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DAWN FEBRUARY 19, 2020 When asked if he was personally concerned about the rising discrimination against minorities in India, Mr Guterres exclaimed, “Of course!” as it is pertinent that whenever nationality laws are changed, efforts are taken to avoid statelessness and to ensure that every citizen of the world is also a citizen of a country. In an exclusive interview to Dawn News, the UN chief was asked about reports in the international media, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and recent fact-finding reports on Kashmir released in New Delhi, regarding torture, sexual abuse and incarceration of children as young as seven by the Indian military. He said all these reports, including two by the UN High Commissioner, played an important role in “clarifying exactly what is happening” in Kashmir and “it is essential that these reports are taken seriously”. Acknowledges current structure of the world body hampering very objective of its creation — conflic...

BUSINESS STANDARD FEBRUARY 20, 2020 Overnight schemes are now included in the larger-sized category, given the shift by investors — with daily liquidity needs — to such schemes, following the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi's) restrictions on liquid schemes. Average assets under management (AAUM) of these schemes stood at Rs 52,524 crore in January — a more than 4x jump since the beginning of the current financial year. The AAUM of overnight schemes in April 2019 was Rs 11,566 crore. According to industry players, institutional investors are showing appetite for these funds considering the low-risk and high-liquid nature of the underlying portfolio. Such schemes can invest in debt papers with maturity as short as one day. Further, these schemes invest in the collateralised borrowing and lending obligation (CBLO) market, which offers a high degree of safety. Last year, Sebi tightened norms for liquid schemes to curb risks in the underlying portfolios o...

CRYPTO POTATO FEBRUARY 19, 2020 As of Monday, February 17th, 2020, U.S. presidential candidate, Micheal Bloomberg, and his campaign team have published a formal financial reform plan, aimed at strengthening the U.S. economy and helping it recover from the “the damage Trump has done” following the financial crisis of 2008. Amongst dozens of other financial recommendations, the formal proposal also included the mention of creating a “clear regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.” According to Bloomberg, “Cryptocurrencies have become an asset class worth hundreds of billions of dollars, yet regulatory oversight remains fragmented and undeveloped.” Better Late Than Never Aimed at rebuilding the country’s financial future, Bloomberg’s plan suggests there needs to be more safety and transparency in the U.S. economy if another crash similar to the 2008 financial crisis is to be avoided. For this, he suggested that financial institutions need to monitor their risk ex...

THE HINDU FEBRUARY 19, 2020 Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Wednesday said that his government will withdraw from co-sponsoring a UN Human Rights Council resolution on accountability for war crimes. His statement came days after the U.S. imposed travel restrictions on Army chief Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva and his immediate family members over alleged gross violations of human rights during the final phase of the island nation’s Civil War in 2009. “Our government has decided to withdraw from the process of co sponsorship in relation to resolution 30/1,” Mr. Rajapaksa said in a statement. The resolution 30/1 on promotion on reconciliation in Sri Lanka was co-sponsored in 2015 by the then Lankan government. Mr. Rajapaksa accused his predecessor of betraying the island’s security forces by co-sponsoring the resolution. “It is because of the historic betrayal that other countries are able to name members of our armed forces as violators of human righ...

TFI POST FEBRUARY 20, 2020 In what comes as a pleasant surprise, and a potential boon for India’s electric vehicle industry, researchers from the Atomic Minerals Directorate have stumbled upon a patch of land in Mandya, 100 kms from Bengaluru, containing over 30,300 tonnes of Lithium Oxide reserves. This would translate into over 14,100 tonnes of raw Lithium which could be procured from the site. The Atomic Minerals Directorate is a unit of India’s Atomic Energy Commission. “The present data provides a total estimation of available Li2O as about 30,300 tonnes over an area of 0.5 km x 5 km, which works out to about 14,100 tonnes of lithium metal,” N Munichandraiah, Emeritus Professor at the Indian Institute of Science and an expert on battery technologies, told The Economic Times. The discovery of a Lithium reserve in India is a ray of hope for the EV industry of the country, which up till now was, and continues to be fully dependent on imports of Lithium to fulfil its n...

THE INDIAN EXPRESS FEBRUARY 20, 2020 As concerns over the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak and AGR dues of telecom companies continued to weigh over financial markets, the rupee declined by 22 paise to settle at 71.54 against the US dollar while the benchmark Sensex fell 161 points on Tuesday. The 30-share Sensex and the Nifty settled with losses for the fourth straight session Tuesday, as the ongoing adjusted gross revenues (AGR) issue weighed on telecom and financial stocks. The Sensex, which plunged over 400 points intra-day, closed 161.31 points lower at 40,894.38. The NSE barometer Nifty too staged a late recovery from the day’s low and settled at 11,992.50, showing a fall of 53.30 points or 0.44 per cent. Asian markets, barring China, closed with heavy losses after warning by Apple and HSBC over the impact of coronavirus outbreak, also known as COVID-19. The coronavirus epidemic, that emerged in central China, has now killed nearly 1,800 peop...

THE HINDU FEBRUARY 19, 2020 An Assam NGO, Assam Public Works (APW), has requested the Supreme Court to order a 100% re-verification of the entire National Register of Citizens (NRC) process and a probe by a judicial commission into the alleged misappropriation of funds for the updating exercise. According to APW, whose 2009 petition in the top court had led to the exercise of updating the 1952 NRC, the inclusion of "80 lakh illegal immigrants, including jihadis" has necessitated the total re-verification. In its affidavit, the NGO also said that the misuse of NRC funds warranted a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the National Investigation Agency (NIA) or the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The NGO named four “jihadis” who allegedly became Indian citizens because of their inclusion in the NRC. “There are many empty agricultural lands being transformed overnight into populated villages, especially in the Barkhetri Assembly constituency ...

