Author: LokMarg

Polling to elect members of the Upper House of the Parliament on 16 Rajya Sabha seats spread across four states – Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana- began on Friday morning.

Polling that began at 9 am will conclude at 4 pm. Forty-one candidates from Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Telangana were elected unopposed after the biennial elections to 57 Rajya Sabha seats were announced recently.

However, polling for 16 seats spread across states like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana and Karnataka are being held today.

Some prominent leaders, whose fates will be decided at 5 pm when the counting of the votes will take place, include Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and Nirmala Sitharaman, Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Randeep Surjewala and Mukul Wasnik.

Notably, discontent had surfaced in the Congress party after the announcement of nominees for the Upper House.

In Maharashtra, the Congress party has fielded Imran Pratapgarhi for the polls while Praful Patel has been fielded from the NCP. Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar have been given a run in the polls.

The MVA has shifted all its MLAs to a hotel in Mumbai fearing horse-trading. The alliance, however, is expressing confidence in bagging four seats from the state.

The BJP has fielded Dr Anil Bonde, Piyush Goyal and Dhananjay Mahadik from the state. Interestingly, there will be seven candidates in the fray for the six seats in the state.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray exuded confidence in all the four candidates of the Maha Vikas Aghadi of winning the Rajya Sabha polls.

In Haryana, polling is being will take place for two seats. Both BJP alliance and Congress legislators were shifted to resorts to slash possibilities of poaching.

While the BJP-JJP alliance has lodged their MLAs to a resort in Chandigarh, the Congress leaders were moved to a resort in the city.

The Congress party has nominated senior leader Ajay Maken while the BJP has fielded former minister Krishan Lal Panwar.

It is noteworthy that a senior leader of the state, Kuldeep Bishnoi is already upset with the party’s recent decisions. Besides this, another problem for the party has come in the form of the candidature of Kartikey Sharma whose father and father-in-law are former Congress leaders and are known to have influence in the state politics.

In Karnataka, JD(S) has fielded entrepreneur and social worker Kupendra Reddy as its first candidate in the Rajya Sabha election.

The Congress had fielded Mansoor Ali Khan as its second candidate to corner the JD(S) and its bid to send Kupendra Reddy to the Rajya Sabha.

Six candidates are in the fray for the Rajya Sabha poll to four seats for the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls from Karnataka.

A day ahead of the polling, former state chief minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy on Thursday urged the Congress to give its second preferential votes to JDS, if it really wanted to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Similarly in Rajasthan, resort politics took the driving seat as the Congress MLAs were tossed between Udaipur and Jaipur. (ANI)

Fitch Ratings on Friday revised its outlook on India’s long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to “Stable” from “Negative” citing diminished downside risks to medium-term growth.

The rating agency has also affirmed India’s Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘BBB-‘.

The Outlook revision reflects our view that downside risks to medium-term growth have diminished due to India’s rapid economic recovery and easing financial sector weaknesses, despite near-term headwinds from the global commodity price shock. We expect robust growth relative to peers to support credit metrics in line with the current rating, Fitch Ratings said in a statement.

High nominal GDP growth has facilitated a near-term reduction in the debt-to-GDP ratio, but public finances remain a credit weakness with the debt ratio broadly stabilising, based on our expectation of persistent large deficits. The rating also balances India’s external resilience from solid foreign-exchange reserve buffers against some lagging structural indicators, it said.

Fitch Ratings noted that the recovery has put the Indian economy on a stronger footing. India’s economy continues to see a solid recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic shock. GDP recovered by 8.7 per cent in the fiscal year ended March 2022, and we forecast GDP growth to remain robust at 7.8 per cent in 2022-23 compared with the 3.4 per cent ‘BBB’ median, it said.

However, this is a downward revision from our 8.5 per cent forecast in March as the inflationary impacts of the global commodity price shock are dampening some of the positive growth momentum, the rating agency said.

