Bangladesh tells India to send back Sheikh Hasina for 'judicial process'

OVER FOUR months after former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India following massive protests that brought down her 16-year-old regime, Dhaka has sent a diplomatic note asking New Delhi to send her back. Hasina's presence in India and her public statements have strained India-Bangladesh ties over the last four months. 

Ex-SC judge V Ramasubramanian appointed new NHRC chairperson

FORMER SUPREME Court judge V Ramasubramanian has been appointed as the 9th Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for a tenure of three years until December 2027.

Justice Ramasubramanian retired on June 29, 2023, after serving for over three years as a Supreme Court judge. During his tenure, he was part of several benches in important cases, including the five-judge bench that upheld the Centre's demonetisation scheme in 2023 and the decision to set aside an RBI circular that stated it would not provide services to individuals and businesses dealing with cryptocurrency. 

ISRO to launch its key Spadex mission on December 30

JUST AS it had started the year, the Indian Space Research Organisation will end it with its key Spadex mission-the launch of two small satellites to demonstrate docking in space at 9:58 pm on December 30 from the first launch pad at the country's only spaceport at Sriharikota. Docking is a process where two satellites are aligned and then joined in space - a necessity for missions that the space agency hoped to achieve in the future such as Chandrayaan-4 or setting up the Bharatiya Antariksh Station. The Spadex mission will see two satellites-SDX01 or Chaser and SDX02 or Target-align in the same orbit, reduce distance between each other, join and trans fer electrical power between them, and then separate. After they separate, payloads on board both the satellites will continue to function for two years. 

BRIDGING A GULF

PM Narendra Modi's comment during his visit to Kuwait - the last Indian PM to visit the country was Indira Gandhi - underscores the diplomatic and strategic neglect of a region that should have been of vital importance to New Delhi. For decades after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, the latter wa's justifiably upset at India's ambivalence on the violation of its sovereignty. there may hawe been good reasons for Delhi's position: The geopolitics of the time, India's relative closeness to the erstwhile Soviet Union, and its sympathy for Ba'athist governments like Hussein's. 

AN UNCERTAIN TAX

INITS 55TH meeting, the GST council deferred taking a decision on several pressing issues. These included the demand for lowering the tax on health and life insurance and on the food delivery charges of platform aggregators. Alongside, the Group of Ministers (GoM) looking into the contentious issue of rate rationalisation sought more time, while another looking into the matter of the compensation cess was also given an extension. While there were other recommendations by the council on penal charges levied by financial institutions, fortified rice kernels and the sale of used cars, some of the clarifications that it did provide only served to highlight the oddities of the multiple rate structure under the Goods and Services Tax. The council clarified that popcorn with salt and spices would be taxed at 5 per cent GST. If it is pre-packaged and labelled the tax would be levied at 12 per cent. And if it is mixed with sugar then at 18 per cent. This oddity, however, is not a one-off. Under this indirect tax framework, there are numerous examples of classification and categorisation of goods and services where different tax rates are imposed.

Indian chess 2.0 comes of age

IN A CRICKET-CRAZY country like India, it's a significant development when chess makes headlines and captures the nation's attention. D Gukesh's phenomenal victory has not only filled Indians with pride but also marked the beginning of Indian Chess 2.0. The year 2024 has been pivotal for Indian chess, with several historic performances from our players on the international stage. Today, India boasts of many chess talents who are ready to carry forward the legacy of Viswanathan Anand. In a thrilling World Chess Championship, Gukesh displayed exceptional composure and skill to defeat defending champion Ding Liren 7.5-6.5 to become India's second world champion after Anand. By winning the title at the age of 18, Gukesh also became the youngest world champion ever, breaking the four-decade-old record of legendary Garry Kasparov, who claimed the title in 1985 at 22. 

