POLITICAL FAULTLINES SHARPEN OVER LAKHIMPUR KHERI DEATHS

Political faultlines sharpened and the blame game accentuated on Tuesday following the Lakhimpur Kheri incident—where eight people died after a car owned by Union MoS Home Ajay Mishra Teni allegedly ran over protesting farmers, triggering a clash— with senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi being arrested and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel being reportedly stopped from leaving the Lucknow airport.

Other than Priyanka Gandhi, those arrested include Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda, UP Congress state president Ajay Kumar Lallu and party MLC Deepak Singh.

“Total 11 persons have been arrested by us. On Monday around 4.30 am, Priyanka ji was stopped while on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri. We told her that you should not go there as the situation is not fine and Section 144 CrPC is in effect. She did not listen to us and in proper security presence, we had to take her to a local guest house,” said Hargaon station house officer (SHO) Brijesh Kumar Tripathi, adding that further course of action will be decided by senior officials.

Earlier in the day, Priyanka issued a video statement addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a Lucknow visit, and asked if he had seen a video purportedly of the Lakhimpur incident. She then played the video, which shows what appears to be a Mahindra Thar coming from behind and running over a group of protestors walking on a road.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Satish Chandra Mishra and Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad were also stopped from visiting Lakhimpur Kheri.

Meanwhile, Congress Tuesday said Rahul Gandhi will lead a five-member party delegation to Lakhimpur Kheri on Wednesday, and asked Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to allow the visit.

Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi said the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri reminds him of the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh tragedy. Later in the day, Channi met Amit Shah, after which he said he had asked the Union Home Minister to take steps to repeal the farm laws.

Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu has warned that the party’s state unit will march towards UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri if their leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is not released by Wednesday and Union minister Ajay Mishra’s son not held for the murder of farmers.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh on Tuesday urged PM Modi to visit Lakhimpur Kheri and meet the family members of the farmers who have been killed.

NCP supremo Sharad Pawar warned the BJP on Tuesday that it will have to pay a heavy price for the Lakhimpur Kheri incident and asserted that the entire opposition is with the farmers.

Earlier yesterday, Priyanka Gandhi alleged that she was being held illegally at the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) compound in Sitapur and no notice or FIR has been provided to her even after her 38-hour detention and was not allowed to meet her legal counsel.

In a statement, she said she has not been produced in front of a magistrate or any other judicial officer and neither has she been allowed to meet her legal counsel, who has been standing at the gate of the compound since morning.

HOCKEY INDIA WITHDRAWS FROM 2022 BIRMINGHAM CWG; CITES COVID CONCERNS, DISCRIMINATORY QUARANTINE RULES

The dispute between Indian and British governments over vaccination certificates and quarantine regulations has spilled over to the hockey turf.

A day after England pulled out of the Junior World Cup, to be held in Bhubaneswar in November, India confirmed the withdrawal of its men’s and women’s teams from next year’s Birmingham Commonwealth Games. Both have cited the mandatory 10-day quarantine imposed on travellers from the other country by their governments as one of the key reasons for the decision.

Last month, Hockey India had said the participation of its teams in the CWG was ‘doubtful’ because of the competition’s proximity to the Asian Games, where an Olympic berth is at stake. But in a letter to Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Narinder Batra on Tuesday, Hockey India chief Gyanendro Ningombam cited the ‘discriminatory restrictions’ that are ‘biased against India’ as an additional reason to pull out of the CWG. Curiously, the announcement came barely a couple of hours after the government said in a media release that the men’s team was ‘likely to participate’ in the tournament.

The CWG are scheduled to take place in Birmingham from July 28 to August 8. With the withdrawal of the hockey teams, India’s participation will be significantly reduced given that shooting and archery, too, are not a part of the Games programme.

Hockey India also said they did not want to ‘risk’ the health of the players by claiming that ‘over the last 18 months, England has been the worst affected country in Europe’ with regards to the pandemic.

Ningombam wrote in his letter to Batra: “It is pertinent to mention that due to the ongoing Covid-19 situation, England have issued guidelines that 10 days quarantine is required (for) Indian arrivals in England even for those who are fully vaccinated, since unfortunately Indian vaccinations are not yet recognised by the English government.”

