Morning Brief: BRICS Backs War On LeT-JeM; Speeding Up Clean Ganga Drive; RBI And The Black Money Trail

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

BRICS Declaration: LeT And JeM Named In Terror List: Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) were bracketed with global terror groups Islamic State and Al Qaeda by the BRICS nation, marking a significant diplomatic win in India’s efforts to counter cross-border terrorism. This is the first time anti-India groups such as LeT and JeM have been named in a BRICS declaration though the five-country grouping has denounced terror in the past. The 43-page Xiamen declaration made it clear that India had been able to convince others in the group about the threat posed by Pakistan-based organisations as the document also contained references to groups such as the Haqqani Network, Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement and Pakistani Taliban that have targeted Afghanistan and China.

BRICS Credit Rating Agency Push: India has strongly pitched for setting up of a BRICS credit rating agency to counter Western rating institutions and cater to the financial needs of sovereign and corporate entities of developing nations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an address at the plenary session of the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) Summit, Modi said a separate rating agency would help the economies of the member countries as well as other developing nations. "Last year we discussed pooling our efforts to create a BRICS rating agency. An Expert Group has since been studying the viability of such an agency. I would urge that the roadmap for its creation should be finalised at the earliest," he said.

Speeding Up Ganga Cleaning Exercise: After taking additional charge of Water Resources Ministry, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday announced the formation of an inter-ministerial task force to speed up the government’s Ganga cleaning exercise. Gadkari, who replaced Uma Bharti, will have to expedite the Namami Gange mission – a programme that is dear to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a major poll promise of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. He said, “Assuming charge from her (Bharti) is like everything was ready in the kitchen and I took charge when the food was about to be served.” The former water minister has come under criticism as her tenure had seen no significant progress in the cleaning of the Ganga, though she has often made promises of finishing the task within unrealistic timelines.

ONGC To Bid For Israeli Oil And Gas Exploration: Indian state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation is planning to bid for Israeli offshore oil-and-gas exploration blocks, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has said. This is the first major deal between the two countries since a groundbreaking trip by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July. India and Israel have deep defence ties but Modi is pushing to expand the relationship into other sectors such as energy and technology with a country they see as a natural ally against terrorism. Pradhan had met his Israeli counterpart Yuval Steinitz on the sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress soon after Modi visited Israel and signed trade deals worth billions of dollars. Israel had issued tenders last year calling for licences to drill 24 blocs of up to 400 square kilometres in size and Indian energy companies like ONGC had announced their participation.

New Push To Stop Spiking Board Exam Marks: A panel comprising seven school examination boards, including Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), has proposed that spiking of scores of students in the board exams must be stopped across the country from 2018. However, school boards will continue with a moderation policy to remove ambiguity and difficulty level in different question sets and offer a level playing field in the evaluation process. The committee, which met recently, has also recommended bringing in uniformity in the setting of question papers of all boards in subjects like science and mathematics. This is done to bring in uniformity in the evaluation of students' performance in the classes X and XII board examination, official sources said. The recommendations will now be sent to the Union Human Resources and Development Ministry for adoption by various states.

Plagiarism Crackdown On Academic Writing: Plagiarism in academic writing will now attract strict penalty. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has released the Draft UGC (Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2017 to crack down on students and faculty found plagiarising. The commission has asked stakeholders to give their suggestions by 30 September. “The objective of the regulations is to promote academic research and deterrence from plagiarism ... As a result, the committee emphasised on the needs to refer plagiarism in a broader way by putting appropriate systems and checks in place,” said a senior official. The core work carried out by the student, faculty, staff and researcher shall be based on original ideas and shall be covered by a zero tolerance policy on plagiarism.

RBI Has No Information On How Much Black Money Was Removed Post DeMo: Just days after its report on demonetisation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) told a parliamentary panel that it has “no information” on how much black money has been extinguished or about unaccounted cash legitimised through exchange of old currency after the note ban exercise was conducted. The central bank, which is under fire from the opposition for note ban and delay in disclosing figures, stated that it has “no information” whether demonetisation is being planned to be implemented at regular intervals. Last week in its annual report, the RBI finally made public the details of the junked notes that have come back into the system putting the figure at Rs 15,280 crore. The process is "going on in full swing" with most RBI offices working in double shifts and with the help of high-end verification machines, the central bank said.

Farrukhabad Hospital Tragedy: Forty-nine infants died in a month at Farrukhabad's Ram Manohar Lohia government hospital, most of them due to "perinatal asphyxia", a condition in which the child cannot breathe properly, officials said on Monday. Parents of many of the children in Farrukhabad told officials that there was a delay in providing oxygen and medicines. Soon after the matter came to light, the state government transferred the district magistrate, the chief medical officer and the chief medical superintendent. The deaths took place between 20 July and 21 August, when there were over 460 deliveries in the hospital. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's office stepped in and asked for an inquiry last evening after the local media attributed the deaths to an oxygen shortage like in Gorakhpur.

MUST READ OPINIONS AND COLUMNS

Demonetisation Will Cost More Than Slow Growth: The government failed to anticipate the economic fallout of demonetisation – both the duration and the magnitude.

Is India Really Cheaper Than The US? Prices in the US are more than three times the prices in India. In less developed countries, the observed price may be low but there are hidden costs that add up to a higher effective cost.

Déjà Vu On The Highways: This is the apposite hour to structurally ring-fence the sector. Not doing so now would bring too much risk back to the table. Neither the lenders nor the highway developers – or, crucially, the government, given the prerogatives of the social compact – can afford to err this time around.

When Economists Look To The Sky: Economists are increasingly turning to data from satellite images to estimate the level of economic activity in regions where economic data is erratic or unavailable.

SWARAJYA SPECIAL

Defence Minister Nirmala Breaks Glass Ceiling, But When Will Men Break The Glass Floor? Why can’t capable men be considered for the Women & Child Development ministry, or a consummate non-Muslim administrator for the Ministry of Minority Affairs?

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

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