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India welcomes Maldives presidential election result

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India on Monday welcomed the result of the presidential election in the Maldives with early reports showing that the joint opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih of the Maldivian Democratic Party has beaten incumbent Yameen Abdul Gayoom.

“We welcome the successful completion of the third presidential election process in the Maldives which, according to preliminary information, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has won,” the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

“We heartily congratulate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on his victory and hope that the Election Commission will officially confirm the result at the earliest,” it stated.

The statement said that “this election marks not only the triumph of democratic forces in the Maldives, but also reflects the firm commitment to the values of democracy and the rule of law”.

“In keeping with our Neighbourhood First Policy, India looks forward to working closely with the Maldives in further deepening our partnership,” it stated.

With a number of prominent opposition figures of the country put behind bars, former President Mohamed Nasheed living in exile, a defunct parliament and a crippled judiciary, there was a big question mark over a free and fair election in the Indian Ocean archipelago nation.

The crisis in the Maldives began in February this year when President Gayoom of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) declared a state of Emergency.

The security forces had stormed into the Supreme Court and arrested two of its five sitting judges, sealed parliament house and detained prominent opposition leaders.

India is concerned with the political instability in the Maldives, which is just around 1,200 km away from the Indian mainland, for a variety of reasons.

The country, home to around 22,000 Indians, is of strategic importance to India and its growing proximity with China is a cause of concern for New Delhi.

(IANS)

Former BCCI chief B.N. Dutt dead

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Former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President B.N. Dutt died at his south Kolkata residence on Monday following respiratory ailments, family sources said.

Dutt, 92, is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

The veteran cricket administrator was in and out of hospital in the recent past when his condition deteriorated due to a lung infection.

Dutt was BCCI President from 1988 to 1990. He also served as president of the Cricket Association of Bengal from 1986 to 1991.

He also presided over the Indian Football Association.

Condoling his death, CAB President and former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly described Dutt as a ‘master administrator’.

“It is a massive loss. It is a void very hard to be filled,” Ganguly said.

(IANS)

Pakistan won’t abandon peace efforts despite India’s reluctance: Foreign Minister

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Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that despite Indias reluctance, Islamabad would not close doors on its efforts to promote peace in the region.

“India is reluctant, we will not close our doors,” the Minister said while addressing a news conference at the Pakistan Embassy here on Sunday.

“Hiding away from issues will not make them disappear. It will not improve the situation in Kashmir,” Dawn online quoted Qureshi as saying.

The Minister said he was unable to understand India’s refusal to participate in peace talks with Pakistan.

“Engagement, no-engagement. Coming, not coming. We desired talks as we believe the sensible way is to meet and talk. They agreed, and then disagreed.”

He pointed out that India’s response to Pakistan’s peace offer was harsh and non-diplomatic.

“We did not use a non-diplomatic language in our rejoinder. Our response was matured and measured. They adopted a new approach, and moved back.”

Qureshi said that Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s “language and tone was unbecoming of a foreign minister”, Dawn online reported.

Asked if tensions between India and Pakistan could lead to a war between the two countries, the Minister said: “Who is talking of war? Not us. We want peace, stability, employment and improving lives. You identify where is the reluctance.”

Qureshi said that Pakistan’s desire for peace should not be mistaken for a sign of weakness.

“We want peace. It does not mean, we cannot defend ourselves against aggression. We can but we do not have an aggressive mindset,” he said.

The Minister also reiterated Pakistan’s offer to open the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara corridor for allowing devotees to visit the historic gurdwara on the 550th birth anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev.

Qureshi’s statement comes after India on Friday cancelled his and Sushma Swaraj’s meeting that was scheduled to be held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) session this week.

New Delhi blamed Pakistan for the killing of security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir and accusing it of glorifying terrorism, in terms of releasing a postage stamp featuring Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani who was killed by Indian security forces last year.

India announced its decision just 24 hours after Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in his media briefing on Thursday that New Delhi has accepted Islamabad’s request for a meeting between the two foreign ministers.

(IANS)

Russian minister accuses US of destabilising oil market

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(140530) — BERLIN, May 30, 2014 (Xinhua) — Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak attends a press conference after a trilateral talks in Berlin, Germany, May 30, 2014. Representatives from the European Union (EU), Russia and Ukraine met here on Friday for a new round of trilateral talks in a bid to settle the ongoing gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine, days before a deadline set by Russia to cut the flow of gas if Ukraine does not pay unpaid bills. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak has accused the US of destabilising the global oil market, urging for wider cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC producers to reach long-term stability.