FUEL PRICES LINKED TO GLOBAL RATES; CENTRE, STATES HAVE TO HANDLE: FM

As fuel prices surged to all-time highs on Tuesday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said prices of petroleum products in the country depend on international oil rates and both the Centre and states have to together handle the issue of their rising cost.

She said prices of petroleum products in India, a big consumer of these imported items, depend on their prevailing rates in the global market. Hence, both the Centre and states have to handle the fuel issue together as they impose taxes on oil products, Sitharaman said. She was replying to a question about the rising prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas in the country.

Petrol and diesel prices on Tuesday surged to all-time high levels as rates were increased again after international oil prices hit the highest mark since 2014.

The sixth increase in fuel rates in a week's time has sent petrol prices above Rs 100 in most major cities of the country. Similarly, the ninth increase in prices in less than two weeks has taken diesel rates above Rs 100 mark in several cities in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

KEY COVID NUMBERS

Current Active Cases Countrywide: 2,39,691

New Cases in last 24 hours: 19,376

Recovered in last 24 hours: 25,089

Change in no. of Active cases in last 24 hours: -5,998

No. of deaths in last 24 hours (Total Covid Deaths so far): 285 (4,49,568)

Daily Tests (Monday): 11,41,642

Daily Positivity Rate (Proportion of Positives among total Tested): 1.7%

Percentage of Population Vaccinated (At Least One Dose / Two Doses): 49.8% / 18.9%

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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

TAIWAN SAYS IT NEEDS TO BE ALERT TO ‘OVER THE TOP’ MILITARY ACTIVITIES BY CHINA

A record 56 Chinese aircraft flew into Taiwan’s air defence zone on Tuesday. Taiwan has reported 148 Chinese air force planes in the southern and southwestern part of its air defence zone over a four day period beginning on Friday, the same day China marked a key patriotic holiday, National Day.

The tensions are being viewed with increasing concern by the international community. Japan and Australia on Tuesday urged the two to talk, while the United States said it has been “conveying clear messages” after what it described as destabilising activities by China.

Taiwan calls China’s repeated nearby military activities “grey zone” warfare, designed to both wear out Taiwan’s forces by making them repeatedly scramble, and also to test Taiwan’s responses.

“Taiwan must be on alert. China is more and more over the top,” Premier Su Tseng-chang told reporters in Taipei. “The world has also seen China’s repeated violations of regional peace and pressure on Taiwan.”

The Chinese aircraft have not been flying in Taiwan’s air space, but its air defence identification zone or ADIZ, a broader area Taiwan monitors and patrols that acts to give it more time to respond to any threats.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has made modernising the armed forces a priority, focusing on the use of new, mobile weapons to make any attack by China as costly as possible, turning Taiwan into a “porcupine”.

In an article for the U.S. magazine Foreign Affairs released on Tuesday, Tsai said Taiwan falling to China would trigger “catastrophic” consequences for peace in Asia. Taiwan does not seek military confrontation, Tsai said, “but if its democracy and way of life are threatened, Taiwan will do whatever it takes to defend itself.”

TRIO WIN NOBEL IN PHYSICS FOR DECODING CLIMATE COMPLEXITIES, WARMING

Japanese-born American Syukuro Manabe, German Klaus Hasselmann and Italian Giorgio Parisi won the 2021 Nobel Prize for Physics on Tuesday for work that helps understand complex physical systems such as earth’s changing climate.

In a decision hailed by the UN weather agency as a sign of a consensus forming around manmade global warming, one half of the 10-million Swedish crown ($1.15-million) prize goes in equal parts to Manabe (90) and Hasselmann (89) for modelling earth’s climate and reliably predicting global warming.

The other half goes to Parisi for discovering in the early 1980s “hidden rules” behind seemingly random movements and swirls in gases or liquids, which can also be applied to aspects of neuroscience, machine learning and starling flight formations.

“Manabe and Hasselmann laid the foundation of our knowledge of the earth’s climate and how humanity influences it. Parisi is rewarded for his revolutionary contributions to the theory of disordered materials and random processes,” the Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement.

THE REST

=========

MoS MISHRA'S SON MOWED DOWN FARMERS, OPENED FIRE, SAYS FIR

Union minister Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra alias Monu was sitting in the car that mowed down protesting farmers and he also opened fire at them, according to a FIR lodged by the Uttar Pradesh Police.

