NATIONAL NEWS
India holds first officially confirmed meeting with Taliban; Russia, China abstain on UNSC’s Afghanistan resolution
India has held its first officially confirmed meeting with the Taliban. It took place between Indian Ambassador to Qatar Deepak Mittal and Sher Mohammed Stanekzai, head of the Political Office of the Taliban based in Doha, said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a press release. Stanekzai, an ethnic Pashtun, was trained as an officer of the Afghan army during the Cold War years. He issued a statement three days ago seeking normal commercial, diplomatic and political relations with India. India had remained silent to the overture initially but held the meeting hours after the U.S. completed the military evacuation from Kabul. India has maintained that it has maintained contact with all stakeholders but this is the first time that the meeting has been confirmed and announced. Sources said India was focused on ensuring the safety of those individuals who wished to come to India but could not do so as the Taliban denied them permission to leave Kabul. Meanwhile, in a related development, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), under India’s presidency, passed the Resolution that reminded Taliban to stand by its commitment to prevent international terrorism. Resolution 2593 of the UNSC addresses India’s major concerns on Afghanistan at this time, informed sources said in New Delhi on Tuesday. But the P-5 countries (permanent members of the UNSC) remained divided over the issue. Russia and China abstained during the voting over the draft saying it divided the approach to the Afghan crisis. Russian representative at the UNSC pointed out that the author of the draft resolution, that is the U.S., has divided terrorists in Afghanistan into ours and theirs, pointing to a changing stance of the U.S. towards the Taliban and its allied Haqqani Network, which has in the past attacked both American and Indian targets in Afghanistan. Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, representing India at the UNSC, highlighted the role of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed and said that these outfits should be called out and condemned, without referring to the Haqqani Network that is likely to come up at the Taliban Sanctions Committee for a discussion among the members for possible delisting.
India’s GDP grows 20.1% in April-June, but economy still far from pre-COVID level
India’s economic growth surged to 20.1 % in the April-June quarter of this fiscal, helped by a low base of the year-ago period, despite a devastating second wave of Covid-19. The gross domestic product (GDP) had contracted by 24.4 % in the corresponding April-June quarter of 2020-21, according to data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Tuesday. The government had imposed a nationwide lockdown at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic last year. This year, the massive second wave of the pandemic hit the country in the middle of April, which forced states to impose fresh restrictions. However, the economy has still not returned to the pre-COVID level. In value terms, the GDP stood at ₹32,38,020 crore in April-June 2021-22, much lower than the figure of ₹35,66,708 crore in the corresponding period of the 2019-20 financial year. The GDP had shrunk to ₹26,95,421 crore in April-June last year during the nationwide lockdown. GDP at Constant (2011-12) Prices in Q1 of 2021-22 is estimated at ₹32.38 lakh crore, as against ₹26.95 lakh crore in Q1 of 2020-21, showing a growth of 20.1 % as compared to contraction of 24.4 % in Q1 2020-21, the NSO said in a statement. According to the NSO data, gross value added (GVA) growth in the manufacturing sector accelerated to 49.6 % in the first quarter of 2021-22, compared to a contraction 36 % a year ago. Farm sector GVA growth was up at 4.5 %, compared to 3.5 % earlier. Construction sector GVA grew by 68.3 % compared to 49.5 % contraction earlier. Mining sector grew by 18.6 %, as against a contraction of 17.2 % a year ago. Electricity, gas, water supply and other utility services segment grew by 14.3 % in the first quarter of this fiscal, against 9.9 % contraction a year ago. Similarly, trade, hotel, transport, communication and services related to broadcasting grew by 34.3 % compared to 48.1 % contraction earlier. Financial, real estate and professional services grew by 3.7 % in Q1 FY22 compared to a contraction of 5 %. Public administration, defence and other services grew at 5.8 % during the quarter under review, compared to (-) 10.2 % a year earlier.
Delhi HC to hear plea challenging Asthana appointment on Wednesday
The Delhi High Court today posted the hearing on a petition challenging the appointment of Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana as Delhi Police Commissioner and an intervention application filed in the matter by an NGO for Wednesday. On August 25, the Supreme Court had asked the High Court to decide within two weeks the plea pending before it against the appointment of the senior IPS officer as Delhi Police Commissioner. Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), which filed the impleadment application, argued that the petition before the High Court, filed by one one Sadre Alam, was a copy-paste of its plea before the Supreme Court. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for CPIL, said, We have filed an intervention on behalf of CPIL. Something extraordinary has happened in the matter. The petition is a total copy-paste. Full stop, comma, exclamation mark. The court may list it tomorrow or whenever. See the kind of abuse of process of law that is done. The NGO stated that it got to know about the filing of Alam’s petition before the High Court from media reports and was surprised to see some of the paragraphs of the instant writ petition as quoted by media, as the same appeared to be copy-pasted from the applicant’s writ petition filed before the Supreme Court prior in time. The NGO claimed that the precise purpose of filing the petition by Alam seems to be only to defeat public interest by scuttling the genuine, bona fide and well-researched and deliberated PIL filed by the applicant (NGO) before the Supreme Court. The petition filed by Alam has contended that the 1984-batch IPS officer, serving as the Director General of Border Security Force, was appointed Delhi Police Commissioner on July 27, just four days before his superannuation on July 31. Alam, in his plea, argued that the decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) in appointing Asthana for the post was completely illegal on multiple grounds. The plea said the appointment was in clear and blatant breach of the directions of the Supreme Court of India as Asthana did not have a minimum residual tenure of six months, and that no Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) panel was formed for appointment of Delhi Police Commissioner. The petition, additionally, argued that the appointment violates the fundamental rule which stipulates no government servant shall be granted extension in service beyond the age of retirement of sixty years.
