WORLD ON WEDNESDAY
A 5 min read about all the Matters that Matter
Hey buddy, Glad to see you! Welcome to Wednesday, 30th August 2023’s Matters that Matter.
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1. China released disputed “Standard Map” yet again
As China released the 2023 edition of its so-called "standard map" incorporating disputed areas and including its claims over Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region, India lodged a "strong protest" through diplomatic channels and said that such steps only "complicate the resolution of the boundary question".
This comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the military standoff along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg.
Xi is also expected to travel to New Delhi for the G20 Summit being hosted by India on September 9-10. On Tuesday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also rejected China's "absurd claims" over territories. "China has even in the past put out maps which claim the territories which are not China's, which belong to other countries. This is an old habit of theirs. It is not something that is new. It started in the 1950s.. We are very clear about what our territories are."
2. Hindenburg Report and Short selling of Adani shares
The Enforcement Directorate has concluded, after a preliminary investigation into the Hindenburg Research report and the subsequent market crash, that a dozen companies including foreign portfolio investors and foreign institutional investors (FPIs/ FIIs) based in tax havens, were the "top beneficiaries" of short selling in shares of Adani Group companies.
Short sellers are investors who believe and bet share prices will fall; they borrow shares to sell and buy them back later at a lower price, thus making a profit in the transaction.
According to ED, which shared its findings with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in July, some of these short sellers allegedly took positions just 2-3 days before the Hindenburg Research report was published on January 24, some others were taking short positions for the first time ever, while some others have orders passed against them for misleading investors and stock market manipulation.
For the uninitiated, Sebi was probing allegations made by US-based Hindenburg Research in January this year, wherein it accused the Adani Group of stock manipulation, fraudulent transactions and other financial misdeeds. The ED had earlier presented the intelligence and analysis gathered by it on alleged insider trading to a six-member Expert Committee set up by the Supreme Court in March to investigate regulatory failure in relation to the Adani Group. The ED concludes that transactions and income tax data throw up the possibility of the FPIs and Fils not being the "end beneficiaries" of the gains made from short selling, but acting as brokers for more prominent players located overseas.
3. France bans Abaya in state-run schools
France will ban children from wearing the abaya, the loose-fitting, full-length robes worn by some Muslim women, in state-run schools, its education minister said on Sunday ahead of the back-to-school season.
France, which has enforced a strict ban on religious signs in state schools since 19th-century laws removed any traditional Catholic influence from public education, has struggled to update guidelines to deal with a growing Muslim minority.
Defending secularism is a rallying cry in France that resonates across the political spectrum, from left-wingers upholding the liberal values of Enlightenment to far-right voters seeking a limit on the growing role of Islam in French society.
The strict brand of secularism in France, known as "Laicite," is a sensitive topic, and often quick to trigger tension. In 2004, the government banned headscarves in schools and later on full-face veils in public in 2010, angering some in its five million-strong Muslim community. Less than a year ago, ex-education minister Pap Ndiaye, decided against going further and specifically banning abaya.
4. Other Matters in News:
Ahead of Assembly elections in five states later this year and the Lok Sabha elections next year, the Centre on Tuesday reduced the price of domestic cooking gas by Rs 200 per cylinder.
The decision will benefit all the 33 crore domestic consumers of LPG. For about 10 crore poor households covered under the Ujjwala scheme, the price cut will be in addition to the existing subsidy of Rs 200 per cylinder, resulting in a total relief of Rs 400 per cylinder. (Currently domestic LPG is priced at around Rs 1,100 per cylinder)
The Congress has promised to cut LPG price to Rs 500 per cylinder in Madhya Pradesh if voted to power. Its government in Rajasthan has already reduced the effective price to Rs 500 per cylinder for poor households. Both these states are among five going to polls later this year.
Apart from the price reduction, the government has also decided to provide an additional 75 lakh Ujjwala connections taking the total number of beneficiaries under the scheme to 10.35 crore.
There are two aspects to the cut in LPG prices:
It may help in easing retail inflation which touched a 15-month high of 7.44% in July 2023, primarily due to a surge in food prices.
Oil prices have declined from over $100 per barrel soon after Russia's invasion of Ukraine to $80-85 per barrel, giving OMCS more headroom to manage the cut in retail prices.
According to the latest National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) report, LPG is the primary source of energy for nearly India." 50% of households in rural areas and about 90% of urban households across India.
Reliance Industries Ltd’s (India's most valued company with a market cap of Rs 16.52 lakh crore) succession plan:
Setting the succession plan at RIL in motion, Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani's three children Akash, Isha and Anant - were recommended for appointment to the RIL board as non-executive directors on Monday, while his wife, Nita Ambani, stepped down from the board.
Anant currently heads the energy businesses of RIL and its global operations in renewable and green energy, Isha is in charge of the retail division, and Akash is the Chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm.
Air Pollution shortens the lives of the residents of Delhi by around 11.9 years, according to the Air Quality Index (AQI) report for 2023 by the University of Chicago's Energy Policy Institute.
Delhi's annual average PM2.5 level in 2021 was found to be 126.5 µg/m3, which is more than 25 times the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines of 5 ug/m3, according to the report. In 2020, this figure was found to be a little lower at 107.
- References and Excerpts from The Indian Express
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