Why Is PM Silent On Deaths Of Our Troops: Rahul

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the face-off with the Chinese army at Galwan valley in eastern Ladakh.

Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in a violent clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan valley area on Monday evening.

Taking to Twitter, Rahul Gandhi questioned why the Prime Minister is silent about the clash between the Indian and Chinese troops.

“Why is the PM silent? Why is he hiding? Enough is enough. We need to know what has happened,” Gandhi said on Twitter.

“How dare China kill our soldiers? How dare they take our land?” he further said.

The violent face-off happened on late evening and the night of June 15 in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley as a result of an attempt by the Chinese troops to “unilaterally change” the status quo during de-escalation in Eastern Ladakh and the situation could have been avoided if the agreement at the higher level been scrupulously followed by the Chinese side, India said on June 16. (ANI)

Maj Gen-Level Talks On To Defuse India-China Tension

Major Generals of India and China are talking to defuse the situation in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley and other areas after the violent face-off last night in which casualties have been suffered by both sides, army sources said on Tuesday.

Indian Army has amended its statement regarding the face-off took place between Indian and Chinese troops leading to the death of three Army personnel, saying that “casualties suffered on both sides” in “violent face-off” during de-escalation process with China in Galwan Valley.

According to the Indian Army, the face-off took place on Monday night.

“The loss of lives on the Indian side includes an officer and two soldiers,” the Army said in a statement and added that senior military officials of the two sides are currently engaged in a meeting to defuse the situation.

After 1975 this is the first violent incident on the India-China border in which casualties have taken place.

Further details are awaited.

Earlier looking to resolve the dispute over Chinese military buildup, India and China were holding talks in Eastern Ladakh.

Army sources had said there has been disengagement between Indian and Chinese troops at more locations where they had been in standoff positions for last many weeks now.

Sources had also said that after the June 6 talks between Military commanders followed by other rounds of talks, there has not been any considerable build-up activity by both sides and Chinese aggressive behaviour has also been toned down, they said.

No incident of any face-off between the troops of the two sides has been reported after the talks started between the two armies, sources said. (ANI)

‘China Too Suffered Casualties At Galwan Clash’

The Chinese side have also suffered casualties during the face-off with Indian troops in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh on Monday night, according to Global Times Editor-in-Chief.

“Based on what I know, Chinese side also suffered casualties in the Galwan Valley physical clash,” Hu Xijin, Editor-in-Chief of Chinese state-run media said in a tweet.

“I want to tell the Indian side, do not be arrogant and misread China’s restraint as being weak. China does not want to have a clash with India, but we do not fear it,” said Hu.

Earlier today, Indian Army amended its statement regarding the face-off that took place between Indian and Chinese troops leading to the death of three Army personnel, saying that “casualties suffered on both sides” in “violent face-off” during de-escalation process with China in Galwan Valley.

According to the Indian Army, the face-off took place on Monday night.

“The loss of lives on the Indian side includes an officer and two soldiers,” the Army said in a statement.

After 1975, this is the first violent incident on the India-China border in which casualties have taken place.

Earlier while looking to resolve the dispute over Chinese military buildup, India and China were holding talks in Eastern Ladakh. (ANI)

India’s Covid Count Mounts To 3,43,091

With an increase of 10,667 cases and 380 deaths in the past 24 hours, the COVID-19 count in India has reached 3,43,091 on Tuesday, according to the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry.

It is noteworthy that today’s spike in cases is lower than the 11,502 registered in the country yesterday and has also stayed below the 11 thousand mark it had been crossing for the past two days in a row.

However, there is an increase in the number of deaths due to the infection from yesterday, with 380 deaths being reported from across the country, the toll due to COVID-19 has now reached 9,900.

The COVID-19 count includes 1,53,178 active cases, while 1,80,013 patients have been cured and discharged or migrated so far.

Maharashtra with 1,10,744 cases continues to be the worst-affected state in the country with 50,567 active cases while 56,049 patients have been cured and discharged in the state so far. The toll due to COVID-19 has crossed the four thousand mark and reached 4,128 in the state.

It is followed by Tamil Nadu with 46,504 and the national capital with 42,829 confirmed cases. (ANI)

Pakistan, China Own More Nuclear Heads Than India

China and Pakistan have more nuclear warheads than India, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

According to the SIPRI Yearbook 2020, India possesses 150 nuclear warheads, while China and Pakistan have 320 and 160 warheads respectively.

“China is in the middle of a significant modernization of its nuclear arsenal. It is developing a so-called nuclear triad for the first time, made up of new land- and sea-based missiles and nuclear-capable aircraft. India and Pakistan are slowly increasing the size and diversity of their nuclear forces,” the think tank said in the statement.

