Month: July 2022

After two consecutive days of gains, Indian stock indices declined marginally in early trade on Tuesday, weighed down by a consistent depreciation of the rupee.

On Tuesday, the rupee hit yet another historical low and touched the key psychological level of 80 against the US dollar.

At 9.40 a.m., Sensex was at 54,389.79 points, down 131.36 points or 0.24 per cent, whereas Nifty was at 16,252.95 points, down 25.55 points or 0.16 per cent.

Among the Nifty 50 stocks, 29 were in the green and the rest in the red, National Stock Exchange data showed.

Consistent depreciation in the value of the rupee has been weighing on the domestic stocks. A depreciation in the rupee is typically negative for foreign investors.

“We expect a rupee to remain volatile this week and could hold its key support level of 80.5500 on a closing basis,” said brokerage Prithvi Finmart.

Further, reports suggest that phone and gadget maker Apple planning to slow hiring and spending is likely to have subdued stocks in India and other Asian markets.

“Asian shares are subdued Tuesday after Apple Inc.’s plans to slow hiring highlighted concerns that aggressive monetary tightening to tackle inflation threatens an economic downturn,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.(ANI)

Multinational companies in Pakistan are worried about the deteriorating law and order situation, especially in the country’s financial hub Karachi.

A recent survey conducted by The Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) in Pakistan showed that the law and order situation in the country has worsened over the years.

The report of the survey conducted by the representative body of over 200 multinationals operating in Pakistan suggested that 70 per cent of the CEOs polled reported security among the top three concerns for them versus 60 pc a year ago, the Dawn reported.

The OICCI expressed concerns over the worsening security situation in the country and approached the Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah over the issue

The OICCI conducted its annual ‘Members Security Survey 2022’, in May and June and polled as many as 115 members.

The overall security situation has deteriorated notably in Karachi and Sindh, the survey said.

“This is in contrast to the previous similar security surveys, which showed a constant improvement over the past seven years, especially in Karachi,” the survey noted.

It provides an area-wise account of depleting faith of local companies in the law and order situation and the administration’s ability to tackle it. Karachi which is the nerve centre of commercial activity in Pakistan and is also called the financial capital of the country reveals a disturbing picture,the Dawn reported.

The report said the recent high-profile incident involving Chinese expatriates appears to be one of the reasons for the growing security concern in Karachi.

The survey also revealed a declining trend in businessmen’s confidence with respect to the law and order situation in the country.

“About half of the respondents felt that the security situation had some effect on their operations and associated businesses (suppliers/vendors and consumers) with 56pc of the respondents citing an increase in street crimes being faced by their employees,” it said.

Faultlines in Pakistan’s economic policies have led to challenges for the rest of the social and commercial ecosystem. The perceptible deterioration in law and order across major cities has clearly hit the morale of investors including overseas ones.

Ground-level feedback from various channels points towards a visible setback to industrial activities due to security challenges cropping up across Pakistan.

The widespread militancy and lawlessness across the country has worsened the internal security situation. There is a rise in criminal gangs at the local level. All of this has further jeopardised the development and peaceful existence of Pakistani society.

The chamber urged law enforcement agencies and other government authorities responsible for promoting investment and business activities to strengthen the overall security environment while especially focusing on foreigners’ security and street crimes in the industrial cities of Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad. (ANI)

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday accepted the demand of the Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena to change the party leader in the House. Now the leader of Shiv Sena in the house will be Rahul Shewale. Bhavana Gawali has been retained as the Chief Whip, said sources.

Earlier today, 12 Lok Sabha members of the Shiv Sena met the Lok Sabha Speaker and requested him to change the leader of the party in the lower house of Parliament.

Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shawale said that a letter to change the party leader in the lower house of the parliament has been sent to Lok Sabha speaker as he will be giving recognition to the party, once legal actions are taken.

Shawale told ANI, “We are the internet process of the party and there is no split in the party. Shiv Sena is Shiv Sena. The party was angry with our leader Vinayak Raut. He was not supportive at all and that’s why we have demanded to replace him.”

He said that surely in the coming days the speaker will give recognition, whatever is prescribed of the party, and the spirit of the party will remain the same.

Rahul further said, “We will be with NDA in the house. We have not come out of NDA yet. When Arvind Sawant had resigned, he had resigned from the cabinet. The letter from Shiv Sena to exit NDA has not been given yet.”

Currently, Shiv Sena has 19 MPs in the Lok Sabha, out of which 12 are supporting Eknath Shinde. (ANI)

Iran on Tuesday launched the Iranian rial-Russian ruble trading in its foreign exchange market, in an important step to boost economic ties with Russia.

Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Ali Salehabadi made the remarks at the ceremony to launch trading in the currency pair in the Iranian capital of Tehran, reported the official news agency IRNA.

Salehabadi stressed that, under the world’s present political circumstances where major currencies have been used as political tools by the hegemonic powers, using local currencies and signing bilateral and multilateral monetary pacts can be an effective solution to neutralizing major powers’ political coercive measures to dominate other countries.

The governor said that Iran’s exports to Russia will increase following the launch of the trading in the ruble-rial currency pair.

