India

Kanwal Sibal
New Delhi, Sep 20: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Samarkand has to be seen in the context of the several geopolitical dimensions of this organisation which also have a bearing on India's strategic interests. These include stability in Central Asia, combating terrorism and religious extremism, China's role in the region, promoting multipolarity.



This summit took place when Russia is involved in the Ukraine conflict and China has committed aggression against India in Ladakh. In fact, its forces are still massed there, and it continues to expand its military infrastructure across the length of our border.

Relations between the US and both Russia and China have deteriorated sharply, while our relations with the US have greatly improved. The US and Europe are also unhappy with us on our unwillingness to condemn Russia for invading Ukraine.

At the summit, therefore, PM Modi had to engage in carefully balanced diplomacy that would preserve our equities with all sides. His remarks at the summit were therefore carefully crafted. He confined them to India's achievements in specific sectors, with an eye on the prospects this creates for beneficial cooperation primarily with the Central Asian states.

He noted that India will grow 7.5 per cent this year - the highest amongst the world's largest economies (more than China with President Xi listening). He mentioned the strides made by India in innovation with more than 70,000 Start-ups and more than 100 unicorns.

He offered to set up a new Special Working Group on Start-ups and Innovation in the SCO. In the area of food security, he emphasised the promotion and cultivation of millets and proposed a Millet Food Festival under the SCO. Capitalising on the setting up of a WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in Gujarat (China lost out) he announced an Indian initiative to establish a new SCO Working Group on Traditional Medicine.

Prime Minister Modi eschewed any reference to terrorism or security issues in general, which would have been normal, if made, given our concerns that we share with Central Asia. He steered clear of all that could be construed as having an anti-West connotation. He mentioned the Ukraine crisis (to avoid any criticism that he was ignoring the issue), but in the context of disruption of global supply chains resulting in the whole world facing an unprecedented energy and food crisis.

He bracketed it with the pandemic and stressed the need to develop reliable, resilient and diversified supply chains in our region (a dig at China), which would need better connectivity, and in stating that "we all give each other full right to transit), he implicitly drew attention to Pakistan's failure in this regard, with the Pakistan PM listening in.

There was some speculation, fueled by the agreement on disengagement on PP15 in Ladakh just before the SCO summit, that PM Modi and President Xi may meet on the margins of the SCO summit. This was however unlikely without adequate preparations in advance to ensure positive results from the meeting.

A meeting at this point with President Xi would not have been a normal meeting between heads of friendly countries to exchange views on bilateral and multilateral issues, review progress in ties and discuss possibilities of expanding them further.

With China, the issue of disengagement and de-escalation on the border would have been central to the agenda of the meeting, and unless there were signals that the Chinese side was willing to make a major move to de-escalate, a meeting at the top political level would have frozen the stalemate in ties for the foreseeable future.

The Modi-Putin meeting was, of course, expected. Its tenor would have been of interest to the West, keeping in mind its unhappiness about our unwillingness to condemn Russia for invading Ukraine and instead of subscribing to energy sanctions actually stepping up oil purchases from Russia. Interestingly, PM Modi, in his opening remarks at his meeting with President Vladimir Putin expressed concern about the problems of food security, fuel security and fertilisers for developing countries in particular as a result of the Ukraine crisis, which he intended to discuss in his meeting with the President.

He appealed to the Russian President to also contribute to finding some way out, putting thus some of the onus also on President Putin to resolve the crisis, consistent with India's call for diplomacy and dialogue to end it, but more pointedly than what we have said in public so far. (It is interesting that the Chinese side have some questions and concerns about Ukraine that Putin himself referred to in his opening remarks during his meeting with President Xi). Modi was also even handed in thanking both Putin and Ukraine for their help in evacuating our students from Ukraine. By saying that he believed that "today's era is not of war" and that democracy, diplomacy and dialogue are "such things that touch the world", Modi was batting for peace, as befits a responsible leader. He added that he awaited the chance to discuss further with President Putin how "we can move forward on the path of peace in the coming days".

The West will construe Modi's remarks as a publicly expressed implicit disapproval of Putin's decision to launch a military operation, which is manifestly wrong. But this gives our side a talking point against western charges that India is not criticising Russia. Modi, however, balanced these opening remarks on his concerns about Ukraine by lauding the strength of India-Russia ties, even calling them unbreakable.