India’s strong medium-term growth outlook relative to peers is a key supporting factor for the rating and will sustain a gradual improvement in credit metrics. “We forecast growth of around 7 per cent between FY24 and FY27, underpinned by the government’s infrastructure push, reform agenda and easing pressures in the financial sector. Nevertheless, there are challenges to this forecast, given the uneven nature of the economic recovery and implementation risks for infrastructure spending and reforms,” Fitch Ratings said.

The rating agency noted that the conditions in the financial sector were a key growth impediment before the COVID-19 pandemic but it has improved in recent years.

The improved condition of the financial sector would facilitate better credit allocation and investment in the medium term. Banks’ capital sufficiency will be important in determining their ability to provide more credit, even as regulatory forbearance has given them time to rebuild capital buffers. Potential asset-quality deterioration from the pandemic shock appears manageable, but there are risks as forbearance measures unwind amid heightened global macroeconomic uncertainty.

India’s debt-to-GDP ratio benefits in the near term from a sharp acceleration in nominal GDP growth. We forecast the debt-to-GDP ratio to drop to 83.0 per cent in FY23 from a peak of 87.6 per cent in FY21, but it remains high compared to the 56 per cent peer median.

Beyond FY23, however, our expectations of only a modest narrowing of the fiscal deficit and rising sovereign borrowing costs will push the debt ratio up slightly to around 84.0 per cent by FY27, even under an assumption of nominal GDP growth of around 10.5 per cent.

On fiscal deficit, Fitch Ratings said, “We forecast India’s general government fiscal deficit to remain broadly stable at 10.5 per cent of GDP (excluding divestment) in FY23, compared to 10.7 per cent in FY22. In its budget, the central government prioritised capital expenditure over more substantial fiscal consolidation. We forecast that the fuel excise-duty cuts and increased subsidies (about 0.8 per cent of GDP) announced in May to offset higher commodity prices for consumers, will push the central government deficit to 6.8 per cent of GDP compared to the budget’s 6.4 per cent target, despite robust revenue growth.” (ANI)

The cross-border bus service between Bangladesh and India resumed on Friday, two years after its suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Resumption of India-Bangladesh Cross-Border Bus Services! Bus services b/w India-Bangladesh via ICP Agartala-Akhaura & ICP Haridaspur-Benapole resumed with the Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka bus being flagged off from Dhaka early morning today-a major step forward in enhancing affordable, people-centric connectivity,” tweeted High Commission of India in Bangladesh.

Tazul Islam, chairman of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC), had confirmed that the service would resume to The Daily Star on Thursday.

The development comes after the rail service between the two countries resumed on May 29. The train service between the two countries was suspended since March 2020 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two trains travel between India and Bangladesh, Bandhan Express operates between Kolkata and Khulna, Bangladesh while Maitree Express connects Kolkata with Dhaka.

Except for the Dhaka-Sylhet-Shillong-Guwahati-Dhaka route, service on four other routes would resume from Friday and the first bus would start from Motijheel at 7:00 am, added Islam.

Before the suspension of service, buses were operated on five cross-border routes: Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka, Dhaka-Agartala-Dhaka, Dhaka-Sylhet-Shillong-Guwahati-Dhaka, Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata-Agartala, and Dhaka-Khulna-Kolkata-Dhaka, reported The Daily Star.

The discussion over the operation of the fifth route is also going on, said a BRTC official. (ANI)

India reported 7,584 new COVID cases in the last 24 hours, more than 300 cases than the previous day, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday.

The active cases in the country rose to 36,267 which stood at 32,498 yesterday. The active cases are 0.08 per cent of the total caseload in the country.

With 3,35,050 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, the daily positivity rate was observed to be 2.26 per cent. The weekly positivity rate was recorded to be 1.50 per cent.

According to the health ministry, 3,791 COVID patients recovered in the last 24 hours taking the total number of recoveries from the disease since the onset of the pandemic to 4,26,44,092. The recovery rate stands at 98.70 per cent.

With the death of 24 COVID patients during this period, the death toll climbed to 5,24,747.

Over 194.76 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.

Following a surge in COVID cases across the country, the Union Health Ministry is closely monitoring the situation in the states like Maharashtra, Kerala, Delhi and Karnataka and has asked them to follow the five-fold strategy and amp-up testing, said official sources on Thursday.

