The Evening Wrap: Pakistan allows import of cotton, sugar from India

The Hindu Newsletter - The biggest news stories from today [logo] The Evening Wrap Wednesday | 31 March, 2021 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Pakistan allows import of cotton, sugar from India Partially reversing a two-year old decision to suspend all trade with India, Pakistan announced on Monday that [it would allow the import of cotton and sugar from across the border](. The decision follows the Line of Control (LoC) ceasefire announced by India and Pakistan in February, and a number of moves seen as part of a larger dialogue process to de-freeze ties. Addressing the media at the end of a Cabinet meeting that cleared the two proposals from Pakistan’s Commerce Ministry, Pakistan’s newly appointed Finance Minister Hammad Azhar said, however, that the decision was driven by rising prices and Pakistani industry’s need for the specific products. [ ] “We have allowed the import of sugar, but in the rest of the world too, sugar prices are high because of which imports are not possible. But in our neighbouring country — India — the prices of sugar are much less as compared to Pakistan, so we have decided to reopen sugar trade with India up to 0.5 million tonnes for the private sector,” Azhar said, adding that there was also high demand for cotton and cotton yarn from India, especially from Pakistani Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) due to increased textile exports but a reduced crop in 2020. The decision to cancel trade was taken by the Imran Khan government on August 9, 2019, days after the government amended Article 370 and reorganised Jammu and Kashmir. India’s Ministry of External Affairs did not respond to the development, nor did it respond to questions on whether it was considering any complimentary steps. While India had not banned trade with Pakistan, it suspended cross-LoC trade and withdrew Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan in the wake of the amended Article 370 and reorganised Jammu and Kashmir. Experts said that the move by Pakistan, which follows the granting of sports-related visas by India after a gap of three years, scheduling a much-delayed meeting of the Indus Water Commissioners in Delhi in March, peace at the LoC after more than 5,000 ceasefire violations last year, as well as the exchange of salutary messages between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and PM Khan, has raised hopes for further measures. [underlineimg] Mamata writes to 14 Opposition parties on Delhi NCT Bill, says BJP wants to establish ‘one-party authoritarian rule’ The BJP wants to establish a “one-party authoritarian rule” in India, reducing state governments to “mere municipalities”, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said in a letter to heads of 14 opposition parties. She has urged them to come together to counter the BJP after the ongoing assembly polls. She has written to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, DMK President M K Stalin, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Tackeray, among others. In her three page letter, Banerjee expressed concern about the “series of assaults” by the BJP and the union government on “democracy and Constitutional Federalism” in the context of recent passage of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill by the two houses of Parliament. With this law, all policy decisions taken by the elected Delhi government have to be cleared by Lt Governor, who is nominated by the Centre, before implementation. Banerjee wrote that the Centre has sought to make Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal “subservient to the Lt Governor” because the BJP has been unwilling to accept the mandate of the people, who who chose AAP over the BJP twice, in 2014 and in 2019. “The National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act is a direct attack on the federal structure of the Indian republic as enshrined in the Constitution. It also makes a mockery of the letter and spirit of democracy since it disempowers the people of the national capital,” Banerjee wrote. This legislation, she wrote, also violates the Supreme Court judgement of 2018, which upheld the pre-eminence of Delhi’s elected government in all matters other than police, public order and land. [ West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee talks to media representatives in front of her temporary residence, in Nandigram, Wednesday, March 31, 2021. ] Sounding a word of caution, she wrote that this act is not an exception but is increasingly becoming a rule. She listed out seven instances which show that the Centre is trying to upstage the state government’s powers. These included interference by the governors, vindictive use of agencies like the CBI and the ED, and withholding transfer of funds to state governments, especially to the non-BJP-ruled states. She pointed out that all the platforms where the state governments could place their grievances have also been disbanded, including the inter-state council and the planning commission. The BJP, she said, has amassed “unlimited” resources from questionable sources which it is using to topple duly elected non-BJP governments by engineering defections. “There is a clear pattern and purpose behind all these developments. The BJP wants to make it impossible for non-BJP parties to exercise their Constitutional rights and freedoms. It wants to dilute the powers of the state governments and downgrade them to mere municipalities. It wants to establish a one party authoritarian rule in India,” she said. There is a need for “united and effective” struggle she said, urging all the parties to come together to draft a plan of action. [underlineimg] Supreme Court panel on farm laws submits report A Supreme Court-appointed panel has [submitted its report on the three agricultural reform laws]( in a closed cover. The report will be revealed during the next hearing of the case. “We submitted the report in a sealed envelope to the registrar of the court on March 19. It will be made public on the date of the next hearing of the PIL,” said Anil Ghanwat, one of the members of the committee who also heads a farm union and has advocated in favour of the laws. Asked about the stakeholders consulted by the committee and their views on the laws, Ghanwat said, “Our role is over now. We are not authorised to say anything about it before it is made public.” The three laws which were passed by Parliament in September and are being opposed by farmers’ unions are The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act. On January 12, the Supreme Court suspended the implementation of the