CBI, ED CHIEFS' TENURES CAN BE EXTENDED UP TO 5 YEARS

The tenure of the Directors of the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate can now be extended by up to three years after the mandated term of two years, according to two ordinances brought in by the government on Sunday.

In both cases, an extension of a year each for three years can be given to the Directors after clearance by the committees constituted for their appointments, according to the ordinances.

The Centre's move comes close on the heels of the Supreme Court saying that extension of tenure of officers who have attained the age of superannuation should only be granted in rare and exceptional cases and for a short duration.

The apex court stated this in a matter related to the extension granted in 2020 to Enforcement Directorate chief SK Mishra, a 1984-batch IRS officer who is due to retire on November 17.

However, with the promulgation of the ordinance it remains to be seen whether Mishra would continue as the ED chief or not.

The Central Vigilance Commissioner, Vigilance Commissioners, Secretaries of Home Ministry, Revenue department and Department of Personnel decide on the appointment of ED Director.

The prime minister, the leader of Opposition and the chief justice of India decide on the appointment of the CBI Director.

The Directors of CBI and ED have a fixed tenure of two years from the date of their appointment following the directives of the Supreme Court in the famous Vineet Narain case.

The opposition questioned the motive and intentions behind the government’s “tearing hurry”, given that Parliament is scheduled to meet later this month.

Congress Leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who is the opposition member in the committee that selects the CBI chief, said the ordinance was yet another “example” of the “dictatorial attitude of the government”.

Asked if the Congress would approach the court, Chowdhury said “civil society, I hope, will surely do”. “What I am saying is that they are insulting and ruining democracy, parliamentary democracy.”

“It seems the incumbents (in the posts of CBI and ED chiefs) suit them… They feel these officers will do their bidding,” Chowdhury said.

“Tomorrow they will bring an ordinance or a bill to increase the tenure of Modiji for 10 years… This can also happen. By 2024, Modiji will say that I have learnt from Xi Jinping… I am increasing my tenure in the interest of the country and for its progress… they have become bahumat ke bahubali (bullies of the majority),” he said.

CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury posted on Twitter: “Parliament session begins on 29th. To avoid its scrutiny, Centre on Sunday promulgates ordinances to extend the tenure of Directors of CBI and ED. This desperate hurry smacks of something fishy.”

RUSSIA STARTS DELIVERY OF S-400 MISSILES

Russia has started delivering the S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile systems to India and the deliveries are going as planned, Director of Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) Dmitry Shugaev told Sputnik media outlet ahead of the Dubai Airshow.

“The supplies of the S-400 air defence system to India have started and are proceeding on schedule,” said Shugaev.

The S-400 has already entered service in China and Turkey. Russia and India signed a contract on the delivery of S-400s in October 2018.

Though the US threatens to impose sanctions on countries that buy major defence systems from Russia, South Block here is not flustered. Two years back when this issue came up during External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s US visit, the Ministers had said, “I am reasonably convinced of the powers of my persuasion. It would be my hope that people understand why this transaction is important for us.”

The announcement by the Russian official comes as a surprise because Moscow had so far indicated that the supplies would begin next month, around the time Russian President Valdimir Putin visits India.

RAJNATH SINGH: AFTER 2014, THINGS CHANGED… INDIA’S SOLDIERS GIVING RIGHT MESSAGE

Amid the ongoing row over a Pentagon report on China building a civilian village inside “disputed territory” between the Tibet Autonomous Region and Arunachal Pradesh, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said that after 2014, India’s soldiers have been successful in giving its neighbours “the message it was supposed to get”.

Addressing the silver jubilee celebrations of the Akhil Bharatiya Poorva Sainik Seva Parishad in Lucknow, Rajnath said, “People are talking about the development of a village at Arunachal Pradesh border. I don’t want to discuss its status here…If I say something here, that will become international news. But we are no less than anyone. Ab itni baat to pakki ho gai hai, chahe jo kuch bhi ho, jawab denge (One thing is for sure, whatever happens, we will give a befitting reply).”