Putin was cordial in his remarks, referring to Modi's birthday, the special and privileged partnership between the two countries (which Modi did not), the active cooperation of both sides on all international platforms. He candidly said that he knew Modi's "position on the conflict in Ukraine, your concerns that you constantly express", and that he wanted to end the conflict too, but put the blame on Ukraine's leadership to refuse negotiations and settle the issue on the battlefield, while promising to keep India informed of developments.

This public admission by President Putin about PM Modi having conveyed his concerns over Ukraine to him "constantly", puts the latter's opening remarks in perspective and that it was by no means a "rebuke".

The Russian leader appreciated Modi's video message to the participants of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, fondly remembered his visit to New Delhi in December last year and the fruitful negotiations with PM Modi and invited him to visit Russia.

He noted that Russian supplies of fertilisers to India had grown eight times, large-scale joint projects in the oil and gas sector and nuclear power industry were consistently being implemented, noting also that for Russians, India's rich history and ancient culture are traditionally of great interest. In this regard, he proposed to intensify the negotiation process on an agreement on visa-free tourist trips. The positive tenor of his remarks is notable.

After their closed-door meeting PM Modi in his tweet has described his meeting with Putin as "wonderful", with a discussion on furthering bilateral cooperation in trade, energy, defence and other areas. Altogether it was a successful summit from India's point of view.

( is India's former Foreign Secretary and Ambassador to Russia. Views expressed are personal and exclusive to India Narrative)

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)

--indianarrative

Lucknow, Sep 20 (IANS) Parthiv Patel proved he still retains his reputation of being a pocket-sized powerhouse as he smashed a 17-ball 34 on Monday to help the Virender Sehwag-led Gujarat Giants clinch a two-wicket win against Harbhajan Singh's Manipal Tigers in the fourth match of the Legends League Cricket (LLC).

The Giants have won two-out-of-two matches and occupy the top spot on the points table.

Chasing Manipal Tigers' 120/8, Parthiv's blitzkrieg, which included six boundaries and a six, helped the Giants finish off the match with 16 balls to spare, but they lost eight wickets in the chase, giving Sehwag some anxious moments.

On a challenging pitch at the Ekana Stadium here, the former India wicketkeeper-batter, who boasts a T20 strike rate of 123.84, changed the complexion of the match after the Giants struggled at the start.

Former Zimbabwe pacer Chris Mpofu dismissed Sehwag and Tillakaratne Dilshan in the second over of the Giants' chase. But Parthiv took the attack to the opposition camp by hitting three consecutive boundaries in the third over, bowled by English pace bowler Ryan Sidebottom.

Parthiv followed that up with a six and three more fours in the next over, bowled by Mpofu. The left-handed batter was finally out for 34, but by then he had made the Tigers bowlers shaky. The Tigers tried to claw their way back late in the match with Harbhajan (2/23) and Muttiah Muralitharan (2/10) picking up four wickets between them.

The Giants were pegged back, but Graeme Swann hit two fours in the 17th over to release the pressure. The Giants finally won in 17.2 overs when Murali bowled a wide.

--IANS

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Lucknow, Sep 20 (IANS) An eight-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a man, living as a tenant in the house of the victim, in the Gudamba police station area of Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow.

The accused, identified as Vinod, 24, has been arrested.

The Gudamba police, releasing a video statement on the matter, said, "Two days after the abuse, the child complained of discomfort and pain in her private parts after which her parents took her to a doctor where the parents were told that the child had been raped. A complaint was lodged by the family with the police."

The child has been admitted to a hospital where her condition was said to be serious.

The accused has been arrested, a case has been filed against him, and an investigation is underway, said the police.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 19 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from the Centre on a plea seeking a direction to declare "Talaq-e-Ahsan" and all other forms of unilateral extra-judicial dissolution of marriages under Muslim personal laws as illegal, arbitrary, void, and unconstitutional being irrational and in contravention of Articles 14, 15, 21 and 15 of the Constitution.

A bench of Justices S.K. Kaul and A.S. Oka agreed to hear the petition and issued notices to the Centre and others, including the National Commission for Women.

The plea, filed by a Pune-based woman, said she was divorced by her husband by "Talaq-eAhsan" procedure by sending a letter through Speed Post after being driven out of her matrimonial home after she refused to pay them money for down payment for purchasing a new car and to avail loan for making payment of the balance amount and repay the same in full on her own.

The petition said per the customs and procedure, "Talaq-e-Ahsan" requires pronouncement of Talaq once followed by abstinence from conjugal relation for three lunar months or 90 days and thereafter, if the parties to the marriage do not resume their conjugal relationship with 90 days, the marriage is dissolved.

