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The Hindu August 23, 2019 Peerzada Ashiq Security restrictions and absence of communication links have hit Kashmir’s multi-crore apple business. The movement of fruit trucks to the Valley has reduced from 1,200 to just 120 a day. Nazeer Ahmad, 55, an orchard owner in the apple town of Shopian, on Thursday reached Srinagar to seek help from the administration for making available trucks and giving them safe passage. “All mandis [designated apple markets], especially in Shopian and Sopore, are shut. No buyer from outside the State has come here. This is likely to affect the pricing. We fear the ripe harvest may rot in case trucks from other States fail to arrive in the Valley,” Mr. Ahmad said. “This year buyers from Delhi’s Azadpur mandi avoided advance contracts for the standing crop, putting the burden of ferrying the crop on the orchard owners completely.” The apple season starts in the second week of August and peaks in September-October. The flow of truck

The Indian Express Kamaldeep Singh Brar August 23, 2019  Pakistan has stopped trade with India at Integrated Check Post Attari as well as scrapped the Samjhauta Express service after India scrapped Article 370 that granted special status to J&K. India Pakistan relations, indian traders, Quarantine inspection, India trade with pakistan, Pakistan, Attari-Wagah, Attari-Wagah checkpost, Attari-Wagah border, Pakistan army, indian army.  Around 44,000 trucks come from Pakistan to India via ICP each year, loaded with goods from Pakistan and Afghanistan. WITH TRADE between India and Pakistan via Attari-Wagah having virtually come to a standstill, transporters, truck drivers, conductors and mechanics are struggling to make ends meet. Pakistan has stopped trade with India at Integrated Check Post Attari as well as scrapped the Samjhauta Express service after India scrapped Article 370 that granted special status to J&K. “After the Pulwama attack, the Indian go

The Economic Times August 23, 2019 Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury China-funded infrastructure projects in various parts of Asia have recently come under the scanner of the World Bank for alleged gross financial malpractices, and the financial institution has temporarily banned the Chinese companies involved in the projects.  The World Bank debarred China Railway Construction Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiaries, China Railway 23rd Bureau Group Co and China Railway Construction (International), for nine months recently, citing misconduct during the procurement process for the ‘East-West Highway Corridor Improvement Project’ in Georgia. This project is part of China’s mega Belt & Road Initiative (BRI).  These companies have acknowledged that they had misrepresented facts about their personnel, equipment and work experience in the pre-qualification and bidding documents of the highway construction contract. World Bank Procurement Guidelines term such misrepresentati

The Indian Express August 23, 2019 Milind Ghatwai One of three accused, Balram Singh, had been arrested in February 2017 in a similar case but was released on bail a few months ago. Three NIA officers under probe over bribery in terror funding case Masarat Alam said Hurriyat leaders got funding from Pakistan: NIA Terror funding case: Masarat Alam, Asiya Andrabi and Shabbir Shah in 10-day NIA custody Madhya pradesh anti-terror squad, ATS Three arrests terror funding, pakistan terror funding, terror funding case ATS arrest, The ATS has booked the trio under Section 123 of IPC (Concealing with intent to facilitate design to wage war). The anti-terror squad (ATS) of Madhya Pradesh Police on Thursday secured the custody of three persons, who were detained by the Satna police on Wednesday, for being part of an alleged terror funding syndicate being operated from Pakistan. One of three accused, Balram Singh, had been arrested in February 2017 in a similar c

The Hindu August 22, 2019 Suhashini Haidar The assessments, represented from Pakistan by State Bank of Pakistan Governor Baqir Reza, will conclude on August 23. After being greylisted at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary, Pakistan now faces being put on the “blacklist” of the FATF’s Asia affiliate, the Asia-Pacific Group (APG), that will conclude its meetings in Canberra, Australia, on Friday. While the two processes are separate, the APG blacklisting, or ‘Enhanced Expedited Follow Up’ status would definitely impair Pakistan’s chances at extricating itself from the FATF greylist that deals with countering terror-financing and money-laundering, at its Paris plenary later this year.  Sources told The Hindu that the APG meeting, which began on August 18, completed a third evaluation (MER) of Pakistan’s actions over the past five years on building anti-money-laundering and countering financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) safeguards, and found them wholly inade