“The sanctions and the trade wars imposed by some powers will have an impact on the global economy and therefore on the oil market,” Novak said on Sunday in his opening notes at the 10th OPEC and non-OPEC Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) in Algiers, the capital of Algeria, Xinhua reported.

The Russian Minister was referring to the sanctions imposed by the US on Iran, a key oil producer, while “the trade wars” were referring to the ongoing trade conflict between the US and China.

Novak also said that when the production cut-off agreement reached in Algiers in 2016 expires at the end of 2018, “it will be necessary to think carefully to expand our cooperation to meet the rising challenges we face today and in the future.”

“While oil markets are, for the moment, better off for both consumers and producers, we still have to avoid challenges that affect both parties,” he said.

“All market stakeholders, either producers or consumers, are expecting from us to consolidate our solidarity and the approach we have created in order to maintain a long-term global market balance,” the minister concluded.

The JMMC, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and Russia, comprises four OPEC member countries, namely Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Venezuela, and two non-OPEC member countries, namely Russia and Oman.

It aims to ensure the achievement of the objectives of the Declaration of Algiers on reducing oil outputs by 1.8 million barrels a day to adjust production in the range of 32.5 to 33 million barrels per day to boost plunging prices.

Algiers meeting is expected to extend the 2016 agreement to an additional period to maintain prices at the current level.

IANS

Asia Cup: Rohit, Jadeja star in India’s 7-wkt win over Bangladesh

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Dubai India dished out another comprehensive performance to thrash Bangladesh by seven wickets in a Super Four stage match of the Asia Cup at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium here on Friday.

Skipper Rohit Sharma led India from the front with a fluent unbeaten half-century to overhaul the paltry target of 174 with more than 13 overs to spare, after the men-in-blue rode on left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja’s magical spell of 4/29 on winning the toss and opting to chase.

The defending champions were off to a brilliant start once again with Rohit (83 not out off 104 balls; 5X4, 6X3) and Shikhar Dhawan (40 off 47; 4X4, 6X1) putting on 61 runs before the southpaw was trapped leg-before by left-armer Shakib Al Hasan in the 15th over.

Thereafter, Rohit and new man Ambati Rayudu (13) added 45 runs for the second wicket before the No.3 batsman was caught behind off pacer Rubel Hossain.

With India cruising to an easy victory, former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (33 off 37; 4X3) was promoted up the order and the talismanic wicketkeeper-batsman played the perfect second fiddle to the skipper, who clobbered Shakib for three sixes, one among those to get to his 36th ODI fifty.

Dhoni soon joined the party, belting two consecutive boundaries off skipper Mashrafe Mortaza to raise India’s 150 and also the 50-run stand for the third wicket.

Mortaza, however, avenged the thrashing with the wicket of the stumper, who in an attempt to finish off the innings with a six, gifted his wicket away with India just four runs shy of victory.

Dinesh Karthik (1 not out) then joined his skipper to complete the formalities in style.

Earlier, Jadeja, playing his first ODI since July 2017, wreaked havoc among the Bangladeshi middle-order that comprised the key wickets of Shakib Al Hasan (17), Mushfiqur Rahim (21), Mohammad Mithun (9) and Mosaddek Hossain (12), to help India restrict the opposition for a paltry 173, centred mainly around a 66-run eighth wicket stand between lower-order batsmen Mehidy Hasan (42) and skipper Mashrafe Mortaza (26).

Jadeja was complimented well by the pace duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/32) and Jasprit Bumrah (3/37).

Put in to bat, Bangladesh immediately found themselves on the backfoot after Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah removed the openers Liton Das (7) and Nazmul Hossain Shanto (7), respectively, with just 16 runs on the board.

Thereafter, Jadeja spun his magic around the Bangladesh batsmen which reduced them to 65/5 by the 18th over, before Mahmudullah (25) and Mosaddek steered the total past the 100-run mark with a brief 36-run sixth wicket stand.

Towards the end, Mehidy and Mashrafe batted sensibly to take the side past the 150-run mark even as the Indian bowlers came back well to restrict them to a below-par score.