The plea also sought directions to the Centre and others to frame guidelines for a gender neutral, religion neutral uniform ground, and procedure for divorce.

The plea, filed through advocate Nirmal Kumar Ambastha, said: "The petitioner tried to approach the local police against the atrocities and harassment by her husband and in laws and also against the unilateral dissolution of marriage, but the local police did not register the case on the ground that 'Talaq-e-Ahsan' is a recognised process for dissolution of Muslim marriages".

The plea contended that all the procedure for dissolution of marriages like Talaq-e-Ahsan and others are available to Muslim men only as an extra-judicial unilateral procedure for dissolution of marriage, which is neither harmonious to modern day principles of gender equality nor an essential religious practice.

The plea submitted that petitioner's husband sent her a letter of divorce on July 16, through Speed Post, levelling various baseless and untrue allegations against her.

"Muslim personal law insofar as it allows the men to unilaterally dissolve marriage by 'Talaq-e-Ahsan' and all other forms of unilateral extra-judicial dissolution of marriages, but does not allow the women to do the same, is void being violative of fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 15, 21 and 25 of the Constitution of India. Since Muslim Personal Law is a law within the expression 'Law in force' as contained in Article 13(1) of the Constitution of India and it must be void for contravening any rights under Part III thereof," said the plea.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 19 (IANS) Party sources said on Monday that interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has hinted that she does not have any reservations against senior party leader Shashi Tharoor running for Congress President's post.

Sonia Gandhi gave her nod shortly after meeting Tharoor and a few other Congress leaders on her return following a medical check-up abroad. Tharoor, who was one of the G-23 members of the party who had demanded sweeping reforms in the Congress, is now likely to throw his hat into the ring for the race to the top party post, voting for which will be held on October 17.

Meanwhile, Congress' state units have been passing resolutions to make Rahul Gandhi the next party President, including in Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, among others. However, Congress' Central Election Authority (CEA) has said that such resolutions will not have any bearing on the election process.

Madhusudan Mistry, Chairman of CEA, said, "These resolutions have no bearing on the election process."

While the notification for the Presidential election will be issued on September 22, there is still suspense over the candidates who will contest for the top party post.

While the G-23 group is gearing up to field a candidate and Thiruvananthapuram MP Tharoor is its top choice, for party loyalists, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is the preferred choice, sources said.

However, Gehlot is reportedly reluctant to leave chief ministership and move to Delhi. In that scenario, former Union minister Mukul Wasnik or leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, could emerge as the front-runners, as both belong to the Scheduled Caste community.

The nominations are to be filed between September 24 and September 30.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 19 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the majority decision of a bench of larger strength would prevail over the decision of a bench of lesser strength, regardless of the number of judges taking the majority view.

A five-judge constitution bench, headed by Justice Indira Banerjee, said: "In view of Article 145(5) of the Constitution of India, concurrence of a majority of the judges at the hearing will be considered as a judgment or opinion of the court. It is settled that the majority decision of a bench of larger strength would prevail over the decision of a bench of lesser strength, irrespective of the number of judges constituting the majority."

Justice Banerjee authored the judgment on behalf of herself and also for Justices Surya Kant, M.M. Sundresh, and Sudhanshu Dhulia.

Justice Hemant Gupta, in his separate and concurring judgement, said that a decision delivered by a bench of largest strength is binding on any subsequent bench of lesser or coequal strength.

He noted that senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan referred to Article 145(5) to contend that a judgment of this court is mandated to be delivered with the concurrence of a majority of the judges present at the hearing of the case, but nothing in this clause shall be deemed to prevent a judge who does not concur from delivering a dissenting judgment or opinion. Thus, the Constitution itself envisaged that the judgment is by the majority of the judges.

Justice Gupta said: "A decision delivered by a Bench of largest strength is binding on any subsequent Bench of lesser or coequal strength. It is the strength of the Bench and not number of Judges who have taken a particular view which is said to be relevant. However, conclusion (2) makes it absolutely clear that a Bench of lesser quorum cannot disagree or dissent from the view of law taken by a Bench of larger quorum. Quorum means the bench strength which was hearing the matter."

He said it has been rightly concluded that the numerical strength of the judges taking a particular view is not relevant, but the bench strength is determinative of the binding nature of the judgment.

According to this apex court judgment, in a seven-bench decision of 4:3, the majority view would prevail over the unanimous view of a five-judge constitution bench.

