of those involved in the confrontation, about a need for a nationwide dialogue … they are being implemented,” he said.

THE REST

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GOVT APPROACHES 17 COMPANIES TO SETTLE RETROSPECTIVE TAX CASES

A couple of weeks after the Income-Tax (I-T) Act was amended to junk the contentious retrospective taxation provision, the government is reaching out to 17 affected companies to withdraw cases from various judicial levels and derive the benefit of the legal correction.

The government has made the first move and offered to settle the retrospective cases.

The rules under the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021, are expected this week. The government has collected about Rs 8,000 crore from three of the 17 companies — Rs 7,900 crore from Cairn Energy, Rs 44.7 crore from Vodafone, and Rs 48 crore from WNS Capital — which it has proposed to refund on certain conditions getting fulfilled, including withdrawing pending litigation and furnishing an undertaking that no claim for cost, damages, interest, etc. would be filed.

This condition is part of the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, passed by Parliament in the monsoon session.

Government officials had earlier said, now that the legislation to remove retrospective taxation was in place, it was for the companies to reach out to the government and settle these cases.

HE WAS SYMBOL OF TRUST, PM PAYS TRIBUTES TO KALYAN SINGH

Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday paid tributes to former Uttar Pradesh CM Kalyan Singh in Lucknow, calling the BJP veteran a capable leader who became a “symbol of trust” for the common people. He made “jan kalyan” his life mantra while working for the development of Uttar Pradesh and the nation, he added.

“To fulfil the void left by him, we should work hard for his ideals, his promises and leave no effort in achieving his dreams,” PM Modi said, adding that Singh lived true to his name given to him by his parents.

Condoling the passing away of his “close associate”, veteran party leader LK Advani called him a stalwart of Indian politics and a grassroots leader.

HURRIYAT GROUPS MAY BE BANNED UNDER UAPA FOR FUNDING TERROR

The government is actively considering banning both factions of the Hurriyat Conference under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) after a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) revealed that outfits linked with the separatist conglomerate raised money to fund terror in Jammu and Kashmir.

Officials in the security establishment said the NIA probe into MBBS seats being allotted to Kashmiri students by institutions in Pakistan revealed that the money collected from aspirants by some outfits that are part of the Hurriyat Conference was diverted for terror activities in J&K — a sufficient ground for banning the Hurriyat factions under Section 3(1) of the UAPA.

The officials said the probe indicated the “involvement” of secessionist and separatist leaders, including members of the Hurriyat Conference, who had been “acting in connivance” with militants of proscribed organisations Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

PRO-PAK SLOGANS: TEN ARRESTED; NSA INVOKED AGAINST FOUR IN UJJAIN

Police on Sunday invoked the stringent National Security Act  (NSA) against four persons out of 10 arrested so far for allegedly raising pro-Pakistan slogans during a Muharram event in Ujjain of Madhya Pradesh, a senior police officer said.

The development comes a day after some right-wing organisations and religious leaders clad in saffron staged demonstrations, torched effigies of Pakistan, and demanded tough action by the police against those people who had raised pro-Pakistan slogans in the Geeta Colony area on the night of August 19.

Reacting to the incident on Friday, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had said his government would not tolerate a “Taliban-like” mindset.

UAE TO ACCEPT INDIAN PASSPORT HOLDERS WITH 14-DAY RIDER

Indian passport holders, who have not been to India in the last 14 days, can get tourist visas to the UAE. Presently, only UAE citizens and transit passengers are allowed to fly to the UAE, due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Approval of tourist visas for Indian passport holders, who have not been in the country in the last fortnight, comes as the UAE is slowly opening up its arrivals.

All flyers will have to undergo a RT-PCR test on the day of arrival and on the ninth day after arrival in the UAE.

WHO PANEL TO STUDY COVID-19 VIRUS, HIGH-THREAT PATHOGENS

In the first step to prepare for future pandemics, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has set up a high-level scientific group inviting experts from across the world to join it and study the origins of Sars-CoV2, besides other high-threat pathogens. The WHO Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) will meet late September this year to finalise the way forward.

