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The Economic Times August 29, 2018 The Centre and six states of North India signed a memorandum of understanding today for construction of Lakhwar multi-purpose project in the Upper Yamuna basin in Uttarakhand.  Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari signed the MoU with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Vasundhara Raje of Rajasthan, Trivendra Singh Rawat of Uttarakhand, Manohar Lal Khattar of Haryana, Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi, and Himachal Pradesh's Jai Ram Thakur in Delhi for the project worth Rs 3,966.51 crore.  The Lakhwar project envisages construction of a 204-metre-high concrete dam across the Yamuna near Lohari village in Dehradun district of Uttarakhand with a live storage capacity of 330.66 million cubic metre (MCM).  This storage will provide irrigation to 33,780 hectares of land and availability of 78.83 MCM water for domestic, drinking and industrial use in the six basin states.  The project, which is to be executed b...

Quartz India  August 29, 2018 India’s overseas population is making the best of its sliding domestic currency by sending huge amounts of money back home. Since January this year, the rupee has come under domestic and global macroeconomic pressure. Higher international crude oil prices, a widening trade deficit, the exit of foreign investors from India, and the US’s protectionist stance have all played havoc with the currency. As a result, Asia’s worst-performing currency has already lost over 9% in this calendar year. It breached the Rs70 per dollar mark for the first time earlier this month and remains under pressure. Over this period, inward remittances to the country have spiked by up to 25%, according to industry experts. “Remitters get better value in rupee terms, be it for UAE’s dirham, the US dollar, British pound or any other currency. So the volume of remittances from most of the sending regions (the Gulf, North America, Europe, or Asia Pacific) is ...

The Logical Indian  August 29, 2018 Even as the Indian rupee hit a new lifetime low of 70.16 on August 27, the vice-chairman of Niti Aayog Rajiv Kumar has claimed that the rupee should be allowed to find its “natural level” and that the calls for a stronger rupee are falsified beliefs. He also said that the rupee will become stronger only when the per capita income of the country goes from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000. Kumar believes this will happen only when every youth in the country gets a good job. Rupee has now become the worst performing major currency among the other emerging market currencies by losing over 9 per cent year-to-date, as reported by the Times Of India. “Allow the rupee to depreciate to find its fair value” During an inaugural event in Shirdi, Mr Kumar said that people needed to stop judging a country’s economy on the basis of the strength of its currency. He said that if the rupee value appreciates, it would make our goods uncompetitive in interna...

The Wire August 29, 2018 Following close on the heels of the release of the draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018 (PDP Bill) release, is the proposed DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2018 (DNA Bill), which was introduced in parliament this monsoon session. This DNA Bill is the latest in a series that originated as the “DNA Profiling Bill” in 2007. Since then, the proposed law has gone through multiple iterations – with each version raising privacy concerns, such as the lack of adequate standards for consent, notice, retention and security of data. Chief amongst these privacy concerns is the fact that each of these iterations seems to grant near-sweeping powers to the state for the collection of DNA samples, with very few safeguards to protect citizens. Unfortunately, the present DNA Bill does little to address these concerns. For instance, the Bill allows the state, through its law enforcement agencies, to collect “intimate bodily substances” fr...

Business Standard  August 30, 2018 Indian liberals are reeling from a shocking set of arrests this week: Synchronized police raids targeted some of the country’s best-known civil-liberties activists. Authorities have been vague about why they were arrested; many are being held under a draconian national security law that permits detention for six months without formal charges. But, judging by what police officials have leaked to the media -- and what members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have told news channels -- the accused are all supposedly “Naxalites.” For many Indians, this sounds like an accusation from the distant past. Back in the 1970s, a Maoist insurrection began in a small town called Naxalbari; its political descendants came to be known as Naxalites. They’ve vanished from the towns of the more prosperous India of today. But, in the forests of central India, where the hand of the state has often been brutal, a Maoist insurgency continues to smolder, t...

Hindustan Times  August 30, 2018 The decks have been cleared for India and the US to sign the much-awaited Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (Comcasa) with the agreed text of the foundational military agreement (one of the three such the US signs with close partners) sent to the highest level of the Modi government for approval. The agreed text of Comcasa agreement will, after it is vetted, be put up before the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) for clearance and will be signed during the 2-plus-2 dialogue on September 6 between the Indian and US foreign and defence ministers, Indian and US diplomats familiar with the matter said. The diplomats, based in New Delhi and Washington DC, added that the agreed text was finalised after a senior Indian government official dashed to the Pentagon last week for final clarifications and additions. The Comcasa agreement, which has been hanging for the past decade, allows India to operate on high-end secure...

Hindustan Times  August 29, 2018 Iran’s supreme leader warned Wednesday the country could abandon its nuclear deal with world powers if it no longer served its interests, even as economic and political pressure mounted on the government. “Naturally, if we reach the conclusion that (the nuclear deal) is no longer maintaining our national interests, we will put it aside,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a meeting with the cabinet, according to his website. He said Iran must not “pin its hopes” on Europe, despite European efforts to salvage the nuclear deal following the withdrawal of the United States. The government of President Hassan Rouhani has been battered by the return of US sanctions, which has triggered a rapid departure of foreign firms and ended his hopes of attracting large-scale investment. His political enemies are circling, with parliament announcing that two more of his ministers could be impeached in the coming days. The labour and economy ...