The nine nuclear-armed states–the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)–together possessed an estimated 13 400 nuclear weapons at the start of 2020. This marked a decrease from the 13 865 nuclear weapons that SIPRI estimated these states possessed at the beginning of 2019.

The Swedish think tank has said a decrease in the overall number of nuclear weapons in the world in 2019 was largely due to the dismantlement of retired nuclear weapons by Russia and the US–which together still possess over 90 per cent of global nuclear weapons.

Russia and the US have extensive and expensive programmes underway to replace and modernize their nuclear warheads, missile and aircraft delivery systems, and nuclear weapon production facilities.

The 51st edition of the SIPRI Yearbook reveals a continuing deterioration in the conditions for international stability. (ANI)

Covid Is A Crisis But Also An Opportunity For Indian Media

A huge fall-out of the COVID pandemic has been the impact on Indian mainstream media. With overall economic activity declining, one of the first factors to have affected the media is the sharp drop in advertising, the revenue from which is the mainstay of Indian media outlets, particularly print. The fall in advertising revenue has been so huge that leading Indian media brands have resorted to many drastic measures to reduce their costs. Print publications, already reeling from slowing advertising revenues, have been the worst hit. In several newsrooms across the country, this has meant retrenchments and salary cuts, and, in many cases, both.

How bad is the situation? WARC, a London-based market intelligence agency, estimates that global advertising spend could fall by 8.1% ($49.6 billion) to $563 billion this year because of big cuts in investment across product and services categories. According to WARC’s projections, which are based on analysis of data from 96 countries, traditional media—cinema, outdoor advertising, newspapers, magazines, radio and TV–will be hit the hardest. In North America, which accounts for nearly 40% of global adspend, advertising revenues are estimated to decline by 3.7% ($8.5%). In Asia-Pacific, it is set to fall by 7.7% ($14.4 billion); in Europe, the forecast says the drop will be 12.2% ($18.1 billion).

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Interestingly, while in most markets the adspends are trending negatively, in India, according to WARC’s data, adspends will still grow in 2020, not by a lot but a little. In 2019, advertising revenues in India grew by 5%; WARC estimates that in 2020, it could grow by 0.7% to a total of $9.4 billion. This is significant in a global scenario where nearly every large market is set to shrink.

It could be too early to assess the full impact of the ongoing pandemic. For one, it is still raging. And in India, particularly in dense urban hotspots, despite a lockdown imposed in late March, infections have been spreading. And the resurgence of a second phase of outbreaks cannot be ruled out. Yet, there could be a glimmer of hope in the Indian media landscape. Where other comparable markets are shrinking, adspends in India are still set to grow.

India’s print media publications have been hit severely and the quick response to that has been the recent bouts of layoffs, wage cuts and, in many cases, measures to cut costs by reducing the size (or pages) of publications. The fact is that print media in India was already in dire straits: advertising from some of the biggest sectors such as education, real estate and financial services had begun shrinking long before the COVID pandemic began. Partly it was because of sluggish activity in these sectors but also because many advertisers moved online, which can be more cost-effective for them.

Indian publications, including the biggest media groups in the country have been grappling with the challenge they face from online media for more than a decade now. Every publication has an online presence but few have been able to work out business models that could work. Paywalls and subscription-led models have largely not been successful because it is a very small proportion of readers who are willing to pay significant amounts to read publications online. And, although online advertising is growing, the revenues are still nowhere near the levels that could cover the costs of maintaining large newsrooms.

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Newsrooms at many Indian publications are huge in terms of the number of journalists employed. These are fixed costs that are high and require revenues commensurate with those. Indian newspapers have cover prices that are low. For instance, the price of a newspaper hardly covers the cost being delivered to a reader’s door and is a piffling amount compared to the cost of producing and printing it. This has been the principal bane of Indian print media. As a result, it is difficult to charge readers to read online when they are used to getting news/content at dirt cheap prices.

Interestingly, however, the ongoing crisis could be the wake-up call that Indian media, particularly print publications, direly need. Even if the salary and job cuts may be knee-jerk reactions that smack of short-termism—after all, the economy is likely to bounce back after a while and sectors such as healthcare, well-being, and e-commerce could be new advertising sources—the current crisis is probably an opportune time for Indian media to re-strategise.

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It is a time for media owners to introspect and find new ways of providing content. Specialised online multi-media publications that target specific interest groups is one avenue that could be explored. There could be many ways to do that. A few to ponder: reducing the size of bloated newsrooms and replacing them with smaller ones with professionals equipped with higher area expertise; hyper-local online publications that address smaller areas within cities or suburbs; more investments in multimedia content production capabilities; and collaborations between media brands.

