Morning Brief: Modi-Netanyahu To Get Down To Business; Power Play At High Seas; New ASEAN Outreach

Good morning, dear reader! Today we are introducing Swarajya In-Depth – podcasts that provide insightful analysis of key issues.

Jaideep A Prabhu On Similarities Between Hindutva And Zionism: Swarajya talks to its contributing editor Jaideep Prabhu to make sense of India's relations with Israel through the prism of the profound commonalities shared by Hindutva and Zionism.

Lt General (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain On The Recent Unrest In Kashmir: Swarajya presents to its listeners the views of former general officer commanding of Srinagar-based 15 corps of the Indian Army, lieutenant general (retired) Syed Ata Hasnain, to understand the turmoil in Kashmir and the military's role in resolving it.

Here’s your morning news and views brief for today.

Getting Down To Business: After receiving a red carpet welcome on the first day of a historic Israel visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will get down to business with back-to-back meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders. The focus will be on cooperation on defence, security, water and more. Apart from the multiple pacts that the two strategic partners are expected to seal at Wednesday's meetings, the two leaders are also expected to deliver a strong message against terrorism in their joint statement. Both leaders had yesterday spoken in one voice to resolutely combat terrorism and radicalism.

Power Play At High Seas: The high-profile Malabar exercise, to be held in the Bay of Bengal from 10 July, will see India, Japan and the US deploy their largest warships. The tri-lateral ‘war games’ come at a time when Indian and Chinese troops are locked in a tense face-off near the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction since mid-June. The Indian flotilla of six to seven frontline warships and a Kilo-class submarine will be led by the 44,570-tonne aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya. US will be fielding its over 100,000-tonne USS Nimitz, a nuclear-powered super-carrier with its full complement of F/A-18 fighters. Japan is fielding its 27,000-tonne helicopter carrier Izumo and another warship for the intensive 10-day combat manoeuvres on the high seas off Chennai.

GST Impact: Government Revises MRP Rules: The Union government on Tuesday revised the maximum retail price (MRP) rules for manufacturers, importers and shopkeepers. The rule will remain in effect till 30 September. The Centre asked them to release an advertisement in at least two newspapers if the prices of products they are selling have increased under the goods and services tax (GST) system. Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said that legal action will be taken if a revised price sticker is not present. The measure has been taken to exhaust old stocks on which MRP has already been printed. New stocks that arrive in the market after 1 July with new prices will not come under the advertisement rule.

Achal Kumar Jyoti Named Chief Election Commissioner: Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Jyoti was on Tuesday named as the new Chief Election Commissioner of India, succeeding Nasim Zaidi. A notification issued by the Law Ministry said Jyoti will take over from Zaidi on 6 July. Jyoti, 64, is a 1975 batch Indian Administrative Service officer who was the chief secretary of Gujarat until January 2013, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the state’s chief minister. He joined the poll panel as an election commissioner on 8 May 2015. Jyoti, who will be the 21st CEC, has also served as the Gujarat vigilance commissioner. He was also the secretary in the industry, revenue and water supply departments in the state.

UP To Roll Out Red Carpet For Industries: In a bid to boost investments and employment opportunities in Uttar Pradesh, the state cabinet on Tuesday approved the industrial investment and employment policy, 2017. A cabinet meeting, presided by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, approved the new policy, which aims to “roll out a red carpet for the industries, instead of red-tapism” and facilitate the ease-of-doing-business, ministers Siddharth Nath Singh and Satish Mahana said. Industrial Development Minister Mahana said the new policy was aptly named as the Industrial Investment and Employment Policy as it aimed to increase the job opportunities in the state.

Sikkim Standoff: China Rules Out Compromise: There seems to be no let up in tensions between India and China with Beijing ruling out any compromise on the ongoing standoff in Sikkim between the Indian and Chinese armies. In an interview, China's Ambassador to India Lau Zhaohui said that the "ball is in India's court" to solve the "grave" situation at the border. Zhaohui put the onus on India as far as decreasing tensions is concerned, saying that that "first priority" is that "Indian troops unconditionally pull back to the Indian side of the boundary." The Chinese government is very clear that it wants peaceful resolution at current state of the situation for which withdrawal of Indian troops from the area is a “pre- condition”, he asserted.

Burhan Wani’s Death Anniversary: Separatists Call For Week-Long Protests: Kashmir is gearing up for a week-long protests to mark the first death anniversary of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, whose death plunged the region into unprecedented turmoil. More than 100 people lost their lives in clashes with security forces after Wani’s death. The protest call came from separatist hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani, moderates Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik and more. The leadership asked people to visit homes of slain militant leaders on 9 July. Kashmiris, especially those living abroad, are asked to mount a social media campaign on 11 July. The separatist protest coincides with a similar call by the United Jehad Council, an umbrella group of militant outfits, to mark Wani’s death.

New ASEAN Outreach: In a major outreach, India is planning to host heads of at least 10 South East Asian nations on its Republic Day next year. New Delhi's move to invite leaders of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is apparently aimed at giving a fillip to implementation of its “Act East” policy for stepping up India's engagement with South East Asia, where China seeks to maintain and expand its influence. Sources said once the successor of President Pranab Mukherjee is elected, the Rashtrapati Bhavan will start the process of sending out the formal invitations to all the ASEAN leaders.

MUST READ OPINIONS AND COLUMNS

GST: A Unified India For Business: The incremental benefit that GST entails far outweighs any short-term disruptions. By removing the tax barriers across states, the goods and services tax (GST) has created a single common market across the nation.

Modi-Trump Meet: Tangible Gains For US, Intangible Benefits For India: The latest deals between the US and India seems like a balance sheet of material deliverables bagged by the US, and the uneconomic brownie points scored by India.

India’s Quest For Armed Drones: Given India’s complex security challenges, UAVs have the potential to aid the Indian military not only in fighting wars but also in intelligence and surveillance.

Using AI To Achieve Development Goals: AI is in the middle of exponential growth and it has the potential to make game-changing transformations. The developmental challenges faced by India are too big to be solved by the conventional linear approach.

SWARAJYA SPECIAL

India Must Stand Up To China, The Bully Of Asia, But There’s No Need For Bravado: India needs to keep its head down and focus on building its own internal military and economic strengths for the next decade. After that, China can’t do much. We have to talk softly, and grow the size of our stick in the next decade.

We hope you enjoyed reading our morning brief. Have a great day ahead!

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