INDIA SUMMONS ENVOY OVER UK DEBATE ON FARM LAWS

India summoned the British high commissioner on Tuesday and conveyed its strong opposition to the "unwarranted and tendentious" discussion on India's agri reforms in the UK Parliament, describing it a "gross interference" in politics of another country.

India's demarche to the envoy came a day after several British MPs held a discussion in the parliament over issues around the use of force against protesters opposed to agricultural reforms in India and journalists being targeted while covering the protests on the outskirts of Delhi.

"Foreign Secretary summoned the British high commissioner and conveyed strong opposition to the unwarranted and tendentious discussion on agricultural reforms in India in the British Parliament," the MEA said in a statement.

"Foreign Secretary made clear that this represented a gross interference in the politics of another democratic country," it said. The MEA further said: "He advised that British MPs should refrain from practising vote bank politics by misrepresenting events, especially in relation to another fellow democracy."

Separately, the Indian High Commission in London condemned the false assertions in a "distinctly one-sided discussion".

It pointed out that foreign media, including British media, had been present and witnessed the events surrounding the farmers' protests in India first-hand and any "question of lack of freedom of the media in India does not arise. "We deeply regret that rather than a balanced debate, false assertions without substantiation or facts were made, casting aspersions on the largest functioning democracy in the world and its institutions," a statement issued by the high commission said.

UTTARAKHAND CM TRIVENDRA SINGH RAWAT RESIGNS

After days of speculations about his future amid rumblings among state leaders over his “style of functioning”, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat tendered his resignation to Governor Baby Rani Maurya in Dehradun on Wednesday.

Before the resignation, Rawat was closeted with close associates, including ministers Madan Kaushik and Dhan Singh Rawat, who has now emerged front-runner for the post.

BJP’s general secretary in charge of Uttarakhand Dushyant Gautam insisted the decision on the new CM will be taken at a meeting of legislators on Wednesday. He also said that Trivendra Singh Rawat “will be given a big responsibility in the Centre”.

Addressing a press conference after his resignation, the outgoing chief minister thanked the BJP’s leadership for giving him the opportunity to serve the state.

Apart from “serious discontent” amid BJP MLAs and MPs and objections regarding Rawat’s “style of functioning and allowing the bureaucracy to become more powerful than peoples’ representatives,” it is learnt that observers’ report also mentioned that it will be difficult for the BJP to win next year with Trivendra Singh as the face.

INDIA CAN ‘EVENTUALLY’ JOIN AFGHAN PEACE PLAN: RUSSIA

A day after it emerged that India is finally at the table with five other countries to decide on the roadmap for peace in Afghanistan after six months of hectic behind-the-scenes diplomacy, Russia on Tuesday said that India plays a “very important role” in Afghanistan, and its “eventual deeper involvement” in dedicated dialogue formats is “natural”.

This was in response to reports in Indian media that this mechanism has been suggested by Washington even as Moscow is learnt to have suggested a plan that kept New Delhi out.

In an official statement, the Russian embassy said, “Dialogue between Russia and India has always been very close and forward-looking on all global and regional issues, including the situation in Afghanistan. “It has been intensively maintained in bilateral and multilateral formats, including the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group, Moscow consultations, etc, it said.

“Russia always stated that India plays a very important role in Afghanistan, and its eventual deeper involvement in dedicated dialogue formats is natural,” the statement said.

LOK SABHA FAILS TO TRANSACT LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS FOR 2ND CONSECUTIVE DAY

Lok Sabha proceedings were repeatedly adjourned on Tuesday amid din created by Opposition over rising fuel prices and the House failed to transact any legislative business for the second consecutive day.

The second part of the Budget session commenced on Monday.

After two adjournments due to disruptions caused by Opposition members, mainly from the Congress who were protesting rise in fuel prices, the House was adjourned for the day a little after 2.00 pm.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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FIRST SUMMIT OF LEADERS UNDER QUAD FRAMEWORK ON MARCH 12

The leaders of India, the United States, Japan and Australia will hold their first summit in a virtual format on March 12 under the framework of the Quadrilateral coalition or Quad, in a major push to further expand cooperation in the Indo-Pacific amid growing Chinese assertiveness in the region.

The ministry of external affairs said the leaders will discuss regional and global issues of shared interest, and exchange views on practical areas of cooperation towards maintaining a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be participating, along with Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison and Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihide Suga and President of USA Joseph R. Biden, in the first Leaders' Summit of the Quadrilateral Framework, being held virtually on March 12," the MEA said in a statement.

Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga yesterday called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and shared concerns over China’s “attempt to change status quo” in the East and South China Seas.

In a 40-minute phone call with Modi Tuesday, Suga “expressed serious concerns regarding unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the East and South China Sea, China’s Coast Guard Law and the situation in Hong Kong and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).”

Ever since China came out with its new coast guard law in January, Japan has been concerned that it is targeted at Japanese vessels in the region.

SCHOOLGIRL ADMITS SHE LIED ABOUT ISLAMOPHOBIA CLAIMS WHICH LED TO PATY’S KILLING

The lawyer for the family of beheaded French teacher Samuel Paty expressed her anger on Tuesday over lies spread on social media which led to the murder.

