Tag: PO

NATIONAL NEWS

Parliamentary panel not allowed to discuss Pegasus. 

In a complete washout, the Standing Committee on Information Technology headed by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor could not deliberate on Citizens’ Data Security and Privacy, as none of the officials of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology(MEITy) and the Department of Telecom came for the meeting, citing various reasons for their absence. A discussion on data security and privacy would have entailed questions on the alleged Pegasus cyberattack on more than 300 persons in India. The BJP members, on the second consecutive day, staged a walkout, refusing to sign the attendance register, forcing the meeting to be cancelled in the absence of quorum. @BJP4India members come to the IT Committee & refuse to sign the attendance register to deny a quorum. Further all the witnesses called from MEITY & MHA wrote in excuses & didn’t appear as called to testify. It’s very clear that #Pegasus is a no go area for this government, one of the members and Congress MP Karti Chidambaram tweeted. The BJP, he said, wants to expunge Pegasus from any debate, scrutiny or enquiry. What are they so afraid of? Sources said that right at the very beginning, the BJP members started protesting. They accused Tharoor of running the Congress agenda and not discussing the subject of meetings with the members before finalising it. This led to a sharp exchange of words between the Opposition and BJP members. BJP’s Nishikant Dubey complained that TMC’s Mahua Moitra called him Bihari goonda, or hoodlum. Addressing Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Dubey, in a tweet in Hindi, said that in his 13 years as a parliamentarian for the first time he was abused in a meeting of a standing committee. TMC MP Mahua Moitra thrice called me a Bihari goonda, he said. He also accused Tharoor of having taken a contract to end the Parliamentary tradition of standing committees. Earlier in the day, Dubey gave a notice to move a privilege motion against Tharoor. In the notice, he said the agenda of the meeting was not discussed with the members. He also alleged that even before it was circulated among the members, Tharoor announced it to the media.

Amid din, Parliament clears important bills without debate 

Both Houses of Parliament on Wednesday cleared important bills without debate amid continuing protests by Opposition members on the Pegasus snooping issue and the three contentious farm laws, against which farmers’ groups have been protesting for months. The Lok Sabha, which witnessed unruly behaviour in the form of tearing of papers and throwing them towards the Speaker’s Chair and the treasury benches, saw the passage of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2021, as also the first batch of the Supplementary Demand for Grants, and the Appropriations Bill, numbers 3 and 4, without debate and by a voice vote. Although Speaker Om Birla managed to hold Question Hour even amidst the din, the first time in the current session, as soon as Rajendra Agarwal replaced him in the Chair, the protests got louder and Opposition members such as Gurjeet Aujala, T.N. Prathapan and Hibi Eden from the Congress as well as some others tore up papers and threw them in the air. Interestingly, Congress member Jasbir Singh Gill raised the slogan, Khela Hobe (game on) used by the Trinamool Congress during the recently concluded Assembly polls in West Bengal. The House was adjourned several times before legislative business was conducted amid the din and adjourned for the day. In the Rajya Sabha too, the important Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, 2021 was passed without debate and the House adjourned for the day before 3 p.m.

Political fortunes can change overnight, says Mamata Banerjee 

There have been many examples in the past when political fortunes changed overnight, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, adding that if Opposition parties seriously worked together, six months is enough. Banerjee was addressing a select gathering of journalists in Delhi. She is here on a five-day tour, her first visit since winning the West Bengal Assembly polls for a third time. Now we want to see ‘sacche din’ (days of truth). For long we have endured the ‘achhe din’ (the BJP’s slogan), Banerjee said. It is going to be Narendra Modi versus the nation, she added. Banerjee said, Khela hobe (the game is on; the Trinamool Congress slogan for the West Bengal election) will ring through the nation. She said that there had been many precedents in Indian democracy when popular leaders lost their mandate overnight. What happened in 1977? Indira Gandhi was voted out. Atal Behari Vajpayee lost his popularity within a year. There are many such precedents in our democracy, she said. At the same time, she asserted that talks had to begin after the Parliament’s Monsoon Session. She also refused to answer questions on the role the Congress would play in a unified Opposition. Congress president Sonia Gandhi too wants to have an united Opposition, Banerjee said. The TMC leader met Gandhi in the evening. So far, Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal and Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress have maintained a distance from the Opposition bloc in Parliament. Answering a question on whether talks were on to bring them on board, Banerjee said, I maintain good relations with both Mr. Patnaik and Mr. Reddy. Today, they may not be with us but who can say that this will not change tomorrow. When a political storm blows, it’s very difficult to contain, she added. At the same time, Banerjee dodged questions on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who returned to the National Democratic Alliance in 2017, and the Bahujan Samaj Party’s Mayawati, saying it was a question for them to answer. If the Opposition parties in U.P. want to stop the BJP, then they will have to work together, she said.

Rahul rejects govt charges on Parliament disruption, says Opposition united on Pegasus

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the Opposition was united in demanding a discussion on the Pegasus snooping row in Parliament in the presence of the prime minister or the home minister. He rejected the government’s charges over the disruption of Parliament and said the Opposition was only fulfilling its responsibility. He also attacked the government over the Pegasus snooping row, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit of hitting the soul of India’s democracy. The voice of Opposition was being suppressed in Parliament, he alleged. We are only asking if the government bought Pegasus and snooped upon Indians. We are not disturbing Parliament, we are only fulfilling our responsibility, he said. He also said the Pegasus row for us is an issue of nationalism, treason. This is not a matter of privacy. It is an anti-national work. He said the Opposition was united over the issue. The government has been rejecting all Opposition charges over the issue. In the Parliament, various members voiced their concern. RJD MP Manoj Jha and Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said that the IT Minister himself was snooped upon. The issue is not about Information Technology but national security and that’s why the Home Minister has to sit through the discussion, they said. DMK MP T.R. Baalu said, The government is giving an impression that Opposition who are gathered are opposed to any discussion. It is not so. Every day we are giving notices. The government doesn’t want to discuss. Democracy is in peril. Pegasus is not only affecting politicians and the judiciary but even you.

Legislators indulging in vandalism cannot claim immunity, says SC 

The Supreme Court on Wednesday held that legislators who indulge in vandalism and general mayhem cannot claim parliamentary privilege and immunity from criminal prosecution, as it dismissed appeals by the Kerala government and the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) to withdraw a criminal case against their leaders who destroyed public property and disrupted a Budget speech on the State Assembly floor in 2015. Parliamentary privileges and immunities are not ‘gateways’ for legislators to claim exception from the law of the land, especially criminal law, a Bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah observed in a judgment. Vandalism on the Assembly floor could not be equated with the right to protest by Opposition legislators. Destruction of public property could not be equated with the exercise of freedom of speech. Legislators should act within the parameters of the public trust imposed on them to do their duty. They had taken office swearing true allegiance to the Constitution. They had to uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India and had to perform the duty imposed on them by the people who elected them, it said. Engaging in acts of violence inside the Assembly could hardly be in the larger public interest or be considered as legitimate protests, as claimed by the State government and the accused leaders, the Supreme Court noted. The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Thiruvananthapuram, was justified in declining the Public Prosecutor’s application to withdraw the criminal case against the accused LDF leaders, one of them being the current State Education Minister, V. Sivankutty. The Supreme Court agreed with the Magistrate’s view that the application for withdrawal was not made in good faith. Criminal law must take its normal course, the court ordered. The televised images from the day of the incident show legislators coming to blows on the House floor and hurling chairs, computers and other public property soon after Finance Minister K.M. Mani began his budget speech during the UDF government’s tenure. The MLAs are facing charges of criminal trespass, mischief and destruction of public property. MLAs only have parliamentary privileges and immunities essential for doing their duty, Justice Chandrachud responded. The court said breaking chairs and indulging in destruction of public property on the Assembly floor could not be said to be an ‘essential function’. MLAs do not stand above the general application of law, Justice Chandrachud observed in the judgment.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