Both Iran and Russia are under US-led Western sanctions. Russia will gradually abandon the US dollar in its trade with Iran, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Iran on Tuesday. (ANI/Xinhua)

Amid renewed political volatility, the Fitch Ratings agency on Tuesday downgraded Pakistan’s outlook from stable to negative.

In a statement, the credit rating entity affirmed the Long-Term Foreign-Currency (LTFC) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘B-‘.

“Pakistan’s ‘B-‘ rating reflects recurring external vulnerability, a narrow fiscal revenue base and low governance indicator scores compared with the ‘B’ median,” said Fitch, adding that external funding conditions and liquidity will likely improve with the new staff-level agreement, reported Business Recorder.

The move comes in view of the significant deterioration in the country’s external liquidity position and financing conditions since early 2022.

“Former prime minister Imran Khan has called on the government to hold early elections and has been organising large-scale protests in cities around the country,” the agency pointed out. “The new government is supported by a disparate coalition of parties with only a slim majority in parliament.”

Regular elections are due in October 2023, creating the risk of policy slippage after the conclusion of the IMF programme, it added.

Fitch cited a host of other factors behind its decision to downward revise the rating outlook. It added that renewed political volatility could undermine the authorities’ fiscal and external adjustment, as happened in early 2022 and 2018, particularly in the current environment of slowing growth and high inflation.

“We forecast slower growth of 3.5 per cent in FY23 amid fiscal and monetary tightening, high imported inflation, and a weaker external demand outlook, all of which will also hit household and business confidence,” said Fitch Ratings agency.

Fitch saw considerable risks to the implementation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme and to continued access of Pakistan to financing after the programme’s expiry in June 2023 in a tough economic and political climate, reported Business Recorder.

Citing that Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves were under pressure, it added that limited external funding and large current account deficits had drained the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP)-held reserves.

It argued that the SBP has used reserves to slow currency depreciation. Liquid net FX reserves at the SBP declined to about USD 10 billion or just over one month of current external payments by June 2022, down from about USD 16 billion a year earlier.

The agency estimated Pakistan’s current account deficit (CAD) to reach USD 17 billion (4.6 per cent of GDP) in the fiscal year ended June 2022 (FY22), driven by soaring global oil prices and a rise in non-oil imports boosted by strong private consumption.

The credit ratings agency also said that the fiscal deficit widened to 7.5 per cent of GDP (nearly Rs 5 trillion) in FY22, from 6.1 per cent in FY21. (ANI)

The Union Health Ministry sought a report from Vardhman Mahavir Medical College (VMMC ) Safdarjung hospital after a woman delivers a baby outside the hospital, and five doctors have been debarred from their duties.

In a statement Union Ministry of Health and family welfare, “On the direction of Union Health Minister a team from the Union Health Ministry visited Safdarjang Hospital for fact finding in the matter of the delivery incident that took place at SJH today morning. Five of the doctors have been debarred from duties till a high-level probe in the matter is completed. The lady and the newborn are currently in the care of the SJH hospital.”

The woman who delivered the baby outside the hospital was referred to Safdarjung on Monday.

According to the Hospital PRO Poonam Dhanda, “Safdarjung has no refusal policy, the pregnant woman was examined yesterday at 5:45 pm and offered admission but didn’t return with admission papers.”

“The next day a senior resident on morning duty was informed that a patient was delivering outside the hospital. A team was sent and the delivery was taken care of,” she said further.

The Union Health Ministry has ordered a high-level probe into this major lapse.

“It has been brought to the notice of the Safdarjung Hospital and VMMC that a pregnant woman delivered a baby outside the GRR on July 19, 2022. She was examined by the senior resident on duty at 5.45 PM on July 18, 2022 in GRR,” said in a letter issued by Dr SV Arya, Medical Superintendent of Safdarjung hospital to Dr Anjali Dabral, Professor and Hod, Obs and Gynae

“In view of the above, you are requested to submit a detailed report within 48 hours on the above issue,” it said.

In a show cause notice by Principal, VMMC to Dr Archana Misra and Dr Anjali has said, “The matter has been viewed seriously by the administration.”

“In view of the above, you are directed to give your explanation within 24 hours of receipt of this show cause notice that why necessary disciplinary action may not be initiated against you,” it said further.

Earlier on Tuesday morning, a woman delivered her baby on the floor outside the emergency department of Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital. (ANI)

Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde on Tuesday said that the government formed with BJP is getting full support from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Addressing a Press conference here in Delhi, Shinde said, “Some days back in Maharashtra, we established this government with BJP and we’re getting full support from the people of the state. PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are giving us support. PM Modi has told us that he’ll support all development projects in the state.”
Maharashtra Chief Minister arrived in Delhi on Monday to hold a discussion regarding Other Backward Class (OBC) reservations.

He said the state government is committed to providing justice to them (Other Backward Class).

Speaking to Media, Shinde said, “I have come to Delhi to hold a discussion regarding OBC reservations as the Maharashtra government is committed to providing justice to OBCs. It’s important from the state’s perspective. We held discussion with lawyers on our preparation for the OBC reservation case (in SC).”

