India News - Aug 16-31, 2021

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Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

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Neeraj Chopra wins India's firstever athletics gold in Olympics InsideSports

India celebrates first Olympic hockey medal in 41 years

IANS

Tokyo, August 7 (IANS): Neeraj Chopra on August 7 made history by becoming the first Indian to win gold medal in athletics at Olympic Games when he clinched first position at Tokyo 2020 with a throw of 87.58 metres in javelin competition.

Chopra has also become only the second Indian after Abhinav Bindra to win an individual gold medal at the Olympics.

Bindra had won gold at the 2008 Olympics in shooting.

Continued on Page 3

New Delhi, August 5 (IANS): August 5 proved to be one of the most memorable days in the history of Indian hockey. The men's team, led by Manpreet Singh, defeated Germany 5-4

to win bronze at the Tokyo Olympics. This is India's firstever medal at the Olympics since 1980 Moscow and 12th overall in the showpiece event.

Modi slams Congress for

Sea trials of India's PM Modi, former Australian counterpart Abbott discuss trade first indigenous New Delhi, August 5 (IANS): Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 5 met his former Australian counterpart Tony Abbott and discussed ways to further strengthen the bilateral trade, investment, and economic cooperation.

trade, investment and economic cooperation to realise the full potential of the India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

In a statement, the Prime Minister's Office said: "The two leaders discussed ways to further strengthen bilateral

them in realising their shared vision of a stable, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region."

aircraft carrier commence

New Delhi, August 4 (IANS): Sea trials of India's first indigenous aircraft carrier, which will be reincarnated as INS Vikrant once it is commissioned, finally kicked off on August 4.

disrupting parliament

Student Visas I Skilled Visas I Tourist Visas "Both the leaders emphasised that enhanced economic cooperation Temporary Graduate Visas I Business Migration between India and Australia Abbott visited India from would help both countries better The Indian Navy said that Iit was Family stream Visas I Partner Visa Specialist Sponsored Visas August 2-6 in his capacity as address the economic challenges a "proud and historic day for the Australian Prime Minister's emerging out of the Covid-19 India" as the reincarnated Vikrant I Skill Assessments I AAT representation Special Trade Envoy forJob India. Ready pandemic, and would also help sailed for her maiden sea trials, Wikipedia

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New Delhi, July 27 (IANS): Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hit out at the Congress for not allowing the parliament to function properly and causing repeated disruptions in both Houses. The Prime Minister was speaking at the BJP's Parliamentary Party meeting here on July 27 .

Continued on Page 3

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EDITORIAL BOARD Professor Prasad Yarlagadda, Queensland University of Technology Ms Audrey Courty, Griffith University Dr Uttam Kumar Sinha, Senior Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, India Mr Shaun Star, Director, Centre for Australia India Studies, Jindal Global University, India

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Education

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India At 75

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News from Queensland Working with Australia to build a better world

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Bharatvarsh: Emergence of a global leader with a human touch

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Neeraj Chopra wins India's firstever athletics gold in Olympics Continued from Page 1

The 23-year-old Chopra now holds gold medals in javelin throw at the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Olympics, all at the same time.

Chopra's gold means India, with seven medals at Tokyo Games, have surpassed the tally of six medals won at 2012 London Olympics. This is the biggest tally of medals won by India in a single edition of Olympics.

Czech Republic's Jakub Vadlejch bagged the silver medal with a throw of 86.67m while compatriot Vitezslav Vesley took the bronze medal with a throw of 85.44m.

Both got their season's best throws on their fifth and third attempts respectively.

After finishing first in the qualification round on August 4 with a throw of 86.59m, Chopra continued his impressive performance in the final on August 7, recording a first throw of 87.03m.

He followed it up with 87.58m in his second attempt. It turned out to be the best throw of the night.

The 23-year-old's third attempt was well below the 80m mark at 76.39m. He followed it up with two fouls on his fourth and fifth throws. His last attempt was 84.24m. By then, however, the inevitable was confirmed as the other competitors couldn't match his best throw.

World No. 1 Johannes Vetter of

Twitter has been swarmed with congratulatory wishes for the team. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the win as historic.

Here is a look at major reactions on the social media: Prime Minister Narendra Modi: Historic! A day that will be etched in the memory of every Indian.

Congratulations to our Men's Hockey Team for bringing home the Bronze. With this feat, they have captured the imagination of the entire nation, especially our youth. India is proud of our Hockey team.

President Ram Nath Kovind: Congratulations to our men's hockey team for winning an Olympic Medal in hockey after 41 years. The team showed exceptional skills, resilience & determination to win. This

historic victory will start a new era in hockey and will inspire the youth to take up and excel in the sport.

Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu: Heartiest Congratulations to the Indian Hockey team for winning the Bronze medal in a keenly fought contest against Germany! The team displayed excellent professionalism and the entire nation is proud of their achievement.

Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Anurag Thakur: A BILLION CHEERS for INDIA Flag of India! Boys, you've done it !

We can't keep calm ! #TeamIndia Third place medal! Our Men's Hockey Team dominated and defined their destiny in the Olympic history books today, yet again ! We are extremely proud of you! #Tokyo2020.

But fouls on the next two throws meant he finished ninth and crashed out of the competition as only the top eight progressed.

During his second throw, Vetter happened to injure his ankle too.

The other Asian thrower in the final, Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem finished fifth with his best throw coming in his third attempt at 84.62m.

minister, Kiren Rijiju: India is back at the top of hockey returning to glorious hockey days! I pay my tribute to all our legendary hockey players while extending my hearty congratulations to our star Olympic Bronze medal team! #Cheer4India.

Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani: A wait of 4 decades comes to an end by sheer determination, hard work & perseverance! Thank you, Team Hockey India, your historic win has fulfilled dreams of a Billion+ & energised our young to aspire to rise to greater heights! I bow in awe and gratitude.

Sources said, "The Prime Minister told the party MPs that the Congress party is deliberately disturbing the parliament. They are neither interested in debate nor are allowing the parliament to function smoothly."

The Prime Minister also hit out at the Congress for not participating in the meeting of floor leaders of all parties on Covid. On July 20, the Prime Minister interacted

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"The Prime Minister said that on one hand, the Congress stopped the functioning of the House and on the other hand, they did not turn up to attend the all-party meeting called on Covid. Their behaviour is against humanity. He asked MPs to expose the Congress among the people of India," sources said.

It is learnt that the Prime Minister asked the BJP MPs to celebrate the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' with public participation to mark 75 years of Independence so that it does not look like a government

Former Australian PM Tony Abbott and Indian PM Narendra Modi Continued from Page 1

Prime Minister Modi, it said, expressed his satisfaction at the stellar growth of India-Australia ties in recent times and admired the important contributions of Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Abbott in this journey.

He also recalled his virtual summit last year with Morrison and reiterated his desire to be able to host him in India as soon as conditions permit.

At the virtual summit held

event.

Sources said that Prime Minister Modi also asked the BJP MPs to celebrate 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' in a big way with public participation. It is also learnt that the Prime Minister asked the BJP MPs to appeal to people to suggest ideas for the next 25 years. "He asked people to suggest their ideas and vision for the next 25 years when the country will celebrate 100 years of Independence in 2047," another MP who was present in the meeting said.

The Prime Minister also asked MPs to organise various activities to create awareness and increase public participation in 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav'.

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between the two Prime Ministers on June 4 last year, the bilateral relationship was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, under which India and Australia committed, inter alia, to encourage expanded trade and investment flows for mutual benefit and decided to re-engage on a bilateral Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement.

Abbott's visit is reflective of this shared ambition.

Sea trials of India's first indigenous aircraft carrier commence IANS

the widest part and has a height of 59 m, including the superstructure. There are 14 decks in all, including five in the superstructure.

The ship has over 2,300 compartments, designed for a crew of around 1,700 people, including specialised cabins to accommodate women officers.

Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan: Wow!! Indian Men's Hockey Team Congratulations. Resilience and skill at its peak. What an exciting match.

Law Minister and former sports

with floor leaders of all parties of both Houses of the Parliament to inform them of the trajectory of Covid-19 and the public health response to the pandemic.

IANS

The 28-year-old, who came into the Olympics after seven massive throws of over 90m between April and June, opened with 82.52m.

Modi slams Congress for disrupting parliament Continued from Page 1

PM Modi, former Australian counterpart Abbott discuss trade

Germany, a favourite to win the gold alongside Chopra, continued his rough form from qualification to the final and was ousted after the initial three of the six throws.

India celebrates first Olympic hockey medal in 41 years Continued from Page 1

COVER STORIES

Continued from Page 1

It also stated the indigenous construction of the aircraft carrier is a shining example in the nation's quest for 'AtmaNirbhar Bharat' and 'Make in India Initiative'.

With the building of the indigenous aircraft carrier, India joins a select group of nations having niche capability to indigenously design, build, and integrate state of art aircraft carriers.

Vikrant, designed by Indian Navy's Directorate of Naval Design, is being built at the Cochin Shipyard Ltd, a public sector unit under the Ministry of Shipping.

A leading example of the nation's quest for AtmaNirbhar Bharat with more than 76 per cent indigenous content, it is the maiden attempt of the Indian Navy and Cochin Shipyard to indigenously design and build an aircraft carrier.

It is 262 m long, 62 m at

Designed with a very high degree of automation for machinery operation, ship navigation and survivability, Vikrant has a top speed of around 28 knots and cruising speed of 18 knots with an endurance of about 7,500 nautical miles.

Work on the carrier has led to growth in indigenous design and construction capabilities besides development of a large number of ancillary industries, with employment opportunities for 2,000 Cochin Shipyard personnel and about 12,000 employees in ancillary industries.

Over 76 per cent indigenous content towards procurement of equipment, besides work

by Cochin Shipyard and their subcontractors is being directly invested back into the Indian economy. Around 550 Indian firms including about 100 MSMEs are registered with the shipyard.

Indian Navy's ship building programme is rightly poised to provide requisite 'Economic Stimulus', with 44 ships and submarines on order being built indigenously, the Navy said.

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ADVERTORIAL

Major Indian IT companies converge at Springfield City Group Australia India Technology Summit

Mr Jim Varghese, National Chair, AIBC

Mr Bob Sharpless (L), Deputy Chairman Springfield City Group and Dr Maha Sinnathamby

Maha Sinnathamby, Chairman of Springfield City Group

S

pringfield City Group (SCG), the master developer of Greater Springfield, in partnership with Australia India Business Council Ltd (AIBC), the peak body for promoting and enhancing bilateral trade relations between the two countries, hosted the Australia India Technology Summit. The SCG/ AIBC partnership and collaborative Summit aims to further build the AustraliaIndia relationship by attracting world-leading Indian technology companies to Australia.

Maha Sinnathamby, Chairman of SCG, said: “This summit is about bringing the best minds together, focusing on how we can continue to build a strong knowledge economy in this country. We need to work with the world’s greatest minds to understand how we can be best placed moving forward.

“In Greater Springfield we have laid the foundation to attract the very best partnerships – whether that be in technology, health or education. And now we are delighted to have a very specific focus on the Indian Technology Companies that are already in this country or planning to establish in Australia and understand their needs going forward.

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“The demand for knowledge workers over the next decade will be crucial in this country and we want to play our role in nurturing the minds in our national and local economy to enable them to participate actively in the knowledge economy as it continues to grow.

“This summit has brought together great minds in Education, Industry and Government to discuss how we can leverage the assets we have in this country, build the knowledge workers of the future as well as attract more companies to locate to Australia in areas like the Knowledge Precinct in Greater Springfield.”

“India is already one of the fastest growing economies and is the third largest contributor to global growth. Over the next twenty years, India will require access to goods and services, which Australia is well positioned to supply, and IT tends to be a critical component of facilitating the supply of these goods and services. The Australian Government has taken steps to prepare for the strategic relationship investment and move to ensure access to a market that over the next twenty years

will offer tremendous growth opportunities for both Australia and India.

“Greater Springfield’s unique offering to these companies, is the chance to be involved in a fully master-planned city that offers innovation at its core. Greater Springfield is an economic powerhouse located in the heart of Southeast Queensland and provides a platform for companies to be innovative, entrepreneurial, and collaborative,” he further said.

Bob Sharpless, Deputy Chairman of SCG said: “Greater Springfield has, over three decades, solidified itself as a home for these types of organisations. With its own Data Centre, an extensive fibre network, a university, 15,000 students, and access to a population of over 500,000 within a 22-minute drive, Greater Springfield provides a true lifestyle within a 15-minute drive for employees that choose to work in the local Greater Springfield economy.”

Ashok Mysore, Chair of AIBC’s Information and Communications Technology and Digital Chapter said: “Indian technology companies have embraced Australia. It has

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Senator Paul Scarr speaking at the event

proven a great place for them to access local talent and build a base of knowledge workers.

These companies are projecting significant growth over the next decade and there is a tremendous opportunity for Australian engineers, software developers and innovators to be part of this growth and bring their own expertise to Australia. Australia is where these companies want to be, but they are also being courted by other developing nations. The opportunity is for Australia to show that it is the best place for these organisations to establish and grow.”

Jim Varghese, National Chair of AIBC said: “In our 35th year of celebrations, the Australia India Business Council is proud to support the Springfield City Group’s Australia India IT Hub Summit. AIBC believes in

the power of this one-stopshop location for leading tech companies from India and Australia to collaborate and further build on bilateral ties between the two countries.

Australia and India have a long and proud relationship of working together. The India Tech Hub will drive innovation in the technology field and Australia only stands to gain.”

The Australia India Technology Summit was attended by leaders from industry and government including several Members of Parliament. Major Indian IT companies in attendance included TCS, InfoSys, HCL, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, among others.

Speakers included Peter Varghese AO, who led the India Economic Strategy to 2035; and Ambassador Anil Wadhwa, who led the Australia Economic Strategy.

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Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

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UP offers online Sanskrit classes for foreign students Lucknow, August 6 (IANS): The promotion of Sanskrit language in Uttar Pradesh is assuming new propositions and the Uttar Pradesh government is trying to rope in foreigners to learn and study the Vedic language.

The UP Sanskrit Sansthan is expanding its online Sanskrit speech training helpline for the students of foreign origin.

A dedicated helpline through WhatsApp number is being set up to enable foreign students who can learn Sanskrit verses and

rituals etc.

Vachaspati Mishra, the President of UP Sanskrit Sansthan said that the foreign students will not only be able to learn the basics of Sanskrit but will also be taught verses, ritual, spirituality by a separate set of teachers.

The existing online facility for Sanskrit learning and speech has already been launched with great success.

More than 8,000 people are registered while 1,553 students are taking daily classes in virtual

classrooms even as the Sansthan is offering 47 daily classes.

"Importantly, the interested students can get themselves registered in the virtual classroom via a missed call alert on their mobile phone number.

Candidates for registration will have to just fill up a Google form and furnish details about their job and education so that the groupwise classes can be arranged as per individual education and job profile of the students," said Mishra.

Rahul Gandhi joins IYC's 'Sansad Gherao' stir IANS

New Delhi, August 6 (IANS): The Indian Youth Congress (IYC) on August 5 held a 'Sansad Gherao' stir against what it called skyrocketing inflation, unbridled unemployment, black agricultural laws and Pegasus snooping scandal in the country, in which

partnership is only with 2-3 industrialists. Their goal is to suppress the voice of the youth of India. It is known that the day the youth of India start speaking the truth, the rule of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will come to an end."

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also participated.

Addressing the IYC workers, Rahul Gandhi said, "The (Narendra) Modi government is not concerned about small industrialists, the youth or the common people. Their

The Congress leader also alleged that "Narendra Modi did not just put Pegasus inside my phone, but has put Pegasus inside every youth's phone".

"The youth of India will not get employment under this 'Hum Do, Hamare Do' government," he added.

He also appreciated the IYC for helping the people during the Covid pandemic.

Upgraded silk weaving factory in J&K to benefit 50k cocoon farmers Srinagar, August 5 (IANS): The Lieutenant Governor (L-G) of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha, on August 5 inaugurated the modernised and upgraded Government Silk Weaving Factory at Rajbagh in Srinagar, marking an important step towards the revival and holistic development of the silk industry in the Union Territory.

The Government Silk Weaving Factory was established in 1937 and has been in operation since then. Over a period of time, most of the machinery had become obsolete and the factory's infrastructure suffered huge damages in the floods of 2014.

As part of the revival plan, the century-old factory has been upgraded and modernised at a cost of Rs 23.54 crore under the World Bank-funded Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project.

Under the upgradation plan, a new factory with state-of-theart preparatory and weaving machinery has been installed.

Speaking on the occasion, Sinha said that the government will begin the branding of Kashmir silk to provide it an international

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The PMK leader was reacting to reports that the Tamil Nadu state textbook corporation has started the process of dropping caste surnames of noted Tamil scholars, including U.Ve. Swaminathan Iyer by referring to him as U.Ve. Swaminathan, in the Tamil text books for Class XII students.

In a statement, Ramadoss said

Ramadoss said that dropping caste surnames shows a lack of understanding of the issue.

The PMK leader said, "There is nothing wrong in dropping caste surnames of ordinary people, but exemptions must be given to caste surnames of achievers as there is a possibility of erasing their identity."

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The revival plan of Jammu Kashmir Industries Limited ( JKIL) is being implemented focusing on making the organisation a profitable and viable entity, besides providing livelihood support to the marginalised sections of the society, especially those associated with cocoon rearing and production of wool, the L-G said.

The revamped Government Silk Factory would provide a cocoon consumption market to approximately 50,000 cocoon growers/farmers in the Kashmir Division.

The factory is now capable of producing 4,50,000 metre of silk fabric per annum, creating a viable economic cycle and employment opportunities, both directly and indirectly.

emphasised that it is an assault on privacy and human dignity.

At this, Chief Justice Ramana said: "Before going into all that, we have certain questions. No doubt, the allegations are serious, if reports in the newspapers are correct."

that while the move of the government to abolish caste is welcome, the identity of the scholars would be erased.

Chennai, August 6 (IANS): The founder of Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), S. Ramadoss, said on August 5 that there is no point in dropping caste names of achievers from school textbooks in Tamil Nadu, and called upon the state government to allow mentioning the caste names of eminent scholars in Tamil textbooks.

"We will soon launch Rajbagh Silk as a new brand for Kashmir silk. Moreover, the tourism department will work in tandem with the department of industries and commerce to ensure ease of access to the Kashmir silk market for our tourists," he said.

Stuff Unknown

IANS

He said that reservation in educational institutions and for jobs are measures taken by the Central and state governments to ensure equality among the people.

market.

'Allegations serious if reports true': SC seeks Centre's stance on Pegasus row

PMK leader wants caste surnames to stay in TN textbooks The PMK leader, who has been spearheading the demand for 10.5 per cent reservation for his community, the Vanniyars, within the Most Backward Caste (MBC) section, said in a statement that the caste system can be abolished only by creating equality among the people.

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However, he noted: "Majority of petitions rely on foreign newspapers, but where is the verifiable material for us to order an inquiry? The surveillance issue came to light 2 years ago, in May 2019. I don't see any serious effort to raise the issue, why now suddenly?"

New Delhi, August 5 (IANS): The Supreme Court on August 5 said allegations of the Pegasusrelated snooping are serious, if the reports in the newspapers are correct, and sought the Centre's stand on petitions, including by the Editors Guild of India and senior journalist N. Ram, seeking a probe into the Israeli spyware matter.

Opening the argument, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Ram, submitted before a bench comprising Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and Justice Surya Kant that Pegasus is a rogue technology, and it is entirely illegal, as it infiltrates into our lives through telephone, and it hears and watches. Sibal

Emphasising that the petitioners who moved the top court are knowledgeable and educated and they should have made effort to collect more material, he clarified: "We do not say that newspaper reports are not believable."

Responding to this, Sibal said: "I can explain. We do not have access to many materials. The petitions have information about 10 cases of direct infiltration into phones."

The bench pointed out the petition by Ram says a California court has observed that some Indian journalists and other persons were also targets, asking: "Where in the judgment does it say that? We didn't see it."

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Bengal schools might reopen after Durga Puja: CM The Economic Times

Schools might start operating on alternate days, but we will have to look into all the aspects.

We cannot compromise on the health of the students," the Chief Minister said.

When asked about the details of the plan, Banerjee jokingly remarked, "The baby is not yet born and you are thinking of the rice ceremony?"

Kolkata, August 5 (IANS): Days after the West Bengal education department said that the state government has no plans to reopen schools at any level in the near future, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on August 5 that the state government is thinking of reopening schools

after the Durga Puja vacations, adding that the plan is still in a very nascent stage and the state will look into all the aspects before allowing the schools to resume offline classes.

"We are thinking of opening the schools after the pujas but the details are yet to be finalised.

Banerjee's comments came a few days after a senior official in the education department said that the government has no plans to open schools at any level in the near future as there is a threat of a possible third wave of the Covid pandemic.

The official had also said that whenever the schools reopen, students of higher classes will be the first to start offline classes, and not those at the primary level.

One year into reformist National Education Policy 2020 New Delhi, August 5 (IANS): On 29th of July last year, the Government of India unfurled a revolutionary National Education Policy, popularly known as NEP 2020. It was a radical move as for the first time, after 34 years, the government formulated a new education strategy replacing the previous one, announced in 1986 and revised in 1992. The key aim of the new policy has been to accelerate digitalisation and technological advancements and practical skills in the overall Indian educational landscape, helping the country transform into a global talent powerhouse.

With a year into its implementation, many industry players and field veterans have lauded the policy for its truly futuristic features as it is ushering the nation into a space where education strives for equity, accessibility and excellence.

NEP 2020, with its focus on strengthening the school, higher

education & vocational education ecosystem, is trying to create an environment facilitating students in the actualisation of their full potential.

Appreciating the government's decision to reformat the country's existing education policy in line with current global advancements, Mr Sarvesh Shrivastava, CoFounder & Managing Director, Eupheus Learning, said, "The grand vision of NEP 2020 is to enable experiential learning by integrating curricular and cocurricular areas, this approach will be key to equip children with the 21st-century skills to face the new world”.

FICCI Arise, which has been relentlessly working towards promoting quality education at all levels, recognised the efforts put in by the government with the NEP 2020 as it categorically focuses on making education inclusive for all students.

The new education policy has deliberately introduced several modifications into the system to increase the accessibility & availability of quality education to all. Sunil Dahiya, Executive VP, Wadhwani Opportunity at Wadhwani Foundation, said, "NEP 2020 is a crucial step towards nation-building, assuring the student youth of India with the opportunities and direction to achieve their dreams.” Aditya Malik, MD & CEO, Talentedge, said. The National Education Policy 2020 by the Indian Government has brought progressive clauses in the education system. The progressive policy with its multidisciplinary approach is creating a long due tectonic shift in the industry by moving away from a content-heavy curriculum towards promoting critical thinking, developing a holistic view, and infusing an inquirybased attitude.

Sabarmati Ashram redevelopment: Renowned persons oppose Modi's project IANS

Gandhinagar, August 5 (IANS): Around 130 eminent personalities from various segments of the country, opposing the Centre and Gujarat government's joint plan to redevelop Sabarmati Ashram of Mahatma Gandhi in Ahmedabad

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through the Rs 1,200-crore 'Gandhi Ashram Memorial and Precinct Development Project', has criticised the move.

They came out with a statement on August 4, saying that the proposed project will "severely compromise simplicity and sanctity" of the present-day ashram and can be envisioned at best as "Gandhi Theme Park" and at worst "a second assassination."

The around 130 eminent personalities led by the president of Gujarat Sahitya Parishad and noted Gujarati writer Prakash

Shah, historians Rajmohan Gandhi and Ramchandra Guha, musician T.M. Krishna, retired High Court Judge A.P. Shah, Admiral (Retd) Laxminarayan Ramdas, former IAS officer Sharad Behar, former IPS officer Julio Ribeiro, senior lawyer Anand Grover and activists Harsh Mander and many other activists, writers, Gandhians and former IAS and IPS officers have opposed the Union government's plan to 'develop' the historic Gandhi Ashram in Sabarmati, claiming that it will harm its sanctity.

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Assam govt grants relief to 22k Gorkhas facing 'foreigner' trial Guwahati, August 5 (IANS): The Assam government has decided that no new cases would be registered against the Gorkha community in the state at the Foreigners Tribunals and the cases which have already been registered would also be withdrawn, giving a big relief to at least 22,000 members of the community in the northeastern state, officials said on August 5.

An official from the state's Home Department said that the state cabinet at its meeting chaired by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on August 4 decided not to prosecute people belonging to the Gorkha community under the Citizenship Act and to withdraw all cases pending against them at the Foreigners' Tribunals (FTs).