Indian democracy is powered by its freethinking citizens: Blinken 

Democratic values and free citizenry define India, said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken here on Wednesday. At a press conference after holding bilateral talks, Secretary Blinken said the United States views India through the prism of common democratic values and that there are challenges that can be ‘ugly’ that need to be dealt with through corrective mechanisms. Blinken also warned the Taliban not to attack civil liberties of the Afghan people. Our shared values and democratic traditions were part of our conversation. The relationship is so strong because it is a relationship between two democracies. Americans admire Indians’ commitment to rights, democracy and pluralism. Indian democracy is powered by its freethinking citizens. I approach this with humility. U.S. has challenges too. The search is for a more perfect union which means we are not perfect. Sometimes, the challenges can be painful, even ugly, said Blinken to a question about ‘backsliding’ of democratic values in India. Blinken pointed at the free press and independent judiciary as part of the corrective mechanism that can repair challenges to democracy. The issue of the condition of human rights and apparent democratic erosion has been a prominent part of bilateral conversation at the official level since the Biden administration arrived in January. The State Department had announced that Blinken would raise the issue during his visit here, especially in the context of shrinking of democratic space and pressure on the free media.

 

COVID-19 Vaccination updates across the world.

India can join the China-led South Asian initiative for COVID-19 vaccines and poverty alleviation too if it so desires, said Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen, denying that a six-nation grouping launched earlier this month was meant to exclude India. He was speaking to The Hindu in an interview. China and Pakistan on Saturday said they would more closely cooperate and work together in Afghanistan amid the changing situation in the country, as their Foreign Ministers proposed building the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) into a hub of regional connectivity. Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said last week he would seek a second term in office, shifting from his earlier position to serve only one term. The Sri Lankan government will give top priority to COVID-19 vaccination and livelihood support in the Tamil-majority North and East of the island nation, according to an official tasked with overseeing the efforts.

NATIONAL NEWS 

Basavaraj Bommai will be the new Chief Minister of Karnataka

Basavaraj Bommai, 61, has been chosen the next Chief Minister of Karnataka. The name was declared after the meeting of the BJP Legislature Party in Bengaluru on July 27 evening. He is expected to take oath as the 20th Chief Minister of Karnataka on July 28. In a choice that indicated its keenness to protect the Lingayat vote base rather than indulge in experiments, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chose the 61-one-year-old MLA and Minister of state for Home Affairs, Law, Parliamentary Affairs to succeed B.S. Yediyurappa who resigned on July 26. The name of Mr. Bommai was proposed by outgoing Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and seconded by former Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol. The name was announced by central observer Dharmendra Pradhan at a crowded media conference in Bengaluru.

Vaccination of children likely to start from August.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday told a meeting of the BJP parliamentary party that the government may start vaccinating children against Covid-19 as early as August. Mandaviya also said that India was on its way to becoming the largest producer of vaccines as his Ministry would expedite more licences to Indian companies. He spoke for a brief while on the government’s efforts to fight Covid-19 and ramp up vaccination. His statements are in line with the government’s statement in the Delhi High Court in early July that vaccines for adolescents between the ages of 12-18 would be available soon as trials were under various stages and that a policy to regulate the vaccination programme would be spelt out soon.

‘Opposition unity will automatically happen,’ says Mamata, minutes after meeting PM 

A united Opposition against the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is a given, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said minutes after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Tuesday. She has also demanded a judicial probe into the Pegasus cyber attack. Banerjee is in New Delhi for her first visit in two years after winning the West Bengal Assembly elections for a third time. During her five-day visit, she will be meeting a host of Opposition leaders. Buoyed by their victory, especially in the face of a resurgent BJP, Banerjee’s meetings with the Opposition parties is being seen as a definitive sign that the TMC wants to play a larger role in national politics. Opposition unity will automatically happen, Banerjee said. Asked if she will lead such a consortium of Opposition parties she said, India will lead and we shall follow. The Lok Sabha elections are still some time away, she said, but the preparations have to begin right away. On Pegasus, she urged the BJP government to call for an all-party meeting to clear the air on its role in the whole issue. The Prime Minister should call for an all-party meeting and consult us. There should be a Supreme Court-monitored probe. On meeting Modi, she said it was a courtesy call and that she was following the Constitutional protocol. I had asked for an appointment with the PM to seek his blessings after winning the Bengal Assembly polls for the third time. During the brief meeting, she said she has urged the Prime Minister to ensure more doses of Covid-19 vaccine for Bengal. I am not against giving vaccines to other States, but considering the population of Bengal we need more doses, she said. She will be meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday. Banerjee also said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav will be meeting her in the next few days. The only significant omission in the list of Opposition leaders is NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar. Banerjee said she has not spoken to him so far. I will speak to him and maybe we will meet once the COVID situation settles, she said. She has also sought an appointment from President Ramnath Kovind but Banerjee complained that protocol may come in the way. She said though she has got both doses of vaccine, she may need to get an RT PCR test too for the visit, which may be difficult. She also met senior Congress leaders Kamal Nath, Anand Sharma and Abhishek Singhvi.

Parliament proceedings: Opposition unrelenting on Pegasus, repeal of farm laws 

Both the Houses of Parliament saw multiple adjournments on Tuesday, the Lok Sabha as many as 10, before being adjourned for the day as the Opposition continued with its protests against the government on the Pegasus issue and the three controversial farm laws. The Rajya Sabha, like the Lok Sabha on Monday, managed to pass the Marine Aids to Navigation Bill, 2021 with a voice vote amid sloganeering and protests by the Opposition. The Lok Sabha cleared the Factoring Regulation Bill, 2020 and the National Institutes of food Technology and Management Bill, 2021 in a similar manner on Monday. Rajya Sabha chairperson M. Venkaiah Naidu, amid disruptions during Zero Hour, said he would not be forced like this though undemocratic method to give in to Opposition demands. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla told Opposition members who kept up protests in the House through all its 10 adjournments, that MPs shouldn’t be competing to raise slogans and that they should raise issues pertaining to people. Protests in the Lok Sabha started soon after members paid homage to Anerood Jugnauth, former Prime Minister of Mauritius and Kenneth Kaunda, the first President of Zambia. While members of the Congress, CPI, CPI(M) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) were protesting over the snooping row, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and the Samajwadi Party (SP) raised slogans against the three farm laws. Despite assurances by Birla and subsequent Chairs Bhratruhari Mahtab and Rajendra Agarwal that members would be given ample opportunities to raise issues, the protests continued. Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said there were 15 questions with regard to agriculture listed for Question Hour but that the disruptions had made it impossible for these to be put to the Minister. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal appealed for calm to no avail. Some attempts were made during the day to allow for mentions under rule 377, where members raise issues of public importance, but frequent adjournments made it a truncated affair. Placards and sloganeering continued in both Houses with equal intensity. Opposition leaders are firm that there should be an enquiry ordered into the Pegasus issue and the three farm laws should be repealed.

