Morning Brief: India-Japan Slam Terror; Biggest Rail Track Renewal Exercise On Way; No Clamp On H-1B Visas: US

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

India-Japan Slam Terror, Target Pakistan And North Korea: Calling for a "zero-tolerance approach" to terrorism, India and Japan vowed to jointly fight terror, including the Pakistan-based groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. In what appeared to be a reference to Pakistan, prime ministers Narendra Modi and Shinzo Abe, in their joint statement, called upon all countries to work towards rooting out terrorist safe havens and infrastructure, disrupting terrorist networks and financing channels and halting cross-border movement of terrorists. The two leaders also condemned North Korea’s continued development of its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programme. The two countries also signed 15 agreements to boost cooperation.

Government To Sell Loss-Making ITDC Hotels, Says Minister: Fourteen of the 16 loss-making hotels owned by state-run India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) will be sold off to private parties, Union Tourism Minister Alphons Kannanthanam said on Thursday. “It has been decided to sell off 14 hotels owned by ITDC as running money-making businesses like hotels are not good for a government. The decision to sell off the hotels was taken much earlier.” ITDC is a public sector undertaking that currently runs 16 hotels in Delhi, Patna, Jammu, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Bhopal, Bharatpur, Jaipur, Guwahati, Mysore, Puducherry and Itanagar. “One or two hotels will be retained under government control...I have a wish...to retain Ashoka hotel in New Delhi under government control and make it a very good international hotel,” the minister said.

Railways To Kickstart Biggest Track Renewal Exercise: To reduce train derailments, Indian Railways will embark on its largest track renewal exercise in the next three months. The Railway Board has been instructed by Railways Minister Piyush Goyal to identify stretches where tracks have either completed their lifespan or carry heavy traffic and change them all within the stipulated timeline. Officials said that the national transporter is expected to renew almost 2,000 kilometres of track by the end of this calendar year. Goyal has instructed the board to use the available rails for renewals. However, the target for the current financial year for laying of new rails will remain the same and the railways will place fresh orders for tracks. “The minister is of the view that we should get safety in place first and then focus on laying fresh routes or doubling and tripling of lines,” said officials.

Abu Ismael Was Planning Fidayeen Attack: Top intelligence sources have confirmed that Amarnath attack mastermind Abu Ismael was planning a fidayeen attack on a security camp on the outskirts of Srinagar when Jammu and Kashmir police caught up with him. Tipped off by a source, the J&K police trailed Ismael over the past few days and finally cornered him in Nowgam. Ismael's area of operation was essentially from Kulgam to Srinagar, an intelligence source said. "Last information we had was that he was planning a fidayeen attack on the outskirts of Srinagar," said an officer. With his neutralisation, the total count of terrorists killed in J&K so far this year has risen to 147 as against 150 in 2016.

Rajasthan Waives Off Farm Loans: Rajasthan on Thursday joined the list of states that have promised farm debt waivers in the recent past. After a marathon meeting with farmer groups, the state government announced it would waive all farm loans up to Rs 50,000 per farmer. The decision came in the wake of a 13-day farmer protest, which originated in Sikar and spread to other districts. This move would put an additional burden of about Rs 20,000 crore on the Vasundhara Raje government. The loan waiver announced by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his Maharashtra counterpart, Devendra Fadnavis, had cost the two state governments Rs 36,000 crore and Rs 34,000 crore, respectively.

Maruti To Make Electric Cars In Gujarat: In a boost for the government plan for electric vehicles, Maruti's Japanese parent Suzuki Motor has decided to make electric cars at its factory in Gujarat for India and the world. "For the last 35 years, we have been working towards 'Make in India' with you all," Suzuki chairman Osamu Suzuki said at a business leaders' meet in Gujarat. Suzuki will also pump in a fresh $600 million (Rs 3,900 crore) in the state for a new plant at Hansalpur with a capacity of 2.5 lakh units. Suzuki will also set up a lithium-ion battery factory that will charge electric, hybrid and other vehicles from the company's stable. It is expected that the batteries will be used to power Maruti and Suzuki's electric vehicles, some of which could be all-new ones.

Aircel Maxis Case: Karti Chidambaram Refuses To Appear Before CBI: Karti Chidambaram on Thursday refused to appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Aircel Maxis case saying a special court had discharged all the accused and terminated proceedings in the matter, a claim strongly contradicted by the CBI which said that the investigation was still on. The agency had called Karti for questioning on Thursday in connection with the foreign investment clearance given in 2006 in the Aircel Maxis deal when his father P Chidambaram was the finance minister. The CBI strongly contradicted claims of Karti saying only four, including two companies, of the eight charge sheeted accused were discharged by the special court and the agency has already filed an appeal against the order in the Delhi High Court in May this year.

No Clamp On H-1B Visas, Says US Official: For now, the US is making no changes to the H-1B visa policy that affects thousands of Indians. A senior US official on Thursday sought to allay India’s concerns on the H-1B visa programme, which is being “reviewed” by the Donald Trump administration, saying there are no “restrictions” in place. He said around 70 per cent of the visas issued under the H-1B category over the past nine months have gone to Indians and that a record 1.2 million visas of Indians were adjudicated by the US last year. The year-over-year increase in terms of issuance of H-1B visas and L1 visas (work permit) to Indians is six per cent each, the official said. Trump had signed an executive order in April for tightening the rules of the H-1B visa programme to stop “visa abuses”.

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

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