The Bharatiya Gorkha Parishangh

(BGP), the apex body of the Gorkha community, on August 5 greeted the decision of the BJP-led government and thanked the Chief Minister for solving the 24-year-old problem.

According to BGP's national general secretary Nanda Kirati Dewan, more than 22,000 Gorkhas in Assam have been marked "Doubtful Voters or D-Voters" unilaterally by the authorities in the electoral rolls since 1997 and around 2,500 cases relating to citizenship are being heard at various FTs. The BGP leader said that about 500 cases have been disposed of after the issuance of the notification for the National Register of Citizens (NRC) began in December 2013.

Despite pandemic, record number of foreign students knock on UoH doors Hyderabad, August 5 (IANS): Amid the general air of uncertainty pervading due to the pandemic, the University of Hyderabad (UoH) has received an all time high in terms of admission applications from foreign students.

In the current academic year, the UoH has received a total of 1,512 applications from ICCR -- a 5 to 6 fold increase compared to the last few years. Apart from this, about 45 applications have also been received from self-supporting foreign nationals.

The Vice-Chancellor of UoH, Prof.

B. Jagadeeshwar Rao, expressed happiness at the large number of applications received this year, which suggests that UoH is the preferred destination for higher studies for several foreign nationals. UoH sees this as a positive indicator in line with the Institute of Eminence status of the university and NEP 2020, he said.

Prof. N. Siva Kumar, Director of International Affairs, said that the academic units of the UoH, after careful consideration selected 129 foreign nationals this year for

various courses from the ICCR applications received. To date, 31 students, including 9 for PhD and 22 for Master's programmes - 13 girls and 18 boys, have already accepted to join UoH, and some more are expected to accept.

Students are from Syria, Yemen, Uganda, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Sudan, Jordan, South Africa, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Nepal, Tanzania, Srilanka, Malawi, Indonesia, Swaziland, Iraq, Botswana, Eritrea.

The UoH, an Institution of Eminence (IoE), continues to be in the top position in the latest Nature Index 2021 ranking.

The UoH has been ranked first among Indian Universities and 17th among all institutions in the Academic sector. It has seen a steady increase in foreign national applications for admission to various courses.

UoH admits qualified students through Government of India agencies such as the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Study in India, SAARC countries and self-supporting international students to various courses in the University.

Treat wife with respect, otherwise go to jail: SC uses Hindi to settle dispute New Delhi, August 4 (IANS): The Supreme Court on August 4 told a husband to treat his wife with respect and if he fails, then be ready to land in jail as it worked out a settlement between a young couple. The wife had alleged that the husband had tortured her and also did not treat her with respect.

work out a settlement between the warring couple. The wife submitted that she is willing to live with her husband, but he does not treat her with respect.

Taking to Hindi, Justice Kant told the husband: "We will watch your behaviour. If you do anything wrong, we will not spare you".

A bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and Justice Surya Kant while hearing the matter virtually asked both husband and wife to come online.

Justice Kant cautioned the husband not to renege on the promise to treat his wife with respect and asked him to withdraw all cases against his wife, including the divorce petition.

Justice Kant conversed with the couple in Hindi in an attempt to

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New South Wales records a new high in daily Covid cases IANS

agency.

The source of infection for 133 of the new cases is still under investigation and at least 45 have been infectious while in the community.

Sydney, August 5 (IANS): New South Wales (NSW), Australia's worst-hit state by the Covid-19 pandemic, on August 5 reported a new record in daily confirmed cases, leading the government to extend the regions placed under lockdown.

The NSW Health on August 5 recorded 262 new locally acquired cases, reports Xinhua news

The previous daily record was 241 cases reported on August 1.

The state also recorded five more deaths, including three people aged in their 60s, one in 70s and one in 80s.

Four of the victims were unvaccinated and one had received one of the two required doses.

The death toll in the latest outbreak is 21.

In announcing the statistics, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she could not "stress enough how it's so important for everybody of all ages to come forward and get the vaccine".

With the escalating crisis, new lockdown restrictions will be enforced in the state's Hunter region until August 13.

The region is in the north of Greater Sydney, which has already been in lockdown since June 26.

The lockdowns mean residents must remain at home unless for essential reasons and cannot have visitors, including extended family members.

Australia sets vaccination targets to overcome pandemic Wikipedia

Prime Minister Scott Morrison

Canberra, July 31 (IANS): Australian leaders have reached an agreement on vaccination targets required for the country's roadmap out of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on July 30 night that the National Cabinet, which is composed of him and state and territory leaders, has "agreed in

principle" to the roadmap that will see Australia eventually treat Covid-19 like any other infectious disease, reports Xinhua news agency.

The National Cabinet agreed that Australia will move to the second phase of the plan, under which vaccinated people will be subject to fewer restrictions and lockdowns unlikely but possible and targeted, when 70 per cent of the adult population is fully inoculated against the virus.

"To get to that next phase, all of Australia has to get there together, on average. And, then beyond that each state and territory will pass into that second and third phase based when they reach those thresholds," Morrison told reporters here.

The third stage, Phase C, will

begin when 80 percent of the population have received both vaccine doses, lifting all restrictions on outbound travel for vaccinated Australians and extending the travel bubble for unrestricted travel to new candidate countries.

The report was published by the Closing the Gap program that aims to reduce disadvantage among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, Xinhua news agency reported.

The July 29 report was the first time that data on the strategy has been published since federal, state and territory governments reached an agreement with Indigenous organisations to overhaul the framework in July 2020.

As of July 31 morning, there have been 33,909 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Australia, with 923 deaths.

It found that while improvements in life expectancy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

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in the population, an increase from the 2019 baseline, with the national target of a "reduction in the rate of home care by 45 per cent" not on track to be met, said the report.

The suicide rate among Indigenous people rose to 27.1 per 100,000 in 2019, with the target of a "significant and sustained reduction in suicide towards zero" not on track to be met.

However, the rate of Indigenous children in youth detention fell to 25.7 per 10,000, with the national target on track to be met.

The report found that the Indigenous incarceration rate rose to 2,081 per 100,000 people in June 2020, with the national target not on track to be met.

In 2020, the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 0-17 years in out-of-home care was 56.3 per 1,000 children

Canberra, August 3 (IANS): Australian flag carrier, Qantas on August 3 announced that 2,500 of its frontline employees will be stood down amid the ongoing Covid-19 lockdowns and border closures across the country.

The announcement came after the airline's CEO Alan Joyce told staff in a company-wide email just over a week ago to expect a stand down if multiple states continue to keep their borders closed.

In a press statement, the airline said the move is a "temporary measure" that aims to ultimately preserve jobs once states begin to reopen their borders and domestic flying resumes, reports Xinhua news agency.

Joyce said that while the airline has been significantly hit, citing a drop to 40 per cent of its usual capacity in July, he is still optimistic that the airline industry will rebound as states begin to reopen and vaccination rates rise.

The stand down, estimated to last two months, will come into effect in mid-August.

Domestic pilots, cabin crew and airport workers from both Qantas and its low-cost subsidiary airline Jetstar were put on notice late in July.

Qantas said they will continue to pay staff until that time but afterwards many are expected to have to lean on Covid-19 disaster payments currently being issued by the federal government.

"Fortunately, we know that once borders do reopen, travel is at the top of people's list and flying tends to come back quickly, so we can get our employees back to work," he said.

"The vaccine rollout means the end is in sight and the concept of lockdowns will be a thing of the past. Australia just needs more people rolling up their sleeves as more vaccine arrives."

Australia’s opposition for cash incentives to boost vaccination IANS

So far about 39.9 per cent of Australians aged 16 years and over have received a first dose of a Covid-19 jab, and about 18.2 per cent have been fully vaccinated.

since the baseline of 2005-2007 narrowed the gap to 8.6 years for boys and 7.8 years for girls in 2015-2017, the national target of "no gap" was not on track to be met.

Among the agreement's targets is a goal to reduce Indigenous incarceration rates by 15 percent within the decade.

Qantas to stand down 2,500 employees amid lockdowns

The final stage is the postvaccination phase, under which Australia's international borders will be reopened with quarantine only required for arrivals from high-risk countries.

Suicide, incarceration rates rising among indigenous Australians Canberra, July 29 (IANS): A new report published on July 29 revealed that Indigenous Australians were significantly more likely to be imprisoned, die by suicide or have their children removed, than non-Indigenous people.

NEWS FROM AUSTRALIA

The Productivity Commission could not provide an update on some of the 17 targets due to a lack of available data.

"The agreement is now 12 months old, but the most recent available data for monitoring these socioeconomic outcomes are only just hitting the commencement date for the agreement," commissioner Romlie Mokak said in a media release.

"It is likely to be some years before we see the influence of this agreement on these outcomes."

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Anthony Albanese, the leader of the Labor Party

Canberra, August 3 (IANS): Australia's opposition on August 3 proposed a cash incentive for citizens to get vaccinated against Covid-19 as the country's most populous city of Sydney continued its battle against the latest outbreak triggered by the Delta variant.

Anthony Albanese, the leader of the Labor Party, revealed a plan to offer every Australian who is fully vaccinated by December 1 a A$300 cash bonus, reports Xinhua news agency.

The proposal would cost an estimated A$6 billion, but Albanese argued that constant lockdowns across the country were costing significantly more.

"That's a small amount compared with the A$2 billion a week that these mass lockdowns are costing our national economy," he told the Nine Network television.

"So this would be good for our health but also would provide a much-needed stimulus at a time when workers and small businesses are really struggling to get by as a result of these lockdowns."

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on July 30 revealed details of a four-phase pathway out of the

coronavirus pandemic.

Under the plan, Australians would be granted greater travel freedoms when 80 per cent of the adult population is fully vaccinated.

Till date, about 19.2 per cent of Australian adults have received two vaccine doses.

In a statement on August 3, Albanese said that cash incentives would help Australia reach 80 per cent coverage earlier.

"The faster this is achieved, the faster the recovery as we emerge from lockdowns that are bleeding hundreds of millions of dollars a day from the nation's finances," he said.

"Now that Australians are relying on Scott Morrison to do his job and roll out the vaccines, we are coming last in the developed world."

Responding to the proposal, Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said it "won't work".

"Our approach has been to be guided by principles, principles that making sure spending is targeted, it is proportionate, it is focused on getting the exact outcomes that are necessary," he told the media.

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Sensible steps lead out of SEQ lockdown Brisbane, August 8: Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced South-East Queensland’s lockdown to end as planned at 4pm on 8 August but some sensible precautions would still remain.

The Premier paid tribute to all of those in 11 Local Government Areas whose patience and sacrifice successfully contained the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant of COVID 19.

Cairns and Yarrabah LGAs entered a three-day lockdown after a taxi driver tested positive.

“I want to thank EVERYONE,” the Premier said.

“This was the 15th incursion Queenslanders have faced in recent months and it is the 15th time we have successfully stopped it from spreading.”

“None of us could do it on our own.”

“It took all of us.”

“I’m so proud.”

The Premier paid special tribute to families of seven Brisbane schools who have spent the lockdown period in home quarantine and will remain there.

“As of this morning, 11,177 people were quarantining at home,” the Premier said

Defences would remain to ensure the virus is kept in check with staged steps out of lockdown that can return if needed.

For the next two weeks: You can have up to 10 people in homes, including the people that live there Up to 10 people can gather in public spaces, such as parks and beaches Businesses and venues that are currently restricted, such as hospitality, gyms, and hairdressers, can now open with 1 person per 4 square metres or 50% ticketed and seated.

Weddings and funeral numbers can occur with 20 people including those officiating.

Schools reopened but because of the risk to school children: All school staff and early childhood staff to be given priority for vaccination All school children from Years 7 to 12 to wear masks at school and while travelling to and from school Investigations into mask-wearing for younger children including efficacy and provision of smaller sizes

“This was to protect everyone else.”

All adults in primary, secondary and special schools to wear masks including teachers and including while teaching

“We cannot thank them enough.”

No inter-school sport or activities

But, the Premier said, Queensland could not afford to let its guard down.

Other workers including FIFO, freight and those in distribution centres will also be prioritised for vaccination.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said Queenslanders needed to remain vigilant in the face of the ongoing threat posed by the highly infectious Delta variant.

“Queenslanders have made huge sacrifices throughout this pandemic and as a result we can now ease restrictions,” she said.

“I want to thank all our frontline health workers and those in our testing clinics and vaccination hubs who are doing such a great job keeping all Queenslanders safe.”

Education Minister Grace Grace thanked the education community for the swift and seamless way remote learning was re-implemented.

“Students, parents and caregivers, teachers, childcare workers and all other education staff have worked together to minimise disruption to learning,” Ms Grace said.

“The introduction of masks at schools for those in Year 7 and above is going to be another challenge.”

“But I have no doubt we will continue to see the cooperation and patience we’ve experienced throughout the pandemic across our school communities.”

Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services Yvette D’Ath said the unpredictability of the Delta strain had changed the game when it came to schools.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said school staff and childcare workers will be added to Queensland’s 1B priority list for COVID-19 vaccinations.

“The Delta strain has taken a heavy toll on our schools and we need to provide the best possible protection for staff and students,” the Premier said.

“This strain of the virus moves incredibly quickly, and we need to be just as fast in our response”.

“The Queensland Chief Health Officer has approved that any individual working in an early learning, primary, secondary or special school is now in the high-

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“This includes childcare educators, teachers, teacher aides, management and administrative staff, groundskeepers, cleaners, locum staff, regular volunteers and other ancillary school and early learning support staff.”

“This will mean they are given priority for vaccinations against COVID-19.”

“As we have done every step of the way, we will listen to the expert advice of the Chief Health Officer to keep Queenslanders safe – and that’s what we are doing now.”

“The Chief Health Officer has also added FIFO, freight and distribution centre workers to the high-risk priority group.”

“These changes, coupled with the remarkable work of Queenslanders during this

The Economics Times

“In the southeast this means wearing your mask, practising good hygiene and maintaining social distance.”

lockdown will bolster our efforts to get on top of the latest outbreak.”

risk priority group.”

Queensland enforced a snap lockdown to tackle Delta spread

“But this pandemic isn’t over yet and we all need to keep doing the things which have kept us safe.”

School staff, FIFO, freight, and distribution centre workers become vaccination priorities

Brisbane, August 8: Queensland school staff and childcare workers will become priority targets for COVID-19 vaccinations in the wake of the current outbreak of the Delta strain.

NEWS FROM QUEENSLAND

“Our recent outbreak spread in schools, and through school contacts,” Ms D’Ath said.

“We want to do everything we can to protect staff working in school and in childcare centres.”

“By protecting them, this provides extra protection for our young people.”

Minister for Education Grace Grace encouraged all education workers to get vaccinated, across state and non-state schools.

“Staff in schools and childcare centres across Queensland are now able to register for a vaccination on the Queensland Health website,” Ms Grace said.

“I would urge any eligible worker who has not yet been vaccinated to jump online and register.”

“I am also asking schools to be as flexible as possible when it comes to assisting staff to access leave to attend their vaccination appointments.”

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Brisbane, August 2 (IANS): Queensland government on August 2 announced that the three-day snap lockdown on 11 areas, including the capital city of Brisbane and Gold Coast, would be extended until August 8.

that the initial lockdown will be insufficient for the outbreak," Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles said.

The decision came after the state witnessed an uptick in the number of daily Covid-19 cases, reports Xinhua news agency. On August 2, Queensland recorded 13 new locally acquired cases, a rise from the nine locally on August 1.

She called for greater testing and urged people to stay home as much as possible.

"It's starting to become clear

The state's Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young warned residents that the outbreak is escalating.

To support businesses, Queensland announced a Covid-19 Business Support Program, providing A$5,000 grants to state businesses.

Ekka holiday moved to a long weekend Brisbane, August 4: The Ekka Public Holiday will be moved until later in 2021 for Brisbane, Scenic Rim and Moreton Bay local government areas.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said moving the holiday from Wednesday, August 11 occurred following the Ekka being cancelled for a second year.

“I know many people and families were disappointed to hear the Ekka would not go ahead this year,” the Premier said.

“But with the current situation, the last thing we need right now is a potential super-spreader event with thousands of people gathered.”

“And if we can’t have the Ekka this year to help keep Queenslanders safe, it makes sense to move the holiday.”

“Like we did last year, we will create a people’s long weekend to replace the Ekka holiday so we can enjoy it properly and better support local businesses.”

Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace said the people’s long weekend was very successful in 2020.

“It gave people the opportunity to support their local business and the tourist industry and to enjoy a well-earned break,” the Minister said.

“We haven’t made this decision

lightly.”

“But because the Ekka has been cancelled, we want to provide certainty to businesses, the community and workers who are impacted.”

The State Government has liaised with the other affected local government areas to determine if they will go ahead with their planned show holidays.

The Scenic Rim and Moreton Bay Regional Council also requested to move their show holiday, with the remaining Councils opting not to change.

“These councils are best placed to know what will and won’t work for their communities and I thank them for their cooperation again this year,” the Minister said.

“I would also like to commend the RNA and those that had already arrived for the Ekka for understanding that health and safety is paramount during this current Covid-19 outbreak.”

“I will miss the Ekka again this year and I know tens of thousands of Queenslanders feel the same.

I look forward to the Ekka returning bigger and better in 2022.”

The date of the new public holiday is expected to be determined at the next parliamentary sitting as it will need legislative amendment.

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Victoria expands access to Astra Zeneca at state centres Melbourne, Aug 7: To get Victorians vaccinated faster, anyone aged 18 to 39 years old who provides informed consent will now be able to get vaccinated at Victorian’s staterun vaccination centres from Monday. The expanded access to AstraZeneca follows recent advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on immunisation and will ensure more Victorians who want the vaccine, have easy access to it.

AstraZeneca is a safe and effective vaccine. ATAGI has advised two doses of Astra Zeneca reduces the risk of symptomatic infection by at least 67 per cent and the risk of hospitalisation by 92 per cent.

The Delta strain has seen tragic deaths in New South Wales from people of different ages, including tragically a person in their 20s.

Increasing our vaccination coverage in Victoria is particularly important given the current coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreaks and the potential for further interstate incursions this year.

The expanded eligibility will apply at multiple Victorian vaccination centres, including:Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne

Convention and Exhibition Centre, Melbourne Showgrounds, Sandown Racecourse, Bayside Shopping Centre, Frankston, Plenty Ranges Arts and Convention Centre, South Morang, Former Ford Factory, Geelong, Kilmore District Health (Outpatients Building), Mansfield District Hospital (Anderson Hall).

The AstraZeneca vaccine will still be available to 18 to 39-year-olds at participating GPs, respiratory clinics and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations as well.

From Monday children aged 12 to 15 with specified medical conditions that increase their risk of severe COVID-19 symptoms will become eligible to receive the Pfizer vaccine at state-run clinics.

The expanded eligibility comes as the Victorian Government continues to scale up its network of vaccination clinics, with Australia’s first drive-through vaccination hub operated by Western Health to also open on Monday. This innovative model is located at a former Bunnings Warehouse site in Melton (149 Barries Road) in Melbourne’s west that has been made available

to the Victorian Government

by Bunnings Australia. It will complement existing state vaccination centres and general practices that are participating in the Commonwealth vaccination program.

Careful planning has been undertaken to account for the logistical differences between walk-in and drive-through clinics and follows detailed advice from ATAGI at the request of the National COVID Vaccine Taskforce. Drivers and passengers will be screened for eligibility and symptoms at the carpark entry before proceeding, in batches of ten cars, to an identification check-in point.

They will be instructed to park before receiving their vaccination and will remain in their car for the 15-minute observation period before exiting the site.Victorian health services have been leading the way on vaccinations, administering more vaccines than health services in any other state or territory. AstraZeneca currently accounts for around a quarter of all doses administered at Victorian state-run vaccination centres.

Record demand for emergency healthcare continues Melbourne, Aug 6: Victoria’s hard-working doctors, nurses and paramedics are rising to the challenge of record demand with more and more Victorians seeking emergency care throughout the pandemic. The Victorian Health Services Performance Report for the 2020/21 AprilJune quarter shows the effects of COVID-19 are still being felt across emergency departments and ambulance services across Victoria. Ambulance Victoria and hospital emergency departments

experienced their busiest AprilJune quarter on record. It was the second busiest quarter ever for ambulances and third busiest for emergency departments.

To meet this demand, the Andrews Labor Government is investing $759 million for more nurses and hospital beds, an expansion of telehealth, more paramedics and ambulances on the road, as well as upgrades to boost capacity and support flow through our busy emergency departments.

This package will deliver 300 more paramedics, triage nurses and support staff for Ambulance Victoria. In the latest quarter, paramedics responded to an extra 17,535 call outs – with 84,441 calls for the quarter, compared with 68,906 for the same quarter last year – a 26.2 per cent increase.

Victoria's hospital emergency departments cared for 479,719 patients in the quarter, an increase of 34.2 per cent from the same period last year.

Top students recognised in Premier’s VCE Awards Melbourne, Aug 1: Victoria’s best performing VCE students have been recognised with Premier’s VCE Awards, celebrating their outstanding efforts and achievements in their final year of schooling amidst the challenges of 2020.

Minister for Education James Merlino congratulated the highachieving students, which include a young musician with her sights set on the world stage, a creative designer who won a competition creating an outfit she designed for vision-impaired teenagers, and a profoundly deaf student now studying to become a teacher for

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deaf children.

A total of 297 Victorian students received 323 awards across 90 subjects, including 297 Study Awards, 23 Top All-Round VCE High Achiever Awards and three Top International Student Awards. The Top All-Round VCE High Achiever awards recognise those students who achieved study scores of 46 or higher out of 50 in at least five VCE subjects, while Study Awards recognise the best performers in individual VCE subjects.

The Andrews Labor Government is delivering on its promise to build the Education State so

every Victorian student can get a great education. The Labor Government’s $60.2 million investment Student Excellence Program is equipping schools with the resources, tools and professional learning opportunities needed to support high-ability students. Every government school now has a high-ability practice leader to coordinate their school’s participation in these programs and to support their high-ability students.

A full list of the Premier’s VCE Awards recipients is available at education.vic.gov.au/vceawards.

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NEWS FROM VICTORIA

October Fest: Supercars, superbikes head to Phillip Island Melbourne, Aug 5: A weekend of elite motorsport action headlined by a round of the marquee Supercars series will attract thousands of visitors to the famous Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit and the wider Bass Coast region in October. In addition to the Supercars’ Phillip Island Supersprint, the 22-24 October Bass Coast Festival of Motorsport will boast Australian Superbikes and Porsche Carrera Cup championship racing. Further attractions could be added with talks with other championship bodies continuing.

The four and two-wheel bonanza will provide a feast of racing action and a major fillip for local businesses in the wake of the cancellation of the 2021 Australian MotoGP due to the ongoing impact of the global pandemic on international motorsport. The Australian MotoGP is contracted to be held at Phillip Island until at least 2026.

The Andrews Labor Government has consistently backed Phillip Island’s world-class tourism industry, including by locking

away the Australian MotoGP and investing almost $50 million in the Penguin Parade visitor centre.

The Bass Coast has been one of the major beneficiaries of the Regional Travel Voucher Scheme, with some 8,850 vouchers claimed and an estimated $13.4 million spent by holders of those vouchers. A fourth round of the Regional Travel Voucher Scheme involving 80,000 vouchers, each valued at $200, will be released soon to encourage more Victorians to spend time on the Bass Coast and other regions.

Further information on the Bass Coast Festival of Motorsport including ticketing will be available soon at grandprix.com. au.

Minister for Tourism Sport and Major Events Martin Pakula said: “This new weekend of motorsport action is going to be a major winner for race fans and will provide a real boost for businesses across the Bass Coast.”

“We'll see top drivers and riders in multiple championships races on a circuit that fans love to come to,” he added.

New vaccine appointments open up for under 60s Melbourne, Aug 4: Thousands of appointments for the COVID-19 Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines are open for eligible Victorians over the coming month, with further available appointments set aside for priority health care workers and aged care and disability workers yet to be vaccinated.

Pharmaceutical Technology

Almost 60,000 Pfizer appointments are now open for eligible Victorians over the coming month and more than 15,000 extra open appointments have also been set aside for prioritised workers. Thousands of AstraZeneca appointments are also open, with walk up appointments also available, for people aged 60 and over.

The COVID-19 Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines are safe and effective. A recent analysis shows that none of the locally acquired COVID-19 cases hospitalised during the July outbreak were fully vaccinated, which further highlights the importance of getting your vaccine as soon as you’re eligible. Currently, there is an average of 14,000 Pfizer appointments available every week from August 9 through to September 5, and Victorians can book online or by phone. More than 200,000 Pfizer bookings have already been made for this period, and more than 15,000 extra open appointments are set aside for prioritised workers.