Won’t give up even an inch of Assam’s land: Himanta Biswa Sarma 

Assam will abide by any law enacted by Parliament that makes it even cede its land to another State but till then it will not allow even an inch to be encroached, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma asserted on Tuesday amid border tensions with Mizoram, PTI reported. Sarma’s comments came a day after six Assamese people, including five police personnel and a civilian, were killed and over 50 were injured in border clashes with Mizoram. He also said Assam will move the Supreme Court seeking protection of Innerline Forest Reserve from destruction and encroachment and deploy three commando battalions in Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi districts bordering Mizoram to strengthen security. It is the responsibility of the Centre to define the boundary and we will abide by it. If tomorrow the Parliament enacts a law by which our land can be given to another state, we will do so but till then we will protect our constitutional boundary, he told a press conference here after paying floral tributes to the slain personnel. He also visited the Silchar Medical College and Hospital and met police personnel injured in the attack. Assam has declared a three-day state mourning following the incident. Assam, he said, will behave responsibly under all circumstances, and even under provocation, will not fire back at civilians. We hope that the Mizos regret that they have fired at fellow countrymen but we are leaving it to their wisdom and conscience. This is a dispute between two states and not a fight between countries. But the video evidence that we have of the Mizo forces celebrating after attacking our people has saddened and hurt us, he said. The chief minister said that satellite images have shown that roads are being constructed and forests cleared for jhum cultivation which cannot be allowed. We will move the Supreme Court to ensure that the forests are protected, he said. Jhum cultivation is a farming activity where farmland is cleared of trees and other vegetation and then set on fire. The practice is followed in most states of the northeast. The dispute is not regarding land but encroachment of reserved forests. We have no settlements in the forest areas and, if Mizoram can give evidence, we will immediately carry out eviction, he said.

 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

Tunisia’s biggest party calls for talks to end crisis.

Tunisia’s biggest party, the moderate Islamist Ennahda, on Tuesday called for a national dialogue to get the country out of crisis after it accused the President of a coup when he dismissed the Prime Minister and suspended Parliament. In a reversal of a call early on Monday to its supporters to take to the streets against President Kais Saied’s actions, Ennahda urged dialogue and efforts to avoid civil strife.vThe movement calls on all Tunisians to increase solidarity, synergy and unity and to confront all calls for sedition and civil strife, it said in a statement. Ennahda had already told supporters through party branches not to resume a sit-in outside Parliament and to avoid protests. Though some senior party members wanted to retain a street presence, its leaders decided to avoid any further escalation and allow a period of calm, two Ennahda officials said earlier on Tuesday. The area outside the Parliament building, the site on Monday of confrontations between hundreds of supporters of Ennahda and Mr. Saied, was empty on Tuesday morning. Ennahda’s supporters left on Monday evening and have not returned. Tunisia is facing its biggest crisis since the 2011 revolution that introduced democracy.

Biden, Kadhimi seal deal to end U.S. combat mission in Iraq. 

U.S. President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi sealed an agreement on Monday formally ending the U.S. combat mission in Iraq by the end of 2021, but American forces will still operate there in an advisory role. The agreement comes at a delicate time for the Iraqi government and could be a boost for Baghdad. Mr. Kadhimi has faced increasing pressure from Iran-aligned parties and paramilitary groups who oppose the U.S. military role in the country. Mr. Biden and Mr. Kadhimi met in the Oval Office for their first face-to-face talks as part of a strategic dialogue between the United States and Iraq. Our role in Iraq will be to be available, to continue to train, to assist, to help and to deal with ISIS as it arises, but we’re not going to be, by the end of the year, in a combat mission, Mr. Biden told reporters. There are currently 2,500 U.S. troops in Iraq focusing on countering the remnants of Islamic State. The U.S. role in Iraq will shift entirely to training and advising the Iraqi military to defend itself. For Mr. Biden, the deal to end the combat mission in Iraq follows decisions to carry out a withdrawal from Afghanistan and wrap up the U.S. military mission there by the end of August. Together with his agreement on Iraq, the Democratic President is moving to formally complete U.S. combat missions in the two wars that then-President George W. Bush began under his watch nearly two decades ago. A U.S .- led coalition invaded Iraq in 2003 based on charges that then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s government possessed weapons of mass destruction. Saddam was ousted from power, but such weapons were never found. In recent years, the U.S. mission was focused on helping defeat the IS militants in Iraq and Syria. U.S. diplomats and troops in Iraq and Syria were targeted in three rocket and drone attacks earlier this month. Analysts believed the attacks were part of a campaign by Iranian-backed militias.

NATIONAL NEWS 

Yediyurappa announces resignation as Karnataka Chief Minister

B S Yediyurappa on Monday announced his resignation as the Chief Minister of Karnataka. His government has just about completed two years in office. The 78-year-old BJP veteran said he will submit his resignation to the Governor post lunch. Don’t take me otherwise, with your permission… I have decided that after lunch I will go to the Raj Bhavan and submit my resignation as the Chief Minister to the Governor, Yediyurappa said with a choked voice, as he turned emotional. Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa (centre) addressing mediapersons outside Raj Bhavan after submitting his resignation to the Governor, in Bengaluru on July 26, 2021. At left is Minister for Home Affairs, Law, Parliamentary Affairs Basavaraj Bommai, behind the CM is his political secretary and MLA M.P. Renukacharya, and to the right is Deputy Chief Minister Dr. C. N. Ashwath Narayan. The 78-year-old BJP veteran holds the record for being the chief minister of Karnataka four times, the most for any CM, though he could not complete a full term even once. Two terms were short, as he failed to muster the support of adequate number of MLAs to sustain the government. But he failed to complete the other two terms due to bickering in his own party, which he built brick by brick in Karnataka. A close look at the turn of events, particularly in the last two years, shows that there was a clear indication of him not completing the term this time too as the gulf between him and the party cadre as well as the high command had begun widening from the very start. Also his past mistakes, particularly with respect to administration, continued this time too, with his own partymen levelling allegations of corruption and nepotism. But unlike his previous stint, when he had stepped down unceremoniously following a report on illegal mining, Yediyurappa had an honourable exit this time. Despite endearing himself to party workers and occupying prominent posts, like Leader of the Opposition, president of the party’s State unit and Deputy Chief Minister, Mr. Yediyurappa had not emerged strongly in the State’s political spectrum till 2008. The failure by coalition partner JD(S) to transfer power to the BJP in 2008 changed the political fortunes of the BJP as well as Yediyurappa. The party’s campaign, led by Yediyurappa on the theme of ‘deception’ by the JD(S), was not only received well by people, but also elevated the political stature of Yediyurappa and turned him into a towering Lingayat leader. But despite making a quantum jump in terms of seats won by the party, it marginally fell short of the majority mark. That’s when Yediyurappa resorted to the controversial strategy of getting several opposition MLAs to quit their Assembly membership and re-contest on the BJP ticket, a manoeuvre that was codenamed ‘Operation Kamala’.