Paty, a secondary school teacher in a town near Paris, was killed last October by a radical Chechen teenager after showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed to students during a civics class about free speech. A 13-year-old schoolgirl has confessed to police that she lied about being in attendance and falsely accused Paty of asking Muslim children to leave the class while he showed the pictures.

Her father, who has been charged in connection with the murder, posted several incendiary videos on Facebook afterwards based on his daughter’s testimony which identified Paty.

“Everything in the investigation showed very early that she lied,” the Paty family’s lawyer Virginie Le Roy said yesterday. She said she was “sceptical” of the version of events recounted by the girl who has said she saw herself as a spokesperson for other pupils and wanted to impress her father.

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DON’T TEACH A BRAHMIN TO BE HINDU: MAMATA’S JIBE AT BJP

She identified herself as a “Hindu Brahmin” and chanted verses from the Chandi Path, said she need not be told about Bengal by “people coming from Rajasthan and Gujarat”, made tea at a roadside stall, cited the work done by her in her previous constituency Bhabanipur, and declared, “Bhulte pari nijer naam, bhulbo nako Nandigram (I can forget my name, but never forget Nandigram).”

With Nandigram set to be the most high-voltage contest of the coming Assembly election, between Mamata Banerjee and her former close aide Suvendu Adhikari, the Trinamool chief on Tuesday held her first meeting in the constituency after the declaration of the polls.

Telling the BJP not to teach her to be a “good Hindu”, Mamata said, “Don’t play the Hindutva card with me. I am a Hindu Brahmin girl. I do Chandi Path before stepping out from my house… Those who are coming from Rajasthan and Gujarat, they are insiders and I became an outsider!”

Promising to develop a university in the name of “martyrs of Nandigram (those who died in the 2007 anti-land acquisition struggle)”, Mamata said, “Go and see my Bhabanipur (her old constituency). All development works are done there. I will make Nandigram a Model Nandigram. There will be no unemployment in any house. Nobody will be left uneducated.”

VIJAYAKANTH-LED DMDK QUITS AIADMK-BJP ALLIANCE AHEAD OF TAMIL NADU ASSEMBLY POLLS

The ruling AIADMK’s ally DMDK on Tuesday walked out of the alliance protesting non-allocation of specific constituencies and the number of seats it sought for the April 6 assembly elections in Tamil Nadu.

After three-rounds of protracted negotiations with the AIADMK that failed to fructify, the DMDK led by actor-turned politician Vijayakanth said it was moving out of the alliance, that also has the PMK and BJP as partners.

The DMDK had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as part of the AIADMK-BJP alliance.

The AIADMK has firmed up pacts with the PMK and BJP, allotting them 23 and 20 assembly seats respectively out of the 234 at stake. BJP has also been given the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha constituency where a bypoll is to be held.

EC REPLACES W BENGAL POLICE CHIEF

The Election Commission on Tuesday ordered removal of Virendra as the Director General of Police of poll-bound West Bengal with immediate effect, and appointed P Nirajnayan in his place.

In a directive to the state chief secretary, the EC said Virendra “should not be given any post which directly or indirectly relates to conduct of election.”

The move came in the wake of several political parties complaining to the Election Commission, alleging that Virendra was inclined towards the ruling Trinamool Congress.

NEWLY ELECTED DDCs IN J&K STAND UP TO PROTEST: HAVE NO STATUS OR POWER

Members of the newly elected District Development Councils from all parties, including the BJP, boycotted a two-day training and workshop programme in Jammu Tuesday and jointly staged a demonstration seeking better status and facilities.

The immediate trigger for the protest was the revised warrant of precedence issued Monday that placed DDC chairpersons on par with administrative secretaries or divisional commissioners, vice-chairpersons with vice-chancellors of universities and members with district magistrates.

But the agitation captured the growing anxiety among members, who were elected two-and-a-half months ago, about “lack of powers” in the councils that are being showcased by the Centre as the first step for J&K to return to the political mainstream.

CITING BATLA HOUSE VERDICT, BJP SLAMS OPPN LEADERS

A day after the verdict in the Batla House encounter case, the ruling BJP on Tuesday slammed Opposition parties Congress, TMC, SP and AAP for allegedly supporting terrorists for the sake of vote bank politics and portraying the Delhi Police as “murderers”.

“We know how scared the Delhi Police were at that time because of this sustained campaign. It is shameful how leaders of the party, whose govt led by Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, gave Ashok Chakra to late Mohan Chand Sharma, hounded the Delhi Police,” Union Minister Ravi Shakar Prasad claimed.

Prasad said at the time of the incident, the BJP was in the Opposition and that many Delhi Police officials approached them. “They requested to save them as there was a concerted effort to label them as murderers,” Prasad said.

“Congress leader Salman Khurshid had said pictures of the Batla House encounter case had brought tears to the eyes of Sonia Gandhi. Will she now apologise to the country, will Mamata Banerjee say sorry to the nation,” Prasad said, calling Monday's conviction in the Batla House encounter “a triumph of India’s judicial process, a validation of the courage shown by the Delhi Police officials in containing terrorism and a closure to the rampant vote bank politics which happened in the past 12 years”.