The Department of Health will also start publishing graphs and tables every week online showing age and gender of vaccine recipients at Victoria’s vaccination centres, as well as the type of

vaccine administered. The new Pfizer appointments have been added to the system following Victoria’s decision to revise the recommended Pfizer second dose interval to six weeks. This has freed up supply available for first dose appointments now, because the demand for subsequent second dose appointments can be met with September’s projected increase in supply.

Victorians currently eligible for the vaccine under the Commonwealth’s COVID-19 vaccination program include everyone aged 40 and over, and large numbers of people under 40 such as health care workers and people with specified underlying medical conditions.

More than 1.6 million doses have been delivered through Victoria’s 52 state-run high-volume, hospital, community, and pop-up vaccination centres.

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Taliban will become a pariah if they takeover Afghanistan by force IANS

"they will become a pariah state".

Speaking to VOA, Khalilzad said the United States remains committed to promoting a political settlement between warring Afghans, stressing that neither side to the conflict can win militarily.

New Delhi, August 4 (IANS): The US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, has said that if the Taliban take over the country by force, they will not win international recognition and

As per media reports, according to him, the US-Taliban agreement, signed in Doha in February last year, provided the opportunity for Afghans to sit across the table -- "a historic development" -- to reach an agreement to agree on a formula that would have broad support in Afghanistan and international support as well.

He reiterated that there is no military solution to the war and that there must be a "political solution, a political agreement for a lasting peace".

He said in the opinion of the US, the Afghan government cannot get rid of the Taliban, "and the Taliban cannot conquer Afghanistan and have a government that has the support of the overwhelming majority of the Afghans and international support".

He pointed out that history has shown, over the past 45 to 50 years, that attempts by one party to impose its will on the people only leads to war.

Pak broke ceasefire agreement 6 times after pact: Govt New Delhi, August 4 (IANS): Pakistan violated the ceasefire agreement six times between March and June this year after the Director General of Military Operation-level talks between the two countries, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai, said on August 3.

Giving a written reply to a question, Rai informed the Lok Sabha that there has been a sharp decline in ceasefire violation cases this year after the ceasefire agreement was re-signed

This time, however, the accused is the Beijing government. New Zealand has left no ambiguity when it charged the Chinese government for its direct involvement in "malicious" cyber activities. It openly called out the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS).

"Chinese state-sponsored actors were responsible for the exploitation of Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities in New

Zealand in early 2021," said a release issued by the New Zealand government.

Responding to the allegation, China has expressed "dissatisfaction" and accused New Zealand of "Cold War mentality".

With the new dispute, China has been embroiled in disputes with every major player in the AsiaPacific region.

New Zealand's Minister for Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), Andrew Little, minced no words while indicating Beijing when he said the cyberattack was carried out by "Chinese state-sponsored actors".

Veja

Next-gen controlling 'family business' of Kashmir narrative IANS

New Delhi, August 3 (IANS): The Kashmir narrative is controlled by a set of US/UK-based 'Kashmiris' who make a living off Kashmir conflict, DisInfoLab reported.

Since about 2015-16, the 'family business' has been passed to the next generation with the help of Pakistani establishment, and vested interests.

The Kashmir conflict has become the family business of The Fais, the Thakurs, the Kanjwals, the Ashais, the Fazilis and the Safis, with the show being run by the Pakistani establishment, with help from 'concerned' Whites. Only the Kashmiris are missing from the Kashmir narrative, DisinfoLab reported.

The next-gen 'activists' controlling the Kashmir narrative are progenies of yestergeneration 'activists', groomed in best US institutes, but with no worthwhile experience of Kashmir. Their parents had moved to the developed world and set up shops facilitated by ISI agent Ghulam Nabi Fai, Disinfo Lab reported.

Aejaz Dar, son of Md Akram Dar, a registrant of 'Stand with Kashmir' also founded 'Americans for Kashmir'.

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'Free Kashmir' is a project of 'Justice for All', a Jamaat-e-Islami front, having linkages with terror groups and run by Abdul Malik Mujahid.

'Friends of Kashmir' (FoK) is another activism shop set up

by Ghazala H. Khan who is associated with the Kashmir Khalistan Referendum Front (KKRF), alongside Gurpatwant Pannun from 'Sikhs for Justice', a Pakistani product.

FoK also has links with International Humanitarian Foundation Inc.(IHF), run by Sajjad Burki, President, PTI USA, the report said.

That Stand With Kashmir (SWK) was merely a 'facelift' was also evident from its Facebook page, which was borrowed from Justice for Kashmir, whose first follower and promoter on Twitter was Muzzammil Thakur -- the new darling activist of the Pakistani establishment.

SWK comes to symbolise the face of Kashmiri resistance with Hafsa, Fazili, Huma Dar, etc. (Experts) and Sehla Ashai (Treasurer). It was set up in 2019 as a 'fresh organisation' with new faces.

However, as is shown, the front is connected with the same ISI-run

The minister, however, said that Pakistan at the beginning of the year violated ceasefire 380 times in January and 278 times in February. After the agreement on ceasefire, Pakistan violated the ceasefire once in March, once in April, thrice in May and twice in June.

relation to his experience with popular South Indian delicacy dosa, on August 5.

His two-day visit to Karnataka, saw him tweeting in Kannada using superlative slang words like Sakattagide, Bomabat Guru, which are the most common slang words used among Bangaloreans to state - Simply Superb.

A senior minister slamming China directly and invoking global security can be interpreted in two ways. First, the damage that China-sponsored hackers have caused to New Zealand's institutes and overall governance system.

Second, it is trying to align with its traditional allies as did Australia, which refused to give in to economic coercion by China.

In the recent past, groups like Five Eyes, SCRI (Supply Chain Resilience) and QUAD (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) have made China wary as they intend to question China's hegemony in the Asia-Pacific.

between India and Pakistan on February 25 this year, whereas in 2020, Pakistan had violated ceasefire 5,133 times, 3,479 times in 2019 and 2,140 times in 2018.

British High Commissioner's tweet in Kannada wins hearts

New Zealand indicates joining US-led group to guard itself from China-sponsored detrimental activities New Delhi, August 2 (IANS): Hackers from China are often accused of cyberattacks on government websites and vital installations, especially when there is a diplomatic row or clash.

WORLD NEWS

On August 4, he posted a series of tweets in English but he ensured that at least a word or two from the Kannada language were used to convey the message.

Bengaluru, August 6 (IANS): British High Commissioner to India, Alex Ellis in his twoday visit to Karnataka won the hearts of Kannadigas by not only tweeting in Kannada, but also initiating a poll on Twitter in

For instance, in one of his tweet tagged to Chief Minister, Basavaraj Bommai, he posted Namasakara Mukhyamantri Avare (Salutations to the CM), and continues with message in English, while after his visit was over, in a follow up tweet he promptly said Dhanyavadgalu Mukhya Mantriyavare (Thanks Mr CM for your time).

H.E. Karthigeyan Subramanyan presents credentials to Fiji President

Muzzammil Thakur

nexus.

These 'activists' set up organisations -- SWK, Justice for Kashmir, Friends of Kashmir, Free Kashmir, Americans for Kashmir and so on. They host webinars and carry out social media campaigns. They are then amplified by an organised syndicate, the report said.

Muzzammil is not alone. Many other 'Kashmiri activists' have come of age: Hafsa Kanjwal, Sameera Fazili, Ather Zia and Sehla Ashai -- all living in the US/ UK. Muzzammil was born in Saudi Arabia and lives in London. His love for Kashmir was rekindled by two events -- his marriage to Shaista Safi (d/o Ghulam Safi, APHC convener who was removed

by Geelani for corruption); and a patronage of the Pakistan House (run by ex-ISI chief).

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H

is Excellency Karthigeyan Subramanyan presented his credentials as the High Commissioner of the Republic of India to H.E. the President of the Republic of Fiji Major General (Retd.) Jioji Konusi Konrote at a simple and elegant ceremony in

the State House, Suva, on Aug 10.

H.E. Subramanyan, a career diplomat of India, in April was appointed as the High Commissioner of India in Fiji & other Pacific Island countries in the Western Pacific region.

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Indian Independence Our best wishes to India and the Indian-Australian community on India’s Independence Day.

Paul Scarr Senator for Queensland

Amanda Stoker Assistant Minister to the Attorney-General Assistant Minister for Women Assistant Minister for Industrial Relations Senator for Queensland

Scott Morrison Prime Minister

Luke Howarth Assistant Minister for Youth and Employment Services Member for Petrie

Authorised by A.Hirst, Liberal Party of Australia, Cnr Blackall and Macquarie Sts, Barton ACT 2600.

Indian Medical Association -Australian Chapter Inc. Queensland Branch

Wishing India News readers and our community members a healthy, joyous and safe 75th Independence Day of India. Please follow the COVID safe regulations and get vaccinated at the earliest.

President

Convenor www.indianews.com.au

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INDIA NEWS

Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

INDIA’S INDEPENDENCE DAY

India's Independence Day kindles patriotic messages and wishes from the Australian Indian community leaders

Mr Maha Sinnathamby, Chairman Springfield City Group It is my profound pleasure to wish everyone a very happy Independence Day. On this 75th anniversary of India’s freedom, we must recall the values and principles that form the core of India’s universal appeal and conduct. It is time to remember Mahatma Gandhi’s resolve and unwavering faith in non-violence and peace and his fortitude to take on the mighty British Empire and with no money and no army change the course of human history. India’s Independence Day is an occasion to take inspiration from Gandhi’s philosophy and help shape a better world for all. Stay safe, dream big and never give up. Jai Hind.

Dr Ashutosh Misra, CEO, Institute for Australia India Engagement Here’s wishing an auspicious, healthy and joyous 75th Independence Day to all our Indian brothers and sisters. My India come out of the current crisis quickly and continue with its role of shaping a peaceful, prosperous and a just world for all. Let us work towards promoting greater mutual understanding to shape more effective engagements.

Mr Samir Vora, Executive Director, Adani Australia

Mr Jim Varghese, National Chair, Australia India Business Council

I wish you and your loved ones a safe and happy 75th Indian Independence Day. As Australian citizens and residents, this joyous day is a time to proudly celebrate our Indian heritage, as well as the shared values of the two great democracies to which we belong.

Today we celebrate India’s Independence Day. In the midst of Covid-19 India and Australia celebrate the signing of the landmark comprehensive strategic partnership agreement which embodies the economic determination and sovereignty of India 75 years after independence.Let us celebrate India’s Independence Day by promoting and nurturing business to business activities at all levels to grow the economies and social capital of India and Australia.

Dr Ram Mohan, CEO, Star Promotions I extend my warmest greetings to over 700,000 Indians in Australia and over 1.3 billion in India on the occasion of India’s Independence Day. May India’s global leadership reach greater heights and bilateral relations with Australia grow deeper and vibrant. We are deeply proud of the Indian community’s role in building a prosperous and multicultural Australia.

Mr Mannu Kala, General Manager, Medlab Pathology Regardless of where we live, India will always be our motherland. It has only taken 75 years since the independence for India to now be on the verge of becoming a global leader of the 21st century. Nothing makes me more proud to be of Indian heritage and a proud Australian. The bright future of the India/ Australia socioeconomical relationship will be the key to Australia’s economic prosperity. I celebrate with every Indian and global Indian diaspora our Independence Day.

Mr Matthew Hayden, CEO, The Hayden’s Way I wish to congratulation India on celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Independence from the United Kingdom. Long may you individually and collectively strive for excellence aligning on shared values such as collaboration with Nations such as Australia, nonviolence through the pursuit of happiness on point with purpose and growth of person and country through the notion of shared value. God bless and love.

Mr Shyam Das, President, Federation of Indian Communities of Queensland

Mrs Archana Singh, Honorary Consul, Queensland As India celebrates another anniversary of independence, I offer my heartiest congratulations to one and all. India’s independence is a cause for celebration not just for India but for the whole world.

India’s independence became a catalyst for many freedom struggles and civil rights movements all over the world. Mahatma Gandhi and his powerful message of Truth and Non-Violence are the lasting legacies of this great struggle which will continue to inspire humanity for all time to come. Jai Hind!

India celebrates 75th India's Independence Day and has launched year-long celebrations from August 2021 to commemorate 75 years of Independence.

Indian diaspora across the world will join the celebrations and so will the Indian Australians with great fervour and work together towards the development of stronger bilateral relationship between Australia and India as both the countries share the common values.

On behalf of FICQ and its member organisations, I wish every Indian and Indian diaspora a very happy and healthy 75th India's Independence Day. Let us unite and recover from this pandemic. Stay safe and positive.

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Ms. Sonia Sadiq Gandhi, Director, Gandhi Creations Pty. Ltd & IABCA This is another message: Independence Day holds a significant place in every overseas Indian’s life and the Indian diaspora from every corner of the globe celebrates this day with complete zeal and vigour.

This 75th Indian Independence Day, let's celebrate the freedom of spirit & thoughts. I salute all our soldiers who fight every day to keep our country safe. As a very proud Indian Australian, it is wonderful to reflect on my birth homeland India as One Nation. One Vision.

One Identity.

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Mr Dipen Rughani, CEO, Newland Global Group On the 15th of August 1947, India became completely independent from British rule. Today we celebrate 75th anniversary of India’s independence. It is with a warm heart that I wish India and Indians across the world a very happy Independence Day. Also, in these unprecedented times, I urge you all to stay safe.

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INDIA NEWS

EDUCATION

India News-JGU-IAIE SMART program JGU has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with Australia-based INDIA NEWS and Institute for Australia India Engagement (IAIE) to create opportunities for students to undertake internships in Australia.

With INDIA NEWS and IAIE students will participate in the Student Mentoring and Research Training (SMART) program over a period of 1-2 months. As a part of the internship students design, edit and publish this page which contains commentaries by them on issues which they deem relevant for Australia-India relations.

Page Editor: Ms. Anushka Saxena, Lady Sri Ram College (graduate), New Delhi Associate Page Editor: Ms. Vaibhavi Nagar, JGU Commentators: Mr Dhruv Kumar Jha, Ms. Harshita Calla, Ms. Sumedha Maheshwari, Ms. Sri C. Khyati Reddy, Mr. Shivam Shukla and Ms. Tanya Goel ( JGU students and graduates) Note from the Page Editor: As the page editor for the 28th issue of India News, and as an outgoing intern in the IAIE-JGU SMART programme, it is my profound pleasure to share diverse ideas and brief commentaries from our SMART interns. SMART Programme has proved extremely beneficial to all of us, and enriched our knowledge on strategic analysis, higher degree research and leadership challenges.

We are thankful to Dr. Ashutosh Misra, the editor-in-chief for providing the space to write and publish in India News and IAIE, and also enriching our pieces with his inputs and fine editing. Also, our sincere thanks to Prof C. Raj Kumar, VC of Jindal Global University and Prof Shaun Star for creating this internship opportunity for us all.

We wish the SMART program, IAIE and India News all success for the future.

The Great Barrier Reef Harshita Calla

T

he Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is located on the north-east coast of Australia, off the coast of Queensland. It covers an area of 348,000 square kilometres.

Its unique ecosystem earned it the title of a World Heritage Site in 1981. When it comes to biodiversity, GBR has one of the richest, most organic and complex ecosystems on earth.

It comprises the world’s largest collection of corals (over 400 types), 4000 types of molluscs, and 1,500 species of fish.

The beauty of the GBR can be fully captured from an aerial view, and it is the only living structure visible from outer space. An aerial view would reveal mosaic patterns of reefs and a seascape panorama depicting corals of diverse shapes and sizes.

Beneath the surface, one can find a marvellous assemblage of hard and soft corals, thousands of brightly coloured reef fish, and the special Cod Hole near the Lizard Island.

Recently, UNESCO decided to label the reef as “in danger”, and the Australian government lobbied to delay the decision.

Such an act downplays the danger that the reef faces, as it has been experiencing massive bleaching recently. In 2016, it was suspected that 29-50 of the coral reefs were degraded due to bleaching. It is important that humankind preserves this natural living habitat, especially since a healthy ocean is crucial for a healthy planet, and coral reefs form

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Deepening Australia-Japan bilateral ties Vaibhavi Nagar

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n 15 July 2021, the Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism, and Investment, Dan Tehan MP, and the Japanese Minister for Economy, Trade, and Industry, Mr. Kajiyama Hiroshi, cochaired the third Japan-Australia Ministerial Economic dialogue in Tokyo. This symbolises deepening bilateral ties between both countries. Discussions revolved around shared opportunities and challenges, including economic recovery from the catastrophic impact of COVID-19 on the IndoPacific region. The dialogue was characterised by emphasis on shared values such as assurance of free and fair trade and strengthening of a rules-based multilateral trading system, among others.

The two countries also reaffirmed their commitment to achieving net-zero transmissions under the Japan-Australia Partnership on Decarbonization through Technology. They also agreed to extend such initiatives to

neighbouring countries to mitigate global emissions, and to prioritise helping the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meet their emission goals. The representatives from both sides pledged to address unfair trade practices to enhance supply chain resilience. Both countries also stressed the need for developing quality infrastructure in the IndoPacific region and affirmed to coordinate in dealing with digital technologies. This includes a covenant to build enhanced modes of information exchange to mitigate difficulties arising from development and usage of digital tech and critical infrastructure.

Being participants in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), both countries reiterated their interest in strengthening their economic partnership in the wake of the pandemic. Under the

CPTPP, both countries committed to maintaining the rules of the partnership and providing support to signatories that have not ratified the agreement yet. With regard to RCEP, the representatives emphasised the importance of early implementation of the agreement.

These strengthening bilateral relations signify the desire of Japan and Australia to reduce their dependence on Chinese supply chains in a post-pandemic world in a mutually beneficial way, and their commitment to create a positive impact in the Indo-Pacific region.

Similarity between adivasis of India and aborigines of Australia Shivam Shukla

I an important part of the ocean biodiversity.

Such regions are in danger due to the effects of climate change. As we continue to emit greenhouse gases, flora and fauna continue to be destroyed. Due to greenhouse gas emissions, the tropical sea surface temperatures have risen by approximately 0.4-0.5 degrees celsius since the 19th century, which has made it difficult for the plant and animal species to adapt due to heat stress and mass coral bleaching. Since the 18th century, the earth’s oceans have absorbed around 30% of the additional CO2 which has been released in the air. This has led to acidification of the ocean, indicated by reduction in pH levels.

On the bright side, there are signs of recovery in over 60% of the reef. This, however, should not lead us into complacency, as the impact of coral bleaching is not visible till after few years.

Nevertheless, that one of the greatest living structures on earth is reviving itself is a welcome news.

ndia is home to various tribal and indigenous communities, which remain unaffected by modern living compulsions today.

India possesses the highest tribal population in the world, with a whopping 84.4 million recognised tribal communities.

Tribal people in India are known by the word ‘adivasi’, meaning ‘local inhabitants’. They are economically backward, and still dependent on traditional methods of livelihood suchas hunting, agriculture, fishing and cattle breeding and raising.

The major tribal groups in India include Bhils, Gonds, Santhals, Khasis, Kols, Anganims, Bhuitas and the Great Andamanese. These different ethnic groups have their very own traditions and cultural practices, with different languages and lifestyles.

The Indian Constitution has not provided adequate clarity on the definition of ‘tribe’, but they are listed by the government in the Constitution under ‘Scheduled Tribes’. Academics and anthropologist have been making efforts to agree a single definition of a tribe. For example, sociologists define a tribe as a “social group, usually with a definite area, dialect, cultural homogeneity and unifying social organisation.”

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Over the years, tribal structures and identity in India have been affected by ‘mobility and change’.

With extra-regional movement in search of livelihood tribes have taken up peasantry and labour, and are working as waged labour in industries, plantations and the mining industry. In this situation the concept or definition of tribe will have to be a bit broader to include their changing socioeconomic activities driven by mobility and development.

In Australia, the time and place of the arrival of the first humans in and around the continent is a subject of debate among scholars and historians. The earliest archaeological evidence of human remains have been found from around 50,000 years ago, of the Mungo Man LM3 and Mungo Lady. But recent archaeological evidence derived from charcoal and artefacts reveal that the tribes in Australia date back to 65,000 Before Present.

In the Australian continent, there used to exist more than 500 different ethnic “clans” that formed a nation in themselves, incorporating many distinctive socio-cultural structures, beliefs and languages. The equivalent of tribal people in Australia consist of 2.4% of the total population.

Like ‘adivasi’ in India, the term ‘aboriginal’ or ‘Torres Strait Islander peoples’ (plural) is used

to refer to indigenous groups in Australia.

Before modern-day boundaries were drawn, indigenous peoples migrated across continents and circumvented ancient coastlines and reaching Australia passing through India. This perhaps explains the similarity between the tribes of different parts of the world. SBS executive producer Kumud Merani has examined in her radio special of 2014, the significant links between the tribes of India and Australia, which go back thousands of years. Science and genetics have played a crucial role in casting new light on these arguments.

However, there is still a lot to be learnt about what drove people to migrate so far and wide.

Was it for richer hunting and fishing grounds, or simply their unsatiated quest to see what lay beyond the next beach or the nearest mountain range? There is so much we still do not know about the early humans.

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EDUCATION

Sri Lanka’s bid for a Tokyo Olympics 2020: Many firsts BIMSTEC Summit and the repetition of history for India Shri Khyati Reddy

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Anushka Saxena

he 2020 Tokyo Olympics have witnessed several records being broken across fields of sports. At present India stands at a medal tally of 7, with 1 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze medals.

W

hen Narendra Modi was sworn in as the Indian Prime Minister for the second time in 2019, he invited representatives from the Bay of Bengal Multi-Sectoral Initiative for Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) nations - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal - to witness. This change of attendees, from the previously invited SAARC member nations, signalled a shift in focus from a regional group primarily, defunct due to Indo-Pak tensions, to one that has immense potential for regional security and connectivity. BIMSTEC began as an initiative for mutual trade and economic growth, but now extends to tourism and sports, counter-terrorism, development of information technology, military exercises, Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR), and much more.

Sri Lanka, the current Chair of BIMSTEC has proposed to conduct the BIMSTEC Summit in December 2021, after multiple COVID-19 induced postponements in 2020. This summit carries high hopes for the member nations, considering its agenda items include finalising the Charter of BIMSTEC, the BIMSTEC Coastal Shipping Agreement, which aims to promote and expand coastal shipping in the region, the BIMSTEC Motor Vehicles Agreement, which is meant to make passage of cargo and motor vehicles across borders easier, and the BIMSTEC Master Plan for Transport Connectivity, which will be a “strategic document that guides actions and promotes synergy among various connectivity frameworks.”

An elaborate agenda for the Summit has already been discussed during the 17th

BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting conducted among the Foreign Ministers of BIMSTEC member nations on April 1, 2021. The next step, however, should be to rejuvenate and conclude the BIMSTEC Free Trade Agreement, which, since its inception a decade ago, has been operationalized very slowly.

However, apart from furthering intra-BIMSTEC trade, an FTA will also create mutual trust for a time when BIMSTEC nations will jointly negotiate trade and commerce agreements with other national or regional entities. Another significant aspect, as also mentioned by Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in his address to the 17th Ministerialmeet, will be mitigating the climate crisis.

BIMSTEC nations, by virtue of being located close to massive water bodies and vulnerable to global-warming induced environmental variations, must find collective means to engage in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) and exchange of technological infrastructure for understanding weather anomalies.

There is a lot to look forward to at the 5th BIMSTEC Summit which may enable closer cooperation.

With a charter in place, the BIMSTEC Secretariat will be empowered to make far-reaching decisions, thereby legitimising the organisational structure, and furthering scope for freer regional trade and safety.

India-Australia energy ties Dhruv Jha

E

nergy has great potential to become the defining aspect of the India-Australia partnership in a few years. Given India’s high rates of urbanisation and infrastructural development, its energy demand is growing manifold. The cooperation between the two countries can play a major role in this regard.

Australia has an abundance of fossil fuel reserves and expertise in harnessing renewable energy.

Today, India needs a diversified source for hydrocarbon imports, and Australia will be instrumental in this regard. Collaborative India-Australia research centres on energy will act as a major platform for exchange of scientific practices and engineering solutions focusing on both fossil fuels, and renewable sources of energy. The objectives of such

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joint research facilities could include not just exchange of knowledge and on-going efforts, but also training exchanges for technical personnel, usage of shared facilities for energy production and consumption, and working on joint publications and patenting.

India and Australia, along with other members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, can also create a regional economic hub centered around clean and affordable energy. Such cooperation would immensely benefit both the countries and the region.

