Indian officer, two soldiers killed in clash with PLA

An Indian Army officer and two soldiers were killed during a violent confrontation with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh, in the first such incident in the last 45 years reflecting massive escalation in the five-week border row. The Army said India lost an officer and two soldiers during the violent face-off, while there were casualties on the Chinese side as well. According to a senior military officer, it is the first incident involving the casualty of an Indian soldier in a violent clash with the Chinese Army after 1975 when four Indian soldiers were killed in an ambush at Tulung La in Arunachal Pradesh along the de-facto border between the two countries. “During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place on June 15 with casualties. The loss of lives on the Indian side includes an officer and two soldiers,” the Army said in a statement. Large number of Indian and Chinese troops were engaged in an eyeball-to-eyeball situation in Galwan Valley and certain other areas of eastern Ladakh for the last five weeks.

Exports fall 36.47% to $19.05 billion in May

Contracting for the third straight month, India’s exports shrank 36.47 per cent in May to $19.05 billion on weak global demand due to COVID-19, leading to significant decline in shipments by key sectors like engineering, petroleum and textiles, as per a government data. Imports too plunged 51 per cent to $22.2 billion in May, leaving a trade deficit of $3.15 billion, compared to $15.36 billion in the same month previous year. However, the dip in exports during the month under review is low as compared to 60.28 per cent fall in April. Barring rice, spices, iron ore and pharmaceuticals, all the remaining 26 key sectors registered negative growth in May, according to the commerce and industry ministry data. It included Gems and jewellery (-68.83 per cent), leather (-75 per cent), petroleum products (-68.46 per cent), engineering goods (-24.25 per cent), and ready-made garments (RMG) of all textiles (-66.19 per cent).

Centre asks states to cap treatment costs at pvt hospitals 

Amid reports of a likely shortage of health care infrastructure at a time the country is battling the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centre asked states and Union Territories to engage with the private sector for augmenting such facilities and provisioning critical care at reasonable rates. There have been several reports indicating an emerging shortage of health care infrastructure, including hospitals with ICU beds, ventilators and oxygen-supported beds, for management of COVID-19 patients, the health ministry said. Being seized of the emerging scenario, the ministry has asked the states and UTs to engage with the private health care providers to facilitate enhanced bed availability and critical care health facilities as well as to ensure fair and transparent charges for services provided. In this regard, some states have already taken an initiative and have reached an agreement with the private sector on reasonable rates and arrangements to provide critical care for in-patient admissions.

UN removes Saudi Saudi-led coalition off child rights blacklist

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres removed a Saudi Arabia-led military coalition from a United Nations blacklist, several years after it was first named and shamed for killing and injuring children in Yemen. The coalition killed or injured 222 children in Yemen last year, Guterres wrote in his annual report to the UN Security Council. Guterres said the coalition would “be delisted for the violation of killing and maiming, following a sustained significant decrease in killing and maiming due to air strikes” and the implementation of measures aimed at protecting children. Yemen has been mired in conflict since the Iran-allied Houthi group ousted the government from the capital Sanaa in 2014. The Saudi-led military coalition in 2015 intervened in a bid to restore the government. The Saudi-led military coalition has officially been on the blacklist for the past three years. It had been briefly added to the blacklist in 2016 and then removed by former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pending review. Countries or groups can be blacklisted for killing, injuring or abusing children, abducting or recruiting children, denying aid access for children or targeting schools and hospitals.

India may impose anti-dumping duty on Polystyrene from 6 countries 

India may impose anti-dumping duty on imports of Polystyrene, used in refrigerators and air conditioners, from Iran, Malaysia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, UAE and the US with a view to guard domestic players from cheap imports from these countries. Ineos Styrolution India Ltd and Supreme Petrochem Ltd had filed the application for imposition of the anti-dumping duty on imports of polystyrene from these nations. After conducting a probe, the commerce ministry’s investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has recommended imposition of the anti-dumping duty on the product from these six countries. In international trade parlance, dumping happens when a country or a firm exports an item at a price lower than the price of that product in its domestic market. Dumping impacts the price of that product in the importing country, hitting margins and profits of manufacturing firms. According to global trade norms, a country is allowed to impose tariffs on such dumped products to provide a level-playing field to domestic manufacturers. The duty is imposed only after a thorough investigation by a quasi-judicial body, such as DGTR, in India. The imposition of anti-dumping duty is permissible under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime.

India to construct sanitation facility at Nepal’s Pashupatinath Temple

India has pledged to construct a Rs 2.33 crore sanitation facility at the iconic Pashupatinath Temple complex in Kathmandu to improve the infrastructure in the holy shrine for the pilgrims, according to an official statement. The project would be constructed under the Nepal-Bharat Maitri: Development Partnership as a high impact community development scheme by India. A memorandum of understanding was signed for the construction of the sanitation facility at the Pashupatinath Temple, which is also listed under the UNESCO World Heritage site. Pashupatinath Temple is the largest temple complex in Nepal and stretches on both sides of the Bagmati River and sees thousands of worshippers from Nepal and India every day. India’s assistance for the infrastructure development at the Pashupatinath Temple complex comes amid a raging border row between the two countries. 

UP Cabinet approves panel for welfare of workers

The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet has given its nod to set up a commission for the welfare of workers, said state minister Sidharth Nath Singh. The minister said the proposal was approved during a Cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. With this, UP has become the first state in the country to think about safeguarding interests of its workers and labourers, the minister said. Named as the UP Kamgar Shramik Sevayojan Avam Rozgar Aayog, the commission will have an executive board and district-level committees, Singh said, adding that at the state-level, the CM will be its chairman and the minister for labour its convener. It will have ministers for industrial development and micro, small and medium enterprises as vice-presidents, Singh said. Ministers for agriculture, rural development, panchayati raj and urban development will be its members, Singh said.

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