Sidhu questions Punjab govt on ‘inaction’ against those involved in drug trafficking
Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday questioned his party government in the State on the ‘inaction’ against those involved in drug trafficking. And the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), at its legislative party meeting held here, accused Sidhu and Chief Minister Amarinder Singh of running away from public issues. Sidhu, in a statement, said numerous tormented mothers who had lost their children due to the drug menace were waiting for the report of the Special Task Force (STF) surrounding the drugs trade. In February 2018, the STF filed a status report in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Later, the government filed before the court an opinion-cum-status report, and the matter is still in the court. Questioning the government’s ‘inaction’, Sidhu said that despite the court’s directions, nothing had been done nothing to extradite some 13 drug smugglers back to India. Leader of the Opposition Harpal Singh Cheema demanded that the one-day Assembly session, dedicated to the 400th birth anniversary of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur on September 3, be extended for at least 15 days so that all the issues concerning people, including the agricultural crisis, expensive electricity and the mafia, can be discussed in the House. Taking a dig at Sidhu, he stated that if the ruling Congress president could not ensure an extension of the term of the coming Assembly session, then by what conscience was he still sitting in the ruling party. AAP MLA Aman Arora said that he had brought a private member’s bill to cancel the power purchase agreements and now it would be seen whether Sidhu and his fellow MLAs supported this pro-people Bill or run away from it. If Sidhu sincerely desires, the Bill to cancel the power agreements could be passed in the Assembly as he has the support of more than 50 Congress MLAs, and with the Aam Aadmi Party MLAs, there would be a majority in the House, he added.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
UNSC resolution addresses ‘key concerns’ on Afghanistan: India
Despite the abstention of two P5 countries – Russia and China – from the Indialed United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2593, the Government of India said it was a matter of satisfaction that the resolution addressed India’s key concerns on Afghanistan. P5 refers to the five permanent members of the UNSC – China, France, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S. According to official sources, the resolution, which called on the Taliban to keep their commitments on preventing terror groups in Afghanistan and urged them to assist the safe evacuations of all Afghan nationals wishing to leave the country, was the result ofa careful coordination and high-level official contacts with UNSC members, including a call to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The efforts were overseen by a special new group led by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. The resolution demands that Afghan territory should not be used to threaten or attack any country or to shelter and train terrorists and plan or finance terrorist attacks. It mentions individuals designated by Resolution 1267, (which includes the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad), said the sources, explaining why India played an active role in ensuring that the resolution went through on Monday, a day before it demitted presidency of the UNSC. Explaining the split within the P5, Russia and China said they wanted all the groups, especially the Islamic State and the Uighur East Turkestan Islamic Movement to be named specifically in the document, and listed a number of objections to the drafting of the resolution. They accused the U.S ., the U.K. and France, the sponsors of the resolution, of having rushed it through on a tight schedule while seeking to absolve the U.S. of responsibility, and distinguishing between their and our terrorists.
China opens first road-rail transport link to Indian Ocean.
The first shipments on a newly-launched railway line from the Myanmar border to the key commercial hub of Chengdu in western China, that provides China a new road-rail transportation channel to the Indian Ocean, were delivered last week, state media reported on Tuesday. A test cargo through what is being called the China-Myanmar New Passage arrived at the Chengdu rail port in Sichuan province on August 27, the official China News Service reported. The transport corridor involves a sea-road-rail link. Goods from Singapore reached Yangon Port, arriving by ship through the Andaman Sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean, and were then transported by road to Lincang on the Chinese side of the Myanmar-China border in Yunnan province. The new railway line that runs from the border town of Lincang to Chengdu, a key trade hub in western China, completes the corridor. This passage connects the logistics lines of Singapore, Myanmar and China, and is currently the most convenient land and sea channel linking the Indian Ocean with southwest China, the China News Service said, adding that the oneway journey saves 20 to 22 days. China also has plans to develop another port in Kyaukphyu in the Rakhine state, including a proposed railway line from Yunnan directly to the port, but the progress there has been stalled by unrest in Myanmar. Chinese planners have also looked at the Gwadar port in Pakistan as another key outlet to the Indian Ocean that will bypass the Malacca Straits. Gwadar is being developed as part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to the far western Xinjiang region, but has been slow to take off amid concerns over security. The costs and logistics through CPEC are also less favourable than the Myanmar route with the opening of the rail transport channel from the Myanmar border right to western China’s biggest commercial hub, Chengdu. Transportation time on the railway line from the Myanmar border to Chengdu takes three days. The Irrawaddy website that focuses on Myanmar news said the route is the first to link western China with the Indian Ocean. The railway line currently ends in Lincang on the Chinese side opposite the Myanmar border trade town of Chin Shwe Haw. Plans are underway to develop Chin Shwe Haw as a border economic cooperation zone under the Belt and Road Initiative. The Irrawaddy said the route goes through Mandalay, Lashio and Hsenwi on the Myanmar side and is expected to become the lifeblood of international trade for China and Myanmar, while providing a source of income for Myanmar’s military regime.
