Morning Brief: Wooing Russian Defence Firms; Qatar Crisis: India To Airlift Citizens; Kulbhushan Jadhav Case Rethink

Good morning, dear reader! Here’s your morning news and views brief for today.

Wooing Russian Defence Firms: Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday invited Russian firms to set up joint ventures with Indian companies and manufacture advanced military platforms through technology transfer. Jaitley, who is in Russia on a three-day visit, said Indian companies are already gearing up to take advantage of policy initiatives in the defence sector by developing capabilities for design and development of military systems. “Russian companies could be natural partners of the Indian companies as most of India’s defence equipment and inventory were of Russian origin,” he said.

Qatar Crisis: India To Airlift Stranded Citizens: The government has asked national carrier Air India and private airline Jet Airways to operate additional flights to Qatar and back. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had spoken to Aviation Minister A G Raju to operate additional flights "to Doha for Indian nationals who were not able to get bookings but needed to reach the country back from Doha." Saudi Arabia and a few other countries in the region had recently snapped diplomatic ties with Qatar apart from imposing restrictions on airspace use. Air India Express will operate flights on the Trivandrum-Doha-Cochin-Trivandrum sector from 25 June to 8 July, while Jet Airways will operate flights on the Mumbai-Doha-Mumbai sector on 22 and 23 July.

Karnataka Announces Farm Loan Waiver: The Karnataka government announced crop loan waiver of up to Rs 50,000 per farmer, which will cost Rs 8,165 crore to the state exchequer. The waiver will help 2,227,506 farmers, who had obtained loans from cooperative banks, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said in the state assembly. Karnataka has become the fourth state this year to take such step following Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Punjab. The state is headed for assembly polls next year.

RBI Allows Cooperative Banks To Deposit Old Notes: In a major relief to district central cooperative banks (DCCBs), the Union Finance Ministry has allowed them to deposit old currency notes lying with them since demonetisation. They can deposit the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes with any Reserve Bank of India (RBI) branch within 30 days and receive new legal tender. Five days after demonetisation RBI had told DCCBs that they were ineligible to exchange or receive deposits of demonetised currency. Worst affected were the banks in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala and Tamil Nadu where the cooperatives play a major role.

Army Rejects Indigenous Assault Rifle: The Indian Army has rejected an indigenous assault rifle designed by a domestic ordnance factory, claiming that the gun requires “considerable design improvement” before it becomes fit for trials. The shortcomings range from “excessive recoil experienced in the prototype” to the “barrel bulge” that raises concerns about the safety of the rifle. Demonstration firing of the 7.62 x 51 mm rifle took place on 13 and 14 June. Following this, the army’s project management team said the gun was “only a prototype that requires comprehensive design analysis and improvement”.

Aadhaar Mandatory For TB Patients: Aadhaar is now mandatory for tuberculosis (TB) patients availing treatment under the government’s Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP). According to data from 2015, India has 2.8 million TB patients. “An individual eligible to receive the benefit under the Scheme, is hereby, required to furnish proof of possession of Aadhaar number or undergo Aadhaar authentication,” said the government notification. The notification says that the scheme offers conditional cash assistance as a benefit. The RNTCP says it aims to provide “universal access to tuberculosis care.”

$7.5 Million US Backing For India’s Power Grid: The US will spend $7.5 million to help advance India's power grid as part of the two countries' commitments to ensuring access to affordable and reliable energy. The Ministry of Science and Technology and Industry will match the US Energy Department commitment, bringing the total commitment to $30 million, officials said. "This new consortium demonstrates the US and Indian commitments to ensuring access to affordable and reliable energy in both countries," Energy Secretary Rick Perry said.

Pakistan Hints At Kulbhushan Jadhav Case Rethink: There is scope for a “rethink” in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit has said, and confirmed that Pakistan will not carry out his death sentence until the hearing in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is over. In an interview to The Hindu, he said Pakistan would like the process in the ICJ to be over quickly, “but until (it does), we are committed”. Basit said Jadhav would be able to appeal for clemency first to Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa and President Mamnoon Husain if his appeal was rejected by the Court of Appeals. “So there is room for a rethink there.”

MUST READ OPINIONS AND COLUMNS

Little Relief For Entertainment Under GST: The government has clearly not been kind to the entertainment industry. It could have dealt with the industry with a soft touch to let it grow.

Crop Insurance And The Agrarian Crisis In India: Agriculture is an economic activity that requires a significant part of the costs to be incurred upfront, without certainty of outcome. Crop insurance has failed to provide much-needed relief to farmers from destitution.

Higher Fiscal Deficits Of States Not That Bad. Here’s Why: The implementation of the goods and services tax should usher in greater tax buoyancy and help states improve their own tax-to-revenue ratio. However, the best strategy would be to up productive expenditure, while staying on the fiscal consolidation path.

Countering The False Narrative: India needs to invest in teachers and support them. Education can improve only as much as classroom pedagogic practice and school culture improves.

SWARAJYA SPECIAL

Politically Incorrect It May Be, But There Is An Underlying Truth To Yogi Adityanath’s Views On Taj Mahal: If you want to extol the creativity of the Taj, don’t forget to also extol the even greater virtues of the Vijayanagar empire that achieved another peak in Indian architectural and devotional splendour, but fell victim to mindless bigoted iconoclasm.

Not ‘Hyper-Nationalism’, It Is The Sentiment Against Privileged Elite That Is Growing: Recently, 65 civil servants wrote and signed a petition against ‘growing hyper-nationalism’. Here, Sanjay Dixit, a civil servant himself, responds.

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

SUBSCRIBE NOW: The June issue of our magazine is out now. Next month, Narendra Modi is going to be the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel. We present a special report on the Jewish state – Passage To Israel. Get a copy home and enjoy reading Swarajya in print. Subscribe here to start receiving your copies for just Rs 349.

Swarajya Apps: Enjoy reading morning brief and all other articles from Swarajya on your mobile. Download our app here on Android and iOS.