Mirabai Chanu won the Silver medal in the women’s weightlifting (49 kg) category, competing against China’s Hou Zhihui. She won India’s first medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and simultaneously, the first Olympic medal in weightlifting for India in 21 years since Karnam Malleswari won the bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Another silver was secured by Ravi Kumar Dahiya in the men’s wrestling (57 kg). He played against Russian counterpart ZavurUguew, and bagged India’s second silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2021. This is the second of two silver medals Dahiya has won, the first of which he secured at the 2012 London Olympics.

Lovlina Borgohain, a boxer was placed third in the welterweight category. By securing the bronze medal, she has become the third individual to secure an Olympic medal in boxing after Vijender Singh and MC Mary Kom, both

of whom won a bronze medal for India in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, respectively. This Olympic medal has been won by the 23-year-old Borgohain in her Olympics debut.

Another bronze medal was secured by PV Sindhu in the women’s singles badminton event. She lost to Taiwanese player Tai Tzu-ying in the semi-finals. However, Sindhu came back up stronger and won the bronze match by defeating China’s He Bingjiao. Further to her previous win of silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Sindhu became the first Indian woman Olympian to secure two medals consecutively in the games.

Another bronze medal was won by the men’s hockey team beating Germany 5-4. This win was the first in 41 years after the last gold medal was won by the men’s hockey team in the 1980 Olympics. The women’s hockey team fought hard but narrowly missed the bronze medal. Stillthey created history by reaching the semi-final since women’s hockey was introduced in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Similarly, Aditi Ashok, a progolfer, ranked 200th in the world was amongst the top four

all through the four rounds, but narrowly missed bronze by a single shot, winning India’s hearts.

7 August, 2021 was a historic day when Bajrang Punia bagged a bronze medal in the men’s freestyle wrestling (65 kg category) and Subedar Neeraj Chopra VSM, secured India’s first ever gold medal in athletics, in Javelin throw. Neeraj became the second Indian to win a gold medal, after Abhinav Bindra,who had won gold in shooting at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Who’s looking after Australia’s healthcare workers?

Sumedha Maheshwari

H

ealthcare workers across Australia are struggling as the COVID-19 Delta variant rages on. The latest surge has forced hundreds of critical care workers to go into lockdown in Queensland, followed by a week-long lockdown in Victoria, yet again. In Sydney, a major hospital and two nursing homes were hit by the outbreaks that forced healthcare workers into isolation. Thirty-six staffers of Westmead Hospital went into quarantine after one of their vaccinated colleagues tested positive after working three shifts last week. Three staff members in Sydney and Blacktown nursing homes have also reportedly tested positive for the virus.

These numbers are extremely concerning as these workers are at the frontline of pandemic response. If they are unsafe, what about patients? According to a study published in BMJ Leader, the official journal of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management, there is a limited supply of PPE kits for healthcare workers, which has led to rationing and reusing. The PPEs are of lower quality, with masks and gowns that tear easily.

Internal support is also lacking, as medical authorities are unable to remain accountable.

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A troubling poll by the Royal Melbourne Hospital found that anxiety, burnout, and depression rates among 10,000 healthcare workers were 61%, 58%, and 28%, respectively. They are crumbling under pressures of mental health degradation. Adequate attention is not being paid to those who are tending to others.

Vaccine rollout in Australia has been slow, too, with shortages of the Pfizer vaccine shots and fears surrounding the AstraZeneca jab. Only 15% of the population has been inoculated with both doses, with 17% receiving one dose only. Many health workers are also facing problems with the Australian immunisation register.

The errors in vaccine data showed the status of some as one dose when they were already fully vaccinated and vice versa. Vaccine data is the most significant advantage in the fight against COVID-19, and so these issues do not bode well.

There are many disturbing stories about COVID-19 infections spreading in hospitals and clinics as safety measures are improper.

Faulty or inferior PPE kits and a lax approach to guidelines has led these workers to be impacted drastically. There is a lot to be desired for their safety in the current scenario. They seem to be lacking essential protection

while caring for others and are now falling sick as a consequence.

It is time to help the selfless by overhauling current subpar medical ethic mechanisms and putting up ones that benefit them.

They need an operational support structure in place and adequate safety gear. Without them, Australia will only suffer more.

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INDIA NEWS

EDUCATION

SMART Program Distinguished Oration, “Bush to Baggy Green”, by Matthew Hayden AM A report by Ms Anushka Saxena, SMART intern

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n 9 August, 2021, the O.P Jindal Global University Centre for India-Australia Studies (CIAS), in collaboration with the Institute of Australia-India Engagement (IAIE) and India News, organised the distinguished oration by Mr. Matthew Hayden AM, former Australia cricketer, on “From Bush to Baggy Green”.

The lecture focused on the experience of Hayden, and his views on the India-Australia relationship. Mr. Hayden was introduced by Prof. (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor of the Jindal Global University in his welcome remarks, followed by the introductory remarks by Dr. Ashutosh Misra, CEO of IAIE. The event was moderated by Prof.

Shaun Star, Associate Professor and Dean at the Jindal Global Law School and Director for CIAS. Over 160 participants had registered for the event including students, sport enthusiasts, strategic analysts, academics, research scholars, and the SMART Interns in the JGU-IAIE-India News SMART programme, among others.

Hayden began the discussion by talking about his experiences in his cricketing career, and with fellow cricketers, cricket officials, coaches and fans. He talked about how India and Australia play on the opposing sides of the field, each vying for a win, while trying their best to preserve the spirit

and the essence of the sport. He talked about how sports are free of discriminatory practices and are transcendental and based purely on talent. He then shared an anecdote on his interactions with the ICC umpire Alim Dar, who taught him to be humble in all his glories. Hayden also shared anecdotes from his childhood, citing that he aroused an interest in playing cricket at a very young age. He humoured the audience by talking about how he played cricket with his brother, and since he didn’t own any television growing up, he would sneak up to his roof even on freezing days to listen to the games’ broadcasts on radio.

A lesson that Hayden imparted to the audience that we must learn how to be good losers before we can be successful. He discussed his journey towards becoming a 30-time century scorer, explaining that it was filled with hours of gruelling practice, long travels to practice, and multiple attempts at getting into the national test team before scoring his first century. He emphasised that sports like cricket require a “step-by-step” approach, beginning with a resilient attitude and a sense of appreciation for others’ successes before one’s own.

Next, he highlighted the significant relationship between ability and belief. He stated that God gives each individual a certain ability, and it depends

on the individual’s belief in themselves that can transform their ability into something bigger. This belief is not just physical, but also mental, said Hayden. He shared an anecdote from his own life, quoting a conversation he had with the legendary Rugby League coach Wayne Bennet, who said to him, “Whatever you do in life, don’t get bitter, just get better”!

For him, it was a revelation in the importance of an honest, improvement-oriented mindset that focuses on mastery over change. Bennet advised Hayden to learn to rejoice and appreciate other’s successes and he will start refining his own personality and improve his cricketing performance. Hayden also argued that a cricket player has to face criticisms, defeats and more, and the only possible way to successfully do that is to embrace oneself in every form. Accept your failures and negativities he says if you want to improve. Mental surety is another significant factor in this regard - something that Hayden said to have implemented in his own life beginning with the 2001 IndiaAustralia test match (Chennai), which led to the metaphorical “launch” of his career.

In his final arguments, the speaker stated that life shouldn’t be about defining, but about refining. He emphasised on diversifying one’s experiences,

Matthew Hayden concluded his comments by sharing his experience of being out of the Australian cricket team for seven

years; a time when he learnt the importance of the phrase “get busy living or get busy dying.”

He made the best of his timeout, by travelling, playing county cricket in England, and learning to control his mind using positive emotions.

The session concluded with an interactive Question-Answer round, wherein Hayden answered with great patience questions from the audiences on topics such as his experiences and conversations with Justin Langer (coach of the Australian men’s cricket team), his lifestyle on and off the field, the impact of COVID-19 on cricket, and the best lessons to learn for the postpandemic landscape of sports.

The webinar came to a close with the vote of thanks by Prof. Shaun Star.

AI as inventor: Recent Australian court decision setting a new norm Tanya Goel

C

an our creations create further? Can they be provided the right of entrepreneurship and the corresponding protective rights for intellectual property?

On August 4, 2021 this question was delved into in detail in the Australian Federal Court. In the case of Thaler v. Commissioner of Patents, the court ruled that Artificial Intelligence systems can legally be identified as “inventors”. Now, patents can be granted to AI-created inventions under the Australian Patents Act. The Court ruled an expansive reading of the Act to interpret that an “inventor” is not restricted to a human being, but can be read to include any agent of invention, inclusive of non-human actors relying on the lack of a definition that necessitated personhood.

It was further stated that there is no real aspect in patent law that requires as such a need to be cognisant of moral rights – making the legitimization of a non-human inventor under law viable.

The judge serving the decision

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and investing in connections at personal, organisational, governmental and national levels.

Taking the opportunity to connect with as many people as possible, while letting healthy human emotions lead the interactions, is an essential part of life, he argued.

He emphasised on commitment to passionate projects that drive change, and on using navigate feelings and emotions to make humanity better. He expressed his pride in representing Australia in his economic, cultural, social and sporting interactions with India and Indians. He urged the audiences to have a deep sense of purpose and connect, and to not let anything, like one’s career, define them, especially in sports.

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expounded that not allowing this inventorship to be granted could be inhibiting innovation in all scientific fields, which could otherwise benefit from the work of artificial intelligence systems.

On the outset, it seems like a ground-breaking decision that not only reimagines intellectual property law, but also places Australia on the map as the first country to do so. However, the responses to it have been mixed, and rightfully so - such a precedent from the Federal Court impacts not only substantive law but also procedural law, and its implementation must be carefully considered. Questions such as who becomes the beneficiary of the sale/payments arising out of the invention – the AI or the creator of the AI; who represents/ answers in Court in a dispute where the ‘inventor’ is sued, and so on, come to the forefront.

This decision also implies that there is a huge possibility that soon there would be an increased number of patents leading to pendency, provided machines – which can invent in permutations and combinations quicker

than humans – are granted patenting rights. This could act to discourage invention due to the now incredibly long and expansive arm of the law.

These issues are just the tip of the iceberg. While this ruling is a promising one, for it to be truly adopted freely, further adjudication and judicial interpretation must be carried out. Such a defining decision should be immensely debated upon before it begins to chart its unforeseeable trajectory.

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Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

INDIA NEWS

WORLD THIS WEEK

WORLD THIS WEEK

DW

Contributed by the National Institute for Advanced Studies, Bengaluru

Compiled by Sukanya Bali, Vibha Venugopal and Avishka Ashok

South China Sea: New tensions, with military exercises and foreign warships The Gaurdian

What happened?

On 2 August, Germany's Brandenburg-class frigate Bayern (Bavaria) warship was deployed to the South China Sea from Wilhelmshaven on a six-month voyage. This would be the first time for Germany in almost two decades; it is expected to cross the South China Sea in midDecember. German Defense Minister Annegret KrampKarrenbauer said, "We want existing law to be respected, sea routes to be freely navigable, open societies to be protected and trade to follow fair rules."

On 6 August, China started a fiveday-long naval drill in the South China Sea. On the same day, the Indian Navy also deployed a naval task group of four warships for two months. China's foreign ministry spokesperson said, "China hopes that the warships of relevant countries will earnestly abide by international law, respect the sovereignty, rights, and interests of countries along the South China Sea and avoid harming regional peace and stability."

What does it mean?

The South China Sea region has turned into the hotbed of contestation between countries.

The presence of foreign naval forces in the region might aggravate tensions between Beijing and the West. As countries have started becoming proactive in the region, this might embolden Southeast Asian countries to take a stance against China in the coming years.

Southeast Asia: ASEAN appoints Special Envoy to Myanmar What happened?

On 4 August, the 28th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum ministers appointed Brunei's Second Minister of Foreign Affairs, Erywan Yusof, as the Special Envoy to Myanmar.

Reuters, on 7 August, referred to

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The Jakarta Post

world will open wide."

What does it mean?

a statement by the envoy saying: "The planned travel to Myanmar is in the works, and we need to make sure we're fully prepared, unlike the visit I had in June.

He even stated that during his next ASEAN visit to Myanmar, he will seek a more substantial dialogue, while emphasizing the importance of allowing him full access to all sides." Earlier, on 1 August, Myanmar's military ruler Min Aung Hlaing expressed his "willingness to engage with ASEAN." On 6 August, the US State Department released a statement by the Secretary of State expressing grave concern about the military coup in Myanmar and calling on the ASEAN "to unite in urging the military to cease the violence, release all those who have been wrongfully jailed, and resume Myanmar's democratic path."

What does it mean?

First, the crisis in Myanmar is too hot for the ASEAN to handle, causing reputational costs. Second, ASEAN is no stronger than its weakest link since members stay aloof, not allowing them to act decisively.

Third, Myanmar's military administration will approach the five-point consensus and the ASEAN-led diplomatic process a la carte, delaying and complying with the envoy as needed to buy time and consolidate power.

Japan: Remembering Hiroshima bombing, “Little Boy” and 80,000 people, 76 years later

What happened?

On 6 August, Japan marked 76 years of the first atomic bombing on Hiroshima. On this occasion, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga attended the memorial conference and pledged to support states towards the aim of nuclear disarmament. The annual ceremony was also attended by the Mayor of Hiroshima who pushed for the ratification of the UN treaty which seeks to ban nuclear weapons. He said: "Nuclear weapons are the ultimate human violence. If civil society decides to live without them, the door to a nuclear-weapon-free

The increasingly destructive capacities of the defence arms and ammunition prove that the human race is completely immune to the suffering endured by humankind 76 years ago. The rise in the number of nuclear states in the past seven decades showcases the seriousness of the world towards the aim of nuclear disarmament.

ALSO IN NEWS Japan: Population declines for the 12th straight year On 4 August, Japan's internal affairs ministry compiled the country's population on the basis of the "Basic Resident Register." As per the records, on 1 January the population counted over 123.84 million, which was down about 428,000 as per the last year's record. In 2020, the total number of births in Japan totaled 843,000 and had roughly 1.37 million deaths. The record also highlighted the people who moved out of the country and the number of foreign residents in Japan.

North Korea: Pyongyang continues to develop its nuclear and missile program On 6 August, Reuters reported, according to a confidential UN document, Pyongyang violated international sanctions by continuing its nuclear and ballistic program through the first half of 2021. The report said North Korea sought material and technology for these programs "despite the country's worsening economic situation." The country accessed international financial institutions and used the earnings of the North Korean diaspora to fund state programs.

Malaysia: Prime Minister refuses to resign On 4 August, Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin refused to resign soon after eight lawmakers from a key party in his ruling alliance withdrew their support. As per the report, he said: "he will seek a vote of confidence in parliament next month to prove his legitimacy to govern." Opposition highlighted he was using emergency to avoid a vote in Parliament. On the same day, the President declared Muhyiddin had lost the right to govern.

Sri Lanka: NSA level talks after six years The Print

Europe: Wildfires raging in Turkey, Italy, Greece, Albania, Macedonia

On 6 August, Sri Lanka hosted a virtual meeting of the Deputy National Security Advisers of India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. The Hindu reported three countries agreeing to work on "four pillars of security cooperation, covering areas of marine security, human trafficking, counter-terrorism, and cybersecurity." The meeting was the first NSA-level trilateral talks in six years.

Pakistan: Islamabad has "options" if the US ignores, says the NSA On 4 August, Pakistan National Security Adviser (NSA) Moeed Yusuf in an interview, stated that "Pakistan has other options if US President Joe Biden continues to ignore the country's leadership."

This statement marks a recent setback in the US-Pakistan relationship. Conversely, the US State Department assured Islamabad that Washington recognizes Pakistan's vital role in restoring peace in Afghanistan and wants the country to play that role. The US State Department's spokesman Ned Price said: "Pakistan has much to gain and will continue to have a critical role, and will be well-positioned to have a role in supporting the outcome" in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan: UN envoy appeals to UNSC over increase in the Taliban attacks On 6 August, at a special meeting of the UNSC on Afghanistan, the UN envoy for Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons appealed to the UNSC to issue a statement against the increasing attacks by the Taliban. She said: "Afghanistan is now at a dangerous turning point, adding that ahead lies either a genuine peace negotiation or a tragically intertwined set of crises: an increasingly brutal conflict combined with an acute humanitarian situation and multiplying human rights abuses." She also highlighted that more than 1,000 casualties were recorded soon after districts were captured by the Taliban.

She added, "There is a striking contrast between the activity on the battlefield and the quiet stalemate at the negotiation table in Doha—where we should be seeing the opposite: quiet on the battlefield and engagement around the negotiating table."

Afghanistan: Taliban captures two cities - Zaranj and Sheberghan; kills government forces

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On 7 August, the Taliban captured the city of Sheberghan in the province of Jawzjan. The deputy governor of the province said: “The city has unfortunately fallen completely” and security forces have retreated to the outskirts.

The government has denied that the “Taliban has taken full control of the city” and the Ministry of Interior said, “they are going to launch counter offensive.” On 6 August, the Taliban captured the city of Zaranj, the capital of Nimroz province. Presently, out of five districts of the province, three are completely under Taliban control. The brutality of the attack surfaced in a video showing government forces lying covered in blood on the ground.

Europe: Wildfires raging in Turkey, Italy, Greece, Albania, Macedonia On 5 August, forest fires in Southern Europe continued to burn ceaselessly. The fires were caused by the prolonged heat wave which has ignited numerous fires across the continent. Over 100 fires broke out in Greece recently while Turkey closely avoided a disaster by preventing the fires from reaching one of its power plants. The governments of Greece, Italy, Albania and North Macedonia have declared a month-long emergency to deal with the calamity. Meanwhile, the EU disaster response group is providing firefighters and waterdropping planes.

Italy: Green pass vaccination drive at public venues On 6 August, Italy introduced a system of digital certificates for accessing public venues in the country. The initiative has been taken up to restrict the rise in cases of coronavirus. Individuals will be eligible to hold a green pass if they have had one dose of the vaccine, recovered from the virus or have tested negative in the last 48 hours. Along with Italy, other European countries such as France, Austria, Cyprus, and Denmark have already undertaken similar initiatives in their country.

About the authors Vibha Venugopal is a research intern in the School of Conflict and Security Studies at the National Institute of Advanced Studies. Sukanya Bali and Avishka Ashok are Research Associates at NIAS. The report has been modified

by India News due to space considerations.

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INDIA NEWS

Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

Firdaus’ paradise Kashmir embraces a new life A

Working with Australia to build a better world

s India celebrates its 75th year of independence, Jammu and Kashmir has completed two years of the passing of the historic Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act 2019 (abrogating Article 35A and amending Article 370 to alter J&K’s special status).The erstwhile state has experienced the following key path-breaking changes ever since, proving local, regional and international propaganda baseless and misguided.

Governance

Now central laws are applicable, including the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2007 etc.

electrification achieved and over 180,000 rural households are to be given functional household tap connections by March 2022.

Industrial development J&K Industrial Development Policy 2021-30 has been notified and Industrial Land Allotment Policy 2021-30 adopted to allocate land to 15 industrial projects worth $US 200 million.

Employment opportunities and skill training Over 2000 people have been employed and 15,000 new vacancies created. New publicprivate partnership based centres for invention, innovation, incubation and training will provide training to unemployed engineers. Two IT parks will also be built in J&K. Social inclusion Social security schemes now include over 270,000 additional people, including transgender people for the first time to grant pension benefits.

Grassroot democracy

Health

District Development Council elections were held in October -November 2020 with a 51.7% voter turnout. The Panchayat Act has been amended creating the 3rdtier of panchayats at district level and 44 digital village centres established at panchayat level to provide internet access to rural areas and access to government e-delivery services.

First ever Block Development Councils elections were held in October 2019 with a 98.3% voter turnout. Women now benefit from reservation and under the Back to Village program over 15,000 loans, including 4600 loans for women entrepreneurs, have been disbursed.

Free and universal healthcare insurance scheme has been extended to all residents. Seven new medical colleges and hospitals, including two AIIMS, two cancer institutes, bone institutes and child hospitals, are being constructed. Over 85%healthcare workers have been vaccinated and 100% vaccination of 1stdose (45+ years) in nine out of 20 districts delivered. Two new 500-bed specialty COVID hospitals have been established and special monthly pensions/ scholarships are being disbursed to families who have lost their breadwinners to COVID-19.

Over 70,000 ration cards were seeded with the Aadhar Card, while 50,000 families were covered under the statesponsored health insurance schemes. The new integrated grievance redressal and monitoring system received 85,000 grievances and addressed over 90% satisfactorily.

Infrastructure development Under the $US 7.5 billion PM’s Development Package, 54 projects have been identified, of which 20 projects have been completed or substantially completed, including an all-weather 8.45 km long hi-tech tunnel between Qazigund and Banihal, Rambagh flyover in Jammu and Indian Institute of Technology, Jammu. 13 more projects will be completed by the 2022-23 end. The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Link project and the world’s highest railway bridge being constructed over the river Chenab.

Power generation capacity is being doubled, with 3000 MW to be added by 2024-25. Pakal Dul (1000 MW) and Kiru (624 MW) hydroelectric projects have begun already and 100 % household

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Education 50 new colleges are being established to educate over 20,000 additional students and translation of textbooks in local languages of Dogri, Hindi, Kashmiri and Urdu for primary schools has commenced. Under the PARVAAZ scheme tutoring and guidance is being provided to students for civil services and other competitive examinations.

Agriculture Government of J&K will receive National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) investment worth $US 230 million into apple, walnut, cherry and pear plantations over the next five years.

By His Excellency Manpreet Vohra

I

ndia-Australia relations are underpinned by several commonalities, including our democratic ethos, common values, economies full of strong complementarities and our shared Indo-Pacific region. It is a comfortable and natural partnership where we also see eye to eye and cooperate on most major international issues, be they challenges or opportunities.

As Prime Minister Scott Morrison has himself said, “Our cultures might be different, but we believe in similar things. We believe in the supremacy of the ballot-box in our national life; in the rule of law; in institutions that safeguard rights; and the responsibility of free people to build a better world.”

The over 700,000 strong Indian diaspora, growing rapidly, serves as a living bridge between our nations and our people. Besides enriching Australia’s economy and society in multiple ways, they have assimilated seamlessly here.

They are law-abiding and deeply respect the Australian way of life even while proudly preserving their Indian roots, traditions and culture.

The Virtual Summit between Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Morrison on 4 June, 2020 was historic. Our bilateral relations were elevated to a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’’, 11 years after we had forged our ‘Strategic Partnership’ in 2009. This is testimony to the steady transformation of our ties over the last decade. The warmth and personal connect between our leadership is noteworthy.

Our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is marked by growing convergence of views on geostrategic and geo-economic issues and a strong desire to work together for a region that is more free, secure and prosperous.

Foreign Affairs, Economy and Trade, Defence, Education and a host of other ministries, departments, institutions and organisations on both sides have

EDITORIAL

stepped up their collaboration and are working together on myriad issues. We have also agreed to elevate our 2+2 Foreign and Defence Secretaries Dialogue to Ministerial level, underlining the positive trajectory of our bilateral relations.

India and Australia engage with each other in various plurilateral and multilateral formats as well. The Quad came of age with the first-ever Quad Leaders’ Summit in March this year. The positive outcome of the Summit, especially in the areas of vaccines, climate change and emerging technologies for the IndoPacific underlines our strong commitment, as democratic and like-minded partners, not only for the provision of global commons but also in promoting a free, open, secure, prosperous and inclusive region.

Given the imbalances in global supply chains with regard to critical health, technology, intermediate goods and services, sharply highlighted by the Covid-19 pandemic, we have decided to work cooperatively to strengthen and diversify these supply chains. In April this year, Trade Ministers of India, Australia and Japan formally launched the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative. India and Australia are also working bilaterally on the supply chain diversification of critical and strategic minerals and metals.

Our bilateral trade and investment remains significantly below its potential. We are jointly committed to improving this for the mutual benefit of both economies. We have reengaged on negotiating a fruitful and enduring Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement since it is time to take our economic and trade relations to a much higher growth trajectory. Recent World Bank and IMF projections that India will be the fastest-growing major economy in 2021 and 2022 should be exciting news for Australian businesses.

India is today also one of the

most attractive destinations for Foreign Direct Investment. We have ushered in simplification and reduction of taxes, new labour laws, Production Linked Incentive schemes in exciting manufacturing sectors and empowered institutional arrangements to hand-hold new investors. Infrastructure stands vastly improved and supply logistics and transportation speeds are now among the best in the world. The stock market is booming and setting new records.

It is not surprising, therefore, that FDI into India did not decrease in 2020 despite the pandemic.

This open and globalised market of over 1.3 billion, together with the new ease of doing business has opened up vast opportunities including for Australian investors.

Make in India, for India and for the world.