Brief Scores

Bangladesh: 173 (Mehidy Hasan 42, Mashrafe Mortaza 26; Ravindra Jadeja 4/29, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3/32, Jasprit Bumrah 3/37) lose to India: 174/3 (Rohit Sharma 83 not out, Shikhar Dhawan 40, M.S Dhoni 33) by 7 wickets.

(IANS)

‘Surgical strike’ on defence forces, says Rahul as France, Dassault contradict Hollande on Rafale partner

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New Delhi Even as the French government and Dassault Aviation contradicted former President Francois Hollande’s claim on choosing of Indian industrial partners in the multi-million dollar Rafale jet deal, the Congress party on Saturday said the French government “conceals more than it reveals”. Congress President Rahul Gandhi called it a “surgical strike” on Indian defence forces.

The statement by the French government issued here by the embassy late on Friday came after Hollande claimed in a media report that the Indian government had suggested a particular private firm for the Rafale offset contract.

Hollande was quoted in an article by a French website Mediapart as saying that the Indian government had asked the French government to nominate Reliance Defence as its India partner in the deal.

“We didn’t have any say in this matter,” Hollande was quoted by the website as saying. “It is the Indian government which had proposed this service group and Dassault who negotiated with (Anil) Ambani. We didn’t have the choice, we took the interlocutor who was given to us.”

In response to the claim, the Friday night statement said: “The French government is in no manner involved in the choice of Indian industrial partners who have been, are being or will be selected by French companies.

Dassault Aviation, the makers of the Rafale jets, in a statement, also on Friday night, said: “This offsets contract is delivered in compliance with the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2016 regulations. In this framework, and in accordance with the policy of ‘Make in India’, Dassault Aviation has decided to make a partnership with India’s Reliance Group. This is Dassault Aviation’s choice.”

On Saturday, Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet that the “PM and Anil Ambani jointly carried out a One Hundred & Thirty Thousand Crore SURGICAL STRIKE on the Indian Defence forces. Modiji you dishonoured the blood of our martyred soldiers. Shame on you. You betrayed India’s soul.”

The Congress party said that the the French government knows that verbal interactions between former President Hollande and Indian interlocutors were minuted and would emerge.

“Speculation of French Parliamentary hearing into Rafale and access to administration documents under France’s Freedom of Information Law 1978 rife,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari tweeted.

“What French government/corporate entity has just ended up doing is making Rafale procurement a veritable domestic issue in French politics also”.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a tweet in Hindi sought to know from the Indian Prime Minister who “pocketed the money from the Rafale scam, you the BJP or someone else.”

Countering the attack, Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Union Minister Ananth Kumar tweeted: “Nailing the lie on its head — misinformation about Rafale deal, Dassault being called out by the French government.”

The Modi government has repeatedly said it was Dassault that chose its India partner for offsets and that the government had no say in the deal.

The Paris-based Dassault Aviation further said in its statement that “in accordance with India’s acquisition procedure, French companies have the full freedom to choose their Indian partner companies that they consider to be the most relevant, then present for the Indian government’s approval the offset projects that they wish to execute in India with these local partners so as to fulfil their obligations in this regard.”

“Dassault Aviation is very proud that the Indian authorities have selected the Rafale fighter,” it added stating that the partnership “between the two giants” led to the creation of the Dassault Reliance Aerospace Ltd (DRAL) joint venture in February 2017.

The deal to purchase 36 Rafale fighter jets from France was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015 and signed in 2016.

The UPA government was earlier negotiating a deal to procure 126 Rafale jets, with 18 to come in flyaway condition and 108 to be manufactured by HAL under licence.

Mediapart, whose focus of the story was about financing of a film being co-produced by actress Julie Gayet, who is said to be a “personal partner” of Hollande, for which the Ambani group had provided funds of up to $1.6 million.

It interviewed Hollande on phone in which he further said: “I intervened in this affair (Rafale) with the two prime ministers, to say that I was keen for this negotiation. Initially, the deal was supposed to be for 126 planes, then when the government changed the Indians reformulated their proposition, less attractive for us because it was for 36 aircraft only. But the manufacturing was planned to be in France, contrary to the preceding proposition, we lost on the one hand and gained on the other.”

(IANS)

Makeover gambits by RSS, Congress: Are they for real? By Amulya Ganguli

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Two intriguing exercises in U-turns are on at the moment. While Congress president Rahul Gandhi is trying to rid the Congress of its pro-Muslim image, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief, Mohan Bhagwat, is claiming that a Hindu “rashtra” (nation) will include Muslims as well.

