THE GOOD WORD
Oct 11, 2021 - Week 43
Volume 7S-22| Pages 1
Over 500 detained as terrorists target Kashmiri
minorities for killings, spurt in encounters
Bharat First
Oct 7, after India
imposed a tit-for-tat 10
day Covid quarantine on
British nationals arriving
in India, irrespective of
vaccination status, Britain
relented on its similar
quarantine requirement
for all Indian travellers to
Britain. Indian travelers
will not have to
quarantine upon arrival
to UK if they were either
fully vaccinated with
Covishield or any other
UK-approved Covid
vaccine.
Prior to September
Britain had refused to
recognise any Indian
Covid vaccine as valid for
travel to the UK. After
much criticism, on Sep
22, the UK approved
India’s Covishield vaccine
as acceptable but faulting
the CoWin certificate
issued with it, the UK still
tried to force a 10 day
quarantine on individuals
fully vaccinated with
Covishield. After India
retaliated the UK to fell in
line waiving the 10 day
quarantine requirement
and accepting India’s
CoWin certificate.
At: New18
Visit IndiaWiki.org
per cent shareholding in
AI Express Ltd and 50
per cent in Air India
SATS Airport Services
Private Ltd.
Tata’s have been
working on a plan to
combine its joint
venture with Singapore
Airlines – Vistara and
Air India as it makes
little sense to have two
full-service airlines
compete with each
other in the portfolio.
Air India, formerly
known as Tata Airlines,
was founded in 1932 by
JRD Tata. Its name
changed to ‘Air India’
and became a public
limited company in
1946. The carrier was
nationalized in 1953 but
JRD Tata continued as
chairman until 1977
when Morarji let him
off.
At: GulfNews, image-NewsEastIndia
Oct 8, India foiled a
Chinese army incursion
attempt near Tawang in
Arunachal Pradesh.
About 200 soldiers of the
People's Liberation Army
(PLA) had crossed into
Indian territory and tried
to damage unoccupied
defence posts, including
bunkers of the Indian
Army.
The Indian Army had
temporarily detained a
few Chinese soldiers
during the incursion. The
incident took place
between the border
passes of Bum La and
Yangtse. The matter was
subsequently resolved at
the local military
commanders' level. PLA
soldiers were released
and situation defused.
The incursion comes
weeks after a similar
transgression where
dozens of PLA soldiers
crossed over 5 km into
Indian territory in
Uttarakhand's Chamoli
district.
At: SwarajyaMag
Oct 8, Tata Sons’ were
successful in an ₹18,000
crores (US $ 2.4 billion)
bid for a debt-laden Air
India and will now be
the new owner of the
erstwhile national
carrier. Friday, the
government
announcement finally
brought an end to
privatization efforts that
had begun in 2018.
Air India, with a fleet of
117 aircraft, has around
1,500 pilots and 2,000
engineers. Under the
terms of the agreement,
Tata is expected to
absorb ₹ 15,300 crores
of the airline’s more
than ₹ 61,500 crore debt
burden.
For now, the
government is selling
Tata 100 per cent of its
stake in the state-owned
national airline,
including Air India’s 100
World Girl Child Day, Oct 11-courtesy imgpng.ru
ISIS-K claims attack
on Afghan Shia
mosque, 55+ dead
China pushes an expansionist agenda against
neighbours. LAC talks end in an impasse
Army foils Chinese
incursion at Tawang
- PLA soldiers held
Oct 9, Despite three
screenings since Aug 16,
the Censor Board has
still not approved the
release of the film ‘The
Conversion’. The film
set in Banaras explores
exploitation of girls and
forced religious
conversions by deceitful
men in certain interfaith
marriages. The Board
has drawn criticism on
Oct 4, the Islamic State
of Khorasan (ISIS-K)
claimed responsibility
for the deadly bomb
attack on a mosque in
Afghanistan’s Kunduz
on Friday that left at
least 55 people dead
and dozens of others
severely injured.
In a statement released
on its Telegram
channel, the jihadist
group – an associate of
the Islamic State (ISIS) –
said that its suicide
bomber specifically
targeted a crowd of
Shiite worshippers who
gathered inside a
mosque and it was
there that the attacker
“detonated an explosive
vest”.
The development hints
at aggravating sectarian
violence in the war-
ravaged nation as the
extremist Islamic State
group is a bitter rival of
the Taliban. It also
dispels any Taliban
claim to have secured
stability in Afghanistan.
At: HindustanTimes
Oct 6, Sri Lanka's
agriculture minister
announced that the
organic fertilizers sent
by an Indian company
have been approved for
use and discussions are
underway to import the
same. This follows a ban
on importing organic
fertilizer from China
after detecting harmful
bacteria in samples
procured. Last month,
Sri Lanka cancelled an
import of 99,000 metric
tonnes of organic
fertilizer valued at $63
million from China's
Qingdao Seawin Biotech
Group Co Ltd.
In April, president
Rajapaksa declared only
organic farming would
be allowed in Sri Lanka,
and it aimed to become
the first country to do
so. Thereafter the
Cabinet banned imports
of over 600 items,
including chemical
fertilizers. Widespread
chronic health problems
and ecological
destruction due to
agrochemicals are the
reasons for the ban.
