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 The Indian Express August 13, 2020 India’s ambassador to Beijing, Vikram Misri, reached out Wednesday to a key interlocutor in the Communist Party of  China ’s Central Committee to try and make headway in talks on resolving the crisis along the  Line of Actual Control   in Ladakh where the standoff between troops of the two countries enters its 100th day Thursday. Misri met Liu Jianchao, Deputy Director of the Office of the CPC Central Committee Foreign Affairs Commission, and “briefed him on India’s stance vis-à-vis the situation on the borders in eastern Ladakh UT and overall bilateral relations”, the Indian embassy in Beijing said in a tweet Wednesday. The Central Committee is a political body comprising top leaders of the Communist Party of China. Officials said Liu wields influence within the CPC’s foreign affairs division, and can help convey the need to resolve the border situation at the political level. Talks on disengagement of troops at friction points, especially in the  P

Hindustan Times August 13, 2020 India will not recognise degrees awarded by medical colleges in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the Medical Council of India has declared in a public notice, a move designed to firmly, even if partially, block Prime Minister Imran Khan’s scholarship scheme for  1,600 students from Kashmiris  every year. The MCI announcement comes months after the Jammu and Kashmir high court asked the MCI and external affairs ministry to review its stand to see if students who study medicine in these territories could be allowed to practice. The trigger for the court’s December 2019 order was a petition from a young Kashmiri woman who had studied medicine in PoK but was disallowed from sitting for the exam meant for people who studied abroad. This exercise was still in motion when the Pakistan government, in February, announced the scheme to extend generous scholarships for 1,600 Kashmiri students. Security agencies red-flagged the Imran Khan government’s outreach to Kashmiri

 Business Today August 13, 2020 In its probe against a Hawala racket being run by Chinese entities, Income Tax (I-T) Department officials have found that the suspect, Lou Sang, had changed his identity to Charlie Peng, an Indian national. He held an Indian passport and even an  Aadhaar  card and was married to a girl from Manipur. He got the passport issued from Manipur. The  Income Tax Department  on Tuesday busted a Hawala racket perpetrated by a few Chinese individuals and their Indian associates. The initial probe revealed that Peng was representing many Chinese firms for hawala operations in India. With the help of some employees at  Bandhan Bank  and  ICICI Bank , he was infusing around Rs 3 crore through Hawala daily. It was found that Sang operated over 40 bank accounts, created by various dummy entities, which received advances of thousands of crores from shell companies. Meanwhile, department officials have also raided bank employees and premises of several Chinese companies,

 DNAINDIA August 12, 2020 The Police Commissioner told the media that CrPC Section 144 has been imposed in the city, and a curfew has been imposed DJ Halli and KG Halli police station limits. After the violent mob descended upon the streets of Bengaluru, attacking the residence of a Congress MLA, and police stations in KG Halli area, DJ Halli over a derogatory social media post, Bengaluru Police arrested a local SDPI leader Muzammil Pasha in connection with the riots, Sources stated on Wednesday. According to the sources, the Bengaluru Police have arrested Muzzamil Pasha, who is a political activist belonging to the Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI). The accused had also BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) election in the past from Sagayapura ward unsuccessfully. part from him, another SDPI activist Ayaz is under police scanner for inciting the rioters to vandalise two police stations at DJ Halli and KG Halli area in East Bengaluru. Special police teams are combing the a

 The Indian Express August 12, 2020 As protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act spiralled across Assam since December last year, the Sarbananda Sonowal-led state government promised a speedy implementation of Clause 6 as an antidote to the agitation and a measure to protect the interests of the “indigenous” people of Assam. A high-level committee on implementation of  Clause 6 of the Assam Accord   constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs has said that ‘Assamese people’ should be determined by taking 1951 as a cut-off year. The report of the 14-member committee, submitted to the state government in February this year, was released to the press by four of its members on Tuesday. Three of these four members — Samujjal Bhattacharya, Dipankar Nath and Lurinjyoti Gogoi — are senior All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) functionaries. The fourth member, Nilay Dutta, is a renowned advocate and Advocate General of Arunachal Pradesh. The report said that the definition of ‘Assamese People

 The Indian Express August 13, 2020 Russia has kept its promise, and  approved a novel coronavirus vaccine for public use  without the final phase of human trials. It is the first  coronavirus  vaccine to be approved, though a Chinese vaccine has been cleared for ‘limited use’ much earlier, to be administered only on soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army. The Russian vaccine, developed by Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute, has cleared regulatory approvals in record time, less than two months after it got into human trials, raising concerns over its safety and effectiveness. The other vaccine candidates in human trials are not expected to be ready before early next year. Production & availability Apart from Gamaleya Institute’s own facility, the vaccine is supposed to be produced at a plant owned by Sistema, one of Russia’s biggest business groups. Sistema said its facility had the capacity to produce 1.5 million doses per year, and this capacity was being ramped up. For regions ou