The Ministry has also asked the States to monitor clusters of new COVID cases and follow COVID appropriate behaviour, sources told ANI.

Recently, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote to the officials of five states, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Tamil Nadu to closely monitor emerging clusters, maintain the adequate number of testing and send samples from infected individuals for genome sequencing. (ANI)

Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said that India is carefully monitoring the developments along its border areas including the construction of infrastructure by the Chinese side in the eastern Ladakh sector.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi made this comment in response to remarks by an American military commander that some of the defence infrastructures that China is creating near its border with India in Ladakh are “alarming”.

“India carefully monitors developments along our borders areas including construction of infrastructure by the Chinese side in the western sector as well as that been undertaken further in-depth areas,” he said while addressing a media briefing.

“The government is committed to and takes all adequate and appropriate measures to safeguard territorial integrity and sovereignty as the developments in recent years have clearly demonstrated,” Bagchi said.

He said the government of India has taken various measures in recent years to develop infrastructure along the border areas to not only meet India’s strategic and security requirements but also facilitate the economic developments of the areas.

On Wednesday, US Army’s Pacific Commanding General Charles A Flynn, who is on a four-day visit to India talked about the infrastructure development by China along its borders with India in the Ladakh sector, and called the Chinese activities in that region “eye-opening”.

“As far as the current situation (in eastern Ladakh) is concerned, we have maintained continuous communication with the Chinese side both through diplomatic and military channels,” Bagchi said.

On the Chinese aggression which started in April-May last year, the Defence Ministry in its Year-End review had stated that unilateral and provocative actions by the Chinese to change the status quo by force, in more than one area on the LAC, have been responded to as an adequate measure. (ANI)

International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) on Thursday issued a Red Corner Notice (RCN) against gangster Satinderjeet Singh alias Goldy Brar, who claimed responsibility for the recent murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala.

A senior CBI official said that after the issuance of RCN, the process to enable his extradition to India will begin.

“The RCN has been issued. The CBI liaison officer will coordinate with Interpol and a proposal will be moved through the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for extradition,” he said.

Brar, a native of Sri Muktsar Sahib, had gone to Canada on a student visa in 2017 and he is an active member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. He is operating from Canada.

Meanwhile, CBI on Thursday issued clarifications on reports regarding the Red Corner Notice (RCN) request against Goldy Brar.

On Wednesday, Punjab Police said that on May 19, 2022, ten days before the murder of Sidhu Moosewala, they had already sent the proposal to the CBI to issue a Red-Corner notice against Goldy Brar, which will pave the way for his extradition to India.

In a statement, CBI said that the International Police Cooperation Unit (IPCU) of CBI, New Delhi coordinates the requests of sister law enforcement agencies for informal coordination through Interpol including requests for the issuance of colour-coded notices.

“IPCU, CBI checks the requests for eligibility as per the Rules of Processing Data of Interpol so that the request is complete and the notices are issued early. The final issuance of notices is done by Interpol (HQ), Lyon (France) in line with rules for processing of data,” the statement reads.

In the present matter, the proposal for issuance of a Red Corner Notice against Satinderjeet Singh alias Goldy was received on May 30 at 12:25 pm from the Bureau of Investigation, Punjab Police through e-mail. In this e-mail dated May 30, a copy of a letter dated May 19 was attached. Also, a hard copy of the same proposal was received from Punjab police in IPCU, CBI, New Delhi on May 30.

“After processing for confirmation of pre-requisite requirements, the Red Notice proposal was forwarded expeditiously to Interpol (Headquarters), Lyon on June 2,” it reads.

As per the above proposal of Punjab Police, the request for issuance of Red Corner Notice (RCN) relates to two cases of Punjab Police during the years 2020 and 2021 vide FIR No.409 dated November 12, 2020, and other FIR No.44 dated February 18, 2021. Both FIRs are of Police Station City Faridkot, Faridkot District (Punjab).

Even this request was received in IPCU CBI on May 30, 2022, whereas as per information in the public domain, the murder of Sidhu Moose Wala took place on May 29, 2022.