 

Pegasus issue: West Bengal govt sets up two-member inquiry commission                            

The West Bengal government has set up an inquiry commission to probe the Pegasus spyware row, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Monday. The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting, she said. The two-member commission will comprise retired Supreme Court judge M.B. Lokur and former Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya. We had hoped that the Centre will start an inquiry in the Pegasus row under the supervision of the Supreme Court. But this government did nothing even when the Parliament is on. Therefore, before going to Delhi, we have taken the decision to set up an inquiry commission at a Cabinet meeting today. West Bengal is the first State to set to set up an inquiry commission, the Chief Minister said. Banerjee said that since there were aggrieved parties in West Bengal whose phones had been put under surveillance, the commission would investigate the matter. Last week, she urged the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the issue. Later in the day, the Chief Minister left for Delhi where she is expected to meet leaders of Opposition parties. Party Parliamentary leader in the Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien told The Hindu, This is an important visit of Mamata Banerjee and this is an important week for the Indian politics. Asked if the visit indicates a more active role for Banerjee in the national politics, O’Brien said she is not seeking any chair or post. Significantly, key changes took place in the Congress and the TMC dynamics ahead of her visit, with the former showing willingness to make many concessions. The first step was to remove West Bengal Pradesh Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from the equation, with whom the TMC was not willing to speak. Congress president Sonia Gandhi gave Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, the responsibility to coordinate with the allies in both Houses of Parliament Sources said senior leader Shashi Tharoor has now been enlisted to liaise with the TMC in the Lok Sabha. Tharoor met TMC Parliamentary Party leader Sudip Bandhopadhyay to convey this on July 26. The second step was that the Congress had acknowledged that not only Rahul Gandhi but TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee too has been the victim of Pegasus cyber attack with a tweet from its official handle. It posted a picture saying Banerjee was targeted because of the West Bengal Assembly elections. Modi govt.’s insecurities are endless, the tweet said. Banerjee is expected to meet a host of leaders during her visit. She will also be paying a visit to Sonia Gandhi. She will spend a day in Parliament, where meetings with other Opposition leaders, including Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, DMK, RJD and others are planned. The party remained tightlipped on whether she will host a joint Opposition meet or not.

 

Six personnel of Assam Police killed in ‘border clash’ with ‘miscreants’ from Mizoram 

At least six personnel of the Assam Police were killed in firing by miscreants from neighbouring Mizoram on Monday as violence escalated along the inter-state border in the Cachar district, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. A senior Assam Police officer, who was still inside the forest amid continuous firing from across the border, told PTI that at least 50 personnel, including Cachar Superintendent of Police Nimbalkar Vaibhav Chandrakant, were injured in firing and stone-pelting. I am deeply pained to inform that six brave jawans of @assampolice have sacrificed their lives while defending constitutional boundary of our state at the Assam-Mizoram border. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families, Sarma tweeted. The senior police officer said miscreants from across the border suddenly started firing when civil officials of both sides were holding a dialogue to sort out the differences. I immediately cannot say how many people have been injured, but my guess is at least 50 personnel. Our SP was also injured in the firing and a bullet hit his leg, the officer said over the phone. The Indian Police Service officer spoke to PTI while he was hiding inside a forest and firing could be heard in the background.

 

Congress sets two conditions for Parliament to function 

A discussion on Pegasus cyberattack in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Home Minister Amit Shah, followed by a judicial probe are the pre-conditions for Parliament to function, the Congress said on Monday. This was to counter criticism from the government, which has accused the Opposition of disrupting Parliament for the sixth day in a row in the ongoing monsoon session. Congress Chief Whip in the Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet, The entire Opposition is united. 1. Have a discussion on Pegasus snooping issue in presence of the Prime Minister or Home Minister. 2. Announce a Supreme Court-monitored inquiry into the scandal. Parliament, he stated, was not functioning because the government was not agreeing to these legitimate demands. Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’ Brien, concurring with Ramesh, said this was exactly what was needed. We need this. Not green tea at Piyush Goyal’s office. Thanks. But no thanks, he tweeted quoting Ramesh’s tweet. Since the Pegasus issue broke, Congress leaders, including Rajya Sabha member Shakti Sinh Gohil, had demanded an investigation by a joint parliamentary committee (JPC). The party now has finalised its stand that a JPC will be ineffective since it has limited powers. Senior party leader Shashi Tharoor, who also heads the Standing Committee on Information Technology, which has had a few meetings on Pegasus, had said that merely summoning witnesses would not suffice in investigating a case of this magnitude. On Monday, he tweeted, Opposition’s demands have been clear from the beginning: discuss #PegasusProject w/ Prime Minister or Home Minister present, not just IT Minister, & conduct a Supreme Court-monitored investigation to establish the facts. Then Parliament can do the rest of its work undisturbed!

 

Rahul Gandhi drives tractor to Parliament to protest farm law 

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, accompanied by his parliamentary colleagues, drove a tractor to Parliament on Monday to express solidarity with the protesting farmers and demand the repeal of the three farm laws. Besides extending support to the farmers in their fight against the farm laws, the tractor ride to Parliament was aimed at highlighting the cause of the farmers’ unions that have been protesting just outside Delhi borders over eight months now. These laws are aimed at helping only two-three industrialists. The entire country knows for who and whom these laws have been brought about. These laws are not for the benefit of farmers and that is why they have to be withdrawn, Gandhi stated. His tractor drive from Moti Lal Nehru Marg to one of the peripheral gates of Parliament had taken the police by surprise, as the area was under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and no gathering of more than four people is allowed. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and Youth Congress chief BV Srinivas, along with a number of party leaders, were detained by the police outside Parliament and taken to the Mandir Marg police station by bus amid sloganeering for the withdrawal of the farm laws. We will not be cowed down by such actions. This struggle will continue under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi and we will not allow the Modi government to hand over the rights of 62 crore farmers to three-four industrialists, Surjewala told reporters after his detention. The police detained around eight Congress workers and seized the tractor. A senior police officer said tractor entry was not allowed in New Delhi area as per traffic rules. The tractor was taken to the Mandir Marg police station. It did not bear any registration number. They have ordered detailed investigation to find out how the tractor reached near Parliament when Section 144 of CrPC has been imposed in the area near Parliament, said the officer. Due to the ‘farmers Parliament’ at Jantar Mantar, more than 2,000 security personnel have been deployed in the area.

 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Afghan conflict is having devastating impact’

The United Nations warned on Monday that Afghanistan could see the highest number of civilian deaths in more than a decade if the Taliban’s offensives across the country are not halted. Violence has surged since May when the insurgents cranked up operations to coincide with a final withdrawal of U.S .- led foreign forces. In a report released on Monday documenting civilian casualties for the first half of 2021, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said it expected figures to touch their highest single-year levels since the mission began reporting over a decade ago. During the first half of 2021, some 1,659 civilians were killed and another 3,254 wounded, the UNAMA report said a 47% increase on the same period last year. The rise in civilian casualties was particularly sharp in May and June with 783 civilians killed and 1,609 wounded, it added. Particularly shocking and of deep concern is that women, boys and girls made up of close to half of all civilian casualties, the report said.

 

Southern Europe battles wildfires as north cleans up after floods. 

Wildfires burned in regions across southern Europe on Monday, fueled by hot weather and strong winds, as some northern countries cleaned up after a weekend of torrential rain and flooding. In Greece, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said firefighters had battled around 50 fires during the past 24 hours and it was likely there would be more with meteorologists warning that a further heatwave was in prospect. On the Italian island of Sardinia, firefighting planes from France and Greece reinforced efforts to battle blazes. More than 4,000 hectares of forest were destroyed in the fire. In Spain, the northeastern region of Catalonia saw more than 1,500 hectares destroyed near Santa Coloma de Queralt, forcing dozens to be evacuated,although the blazes were 90% stabilized on Monday, firefighters and authorities said. Conditions in southern Europe were in sharp contrast to the rainstorms that lashed northern countries from Austria to U.K. following the catastrophic flooding in Germany and neighbouring countries last week.