The FIR lodged on a complaint of one Jagjit Singh alleges that 'provocative' statements of the Union minister of state for home had led to the farmers' protest here during which violence erupted and claimed the lives of eight people.

The FIR stated that the farmers had gathered at the sports ground of the Maharaja Agrasen Inter-College on Sunday and they wanted to peacefully show black flags to Mishra and Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, who was visiting Banbirpur.

'Around 3 pm, Ashish Mishra along with 15-20 armed men in three speeding four-wheelers reached the protest spot in Banbirpur. Monu Mishra opened gunfire while he was seated on the left side of his Mahindra Thar, which mowed down the crowd and sped ahead,' stated the FIR.

The report further stated, 'Ashish's speeding vehicle overturned on the side of the road, leading to injuries to several other people. Ashish Mishra escaped from the car, opened fire and hid in a sugarcane field.'

Ashish Mishra and 15-20 unnamed persons were mentioned as accused and charged with murder, criminal conspiracy, rash driving, rioting, among others. The minister Ajay Mishra has refuted the allegations of his son's involvement in the episode.

Apart from the 4 farmers were killed after they were allegedly mowed down by SUVs during the protest, four other people, including BJP workers, were later lynched by a mob. No arrest has been made in the case so far.

Meanwhile, a 28-second video surfaced on social media on Tuesday purportedly showing a Mahindra Thar ploughing into a crowd. The video has been shared by several opposition politicians who have blamed Mishra and his son for the violence.

PROMINENT KASHMIRI PANDIT CHEMIST, 2 OTHER CIVILIANS SHOT WITHIN HOURS IN J-K

There civilians, including Makhan Lal Bindroo, the owner of Srinagar’s most famous pharmacy, were shot dead by suspected militants in separate incidents in the city and in Bandipora districts on Tuesday.

The 68-year-old Bindroo, who ran Bindroo Medicate, was shot at by the assailants point blank at his pharmacy. A Kashmiri Pandit, Bindroo was one of the few from the community who did not migrate out at the onset of militancy in 1990.

Within an hour, militants struck at Hawal area of the city, killing a non-local street vendor, an official said.

Within minutes of the second killing, militants shot dead Mohammad Shafi Lone at Naidkhai in Bandipora district. Lone was president of the local taxi stand.

Bindroo’s killing was widely condemned. National Conference leader Omar Abdullah also condemned the killing. “What terrible news! He was a very kind man. I’ve been told he never left during the height of militancy and remained with his shop open. I condemn this killing in the strongest possible terms & convey my heartfelt condolences to his family. God bless his soul,” Omar tweeted.

SHOW US DATA TO JUSTIFY QUOTA IN PROMOTION: SC

Observing that reservation in promotion for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes cannot go on indefinitely but only till they are adequately represented, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Centre to place data before it to justify continuance of the quota.

A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao, Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai, which is examining the validity of the Centre’s decision to continue with the policy of reservation in promotion, asked attorney general K K Venugopal and additional solicitor general Balbir Singh repeatedly whether any exercise has been undertaken by the Centre after 1997 to find out the proportion of SC and ST employees in central gover nment jobs.

“Where is the data which say that there is deficiency in representation to justify reservation in promotion? Show us the data,” the bench told the government.

As the court insisted, the AG said he would get back on Wednesday on whether there was quantifiable data of SC/ ST representation.

RISKS RECEDING: MOODY’S UPGRADES INDIA OUTLOOK FROM NEGATIVE TO STABLE

Highlighting that India’s downside risks from negative feedback between the real economy and the financial system are receding, ratings agency Moody’s Tuesday changed India’s sovereign rating outlook from ‘negative’ to ‘stable’, while affirming its foreign-currency and local-currency long-term issuer ratings at Baa3.

“With higher capital cushions and greater liquidity, banks and non-bank financial institutions pose much lesser risk to the sovereign than Moody’s previously anticipated. And while risks stemming from a high debt burden and weak debt affordability remain, Moody’s expects that the economic environment will allow for a gradual reduction of the general government fiscal deficit over the next few years, preventing further deterioration of the sovereign credit profile,” the credit rating agency said.