Traditional with modern

US PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD Trump's decision to create a new Department of Government Efficiency and the shooting down of a CEO of a premier healthcare company are two apparently unrelated incidents. There are at least three reasons why revisiting good governance is critical today. First, in face of growing disenchantment with democracy in several parts of the world, the "unified theory" mooted by Harvard aca- demic Pippa Norris merits serious consideration. As is well-known, the origin of the concept dates back to 1992. A World Bank report of that year, "Governance and Development", marks the first attempt at defining the concept. Later, eight parameters were listed participatory, consensus-oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive, and the rule of law as defining attributes of Good Governance. While the Bank's definition in- corporates aspects of the process of delivery, there is no mention of where Good Governance actually begins implementation. 

Some positives, some concerns

A PRONOUNCED DIP in economic output in the first three quarters of 2024 notwithstanding, India's long-term growth story is believed to be intact. A growth rate of 6.5% is projected over the next half decade, which would help the country remain the fastest- growing big economy in the world. However, China, Japan, and South Korea grew at well over 8% on a sustained basis during their rapid-growth phases. Whether 6%- plus growth would be enough for a country that needs to generate upwards of 8 million jobs every year until 2030 is the big question and whether this growth rate would be enough to bridge expanding wealth disparities and offer scope for generational mobility. 

Why the growth of India's overall green cover is not all good news

THE 18TH biennial State of Forest Report (ISFR-2023) by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) found a marginal gain of 156 sq km in forest cower, and a sizable increase of 1,289 sq km in tree cover since 2021. For the first time, India's green cover has exceeded the 25% threshold with 8,27,357 sq km (25.17%) of the country now under forest (21.76%) and tree (3.41%) cover. But this is not all good news. Tree patches smaller than 1 hectare do not count as forests, and have been measured separately by FSI as tree cover since 2001. The latest biennial cycle registered the sharpest growth in tree cover - a 0.5 per- centage point jump in two years. Previously, tree cover had fallen from 3.04% in 2003 to 2.76% in 2011 before rising to 2.91% in 2021. In comparison, India's forest cover has increased by only 0.05 percentage points since 2021. 

Double counting: $3-4 bn downward revision in Nov gold import figures likely

AN UNUSUAL jump in gold im- ports in November (180 tonnes in volume, i.e., three times the aver- age in the first 10 months, $14.3 billion compared with $4.3 billion in the first 10 months) is partly being explained by the double counting of gold - as it enters Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and then again as it exits the SEZs. This data discrepancy is due to the shift in the e-filing services for gold traders to the Indian Customs Electronic Gateway (ICEGATE) platform from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) since July 1. Discrepancy, being addressed through a reconciliation of data between the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS) under the Commerce Ministry and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) under the Finance Ministry, is estimated to have added between $3 billion and $4 billion to the November gold imports. 

Centre may peg FY26 fiscal deficit at below 4.5% of GDP

THE CENTRAL government is committed to pursuing the glide path of fiscal consolidation, as announced in the Budget for FY22, and to attain a level of fiscal deficit "lower than 4.5 per cent" of the GDP by FY26, the Finance Ministry said. Going forward, the thrust will be on improving the quality of public spending, while at the same time, strengthening the social security net for the poor and the needy. "This approach would help further strengthen the nation's macro-economic fundamentals and ensure over- all financial stability," the ministry said. The comments were part of the ministry's statement on "Half Yearly Review of the Trends in Receipts and Expenditure" in relation to the Budget at the end of the first half of FY25. 

MFN status suspension not to delay EFTA pact with India: Switzerland

The Swiss decision to suspend the most favoured nation clause in the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement will not delay the ratification and implementation of the already signed trade agreement between India and the EFTA bloc, Switzerland has said. The Swiss government has suspended the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status, which could potentially impact Swiss investments in India and lead to higher taxes on Indian companies operating in the European nation. India and the four-nation European Free Trade Association (EFTA) signed the pact, officially dubbed as TEPA (Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement), in March. Its members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.