The number of Indian students coming to Australia has steadily increased and there are well over 100,000 now, making Australia the second-largest foreign destination for Indian students and of huge benefit to Australia in multiple ways. I hope that an early solution is found to bring back those of these students who have found themselves unable to return to Australia since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As we enter India’s 75th year of independence, every Indian can justifiably take pride in the growth and success of India in diverse domains since 1947. I look forward to celebrating India@75 with all Indians and friends of India in Australia.

His Excellency Manpreet Vohra is a career diplomat and currently the Indian High Commissioner to Australia

Sports $US 26 million have been allocated under the PM’s development package for upgradation of sports infrastructure which includes two Khelo India Khelo centres of excellence in Jammu and Srinagar.

Undoubtedly, Firdaus’ paradise has turned a new leaf, deflating all false propaganda that was being peddled against the historic August 2019 decision.

Besides enriching Australia’s economy and society in multiple ways, the Indian diaspora has assimilated seamlessly here

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INDIA NEWS

Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

INDIA AT 75

Bharatvarsh: Emergence of a global leader with a human touch

By Dr Ashutosh Misra

reaching over 800 million.

n 15th August 2021, India celebrates its 75th Independence Day— a day to celebrate and reflect where the 1.35 billion strong nation stands.

Boosting Economic Growth

O

As the largest democracy, India has witnessed tectonic political shifts in recent years. The rise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India in 2014 has been seen by his detractors as the emergence of the far-right in Indian politics, and the marginalization of liberal/moderate parties.

The opposition, civil liberties groups and international media have constantly charged the Modi government with ‘communalization of politics’, ‘shrinking space for dissent’, and ‘erosion of democratic freedoms’. A closer scrutiny, however, reveals a contrarian and promising picture.

Effecting Historic Legislations Since 2014, the Indian Parliament has passed several historic legislations such as the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 (providing sanctuary to minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh), Triple Talaq Act 2019 (making instant Triple Talaq a criminal offence amongst Muslims), Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act 2020 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act 2019 (abrogating Article 35A and amending Article 370 to alter J&K’s special status). In 2019, the landmark Supreme Court verdict also paved the way for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya (ending a 500-year-old dispute) and the post-verdict communal harmony is a welcome news for a country with a bloody communal history.

Augmenting Human Development Human development indices have witnessed significant improvement too. The underprivileged and women, especially, in the rural and semi-urban areas have benefitted from schemes such as Ujjwala scheme (providing LPG connections to Below Poverty Line families at subsidized rates), Swacch Bharata Mission (Clean India campaign constructing over 80 million toilets), PM’s Awaas scheme (affordable housing for urban and rural poor), Jan Dhan Yojna (opening bank accounts with Rs 0 for direct transfer of financial sustenance), Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (financially self-reliant education schemes for girls), PM Mudra scheme (loan to small businesses up to 1 million rupees), Atal Pension scheme (monthly pension for people in the unorganized sector aged between 18-40), PM Jyoti Bima scheme (life insurance of Rs, 200,000 for people between 18-50), Ujala scheme (low priced LED bulbs) and Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (free ration up to 6 kgs per person) at the heels of Covid-19 outbreak,

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Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the Modi government had announced plans to make India a US$ 5 trillion economy by 2025, which appears very challenging now in the current global economic scenario.

But, India offers a vast array of opportunities for global investors, particularly in infrastructure, energy and cost-effective manufacturing in automobile, electronics, telecommunications, white goods and pharmaceuticals to list a few. As a part of India’s self-reliant pursuit, PM Modi’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) initiative saw a colossal $266 billion #VocalForLocal stimulus package, that constituted 10% of the GDP. The stimulus was aimed at supporting the cottage industries and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

The International Monetary Fund’s Global Economic Outlook growth projection in July 2021 has forecast India’s economic ground to be touching 9.5 % and 8.5% in 2021 and 2022 respectively, surpassing China’s growth of 8.1% and 5.7%, for the same period. As the Covid pandemic continues to batter global economies, India has become key to global economic revival. Several world economies, including American, Japanese, German, British, South Korean and Australian are diverting and diversifying their businesses from China to India. Australian Senator Simon Birmingham, who led a trade delegation to New Delhi in February 2020, had said, “Australia must look into alternative markets in the European Union and India.”

Scaling Global Rankings India has been elevated to 63rd in ‘doing business with ease’ rankings in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 Report, making it the sixth fastest growing economy, surpassing France. It is now the 9th largest recipient of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) destinations in 2019 by the World Investment Report 2020 of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The total FDI into India showed an 18% jump from US$ 62 billion in 2018-19 to US$ 73.45 billion in 2019-20, in the steel, digital and energy sectors. The report lists professional services and digital economy as some of the most sought-after industries in India for venture capital firms and technological companies. Since 2000, the highest cumulative investments have been recorded in the services sector, computer software and hardware, telecommunications, trading and construction development.

As per the Global Innovation Index (GII) published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), India ranks 52nd in innovation, improving

from 57th in 2018, and topping the list amongst the Central and South Asian nations. India also ranks 77th in the input pillar “Institutions” that measure political, regulatory and business environments; and 53rd in the input pillar “Human Capital and Research” which is based on education level, tertiary education and research and development.

India currently ranks 7th in the “Number of Graduates in Science and Engineering” and 35th in “Research and Development”.

When it comes to infrastructure measures which include the performance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), general infrastructure and ecological sustainability, India ranks 17th. With regard to market sophistication, India ranks 20th both, in terms of “Ease of Getting Credit” and “Market Capitalization”; 3rd in “Domestic Market Sale” and 6th in “Ease of Protecting Minority Investors”.

In business sophistication, India has jumped from 51st in 2018 to 27th rank, and 23rd in “University/ Industry Research Collaboration”, something that should interest the academic stakeholders in Australia. India is a major success in Knowledge and Technology and ranks 1st in ICT services exports (as a percentage of total exports) and also ranks 22nd in the list of “Exporter of Creative Goods”.

Energizing Lives As the third largest consumer of electricity in the world, with an installed power capacity reaching 345.49 GW as of July 2018, India’s power sector requires an 8% growth per annum. With its burgeoning population and rapidly growing industrialization, the rising power demand from 1160.1 TWh in 2016 to 1,894.7 TWh in 2022, will be covered under new schemes like the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana, Integrated Power Development Scheme and Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya). These schemes are open for 100% FDI. India’s power sources include thermal (coal & gas, 64%), hydro (13%) and nuclear (across 7 plants, 2%), and an increasing share of renewables (21%). India’s Draft National Energy Policy also is looking at making India selfsufficient in thermal coal by 2037.

India’s renewable energy (RE) target set at 175 GW [comprising wind (60 GW) and solar (100 GW)] by 2022, is due for a sixfold jump by 2030 from 70.65 GW in 2017, largely due to declining tariff and equipment costs and increasing regulatory support for RE procurement. Wind energy is another promising sector in which India ranks 4th globally.

But India’s RE sector requires state of art load and weather forecasting tools and facilities, energy storage system, improved transmission capacity and highquality solar panels. Reflecting the rising global trends, in India the Electric Vehicles sales is

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi felicitates the beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana

projected to grow exponentially and achieve 100% vehicle sale electrification by 2030.

Defending the Global Order As the world’s largest democracy, India has deepened its ties with the West in recent years, including the G-7 members to defend “shared values from authoritarianism, terrorism and violent extremism, disinformation and infodemics and economic coercion,” says P. Harish, Ministry of External Affairs Secretary (economic relations). As a special invitee at the G-7 Summit, PM Modi delivered his address in the “Open Societies and Open Economies” session championing the “One Earth, One Health” approach aimed at forging global unity and solidarity to counter the pandemic. India has also spread its bet and adopted a bilateral, quadrilateral (IndiaAustralia-US-Japan) and trilateral (India-Australia-Indonesia; and India-Australia-Japan) approach to shape the regional security architecture. The entry of Australia in the Malabar exercise in November 2020 is testimony to fresh thinking that has germinated in New Delhi, Canberra, Washington and Tokyo in recent months in formalizing the Quad. India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has expressed that India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership has become the fulcrum of the Quad’s new collective avatar for ensuring a safe, open and secure IndoPacific regional architecture.

Helping the Global Community If the Covid pandemic has debilitated lives, livelihood and the economy, causing over 430,000 deaths in India, it has seen India rise in its global leadership. What the health experts and environmentalists are championing now, Ancient India had understood centuries back— nature worship. The respect for nature is rooted in the Indus Valley Civilization. is a Sanskrit hymn taken from the ancient scripture, Vedas (Atharva Veda) which means “My mother is the earth and I am her son”.

Not surprisingly, India's counterpandemic global response has been driven by its Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam (world is one family) philosophy. In the early days of the pandemic, PM Modi held marathon telephone conversations with a large number of the heads of states to

discuss joint counter-pandemic strategies. In fact, on 26 February 2020, a special Indian Air Force flight had carried 15 tons of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to Wuhan at the request of President Xi Jinping. In April 2020, PM Modi spoke with the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) foreign ministers to offer India’s antiCovid measures including, Arogya Setu disease surveillance portal. India also convened a South Asian emergency meeting in which PM Modi suggested setting up a regional relief fund and offered Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief fund (PM Cares), SAARC Covid-19 Information Exchange Platform (COINEX) and pharmaceutical assistance. India also supplied Hydroxychloroquine and antipyretic paracetamol to over 150 countries, including 25 nations in Africa alone, and grants-in-aid valued at around Rupees 80 crore to 82 countries.

In 2021, the Serum Institute of India developed the AstraZenecaOxford vaccine, producing 2.5 million doses per day, enabling its neighbours and 25 other countries to vaccinate their population. Additionally, over 200 million doses were sent to the World Health Organization, for distribution in the poorer countries. Yaroslav Trofimov and Bellman wrote a piece in the Wall Street Journal titled, “In Covid-19 Diplomacy, India Emerges as a Vaccine Superpower''.

The New York Times wrote, “India, the unmatched vaccine manufacturing power, is giving away millions of doses to neighbours, friendly and estranged”, and “Acting East.

Acting Fast,” is how Dr S. Jaishankar, India’s foreign minister described India’s Vaccine Maitri diplomacy driven by the Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam philosophy.

In sum, the world wants India to succeed. How India now steadfastly defends its borders, tirelessly delivers services and goods to 1.5 billion people and also helps the global community should make all proud on India’s 75th Independence Day. The author is the CEO of the Institute for Australia India Engagement, Brisbane and Editor-in-Chief, India News Australia. Views expressed are personal.

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Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

INDIA NEWS

INDIA AT 75

Indian economy @75: The story of a great unshackling

By Dr Pritam Banerjee

A

t that midnight hour on 15th August 75 years ago, India started out with arguably the most robust industrial and entrepreneurial base of all countries that would eventually get decolonised over the next decade or so. The original intent of the planned economy model that was adopted postindependence was of big push from the state in support of that entrepreneurial base. But that system quickly ossified into a state dominated, as opposed to state supported, economic and industrial policy apparatus where bureaucrats and their political masters decided what, how much, and where to produce, and sometimes even the price to charge for it.

A convenient myth to airbrush this reality is that India chose socialism. But what India’s ruling elite actually chose was a system of crony capitalism that benefitted the few at the expense of the many. The legacy of that choice still looms large in our political economic discourse, even as we struggle to set free the entrepreneurial energies of small businesses and farmers from that stranglehold. In that sense, our independence struggle is ongoing.

The results of this narrow pursuit of vested political and business interests are well known to all.

India’s long-term GDP growth between 1950 and 1990 was around 4%, far below its potential.

This is underlined by the fact that India’s GDP per capita in 1947 was 7.1% of the US, by 1995 it has actually shrunk to 5%.

The reforms in the 1990s was beginning of the process to undo this legacy of crony capitalism wrapped in pro-poor socialist colours. Indian economic reforms can be perceived as involving four interconnected but discrete layers. The first layer involved eliminating the distortion caused by quotas, quantitative restrictions, price controls, licensing, etc. This was the focus of the reforms that were pursued by Narsimha Rao and Vajpayee Governments in the 1990s. PM Vajpayee also brought in a renewed focus on addressing India’s hard infrastructure deficit.

Thanks to those initial reforms, India and her people are at a much better place today. I would urge my readers to look beyond often-quoted numbers such as the increase in India’s share of global GDP (from about 4% in 1950 to 7% in 2019 in PPP terms), or global trade (0.5% in 1980s to 1.7% in 2018), or the large number of Indians who were pulled out of absolute poverty in the two and half decades since mid-1990s (about 200 million).

Instead, let us look at examples around our own lives that I am sure all Indians would recognise.

Our domestic help in the early

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1990s could not afford a bicycle or a visit to the airconditioned single-screen movie theatre.

Our domestic help today visits multiplexes regularly, sends her two children to a private English medium school, and in 2018 had decided to take a flight to her home in North Bengal after finding a cheap ticket online using her smartphone.

Yes, there are still plenty of Indians who live in dire povertyabout 250 million Indians subsist on an income of less than USD 2 per day, and the pandemic can potentially push many more into that category.

But the transformation of lives due to the ‘independence’ of the Indian economy from the ‘license quota raj’ and the tyranny of bureaucratic control is too ubiquitous to deny.

These initial reforms were followed by a long-period of inaction as the Manmohan Singh government was faced with the contradiction of an alliance with the communists and the burden of numerous scams in his second term. It was only in 2015 under PM Modi that the second layer of reforms-focusing on addressing the design and structure of economic governance started to get addressed.

manufacturing as percent of GDP has continued to languish below 20% and manufacturing sector accounts for less than 15% of all jobs. This is the single biggest contributor to rising inequality in India. With relatively few middle-class jobs being created in manufacturing, India has not been able to replicate the socioeconomic transformations seen in China, Malaysia, Thailand and other Asian countries.

Faced with the so-called industrial revolution 4.0-defined by increasing automation, and the rise of sophisticated protectionism across the world, India has an uphill task of expanding its manufacturing sector and generating meaningful employment for what is the world’s largest cohort of young workers. It would have to do so with shrinking opportunities for labour intensive manufacturing and without the relatively open global markets that countries like China and South East Asian economies are depended on to pull out a significant section of their population from poverty.

Competitiveness would be

increasingly defined by skills, ability to adopt technology and productivity. This brings us to the fourth layer of reforms. For too long, education and health policy and associated infrastructure has been seen as independent of the overall matrix of reforms needed for national competitiveness and well-being. It is now time to focus on human resource development in all its dimensions. Otherwise, India stands the risk of being left behind in the new landscape of technology intensive production networks that would define the global economy in the coming years, and condemn its current generation of young workers to persistent levels of poverty and poor quality of life.

The unfinished second and third layer of reforms associated with improving economic governance and unshackling entrepreneurship need to be expedited, and the fourth layer of reforms focusing on socioeconomic interventions that make Indian economy competitive, taken up proactively. This would require cooperation between the states and the centre, and living

up to the idea of the Union our founding leaders envisioned. This would require political maturity and unity of purpose. Our collective ability to find that unity of purpose will define India’s future tryst with destiny.

Pritam Banerjee is an independent trade and economic policy professional. He is currently employed by Asian Development Bank as a Logistics Sector Specialist Consultant. The views expressed in this article are entirely his own and do not reflect any of his employers.

Some of the critical reforms included reforming the Insolvency code, labour sector reforms and direct benefit transfers for subsidies. Another example is the new Farm Bill that would free India’s farmers from overarching state control, but is currently facing political headwinds from vested interests.

A good start has also been made on the third layer of reforms associated with addressing microlevel administrative inefficiency and poor quality of governance that add high transactions costs to doing business, and has hindered optimal investment in manufacturing and agriculture.

India’s ranking in World Bank’s Doing Business surveys have improved very significantly in the last five years. But reforms in this third layer cannot be limited to the Federal level alone. The state governments have an equally important role to play in this facet of reforms, since many of the areas, from electricity distribution to enforcement of regulations on transport, warehousing, and land acquisition, are essentially state subjects.

The Economic Times

Ignoring the difficult secondand third-layer reforms after the initial spurt in the 1990s, and the significant slowdown in infrastructure development has cost India. Persistently high costs of doing business and relatively poor quality of infrastructure and logistics discouraged investment led growth in manufacturing.

Despite improved economic growth since 1990s, share of

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INDIA NEWS

Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

INDIA AT 75

An India – Australia CECA: Is this the propitious time?

By Ambassador Anil Wadhwa

R

iding on the back of a decision to elevate their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2020, India and Australia are moving purposefully towards strengthening their trade and investment links and taking their economic relationship to the next level. In this context, the visit of former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot to India from 2-6 August as Prime Minister Morrison’s special trade envoy assumes special significance. Currently, Australia is seen by India as a key partner, both geopolitically as well as economically. Today, there are more than 400 Australian companies doing business in India. India and Australia have similar views on multilateral institutions, the rule of law and a free and open Indo Pacific. Before the pandemic, there were close to 100,000 Indian students in Australia, and the Indian diaspora has crossed the 700,000 figure.

Tourism has boomed in recent years between the two countries till the pandemic hit us all. The India Economic Strategy to 2035 was launched by Australia in November 2018 and a reciprocal Australia Economic Strategy Report was released in November 2020 by Minister of Commerce & Industry and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal.

Australia is an ideal strategic partner for India in its journey to achieve transformative and inclusive economic growth.

The “Make in India” initiative, launched in 2014, and the Atman Nirbhar mission of India launched post COVID in 2020 cover sectors in which India is open to investment and collaboration.

These include mining, health care and pharmaceuticals, IT, Infrastructure, defense, space, tourism, agriculture and food processing and grains storage technologies, as well as dairy modernisation. India now has a clear focus on labor intensive sectors such as electronics, food processing parks, textile hubs for apparel, footwear, furniture, kitchenware and other light manufacturing to create jobs for the masses, in many of which Australian companies are potential partners. The MSME, agriculture, banking and financial sectors in India have seen some far-reaching reforms post Covid. Mining regulations have been eased to attract foreign investments. Australia has a big opportunity here – it has reserves of 21 of the 49 minerals identified as critical for India’s future strategy, especially the e-mobility programme.

Australia has announced substantial investments in cyber security in the country and India has a large technology resource pool that is complementary to Australian requirements. Most major Indian IT companies are present in Australia. The Covid 19 pandemic has highlighted the urgency for international scientific collaborations in research and development, manufacturing equipment and identifying treatments to face global health emergencies. There is a common need to develop and roll out vaccines especially in the Indo Pacific. India and Australia are collaborative partners in the bilateral as well as the Quad format in this field.

Australian investments and technology have been identified for collaborations in food

technology and processing and the dairy sectors. In agriculture, Australian companies will provide the right mix for grain management, rationalization of costs and logistics. Australian Super funds and infrastructure companies are presented with increasing opportunities in the infrastructure and toll roads sector. India’s large, young population and the target of training 400 million people by 2022 has thrown open a host of opportunities for the Australian educational institutions in areas such as enhancement of training curriculum, aligning Indian accreditation and assessment to global standards, and improving trainer quality.

The new Education Policy in India has opened up possibilities for further collaborations with Australian Universities.

India and Australia are already collaborating to integrate e learning solutions into existing curricula and their startups see immense opportunities in working together. The defense research organizations and private companies of India and Australia now need to focus on promising areas of cooperation like advanced sensors, underwater laser and hypersonic technologies. Post pandemic, more direct flights between the two countries will be a game changer both for business and tourism.

Likely shifts in the post Covid global economic order in the region are visible from the Resilient Supply Chain Initiative (RSCI) mooted jointly by Australia, India and Japan. However, market access for both countries is the key – now that India has pulled out of RCEP, it is encouraging that

the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) negotiations with Australia, stalled since 2015 after nine rounds due to RCEP negotiations, have resumed. Bilateral trade, which was above the $20 billion mark over the last few years except in the pandemic year, can be scaled up quickly. Both sides need to be realistic, and think seriously about reaching a quick, interim agreement on trade in goods covering part of the bilateral trade tariff lines while committing to a comprehensive agreement including services and investment over a longer period of time. Australia will need to take into account Indian sensitivities by not demanding substantially lowered tariffs across the board for fruits, dairy, agriculture and processed food items and narrow its ambitions down to selected, niche items. India could show flexibility in tariff lines related to commodities and minerals needed for its growing economy and e mobility programme, while Australia could be accommodative in the tariff lines related to refined petroleum, medicaments, railway vehicles, gems and jewelry, auto components and made-up textile items which it imports in any case from sources around the world. India will need satisfaction on the Australian offer on services, which it sees as key to a successful comprehensive agreement. Australia needs to recognize the importance India places on partners adopting policies that streamline physical movement, including on arrival visas, and multiple entry long term business visas.

Discussion on issues like Rules of origin, Customs procedures and trade facilitation including

digitization, sanitary and phyto sanitary measures and technical regulations and dispute settlement will also help both sides in reaching trilateral convergence on the Resilient Supply Chains Initiative where Japan is their common partner.

Unless businesses – and in particular, big businesses come together and are convinced – a limited or a comprehensive agreement cannot reach a fruitful conclusion. Outreach efforts in both countries by the negotiators will therefore need to be stepped up substantially, and the benefits conveyed convincingly. There is a lot to gain if the CECA comes around quickly for both countries.

(This article was published originally by the Financial Express Online. The author is a former Secretary (East) in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, and has served as the Indian Ambassador to Poland, Oman, Thailand and Italy.

Currently, he is a Distinguished Fellow with the Vivekananda International Foundation in New Delhi. Views expressed here are personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of Financial Express Online.)

Australian Institute of International Affairs

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INDIA NEWS

Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

SPECIAL FEATURE

India News exclusive interview with His Excellency Manpreet Vohra

H.E. Manpreet Vohra with AIBC members

Mr Kartik Pratap Singh, India News YouTube Director, interviewing HE Manpreet Vohra

I

ndian High Commissioner to Australia, Manpreet Vohra, who was appointed as the new ambassador of India to Australia on March 1, 2021, in a recent, exclusive interview with India News underscored the pivotal role that the strategic ties between India and Australia can play in the political, economic and educational context.

realised that; and the strategic partnership was elevated to a strategic partnership in June after the Covid pandemic started.

The realisation that there is so much that both countries must and can do together, has been an impetus. So, the Covid pandemic has prompted this particular momentum in elevating the relationship.

How does India look at Australia in its foreign policy calculus especially, with the rise of the significance of the Quad in the recent times?

Do you think, due to the pandemic, Australia’s image has been impacted as far as it being sort of seen as a preferred destination for Indian students, given the restrictions of both inbound and outbound travel for various international students, more so for Indian students?

Well, we are comprehensive strategic partners since June 2020 and that was done with a great degree of expectation and hope, and the belief that Australia is a very right fit for India to elevate our relationship in the IndoPacific region. We are countries that think closely together; that share similar challenges and similar objectives because of our common values and approaches to the region and to the problems that we face over here. I think we have great expectations from our partnership with Australia.

Do you think the pandemic will prompt and has prompted both countries to realise that there is a need for deeper bilateral and diplomatic connections between both countries?

Indeed, both countries have

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Well, obviously the Indian students are disappointed that they have been away from campus for such a long time, and the fact is that since there is no real date when they can expect to be back, that is causing a lot of angst and anxiety. They are a bit worried about what happens to what they signed up for which was, in person, on-campus learning in Australia and that’s not happening. So, I hope very much that ways and means can be found by the universities, state governments and the federal government to come up with a solution, sooner rather than later.

There is a lot of frustration setting in now.

HE Manpreet Vohra with Dr Ram Mohan, Dr Ashutosh Misra, Mr Jim Varghese and Mr Shaun Star

Queensland has growing ties with India as far as trade and business are concerned and also, a growing Indian diaspora.

When can we expect an Indian Consulate in Brisbane?

Well, I think our Honorary Consul here, who has been around for a long time, is doing a fabulous job but if we find that a physical presence of a Consulate General is required, we shall certainly explore that suggestion. But at the moment, we are doing quite well and I am grateful to our Honorary Consul for all the efforts that she is putting in.

In your recent observation in the Indian Technology Hub Committee, you said, “There is a need for more action in business and trade while political and diplomatic relations have deepened considerably.” Could you please expand on that?

Yes, I do find that while the economic and trade relationship between India and Australia is quite sound, there is much more that can be done and the numbers can be far more attractive than they are at present, both for trade and investment. I find perhaps that not enough attention is being paid by individual business and corporate houses that actually take commercial decision on either side and, we collectively need to find ways to enthuse

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those business leaders to pay more attention to the other country and try and do clearly what is possible.

Why have we not been able to formalise the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement and how far are we from inking that?

Well, we engaged in a large number of rounds some years ago and made progress on that. Then, the negotiations got subsumed in the larger negotiations of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) of which both India and Australia were a part and so the bilateral part of it got subsumed, as I said.

