| | 5 THINGS FIRST | Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara Corridor to be reopened; PM Modi to inaugurate meeting of national presiding officers in Shimla; FM Nirmala Sitharaman to meet heads of banks and FIs in two-day conference for smooth credit flow; In SC: Future Group petition, appointment of ex-judge in Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, air pollution in Delhi; India vs New Zealand, 1st T20I, Jaipur | |
| | 1. Centre says it has ‘no control’ over CBI |  | - Free agent? Arguing against being made a party in a suit by the West Bengal government against the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Centre told the Supreme Court that the “Union of India has no control” over the CBI as far as matters related to registration of FIRs were concerned. The state government had challenged a Calcutta High Court decision ordering a CBI probe into the post poll violence earlier this year and also argued in its original civil suit that the agency was filing FIRs without the mandatory consent of the state government.
- Autonomous, really? Attorney General K K Venugopal, who represented the Centre, said that since the CBI was an autonomous body, “a suit cannot be filed where CBI is not a party but the Centre is” as “only officers under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act can register a case.” As such, he argued, even the Centre can’t interfere in the manner in which the CBI investigates its cases.
- Completely independent? The Centre added that even though Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) Act, 2003, under which the CVC “exercises power of superintendence over the functioning of DSPE” — Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, under which the CBI operates — in relation to cases of corruption, the CBI and “its officers are autonomous and even the CVC cannot interfere with their power of investigation.”
- Will the SC buy it? Interestingly, the apex court itself had in 2013 denounced the CBI as a “caged parrot” and “its master’s voice” — voicing aloud the common perception that India’s premier investigating agency did the bidding of the government of the day and was often used by the powers that be to target political opponents.
Courts cannot interfere with temple rituals- Observing that “a constitutional court cannot look into the day to day affairs of a temple”, the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday said that it couldn’t interfere in the rituals of a temple such as telling “how to break a coconut or how to do aarti.” The court’s observations came while dismissing a petition filed by a devotee against the management of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) that sought directions to rectify the method of performing rituals.
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| Box | | 2. Why India is reopening the Kartarpur Sahib corridor now |  | - It’s religion: The decision by the Union government to reopen the Kartarpur Sahib corridor for pilgrims from today comes just two days ahead of the birth anniversary celebration of Sikhism’s founder, Guru Nanak, which falls on Friday. Announcing the reopening of the corridor, Union home minister Amit Shah tweeted, in Gurmukhi, that it was being done for the benefit of Sikh pilgrims.
- It’s significant: The corridor links the Gurdwara at Dera Baba Nanak on the Indian side, in Gurdaspur district, with Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, on the Pakistani side, where Guru Nanak spent his final years. The corridor was closed in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
- It’s politics: The announcement also comes ahead of the assembly polls in Punjab, which are scheduled for February 2022. The BJP, which is bereft of any political alliance in the state, has never been in power on its own in India’s only Sikh-majority state, where it’s not a favourite due to the Centre’s hardline stance on repeal of the new farm laws. In fact, the Centre’s decision comes just days after the BJP’s Punjab unit met PM Narendra Modi on Sunday, requesting him to reopen the corridor.
- It’s diplomacy: While New Delhi stonewalled Islamabad’s overtures for reopening of the corridor last year, this year, in August, India blamed Pakistan for delaying the reopening as it had “banned all travel from India, citing surge in Covid-19 cases in India since April 2021.” Later that same month, Pakistan said it will allow only fully vaccinated pilgrims to travel via the corridor for Guru Nanak’s death anniversary, which fell in September.
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| | 3. Biden, Xi seek common ground in prolonged meeting |  | - A long call: US President Joe Biden spoke for nearly three and half hours with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in a virtual meeting on Tuesday, as the two global powers seek a middle path to work on the many disagreements between them.
- No major announcements came through but both Biden and Xi seemed determined to lower the temperature. “As I’ve said before, it seems to me our responsibility as leaders of China and the United States is to ensure that the competition between our countries does not veer into conflict, whether intended or unintended,” Biden told Xi.
- The two leaders held firm to their positions, on Taiwan, trade and human rights. Xi warned that the U.S. and Taiwan are "playing with fire" over Taiwan and said China will take "decisive measures" against any moves to support the independence of the territory, which Beijing considers as a renegade province.
- Beijing, however, welcomed the meeting. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said the exchange was candid and constructive. “If China-U.S. relations cannot return to the past, they should face the future,” Zhao said.
More on the meeting hereAlso: US Special Envoy Thomas West met National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla here on Tuesday to discuss the developments in Afghanistan. | |
| | 4. Kashmir: 2 civilians among four killed in encounter |  | - A Pakistani militant, his local associate and two civilians were killed in an encounter in Srinagar’s Hyderpora area on Monday, Jammu and Kashmir police said. Inspector-General of Police Vijay Kumar identified the foreign militant as Haider.
- Two civilians killed were the owner of the shopping complex and a doctor who had an office in the building. J&K Police has classified the doctor, Mudasir Gul, as an "overground worker" (OGW), saying he had provided his rented office space to Haider as a "hideout". The owner of the building, Altaf Ahmed, was killed in the crossfire, J&K Police said.
- The authorities did not hand over the bodies of the two to their kin "due to apprehensions of law and order problems". The families of the doctor and the building owner staged a demonstration seeking the mortal remains to be handed over.