Rajnath said India has a history of never attacking any other country and has never occupied land of any other nation.

After targeting Pakistan over its links with terrorists, Rajnath, without taking the name of China, said, “We have one more neighbour. No need to take its name… Considering its growing power, many nations didn’t oppose its acts as they should have. Earlier our situation was the same. Earlier, India also didn’t protest the action of that neighbour but after 2014, things have changed… Our soldiers have been successful in giving the neighbour the message it supposed to get.”

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U.S., CHINA TRADE BARBS AHEAD OF SUMMIT

Top US and Chinese diplomats traded barbs over the flashpoint issue of Taiwan, ahead of the first official summit between the US president Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

The virtual meeting of presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping comes against a backdrop of rising tensions — in part over Taiwan, but also over trade, human rights, and other issues.

In a phone call Friday with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to discuss preparations for the summit, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised concerns over Beijing’s “military, diplomatic, and economic pressure” on Taiwan.

Wang warned of the dangers of US actions that might seem supportive of “Taiwan independence.”

“Any connivance of and support for the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces undermines peace across the Taiwan Strait and would only boomerang in the end,” Wang told Blinken, according to a readout of the call released by China on Saturday.

And while the world’s top two emitters of greenhouse gases unveiled a surprise agreement last week to work together on climate change, Washington and Beijing have indicated they will not give ground on flashpoint issues.

PORTUGAL BARS COMPANIES FROM CONTACTING EMPLOYEES OFF HOURS

Portugal is barring employers from contacting their staff outside their contracted working hours under a new law and from remotely monitoring their work, in one of the world’s boldest efforts to regulate the remote work that the pandemic forced on many in the industrialised world. And, at a time when a surge in natural gas prices has sent electricity costs soaring, the law requires employers to pay part of the electricity and internet bills of staff who work from home.

The legislation, approved in parliament on Friday and coming into effect this weekend, was drafted by Portugal’s Socialist-led government as an attempt to preserve work-life balance. Pandemic lockdowns kept uncountable millions of people working from home over the past two years, but Portugal is the rare country to enact laws seeking to formally protect workers’ off-clock hours and contain their work-related costs.

Under the new law, employers can be fined for contacting staff outside regular hours except in an emergency situation. It also gives young parents the right to work from home without preliminary approval from their bosses, as long as their child is less than 8 years old.

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INDIA CALLS COP26 A ‘SUCCESS’

India on Sunday called the COP26 summit a “success”, saying it put across the concerns and ideas of the developing world quite succinctly and unequivocally in front of the world community.

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, head of the Indian delegation at the Glasgow conference, said that the world needs to awaken to the reality that the current climate crisis has been precipitated by unsustainable lifestyles and wasteful consumption patterns in the developed countries.

The minister, who has been maintaining a blog COP 26 Diary’, wrote that India, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has proactively taken the lead in creating the International Solar Alliance, Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) and the One Sun, One World, One Sun Grid initiatives as examples of international collaboration to combat climate change.

“Having done its part, India at the summit, asked the developed world concrete actions in this decisive decade and translation of commitments to actions, he said.

India has been criticised by several countries for the change promoted by it to phase down, rather than phase out coal power, the single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Yadav said that fossil fuels and their use have enabled parts of the world to attain high levels of growth.

‘UNPRECEDENTED’, ‘LACKING ETIQUETTE’, CONG HITS OUT AT BJP FOR ‘SKIPPING’ LS EVENT FOR NEHRU

Calling it “unprecedented “, “lacking basic etiquette” and an “extraordinary” attempt to “erase Jawaharlal Nehru’s name from the history of Indian politics and freedom struggle”, senior Congress leaders Sunday reacted sharply to the alleged absence of central ministers and senior functionaries of the Parliament from a programme organised at the Lok Sabha to celebrate the birthday of India’s first Prime Minister on 14 November.

Veteran Congress MP and former minister, Jairam Ramesh, termed it “unprecedented and crass”.