Then, of course the RCEP did not work and turn out the way we had expected it to. So, then we had to walk away from that and not be a party to that following which, Australia has been very understanding of our position.

Now, there is a move again for a bilateral Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement between India and Australia. The two sides are talking about it and I hope that we can begin actual negotiations soon.

What are some of your priorities as the Indian High Commissioner to Australia?

More than one. But, certainly the economic part of our

relationship is a very high priority for me. I will certainly put it at the top of my agenda to find ways and means to do more.

I also feel that we can do a lot more in terms of educational partnerships. What I mean is, partnerships between academic institutions, universities, more exchanges between them, more collaborations and more joint research. I think there is much that can be done because the strengths of the Australian higher educational institutes and the Indian ones are very complementary. I believe that it can be a win-win if they synergise that. So, that would be another priority. A third priority would be to try and see how some very important research, innovation and invention that come out of Australian institutes and organisations can be monetized and commercialized using India as a springboard for the orders because if orders for those particular researches and inventions were to come from India, I think taking those inventions up to scale would be much easier and once again, that ought to be a very important and attractive idea for Australian organisations. So, I would hope to work with them to see how they can partner with Indian counterpart organisations and industry much more.

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INDIA NEWS

Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

BUSINESS & TRADE

Perpetual policy support from all sides Pulse production on needed for growth: RBI Governor the rise in India: Govt IANS

improving, but the underlying conditions are still weak. Further, aggregate supply is also lagging below pre-pandemic levels.

He was of the view that while several steps have been taken to ease supply constraints, more needs to be done to restore supply-demand balance in a number of sectors of the economy.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das

New Delhi, August 6 (IANS): Shaktikanta Das, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has stressed on continued policy support from all sides, including monetary and fiscal in order to enhance the nascent recovery that the economy is witnessing.

In a virtual address after the monetary policy committee's meeting, Das said that the outlook for aggregate demand is

The recent inflationary pressures are evoking concerns, but the current assessment is that these pressures are transitory and largely driven by adverse supply side factors, he said.

The Governor observed that the economy is in the midst of an extraordinary situation arising from the pandemic.

"The conduct of monetary policy during the pandemic has been geared to maintain congenial financial conditions that nurture and rejuvenate growth. At this

stage,therefore, continued policy support from all sides -- fiscal, monetary and sectoral -- is required to nurture the nascent and hesitant recovery."

To continue with its growth supporting stance, the RBI has retained its key short-term lending rates during the third monetary policy review of FY22.

Besides, the growth-oriented accommodative stance was retained to give a push to economic activity despite high retail inflation levels.

The Monetary Policy Committee of the central bank voted to maintain the repo rate, or shortterm lending rate, for commercial banks at 4 percent.

Likewise, the reverse repo rate was kept unchanged at 3.35 per cent, and the marginal standing facility rate and the 'Bank Rate' at 4.25 per cent.

New lockdowns affected business in India, claims Uber New Delhi, August 5 (IANS): As India went into lockdowns amid the lethal second Covid-19 wave in the April-June period, ridehailing major Uber saw a dip in its business, as mobility gross bookings went down significantly.

Overall, Uber's gross bookings reached $21.9 billion in the second quarter, up 114 per cent compared to the year-ago period, the company said in a statement late on August 4.

The company recorded Mobility Gross Bookings of $8.6 billion and Delivery Gross Bookings of $12.9 billion. Net income was $1.1 billion, including $272 million in stock-based compensation expenses, the company announced.

"APAC (Asia Pacific) was a mixed bag with New Zealand, Hong Kong and Japan growing versus July 2019, but India, Australia and Taiwan impacted by ongoing or

new lockdowns," said Nelson Chai, Chief Financial Officer at Uber, during the earnings call.

Several Indian states enforced lockdowns in the April-June period as a deadly Covid wave hit the country. Some states later relaxed the guidelines while others extended the lockdowns.

According to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, the good news is that drivers increasingly want to get back on the road.

"In June, 60 percent of inactive drivers told us they intend to start driving again within a month; that's up from 40 per cent in April. And 90 percent of drivers told us they expect to come back

by September," he said.

Khosrowshahi said that the company expects its growing 'New Verticals' business to increasingly benefit from, and contribute to its platform.

"Already, over 3 million consumers are ordering groceries, convenience items, alcohol and more on Uber's apps each month, and this is before we've even fully addressed the US opportunity," he informed.

Uber remains the largest global on-demand delivery platform outside of China, with more than 7,50,000 monthly active merchants on its platform.

"Our original goal was to exit this year with $100 million of ads runrate revenue, but we now expect to surpass that goal and end 2022 with at least $300 million in runrate revenues in high margin ads," the Uber CEO said.

"Our platform is getting stronger each quarter, with consumers who engage with both Mobility and Delivery now generating nearly half of our total company Gross Bookings," he added.

SC rules in favour of Amazon; emergency award enforceable in Indian law New Delhi, August 6 (IANS): In a major victory for Amazon, the Supreme Court on August 6 ruled in the favour of e-commerce giant in its dispute with Future Retail. The top court held that the emergency arbitrator award is enforceable in Indian law.

A bench headed by justice R.F. Nariman held that the emergency award passed under the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) rules can be enforced in India under Arbitration and Conciliation Act. The top court said: "Emergency arbitrator's award holds good under section 17(1) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act

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and a single judge's order for such award cannot be appealed under Section 17(2)".

On July 29, the Supreme Court had reserved the judgment on the pleas of e-commerce giant Amazon challenging the Rs 24,713 crore deal for merger of Future Retail Ltd (FRL) with Reliance Retail.

Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC and FRL have been locked in a bitter legal battle over the deal.

Amazon had argued that the Singapore's Emergency Arbitrator (EA) award, which restrained FRL from going ahead with the merger, was valid and

enforceable. Amazon had moved the apex court challenging the Delhi High Court's division bench order which gave a green signal to the Reliance-FRL deal.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, representing FRL, had contended there was no notion of EA under the Indian law on arbitration and conciliation and also, there was no arbitration agreement to this effect. Salve emphasized that there was no provision for EA under the Indian law.

On February 8, a Division Bench had stayed the single-judge direction to FRL and various statutory authorities to maintain the status quo on the deal.

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New Delhi, August 3 (IANS): The production of pulses has been increasing during the last three years (2018-19 to 2020-21) and the target for 2021-2022 has been set at 23 LMT (lakh million tonnes) from the 19.5 LMT for 2020-2021, the Parliament was informed on August 3.

The National Food Security Mission (NFSM)-Pulses programme is being implemented in 644 districts of 28 states and Union Territories (UTs) of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh to increase the production of pulses, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

Data from the government showed that all India production of pulses during 2016-17 to 202021 -- all numbers in '000 tonnes -- was 23,130.94 for 2016-17, 25,415.92 for 2017-18, 22,075.96 for 2018-19, 23,025.25 for 2019-20, and for 2020-21, it is projected at 25,575.69, as per the 3rd advance

estimates.

Various initiatives taken under NFSM include, among others, the Special Action Plan for increasing pulses productivity implemented during 2019-20, new intercropping of pulses with sugarcane scheme implemented in 12 states - Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand during 2018-19 and 2019-20, 150 Seed Hubs created at Indian Council of Agricultural Research institutes, state Agriculture Universities and Krishi Vigyan Kendras for increasing certified seeds production of pulses and distribution of seed mini-kits of pulses free of cost to the farmers of the varieties notified within 10 years.

The government also launched the Targeting Rice Fallow Area programme under NFSM in 11 states, the Minister said.

Indian Finance Ministry grants Rs 685.80 cr to urban local bodies New Delhi, August 5 (IANS): The Indian Finance Ministry has released an amount of Rs 685.80 crore to four states for providing grants to the urban local bodies (ULBs).

cities). Out of the 15th Finance Commission recommended grants for Non-Million Plus cities, 50 per cent is basic (untied) and the remaining 50 per cent is tied grant.

Out of this, an amount of Rs 494 crore has been released to Uttar Pradesh, Rs 110.20 crore to Gujarat, Rs 74.80 crore to Jharkhand and Rs.6.80 crore to Mizoram.

Basic grants (untied) can be utilised for location specific needs except for salary or other establishment expenditure. The tied grants are to be utilised for drinking water (including rainwater harvesting and recycling) and solid waste management.

Grants for ULBs have been released, as per the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission, for improving basic civic services including fulfilling location specific needs.

These grants are intended for smaller (Non-Million Plus) cities including cantonment boards.

The 15th Finance Commission has divided the urban local bodies into two categories: Million-Plus urban agglomerations/cities (excluding Delhi and Srinagar), and all other cities and towns with less than one million population (Non-Million Plus

The grants are meant to ensure provision of additional funds to urban local bodies over and above the funds allocated by the Centre and the state for sanitation and drinking water under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes.

The states are required to transfer the grants to the ULBs within 10 working days of receipt from the Union Government. Any delay beyond 10 working days requires the state governments to release the grants with interest.

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INDIA NEWS

Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

MAKE IN INDIA

India’s Rising Solar Sector

As world economies restart their engines in a bid to regain lost ground due to the Covid-19 pandemic, India too shows signs of economic buoyancy and promise. India’s Make in India initiative holds a key to the global economic revival, something that should interest Australian government ministries, corporate sector, entrepreneurs, institutions seeking R&D collaborations and Australia Inc in general, among others. India assumes greater importance as several major world economies including American, Japanese, German, British and South Korean look to move out and diversify their businesses from China. India has jumped to 63rd rank in the World Bank’s Ease of Development 2020 report, and has also been ranked as the 9th largest recipient of Foreign Direct Investment Destination in 2019 by the World Investment Report 2020 of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

By Kanika Verma and Arushi Agarwal

I

ndia experiences clear sunny weather for 250 to 300 days a year. This exposure to the sun is estimated to be worth 5,000 Tn Kilowatt Hour (kWh) of energy in a year over India’s land area, of which most parts receive 4-7 kWh per square metre (sq. m) each day. If India were to capture even a fraction of this energy potential, it could far exceed the energy demands of the country. Given India’s long sunny days and prevalent clear weather conditions, solar energy holds tremendous potential in and for India. As a pollutionfree clean energy with zero emissions, successful harnessing of solar power can be India’s answer to rural electrification, rapid urbanisation and grid -decentralisation.

The government of Prime Minister Modi has prioritised enhancing India's renewable energy capacity, and solar energy in particular. Rapid expansion of solar power in the country will help us in meeting the projected energy demand of 2,785 TWh by 2030.

This report is a deep dive into India’s solar sector and the opportunities it presents. While underscoring the advancements in India’s renewable energy sector, the report details the strength of the solar segment and its growing presence in India. It also provides briefs on the various central and state government schemes that have and continue to play an important role in expanding solar power generation in India.

Smart Agriculture in India Agriculture and allied sectors are the primary source of livelihood for nearly 55 per cent of India’s population (Census 2011) but accounted only for approximately 17.8 per cent of the country’s Gross Value Added in 2019-20.

The average size of farm holdings in the country are just over one hectare, with small and marginal farmers holding nearly 86 per

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cent of the total land holding.

Small holders find it particularly difficult to invest in expensive technologies and other inputs that would improve efficiency.

Additionally, the existence of many intermediaries across the value chain, challenges in access to credit and technology, limited sales channels, and lack of digital infrastructure have inhibited agricultural potential. With agricultural output being utilised as important input for various industries, including retail and e-commerce, the importance of agriculture and improving yields becomes all the more urgent.

These distinctive attributes of the agriculture sector in India have made it imperative to look towards policies that improve yield, simplify value chain networks, democratise digital infrastructure, and improve access to credit and insurance.

An important solution lies in the rapid adoption of AgriTech, defined here as technologies and tools that improve yield, efficiency, and profitability by leveraging Internet of Things (IoT), big data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), drones, and sensors in agricultural processes to track, monitor, automate and analyse. Dubbed broadly as ‘Smart Agriculture’, wherein emerging technologies are utilised to minimise the impact of the ‘unknown’ within agriculture.

For instance, weather, soil, and climatic conditions have historically been an important determinant of the agricultural processes in India. Using predictive technologies to detect erratic weather, sensors to map the specific type of climate and soil in an area, and ML algorithms that determine the appropriate crops based on this data, can substantially improve the quality and quantity of yield.

The improvements in the domain of agriculture over the recent years, especially Smart Agriculture in India during the last century or so,

have occurred hugely at the expense of exhaustive and unobstructed use of natural resources. While concern for the same was expressed much earlier, the technological advancements of the current epoch, such as those entailed within smart agriculture possess the true potential to navigate the agricultural domain on a path that is much less intrusive to the natural resources. These technological advancements (like Precision Farming) are largely dependent on an integrated system which is managed by software and driven by sensors at the backend. Furthermore, the continuous, rigorous, and robust monitoring and surveillance capabilities exhibited by drones and sensors largely surpass the once-in-a-while superficial inspections carried out manually.

This enhancement is especially relevant to monitoring of farmlands and the supervision of produce stored in warehouses.

This opportunity paper delves into the current agriculture scenario in India by discussing the persisting challenges on the demand and supply side of the AgriTech space. Being cognizant of the context within which the sector operates equips us to then think about the future of AgriTech in India. The report concludes by charting out a roadmap for the incorporation of smart agriculture in India, emphasising the need for a multi-stakeholder effort towards achieving this goal.

The roles of the government, private entities, and startups are discussed, and the necessity of a synergistic relationship between these players, as well as the farmers themselves. The paper also highlights certain potential solutions to the existing challenges in the sector, to start this important conversation, especially considering the novel challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic brings.

Source: Intelligent Farms: Opportunities, Obstacles and Ideas for Smart Agriculture in India Strategic Investment Research Unit (SIRU) KEY INITIATVES Accelerating Growth of New India’s Innovations (AGNIi) AGNIi helps commercialize Indian Innovative Technologies.

It convenes India's finest technologists and their deployment-ready technologies - from startups and laboratories - with top technology users from Indian and global enterprise,

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government, and non-profit sectors. We help those who have the technology, deliver it where it is needed. We help those who need technology, find it.

AGNIi is a programme of the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, a Mission under the Prime Minister's Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) and is executed at Invest India.

Bonded Manufacturing India allows manufacturing and other operations in a bonded manufacturing facility.

With the Government’s continuous efforts to promote India as the manufacturing hub globally and the commitment towards ease of doing business, another initiative in this direction by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes (CBIC) is allowing import of raw materials and capital goods without payment of duty for manufacturing and other operations in a bonded manufacturing facility.

When the raw materials or capital goods are imported, the import duty on them is deferred. If these imported inputs are utilised for exports, the deferred duty is exempted. Only when the finished goods are cleared to the domestic market, import duty is to be paid on the imported raw materials used in the production. Import duty on capital goods is to be paid if and when the capital goods are cleared to the domestic market.

Financial Investor’s Initiative India received $209 bn in private capital investments between 2014-2020; with inflows of $62.2 bn in 2020 in comparison to $592 bn institutional investment globally.

India focused funds have been able to generate higher returns at 14.4% when compared to other markets in Asia. Over the last five years, key sectors such as infrastructure, eCommerce and financial services have attracted the highest investment from institutional investors.

India Investment Grid India Investment Grid (IIG) is an initiative of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, and Invest India. IIG showcases the best of opportunities across states and sectors in India on a single dynamic platform. A tool to enhance the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB), IIG helps in directly connecting potential investors and promoters. IIG also

exclusively hosts the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), is a first-of-its-kind, whole-ofgovernment exercise to provide world-class infrastructure to citizens and improve their quality of life. It aims to improve project preparation and attract investments into infrastructure, with real-time tracking on the ground. The portal also hosts 3,000+ Stressed Assets projects and 750+ CSR opportunities, curated directly from states.

Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) The Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC), is an overarching Council that facilitates the Principal Scientific Adviser’s Office to assess the status in specific science and technology domains, comprehend challenges in hand, formulate specific interventions, develop a futuristic roadmap and advise the Prime Minister accordingly. The Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India coordinates to facilitate and ensure the implementation of significant interventions by concerned government departments, agencies, and ministries.

The PM-STIAC Secretariat is based at Invest India and provides support to the Office of the PSA on project management and monitoring of the aforesaid interventions and national missions.

Project Monitoring Group Project Monitoring Group (PMG) is an institutional mechanism for expedited resolution of issues and regulatory bottlenecks in projects with an investment of INR 500 crores and above in India. It was set up as a special cell in the Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India in 2013 and was subsequently brought under the administrative control of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in 2015. In February 2019, PMG was merged with Invest India, Department of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce.

PMG seeks to enlist unresolved project issues of all Public, Private and ‘Public–Private Partnership’ (PPP) Projects and undertakes fast-tracking of approvals, sectoral policy issues and removal of bottlenecks in expeditious commissioning.

(To be continued in the next issue) SOURCE: Invest India, National Investment Promotion & Facilitation Agency, Government of India

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INDIA NEWS

Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

HEALTH

No compromise on Covaxin Nutritional crisis during Covid will affect 9.3 mn children by 2022: Experts quality: Bharat Biotech IANS

Jaipur, August 4 (IANS): Addressing a webinar on ‘Fighting nutrition crisis in India during Covid-19, especially for women and children in India', several experts on August 4 raised concern over the adverse effects of the pandemic which are affecting millions of children and

women due to lack of intake of quality food and micronutrients.

inflammatory diseases, including pneumonia."

Speaking on the occasion, Sudhir Bhandari, Principal, SMS Medical College, Jaipur, said, "India initially faced physical challenges during Covid-19. However, over time, we realised how nutrition affected the lives of many. Around 9.3 million children would be affected by 2022 out of which 20-25 per cent might suffer due to stunted growth.”

"In countries with the 1st and 2nd waves of Covid-19, obesity and non-communicable diseases have been associated with the more severe outcome of the virus.

Covid-19 has had a severe effect on maternal and young children's nutritional status. We must strengthen the food security and functioning of the food supply chain to the population."

"Children experiencing undernutrition are more likely to suffer from pandemic complications as it may cause more sickness and mortality due to Covid-19 and other infectious and

Bhandari added that last year, almost 58 million children between the age group of 6 months and 23 months did not develop the right eating habits.

640 doctors in Indonesia succumb to Covid Jakarta, August 5 (IANS): At least 640 doctors in Indonesia have died of Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic in March last year, authorities said.

It added that the majority of doctors who died of Covid-19 were men totalling 535 or 83.6 per cent, and 105 or 16.4 percent were women.

The Indonesian Medical Association said on August 4 that among the 640 victims, 347 were general practitioners, 284 were specialists and nine were resident doctors, reports Xinhua news agency.

The highest number of doctors who died of the disease occurred in July this year, totalling 199 when hospitals were overwhelmed by a surge in cases due to the appearance of the more infectious Delta variant, followed by January

Washington, August 6 (IANS): The global coronavirus caseload has topped 200.7 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.26 million and vaccinations soared to over 4.30 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

toll and vaccination tally stood at 200,799,056, 4,266,201 and 4,305,633,910, respectively.

2021 (65), December 2020 (59), and June 2021 (52).

The province with the highest number of doctor deaths is East Java (140), followed by Central Java (96), Jakarta (94), and West Java (94).

Hyderabad, August 5 (IANS): Amid concerns in some quarters about the safety of Covaxin, Bharat Biotech has clarified that its Covid-19 vaccine is totally safe and that it is following uncompromising policy on safety and quality.

The Hyderabad-based company's clarification came in view of certain media and social media reports.

The vaccine maker stated that as of date, all batches of Covaxin were manufactured and released from its manufacturing facilities at Genome Valley, Hyderabad, which are fully audited and approved by regulatory authorities.

"Every batch of Covaxin is subjected to more than 200 quality control tests at our facilities, followed by submission samples to the Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL), Government

of India; only based on approval/ release by CDL, are batches released commercially," it said.

The company said since early June, manufacturing of Covaxin commenced at its sites at Malur, Karnataka, and Ankleshwar, Gujarat, prior to which engineering batches were also executed to study equipment functionality.

"Products manufactured from these facilities will be available for supplies during September. This is based on our 120-day timeline for manufacturing, testing, release, regulatory approvals, and distribution," it said.

The clarification came after Covid task force member N.K. Arora told a television channel that the supply of Covaxin has been slowed down because the first few batches at the company's newest facility in Bengaluru were not of the right quality.

Indonesia has so far reported 3,082,410 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with 80,598 deaths.

Global Covid-19 caseload crosses 200.7 million In its latest update on August 6 morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death

The US continues to be the worsthit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 35,433,677 and 615,314, respectively, according to the CSSE. In terms of infections, India follows in second place with 31,812,114 cases.

The other worst countries with over 3 million cases are Brazil (20,066,587), France (6,298,649), Russia (6,296,570), the UK (6,010,848), Turkey (5,822,487), Argentina (4,989,402), Colombia (4,821,603), Spain (4,566,571), Italy (4,377,188), Iran (4,057,758), Germany (3,789,460) and Indonesia (3,568,331), the CSSE figures showed.

In terms of deaths, Brazil comes second with 560,706 fatalities.

Covid probable cause of sharp drop in NZ marriages Wellington, August 5 (IANS): The number of marriages, civil unions, and divorces in New Zealand fell sharply in 2020 likely to be caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the country's statistics department, Stats NZ said on August 5.

"Last year, 16,779 New Zealand residents celebrated a marriage or civil union," Xinhua news agency quoted Stats NZ population estimates and projections manager, Hamish Slack as saying in a statement.

"Marriages and civil unions have decreased over the last couple of years, down from 19,071 in 2019 and 20,949 in 2018, but with a sharper drop in 2020 than in previous years, likely due to the Covid-19 pandemic," Slack said.

There was a noticeable drop in marriages coinciding with Covid-19 alert level 4 when people are required to stay at home or

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move within 2 km from home to prevent community transmission of the virus, he said.

During the second quarter (April-June 2020) there were only 1,278 marriages and civil unions, compared with 3,957 in 2019.

However, during the other three quarters there were slightly more marriages per quarter in 2020 compared with 2019, Slack added.

The rate of marriages per 1,000 people eligible to marry has dropped to its lowest rate of 8.3 in 2020.

This is likely the result of the drop in number of marriages and the continuing population increase, Slack said.

The peak marriage rate was in 1971 with 45.5 couples tying the knot per 1,000 eligible people, and it has been trending downwards since, he said.

Married couples in New Zealand

are required to be separated for at least two years prior to applying for a divorce, which means the effect of Covid-19 on divorces cannot be determined yet, Slack said.

After a rise in the number of couples being granted a divorce in 2019, which was 8,388 divorces, compared with 7,455 in 2018, the number dropped to 7,707 in 2020.

In 2020 the divorce rate was 7.6 per 1,000 married couples, compared with an average of 8.4 over the previous five years, Stats NZ said.

The impact of Covid-19 border closures was reflected in the sharp drop in marriages and civil unions for overseas residents in New Zealand.

In 2020, only 1,248 marriages and civil unions were registered to overseas residents, down from 2,889 in 2019 and 3,120 in 2018, it said.

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Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

INDIA NEWS

ENERGY & RESOURCES

SAARC nations join hands to reduce Indian researchers work producing hydrogen climate change impact on fisheries on from water using magnets IANS

there are scientific gaps inhibiting the implementation of rules and regulations for sustainable management of fisheries and aquaculture.

"Some possible solutions can be looked upon in satellite remote sensing, numerical modelling, stakeholder perception, prioritisation of spatial sensitivity to ecosystems and many more with right interference from the stakeholders," he said.

Kochi, August 5 (IANS): In a bid to reduce impact of climate crisis on aquaculture and fisheries, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries have sought to join hands to implement strategies for battling the phenomenon's fallout on the sector.

aquaculture production, environmental disruption in aquatic ecosystems and its rippling effect on livelihood of the stakeholders, owing to climate change and associated developments.

This was the outcome of a twoday online consultative meeting of fishery scientists from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bhutan held by the SAARC Agriculture Centre (SAC) as experts identified the climate crisis as a major concern in the aquaculture and fisheries sector in the region's countries.

They suggested that technologies of seaweed farming and integrated multi-trophic aquaculture, including cage fish farming could be adopted to reduce the impact of the crisis, to a certain extent. Besides, the sector could use 'green fishing vessels' with built-in design features for energy saving and fuel saving technologies to reduce carbon emission.

At the meeting, participants felt the urgent need for implementing strategies such as introduction of climate-friendly technologies in fisheries and aquaculture as well as measures for sustainable utilisation of resources.

SAC Director M. Baktear Hossain said the member countries have demanded regional cooperation and a platform for cross-learning and knowledge sharing to check the fallouts in the best possible way in the time of climate change.