- The family of the doctor also denied he was associated with the militants. “He was a doctor. He was not a terrorist," a relative told The Wire.
- IG Kumar said a special investigation team (SIT) has been set up to investigate the sequence of events that led to killing of the two civilians.
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| | | | 6. China overtakes US as world's richest nation as global wealth surges | - Global wealth has tripled over the last two decades, with China leading the way and overtaking the US for the No. 1 spot globally. This from a new report by the research arm of consultants McKinsey & Co, which examined the national balance sheets of 10 countries representing more than 60% of world income. "We are now wealthier than we have ever been," said Jan Mischke, a partner at the McKinsey Global Institute in Zurich.
Source: Bloomberg
- The rise: Net worth worldwide rose to $514 trillion in 2020, from $156 trillion in 2000, according to the study. China accounted for almost one-third of the increase. Its wealth skyrocketed to $120 trillion from a mere $7 trillion in 2000, the year before it joined the World Trade Organization, speeding its economic ascent.
- The US, held back by more muted increases in property prices, saw its net worth more than double over the period, to $90 trillion.
- In both countries — the world's biggest economies — more than two-thirds of the wealth is held by the richest 10% of households, and their share has been increasing, the report added.
Source: Bloomberg
- Where's the wealth? As computed, 68% of global net worth is stored in real estate. The balance is held in such things as infrastructure, machinery and equipment and, to a much lesser extent, so-called intangibles like intellectual property and patents. (Financial assets are not counted in the global wealth calculations because they are effectively offset by liabilities).
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| | 7. India’s latest airline gives Boeing a Max boost |  | - Akasa Air, an airline backed by billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, has ordered 72 jets of model 737 Max from Boeing, in a shot in the arm for the planemaker after nearly two years of rough weather since the model was grounded after two successive crashes. Akasa Air had received a no-objection certificate from Indian regulators in October, and aims to start operations in mid-2022.
- The order is valued at nearly $9 billion. “We believe that the new 737 MAX airplane will support our aim of running not just a cost-efficient, reliable and affordable airline, but also an environmentally friendly company with the youngest and greenest fleet in the Indian skies,” said CEO Vinay Dube, who was formerly with Jet Airways.
- 737 MAX was grounded worldwide in March 2019 after two fatal crashes -m of Indonesia's Lion Air and an Ethiopian Airlines flight -m in five months killed 346 people, plunging Boeing into a financial crisis.
- The jets were cleared to fly by the US Federal Aviation Administration in November last year after Boeing updated critical software and computers that falsely pushed the nose down repeatedly. India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) cleared the jets this August; SpiceJet is thus far the only Indian customer for the model.
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| | 8. India to host 3 ICC events in 2024-31 cycle, US to co-host next T20 World Cup |  | - The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday unveiled the hosts for each of the next eight global cricketing events in its 2024-2031 cycle of Future Tours Programme — a period which includes four T20 World Cups, two Champions Trophies and two ODI World Cups.
The highlights - USA will be co-hosting the 2024 T20 World Cup, along with the West Indies.
- India will host three world events: The 2026 T20 World Cup (with Sri Lanka), the 2029 Champions Trophy as well as the 2031 ODI World Cup (with Bangladesh).
- Pakistan, whose case was argued fiercely by new PCB chairman Ramiz Raja, has been awarded the 2025 Champions Trophy — the first time that it would be staging an ICC event since co-hosting the 1996 ODI World Cup.
- The ICC also rewarded Namibia for their progress in recent times, with a global event. The African nation will be jointly hosting the 2027 50-over World Cup, along with South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The roster- 2024 T20 World Cup: USA & West Indies; 2025 Champions Trophy: Pakistan; 2026 T20 World Cup: India & Sri Lanka; 2027 ODI World Cup: Namibia, Zimbabwe & South Africa; 2028 T20 World Cup: Australia & New Zealand; 2029 Champions Trophy: India; 2030 T20 World Cup: England, Ireland & Scotland; 2031 ODI World Cup: India & Bangladesh
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| | 9. Italy miss out on direct qualification to 2022 World Cup |  | - European champions Italy missed out on automatic qualification for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after being held to a goalless draw by Northern Ireland in Belfast on Monday, ceding the top spot in Group C to Switzerland who beat Bulgaria 4-0 to book their ticket.
- What Next? Italy will have to get through the play-offs to reach Doha. Austria, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Scotland and Sweden have been confirmed in the playoffs.
- England, who lost the Euro 2020 final to Italy, made it to Qatar with a 10-0 win over San Marino. Captain Harry Kane scored four goals — all in the first half, with two of them being penalties. Poland, who lost at home to Hungary 2-1, finished second in the group.
- Qualified from Europe so far: Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland.
Also: Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy has been charged with two additional counts of rape in addition to earlier charges of rape and sexual assault, English prosecutors said on Tuesday. The 27-year-old French international has been in custody since August. More here | |
| | | Answer to NEWS IN CLUES | In a statement issued on Tuesday, the drugmaker said it would grant a licence for its experimental Covid pill — VOID-19 — to the UN-backed Medicines Patent Pool in Geneva, which would let generic drug companies produce the pill for use in 95 countries, making up about 53% of the world’s population. | |
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| Written by: Rakesh Rai, Judhajit Basu, Sumil Sudhakaran, Tejeesh N.S. Behl
Research: Rajesh Sharma | |
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