Senior Congress leader and MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury too was sharply critical of the BJP for its members allegedly skipping the Lok Sabha event. “Modi wants to portray himself as the best PM, and that is why he and his party want to erase Nehru’s legacy, his contribution from the history of politics and freedom struggle of India. But the leader of the country needs to have a large heart, which he (Modi) is failing to show,” he said.

WILL GO SOLO IN UP POLL, CONTEST ALL SEATS: PRIYANKA GANDHI VADRA

Congress general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Sunday that the party would go it alone in the 2022 state elections, contesting all 403 seats. Addressing party workers at Bulandshahr, Vadra said the Congress would not only fight, but emerge victorious.

She ruled out any alliance saying the SP and BSP leaders were absent from the scene even when grave offences were being committed around them, be it the 2017 Unnao rape or Hathras gangrape-and-murder of 2020.

“It was the Congress that was fighting for the people,” she said at Pratigya Sammelan-Lakshya 2022 in Anoopshahr here. She said UP elections would be a “do-or-die” situation for the Congress and said elections could be won only by strengthening the party at booths. She urged workers to work at the ground level.

TOP MAOIST LEADER MILIND TELTUMBDE AMONG 26 NAXALS KILLED IN GADCHIROLI ENCOUNTER

As many as 100 Naxals fired indiscriminately at C-60 commandos and jawans of the Special Action Team from their sophisticated weapons in the Mardintola forest in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra disregarding the appeal to surrender on Saturday morning, a police officer said on Sunday.

When the fierce encounter ended around 3:30 PM on Saturday after almost 10 hours, senior cadre Milind Teltumbade and 25 ultras had been killed.

Police said the ultras had gathered in large numbers in the forest to plan "subversive" activities against security personnel ahead of the Naxal week.

According to the police, the killing of Milind Teltumbde, carrying a bounty of Rs 50 lakh, has delivered a huge blow to the banned movement in the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (MMC) zone. Milind Teltumbde was the key person who in the last 20 years gave momentum to the Naxal movement and built it in Maharashtra, the DIG said. "He was the only future of that movement and there was no other leader in Maharashtra," a senior police officer said.

CBSE BRINGS IN MCQs FOR 1ST TERM EXAMINATION

The CBSE will be conducting the board examinations in a new pattern in which over 20 lakh students are set to appear.

Examination for the first term of Class 12 will begin on November 16, while for Class 10 it will start on November 17.

For assessing the students across the country, the examination will be held in two terms.

Second term of the examination is expected to be held in March-April next year.

According to the CBSE, this time, the students will be given 20 minute-reading time instead of 15 minutes.

The first term will have Multiple Choice Questions and the duration for solving it is 90 minutes. Every question will have four options, of which the student has to encircle the correct one.

INDIA INC EARNINGS HIT RECORD RS 2.4 TRILLION IN SEPTEMBER QUARTER

India’s top listed companies reported their best-ever quarterly net profit of Rs 2.39 trillion in the September quarter of FY22, up 46.4 per cent year-on-year. The earnings were driven by a big surge in the profitability of banks, non-banking financial companies & insurance (BFSI), oil & gas, and metal & mining firms.

The combined net profit of these three cyclical sectors were up 87 per cent YoY to a record high of Rs 1.53 trillion, up from Rs 82,000 crore a year ago and Rs 1.08 trillion in Q1FY22. The companies in these three sectors together accounted for 94 per cent of the incremental growth in the overall corporate profits in Q2FY22 over Q1FY21.

In contrast, the combined earnings of the rest of India Inc were up only 5.3 per cent YoY in the Q2FY22 to around Rs 85,300 crore, down nearly 10 per cent from all-time high earnings recorded in Q3FY21.

For the first time in nearly a decade, the top three profitable companies were commodity and energy producers. ONGC topped the chart with a net profit of Rs 18,348 crore, up 565 per cent YoY and it accounted for 21 per cent of the entire growth in corporate earnings in the September quarter. It was followed by Reliance Industries with net profit of Rs 13,680 crore (up 43 per cent YoY) and Tata Steel at Rs 11,918 crore (up 661 per cent YoY).