At: SwarajyaMag, DownToEarth
Sri Lanka goes
organic, to import
Indian fertilizers
social media. Activist,
Kajal Hindusthani,
tweeted if girls are killed
mercilessly using a social
ploy, is it wrong to raise
awareness about it in a
film? And so save other
girls? She also
questioned if such
arbitrary bans are to
target only filmmakers of
the majority community.
At: BollywoodKiBaten, Twitter
TOI-1-2
. At: tr
Oct 11, the China
government
mouthpiece, Global
Times, drummed up
rhetoric about China’s
dominance along India’s
border after their
repeated incursions into
Indian territory. The
piece advocated China
prepare for a military
struggle in the face of a
deteriorating situation.
It exposed its
expansionist mind-set as
it argued that India must
draw the border
realistically, ‘in line with
the real situation or its
strengths’ instead of
suggesting adherence to
any internationally
Oct 11, In a big
development on
Monday, the CBI carried
out searches at the
Nagpur residence of
former Maharashtra
home minister Anil
Deshmukh in
connection with the
corruption probe
against him. As per
sources, the CBI is likely
to summon the NCP
leader again very soon.
Earlier, the CBI
summoned
Maharashtra Chief
Secretary Sitaram Kunte
and state DGP Sanjay
Pandey to record their
statements pertaining
to this case. This
marked one of the first
instances where the top
police officer and
bureaucrat of a state
have been called by an
investigative agency.
CBI is probing ex-police
commissioner Param Bir
Singh’s 'extortion'
charge of Rs 100 crores
a month against
Deshmukh. It is also
investigation its own
CBI officer Tiwari for
leaking documents.
At: Republic
Oct 10, the Indian job
market maintained its
record-breaking run
for the third
consecutive month in a
row, clocking 57%
year-on-year growth in
September per a
Naukri.Com report. At
2,753 job postings, the
index hit an all-time
high in September
surpassing pre-Covid
levels in Sep 2019 by
21%.
Hiring in the IT-
software and services
sector has grown 138%
in Sep 2021.
Hospitality saw an 82%
and retail a 70%
increase. These were
also most impacted by
the pandemic. Hiring
activity has also grew
in the education (53%),
banking/financial
services (43%) and
telecom/ISP (37%)
sectors as compared to
September, 2020.
Metros recorded 88
per cent annual
growth in September,
surpassing Tier 2 cities
that grew by 30 per
cent.
At: New18.com
India job market
clocks 57% growth
in September
The attackers first
checked the identity
cards of the teachers
and then isolated 46-
year-old Sikh school
principal Satindar Kaur
and a local Hindu
teacher Deepak Chand
before shooting them
dead on the school
premises.
Home minister Amit
Shah held an
emergency security
meeting in New Delhi,
to review the security
response to the
situation.
On Oct 11, five army
personnel, including a
junior commissioned
officer, were killed in
an encounter with
ultras who had
infiltrated from across
the Line of Control.
Three LeT terrorists
were killed in a
separate encounter in
the Shopian district.
Kashmir valley had
seen a steep decline in
terrorist incidents,
infiltration, and civilian
killings in 2021 till
August. Police and
security forces had
carried out 47
'successful' counter-
terrorism operations
killing 102 terrorists.
At: Republic, OnManorama,
Aljazeera, NewIndianExpress
Image – IndiaToday
Oct 10, the government
has detained over 500
people in a sweeping
crackdown in Kashmir,
following a string of
terrorist attacks that
target the Hindu and
Sikh community over
the last week.
The police revealed that
‘The Resistance Front’
(TRF) a Pakistan based
terrorist group killed
seven people over last
week including a
prominent Kashmiri
Hindu pharmacist, two
schoolteachers of the
Hindu and Sikh faiths,
and a Hindu street food
vendor from Bihar.
Britain backs down,
will accept India
CoWin certificate
Tata bags Air India for ₹18,000 crores
CBI raids former
Maharashtra home
minister’s residence
recognised border. On
Sunday, the 13
th
round
of border dispute talks
between the two
countries ended in an
impasse. The tenor of
statements from the
Chinese side shows a
hardening of position
former Northern Army
commander lieutenant
general DS Hooda said.
After having successfully
disengaged forces along
the LAC in eastern
Ladakh’s Pangong Tso,
and Gogra, earlier this
year, the focus of the
current talks was PP-15
(Hot Springs) and
appeared relatively
easier to resolve. The
disappointing stale-mate
comes at a time when
both countries have
built up of military and
infrastructure
deployment at the
border. India had
reported two incursions
by the Chinese army
into Indian territory in
Arunachal early October
and Uttarakhand in
August.
Oct 5, China flew 56
fighter planes over
Taiwan in the largest
show of force on record,
continuing its military
harassment against the
self-ruled island. It has
also conducted beach
landing drills.
At: MSN, HT, ABCNews
Image - Stoxnews
Social media questions Censor Board’s
delay on release of ‘The Conversion’