A SECOND INCIDENT IN WEEK, AT THE LAC

India on Tuesday charged Chinese troops of having made a second attempt in a

week to change the status quo in the South Bank area of Pangong Lake, along

the LAC in Ladakh.

The attempt took place on August 31 even as the ground commanders of the two

sides were in discussions to de-escalate the situation due to the scuffle

that had taken place on August 29 night. In a demarche, New Delhi has asked

Beijing to discipline and control their frontline troops from undertaking

such provocative actions.

"Due to the timely defensive action, the Indian side was able to prevent

these attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo," said the MEA in a

statement.

Chinese troops had first engaged in provocative military manoeuvers late in

the night of August 29 and the next day in an attempt to change the status

quo in the South Bank area of Pangong Lake. Soon after, the Army said it had

responded to these provocative actions and taken appropriate defensive

measures.

MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava regretted that Chinese action and

behaviour along the LAC since earlier this year has been in clear violation

of the relevant bilateral agreements and protocols.

"The Indian side is firmly committed to resolve all outstanding issues along

the LAC in the Western Sector through peaceful dialogue. In this context, we

expect the Chinese side to sincerely abide by the understanding reached

earlier and earnestly work with India to resolve the situation and to

restore peace and tranquillity in the border areas," said Srivastava.

Meanwhile, China gave different responses to the clashes on the night of

August 29 and the next day. The Chinese mission said India had "grossly

violated China's territorial sovereignty, seriously violated relevant

agreements, protocols and important consensus". In a statement on Tuesday,

the Chinese embassy spokesperson Ji Rong accused Indian troops of turning

their backs on the consensus reached in several rounds of diplomatic and

military level talks. She specifically complained of Indian troop activity

"across the LAC" at the southern bank of the Pangong Tso Lake.. These, she

said, were "flagrant provocations, which again stirred tension in the border

areas".

But in Europe, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said there were bound to be

some problems because the India-China boundary is yet to be demarcated.

"China-India relations have recently attracted the attention of all parties.

The boundary between China and India has not yet been demarcated, so there

will always be problems of this kind. We are ready to manage all kinds of

issues through dialogue with the Indian side," he said in Paris at an

interaction with French strategic experts at the French Institute of

International Relations.

"Differences should be managed and controlled, and in particular,

differences should not escalate into conflicts. I think that various

departments of the two countries should implement important consensus," he

added.

India has also taken a similar approach as the Chinese of blowing hot and

cold on the LAC conflict. Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat has said

the military option is on the table if talks fail to yield results. On the

other hand Foreign Minister S Jaishankar on Monday spoke of achieving some

sort of an equilibrium in ties with China and, a couple of days after Gen

Rawat's statement, had said no border dispute has been solved by military

action.

FOUR CMs WRITE TO PM, FM ON GST: CENTRE OUGHT TO BORROW

Rejecting the Centre's proposal that state governments could borrow to meet

the compensation deficit under the GST regime, at least four non-BJP states

have said the borrowing should be done by the Centre instead. These are

Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao, Delhi CM Arvind Kerjiwal and Tamil Nadu CM

Edappadi K Palaniswami and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel.

Two days after the GST Council meeting last week, the Centre had detailed

two borrowing options proposed to states for meeting the compensation

shortfall of Rs 2.35 lakh crore.

Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said the states are not only rejecting

the Centre's proposal, but proposing a third option - that the central

government borrows the full compensation and the states agree to extend the

cess for a sufficiently long period to recoup this amount.

A legal recourse to challenge the two options is also on the table, though

several state finance ministers said that would be the last resort. A voting

on the issue may come up at the next GST Council meeting, on Sep 19.

Isaac said the GST compensation law provides for calculation of compensation

loss and there's no distinction on account of Covid, so the distinction

being made by the Centre is "illegal", and can be challenged in court. "Be

sure that we are not going to give up this issue. This is a constitutional

right, they cannot take away the rights of the states," he said.