NATIONAL NEWS 

Pegasus issue: Rajya Sabha MP moves SC seeking court-monitored probe

Rajya Sabha member John Brittas has moved the Supreme Court for a court-monitored investigation into allegations of snooping on activists, politicians, journalists and constitutional functionaries using the Israeli spyware, Pegasus. The parliamentarian said the government’s response in the House to the allegations was evasive. Brittas, a Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP, said allegations pointed to a critical invasion into privacy. It actually amounted to a cyber attack on citizens. He termed Pegasus as a weapon used to hack into private smartphones to cause a chilling effect on free speech and expression. So far, the MP said the only response from the government was a statement from the Minister for Electronics and Information Ashwini Vaishnaw in the Rajya Sabha that time-tested processes in our country are well-established to ensure that unauthorised surveillance does not occur. Brittas asked the court whether the statement meant if the surveillance was authorised by the government. If so, the MP asked, were the procedures under the Indian Telegraph Act, Information Technology (Amendment) Act, Section 92 of Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Telegraph Rules for lawful interception followed by the government. Hence, the government needs to appraise the reasons for the interceptions made to the gadgets of its own Ministers, staff, constitutional authorities, including Election Commissioners and judges, CBI officers, a Supreme Court staffer, activists, scientists and journalists, Brittas argued. On the other hand, if Pegasus was an unauthorised snooping exercise mounted by a foreign power, it would amount to an act of external aggression. The parliamentarian said the most puzzling factor so far was the government’s lack of a clear answer. Despite the very serious nature of allegations, the government has not cared to investigate into the allegations involved in the issue but made only a statement that the time-tested processes in our country are well-established to ensure that unauthorised surveillance does not occur. This statement is as empty as making a hope that there will not be any crimes in India because the Indian Penal Code is there, Brittas, represented by advocate Resmitha R. Chandran, submitted.

 

Central Ministries owe ₹147 crore to newspapers for ad campaigns 

The Centre owes more than ₹147 crore to various print media outlets as payment for government advertisements, according to a recent response to a Right to Information (RTI) query made by law student Aniket Gaurav. In fact, there are more than 76,000 outstanding bills for print media campaigns pending with the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP), the oldest of which dates as far back as 2004. For electronic media, the pending amount was ₹67 crore, while the unpaid bills for outdoor publicity amount to almost ₹18 ccrore Gaurav, a first year law student at Meerut University, said he had sent the query as he was concerned about the number of newspapers which were being shut down. As a reader, I feel that the major reason for any newspaper shutting down would be because of loss of revenue. As government ads constitute a large part of revenue, so I thought I should find out whether the government is paying for its ads on time, and which Ministries have unpaid bills, he said. I was shocked to find that there are ads which have not been paid for 17 years. The RTI response from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting provided data on the outstanding bills that Central Ministries owed to the DAVP, which in turn pays media organisations for running advertising campaigns. The largest pending amounts for print media come from the Defence Ministry, which has 12,271 unpaid bills worth more than ₹16 crore, followed by the Finance Ministry, with 6,668 unpaid bills worth ₹13 crore. The information is updated until June 21, 2021. The date of the oldest outstanding payment/bill related to ad campaigns pending with DAVP is 04.08.2004, said the Ministry’s response. With regard to electronic media, the Ministry said a full list of the number of outstanding bills was not readily available, nor were records maintained regarding the date of the bills. However, the information available regarding pending payments to electronic media indicated that more than ₹67 crore is yet to be paid to TV channels, with the Department of Road Transport and Highways responsible for the largest unpaid bills. For context, the total pending amount of ₹147 crore is higher than the ₹118 crore commitment made by the government to all newspapers during 2020-21, as well as the ₹65 crore actually paid out as expenditure for print ad campaigns during the same period, according to data available on the DAVP website.

 

Regional parties should form national front for 2024 Lok Sabha polls: Sukhbir Singh Badal 

Regional parties should come together and form a national front to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal said on Sunday and asserted that his party’s story with the saffron party was over. Underlining that issues of farmers are at the core of the SAD ideology, Badal said his party can never compromise on these and, therefore, severed its decades-old alliance with the BJP and moved out of the government at the Centre over the three contentious farm laws. SAD is a farmers’ party and their issues are the core of our ideology. Whatever may happen and whatever cost we may have to pay, we wouldn’t let these laws be implemented in Punjab, Badal told PTI in an interview. In September last year, Badal’s wife Harsimrat Kaur quit as Union minister in protest against the legislations. The protesting farmers claim these laws will do away with the minimum support price system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporations. Over 10 rounds of talks with the government, which has been projecting the laws as major agricultural reforms, have failed to break the deadlock between the two sides. Talking about the SAD’s new alliance with the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Badal said the alliance between the two parties is permanent and that the Akali Dal’s story with the BJP was over. On the party’s future course of action, Badal said that the SAD is talking to various regional parties so that they all can come on one platform before the 2024 general elections. There is a need for regional forces to get together. Regional forces are more connected to the ground and have better understanding of the people. We have been talking to various parties. Regional parties should come together and form a front before the 2024 general elections. And I am sure before 2024 this front will emerge as very strong force, he said. Badal further said it would be a second front rather than a third front as the main opposition Congress is no more a pan-India party. The BJP will be the new front’s main target. In the upcoming assembly elections in Punjab, Badal said farm laws will be the main issue for the Akali Dal and if the party is voted to power, it will provide a government job to a family member of all those farmers who lost their lives during the ongoing protest against the laws. In addition, the government will provide free education to the children of the deceased farmers and pension to the parents of those who died young, Badal said. On a question about reports of alleged snooping on politicians, activists and journalists using Pegasus spyware, Badal termed it an attack on democracy and demanded establishment of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) headed by an opposition MP to probe the matter. This entire snooping episode is an attack on the Constitution, democracy and rights of the people. It is completely unethical and a JPC should be formed headed by an opposition MP to investigate it, Badal said.

 

Amid talk of Yediyurappa’s exit, Nadda says no leadership crisis in Karnataka 

Amid speculation about a change of guard in Karnataka, BJP president J.P. Nadda on July 25 ruled out any leadership crisis in the southern State and said Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has done good work. Talking to reporters at the end of his two-day Goa visit, Nadda also said that the BJP would fight the Assembly elections in Goa due early next year under the leadership of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, but added that a formal decision about it would be taken by the party’s parliamentary board. On Karnataka, he said, Yediyurappa has done good work. Karnataka is doing well. Yediyurappa is taking care of the things in his own way. When asked if there is a leadership crisis in the southern state, Nadda said, That is what you feel. We don’t feel so. Nadda’s remarks assume significance as they came hours after the Karnataka CM said he will take an appropriate decision, once he receives directions from the BJP high command this evening, regarding his continuation in the post. By evening once it comes, you will also get to know about it, once it comes I will take an appropriate decision, Yediyurappa had said in Belagavi in response to a question whether the directions from the party high command in Delhi were expected today.