It is stated that the request for issuance of a Red Notice against Harwinder Singh Rinda has already been sent to Interpol (HQ) Lyon.

It is further clarified that INTERPOL channels are used for informal international police to police cooperation and a Red Notice is neither mandatory nor a pre-requisite for sending an extradition request more so when the location of the subject is known.

CBI has been assisting all Law Enforcement Agencies in the matter of international cooperation and is committed to assist in the best possible manner through various international channels. (ANI)

Observing an upsurge in Coronavirus infection in the past two weeks, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Thursday wrote to all the states and Union Territories to ensure that they do not lower their guard and continue working to bring the COVID-19 pandemic situation “under control”.

Expressing his concern over the continuous surge in Covid-19 infections, the health secretary in his letter wrote, “Given the significance of adequate testing in early identification of cases and providing an accurate picture of the level of infection spread, it is required that States/UTs must ensure a high level of testing in all such areas that are reporting new cases/cluster of cases.”

“State/UTs must also monitor average daily testing per million as well as the share of RT-PCR in total tests conducted…Stats/UTs must also enhance monitoring of Influenza-like Illness (ILI) and SARI cases in all health facilities on a regular basis for detecting early warning signals of the spread of infection,” the letter read.

In the letter, he also emphasised the State/UTs to conduct Genome sequencing of prescribed samples of international passengers and said, “Collection of samples from Sentinal Sites (identified health facilities) and the local cluster of new Covid-19 cases is equally important.”

He further advised them to continue implementation and monitoring of necessary measures for prompt and effective management of Covid-19 snd to ensure compliance with the advisories issued by the Health Ministry, while following a five-fold strategy of Test-Track-Treat-Vaccine and Covid Appropriate Behavior diligently.

In the letter, he also ensured that the Union Health Ministry will continue to provide requisite support to the states/UTs in the ongoing and collective effort.

However, it was noted by the ministry that the country reported 7,240 new covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, of which, 81 per cent of cases have been reported from Maharashtra, Kerala, Delhi and Karnataka (in the descending order of the number of cases reported).

Notably, the freshly recorded cases were nearly 40 per cent higher than a day ago, as infections soared sharply in states like Maharashtra and Kerala. This is the highest jump in the number of daily cases since March 2.

Meanwhile, a top expert–Director of Internal Medicine, Max Healthcare, Dr Rommel Tickoo — has warned that India is unlikely to experience the fourth wave unless a new COVID-19 variant is reported. (ANI)

Hours after Delhi Police booked AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi over inflammatory remarks, Owaisi lashed out at the Centre saying that Delhi Police is suffering from ‘both sideism’ or ‘balance-waad’ syndrome.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has been named in an FIR registered by the Delhi Police over alleged inflammatory remarks yesterday. Religious scholar Swami Yati Narsinghanand’s name has also been mentioned in the FIR. This comes as the row over the comments on the Prophet by suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma has blown up, leading to global outrage. Sharma has also been named in an FIR by the Delhi Police, while another FIR has named several people including expelled BJP leader Naveen Jindal, and journalist Saba Naqvi, among others.

Reacting to this move by the Centre, Owaisi in a series of tweets, wrote, “I have received an excerpt of the FIR. This is the first FIR I have seen that’s not specifying what the crime is. Imagine an FIR about a murder where cops don’t mention the weapon or that the victim bled to death. I don’t know which specific remarks of mine have attracted the FIR.”

“It appears that Delhi Police lacks the courage to pursue cases against Yati, Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal etc. This is why the delayed and weak response,” the AIMIM chief said.

“In fact, Yati has violated his bail conditions repeatedly by inciting genocide against Muslims and insulting Islam. Delhi Police were probably trying to think of a way of registering an FIR against these people without offending Hindutvadi fanboys/girls,” Owaisi tweeted.

The AIMIM chief further said, “Delhi Police is suffering from “both sideism” or “balance-waad” syndrome. One side has openly insulted our Prophet while the other side has been named to assuage BJP supporters and make it look like there was the hate speech on both sides.”