India Today August 22, 2019 Geeta Mohan Pakistan is on the verge of being blacklisted by the Asia-Pacific Group, one of the regional affiliates of anti-money laundering watchdog FATF. Pakistan has submitted its compliance report on 27-point action plan committed with the FATF to the APG. After being placed on the grey list by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Pakistan is now on the verge of being blacklisted by the Asia-Pacific Group (APG) -- one of the nine regional affiliates of the anti-money laundering watchdog. The APG is currently meeting at Canberra in Australia conducting a five-year mutual evaluation of Pakistan's progress on upgrading its systems in areas of financial and insurance services and sectors. Pakistan on Wednesday had submitted the compliance report on its 27-point action plan to the FATF, which is currently under review by the APG and has found Islamabad lacking on many fronts. The APG has reportedly identified deficiencies

The Print August 26, 2019 Moody’s Investors Service on Friday revised downwards India’s GDP growth forecast for the current year to 6.2 per cent, saying the economy remains sluggish due to a combination of factors such as weak hiring, distress among rural households and tighter financial conditions. The GDP growth forecast for 2019 calendar year was revised downwards from its previous estimation of 6.8 per cent. The same for 2020 was also lowered by a similar 0.6 percentage points to 6.7 per cent, Moody’s said in a statement. Announcing revision in its growth forecast for 16 Asian economies, it said weaker trade and investment weigh on GDP growth, despite stable private and public consumption in the region. “While not heavily exposed to external pressures, India’s economy remains sluggish on account of a combination of factors, including weak hiring, financial distress among rural households, and tighter financing conditions due to stress among non-bank financial in

Firstpost August 26, 2019 Dinesh Unnikrishnan This is the seventh and concluding part of a series in which Firstpost’s columnists analyse the ongoing economic slowdown and offer solutions. By now, the fear that India’s economy is slowing and slowing at a real dangerous pace has been confirmed by hard data. No one who is looking at high-frequency macroeconomic numbers can have a different view about it. The government machinery typically plays down an unpleasant economic scenario fearing adverse public opinion. But this time, the government’s top economic think-tank seems to have woken up to the precarious state of the economy. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman of government’s think-tank NITI Aayog, has gone a step ahead to ring alarm bells. His point is simple. The economic crisis, at present, is worsening to an unprecedented level. Unless an ‘out of the ordinary’ economic resolution is brought forth urgently, the crisis can deepen claiming serious economic ramifications.

Financial Express August 26, 2019 Farmers and agritech startups in India have evolved rapidly over the past few years due to digital penetration and funding, majorly driving the growth in this sector. agriculture, economy, indian economy, unorganised sector, agritech, startup, funding by 2024, Indian agritech startup is estimated to employ 90 lakh people. Indian agritech startups have received 300 per cent more funding in the first six months of 2019 than the total funding received in 2018. Agritech companies raised $ 248 million until June 2019, which was only $ 73 million in 2018, according to NASSCOM. “Farmers and agritech startups in India have evolved rapidly over the past few years due to digital penetration and funding, majorly driving the growth in this sector,” says the report. New areas in the agritech sector such as market linkage, digital agriculture, better access to inputs, farming as a service (FaaS) and financing are attracting more and more stakeholders

  Anil Sasi ,  Pranav Mukul  | New Delhi | August 26, 2019  INDIA’S DECISION on whether to allow  Huawei  in upcoming 5G trials could be negatively influenced by the aggressive posturing by China in recent weeks, which has heightened the possibility that an all-clear for the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker could be seen as New Delhi “pandering” to threats, a senior government official told  The Indian Express . Advertising India is set to conduct its first field trials to test the real-world viability of 5G networks in the coming months. In May, the Chinese commerce ministry had stated that Beijing was preparing an “unreliable entity list” that will include organisations that block supplies to Chinese companies for non-commercial reasons or otherwise damage their interests. More recently, late last month, China is learnt to have told the Indian government that blocking Huawei could result in consequences for Indian companies operating in China. “No