In 2017, a two-judge bench of the apex court had referred to the matter to the constitution bench.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 19 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Monday said in death penalty cases, the accused is scarcely expected to place mitigating circumstances on the record and this tilts the scales heavily against him, and therefore, it is necessary to have clarity to ensure a uniform approach on the question of granting real and meaningful opportunity to such convicts.

A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice U.U. Lalit and comprising Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia, said: "It is also a fact that in all cases where imposition of capital punishment is a choice of sentence, aggravating circumstances would always be on record, and would be part of the prosecution's evidence, leading to conviction, whereas the accused can scarcely be expected to place mitigating circumstances on the record, for the reason that the stage for doing so is after conviction.

"This places the convict at a hopeless disadvantage, tilting the scales heavily against him."

"This court is of the opinion that it is necessary to have clarity in the matter to ensure a uniform approach on the question of granting real and meaningful opportunity, as opposed to a formal hearing, to the accused/convict, on the issue of sentence," it added.

The apex court referred the suo moto matter to the constitution bench to frame guidelines for courts, while examining mitigating factors for the convicts in death penalty cases.

During the hearing, the bench noted that it was suggested that the social milieu, the age, educational levels, whether the convict had faced trauma earlier in life, family circumstances, psychological evaluation of a convict, and post-conviction conduct, were relevant factors at the time of considering whether the death penalty ought to be imposed upon the accused.

The bench said noticing the lack of a uniform framework in this regard, the present suo motu case was initiated wherein this court has indicated by its orders the necessity of working out the modalities of psychological evaluation, the stage of adducing evidence in order to highlight mitigating circumstances, and the need to build institutional capacity.

Citing apex court decisions, the bench said the common thread that runs through all these decisions is the express acknowledgment that meaningful, real and effective hearing must be afforded to the accused, with the opportunity to adduce material relevant for the question of sentencing.

"What is conspicuously absent, is consideration and contemplation about the time this may require. In cases where it was felt that real and effective hearing may not have been given (on account of the same day sentencing), this court was satisfied that the flaw had been remedied at the appellate (or review stage), by affording the accused a chance to adduce material, and thus fulfilling the mandate of Section 235(2)," it said.

The top court observed that the question of what constitutes "sufficient time" at the trial court stage, requires consideration and clarity. "Consequently, this court is of the view that a reference to a larger bench of five Hon'ble Judges is necessary for this purpose. Let this matter be placed before the Chief Justice of India for appropriate orders in this regard," it said.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 19 (IANS) India needs to remain India instead of following any other country for development, said Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat on Monday.

"If we start following other nations like China, Russia, America, it will be an imitation. The nation can develop in its originality", said Bhagwat. To achieve the long-term goal of development, it is necessary to take pride in the geography and history of India.

The RSS Chief was speaking at the launch of a book titled 'Connecting with the Mahabharata' here on Monday. While launching the book, he said that there have been efforts to make Indians forget their 'itihaas' (history) for their selfish motives.

"India's history and civilization is extremely old, but for our colonialists it was necessary to make us believe that no culture in the world is older than theirs. They preached that our ancestors were fools and our holy literature is wrong, it was our folly to continue believing them", he said.

Talking about climate change and the issue of zero emissions, he said that the world needs to learn from India's scriptures and the centuries-long tradition. However, the world is now coming to that stage again, but it will take time, Bhagwat added.

While speaking about India's two epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, he said that we are told that these are just imagined stories and poetry. But it is important to understand that does any imagination last so long?

"It is now considered that Ramayana and Mahabharata are not historical texts, but just mahakavyas or epic poems. However, for a text to continue to be relevant and persistent in popular memory as Mahabharata and Ramayana are, there have to be facts in them. It is considered that history has no use. The 'itihaas' in these epics has been narrated like a story, not for entertainment or information, but so it continues to be told and people continue taking lessons from history to better their present and future," the RSS Chief said.

The book 'Connecting with the Mahabharata' has been authored by research scholar Neera Misra and Air Vice Marshal (Retd.) Rajesh Lal, son of Indian archaeologist Prof BB Lal.

The book is dedicated to the late Prof BB Lal whose first set of excavations was at Hastinapur followed by Indraprastha in 1952-53, when he went on a journey to discover the historicity of the Mahabharata.

The book is divided into eight sections, where the authors introduce the storyline and contents of the 18 parvas, connecting them to the vast geospatial landscape covered in the narrative. The book highlights the significant Mahabharata locations excavated by prominent archaeologists.