At least eight non-BJP states and Union territories - Punjab, West Bengal,

Kerala, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Rajasthan, Puducherry - had rejected

the Centre's proposal at a meeting on Monday

SC GIVES TELCOS 10 YRS TO PAY AGR DUES, SAYS 10% TO BE PAID UPFRONT

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed telecom companies to clear their

adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues in 10 years, ending an extended

industry-versus-government dispute on the matter. A Bench headed by Justice

Arun Mishra, who's due to retire today, directed telcos to give an

undertaking that they would pay the AGR dues in compliance with the order.

Analysts described the court verdict as negative for debt-laden Vodafone

Idea, which had sought a longer payment tenure. For others, including Bharti

Airtel and Reliance Jio, the court offered some relief in its observation on

spectrum sharing with companies undergoing insolvency proceedings such as

Reliance Communications, Aircel and Videocon.

The court said that the sale of spectrum should be decided by the National

Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under the insolvency and bankruptcy process,

thereby giving a reprieve to Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, which are using

the airwave of some of the bankrupt firms.

After the verdict, shares of Vodafone Idea dipped 15 per cent and those of

Bharti Airtel rose 5.1 per cent on BSE.

According to calculations made by the DoT, Bharti Airtel owes the exchequer

Rs 43,780 crore, of which the company has paid Rs 18,004 crore. Vodafone

Idea has paid Rs 7,854 crore of its Rs 50,399 crore dues. Tata Teleservices

has paid about Rs 4,197 crore and the balance is about Rs 12,601 crore.

PM MODI LEADS NATION IN BIDDING PRANAB MUKHERJEEE ADIEU

Former President Pranab Mukherjee was cremated with full state honours at

the Lodhi Road electric crematorium on Tuesday afternoon. While his son

performed the last rites, his family and relatives paid their respects clad

in PPE suits, conforming to Covid-19 safeguards.

An Army contingent gave a guard of honour and a gun salute to India's 13th

president who died on Monday evening after a three-week battle with multiple

ailments.

Mukherjee's mortal remains were kept at his 10 Rajaji Marg residence for

people to pay homage. President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice-President M Venkaiah

Naidu, PM Narendra Modi, chiefs of the three defence services and

politicians cutting across party lines paid their final respects to the

former president.

A host of politicians and others, too, reached his residence to pay homage

to the Bharat Ratna. Former PM Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla,

former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, BJP chief J P Nadda, RSS chief Mohan

Bhagwat, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and several Union ministers

including Nirmala Sitharaman and Harsh Vardhan were among them.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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

FRANCE'S CHARLIE HEBDO REPUBLISHES PROPHET MOHAMMED CARTOONS

French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, the target of a massacre by Islamist

gunmen in 2015, said Tuesday it was republishing hugely controversial

cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed to mark the start of the trial this week of

alleged accomplices in the attack.

"We will never lie down. We will never give up," its director Laurent "Riss"

Sourisseau wrote in an editorial to go with the republication of the

cartoons in its latest edition.

Twelve people, including some of France's most celebrated cartoonists, were

killed on January 7, 2015, when brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi went on a

gun rampage at the paper's offices in Paris.

The perpetrators were killed in the wake of the massacre but 14 alleged

accomplices in the attacks, which also targeted a Jewish supermarket, will

go on trial in Paris on Wednesday.

The cover of the latest Charlie Hebdo issue shows a dozen cartoons first

published by the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten in 2005 -- and then reprinted

by Charlie Hebdo in 2006 -- which unleashed a storm of anger across the

Muslim world.

"All of this, just for that," the front-page headline says.

Its editorial team wrote that now was the right time to republish the

cartoons, saying it was "essential" as the trial opens.

The paper's willingness to cause offence has made it a champion of free

speech for many in France, while others believed it crossed a line too

often. But the massacre united the country in grief with the slogan

#JeSuisCharlie (I Am Charlie) going viral.

US SAYS IT WON'T JOIN GLOBAL EFFORT TO FIND COVID-19 VACCINE

The Trump administration said Tuesday that it will not work with an

international cooperative effort to develop and distribute a Covid-19

vaccine because it does not want to be constrained by multilateral groups

like the World Health Organization.

Some nations have worked directly to secure supplies of vaccine, but others

are pooling efforts to ensure success against a disease that has no

geographical boundaries. More than 150 countries are setting up the Covid-19

Vaccines Global Access Facility, or COVAX.