Quoting senior Congress leaders Salman Khurshid and Digvijaya Singh, the BJP leader said, “Deliberate attempts were made to cast doubts over the encounters and to support terrorists for vote bank politics.” He also quoted Mamata Banerjee who demanded a judicial probe into the incident.

2.40 CRORE PEOPLE VACCINATED SO FAR AGAINST COVID

The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 2.40 crore with 10,28,911 people being given jabs till Tuesday evening, the health ministry said.

During the day, 7,98,354 beneficiaries took their first dose and 2,30,557 healthcare workers and frontline workers received their second dose of the vaccine as per the provisional report, the ministry said, adding final reports would be completed for the day by night.

The 7,98,354 beneficiaries who got the first dose include 5,51,398 beneficiaries aged over 60 and 98,478 aged between 45-60 with specified co-morbidities, according to the data.

More than two million COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered on March 8, the highest in a day so far.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers getting inoculated and the vaccination of the frontline workers started from February 2.

The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination has commenced from March 1 for those who are over 60 years of age and for people aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

The Centre on Tuesday told the states that there is no shortage of vaccine doses in any state and directed them to register and activate all private facilities for Covid-19 vaccination drive.

‘TRUST DEFICIT’ HAMPERING SEAMLESS MOVEMENT OF GOODS BETWEEN INDIA, BANGLADESH: WORLD BANK

Seamless movement of vehicles between the two neighbouring countries for trade could raise India’s national income by eight per cent and Bangladesh’s by 17 per cent; provide faster and cheaper access to products from Northeast and boost real income in states such as West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, a World Bank report has said.

Commenting that a “broad trust deficit throughout the region” was a major reason behind lack of seamless transport between the two countries, the report found that it is about 15-20 per cent less expensive for a company in India to trade with a company in Brazil or Germany, than with a company in Bangladesh, despite the two neighbours being party to an international motor vehicles agreement.

The release of the report, “Connecting to Thrive: Challenges and Opportunities of Transport Integration in Eastern South Asia,” coincided with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina inaugurating the Maitri Bridge on river Feni via video conferencing on Tuesday. The bridge significantly reduces the distance between the southern tip of Tripura and Ramgarh in Bangladesh.

MANSUKH HIRAN’S WIFE TELLS ATS SHE SUSPECTS API WAZE KILLED HIM

Vimla Hiran, the wife of Mansukh Hiran whose SUV laden with explosives was found abandoned near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence on February 25, has said in her statement to the state Anti-Terrorism Squad that she suspects assistant police inspector (API) Sachin Waze killed her husband.

The ATS is probing the alleged murder of Hiran and has treated Vimla’s statement as an FIR. She also claimed Waze had told Hiran to claim responsibility in the explosives case and assured him that he would secure his release from jail in case he was arrested. She said they consulted a lawyer who advised them against it and added that Hiran was under tremendous stress.

Hiran’s body was found floating in a Mumbra creek on Thursday.

FLYERS WEARING MASKS INCORRECTLY BE PUT ON NO-FLY LIST: DELHI HC TELLS DGCA

A Delhi High Court judge, on board Air India’s Kolkata-Delhi flight on March 5, has issued a set of guidelines that empowers airline cabin crew to offload ‘without delay’ delinquent passengers who wear their masks on the chin and be put on a ‘no-fly’ list if they exhibit ‘stubborn reluctance’.

Justice C Hari Shankar took note of the alleged callous attitude of passengers and passed directions to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) — the country’s aviation regulator.

The judge in his order said many passengers on the Kolkata-Delhi flight had worn their masks incorrectly and shown resistance when pulled up by the cabin crew. The cabin crew said it was helpless in implementing the mandated protocol. “Such a situation, in the present scenario, when the country is seeing a resurgence of Covid cases, after they had shown signs of ebbing, is completely unconscionable,” he said.

ECB TOO SOFT ON ITS PLAYERS: GEOFFREY BOYCOTT

Former England opener Geoffrey Boycott has urged England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to dock money from players who prioritise Indian Premier League over national duty.

Last week, England head coach Chris Silverwood confirmed that IPL-bound England players would be available for the entire tournament, which means those involved in the final stages of the cash-rich league are most likely to miss the opening Test against New Zealand.

"All these players made their names playing international cricket with England and are well paid, rightly so. Nobody begrudges them rich rewards," Boycott wrote in the 'Daily Telegraph'.

"Players seem to forget the IPL would not come calling for them if they had not performed for England first. So they owe a debt of gratitude and loyalty to put England first.

Claiming that the board is treating the players in a "namby-pamby way", the former opener slammed the much-debated rotational policy. "England messed up with a rotation policy in India and must stop treating players in a namby-pamby way.

"If players want to go home for a break from England duty, dock their money. Better still don't select them unless they can agree to be available for a whole series,” he wrote.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it’s the exact opposite. – Paul Dirac

OFF TRACK

“My wife thinks I’m too nosy. At least that’s what she keeps scribbling in her diary.”