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut in a veiled attack termed the Eknath Shinde’s faction as “snakes”.

“Learn the skill of crushing the fun too…..Do not leave the forest because of the fear of snakes… Jai Maharashtra!!,” tweeted MP Raut on Tuesday morning.

The tweet was made amidst indications from sources that the Uddhav-Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction seems to be in for another major setback as 12 of the party’s 18 party MPs are in touch with Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and are likely to switch sides to his camp.

Responding to the plea in Supreme Court by the Uddhav Thackeray camp challenging disqualification which is to be heard on July 20, the Chief Minister said he has faith in the judiciary.

“We have unwavering faith and trust in our judiciary. In a democracy, the majority (in Assembly) holds significance. We have followed all the rules,” Shinde said.

The Supreme Court on July 20 will hear pleas filed by both factions of the Shiv Sena pertaining to the Maharashtra political crisis.

Uddhav Thackeray-led faction had approached the top court challenging the Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari’s decision to invite Eknath Shinde to form the government and also the Speaker’s election and floor test.

They had also challenged the newly appointed Maharashtra Assembly Speaker’s action recognising the whip of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde group as the whip of Shiv Sena.

The plea said the newly appointed Speaker has no jurisdiction to recognise whips nominated by Shinde as Uddhav Thackeray is still the head of the Shiv Sena official party. (ANI)

Seems like actor Vicky Kaushal has indulged in tremendous fun with his ladylove, Katrina Kaif along with their friends on his wife’s 39th birthday as the pictures from the trip seem to be never-ending.

Taking to Instagram, the ‘Uri’ actor shared another serene picture of himself, chilling amid blue waters.
“Sone-wah!” captioned Vicky.

The picture revealed the actor lying on a knitted sun lounger attached to a wooden pathway as he gazed in yonder, presumably admiring the shimmery waters and the azure skies in front of him. Vicky cosied up, resting his head on blue-hued pillows, one hand behind his head. He sported a grey shirt with indigo shirts and wrapped a blue bandana on his forehead.

Vicky and Katrina seemed to have a great time enjoying the Maldives. The power couple recently dropped some amazing pictures of their vacations. While Vicky was seen whiling away his time with his boy gang, Katrina shared images with her girl group.

They also engaged in a bunch of activities like cycling and swimming as is evident from their images. The stunning pictures have made fans go ga-ga!

For the unversed, Vicky and Katrina got married in a magnificent wedding in Rajasthan on December 9, 2021, in the company of close friends and family. Prior to their marriage, neither Vicky nor Katrina commented on their relationship.

On the work front, Vicky will next be seen in the film ‘Govinda Naam Mera’ alongside Bhumi Pednekar and Kiara Advani. He will also star opposite Sara Ali Khan in Laxman Utekar’s untitled project. Apart from these two, he also has Anand Tiwari’s yet-to-be-announced movie with Triptii Dimri and Meghna Gulzar’s ‘Sam Bahadur’, co-starring Sanya Malhotra and Fatima Sana Sheikh in the line.

Katrina, on the other hand, will next be featured in ‘Phone Bhoot’ alongside Siddhant Chaturvedi and Ishaan Khatter. She will also be seen sharing screen space with Vijay Sethupathi in ‘Merry Christmas’. The upcoming film is being helmed by Sriram Raghavan. She also has ‘Tiger 3’ with Salman Khan in her kitty. (ANI)

A human rights activist on Tuesday said that missing Baloch people are being executed in the custody of Pakistani security forces.

A statement was issued by Baloch human rights activist Mama Qadeeroch against the genocide of Baloch people which stated that the missing people are being killed in the custody of Pakistani security forces, local media reported.
With a spike in the number of enforced disappearances in Balochistan in the past few months, there is not even a single family in the province whose member or a relative has not been forcibly disappeared, reported a Canada-based think tank, International Forum for Rights and Security (IFFRAS) earlier this month.

Enforced disappearances are used as a tool by Pakistani authorities to terrorize people who question the all-powerful army establishment of the country or seek individual or social rights.

The report suggests that it is a crime that is often used by the authorities to get rid of people that are considered a “nuisance” without any arrest warrant, charge or prosecution.

The forceful abductions are being carried out in Balochistan since the early 2000s. Students are often the most targeted section of these abductions. The victims also include several political activists, journalists, teachers, doctors, poets, and lawyers.

The report added that tens of thousands of Baloch people have been kidnapped by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Pakistani Army personnel in the last 20 years.

Several victims have been killed and dumped and it is believed that many of them are still confined in the Pakistani torture cells.

A majority of the students are kept in extra-judicial custody after they are picked up during raids on houses and hostels.

Several protests are being carried out frequently in Balochistan to bring the practice into the light. The family members of the forcibly disappeared persons have formed an organisation called the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) to campaign against the disappearances.

A hunger strike that has continued for over 4,670 days was carried out by VBMP. The organization has claimed that the Pakistani authorities have been involved in this practice.

An annual report of the Human Rights Council of Balochistan, which is an organisation that documents human rights violations in the province, has said that students remained the main target of these kidnappings both in Balochistan as well as in other provinces of Pakistan. (ANI)