Experts voiced concern over dwindling marine catch and

SAC Senior Programme Specialist, Grinson George, said

ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute Principal Scientist Prathibha Rohit, while presenting India's status report about the sector, said mariculture sector (cage farming, seaweed farming, mussel culture) needed comprehensive development in the areas of leasing policies and hatchery development.

"Inadequate infrastructure especially in fishing harbours, cold chain and distribution system, limited scope for expansion due to overcapacities in territorial waters, deficiencies in processing and value addition, depleted stocks in inland water bodies, low adoption of technologies and shortage of skilled manpower are some of the gaps in the sector in the country," said Rohit.

SAC is the first regional Centre established by the SAARC and is located in Dhaka. It started functioning in 1988 with a mandate for information management, primarily in the field of agriculture and allied disciplines.

New Delhi, August 4 (IANS): Indian researchers have come up with an innovative hydrogen manufacturing route which increases its production three times and lowers the energy required that could pave the path towards environment-friendly hydrogen fuel at a lower cost.

As a fuel, hydrogen has a critical role to play in driving the paradigm shift towards a green and sustainable economy.

In addition to having about three-fold higher calorific value compared to non-renewable energy sources such as coal and gasoline, the combustion of hydrogen to release energy produces water and is thus completely non-polluting.

Due to the extremely low abundance of molecular hydrogen in the earth's atmosphere (350 ppbv), electric-field driven breakdown of water is an attractive route for production of hydrogen.

However, such electrolysis requires high energy input and is associated with a slow rate of hydrogen production. The

New Delhi, August 4 (IANS): The Lok Sabha on August 4 passed a Bill that seeks to set up the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas for better coordination, research, identification and resolution of problems surrounding the air quality index.

Administrative orders and court committees were generally deployed to deal with the air pollution problem in the National Capital Region and even then,

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Delhi being a landlocked state, the sources of air pollution comprise factors beyond the local municipal and local government limits. Agricultural activities, majorly straw burning, brick kilns, thermal plants, transport and industry apart from construction in Delhi and NCR areas all contribute to the air pollution but several of these are non-local sources.

the air quality remained a major cause of concern, especially in winters, he said.

The Centre had brought out an ordinance for setting up a Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas last year but it had lapsed in March this year. A similar ordinance was promulgated on April 13, 2021, and the Bill, to replace this ordinance, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 30.

The ordinance first, and now the Bill, take into cognizance the air shed approach as the government realised that Delhi's air cannot be managed by activities confined to Delhi, it must be an air shed approach.

The government said that it was noticed that there is lack of a permanent, dedicated and participative mechanism adopting a collaborative and participatory approach involving relevant Central ministries, state governments, local bodies, and other stakeholders to tackle air pollution in the National Capital Region and its adjoining areas.

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A team of researchers from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, led by C. Subramaniam, have come up with an innovative route that provides viable solutions to all these challenges.

It involves electrolysis of water in the presence of an external magnetic field.

In this method, the same system that produces 1 ml of hydrogen gas requires 19 percent lower energy to produce 3 ml of hydrogen at the same time. This is achieved by synergistically coupling the electric and magnetic fields at the catalytic site, the scientists explained.

Indian power market trades 7322 million units in July achieving 37% growth Sify.com

Bill for Commission for Air Quality Management passed in Indian parliament The Financial Express

use of expensive platinum and iridium-based catalysts also discourages its wide-spread commercialisation. Therefore, the transition to 'greenhydrogen-economy' demands approaches that lower the energy and material costs and simultaneously improve the hydrogen production rate, said a release from the Department of Science and Technology (DST) under the Ministry of Science and Technology.

New Delhi, August 5 (IANS): In a sign that economic activity is fast returning to normal levels after getting badly affected during the peak of second wave in April-May period, India’s largest power exchange, Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) has reported a 37 per cent growth in the volume of electricity traded at the exchange in July, 2021.

The total volume of electricity traded at the exchange stood at 7322 million units in July 2021, 37 per cent higher than the same month last year. Along with a pick up in economic activity, competitive power prices coupled with flexible procurement and a diverse spectrum of market segments have enabled the exchange to increase trading of electricity. Besides, the exchange is also providing participants the opportunity to accrue significant financial savings by securing electricity from the platform.

According to the power demand data published by the National Load Dispatch Center, the national peak demand on July 7 at 200.6 GW was the highest ever, registering a 17.6 percent YoY increase while the energy consumption at 125.5 BU grew 10.6 per cent on a YoY basis. During July, India's manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to a 3-month high at 55.3. With easing of lockdown restrictions, economic activities as well as power consumption accelerated.

While the increase in power demand has been contributing to the electricity volume growth at IEX, the Exchange's role as the most flexible, competitive and transparent platform for power procurement for the distribution utilities and industries has been the most key aspect towards its increasing role and impact.

The cross-border electricity trade under day-ahead market saw 72 million units volume traded and registered 68.4 per cent MoM increase. Currently, Nepal is the only participating country in IEX CBET market while other South Asian countries like Bangladesh and Bhutan, are expected to join the platform shortly.

The term-ahead market comprising intraday, contingency, daily and weekly contracts traded 761 million units during the month recording 11 times growth.

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Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

INDIA NEWS

ADVERTORIAL

Bravus extends support to RACQ CQ Rescue Helicopter area to the hospital in Mackay in a little over an hour compared to nearly four hours by road.

“We’re proud to contribute to the service that provides so much for regional Queensland,” she said.

RACQ CQ Rescue is community funded, and services an area four times the size of Tasmania with round-the-clock operations 365 days a year.

RACQ CQ Rescue CEO Ian Rowan said the community was indebted to Bravus which had committed to donating $50,000 to the not-for-profit service, which was absolutely vital to the sick and injured within Central and Northern Queensland.

“We are incredibly fortunate to have such vital support from a high-profile partner which ensures we can have a world-class aeromedical helicopter service on our doorstep and available anywhere, anytime throughout Central Queensland,” Mr Rowan said.

Brisbane, August 3: Bravus Mining & Resources were in Mackay recently celebrating its continued support for RACQ CQ Rescue Helicopter, with more than $100,000 donated to the service since construction on the Carmichael mine and rail Project commenced.

Bravus Mining and Resources Head and Communications and

Community Head Kate Campbell said the company was proud to support the service, which provides a lifeline to people in northern and central Queensland.

“Regional and rural communities throughout central Queensland rely on RACQ CQ Rescue Helicopter to respond to emergencies when distances or locations are challenging and our

Project is no exception to this,” Ms Campbell said.

“RACQ CQ Rescue Helicopter has provided life saving services to some of our people and contractors when they have been in need throughout construction of our Project and we’re extremely grateful for their support.

“The RACQ CQ Rescue team can get a patient from the Clermont

“RACQ CQ Rescue is a vital part of emergency support for all workers in this region and it’s reassuring to know organisations like Bravus appreciate the value of supporting our helicopter rescue service and that with their commitment we can continue to provide our vital, lifesaving service to anyone in a time of crisis,” he said.

Bravus Mining and Resources is also pleased to once again sponsor the RACQ CQ Rescue Helicopter Gala Dinner on 20 August this year and Bravus has also donated a signed 2021 Cowboys jersey to be auctioned on the night.

Since construction has commenced on the Carmichael Project, Bravus has donated and partnered with nearly 100 community organisations across north and central Queensland, contributing more than $1.5 million dollars to date.to date.

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And that’s just the start. For more than three decades the Adani Group has positioned itself as the market leader in its transport logistics and energy utility portfolio businesses focusing on large scale infrastructure development in India and we’re excited to contribute to India’s next phase of growth.

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INDIA NEWS

Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

The Subedar who took Tokyo by storm

The Print

Pak javelin thrower Nadeem congratulates role model Chopra Tokyo, Aug 7: Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem, who finished fifth in Olympic men's javelin throw, congratulated India's Neeraj Chopra on winning gold medal in Saturday's competition and also apologised to his nation for not fulfulling their hopes of a medal.

Nadeem was Pakistan's biggest medal hope at the Olympics but his best throw of 84.62 wasn't good enough for a medal. Chopra won gold with a best throw of 87.58. The silver and bronze medals went to Czech Republic while the fourth place went to

New Delhi, Aug 7: Neeraj Chopra (23) on Saturday created history by winning India's first Olympic gold medal in athletics on the penultimate day of the Tokyo Games.

The Haryana athlete, who is a Subedar with 4 Rajputana Rifles in the Indian Army, clinched the gold in javelin throw with an attempt of 87.58 metres, becoming only the second Indian after Abhinav Bindra to win an individual gold medal at the Olympics, and the first athlete in Independent India to win a medal in a track & field event at the quadrangular event, the Indian Army said.

Chopra was born on December 24, 1997 into a family of farmers in the small village of Khandar in Panipat district in Haryana.

His father, Satish Kumar, is a farmer and mother, Saroj Devi, is a housewife. He grew up along

with his two sisters.

Chopra took to javelin throw to reduce his weight and he quickly took a liking for the sport. The rest is now history.

He came into prominence with his performance at the U-20 World Championship in Poland in 2016 where he set a new junior world record with a throw of 86.48m. He then won the Asian Championship in 2017 in Bhubaneswar with a throw of 85.23m.

Neeraj then started training under the legendary Uwe Hohn of Germany and won the gold in Commonwealth Games in 2018 with a throw of 86.47m before throwing his personal best of 87.43m in the Doha leg of Diamond League in the same year. He also won gold at the Asian Games in 2018 with a throw of 88.06m.

Rajputana Rifles as a direct entry Naib Subedar on May 15, 2016.

After joining the Indian Army, he was selected for training in the Mission Olympics Wing and Army Sports Institute, Pune.

Dahiya, who had reached the final by beating Nurislam Sanayev of Kazakhstan with a last-minute fall in the semifinal, found Uguev,

India has won five medals, including two silver, at the Tokyo Olympics so far.

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Dahiya won India's second silver medal in Olympic wrestling after Sushil Kumar who won in 66kg freestyle in the London Olympics in 2012.

Prior to the competition, he had tweeted a picture of himself and Chopra at the podium of the 2018 Asian Games where the Indian won gold and the Pakistani won bronze.

Boxer Lovlina Borgohain bags bronze after losing semifinal bout

India Tv

Subedar Chopra's medal highlights the hard work and efforts of Mission Olympics Wing.

Chopra was conferred with the Arjuna Award in 2018 and the Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) in 2020 for his excellence in sports.

Bhubaneswar, Aug 5: When India won the hockey bronze in Tokyo, many praised Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who was the goalkeeper of Doon School hockey team, for singularly supporting the Indian team since 2018.

a two-time world champion, too strong and too determined to win the gold. The Russian won early points and then defended strongly, without giving Dahiya many chances.

"Congratulations to #NeerajChopra for winning first place [emoticon: gold medal] #JavelinThrow competition in #TokyoOlympics," tweeted the 24-year-old Nadeem who considers 23-year-old Chopra as his role medal.

Mission Olympics Wing has given two Olympic silver medals in shooting to the nation and is committed for many more.

TOI

Tokyo, Aug 5: Indian wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya fought a brave bout but could not overcome the Russian Olympic Committee's (ROC) Zavur Uguev in the final of the men's freestyle 57kg at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday.

The 23-year-old Indian had to settle for a silver medal as the ROC wrestler won the bout 7-4 on points.

Germany.

Mission Olympics Wing is a premier initiative of Indian Army to identify and train elite sportsmen in 11 selected disciplines at five Mission Olympics Nodes to excel in various national and international competitions.

Once Doon Wrestler Dahiya loses in final, School goalie, bags silver in 57kg freestyle Odisha CM stands tall for hockey in India Chopra was enrolled in 4

SPORTS

When Sahara backed out from sponsoring the national men's and women's hockey teams, it was the Odisha government led by Patnaik that decided to sponsor both for the next five years.

At that time, many expressed surprise over this move.

Patnaik had then said, "Investment in sports is an investment in youth. Investment in youth is an investment in the future." This statement has become a campaigning slogan for the development of sports in the state.

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Tokyo, Aug 4: Boxer Lovlina Borgohain became the third Indian athlete at the Tokyo Olympics after weightlifter Mirabai Chanu and shuttler PV Sindhu to clinch a medal -- a bronze -- after she lost her welterweight semifinal bout to Turkey's BusenazSurmeneli at the RyogokuKokugikan Arena on Wednesday.

India have now bettered their 2016 Rio Olympic Games tally by clinching a silver and two bronze in Tokyo.

The 23-year-old from Golaghat district of Assam lost her 64/69kg category last-four bout in a unanimous decision to Busenaz, who is among the best in the business and is ranked No. 1 here.

Lovlina also became the third boxer to win a medal at the Olympics for India after Vijender Singh and MC Mary Kom's bronze at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics respectively.

Lovlina had already assured India of its first boxing medal from the Tokyo Olympics when she defeated former world champion and fourth seed Chen NienChin of Chinese Taipei 4-1 in the quarterfinals. Earlier, she had beaten Germany's Nadine Apetz 3-2 in the pre-quarterfinals.

Busenaz, the 2019 world champion fighting from the red corner, was attacking from the

word go. She was punching well from both sides and landed her left hook easily. Lovlina started well too but became defensive midway. Though she made a late surge to get points, Busenaz won the first round, with the judges giving her five 10s.

In the second round, Lovlina was quick on the attack. But Busenaz continued to be proactive in the ring. Both pugilists landed continuous punches but the Turkish boxer won the second round. Lovlina had five 9s from the judges, but got a deduction of one point for punching after the referee had closed the second round.

The final round saw Lovlina trying to bridge the gap with body punches. But Busenaz started to avoid her punches and landed a left hook followed by an uppercut.

Lovlina punched non-stop till the end, but it was too late to make a turnaround against Busenaz's persistent attack.

Busenaz let out a scream when the final bell rang. The 23-yearold knew she was the more dominant and superior boxer on show. She now advances to the gold-medal bout, where she will be up against China's Gu Hong.

Lovlina's loss in the semifinals brings India's campaign in boxing at the Tokyo Olympics to an end.

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SPORTS

Olympic hockey: Indian women go down PM names Khel Ratna 4-3 to Great Britain, miss bronze medal Award after hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand Inside Sports

world.

On Friday, India came up with another brilliant performance, proving that their storming run into the semifinals was no flash in the pan.

The Indians played their hearts out, fought back from a two-goal deficit to take the lead but only to see Great Britain come back in the third and fourth quarters to emerge winner and claim the bronze medal, their third medal in three Olympic Games starting from London 2012.

Tokyo, Aug 6: There was no fairy-tale ending for the Indian women's hockey team as its dream of winning a bronze in their maiden entry into the medal round came crashing down in a 4-3 defeat to Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympic Games on Friday.

The unheralded Indians made an unexpected run into the medal

round, winning two matches and beating world No. 2 Australia in the quarterfinals. They lost to the higher-rated Argentina and went down narrowly to Great Britain, but they went out with heads held high as Rani Rampal's team played with determination and nearly upset the order in a competition that they entered as the ninth-ranked team in the

Gurjit Kaur's (25th min, 26th min) brace of goals and a superb field goal by Vandana Katariya (29th min) went in vain as Great Britain struck through Elen Rayer (16th min), Sarah Robertson (24th min), Hottie Webb Pearne (35th min) and Grace Balsdon (48th min) to seal the victory.

India thus equaled its bestever finish in the 1980 Moscow Olympics when women's hockey made its debut.

PV Sindhu beats He Bingjiao to win women's singles bronze

TOI

11-8 with a straight smash down the line.

Post the break, Sindhu started to dictate terms, snatching three points. The rallies were intense but Sindhu's aggressive play didn't wane. All of this, combined with her fierce power, clearly rattled He who lost the opening game in 23 minutes.

Tokyo, Aug 1: Indian shuttler PV Sindhu won the women's singles bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday defeating China's He Bingjiao 21-13, 21-15 at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza to add a second medal to India's tally at the Games.

With Sindhu's bronze, India have now equalled their tally of 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

It was Sindhu's second medal at the Olympics after she bagged a

silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

She also became the first Indian woman to win two Olympics medals. Before her feat, wrestler Sushil Kumar was the only Indian to win two medals at successive Olympics.

Sindhu's first point in the match came with a 22-shot rally running for 27 seconds. She rose to take a quick 4-0 lead before the lefthanded He levelled at 5-5. Sindhu stormed to a mid-game lead of

In the second game, Sindhu didn't loosen her grip. She continued to dominate her Chinese opponent and took an early 4-1 lead. He tried to claw back with long smashes and engaged Sindhu in net play. But the Chinese was clearly struggling with the drift, which led her to commit errors.

For Sindhu, it has been a resounding campaign at the Olympics. She topped Group J and did not drop a single game in her winning matches except for the semifinal defeat to Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei.

But she recovered well to outclass He in straight games.

New Delhi, Aug 6: Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted on Friday that he was naming the nation's highest award for sports in response to "many requests from citizens across India". It will now be called Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award after the hockey wizard who won three Olympic gold medals for India from 1928 to 1936.

Instituted in 1991-92, the Khel Ratna Award was named after the late former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, and India's chess prodigy Viswanathan Anand was its first recipient.

Some of its notable recipients are baize sport exponents Geet Sethi and Pankaj Advani, boxer MC Mary Kom, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, shooters Abhinav Bindra and Vijay Kumar, shuttler PV Sindhu and wrestler Sushil Kumar.

The Award is administered by the Sports Ministry and given away every year at a special function by the President of India at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

PM Modi's move has followed the outpouring of positive public sentiments after the superb showing of the Indian men's and women's hockey teams at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

On Thursday, Manpreet Singhled men's hockey team won a medal -- bronze -- at the quadrennial showpiece after more four decades. The women's team fought tooth and nail before losing to Great Britain 3-4 in the bronze-medal match on Friday.

The Indian women's hockey team had defeated world No. 2 Australia in the quarterfinals, but went down to Argentina in the

semifinals and played for bronze against Great Britain on Friday.

"I have been getting many requests from citizens across India to name the Khel Ratna Award after Major Dhyan Chand.

I thank them for their views.

Respecting their sentiment, the Khel Ratna Award will hereby be called the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award! Jai Hind!" tweeted the PM. Soon after the women's team lost the bronze-medal match, PM Modi tweeted, "We narrowly missed a medal in Women's Hockey but this team reflects the spirit of New India -- where we give our best and scale new frontiers. More importantly, their success at #Tokyo2020 will motivate young daughters of India to take up Hockey and excel in it. Proud of this team."

Retweeting PM Modi's announcement about the Khel Ratna being named Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur said, "Major Dhyan Chand is India's most legendary & loved sporting icons; it is only befitting that India's Highest Sporting Honour be named after him. His life and achievements have inspired generations of sportspersons who have achieved glory for India."

Soon after the conclusion of women's hockey match, Thakur tweeted, "India's daughters -- our determined athletes; we are immensely proud of you!

A giant leap of faith & fighting spirit by our women's hockey team; a legacy that will inspire us to do even better! You have shown us the way. #Tokyo2020 #TeamIndia."

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Bajrang wins bronze beating two-time World Championships medalist Tokyo, Aug 7: Bajrang Punia on Saturday added another chapter to India's glorious history in wrestling history by winning the bronze medal in men's freestyle 65kg, beating Niyazbekov of Kazakhstan 8-0 on points for his first medal at the Olympics.

Bajrang, who had lost to Haji Aliyev of Azerbaijan in the semifinals on Friday, came up with a tactical bout as he took early lead in the first period and capitalised with counterattacks when his Kazakh rival, a twotime medallist at the World

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Championships, went on the attack.

The 27-year-old Punia's bronze medal took India's tally in the Tokyo Olympics to six medals -two silver and four bronze. Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra later added a gold to the tally to make it seven medals.

Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu (silver), wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya (silver), shutter PV Sindhu (bronze), boxer Lovlina Borgohain (bronze) and the men's hockey team (bronze) are the other medallists for India at Tokyo.

This was India's seventh medal in wrestling -- two silver and five bronze medals. Sushil Kumar (London 2012) and Ravi Kumar Dahiya (Tokyo 2020) won the silver medals, while KD Jadhav (Helsinki 1952), Sushil Kuamr (Beijing 2008), Yogeshwar Dutt (London 2012), Sakshi Malik (Rio 2016) and Bajrang Punia (Tokyo 2020) bagged the bronze medals.

Punia's bout also brought to an end India's campaign in wrestling as they ended with a silver and bronze medal, the same as London in 2012.

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Punia, who had opted out of the London Olympics in favour of his mentor Yogeshwar Dutta, finally claimed his first medal in his maiden Olympics, beating Niyazbekov comfortably at the Makuhari Messe Hall on Saturday.

Both wrestlers started the bout cautiously -- Punia a bit circumspect because he had lost to Niyazbekov in the 2019 World Championships semifinals.

However, it was the grappler from Haryana who scored the first point through a passivity penalty on Niyazbekov, who had suffered

another heartbreak as he had lost the bronze medal match in 2012.

The Kazakh tried hard to erase the deficit quickly and had Punia on the back foot but the Indian defended well to avert the danger.

Punia doubled his lead just before the end of the first period when he pushed his opponent out of bounds.

Punia could not have defended in the second period because the lead was too less. He dominated the final period and bagged six points, thus sealing the bronze medal.

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Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

INDIA NEWS

Letters between Srinagar, Delhi highlight complex realities confronting 2 teenagers IANS

T

wo teenaged girls, one in Srinagar and the other in New Delhi, set out to be pen-pals and over the years this has blossomed into an abiding friendship that contextualizes their lives and attempts to bring out the complex realities that confront them.

The letters "bring together two teenagers growing up in very different circumstances and amongst polarising opinions.

Duaa in Srinagar and Saumya in Delhi start writing letters to each other when they are barely 15, an age when young minds are open and inquisitive. It helps them have frank conversations and candidly ask each other searching questions. From internet shutdowns, to stone-pelting and even the call for 'azadi', they move easily between discussing their favourite music bands to the most contentious issues" BBC journalist Divya Arya , who kick-started the letter-writing project and has now encapsulated the outcome in a book, "Post Box Kashmir" (Duckbill-Penguin), told IANS in an interview.

Like Anne Frank's letters, the book, set against the backdrop of the political history and turbulence of Kashmir provides an insight into the minds and hearts of teenage girls undergoing momentous points in history. The answers they seek are likely to be the answers that all teenagers

the young girls reach out to each other. Duaa writes at length about her life's experiences of Hindu-Muslim brotherhood.

While Saumya tells her that their friendship makes her comfortable to ask questions about identity and religion that she would not speak with any of her other Muslim friends.

growing up in India would ask.

Do only Muslims live in Kashmir?

Why do girls in Kashmir do stone pelting? Whom do they want freedom from? Can you imagine being confined to the four walls of your home with no internet, no social media? Are Kashmiris really invisible to the rest of the country?

These are some of the questions Saumya in Delhi and Duaa in Kashmir asked through letters they exchanged over almost three years.

"Postbox Kashmir" takes on the challenging task of attempting to portray life in Kashmir from the perspective of the young minds growing inside it and providing a context of understanding for the young generation watching it from the outside.

"Letters, the old school form of communication, play a crucial role in this project. It brings in time and distance. The teenagers are not reactionary.

Their responses are considered and empathetic. Their probing questions are framed with care.

Strangers before they were brought together for the project, they are now friends," Arya said.

"This journey between a young Hindu girl in Delhi and a Muslim teenager in Srinagar will surprise some people. Unlike the popular perception of anger and hostility,

"The period right after the abrogation of Article 370 brings a complete halt to any communication between Duaa and Saumya. A few months later, as the telecommunication shutdown eases, they start writing again. This time Saumya is the one answering questions as Duaa feels cut-off from the rest of the country during one of the longest internet shutdowns," Arya added.

The book is also the journey of the teenagers evolving into two young women.

"It contextualizes their lives and attempts to bring out the complex realities that confront them. The pen-pals letters bring a crucial lens often missed in discussing geo-politics. A reflection and reminder of the impact of conflict on young people and the need to have open conversations," Arya explained.

Divya Arya has been telling people's stories for almost two decades now. An awardwinning journalist, she has also presented the global news programme OS on BBC World Service radio from its London newsroom and launched the chat show "WorklifeIndia" on BBC World News TV from Delhi.

Arya is the first journalist from India to be chosen as a KnightWallace Fellow at the University of Michigan. Her research was published in the collection of essays, "Breaching the Citadel".

ART & LITERATURE

Javed Akhtar: Heartening to see youth embracing beauty of 'shayari'

IANS

A

s the unique show on poetry 'India Shayari Project' will be launched on August 15, iconic poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar shares his view on how he is so impressed to observe the younger generation that is keen to understand the beauty and nuances of the beautiful spoken word form called poetry.

Talking about the launch of the show, Akhtar said, "India has been a country of many great poets and 'Shayars'. It is heartening to see the youth wanting to embrace and understand the beauty and nuances of the spoken word.