INDIAN EXPRESS FEBRUARY 20, 2020 The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO’s) food price index — which is a measure of the change in international prices of a basket of major food commodities with reference to a base period (2002-04 = 100) — touched 182.5 points in January 2020, the highest since the 185.8 level of December 2014. Also, the year-on-year inflation rate based on this index has risen steadily from 1.13% in August 2019 to 2.86% in September, 5.58% in October, 9.33% in November, 12.22% in December, and now, 11.33% for January 2020. This sharp surge in global food prices is reflected in trends in India as well. Annual consumer food price index (CFPI) inflation stood at just 2.99% in August 2019, before climbing to 5.11%, 7.89%, 10.01%, 14.19% and 13.63% in the succeeding five months. The year-on-year inflation in the wholesale price index for “food articles” began rising somewhat earlier — reaching 7.8% in August 2019 from 2.41% in Janua...

FINANCIAL EXPRESS FEBRUARY 19, 2020 UTI MF and Nippon India MF have said they are creating a segregated portfolio of debt securities issued by Vodafone Idea. The move comes after a downgrade by CARE Ratings of various bank facilities and non-convertible debentures (NCDs) of Vodafone Idea to CARE BB- from CARE BBB-. Data from Value Research shows the exposure of mutual funds to the debt issued by Vodafone Idea stood at Rs 3,389.77 crore in December 2019. On Tuesday, India Ratings & Research downgraded Vodafone Idea’s Long-Term Issuer Rating to ‘IND B’ from ‘IND BBB-’ while maintaining a Rating Watch Negative (RWN). Mutual fund misselling: Here is how SEBI curbs the menaceMutual fund misselling: Here is how SEBI curbs the menace SEBI's new order may hit mutual fund penetration in B30 towns and beyond SEBI's new order may hit mutual fund penetration in B30 towns and beyond Any debt papers which are equal or above BBB- are considered as above investment grad...

BUSINESS STANDARD FEBRUARY 17, 2020  The FATF on Monday said several terrorist groups continue to benefit from funds raised through illegal activities and from supporters worldwide despite the international terror financing watchdog tightening the standards on flow of money. India has maintained that Pakistan extends regular support to terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen, whose prime target is India, and has urged FATF to take action against Islamabad. The week-long Financial Action Task Force plenary, currently on in Paris, will decide Pakistan's fate -- whether it will continue in the FATF's 'Grey List', or will be put in the 'Black List' or escape from listing. Without naming Pakistan, the FATF said in a statement that terrorists use various methods to gain financing, including using social media to identify new followers and to solicit financial or other forms of material support. Ind...

GREATGAMEINDIA FEBRUARY 19, 2020 On February 12, 2020, GreatGameIndia issued an alert regarding a suspicious shipment off the western coast of India. The ship belonged to a Chinese shipping company blacklisted by the Americans last year and was destined to Pakistan. Further investigation revealed the seized shipment carried launching gear for missiles and that China was secretly shipping nuclear arms to Pakistan, now being examined by two different teams of Indian nuclear scientists. Sources in Coastal intelligence told GreatGameIndia the intercept was based on a tip-off from the Americans who were monitoring the entire fleet of the shipping line believed to be a front of Chinese intelligence. In September last year, the US Treasury department blacklisted two oil tanker subsidiaries of China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO), a leading Chinese shipping and logistics company for shipping Iranian oil. China Concord Petroleum, Pegasus 88 Limited, Kunlun Shipping Company and Kunlu...

INDIAN EXPRESS FEBRUARY 20, 2020 A sense of crisis has always marked the public discourse on India-US relations. It is no different as Delhi prepares to receive US President Donald Trump early next week. The perennial anxiety about the relationship is now reinforced by a new element — deep domestic polarisation in both countries. The Democrats in the US have struggled to oust Trump from the White House and rarely find anything they can agree with their President on. While ousting Narendra Modi through a legal process of impeachment is not an option in India, the political divide is even deeper. Meanwhile, under Trump, consensus on foreign policy in Washington has broken down. In Delhi, the Opposition has never been willing to acknowledge the diplomatic successes of the Modi government. But the usually bipartisan support for foreign policy in the strategic community has eroded. Many leading voices of the establishment who have a long and distinguished service have become...

FINANCIAL EXPRESS FEBRUARY 20, 2020  In an overhaul of its flagship crop insurance scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), the Centre on Wednesday put ceilings of 30% and 25% on premiums against sum insured for its subsidy to be available for non-irrigated and irrigated areas respectively, made enrolment of loanee farmers voluntary and extended the contract period for insurers to three years from one year. The moves are aimed at addressing the challenges in implementation of the scheme, and making it more pragmatic. As higher premium rates are necessary to sustain insurance companies’ interest in the country’s 151 water-stressed districts, a separate scheme was under preparation for these areas, the government said after a Cabinet meeting. The revamped scheme will be effective from Kharif 2020. Under PMFBY, launched in 2016, farmers pay 1.5% of sum insured for rabi crops and 2% for kharif while it is 5% for cash crops. The balance premium is split equally betwe...