The Evening Wrap: MoD takes down report on Chinese incursion

The Hindu Newsletter - Here are the biggest news stories of the day Thursday 06, August 2020 [alt_text]( The Evening Wrap [Here are the biggest news stories of the day]( [alt_text]( Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying safe. MoD takes down report on Chinese incursion The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has [removed from its website]( a document that had admitted to Chinese incursions on Indian territory in Eastern Ladakh. The now removed four-page MoD document, under the sub-heading of Chinese Aggression, had stated that “the Chinese side transgressed in the areas of Kugrang Nala, Gogra, and north bank of Pangong Tso lake on May 17-18, 2020”. The Congress said that the report was removed after Rahul Gandhi tweeted about it on Thursday morning, citing its content to ask “why the Prime Minister is lying” about the border situation. After the documents were removed, Gandhi again slammed the PM on Twitter, saying, “Forget standing up to China, India’s PM lacks the courage even to name them. Denying China is in our territory and removing documents from websites won’t change the facts.” Won’t move back any further at Pangong Tso, India tells China Meanwhile, India has reportedly told China that it will not move back any further in the region along Pangong Lake, as military commanders of the two sides continue discussions on disengagement in Eastern Ladakh. In the last meeting, China had demanded that India vacate a critical post to break the deadlock in the disengagement negotiations. It wanted India to remove a critical post called the Dhan Singh Thapa post located on Finger 3, one of the spurs along the Lake, as a pre-condition for Chinese forces to move further back towards the direction of Finger 8, where India believes the Line of Actual Control (LAC) lies. But India has refused to do so, on the grounds that the post on Finger 3 is within Indian territory. That the standoff with China is going to be prolonged was articulated in this episode of [The Hindu’s In Focus podcast]( by our reporters on defence and national security. Post of J&K Lieutenant-Governor passes from bureaucrat to politician Following the resignation yesterday of G.C. Murmu, the first Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) of the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir, BJP politician [Manoj Sinha will take over as the new L-G](. Murmu, whose resignation came exactly one year after the UT was created, is expected to be appointed as the new Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). [ Manoj Sinha ] Manoj Sinha Murmu, in recent weeks, had been caught in some controversies that suggested disagreements with the Centre. Notably, his comments suggesting that 4G internet should be restored in the Valley ran into trouble with security agencies, which had recommended against it. In another instance of disagreement, the Election Commission of India (EC) had pulled him up for saying elections in the UT would follow the delimitation exercise, on the grounds that this was for the EC to decide. We have a profile today of the man who will replace him, former Union Minister Manoj Sinha. As The Hindu’s political editor Nistul Hebbar writes, Sinha is considered to be a quiet, discreet politician and enjoys Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s confidence, a fact that will help him in his current appointment. Sinha is also known to enjoy the backing of the RSS. His appointment sees the return of a politician at the helm of affairs in the Srinagar Raj Bhavan. RBI keeps interest rates unchanged, foresees contraction in real GDP The RBI has decided to [keep the benchmark repo rate](, already at its lowest since 2000, unchanged at 4%, and the reverse repo rate at 3.35%. The decisions were announced after the 24th bimonthly meeting of the RBI’s six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), headed by Governor Shaktikanta Das[.]( [ RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das during a press conference. File ] RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das during a press conference. File Repo rate the rate at which the RBI lends to commercial banks, and reverse repo is the rate of interest that banks earn on the funds they park with the RBI. The RBI had last cut the rates on May 22 to boost demand in an economy suffering under the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. As regards outlook for the rest of the year, Governor Shaktikanta Das said India's GDP would contract in the first half of FY21 as well as the full financial year. Following Twitter, Facebook also acts against Trump’s post Facebook Inc. has taken down a post by U.S. President Donald Trump. The company said the post violated its rules against sharing misinformation about the coronavirus. The post contained a video clip from an interview Trump had recorded with Fox & Friends (a morning news show hosted by Fox News Channel) earlier in the day, where he claimed that children are “almost immune” to Covid-19. “This video includes false claims that a group of people is immune from Covid-19, which is a violation of our policies around harmful Covid misinformation,” a Facebook spokesman said. A tweet containing the video, posted by the Trump campaign’s @TeamTrump account and shared by the president was also later hidden by Twitter Inc. for breaking its Covid-19 misinformation rules. A Twitter spokesman said the @TeamTrump account owner would be required to remove the tweet before they could tweet again. India rejects China's UNSC move on Kashmir A day after China prompted the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to discuss the Kashmir issue in a closed-door meeting, [India “firmly” rejected]( the Chinese initiative and reiterated that Kashmir was a domestic issue. “As on previous occasions, this attempt too met with little support from the international community. We firmly reject China’s interference in our internal affairs and urge it to draw proper conclusions from such infructuous attempts,” the Ministry declared in a press statement. The Chinese move came on the first anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370. China had initiated a similar move on August 16 last year when it revived “the India-Pakistan Question” at the UNSC. The issue had not been taken up at the Council since the India-Pakistan war of 1971. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of coronavirus cases reported from India stood at 20,21,264 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 41,609. India on Thursday recorded 56,282 new cases and the day also saw a record rise in death toll, with 904 deaths reported. [ Healthcare workers wearing protective gear wait to collect blood samples from people, in Mumbai. File ] Healthcare workers wearing protective gear wait to collect blood samples from people, in Mumbai. File The Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), one of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturers, has taken a bet on another prospective coronavirus vaccine candidate as it looks to take the lead in any prospective global vaccine rollout. While it prepares to conduct late stage human trials on the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine candidate — branded ‘Covishield’ in India — SII has entered into a supply and licence agreement with American vaccine developer Novavax Inc. Novavax reported on Tuesday that its candidate had “elicited robust antibody responses” during early stage human trials conducted on 50 volunteers. Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry on Thursday said India’s coronavirus recovery rate has now risen to 67.62%, while the death rate has fallen to 2.07%. In Brief: The Centre today told the Supreme Court that foreign Tablighi Jamaat members are free to return to their countries regardless of their pending trial, provided they apologise for participating in a religious congregation in the national capital during lockdown. The BCCI confirmed on Thursday that their title sponsorship deal with Chinese mobile phone company Vivo has been suspended for the upcoming edition of the IPL. In a one-line statement, the BCCI confirmed the news but did not provide details. Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, fighting extradition to India, was on Thursday further remanded in custody until August 27. The decision came after he appeared via video-link at a regular remand hearing before a U.K. court on charges related to the $2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money-laundering case. Swapna Suresh, the second accused in the diplomatic gold-smuggling case, has claimed that she had personal acquaintance with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in her official capacity as the representative of UAE Consular General, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) informed the Special Court. The accused had also given statements that she had high connections with top bureaucrats and the office of the Chief Minister. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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