That cooperative effort, linked with the WHO, would allow nations to take

advantage of a portfolio of potential vaccines to ensure their citizens are

quickly covered by whichever ones are deemed effective. The WHO says even

governments making deals with individual vaccine makers would benefit from

joining COVAX because it would provide backup vaccines in case the ones

being made through bilateral deals with manufacturers aren't successful.

"The United States will continue to engage our international partners to

ensure we defeat this virus, but we will not be constrained by multilateral

organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and

China," said White House spokesman Judd Deere. "This president will spare no

expense to ensure that any new vaccine maintains our own Food and Drug

Administration's gold standard for safety and efficacy, is thoroughly tested

and saves lives."

THE REST

========

STATES FURTHER EASE RESTRICTIONS AS UNLOCK 4 COMMENCES

As the Unlock 4 commenced on Tuesday, most of the states further eased the

coronavirus-induced restrictions on the movement of people and functioning

of commercial establishments, while major temples too reopened, with

mandatory COVID-19 precautions.

Many states have come out with their set of rules related to relaxations

permitted outside the containment zones, though they were by and large

following the Centre's August 29 guidelines on prohibiting activities of

schools, colleges, cinema halls, etc., till September 30.

Also, some states announced the lifting of local or weekend lockdowns,

except in containment zones, following a direction by the Ministry of Home

Affairs.

After remaining closed for more than five months, bars and restaurants

opened in states like Goa, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Centre had allowed

reopening of bars under the Unlock 4 guidelines. State-run buses were

running again in Tamil Nadu capital Chennai, while places of worship, parks,

shopping malls, hotels and clubs too reopened across the state.

A FIFTH OF CHENNAI EXPOSED TO COVID-19 BY JULY: SERO SURVEY

One-fifth of Chennai's population has been exposed to Covid-19, a

population-based sero survey carried out by the National Institute of

Epidemiology to check transmission of the infection in the Greater Chennai

Corporation (GCC) region showed.

The study, released by the city corporation, said the results were out of

samples tested for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 on 12,405 individuals from

the corporation's 51 wards.

The field data collection for the study took place between July 18 and 28.

The study said "around 80% of the population is still susceptible to

SARS-CoV-2 infection in Chennai", and there is a "need to understand the

reasons for varying seroprevalence across zones to improve our control

measures". Seroprevalence is the percentage of individuals of the population

to have antibodies against SARS-Cov-2. "There is huge variation in

seroprevalence across zones ranging between 7.1% in Madhavaram and 44.2% in

Tondiarpet," the study reported.

IT MINISTER TO FACEBOOK: PAGES OF RIGHT-OF-CENTRE IDEOLOGY GETTING DELETED

Union Minister for Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday

wrote a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg saying that India officials

of the social media platform are making "concerted effort" to delete pages

of right-of-centre ideology.

In the letter, Prasad said: "Right from India MD to other senior officials,

they all belong to a particular political belief and Facebook is the latest

tool in their arsenal to stoke internal divisions and social disturbances."

"I would like to point out that there have also been multiple instances

recently where Facebook has been used by anarchic and radical elements whose

sole aim is to destroy social order, to recruit people and to assemble them

for violence. However, we are yet to see any meaningful action against such

elements," he said.

SC HEARS ARGUMENTS ON LOAN MORATORIUM

Amid uncertainty over loan repayment moratorium scheme that ended on August

31, the Centre and RBI told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that it was capable

of being extended by two years in view of COVID-19 pandemic.

The top court -- which is seized of petitions demanding waiver of interest,

or waiver of interest on interest on the suspended EMIs during moratorium --

had earlier commented that there was no point in charging interest on

interest.

Maintaining that the matter can't delay any further, the Bench posted it for

further hearing on Wednesday.

The RBI and Centre maintained that a complete interest waiver was not

possible as banks too had to pay interest to depositors.

Noting that everything can't be left to banks, the Supreme Court had on June

17 asked the Government to consider interfering on the issue of interest

waiver for the loan moratorium announced in view of COVID-19 lockdown.

"Central Government can't raise its hands in helplessness... After

announcing moratorium, it can't now say it's between banks and customers. If

you announced moratorium, you must ensure the benefits are given to

customers purposefully," the Bench had said.