Analysts now expect moderation in the earnings of commodity producers and an improvement in the margins of user industries, such as FMCG, automotive, and consumer durable.

GOVT PUSHES FOR SOPS TO TRY GET VEHICLE SCRAPPING POLICY OFF GROUND

Three months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the country’s first voluntary vehicle scrappage policy in August, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has started taking baby steps to help states and Union territories create the necessary infrastructure to implement the policy.

The policy proposes deregistering personal vehicles that are over 20 years old from 1 June 2024 if they fail a fitness test. Commercial vehicles will be deregistered from 1 April 2023 if they are over 15 years old.

While the road ministry has announced a slew of incentives for people to get their old and unfit vehicles scrapped, the challenging part is the setting up of crucial infrastructure such as scrapping facilities and automatic vehicle fitness centres that are essential to operationalise the policy, which aims at reducing the rising vehicular pollution in Indian cities.

So far, only two states — Gujarat and Assam — have signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with private companies to set up vehicle scrapping facilities. While the Gujarat government has entered into six MoUs, Assam has signed one.

AKSHAY, RAJINI BOOSTER SHOT: GOLD DUST ON SILVER SCREEN IN FIRST WEEK

The movies are back — and how. Sooryavanshi (Hindi) and Annaatthe (Tamil), the two blockbuster Diwali releases, have breathed fresh life into the Indian film industry, which was devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The films have fired up theatres, and in the first week have jointly collected over Rs 400 crore worldwide.

According to latest available numbers, Akshay Kumar-starrer Sooryavanshi, which released on November 5, collected Rs 201.44 crore globally in its first eight days till Friday. And Rajinikanth’s Annaatthe, which hit theatres on Diwali (November 4), collected Rs 211.44 crore worldwide in these nine days. From theatres alone, the two movies have already claimed around 6 per cent of the revenue that the entire Indian film industry collected in 2020 — that included domestic and overseas theatricals, broadcast rights, digital/OTT rights, in-cinema advertising and ancillary revenues.

The booster dose came after the Indian film industry had plunged by 62 per cent in annual revenue from Rs 19,100 crore in 2019 to Rs 7,220 crore in 2020, according to an Ernst & Young report.

“The importance of the film (Sooryavanshi) is not just from the numbers perspective. The film has brought the audience back to the theatre. It has removed that fear and scepticism around watching a film in a movie theatre from the minds of the audiences,” said Shibasish Sarkar, former chief of Reliance Entertainment and current chairman and chief executive officer of media firm IMAC.

Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India anticipates that enthused by the success of the two Diwali launches, as many as 400 films across languages are gearing up for release.

AUSTRALIA ARE T20 WORLD CHAMPIONS!

Australia clinched their maiden Twenty20 World Cup title after fiery fifties by Mitchell Marsh and David Warner fashioned an eight-wicket victory against New Zealand in Sunday's final.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson's 85 off 48 balls fired his side to a strong 172-4 in a rematch of the final of the 2015 ODI World Cup between the trans-Tasman rivals.

Like in that contest in Melbourne four years ago, Australia triumphed again this time with seven balls to spare. Marsh belted four sixes in his incendiary 77 not out, and Warner smashed 53 to drive Australia's chase at the Dubai International Stadium.

Reigning world Test champions New Zealand finished runners-up to hosts England in the 2019 ODI World Cup as well.

Earlier, Williamson scored nearly half of New Zealand's final total which had looked a distant dream for a side on 57-1 at the halfway stage of their innings.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

The walls we build around us to keep out the sadness also keep out the joy. - Jim Rohn

OFF TRACK

A brief history of medicine

2000 BC: Here, eat this root

1000 AD: That root is heathen. Say this prayer.

1850 AD: That prayer is pure superstition. Here, drink this potion.

1940 AD: That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill.

1985 AD: That pill is ineffective. Here, take this antibiotic.

2015 AD: That antibiotic doesn't work any more. Here, eat this root.