 

Rahul Gandhi questions pace of Covid-19 vaccination 

On a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered his monthly radio broadcast, Mann Ki Baat, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi questioned the pace of Covid-19 vaccination. Had you understood the country’s ‘Mann ki Baat’, such would not have been the state of vaccinations, Gandhi tweeted on Sunday, with the the hashtag WhereAreVaccines. The Congress leader also posted a video highlighting the slow rate of vaccination, and media reports on people not being able to get vaccines across the country. A graph highlighted that the required vaccination rate is 93 lakh per day but the actual average vaccinations per day in the last seven days is 36 lakh per day, a daily shortfall of 56 lakh a day. It also highlighted that actual vaccinations in the previous 24 hours on July 24 was 23 lakh, a shortfall of almost 70 lakh per day. On Friday, the Congress leader had also asked a written question in Parliament on whether the government would be able to vaccinate all adult Indians by December 2021. The government replied that it expected to inoculate Indians above 18 of years age by December even though there could be no fixed timeline. A day later, Gandhi tweeted, People’s lives on the line. GOI admits no timeline. Classic case of missing spine#WhereAreVaccines.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

China’s wolf warrior approach is here to stay, says writer Peter Martin

India is perhaps the best example of how this approach has backfired by pushing it much closer to the U.S., and alienating a billion plus-person economy, says the author. China’s assertive new diplomatic approach in the Xi Jinping era has come to be dubbed wolf warrior diplomacy, marked by a muscular posture in pursuing China’s interests. Peter Martin, author of the new book China’s Civilian Army: The Making of Wolf Warrior Diplomacy and previously a foreign correspondent in China, tells The Hindu in an interview the approach is not exactly new and is rooted in the Communist Party’s history. The current state of relations with India, he says, is the best example of how it has often backfired although, he argues, wolf warrior diplomacy is likely here to stay. There was this blockbuster movie that came out in 2017 about this Chinese action hero fighting foreign bad guys on the continent of Africa and avenging China’s enemies. It was this unexpected commercial success, the highest grossing movie ever at the Chinese box office. It came to symbolise this new mood in Beijing, where China was going to stand up for its interests, and was confident on the world stage. At the time of Xi taking over, there was a debate on whether China should continue with the Deng Xiaoping era approach of hiding brightness, biding time. The debate is still ongoing beneath the surface, although, in public, Xi Jinping, and those who want to continue this very brash, assertive tone, have certainly won out. There are large parts of China’s scholarly community on foreign affairs, and in fact some people in the Foreign Ministry, who would still like China to take a quieter, more humble approach to foreign policy. I don’t know that those people necessarily think that returning to the policy of the 1990s is realistic. There’s a refrain I heard quite a lot in Beijing that you can’t hide an elephant. The idea is China has gotten too big to really take that kind of low profile that it had in the past. But I think there are a lot of people who are very uncomfortable with this trend of picking apparently unnecessary fights and insulting foreign counterparts.

 

Australia avoids UNESCO downgrade of Great Barrier Reef. 

UNESCO had recommended that its World Heritage Committee add the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem to the World Heritage in Danger list, mainly due to rising ocean temperatures. Australia has garnered enough international support to defer an attempt by the United Nations’ cultural organisation to downgrade the Great Barrier Reef’s World Heritage status because of damage caused by climate change. UNESCO had recommended that its World Heritage Committee add the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem off the northeast Australian coast to the World Heritage in Danger list, mainly due to rising ocean temperatures. Australian-proposed amendments to the draft decision at a committee meeting in China on Friday would have deferred the in danger question until 2023. But Norway moved amendments that put the reef back on the committee’s agenda at its annual meeting next June. In the meantime, a monitoring mission will visit the reef to determine how the impact of climate change can be managed. Australian Environment Minister Sussan Ley on Friday told a virtual meeting that downgrading the reef’s status before the committee had finalised its own climate change policy made no sense. Delegates, we ask only two things: time for experts to see first hand our commitment to the reef, its present condition and our management, and for the final climate policy to provide a consistent framework for addressing the impacts of climate change on all World Heritage properties, she said from Australia, where she in in quarantine after lobbying delegates in Europe and the Middle East on the decision. In 2014, Australia was warned that an in danger listing was being considered rather than being proposed for immediate action. Australia had time to respond by developing a long-term plan to improve the reef’s health called the Reef 2050 Plan. Since then, the reef has suffered significantly from coral bleaching caused by unusually warm ocean temperatures in 2016, 2017 and last year. The bleaching damaged two thirds of the coral. Australia reacted angrily last month when the draft decision was published to remove the network of 2,500 reefs covering 348,000 sq km (134,000 square miles) from the World Heritage list it joined 40 years ago for its outstanding universal value. The in danger listing is one step away from losing all World Heritage standing.

NATIONAL NEWS

A) India’s first medal at Tokyo Olympics, courtesy Mirabai Chanu

India got its first medal on the first day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the midst of a raging pandemic, bringing cheer and hope to the Indian camp when 26-year-old Mirabai Chanu lifted a total of 202kg (87kg+115kg) to better Karnam Malleswari’s bronze in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Mirabai Chanu from Manipur snagged the first silver for the country and also laid the ghosts of 2016 to rest with her medal in the world’s most prestigious arena of sports. Online, her triumph was greeted with cheer by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who tweeted, Could not have asked for a happier start to by @mirabai_chanu’s stupendous performance. Congratulations to her for winning the Silver media in weightlifting. Her success motivates every Indian. India with a 125 strong contingent, marginally larger than the 2016 Rio Olympics, will be hoping for some medals this time. The results of the first day were a mixed bag for India, when shooters Saurabh Chaudhar, Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav lost out. Later, paddlers Suthirtha Mukherjee and Manika Batra advanced to the women’s singles second round, winning their respective first-round matches once again raising hopes for the country. This, after India’s hopes for a medal from the mixed doubles werere dashed to the ground when Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra lost. Mukherjee virtually clawed her way back into the fight after trailing 4-3,  defeating Swede Linda Bergstrom.

B) Brazil cancels agreement with Bharat Biotech

Brazil has suspended the clinical studies of Bharat Biotech’s Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin, following termination of the company’s agreement with its partner Precisa Medicamentos and Envixia Pharmaceuticals LL.C, the country’s health regulator said. A federal investigation is also currently underway into the alleged irregularities in the contract inked between Brazil’s health ministry and Bharat Biotech for 20 million (2 crore) doses of Covaxin. President Jair Bolsanaro faced intense criticism for allowing the deal despite  Covaxin’s failure to obtain regulatory clearance for the vaccine’s use in the country. The Brazilian government had suspended its contract with Bharat Biotech on June 29. What followed was only inevitable with Bharat Biotech’s announcement on Friday, cancelling the  MoU it signed with Precisa Medicamentos and Envixia Pharmaceuticals LL.C for producing and distributing  COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin for the Brazilian market. As has been reported in this newspaper, In the Coordination of Clinical Research at Anvisa (Copec/GGMED) determined this Friday (23/7) the precautionary suspension of clinical studies of the Covaxin vaccine in Brazil The suspension was carried out as a result of a statement from the Indian company Bharat Biotech Limited International, sent to Anvisa on Friday (23/7), Anvisa, the Brazilian health regulator, said on Friday. Precisa Medicamentos was Bharat Biotech’s partner in Brazil, providing assistance, guidance and support with regulatory submissions, licensure, distribution, insurance and conduct of phase III clinical trials, among others. Following the graft allegations, the Brazilian Government has stopped Covaxin’s order temporarily. On July 2, a Supreme Court judge in Brazil had opened a criminal investigation into President Jair Bolsanaro’s role in the deal. The  high prices for Covaxin, despite failing to procure a regulatory clearance, brought the focus back on the deal signed between the two. Both Bolsanaro and Bharat Biotech  have denied any wrongdoing. Bharat Biotech developed Covaxin in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology, prompting the Indian Government in  showcasing Covaxin as the country’s first indigenously developed vaccine against Covid-19, and also engage in Vaccine Maitri—-helping countries out who did not have the wherewithal to produce vaccines overlooking domestic concerns.