Although Bhagwat did not specifically say so, it was obvious that the Muslims would not be treated as second-class citizens in a nation of Hindus as was decreed by M.S. Golwalkar, the second sarsanghchalak (head) of the RSS.

Are these changes for real or fake? If they are real, then both the Congress and the RSS can be said to be turning over a new leaf.

The formidable impact of such changes, especially the one in the RSS, on the social and political scene is obvious. In a way, it will be on the scale of Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness) which brought the communist Soviet Union into the capitalist world.

Will the RSS similarly break out of its earlier Hindu-centric mould for which it was accused by several judicial commissions of instigating communal riots and become secular?

However, the problem in the case of the RSS is that it is not alone. It is a part of a large brotherhood which includes the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Bajrang Dal, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and others.

Although the RSS is their mentor, it is not known whether it will be able to bring their thinking in line with its new, accommodative mode.

The task is bound to be difficult considering that the saffron brotherhood has nurtured an anti-minority outlook for decades, regarding Muslims as “internal enemies No. 1” and Christians as “internal enemies No. 2”, according to Golwalkar.

Although the RSS and the BJP have now distanced themselves from this section of Golwalkar’s catechism, the Ramjanmabhoom agitation of the 1990s showed how the Hindutva brigade continues to hold the two communities as responsible for all of India’s woes, starting from the destruction of temples in medieval times to the country’s partition in the modern period to the conversion of Hindus to “alien” religions.

Another fear of the saffronities is that the Muslims would outnumber the Hindus by breeding exponentially with their four wives — hum panch, hamare pachis, as Narendra Modi once said — while the Christian missionaries will continue to “harvest” gullible Hindu souls.

It is open to question, therefore, as to what extent Bhagwat’s words of wisdom will lead to a dramatic rethinking in the Hindutva ranks. It is this scepticism which apparently made the opposition parties at the national level stay away from the three-day conclave which Bhagwat addressed at New Delhi’s prestigious Vigyan Bhavan.

However, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. If there are no more lynchings of suspected beef-eaters, no more campaigns in favour of “ghar wapsi” or the reconversion of Muslims, and no more instances of love jehad resulting in the harassment of inter-faith couples, then it will be presumed that the RSS chief’s counsel of restraint is having a sobering effect on the saffron storm-troopers.

As important as the stoppage of lynchings will be the end of the cold-blooded killings of rationalists or scientists or journalists, which have evidently been carried out by those indoctrinated by the philosophy of hate directed against Left-Liberal members of the intelligentsia.

And, what about the venomous outpourings of the countless saffron trolls who let out whoops of joy over the killing of an intrepid scribe? Will they pipe down and become models of restrained behaviour?

Cynics may wonder whether Bhagwat’s latest nod to the “idea” of a multicultural India, which is normally derided by the Hindu Right, is an attempt to gain respectability for the Sangh Parivar by entering the gated enclaves of the Left-Liberals who regard themselves as the standard-bearers of a modern, cosmopolitan lifestyle while the Parivar with its fetish for Hindi, vegetarianism and cow’s urine is seen as a bucolic outsider.

It is possible that the RSS realised that notwithstanding the enormous material and political clout it has acquired because of the BJP’s political success, its social standing hasn’t improved. The anglicised, deracinated “urban Naxalites” in the cocktail circuits continue to regard the Hindu Right as usurpers in the corridors of power.

But if the RSS dons the cloak of inclusiveness, where does that leave the BJP? Already, Bhagwat’s praise of the Congress’s role in the freedom struggle and his observation that he does not believe in the idea of the country being made “mukt” (free) of any party has poured cold water over the BJP’s plan of ushering in a Congress-mukt Bharat.

This is the first sign that the RSS and the BJP do not see eye to eye on at least one matter. The place of honour for Muslims in a Hindu rashtra will also focus attention on the BJP’s reluctance to choose Muslims (and Christians) as the party’s election candidates.

The branding by some BJP leaders of their opponents as anti-nationals also goes against Bhagwat’s moderate tone. If the RSS chief’s discourse robs the BJP of its divisive plank, its election campaign is bound to lose its sting. The “chelas” (ideological followers), therefore, will have to harmonise their political line with the guru’s latest views.