Therefore, for Indian media this COVID-induced downcycle could be the source of opportunities. Opportunities to spot new sectors and trends that could emerge out of the changes in social behaviour; opportunities to use online platforms, including social media more effectively; and, of course, opportunities to take a close and hard look at junking the past and thinking of new ways to conduct the business of content generation and distribution.

2 Indian High Commission Officials Go Missing In Pak

India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has taken up the matter of missing Indian High Commission officials with Pakistan, sources said on Monday.

The two officials of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad have been missing and untraceable for last few hours.

Recently, ANI had reported how Pakistan’s spy agency ISI had been tailing and harassing Indian officials in Pakistan and had also increased their presence around the Islamabad residence of Gaurav Ahluwalia, the acting High Commissioner of India to Pakistan.

The incident came days after two Pakistani officials at Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi were deported for espionage activities in India.

South block is closely watching the developments, sources added.

The Indian mission in Islamabad has also lodged a complaint with local authorities and taken up the matter with Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This incident is likely to cause a further dip in the already tenses India-Pakistan relations. (ANI)

Shah Orders CCTV Cameras In Delhi Covid Hospitals

Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah on Monday directed the Delhi Chief Secretary to install CCTV cameras in coronavirus wards of every COVID-19 hospital.

“Amit Shah directed the Delhi Chief Secretary to install CCTV cameras in Corona wards of every Corona hospital, so that there is proper monitoring and problems of patients can also be resolved,” a government release said.

The minister also visited Lok Nayak Jay Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital here to review arrangements related to COVID-19.

He directed the Delhi Chief Secretary that back-ups for canteens supplying food should also be established so that in case there is an infection in one canteen, patients can continue to get food without disruption.

“We told the Home Minister in detail about the facilities at the hospital. He was very happy with our work and appreciated our staff,” said Suresh Kumar, Medical Director of Delhi’s LNJP Hospital.

Speaking on Shah’s visit, AAP MP Sanjay Singh said: “Home Minister Amit Shah interacted with LNJP Hospital staff. He asked them to focus on work and not pay heed to negative reports about the hospital. CM Kejriwal has been monitoring the situation&fixing lapses and today Home Minister approved of this. The visit was his own initiative.”

The minister said that psycho-social counselling of doctors and nurses engaged in service to humanity through the treatment of Corona patients should also be done.

“This will ensure that not only are they physically but also psychologically fit to fight the pandemic,” the release said.

Earlier in the day, the minister held an all-party meeting over COVID-19 situation in the national capital.

Shah, along with Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, chaired a meeting on Sunday in which Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal were present.

Later, he announced a series of measures to tackle the disease in the national capital including increasing testing three times in six days, providing 500 converted rail coaches to add 8,000 beds and steps for the availability of 60 per cent coronavirus beds in private hospitals at lower rates. (ANI)

WPI Inflation In May Contracts By 3.21%

The annual rate of inflation based on monthly wholesale price index (WPI) stood at minus 3.21 per cent for May as compared to 2.79 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year, data released by the government on Monday showed.

However, due to limited information available for the month of April, the provisional figures of May are compared with final figures of March, according to an official statement issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) could not collect wholesale price data for April due to the nationwide lockdown imposed since March 25 to contain the spread of coronavirus pandemic.

“The official WPI for all commodities (base 2011-12=100) for May declined by 2.24 per cent to 117.7 (provisional) from 120.4 (final) for March,” said the statement. The index for manufactured products with a weightage of 64.23 per cent declined by 0.42 per cent to 118.1 in May from 118.6 for March.

Out of the 22 products, 10 groups witnessed an increase in prices. They include beverages, tobacco products, wearing apparel, leather and related products, wood and of products of wood and cork, paper and paper products, pharmaceuticals, medicinal chemical and botanical products, other non-metallic mineral products, motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers and other transport equipment.

The groups which witnessed a decline in prices were food products, textiles, printing and reproduction of recorded media, chemicals and chemical products, rubber and plastics products, manufacture of basic metals, fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment, computer, electronic and optical products, electrical equipment, machinery and equipment.

The index for primary articles with a weightage of 22.62 per cent declined by 0.87 per cent to 136.2 in May 2020 from 137.4 for March. Prices of food articles increased whereas prices of crude petroleum and natural gas and non-food articles declined as compared to March.

The index for fuel and power with a weightage of 13.15 per cent declined by 15.88 per cent to 83.7 in May from 99.5 for March. Prices of mineral oils group declined while prices of coal and electricity remained unchanged.

(ANI)