DR KAFEEL KHAN RELEASED FROM MATHURA JAIL

Following an order of the Allahabad High Court, Dr Kafeel Khan was released

from Mathura jail late on Tuesday night, his lawyer said.

The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday quashed Khan's detention under the

National Security Act and ordered his immediate release. The bench,

comprising Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh,

passed the order on a petition filed by Khan's mother Nuzhat Parveen.

Khan was in jail since January after he delivered an allegedly provocative

speech at the Aligarh Muslim University during the CAA protests in December

last year.

"A complete reading of the speech prima facie does not disclose any effort

to promote hatred or violence. It also no where threatens peace and

tranquility of the city of Aligarh," the high court said yesterday. "It

appears that the District Magistrate had selective reading and selective

mention for few phrases from the speech ignoring its true intent," the High

Court said.

JEE MAINS HELD AMID STRINGENT PRECAUTIONS

The Joint Entrance Exam (JEE)-Mains for admission to engineering colleges

began on Tuesday amid stringent precautions and social distancing measures

in view of COVID-19 pandemic.

Staggered entry and exit for candidates, sanitisers at the gate,

distribution of masks and maintaining social distancing as candidates queued

up, were among the scenes witnessed at the exam centres across the country.

twice in view of COVID-19 pandemic is scheduled from September 1 to 6.

Over 9 lakh candidates have registered for the JEE-Mains exam for admission

to engineering courses in IITs, NITs and Centrally Funded Technical

Institutions (CFTIs).

Based on the results of the JEE-Mains Paper 1 and Paper 2, the top 2.45 lakh

candidates will be eligible to appear for the JEE-Advanced exam, which is a

one-stop exam to get admission into the 23 premier Indian Institutes of

Technology (IITs). JEE-Advanced is scheduled to take place on September 27.

SUMIT NAGAL IS FIRST INDIAN IN 7 YEARS TO WIN A SINGLES AT GRAND SLAM

Sumit Nagal, who became the first Indian to win a singles match at the US

Open in seven years when he beat Bradley Klahn on Tuesday, is counting on

his underdog status to give him a mental edge against his next opponent,

second seed Dominic Thiem.

Somdev Devvarman was the last Indian to get past the first round at Flushing

Meadows in 2013 until Nagal beat American Klahn 6-1, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to

advance in New York.

Nagal, who took a set off Roger Federer during a first round defeat on his

Grand Slam debut at Flushing Meadows last year, said he was excited by the

prospect of locking horns with Australian Open finalist Thiem in Thursday's

second round.

"I've got nothing to lose," the 23-year-old told reporters. "Last year I

played Roger Federer and this year Thiem. It's going to be a great match.

For sure, I'm not the favourite."

INDICATORS

Sensex 38,901 (+273), Nifty 11,470 (+83), Trading Value NSE ,(Rs.crores)

61787.65

Nasdaq 11,940 (+164) Dow 28,646 (+216), S&P 3,527 (+26)

US$-Rs. 72.93 GBP-Rs. 97.80, Euro-Rs. 87.20, UAE Dhm-Rs.19.85, Can$-Rs.

55.95, Aus$- Rs. 53.85

GBP 0.74 /US$, Euro 0.83 /US$, Jap.Yen 105.85 /US$, Aus$ 1.35 /US$, Sing

1.35 /US$, Bang Taka 83.22 /US$, Can$ 1.30 /US$, Mal Ring 4.14 /US$,

Pak Re 164.74 /US$, Phil Peso 48.49 /US$, Russian Rouble 73.64 /US$, NZ$

1.47 /US$, Thai Baht 31.04 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 27.33 /US$, Norway NOK 8.71

/US$

Bitcoin - USD 11,901

Dollar Index 92.38 Brent Crude 45.96 BDI 1,488

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,966 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 5,176 / 5,076

Silver (Rs. Per KG) 66610

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Reform is affirmative, conservatism negative; conservatism goes for comfort,

reform for truth. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

OFF TRACK

Here's how bad the economy is: Now when you go to an airport and you have to

put all your change in that pan to pass through the metal detectors? Now

they've stopped giving it back.