C) Trinamool sends Jawhar Sircar to Rajya Sabha

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) Party has nominated the former CEO of the Prasar Bharati Corporation Jawahar Sircar to Rajya Sabha for the seat vacated by the party’s former leader Dinesh Trivedi. Sircar, an IAS officer, had also served as the Culture Secretary when the Congress-led UPA was in power. The party in a tweet said,  We are delighted to nominate Mr. @jawharsircar in the Upper House of the Parliament. Mr. Sircar spent nearly 42 years in public service & was also the former CEO of Prasar Bharati. His invaluable contribution to public service shall help us serve our country even better! Sircar has also been a  critic of the BJP Government at the Centre and has never missed an opportunity to criticise the Central Government for its policy failures whether on Twitter or offline in his columns in newspapers. During his tenure as the Prasar Bharati chief, he also famously locked horns with the then Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari. Trivedi had announced  his resignation in the middle of the Budget session in February. Trivedi said that he felt suffocated in the party. Reacting to his nomination, Sircar said, I was a bureaucrat. I am not a political person but I would work for the development of the people and raise the issues concerning the masses in parliament, he said. With Sircar’s nomination, the TMC will be also looking forward to having an IAS officer who not only knows the ways of Delhi’s power circle but will also, hopefully, make some meaningful interventions in the House of Elders.

D) Rain bring havoc in Maharashtra

Rains continued to lash across Maharashtra bringing mayhem and destruction in its wake. At the time of writing this newsletter, at least 152 people have lost their lives in landslides and torrential downpour and more than 60,000 people rescued. On Saturday, the national highways connecting Mumbai to Goa and Bangalore were barricaded off for traffic as water gushed on to the roads. The rains are unlikely to loosen their grip over the state with the IMD predicting more rains in the coming days. The worst affected districts are Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg in coastal Konkan, Satara and Kolhapur in Western Maharashtra. Vijay Pande is consoled by his relatives as he cries after the body of his 7-month-old boy was recovered at the site of a landslide at Mahad in Maharashtra’s Raigad district on July 24, 2021.  

 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

A) Biden, Ghani question Taliban’s moves. 

U.S President Joe Biden and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani have, during a Friday phone call, concluded that the Taliban’s brutal campaign in Afghanistan after the departure of most U.S. and NATO troops is not consistent with the group’s claimed support for a negotiated peace settlement in Afghanistan. President Biden and President Ghani agreed that the Taliban’s current offensive is in direct contradiction to the movement’s claim to support a negotiated settlement of the conflict. President Biden also reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to continue supporting the Afghan security forces to defend themselves, a White House readout of the leaders’ phone call said. The two leaders deplored the loss of innocent lives via targeted killings and the displacement of civilians and the damage to infrastructure and buildings. According to the White House, Mr. Biden reaffirmed continued U.S. support and aid for the country, including for Afghan women, girls and minorities – whose status is extremely precarious given the Taliban’s history of repression of these groups. President Biden urged continued work for unity among Afghan leaders on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the values on which it is based. The two leaders discussed the importance of Afghans coming together to support their common interest in security and peace, and President Biden underscored continued U.S. diplomatic engagement in support of a durable and just political settlement, the readout said. Earlier in July, Mr. Biden had said that it was highly unlikely that there was going to be one unified government controlling the whole of Afghanistan

 

B) Terrorists behind Baghdad bombing held. 

 Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi announced on Saturday the arrest of members of a terror cell behind the Baghdad market bombing that killed dozens and was claimed by the Islamic State group. The attack sparked revulsion and renewed fears about the reach of IS, which lost its last territory in Iraq after a gruelling campaign that ended in late 2017, but retains sleeper cells in remote desert and mountain areas. The bombing took place on Monday at Al-Woheilat market in Sadr City, a Shiite suburb in the capital, and officially killed 30 people, excluding the direct perpetrator. We have arrested all the members of the cowardly terrorist cell that planned and perpetrated the attack, Kadhemi said on Twitter, and they will be put before a judge today. The Prime Minister did not specify the number of people arrested, but a source at the interior ministry said the suspects were anticipated to make televised confessions, a common occurence for major crimes in Iraq. Deadly attacks were common in Baghdad during the sectarian bloodletting that followed the US-led invasion of 2003, and later on as IS swept across much of the country in a lightning offensive in 2014. Iraq declared IS defeated in late 2017 after a fierce three-year campaign and attacks became relatively rare in the capital – until January this year when a twin ISclaimed suicide bombing killed 32 people in another market. The US-led coalition that supported Iraq’s campaign against IS has significantly drawn down its troop levels over the past year, citing increased capabilities of Iraqi forces.

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) Kashmiri journalists, leaders were potential targets of Pegasus-based spying, reports The Wire

News and opinion website The Wire on Friday reported that Delhi-based Kashmiri journalists, a prominent civil society activist critical of the official policy towards Jammu and Kashmir, and over 25 people from Kashmir were selected as potential targets of surveillance between 2017 and mid-2019 by an as yet unidentified government agency that was also believed to be a client of the NSO Group of Israel. The Israeli firm has denied that the records accessed by the ‘Pegasus Project’ have anything to do with surveillance. According to The Wire report, the names include separatist leader Bilal Lone and the late S.A.R. Geelani, whose phones were forensically analysed by it. For the other potential targets in Kashmir, it was not possible, for one reason or another, to conduct forensic analysis. As The Wire and its media partners have noted, the appearance of a number in the leaked database does not necessarily mean that the phone in question had been infected; but it does mean that the phone number was likely selected for potential surveillance, it said. Others on the leaked database include at least two members of People’s Democratic party (PDP) chief and former chief minister of J&K Mehbooba Mufti’s family… their selection as potential targets of surveillance happened when Mufti was still chief minister of the erstwhile State and in a coalition with the BJP, it stated. J&K Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari’s brother Tariq Bukhari also appeared in the list, besides at least four members of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s family, including his son-in-law, journalist Iftikhar Gilani; and his son, scientist Syed Naseem Geelani, it noted. The current head of the Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was a potential target of surveillance between 2017 and 2019, apart from his driver, human rights activist Waqar Bhatti, and at least five Kashmiri journalists, including Muzamil Jaleel of The Indian Express, Aurangzeb Naqshbandi with The Hindustan Times at the time, Iftikhar Geelani (formerly with DNA) and Sumir Kaul of PTI, it said. Shabir Hussain, a Delhi-based political commentator from Kashmir, was also in the list.

B) Parliament fails to function for fourth day in a row The Parliament failed to function for the fourth day in a row following protests from the Opposition parties on issues ranging from the Pegasus controversy to the farmers’ agitation. In Rajya Sabha, Trinamool Congress MP Shantanu Sen was suspended for the remaining part of the Monsoon Session for snatching and tearing off the statement on Pegasus which the Minister for Electronics and Information Technology (MEITy) Ashwini Vaishnaw was reading. The motion seeking his suspension was moved by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan and passed by a voice vote. The Opposition parties protested against the move saying that they were not given any opportunity to respond. TMC MPs Derek O’Brien and Sukendu Sekhar Ray said that the concerned member should have been given an opportunity to speak. O’Brien also pointed out that after the house adjourned on Thursday, Sen was roughed up. We saw boorish behaviour and hooliganism in this house, he said. In response, Chairman Venkaiah Naidu said that this issue was not brought to his notice. The Congress Chief Whip Jairam Ramesh meanwhile asked the Chairman Naidu to allow for clarification on the statement on Pegasus made by IT Minister Mr Vaishnaw. Sen was asked to leave the house by Naidu, but he continued to sit in his seat. The house was adjourned till noon. The upper house was adjourned thrice at 12 and 12:30 pm since despite multiple pleas from the Deputy Chairman, Sen did not leave the house. Sen, in fact, remained seated inside the house even after the adjournments. His picture was circulated to all entry gates to the house with directions to the marshals that he should not be allowed inside. The convention dictates that no business can be transacted till the suspended member is removed from the house. Earlier in the day, Rajya Sabha Chairman Naidu berated the house for disruptions in the past three days. The moot question is who would benefit from a dysfunctional Parliament? Certainly not the country and its people, Naidu said. The only business that has been transacted in the last three days he said was a debate on Covid-19. The proceedings of the House hit a new low with the papers being snatchhed from the Minister and torn into pieces and thrown into the air. Such actions are a clear assault on our parliamentary democracy, he added. The Lok Sabha was adjourned twice on Friday due to the ongoing protests by the Opposition parties on issues ranging from the Pegasus controversy to the farmers’ agitation.