--IANS
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Mumbai, Sep 19 (IANS) The Congress' Maharashtra unit on Monday passed a unanimous resolution urging Rahul Gandhi to accept the post of party President, top leaders said here.

At a meeting of the newly-elected state representatives of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee, two separate resolutions were unanimously accepted.

A resolution, moved by former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, and seconded by former ministers Chandrakant Handore and Naseem Khan, requesting Rahul Gandhi to accept the responsibility of Congress President was passed unanimously.

Another resolution, moved by state Congress President Nana Patole and seconded by Congress Legislative Party Leader Balasaheb Thorat, authorised the Congress President Sonia Gandhi with all powers to choose the state President, office-bearers, treasurer and AICC delegates, which was approved by all present.

State Election Officer and former Union Minister M.M. Pallam Raju said that the entire election of the Congress has been conducted properly with the full cooperation of all and this will help strengthen the party organisation.

He also appealed to the Congressmen and people to join Rahul Gandhi's ongoing Kanyakumari-Kashmir 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' in large numbers.

Presided over by Raju, the meeting - held at the Y.B.Chavan Centre - also discussed in detail the preparations for the Yatra which is expected to enter Maharashtra on November 7.

Congress state in charge H. K. Patil, top state leaders including Patole, Chavan, Thorat, Handore, Khan, Prithviraj Chavan, Vijay Wadettiwar, Sunil Kedar, Madhukar Chavan, Manikrao Thakre, state women President Sandhya Savvalakhe, AICC Secretary Sonal Patel, Sampath Kumar, Basavaraj Patil, A. Kunal Patil, Dinesh Kumar, Naresh Rawat, Siddharth Hattambire, Vishal Muttemwar, Pramod More, Devanand Pawar, Mohan Joshi and others were present.

--IANS
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Chandigarh, Sep 19 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister and AAP leader Bhagwant Mann was deplaned in Frankfurt from a Delhi-bound Lufthansa flight as he was "too drunk to walk".

However, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has refuted the allegations against Mann, saying the Chief Minister returned to Delhi as per schedule.

According to media reports, Mann, who was on a eigh-day trip to Germany till September 18, delayed his departure as he was reportedly in 'an inebriated state'.

However, AAP has strongly denied the charge, saying Mann was not deplaned at the Frankfurt airport. The party termed it as false and frivolous propaganda by political rivals.

A passenger in the flight said in a message, "The CM was not steady on his feet as he had imbibed excessive alcohol and had to be supported by his wife/security."

"Our political opponents are spreading these rumours to defame our CM. They cannot digest that Mann is working hard to bring investments to Punjab. The CM returned as per schedule," the party's chief spokesperson in Punjab, Malwinder Singh Kang, told the media here.

Officials in the Chief Minister's Office claimed that Mann could not board the flight because of emergent health concerns.

Responding to the allegations, Cabinet ministers Kuldeep Dhaliwal and Meet Hayer told the media, "Anyone can have health issues. The Opposition does not have any issue to talk about. That is why they are highlighting this issue which is meaningless and fake."

With many different versions doing the rounds, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal said the reports of the Chief Minister being deplaned from a Lufthansa flight as he was "too drunk to walk" have "embarrassed and shamed Punjabis all over the globe".

"Disturbing media reports quoting co-passengers say Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was deplaned from a Lufthansa flight as he was too drunk to walk. And it led to a 4-hour flight delay. He missed AAP's national convention. These reports have embarrassed & shamed Punjabis all over the globe," Badal tweeted.

He also said that AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal should come clean on the issue.

Badal asked the Indian government to raise the issue with its German counterpart if Mann was deplaned in Frankfurt.

"Shockingly, Punjab government is mum over these reports involving Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Arvind Kejriwal needs to come clean on this issue. The Government of India must step in as this involves Punjabi and national pride. If he was deplaned, GoI must raise the issue with its German counterpart," Badal tweeted.

Setting aside the charges, AAP's director of media communication, Chander Suta Dogra, said Mann was a little unwell.

Meanwhile, Mann went to Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal's official residence upon his arrival in New Delhi amid the brewing row on Monday.

The Lufthansa Group in a statement said the flight departed late due to "a delayed inbound flight and an aircraft change".

"Our flight from Frankfurt to Delhi departed later than originally planned due to a delayed inbound flight and an aircraft change," it said in a statement.

It added, "For data protection reasons, we do not provide any information regarding individual passengers."

--IANS
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