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Written by Parthasarathi Biswas | Pune | Updated: July 15, 2020 As per estimates, of the total weedicides sold in India worth Rs 4,500 crore annually, glyphosate alone accounts for over Rs 1,100 crore, with the most-talked about application being in cotton crops. In a move ostensibly aimed at preventing farmers from planting the unauthorised genetically modified herbicide-tolerant (HT Bt) cotton, the Centre has issued a draft notification making it mandatory for spraying of glyphosate — the herbicide widely used for such cotton crops — to take place only through approved pest control operators (PCOs). However, farmer leaders and agriculture scientists have condemned the draft published on July 7, pointing out that glyphosate is a commonly-used herbicide for a wide range of crops and any move to restrict its usage would have a far-ranging effect. As per estimates, of the total weedicides sold in India worth Rs 4,500 crore annually, glyphosate alone accounts for over Rs...

Updated: Jul 14, 2020 15:58 IST Reuters | Posted by Shivani Kumar Alphabet Inc’s Google is in advanced talks to invest $4 billion for a stake in the digital arm of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. An announcement could come as soon as the next few weeks, according to the report. Google declined to comment, while Reliance did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Investors, including Facebook and KKR & Co, have already poured in a combined $15.64 billion for just over 25% in Jio Platforms. The funding spree, which began late April, and a share sale by Reliance have helped make India’s biggest company by market value net-debt free. The report comes a day after Google said it would spend around $10 billion in India over the next five to seven years through equity investments and tie-ups, in its biggest commitment to a key growth market. Shares of Reliance pared so...

Press Trust of India | Posted by Prashasti Singh Washington, 15/07/2020 All the information is going straight to massive super computers in the cloud in China, US National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien said, adding, “So China is going to know everything about you. They are going to have biometrics on you. You ought to be very careful regarding who you give such personal information to.” Banning mobile applications such as TikTok by countries like India takes a big tool away from the surveillance work of China, a top White House official said on Tuesday. The Trump administration is “very seriously taking a look” at TikTok, WeChat and some other apps coming out of China, US National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien told Fox News Radio in an interview. “India has already banned those apps, as you know. And if they lose India and the United States, they lose some western European countries, that takes a big tool away from the espionage work or the surveillance work of ...

Written by Shubhajit Roy | New Delhi | Published: July 15, 2020  Iran started work on the Chabahar-Zahedan railway project last week since it wants to complete a section before Iranian President Hassan Rouhani faces elections next year. India is not part of this project as of now, since there is lack of clarity on whether the railway project will attract US sanctions. While Chabahar port development has been exempted from US sanctions, sources said there is ambiguity over the railway link. As India talks to the US and awaits clarity, it has conveyed to Iran that it is open to joining the project at a later stage, once the geopolitical situation becomes clearer — possibly by the end of the year when the US elections take place. Sources pointed out that India had allocated Rs 100 crore for the Chabahar project in this year’s Budget. The allocation of the funding signals India’s desire and commitment to be part of the project, but it has to undertake “due diligen...

Written by Manraj Grewal Sharma , Edited by Explained Desk | Chandigarh | Updated: July 15, 2020 On July 10, Havildar Sambur Gurung (36), a soldier from Nepal serving in the Gurkha regiment, was killed in cross-border firing along the Line of Control in Nowshera sector of Jammu. Coming amidst the chill in the Indo-Nepal ties, Gurung’s supreme sacrifice is a reminder about the strong ties between the Indian and Nepalese armed forces. Soldiers from Nepal form a significant part of the Indian Army’s legendary Gurkha regiment. Here is a brief explainer on the origin and evolution of these ties: The origin of India’s military ties with Nepal Former Army Chief Gen VP Malik (retd), who has dedicated a chapter to Nepal in his book ‘India’s Military Conflicts & Diplomacy’, says India’s military connection with the Himalayan country goes back to the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh whose army in Lahore enlisted Nepalese soldiers called Lahure or soldiers of fortune. British Ind...

Written by Kaunain Sheriff M | New Delhi | Updated: July 15, 2020 A new antibody study suggests immunity to Covid-19 may be lost in months, yet notes antibodies are not the only way the body develops immunity. What is the other way, and does it put a limitation on the study? A longitudinal study by the researchers from King’s College London — first reported by The Guardian on Sunday — has suggested that immunity to Covid-19 might be lost in months. The suggestion is based on a steep drop in patients’ antibody levels three months after the infection. A look at the findings, implications and limitations of the new study, and the broader question of how the body develops immunity against an infection: What are the findings of the study? The researchers analysed the immune response of 90 recovered Covid-19 patients and healthcare workers. In their study, which is not yet peer-reviewed, they found that antibodies that specifically help in neutralising the coronavirus SARS-...