Daily Hunt  August 30, 2018 As per the ministry's third advance estimate, onion output is likely to be around 22 million tonnes (MT) during the reported period, lower than 22.4 MT in 2016-17. Similarly, potato production is estimated to remain flat at 48.5 MT as against 48.6 MT in 2016-17, while tomato output is projected at 19.4 MT as against 20.7 MT earlier. However, the overall production of vegetables is estimated to be higher by one percent to 179.7 MT over the previous year, the data showed. In case of fruits, the output is projected at 97 MT, higher by 4.5 percent from the previous year. Total horticulture production is estimated at 306.8 MT, up 2.05 percent from 2016-17. The third advance estimate for horticulture crops have been prepared on the basis of information received from state departments and agencies like Directorate of Areca nut and Spices Development (DASD), Directorate of Cashew & Cocoa Development (DCCD) and National Bee Board (NBB). Ac...

DAWN August 30, 2018 It conveyed in categorical terms to the visiting Indian team that Islamabad would approach the international forums defined in the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in case New Delhi failed to accept the requests as narrated in the detailed objections. “We have categorically made it clear that we will have no option but to use international forums — appointment of neutral experts, taking the case to international court of arbitration, etc — in case India failed to address our concerns that are absolutely genuine and can be resolved amicably,” one of the officials of the Pakistani side told Dawn after conclusion of the first round of the two-day dialogue which began here between the Pakistan-India delegations headed by the commissioners for Indus waters of the two countries. Islamabad’s objections to transgressions in construction of power projects on Chenab river conveyed during water talks The nine-member team led by Indian commissioner Pradeep Kumar S...

DailyHunt August 30, 2018 The Indian rupee's nine-percent depreciation against the US dollar over the past year has importers worried and exporters rejoicing. Today, the rupee fell to a new record low of 70.52. The startup ecosystem, too, is experiencing a mixed bag of emotions. For some, the depreciation of the rupee has meant higher costs, while others are benefiting from higher revenue numbers when converting dollars to rupees. However, the fact remains that the forex fluctuations have exposed just how vulnerable startups are, and ill-equipped, to manage currency risks. ONGO Framework, a B2B IT and digital solution provider, has acquired Hyderabad-based Hockystick Media i n a cash-plus-equity deal of undisclosed value. ONGO also received an angel investment of $1 million and this seed round was led by serial entrepreneur Mitesh Majithia and other angel investors. Hockystick Media, established in April 2016, is founded by ex-Googlers Shrikanth Katkurwar, Abhijit Gogo...

DailyHunt August 30, 2018 Former Union Minister, Yashwant Sinha claimed on Tuesday that the country was in an Emergency-like situation as all democratic institutions, including the bureaucracy, judiciary, the Election Commission and the media had been compromised. Speaking to reporters here, he said the Modi government had shown that Emergency could be imposed in a country without it being declared. "The opposition's voice is being silenced using institutions like the CBI, ED, IT and other government agencies. In other cases, it is through defamation cases filed through private parties. Nothing is being allowed to be published in the media and even the judiciary has delivered some unfortunate decisions prohibiting the publishing of certain reports," Mr Sinha maintained. Referring to the arrest of five activists in Pune, he said he strongly condemned it. "Whenever the BJP cannot answer certain questions, it makes the issue personal," he charged. C...

The Indian Express  August 30, 2018 Countering terrorism, enhancing regional connectivity and boosting trade will be dominating agenda of the fourth Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit in Kathmandu on August 30-31, which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a host of leaders from the region. Modi, who will travel for the summit on Thursday, said on Wednesday, “My participation in the Summit symbolises India’s highest priority to our neighbourhood and our strong commitment to continue deepening our relationship with the extended neighbourhood in South-East Asia.” During the summit, the Prime Minister said, he will have interactions with all the leaders of BIMSTEC to further enrich regional cooperation, enhance trade ties and advance collective efforts to build a peaceful and prosperous Bay of Bengal region. “I am confident that the Fourth BIMSTEC Summit will further consolidate the progre...

Hindustan Times  August 30, 2018 The rupee continued its downward slide against the US dollar on Thursday, falling to a new record low in opening trade at 70.68 per US dollar. At 2.23 pm, the partially convertible rupee was trading 22 paise or 0.32% lower than Wednesday’s close at 70.77 against the US dollar. On Wednesday, the rupee witnessed its second biggest single-day crash since August 13, when the unit crumbled 110 paise or 1.6%. The rupee previously had closed at a record low of 70.16 to the dollar on Monday. The slide was triggered by factors like crude prices hitting multi-month highs fuelled by supply shocks along with concerns over widening current account deficit (CAD), said business news wire Reuters. The rupee collapsed to another record low of 70.65 during the day as investors finally hit the panic button after reports highlighted risks of India breaching the 3.3% fiscal deficit target for 2018-19. Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was trading ove...