C) NSCS’ Budget allocation increased 10 times in 2017-18, says Prashant Bhushan 

The Budget allocation for the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) increased 10 times, from ₹33.17 crore in 2016-17 to ₹333.58 crore in 2017-18, said senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Friday. He alleged that it was the year when the NSO Group of Israel, which has developed the Pegasus spyware, was paid hundreds of crores for snooping on several eminent individuals’ phones. He tweeted, In 2016-17, NSA’s budget was ₹33.17 crs. Next year the budget increased 10x to 333 crores because 300 Crores was added under new head ‘cyber security R&D’. This is the year when NSO was paid 100s of Crs for Cyber hacking of Opp, Journos, Judges, EC, Activists using Pegasus! Wow. By NSA, Bhushan seems to be referring to the National Security Advisor, whose Budget comes under the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS). According to the Expenditure Budget statements for the relevant years, the allocation for the NSCS first shot up 10-fold in 2017-18, but actual spending was less than double the previous year. However, in the following financial year, before the May 2019 general election, the spending by the NSCS shot up by over 13 times from the 2017-18 levels, to well over ₹800 crore. The allocation for 2016-17 was indeed ₹33.17 crore, which was later revised to ₹81.03 crore. However, the actual spending was ₹39.09 crore. In 2017-18, the allocation surged to ₹333.58 crore, but revised estimates put the likely spending at ₹168 crore. The actual expenditure was ₹61.18 crore. It was only in 2018-19 that the actual expenditure on this front shot up significantly. That year, ₹303.83 crore was allocated for meeting the ‘administrative expenses’. However, revised estimates presented later were much higher at ₹841.73 crore. While the original Budget allocation was earmarked as revenue expenditure, as per the revised estimates, only ₹125.84 crore was for revenue spending, with the balance ₹715.89 crore reflected as capital expenditure. The actual spending for 2018-19 ended up at ₹812.32 crore, with the proposed capex part fully spent, while the revenue spending was lower at ₹96.43 crore. The Opposition parties have demanded an independent probe into the alleged use of Pegasus software for spying on Ministers, politicians and journalists.

D) At least 60 dead as rains batter western Maharashtra.

At least 60 persons have lost their lives in landslides triggered by intense rain in western Maharashtra and the coastal Konkan region as monsoon fury continued unabated over the region on Friday. While the entire State, including the normally arid Marathwada and Vidarbha regions, have been receiving particularly heavy showers over the last 72 hours, the situation remained particularly grim in the Mahad and Poladpur tehsils in Raigad, Chiplun and Khed in Ratnagiri, as well as the ‘sugar belt’ districts of Kolhapur, Satara and Sangli. 49 of those killed died in three separate landslides in Raigad itself. Tragedy struck Taliye village in Mahad on Thursday evening when the entire village of around 35 houses was instantly buried in a major landslip in an incident strongly reminiscent of the 2014 Malin landslide in Pune. While precise casualty figures was not confirmed, authorities said so far more than 35 bodies had been recovered from the debris while more than 70 people were missing. Other sources said 38 bodies had been retrieved till now. Local people were the first responders as heavy rainfall, waterlogging, and disrupted connectivity delayed National and State Disaster Response Forces (NDRF and SDRF) teams. The relief teams struggled to clear boulders and damaged roads to reach the village. Rescue operations in Taliye had to be called off after 6 p.m. due to poor visibility compounded by increasing rain.

E) The road ahead is more daunting than the 1991 crisis: Manmohan Singh 

The 1991 economic reforms lifted millions out of poverty, unleashed the spirit of free enterprises, and catapulted India into a $3 trillion economy but the road ahead is even more daunting than the 1991 crisis, former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said today. To mark the 30th anniversary of economic liberalisation and the opening up of the Indian economy on July 24, Dr. Singh issued a statement in which he recalled the achievements, but expressed his pain at the devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the loss of lives and livelihoods. The country needs to recalibrate its priorities to a dignified life for all Indians, he said. It gives us immense joy to look back with pride at the tremendous economic progress made by our nation in the last three decades. But I am also deeply saddened at the devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the loss of millions of fellow Indians. The social sectors of health and education have lagged behind and not kept pace with our economic progress. Too many lives and livelihoods have been lost that should not have been, Dr. Singh said. It is not a time to rejoice and exult but to introspect and ponder. The road ahead is even more daunting than during the 1991 crisis. Our priorities as a nation need to be recalibrated to foremost ensure a healthy and dignified life for every single Indian, he added.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Tokyo Olympics begins with no-frills opening ceremony 

Thy sky over the National Stadium in Tokyo exploded in indigo and white as fireworks marked the start of the opening ceremony for the Olympics on Friday, celebrating the world’s best athletes set to compete amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Postponed for a year, organisers were forced to take the unprecedented step of holding the Games without fans as the novel coronavirus is on the rise again, taking lives around the world. Even the opening ceremony, normally a star-studded display teeming with celebrities, was eerily silent, with fewer than 1,000 people in attendance, strict social distancing rules, and signs calling on the spectators to be quiet around the venue. Japan had billed the Olympics as an echo of the 1964 Tokyo Games, which marked the country’s return to the world stage after its devastating World War Two defeat, but this time showcasing its recovery from the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis. But hundreds of protesters carrying placards that read Lives over Olympics protested around the venue. The protesters, a mix of people in white surgical masks, yelled Stop the Olympics as they marched. The opening ceremony will be marked by high-profile absences, including former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who wooed the Games to Tokyo. A number of top sponsors and economic leaders will also stay away, highlighting strong opposition to the sporting extravaganza in COVID-fatigued Japan. Only a third of the nation has had even one dose of vaccines, prompting worries the Games could become a super-spreader event. More than 100 people involved with the Olympics have already tested positive. The Olympics have been hit by a string of scandals, including the exit of senior officials over derogatory comments about women, jokes about the Holocaust and bullying. The Games run until August 8.

B) Pelosi says Capitol probe will go on despite GOP’s boycott plans. 

Unfazed by Republican threats of a boycott, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared that a congressional committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection will take on its deadly serious work whether Republicans participate or not. The Republicans’ House leader, Kevin McCarthy, called the committee a sham process and suggested that GOP lawmakers who take part could face consequences. Mr. McCarthy said Ms. Pelosi’s rejection of two of the Republicans he had attempted to appoint was an egregious abuse of power. The escalating tension between the two parties is emblematic of the partisan anger that has only worsened since former President Donald Trump’s supporters laid siege to the Capitol. With most Republicans still loyal to Mr. Trump, and many down playing the severity of the violent attack, there is little bipartisan unity to be found. Mr. McCarthy said on Wednesday that he would withdraw the names of all five Republicans he had appointed after Ms. Pelosi rejected two of them. Ms. Pelosi made clear that she won’t relent, and Democrats mulled filling the empty seats themselves.