Poetry gives you space and platform to represent yourself in your most authentic way and with

social media, it has been amazing to see it fast becoming the tool and power for the youth to express these times of dynamism, of a society in a kind of upheaval, in myriad ways. It is always a pleasure to be a part of something innovative as 'Shayari' as that is my passion and the essence of who I am and I am elated to associate with India Shayari Project."

India Shayari Project (ISP) will be launched on ZEE5 with Kausar Munir, Kumar Vishwas, and Zakir Khan.

These stalwarts will be sharing their views on what freedom means to them via poetry and 'shayari'.

Dogri poet Padma Sachdev no more The Economics Times

Penguin to publish Kunal Basu's new book 'In An Ideal World' IANS

P

enguin Random House India is to publish renowned novelist Kunal Basus new work of fiction titled "In An Ideal World".

The author of several acclaimed novels, Basu's short story, "The Japanese Wife", has been made into a similarly-titled award winning film directed by Aparna Sen that stars Rahul Bose, Raima Sen and Moushmi Chatterjee, and Japanese actress Chigusa Takaku in the title role,.

"In An Ideal World" is a powerful, gritty and fast-paced literary novel that explores a variety of themes relevant to the current times-college politics, family, crime investigation and fanaticism.

The story revolves around the disappearance of a member of the Liberal party of a college who is missing for months. The

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prime suspect of this abduction is the leader of the Nationalist group of the same college.

Thus begins the mission of the parents of the suspect, who find themselves caught between rumours, religions and riots, while they attempt to uncover this mysterious disappearance and absolve the son they raised and believe in. This investigation leads to surprising results.

Commenting on the book, Basu said: "I am deeply pleased that Penguin Random House will be the custodian of my new novel about a fractured land with a fractured heart."

Executive Editor at Penguin Random House India, Premanka Goswami, said: "Kunal Basu is a brilliant chronicler of our times.

His fiction often opens a window to the many issues that influence us every day. Sarojini's Mother',

C which we brought out in early 2020, was greatly appreciated by a wide spectrum of readers. We're thrilled to acquire Kunal's new book."

Aparna Kumar, Editor at Penguin Random House India, said: "Kunal Basu's new book is thoughtprovoking and brilliant, but most importantly, it is very pertinent in today's world as it reiterates the message that there is only loss and destruction in the face of hatred and fanaticism-something we must remind ourselves every day."

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onsidered the first modern poet of Dogri language, Padma Sachdev (81), originally from Jammu passed away on Wednesday in Mumbai.

Known for catapulting Dogri poetry to new heights, Sachdev, recipient of almost all major literary awards including the Sahitya Akademi award for her poetry book 'Meri Kavita, Mere Geet', Padma Shri and the Saraswati Samman for her autobiography 'Boond Bawri', received the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship for lifetime achievement. Not just Dogri, she wrote poems, short stories and novels in Hindi too.

Mangeshkar's first Dogri music album. Mangeshkar wrote on a social media handle: "We were old friends and our families had close relations. I have beautiful memories of Padma. This is a very sad day for me."

Born in Jammu's Purmandal, she was the eldest of the three children of Sanskrit scholar Jai Dev Babu. She also wrote lyrics for a few songs in films including 'Prem Parbat' and 'Aankkhin Dekhi'. The poet, who worked for All India Radio in Jammu and Mumbai shifted to New Delhi and Mumbai after marrying singer Surinder Singh, part of the famous Singh Bandhu duo.

In fact, she had composed Lata

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Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

ART & LITERATURE

IAIE organises discussion on Dr Sinha’s book ‘Indus Basin Uninterrupted’

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he participants included Dr Ashutosh Misra, CEO IAIE; Prof. Kanti Prasad Bajpai, Director, Centre on Asia and Globalisation and Wilmar Professor of Asian Studies, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore; Prof. Kuntala Lahiri Dutt, Resource Environment and Development Programme, Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University in Canberra; Dr. Balakrishnan, an affiliate faculty member and senior economist with the School of Environment and Forestry Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle; and Dr Kartikeya Singh, Director of Programmes at the SED Fund, The Hague, Netherlands.

Commencing the virtual discourse, Dr Misra said that the discussion was being conducted to take an informed view of Dr Uttam Sinha’s very incisive and path-breaking work. Having worked on the study of the Indus Waters Treaty at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Dr Misra went on to state that he could vouch for the richness of this work and some of the facts related to the politics, diplomacy and negotiations surrounding the Indus Waters Treaty.

Revealing the many facets of the Indus Basin Dr Misra further commented that the most striking feature of this book has been its success

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in making Indus the pivot of not only the agrarian lives of people and states but also the political and diplomatic relationships between India and Pakistan. The book also highlights the several military conquests that the region has seen. In other words, the book reveals the many facets of the Indus basin- a life-giver, a political and diplomatic challenge, a technical challenge for engineers, a cartographic marker for territorial boundaries and an instrument of military strategy discussions. Another remarkable aspect of the book is that the discussion flows seamlessly.

The prominent themes of the book Dr Uttam Sinha, who joined Manohar Parrikar Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis in 2001, heads the Non-traditional Security Centre and is the Managing Editor of Strategic Analysis published by Routledge.

He is the recipient of many fellowship programmes such as Senior Fellowship at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and US South Asia Leader Programme at the HarvardKennedy School. Commenting on his prolific work, Dr Sinha said that it is a historical book but not written by a historian as his own field of specialization is international relations. Using a sweep of archival resources including letters, field notebooks, diaries, journals, chronicles

and so on, he claims that he has narrated rather than interpreted the history of the Indus basin right till the signing of the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960. The book has characters that run along the time line of the Indus basin who are greatly influenced by concerns of pride, power, envy, fear, desperation and greed.

The actions and consequences of these characters prove to be momentous for the Indus basin. The book humanizes and personifies the Indus rather than treating it as a hydrological wonder which of course, it is.

Dr Sinha further stated that the first three parts of the book covers the Indus basin starting with the Indus Valley Civilisation, progresses to the medieval times and Mughal period and then the British colonial times.

The last two parts dwell on the India-Pakistan partition and the eventual signing of the Indus Waters Treaty. According to Dr Sinha, some striking themes emerge from the book. Firstly, the continuity of history in the book is in terms of knowledge of water management which starts with the Indus Valley Civilisation.

Evidence clearly suggests that the valley dwellers harnessed the flood inundation and there are clear indications that they stored rainwater and channelized it for irrigation. Check dams and hydraulic interventions were a common feature back then and helped them to cope with decreasing rainfall caused by climate change. In fact, he said that there is an apocalyptic lesson and a very instructive history in the demise of the civilization for managing the current environmental crisis in the basin as it holds existential relevance.

The second aspect brought to the fore is that water is tied to political legitimacy and is part of good governance and moral responsibility as is exemplified by the various rulers who all tried to regulate the supply of water in the basin. The third factor which the

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book explores is the commercial and strategic objectives of the British in the Indus basin which is extensively covered in the second part of the book. He also points out that this book discusses the role of civil engineers and Maharaja Sadul Singh of Bikaner, in shaping the boundaries of India and Pakistan and the distribution of water between the two nations. Apart from this, the book mentions the sub-nationalism that emerged in East Punjab over the matter of water division between India and Pakistan and how it was in sharp contrast with Nehru’s lofty national policies which ultimately led to awarding of 80 percent of the water share to Pakistan as an offer of appeasement. This, of course, turned out to be a profound failure. Dr Sinha has also debated on certain crucial questions with regard to the materializing of the Indus Waters Treaty. Did the long years of negotiation, 1952 onwards create a fatigue between India and Pakistan? Did the US sense this frustration and push the deal through? How influential was David Lilienthal, the head of the Tennessee Valley Authority at that time in creating the context of the Treaty and what was the role of Eugene Black, the then President of the World Bank?

A myth debunked Dr. Balakrishnan whose area of expertise is the analysis of business strategy in public policy in employing a variety of quantitative models, lauded the book and said that it helped him to get a lot of insights into the history of the region. He also stated that not surprisingly, the Indus provides identity to India and its people as rivers are a prominent discourse reflecting people and culture. He also appreciated the description of the time period when Alexander invaded India, the entry of Islam, the accounts of various foreigners and the critical details of the materialization of the Treaty.

He also praised how despite the innumerable conflicts, the Indus Waters Treaty has stood the test of time and revealed how the book debunks the myth about India flagrantly breaking the Treaty whereas in reality India has simply begun to capitalize on its 20 percent water share by planning new hydro projects, which was hitherto underutilized.

Successfully bridging disparate elements Professor Kuntala Lahiri Dutt whose expertise lies in areas of community livelihoods, natural resources management and resource dependent communities lauded Dr Sinha’s ability to link different parts of time as the book moves smoothly between

past and present and also captures both micro and macro elements despite the presence of apparent disparate elements. She comments on the description of the pre-colonial nomadic, transhuman and pastoral communities that inhabited the valley and the environmentally sustainable practices that they followed.

A place of conflict and cooperation Professor Kanti Prasad Bajpai, whose areas of focus include international security, Indian foreign policy and national security, remarked that the book has done a magnificent job in establishing a tenacious link between deep themes of hydrology of the western quadrant of South Asia and the patterns of conflict, cooperation and enduring patterns of geopolitics. He also stated that the book gives a lot of insight into hydraulic kingdoms and societies as well as the role of the British in introducing modern survey methods and charting of the territory. However, he sought clarity on the divergent roles of the civil engineers and the administrators in deciding the placement of the canals and the water division. In response to his query, Dr Sinha briefly clarified the matter but has promised to explore this topic further in his sequel.

Ecological concerns Dr Kartikeya Singh also commented on the book’s incisive approach in underscoring the basin as a stage for conflict, diplomacy and engineering and the role of East Punjab in the emergence of sub-national feelings and how it had a bearing on the framing of the Indian Constitution and international agreements. He also pointed how the book lends credence to the relevance of studying climatic crisis in the past for improved enlightenment of currently prevailing ecological issues. He emphasized the need for India to leverage its riverine ecosystem not only for developing waterways to ease navigation but also to save iconic species of fauna on the verge of extinction in the region.

With regard to the issues of water sharing with neighbouring countries, he stated that the greater involvement of state governments was imperative.

The discussion concluded with some questions being raised by an intern and the vote of thanks delivered by Mr Shaun Star, the Executive Director of the Centre for Sports Law, Business and Governance and the Executive Director, Centre for IndiaAustralia Studies at O.P. Jindal Global University.

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Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

INDIA NEWS

TRAVEL

Survey reveals domestic and international travel preferences of Indian travellers Reetu Khodiya

Reetu Khodiya

Dudh Talai, Udaipur

Reetu Khodiya

Lonavala

Bengaluru Chennai Kolkata Patrika Gate, Jaipur

W

ith a bank of accrued vacation days and restrictions finally starting to ease in India and other parts of the world, it’s no wonder travellers are looking to escape their lockdown surroundings.

Travellers are looking for an escape from their normal lives and others are looking forward to some time away with family and friends after being apart for so long. Booking.com, the digital travel leader connecting travellers with the widest choice of unique places to stay, today shared a list of the top searched domestic and international destinations on Booking.com by Indian travellers in the month of August 2021.

Russia, Maldives, Switzerland and Qatar are amongst the top 5 most searched destinations by Indian outbound travellers.

Indicating an intent to travel, the USA, Russia and Maldives are among the top 3 most searched international destinations for August 2021 as Indians hope for ease in international travel restrictions. Closer to home, in addition to metro cities, travellers are looking forward to enjoying nature and escaping to the outdoors - searching for leisurely destinations like Lonavala and Leh which are amongst the topmost searched domestic destinations by Indian travellers in August 2021.

Domestic travel preferences by Indian travellers

Decoding destination preferences by Indian travellers for international travel: With hopes for ease in international travel restrictions, especially for fully vaccinated travellers, Indians have shown interest in travelling to international destinations. For travellers who are open to flying and cross borders again, the USA,

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Top searched international destinations by Indian travellers in the month of August 2021*: USA Russia Maldives Switzerland Qatar Canada UK Mexico Armenia France

Domestic travel continues to remain prevalent with many Indian travellers looking forward to exploring their own country and choosing destinations closer to home. Booking.com data backs this, with earlier research revealing 52% of Indian travellers are looking forward to exploring their home country this year. Metro cities such as New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru continue to be the top searched destinations for August 2021.

Closer-to-home and leisurely destinations such as Lonavala, Jaipur and Leh are also some of the top searched destinations in August 2021 by Indian travellers.

Top searched domestic destinations by Indian travellers in the month of August 2021*: New Delhi Mumbai

Jaipur Hyderabad Leh Udaipur Accommodation Types While hotels continue to be the top searched accommodation

by Indian travellers travelling domestically, travellers are also looking to stay in alternative accommodations like guest houses, villas and apartments considering the renewed emphasis on privacy, sufficient space and personal control over cleanliness and hygiene.

Top 5 accommodation types searched by Indian travellers travelling within India in the month of August 2021*: Hotel Resort Guest House Villa Apartment Health and safety continues to be a key traveller priority Cleanliness continues to be top of mind for travellers with more guests searching for transparency around cleaning measures at the property. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Booking.com has witnessed a dramatic uptick in the use of specific words used by guests when they ask questions about a property. For example, the use of the words “clean” and “hygiene” have both increased by over 60%. In addition to cleanliness, Booking. com has witnessed an increase in travellers booking stays with flexible cancellation policies due to the uncertain environment.

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Amer Fort, Jaipur

To provide travellers with transparency in health and hygiene at an accommodation, Booking.com introduced the health and safety measures feature on its platform last year that allows accommodation partners to select the different health & safety measures they are taking in areas such as hygiene, sanitization, social distancing and food safety amongst others.

Booking.com offers a Flexible-1 Day policy allowing travellers to cancel for free up till one day before check-in as well as a onedate change to travellers who book a non-refundable rate.

Commenting on the Indian travel sentiment, Ritu Mehrotra, Regional Manager, South Asia at Booking.com said, “With more and more Indians getting vaccinated and travel restrictions being lifted in phases, we are starting to see pent-up demand for travel. Travel trends that emerged during the pandemic

such as closer-to-home destinations, staycations and road trips still remain popular, but at the same time, we are also seeing travel intent gradually resume for international travel. And as a leader in travel, Booking.com will continue to make it easier for people to experience the world in a safe manner - we will be there for our customers offering the widest accommodation choice at great value so travellers can enjoy all of the unforgettable experiences this world has to offer when the time is right and it is safe to do so. ” (*The data scientists at Booking. com looked at the most searched domestic and international destinations and accommodation types by Indian travellers in August 2021. **Destinations stated are as per current top searches and are subject to change as the travel environment changes)

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INDIA NEWS

Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

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INDIA NEWS

Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

Kareena Kapoor turns producer with Hansal Mehta thriller IANS

K

Anupria Goenka excited to get back to her work-travel life Instagram

Telefilms said: "Kareena Kapoor Khan is a dynamite combination of star power and talent. We last worked together on 'Veere Di Wedding' which was probably the biggest hit headlined by a female star. The second time's always a charm and I'm confident this one too will excite the audiences. To have Hansal Mehta, one of the most prolific filmmakers of our times tell this story makes it all the more exciting! Get ready for one of the most intriguing and shocking mainstream films thus far."

There are a lot of firsts on this film and I cannot wait to begin this journey."

Excited to turn producer for the first time, Kareena Kapoor Khan said: "Very honoured and excited to work as a producer on this film with Ekta whom my family has known for years and of course to be directed by Hansal for the first time. I am a huge fan of Hansal's films and to be working with him for the first time will be special.

Interestingly, while the blockbuster 'Veere Di Wedding' was Kareena Kapoor Khan's first film after the birth of her son Taimur, this film will be her first after her second baby, incidentally, both being produced

by Ekta Kapoor.

This collaboration marks the coming together of Ekta Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor Khan.

Producer Ekta Kapoor of Balaji

Filmmaker Hansal Mehta said: "Our aim with this film is to create a fresh, gripping, and moody thriller with Kareena playing a character that I am hoping will do justice to her immense talent as an actor. I look forward to venturing on this journey with Ekta and Kareena, both of whom have accomplished so much in their respective careers and are absolute powerhouses."

Hansal Mehta has cemented his position as one of the critically acclaimed directors after the success of 'Scam 1992'.

Vaani recalls how she feared stepping out of bio-bubble during 'Bell Bottom' shoot Instagram

"Hats off to the production house who had to bring in the entire team from India to make them quarantine with 14 days of no work. It's also very expensive...

It's an unusual circumstance...We were getting tested at least twice or thrice every week and we had a good bubble and of course a place like Glasgow which is much wider spread and spacious so things were a little more manageable there."

"I have been enjoying this phase of getting back to work. We all had been locked down in our homes for over a year and a half. Now that we have got a breather to go out and work, I am trying to make the most of it. Thankfully there is going to be lots of travel and I am totally looking forward to it...I'm sure these would be great times as I will be back in front of the cameras, which I absolutely love the most," Anupria tells IANS. The actress, who will also later go to Varanasi to shoot for an undisclosed project, is mindful of the necessary precautions required to keep herself snd everyone safe.

The thriller film is inspired by a real-life incident. The story is set in the UK and is scheduled to go on floors soon.

areena Kapoor Khan is all set to turn producer for the very first time in collaboration with Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Telefilms.

The untitled film will be directed

by Hansal Mehta.

ENTERTAINMENT

"Precautions are a must in this 'new normal'. I have to wear a mask at all times. Only when I am giving the shot do I remove the mask. As soon as the director says 'cut', everyone in the cast is back on with their masks. No one in the crew is allowed to take off their masks and many are even in PPE kits," she says.

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ctress Anupria Goenka has started the shoot for 'Asur 2'. The actress will step out of Mumbai after a long time as the project requires the cast to shoot at different locations. The actress is thrilled to travel once again.

Due to the pandemic, the entire industry was put on a stop as a precautionary measure. Recently the shoots have resumed and Anupria is happy about it.

The actress will first go to New Delhi and then to Manali for the shoot.

The actress adds: "The makers have ensured regular rapid antigen tests on the sets, which help to identify if anyone shows any symptoms. Plus the sets and locations are sanitised thoroughly before the cast and crew arrive for the shoot. So the makers have ensured all safety and protection for everyone in the unit. We are sorted in that manner, I feel," she says.

Anupria is keeping busy with the shoot of Asur 2', and will also start another untitled project this month. The projects would mostly be released towards the end of the year.

"It also gave me a sense of confidence," said Vaani.

Talking about her parents' first reaction on knowing that the actress had to go out to shoot for the film, Vaani said: "Of course there is a little bit of worry our parents will always have. They are always nervous about their children."

The 32-year-old actress calls herself a "responsible kid".

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ctress Vaani Kapoor agrees there was nervousness and fear on stepping out of her house amid the pandemic to shoot for her upcoming film 'Bell Bottom'.

She says the courage her coactors such as Akshay Kumar and the production house showed gave her a sense of confidence.

"There was a lot of paranoia. I will not deny that. There was

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nervousness and fear that even if somebody tests positive how do you come back to India or where does that person stay...The kind of factors that came into play," Vaani told IANS, while talking about going out of the house to shoot for 'Bell Bottom' in Glasgow.

She credited the production house and co-star Akshay Kumar for showing courage.

"I am a very responsible kid. I am the one who parents my own parents because they behave like the children of the house. So, I think they thought I would be responsible enough and it is work at the end of the day. These are choices that you make and make them sensibly," she concluded.

'Bell Bottom' is slated to release on August 19. The espionage thriller also stars Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta Bhupathi and Huma Qureshi.

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INDIA NEWS

Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

Divya Agarwal talks about her multifaceted character in 'Cartel' Instagram

ENTERTAINMENT

Huma Qureshi says she has lot to accomplish in her career Instagram

different personalities on screen: "To become a new person with each get up was the biggest challenge. I just didn't have to put on makeup and start rolling, I also had to change myself completely as a person – right from the body language, accent to dialogue delivery. So while for others 'Cartel' was one show, for me it was equivalent to six different shows."

So Divya's character has manifold angles and certainly playing such a role is tough as well as exciting too. As she says: "I think playing this character was the most exciting part in itself. This show is that one project that'll prove my acting mettle. It is an ode to my father, and I say it with utmost pride that whatever I have achieved today is because of his blessings and support. Grissy's character is really close to my heart."

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ctress Divya Agarwal, who is best known for 'Splitsvilla 10' and was also seen in 'Ragini MMS: Returns', will play a prominent role in the show 'Cartel'. She talks about her onscreen character and the challenges faced in doing it.

Divya is playing a mysterious character who is a make-up artist by profession. She shares in detail about her role and says: "I am playing the character called 'Grissy' in this show. Interesting aspect about this character is that no one knows her face or her real identity. She is a make-up artist by profession but uses it as

'Cartel' has been in the making for a really long time and several times it becomes exhausting for the actors but Divya never gets tired and is completely excited about the launch. her deadly weapon. 'Grissy' will bring interesting twists and turns in the show. All I can say is that the audience will get to see an absolutely different side of me."

She goes in detail about portraying multiple characters: "I play six characters with drastically different looks.

From playing an old lady to a transgender -- But why am I like that? That is the real mystery.

It was exciting to get into those characters, but daunting at the same time."

Divya further shares on how challenging it was to depict

The 28-year-old actress elucidates: "The show has around 138 cast members. And our team was very clear that they wanted everything to be perfect. So the show did take some time, but I and the entire team is immensely proud of the end product. We never felt exhausted."

She adds on her expectation from the show: "I want the audience to watch the show and give their best reviews. I hope this show will help me start a journey with regards to my acting career."

'Cartel' streams from August 20 on ALTBalaji.

Aishwarya Majmudar talks about her upcoming track IANS

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inger Aishwarya Majmudar, who is known for her tracks like 'Aaj Unse Kehna Hai' in the movie 'Prem Ratan Dhan Payo' and 'Tere Bin Nahi Laage' from 'Ek Paheli Leela', is coming up with her new track 'Prem Rang Maniyaaro Maniyaaro' featuring Devarshi Shah.

The song depicts the story of a newly-wed couple. Aishwarya not only has given her voice but also has a dance sequence in Gujarati attire. She will be seen performing 'Garba' with certain modifications.

"The entire process of building the song has been a learning process and helped me find my identity," says Aishwarya.

Talking about how she came up with the song, the singer adds: "I remember waking up in the middle of the night with a string

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H

uma Qureshi made her debut in Bollywood in 2012 with the two-part 2012 crime drama 'Gangs of Wasseypur'. She was later seen in popular films such as 'D-Day', 'Badlapur', 'Jolly LLB 2', among many others.

The 35-year-old actress, who hails from New Delhi, is now gearing up for the release of her upcoming film 'Bell Bottom' starring Akshay Kumar. The espionage thriller is set for a theatrical release on August 19.

Touching almost a decade in the Hindi film industry, the actress says she is grateful with her journey but feels she has a lot to accomplish.

She reveals what makes this genre popular across all age groups.

After romancing the silver screen, Huma's tryst with web-stardom came with series such as 'Leila' and 'Maharani'.

Talking about her journey in Bollywood, Huma told IANS: "I feel grateful and happy. I feel I still have a lot to accomplish."

"I think the whole fascination with the spy genre itself. So, I think that always plays like a big hook with the younger audience. It is the kind of story that will appeal to both the younger demographic in terms of style and also in terms of the older generation," Huma said.

She added: "So I think it has a little something for everybody."

tune annoying me in my sleep. I didn't know then what it would substantiate into, but that one tune got made into 'Prem Rang' and hence this song is no less than a dream!"

Aishwarya feels it was the other way round for her where the lyrics and composition found her instead of her finding them and the entire process of building the song note by note, melody by melody, and then shaping it into a dance form was more a learning process and a celebration that helped her in finding her identity.

While talking about the song and dance sequence, she says: "This song depicts emotions like love, vigour and splendour. The filming process began with bringing on board choreographers like Shri Samir and Arsh Tanna, and their daughter Tamanna. I'm grateful everyday for my team," she ends.

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INDIA NEWS

Luxury, lifestyle, location — welcome to Dress Circle

Aug 16-31, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 4

Located in the heart of one of Australia’s fastest growing regions, Brookwater is Brisbane’s best kept secret for luxury living. Crafted around the Greg Norman designed golf course, Brookwater provides a rare combination of prestige golf-side living and natural bushland beauty.

With over 800 families already calling Brookwater home, we are pleased to introduce the next stage of this exclusive community — your own architecturally designed piece of paradise — Dress Circle.

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Life on Brookwater’s Dress Circle is within 10 minutes of everything you need — commuter rail to the city, private and public schools, childcare centres, a university, a private hospital, shopping centres and a thriving commercial precinct.

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