Owaisi alleged that the hate speech was given by the ruling party spokespersons and by prominent “Dharam Gurus” with close links to the ruling party. “This is being equated to random posts on social media with no social or political standing. In my case, FIR isn’t even saying WHAT was offensive,” he said.

In a veiled reference to the Haridwar Dharma Sansad hate speech case, Owaisi lashed out at Yati, Nupur and Naveen etc for being a part of the ‘genocidal sansad gang’. “Weak action has only been taken when there was an outrage for weeks or international condemnation or when courts pulled up the police,” the AIMIM chief said while slamming the Centre.

“In contrast, Muslim students, journalists, and activists have been put in prison for the crime of merely being Muslim. Hindutva organisations have a culture where hate speech and extremism are rewarded with promotions. Examples include Yogi’s hate was rewarded with Lok Sabha seats and Chief Ministerial ship,” he alleged.

“Government’s hate speeches were similarly rewarded. In fact, the people who attempted to shoot me admitted that they did so because they could become prominent Hindutva politicians. This culture must end,” he further said.

Questioning the BJP government’s ‘inaction’ against hate speech, Owaisi alleged, “If PM Modi was sincere, he would have stamped out hate speech without indulging in fake ‘balance-vaad’. Let genocidal hate speakers be put in prison under non-bailable draconian laws rather than getting promotions.”

“As far as the FIR against me is concerned, we will consult our lawyers and address it as and when required. We will not be intimidated by these tactics. Criticising hate speech and giving hate speeches cannot be equated,” he added.

Owaisi’s remarks came after he was named in an FIR registered by the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of Delhi Police over alleged inflammatory remarks yesterday. Swami Yati Narasimhananda’s name was also mentioned in the FIR.

The Delhi Police IFSO unit on Thursday registered a case under various provisions against those who were allegedly spreading messages of hate, inciting various groups and creating situations which are detrimental to the maintenance of public tranquillity.

Delhi police registered two FIRs after social media analysis. The cases have been registered against those who were posting and sharing messages against the maintenance of public tranquillity and were inciting people on the basis of various divisive lines.

As per the Delhi police, the sections of the cases are 153, 295, 505 IPC. One case has been registered against Nupur Sharma & others one has been registered against multiple social media entities based on the analysis. Notices will be sent to the social media intermediaries for the details. (ANI)

The 16th Presidential election will be held on July 18 and the counting of votes will be held on July 21, said the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday.

Addressing a press conference, Rajiv Kumar, Chief Election Commissioner of India said the term of office of President Ram Nath Kovind will be ending on July 24.

Kumar further said, “The value of the vote of an MP will be 700. Those in preventive detention can vote and those in jail will have to apply for parole and if they get parole, they can vote.”

He stated that the total value of votes for MLAs for the 16th Presidential Election is 5,43,231. The total value of votes for MPs is 543200. The total value of the vote of electors for the Presidential Election, in 2022 is 10,86,431.

According to the ECI, the date for notification call is June 15, while last the date for filing nominations is June 29. The ECI further announced that the date for the scrutiny of nominations is June 30 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is 2 July.

As per Article 62 of the Constitution, an election for the next president must be held before the completion of the incumbent’s term.

“A total of 4,809 electors to vote in the Presidential elections in 2022. No political party can issue a whip to its members,” said Kumar.

As per Article 54 of the Constitution of India, the President is elected by the members of the Electoral College consisting of elected members of both Houses of Parliament and elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of all States including the National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

The nominated members of either Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha or Legislative Assemblies of the States are not eligible to be included in the Electoral College and therefore, they are not entitled to participate in the election. Similarly, members of the Legislative Councils are also not electors for the Presidential election.

The value of votes of the elected members of State Legislative Assemblies and both Houses of Parliament is governed by Article 55(2) of the Constitution.

Previously, the Presidential election was held on July 17, 2017, while the declaration of the winner was made three days later on July 20.

Article 324 of the Constitution read with the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952, and the Presidential and Vice – Presidential Elections Rules, 1974 vests the superintendence, direction and control of the conduct of election to the office of the President of India in the Election Commission of India. (ANI)