 August 12, 2020 Economic Times Bengaluru | Kolkata: ByteDance has frozen hiring and reassigned some senior management roles in India amid people leaving or looking to exit the Chinese company following the ban on its TikTok and Helo apps, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. Some are said to be worried about any stigma that might get attached to working for a Chinese company, following border clashes. The company, which has 2,000 employees in India, is trying to hold on to staff amid discussions of a sale of TikTok with Microsoft and Twitter. It has even initiated a performance review cycle to portray a sense of stability to employees. No formal layoffs are taking place and the company has emphasised to employees, through internal communications, that the situation is stable, the people said. ByteDance didn’t respond to queries. “We’ve had at least five-six senior professionals from Bytedance reach out to us,” said Anuj Roy, managing partner at executive search firm

 Moneycontrol August 12, 2020 The Income Tax (I-T) Department on August 11 said it conducted search operations at various Chinese entities. The search was mounted following information that a few Chinese individuals and their Indian associates were involved in money laundering and hawala transactions through a series of shell companies, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a release. It said some bank officials had also been raided. The tax department added that more than 40 bank accounts, with credits of over than Rs 1,000 crore, were created in various dummy entities at the behest of some Chinese individuals. The raids also revealed that a subsidiary of a Chinese company and its related entities have taken over Rs 100 crore in bogus advances from shell entities to open retail showrooms in India. The CBDT said, "Further, incriminating documents in respect of hawala transactions and laundering of money with active involvement of bank employees and chartered accountants

The Hindu August 11, 2020 Income Tax department, on Tuesday, said that it had mounted search action on premises of Chinese entities, unearthing incriminating documents on hawala transactions and evidence of money laundering. “Based on the credible information that few Chinese individuals and their Indian associates were involved in money laundering and hawala transactions through series of shell entities, a search action was mounted at various premises of these Chinese entities, their close confederates and couple of bank employees,” an official release said. Search action revealed that at the behest of Chinese individuals, more than 40 bank accounts were created in various dummy entities, entering into credits of more than  ₹ 1,000 crores over the period, the release added. A subsidiary of Chinese company and its related concerns have taken over  ₹ 100 crore bogus advances from shell entities for opening businesses of retail showrooms in India. Further, incriminating documents in resp

 Foreign Policy August 10, 2020 The first five of India’s new Rafale fighter aircraft  touched down in country on July 29 . According to the terms of a 2016 contract with the French manufacturer Dassault, 31 more will follow. They will go some way toward filling India’s larger requirement of 126 such jets. The Indian Air Force has long needed refurbishing, but it has been perennially delayed both by New Delhi’s infamous bureaucratic red tape and by budgetary issues. Now, the arrival of the new fighters—the first in over 20 years—in the middle of an  unprecedented border face-off against China , will be a boost for Indian military capability as well as morale. But it won’t do much to change the hard reality that, as an air power, India is falling far behind. The Indian Air Force has historically been one of the best-equipped air forces in the region, but it has seen its advantage, both qualitative and quantitative, against China and Pakistan narrow dramatically over the past two decades

 Economics Times August 11, 2020 Amid a rampaging pandemic laying waste to India's economy, former prime minister Manmohan Singh has proffered three steps to restore the country’s financial health. Singh, a long-time Congress stalwart who is often credited as the architect of India's economic reforms programme, suggested direct cash assistance to protect livelihoods and retain spending power, government-backed credit guarantee schemes to make capital available for businesses, and institutional autonomy to fix  the financial sector. "I do not want to use words like 'depression' in a cavalier fashion," said Singh in a conversation with the BBC, adding that a deep and prolonged economic slowdown was inevitable. "This economic slowdown is caused by a humanitarian crisis. It is important to view this from the prism of sentiments in our society than mere economic numbers and methods," he explained. Singh's warnings came amid Covid continuing its sharp

 Pgurus.com August 10, 2020 In J&K there were frauds in jobs, frauds in projects, frauds were everywhere Had anyone ever imagined that any Chief Secretary of the mismanaged, separatism, Jihad, and corruption-gripped J&K would call the bluff of the so-called mainstream leaders of the  Kashmir-based parties  and  separatist  outfits and expose them to the hilt and reflect on the sorry state of affairs in this sensitive and strategic region of the country? But it has happened. Chief Secretary of UT of J&K  BVR Subrahmanyam  on August 7 sprung a very pleasant surprise in the winter capital of the State, Srinagar, itself. He put things in perspective by exposing the leaders of the “mainstream” political parties and separatist organizations. He very candidly reflected on their baneful influence on the State’s polity, economy, and society. The Chief Secretary made many startling revelations and explained without mincing words how the Kashmiri leaders, both “mainstream” and separat