[IANS]

Only virtual systems, hyperconvergence can tackle explosive growth in retail finance By Jagjit Arora

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Financial inclusion ranks high on the Indian government’s agenda today. The banking sector, with its legacy infrastructure and outdated modes of operating cannot meet the financial inclusion objectives unless it digitally transforms. Virtualisation and hyperconvergence have to be adopted by the banks to meet the challenges thrust upon them.

Virtualization is the creation of a virtual — rather than actual — version of something, such as an operating system, a server, a storage device or network resources. Hyperconvergence combines storage, computing and networking into a single system in an effort to reduce complexity and increase scalability.

Spurred by financial inclusion policies, the Indian banking sector is facing exponential growth in its customers, accounts and funds. There has also been profusion of payment avenues — both physical and digital.

Over the last couple of years, payment banks and digital wallets have gained wide acceptance, even popularity, with even phone companies and cab agregators jumping in. As this space streamlines, banks are furiously expanding their footprint by launching branches, kiosks and ATMs across India.

The IT departments of banks need to establish strategies and solutions to support this dramatic growth trajectory. While scalability, versatility and agility of IT infrastructure are essential, potentially unpredictable user volumes also need to be addressed. Banks today need to be able to manage multiple branch infrastructure centrally in a seamless manner and provide a secure branch application server.

Additionally, performance and user experience in every branch needs to be monitored to provide improved customer service. Distributed systems grow as retail avenues proliferate and the need for their impeccable security and availability assumes great significance.

Automated management tools powered by intelligent technologies are critical as one false step can irreversibly dent customer trust.

Virtualization and hyperconvergence can support the banking sector’s growth and expansion trajectory. By virtualising all infrastructure elements and delivering them as a service, banks can manage critical functions independent of the physical hardware.

An intelligent software layer added to the IT infrastructure helps to dynamically manage and access all elements with ease. It ensures business continuity and quick and secure data recovery as well, resulting in very little business downtime.

Flexible infrastructure permits workloads to move freely to the optimum resource anywhere, anytime. For the IT organisation, technologies such as virtualisation and hyperconvergence transform a traditionally Capex-centric budget into an Opex-centric. Infrastructure decision is made once annually without having to go through it repeatedly.

Virtualisation can also enable interesting retail business models such as Tab banking and micro-ATMs, often operated by non-banking partners, as part of rural banking. As remote branches grow, a virtualised central pool of servers and storage is crucial so that resources are highly utilised, and attractive cost savings are realised.

The business benefits of virtualised infrastructure architected for growth and managed through software are multi-fold, ranging from less time to set up new branches to lower IT overheads and lesser time to provision/modify infrastructure resources and more.

Design and implementation-readiness of infrastructure are the critical success factors for growing banks. Virtualisation makes it easy for banks to grow, handle sudden peak demands with great customer experience. Automated tools for operations help dramatic growth with stringent security and control. Financial institutions need to embrace these proven methodologies and set the stage for even higher growth in future.

[IANS]

J&K Police denies resignations by policemen

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The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Friday denied reports of resignations by policemen in the aftermath of the abduction and killing of three policemen in Shopian district.

A police statement said that the videos uploaded on the social media showing special police officers (SPOs) claiming to have quit were motivated.

“Services of SPOs are reviewed from time to time and based on these reviews some SPOs are disengaged. The videos uploaded on the social media are motivated,” the statement said.

“There have been no resignations by policemen after the killings of three SPOs by the terrorists,” it said.

But the Jammu and Kashmir Police has issued an advisory to all policemen on leave in south Kashmir to report for duty immediately.

The advisory also directs policemen not to visit their homes till further orders.

(IANS)

US welcomes India, Pakistan foreign ministers’ meeting

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The US has welcomed as “terrific news”, India’s acceptance of Pakistan’s offer of a meeting between the foreign ministers of the two neighbours on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York later this month.

Reacting to the development on Thursday, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert in a press briefing said: “We saw that. I think that’s terrific news for the Indians and Pakistanis to be able to sit down and have a conversation together.”

The thaw came in the wake of a letter by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in which he had sought a meeting between foreign ministers Sushma Swaraj and Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the UNGA.

“We saw the reports about the positive messages being exchanged between Prime Minister Khan and also Prime Minister Modi… We hope that the conditions will be set for a good, strong bilateral relationship in the future,” Nauert said.

The Indian government had said that the two leaders will meet at a mutually convenient date and time. But, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar made it clear that “the coming meeting was not resumption of the dialogue process”.

IANS

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