Of the three big rating agencies, Standard & Poor’s and now Moody’s, have a stable sovereign rating outlook. Fitch has kept it negative until now. Like Moody’s, the other two have also kept India at the lowest investment grade.

KEEPING CARS OLDER THAN 15 YRS TO PINCH

Come April 2022, owners of more than 15-year-old cars will have to shell out eight times more than now to renew registration of their vehicles. Owners of heavy commercial vehicles will have to pay eight times higher fee to renew fitness certificates for their trucks and buses which are more than 15 years old.

The road, transport and highways ministry on Monday issued the notification for implementation of this new fee regime from next year. The notification, however, will have no impact on vehicle owners in Delhi and its neighbourhoods where more than 10-year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles are banned.

The renewal of registration of a 15-year-old car will cost Rs 5,000, which now is Rs 600.

Obtaining a fitness certificate for a 15 year-plus bus or truck will be Rs 12,500, which now is Rs 1,500. The renewal of fitness certificate for cabs will also be seven times more than the current charge of Rs 1,000.

MEAT E-TAILER LICIOUS BECOMES FIRST DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER $1BN CO

Fresh animal protein direct-to-consumer (D2C) startup Licious is India’s 29th unicorn this year after raising a series-G funding of $52 million from new investors — IIFL AMC’s tech fund and Avendus FLF (Future Leaders Fund). The company said its valuation has crossed $1 billion after this round.

With over 95% of Licious’ sales happening via their own app and site and given that startups like FirstCry and Nykaa operate more as marketplaces, Licious is the first unicorn in the growing D2C segment.

Spread across 14 cities, the company said its annual revenue run rate is around Rs 1,000 crore, and it recorded over 500% growth during the last year. Licious has delivered to more than 2 million unique customers till date with over 90% repeat customers.

IPL MATCH 51: MUMBAI INDIAN CRUSH RAJASTHAN ROYALS

Brilliant pace bowling by Jimmy Neesham and Nathan Coulter-Nile enabled Mumbai Indians make short work of Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League match, in Sharjah, on Tuesday.

New Zealander Neesham (3 for 12) and Aussie Coulter-Nile (4 for 14) snapped seven wickets for only 26 runs in eight overs between them to limit Rajasthan Royals to a paltry 90 for 9.

The five-time champions, led by a fiery onslaught from Ishan Kishan, then knocked off the required runs in 8.2 overs to win by eight wicket and swell their points tally to 12 (6 wins) from 13 matches.

But to make it to the top 4, Mumbai Indians have to win their last match, against SRH and also hope that KKR lose their last match, against RR.

Rajasthan have dimmer than faint hope of making it to top 4. They just have 5 wins from 13 matches and have a poor NRR of -0.737

INDICATORS

Sensex 59,745 (+446), Nifty 17,822 (+131), Trading Value NSE (Rs.crores) 71,141

Nasdaq 14,434 (+178) Dow 34,315 (+312), S&P 4,346 (+45)

US$-Rs. 74,43 GBP-Rs. 101.35, Euro-Rs. 86.34, UAE Dhm-Rs.20.26, Can$-Rs. 59.11, Aus$- Rs. 54.18

GBP 0.73 /US$, Euro 0.86 /US$, Jap.Yen 111.28 /US$, Aus$ 1.37 /US$, Sing 1.35 /US$, Bang Taka 84.14 /US$, Can$ 1.25 /US$, Mal Ring 4.17 /US$,

Pak Re 170.51 /US$, Phil Peso 50.66 /US$, Russian Rouble 72.44 /US$, NZ$ 1.43 /US$, Thai Baht 33.76 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 26.23 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 51,602

Dollar Index 94.05, Brent Crude 82.55, BDI 5,267

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,756 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,668 / 4,568, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 64,800

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

The history of the race, and each individual's experience, are thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill and that a lie told well is immortal. - Mark Twain

OFF TRACK

Before boarding a bus, a man asked the driver, "What is the fare to the station?"  

"Sixty cents," said the driver.  

As the bus pulled away the man raced alongside it until the next stop. When the doors opened again he gasped, "How much is the fare now?"  

"Ninety cents," said the driver. "You're running the wrong way."