In a “Call for experts” this week, the WHO said, “It is seeking top minds to serve on the advisory group and up to 25 experts will be selected.”

The world body said the rapid emergence and spread of Covid-19 causing SARS-CoV-2 had highlighted the importance of being prepared for any future event, to be able to identify novel pathogens early and to address the risk factors that contribute to their emergence and spread.

“There has been an increase in the number of high-threat pathogens emerging and reemerging in recent years — SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, Lassa, Marburg, Ebola, Nipah, avian influenza, the latest being SARS-CoV-2. There is not only need for robust surveillance and early actions for rapid detection, but also a need for robust process to establish the study around the emergence of these pathogens and routes of transmission from their natural reservoirs to humans,” the WHO said.

The SAGO will advise the WHO on the development of a global framework to define and guide studies into the origins of emerging and re-emerging pathogens of epidemic and pandemic potential.

GOA, THE LAND OF FENI, GETS ITS FIRST ALCOHOL MUSEUM

The land of feni just got a museum wholly dedicated to the locally brewed alcohol.

Started by local businessman Nandan Kudchadkar, who is a collector of antiques, the museum ‘All About Alcohol’ located in the tiny beach village of Candolim, houses hundreds of artefacts linked to feni, including large, traditional glass vats in which the local cashew-based alcohol was stored centuries ago.

“The objective behind starting the museum was to make the world aware of Goa’s rich heritage, especially the story of feni and the legacy of the alcohol trail from Brazil to Goa,” says Kudchadkar. He says that the alcohol museum would serve as a repository which preserves alcohol-making implements such as utensils, glass, bottles and more from yesteryears when Goa was regarded as the ‘Rome of the East’.

17-YR-OLD SHAILI SINGH LEAPS TO SILVER AT WORLD U20

Long jumper Shaili Singh, 17, brought up by a single mother who learnt tailoring to earn a living, won a silver at the World U20 Championships in Nairobi on Sunday. Mentored by long jump great Anju Bobby George and coached by her husband Robert, Shaili missed out on gold by a centimetre but established herself as a star to watch out for. Incidentally, Olympic gold medallist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra became the U20 world champion five years ago.

In her third jump, Shaili leaped to her personal best of 6.59 metres.

The journey she made from Jhansi to Nairobi in her nascent but promising career has been full of metaphorical uphill climbs. As a young girl, she ran without shoes, but braved blisters to compete in school-level competitions. Her family found it hard to put three square meals on the table.

“She was a rough diamond. To be able to find an athlete like this is a valuable thing. We knew if we guided her, she would make it big,” Anju says.

VAUGHAN SLAMS ENGLAND TACTICS ON FINAL DAY AT LORD’S

Former skipper Michael Vaughan has slammed England head coach Chris Silverwood for not even trying to stop Joe Root from his bouncer barrage tactic against India in the second Test, which badly backfired.

Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah scripted a sensational turnaround on the final day when they shared a record ninth wicket partnership of 89 runs to help India set a 272-run target, which England failed to achieve after being bowled out for 120.

“The nadir came in that hour and 20 minutes before lunch on the fifth day of the second Test, which must rank among the worst stuff I’ve seen from an England Test team in years,” Vaughan wrote in a facebook post.

“Plenty has been written and said about how England lost the plot in attempting to bounce out Jasprit Bumrah, and Joe Root was undeniably let down by some of his senior players who should have intervened with him sooner, but I also wanted to see something from the coach,” Vaughan wrote. “Why was Silverwood not sending someone out onto the pitch with a drink, asking Root what the hell was going on and getting him to change tactics? I know that is what Duncan Fletcher would have done with me had I suffered a brain-fade on the field.”

Vaughan said England completely “blew” their chances on that session.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Each minute we spend worrying about the future and regretting the past is a minute we miss in our appointment with life. - Thich Nhat Hanh

OFF TRACK

What Exactly Is Marriage?

"Marriage is when you get to keep your girl and don't have to give her back to her parents" - Eric, six years old

"When somebody's been dating for a while, the boy might say to her, 'I'll take you for a whole life, or at least until we have kids and get divorced." -Anita, nine years old