three laws and appointed a four-member committee of experts “to listen to the grievances of the farmers on the farm laws and the views of the government and make recommendations”. After one member, farm union leader Bhupinder Singh Mann, recused himself from the panel, the remaining three members met the stakeholders, including farmers’ groups, farmer producer organisations, officials and industry representatives from various States. However, the farm unions refused to meet the panel. [underlineimg] Government defers labour codes implementation The four [labour codes will not come into effect from April 1]( as states are yet to finalise the relevant rules, which means that there will be no change in the ‘take home’ pay of employees and provident fund liability of companies for now. Once the wages code comes into force, there will be significant changes in the way basic pay and the provident fund of employees are calculated. “Since the states have not finalised the rules under the four codes, the implementation of these laws are deferred for the time being,” a source told PTI. Since labour is a concurrent subject under the Constitution of India, both the Centre and the states would have to notify rules under the codes to bring those into force in their respective jurisdictions. Under the new wages code, allowances are capped at 50%. This means half of the gross pay of an employee would be basic wages. Provident fund contribution is calculated as a percentage of basic wage, which includes basic pay and dearness allowance. The employers have been splitting wages into numerous allowances to keep basic wages low to reduce provident fund and income tax outgo. The new wages code provides for provident fund contribution as a prescribed proportion of 50% of gross pay. In case the new codes had come into effect from April 1, the ‘take home’ pay of employees and provident fund liability of employers would have increased in many cases. Now the employer would get some more time to restructure salaries of their employees as per the new code on wages. [underlineimg] World Bank projects India’s growth in 2021-22 at 10.1% India’s economy is expected to grow at 10.1% for the year starting April 1, 2021, as the vaccine roll-out drives activity in contact-intensive sectors, as per [the World Bank’s South Asia Economic Focus South Asia Vaccinates report](. However, given the significant uncertainty around epidemiological and policy factors, real GDP growth could range from 7.5% to 12.5%, stabilising at 6-7% in the medium term, it said. “It is not normal to talk about these wide ranges in the forecast,” Hans Timmer, Chief Economist for the World Bank’s South Asia region, said on a briefing call with reporters. “The reason is that we are really in unprecedented circumstances,” he said. GDP had been difficult to forecast due to the size of the hit and also its nature. The normal rules of extrapolation were not usable at the moment, Timmer said. The fiscal year ending March 31 2021, is expected to register the worst economic damage due to the pandemic, the report says (the economy contracted 8.5% in FY20-21 as per the World Bank’s estimate). [underlineimg] Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The [number of reported coronavirus cases from India]( stood at 1,22,13,561 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 1,64,291. India on Wednesday [reported 354 deaths in the last 24 hours]( — the highest since December 17 when 355 Covid-19 fatalities were reported in a single day. This is also the highest single-day spike in casualties this year. According to the Health Ministry, six States account for 82.20% of the new deaths with Maharashtra registering the highest (139) followed by Punjab (64 daily deaths). Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government, which extended the Covid-19 lockdown across the state with existing restrictions and relaxations till April 30, has [allowed local authorities to impose fresh restrictions]( to contain the spread of the pandemic in their respective areas. “Based on their assessment of the situation, local restrictions at district/sub-district and city/ward level, with a view to contain the spread of Covid-19 shall be imposed,” Chief Secretary Rajeev Ranjan said in a G.O. issued in this regard on Wednesday. All the District Collectors are to strictly enforce various measures spelt out by the State government, he said and added, “For the enforcement of physical distancing, the District Administrations, as far as possible, use the provisions of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) of 1973.” [underlineimg] In Brief A special CBI court in Ahmedabad approved the discharge plea of three police officers and accordingly [discharged G.L. Singhal, Tarun Barot and Anaju Chaudhary]( in the [2004 Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case](. As a result, the police officials will not face any proceedings or trial in the case. The CBI, on March 20, had conveyed to the court that the State government had declined prosecution sanction against the three accused. The Court had also discharged key accused P.P. Pandey, D.G. Vanzara and N.K. Amin from the proceedings earlier. The Central Government has [extended the last date for linking of Aadhaar number with PAN]( from March 31, 2021 to June 30, 2021, in view of the difficulties arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Income Tax Department announced today in a post on Twitter. [underlineimg] Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. Today's Top Picks [[ Protesting farmers raise slogans at Singhu Border in New Delhi on March 31, 2021. ] Farmers will march peacefully to Parliament in May: Samyukt Kisan Morcha]( [[Facebook will also send election day prompts to users to encourage voting, that can be shared with friends on WhatsApp and Facebook.] Facebook to curb hate speech related to State Assembly elections]( [[ This illustration made available by NASA depicts the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars which was attached to the bottom of the Perseverance rover, background left. It will be the first aircraft to attempt controlled flight on another planet. ] NASA exchanges data of its Mars mission with India, China, UAE & European Space Agency]( [[ ] WEF’s gender gap index: India slips 28 places, ranks 140 among 156 countries]( Copyright @ 2021, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. If you are facing any trouble in viewing this newsletter, please [try here]( If you do not wish to receive such emails [go here](mailto:rm-0bfdtcv5bf2f90kauhrxfebysa8hk20@newsalert.thehindu.com?subject=Unsubscribe&body=You will be unsubscribed from our mailing list.)