Written by Sushant Singh | New Delhi | Updated: July 15, 2020 The first reports on sighting of PLA troop movement on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control came in mid-April, almost two weeks before Chinese and Indian soldiers came to blows on the north bank of Pangong Tso on May 5-6. But the Army says these reports never reached it, and the first reports it received in May only mentioned infrastructure construction activity. An intelligence official told The Indian Express that more specific inputs came a few days after the first reports mid-April. The inputs were on sightings of hundreds of Chinese heavy military vehicles, moving northward from areas opposite Demchok. These reports have strengthened the view at the highest levels of the intelligence set-up that significant details, though available, were glossed over as the crisis brewed in Ladakh, leaving the government in a blind spot. The Army, however, says it carried out matching build-up of troops thro...

Radhika Merwin  BL Research Bureau | Updated on July 14, 2020 While 10-year G-sec yield has also softened, there is still a wide spread over shorter-tenure bonds Substantial liquidity infusion via open market operations (OMO) and term repos, various policy actions taken by the RBI to ease liquidity conditions for NBFCs/HFCs, long-term repo operations, reduction in repo and reverse repo rate — have all led to a steep fall in short-term interest rates over the past few months. In fact, most of the rates are below the prevailing repo rate of 4 per cent; even close to or below the reverse repo rate of3.35 per cent in some cases. According to the RBI’s July report, the weighted average call money rate has fallen 37 basis points below repo rate during April-June 2020 (from 17 bps below repo rate during January-March 2020). Importantly yields on commercial papers (CPs) issued by NBFCs/HFCs that had shot up post the IL&FS fiasco in late 2018, have also fallen sharply in t...

J. Jagannath, 14 Jul 2020 New Delhi: Indian e-commerce major Flipkart Group on Tuesday said it raised additonal $1.2-billion equity from Walmart-led investor group. Post equity round the company's valuation reached $24.9 billion. The latest equity will be funded in two tranches over the remainder of the fiscal year. The investment is led by Walmart, Flipkart's majority owner, along with a group of existing shareholders, the company said. Flipkart said in FY20 it reported 45% growth in monthly active customers and witnessed 30% growth in transactions per customer. The company said it recently surpassed 1.5 billion visits per month. "We're grateful for the strong backing of our shareholders as we continue to build our platform and serve the growing needs of Indian consumers during these challenging times," Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said. "Since Walmart's initial investment in Flipkart, we have greatly expanded our offer...

Carol D. Leonnig, July 14 Over the past five days, the United States has suffered a worsening resurgence of coronavirus cases indicating that — after six months — the most powerful country in the world has made little progress in controlling the virus and that Americans may indefinitely remain its prisoners. President Trump, meanwhile, has been largely MIA on a question most citizens expect their president to address: What does he plan to do now to better protect the public health and return the country to normalcy? The American people heard little from their president over the weekend on the worrisome infections spreading throughout the South and West. From Thursday to today, Trump apparently preferred to spend his time on other things.  He wiped away the prison sentence of his convicted political adviser Roger Stone and golfed two days in a row at his Trump National Golf Club on the banks of the Potomac River. The president sent out dozens of tweets, includi...

HIMANI CHANDNA 14 July, 2020 New Delhi: The Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) — one of the world’s largest manufacturers of vaccines — has reached out to the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), highlighting the difficulties it is facing in continuing clinical trials of non-Covid-19 vaccines, ThePrint has learnt. The company, which produces 1.5 billion doses of vaccines annually, has highlighted difficulties in continuing clinical trials for at least three of its non-Covid vaccines due to the pandemic. The company has told the DCGI, the apex body that approves vaccines and their clinical trials in India, about difficulties in conducting trials on Tdap (Tetanus, Diphtheria and Pertussis) vaccine, Hexavalent vaccine and Quadrivalent Human Papillomavirus Vaccine (HPV). Hexavalent vaccine, as the name suggests, gives immunity against six diseases, whereas HPV protects against various cancers, including cervical cancer.  “The firm presented the difficulties...

Adeela Naureen/Umar Waqar July 13, 2020 Since the Independence, Pakistan found an eager hostile neighbour trying to undo the very idea of this new independent Muslim state. Indian subversion in erstwhile East Pakistan imploded the fault line with its western wing and Pakistan was dismembered. Did India stop there, certainly not? Post 9/11, India found a favorable strategic environment for sabotage and subversion in Pakistan and this was taken to a new level of violence through state-sponsored terrorism by India. Collection of data, the case for state-sponsored terrorism be presented to the ICJ and the UNSC for involvement of Indian agencies in sponsoring and abetting terrorism in Pakistan. The below-mentioned statements of Indian political leaders substantiate Pakistan’s apprehensions about India’s involvement in terrorism in Pakistan. They also confirm that India plans and initiates subversive propaganda apart from state sponsored terrorism: = Modi in his Indep...