The Evening Wrap: G-20 Summit concludes, India hands over presidency to Brazil

India on September 10 formally handed over the G-20 presidency to Brazil at the closing ceremony of the annual summit of the grouping. Prime Minister Narendra Modi completed the transition by handing over the ceremonial gavel of the presidency to Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. However, India will continue to hold the position until November 30. Modi also proposed a “virtual summit” of the grouping at the end of November this year to assess the status of the suggestions and proposals put forth by members and determine “how their progress can be accelerated”. Modi made a renewed push for expansion of the U.N. Security Council and reforms in all global institutions to reflect world’s “new realities”, as the G20 summit drew to a close with the U.S., Russia and France praising the meeting outcomes under Indian presidency. Earlier in the day, G-20 leaders visited Rajghat where they paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi. Modi welcomed the dignitaries with an ‘angvastram’ or stole. India’s G-20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said that it took over 200 hours of non-stop negotiations by a team of Indian diplomats to deliver a consensus on the G-20 declaration that was adopted at the Leaders’ Summit. The team of diplomats, including joint secretaries Eenam Gambhir and K. Nagraj Naidu, held 300 bilateral meetings and circulated 15 drafts with their counterparts on the contentious Ukraine conflict to drive home a consensus that was clinched on the first day of the G-20 Leaders’ Summit. Also in the day, Modi held bilateral meetings with several leaders on the sidelines of the G-20. He met with French President Emmanuel Macron, Canada’s Justin Trudeau, President of Comoros and the current Chair of the African Union Azali Assoumani, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkiye, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Dutch PM Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel. Chandrababu Naidu sent to 14-day judicial custody in alleged corruption case; Section 144 imposed in Andhra Pradesh Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu was sent to a 14-day judicial custody, till September 23, by the Anti-Corruption Bureau court in Vijayawada on September 10 in a case of alleged corruption. Earlier in the day, Naidu was produced in the court where Justice Hima Bindu heard the arguments by legal counsels from Government and the ones representing the TDP chief. Meanwhile, the NTR Commissionerate Police tightened security at the ACB Special Court. The security system was reviewed Police Commissioner Kanthi Rana Tata. In the early hours of September 10, Naidu was shifted to the SIT office after being taken to a hospital in Vijayawada for medical tests following a 10-hour-long interrogation, a police official said. Keeping the law and order issue in view, Section 144 of the Cr.P.C. was imposed across the State and people were advised not to move in groups and carry any lethal weapons. Even before the verdict, tension prevailed and police had deployed security forces in strength across the State. Police forces were deployed at the ACB Special Court. Public movement was restricted in the vicinity of the Civil Courts Complex, where barricades were set up and rope parties deployed to control crowds. A few TDP leaders were also taken into preventive custody by the police when the party workers tried to stage a protest near the court. Patrolling was intensified to prevent any untoward incidents. Personnel from the Andhra Pradesh Special Police battalions, Quick Response Teams, Octopus and other platoons were deployed. Top police officers reviewed the situation and directed the IGs, DIGs and Superintendents of Police to be on alert. Security was stepped up at the Chief Minister’s residence, the A.P. Police Headquarters and other high-security areas. Traffic was diverted and regulated on some roads. Additional forces were positioned in the bus and railway stations, government offices, houses of Ministers, MLAs, Members of Parliament and MLCs. With the TDP leaders planning to stage protests in some places, the police arranged pickets and kept the cadres under house arrest. Security was stepped up on the Vijayawada-Visakhapatnam National Highway and police cleared the road up to Rajamahendravaram. Nothing Hindu about what the BJP does: Rahul Gandhi Stepping up his attack on the BJP during an interaction with students and academics in Paris on September 9, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said there was nothing “Hindu” about BJP’s actions and said that the ruling party was out to grab power at any cost. The session was moderated by Professor Christophe Jaffrelot, director of the Centre of International Studies, and chaired by Arancha Gonzalez, dean of the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences PO University, Paris. Gandhi said that the Opposition was committed to fighting for the “soul of India” and the country would “come out just fine from the current turbulence”. “I have read the Gita, I have read a number of Upanishads, I have read many Hindu books; there is nothing Hindu about what the BJP does, absolutely nothing,” he said in response to a question about the rise of “Hindu nationalism”. “I have not read anywhere, in no Hindu book, from no learned Hindu person have I ever heard that you should terrorise, harm people who are weaker than you. So, this idea, this word, Hindu nationalists, this is a wrong word. They are not Hindu nationalists. They have nothing to do with Hinduism. They are out to get power at any cost, and they will do anything to get power… They want dominance of a few people and that is what they are about. There is nothing Hindu about them,” the Congress leader added. Indian-American group asks California Governor to veto anti-caste discrimination bill Scores of Indian-Americans held a peaceful protest rally in the Californian State Capital of Sacramento, urging Governor Gavin Newsom to veto the anti-caste discrimination bill, recently passed by the State Assembly, which they asserted is discriminatory and targets the Indians in general and Hindus in particular. If signed into law by Governor Newsom, California would become the first State in the United States and the first jurisdiction outside India to outlaw discrimination based on caste. The legislation revises California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act by adding caste as a protected category under “ancestry”. Displaying posters and banners, the protestors, most of whom had gathered from various parts of the State, urged the Governor not to sign the bill into law as this would end up in discrimination against the Hindu community. Much worse is that the bill amounts to racial profiling of the Hindu community, they argued. Hindu American Foundation has said that it is exploring every option to protect the rights of Hindu Californians and is planning to file a lawsuit against this. The bill was introduced by Senator Aisha Wahab, the first Muslim and Afghan-American woman elected to the state legislature, in February. The California Senate overwhelmingly passed SB403 “Discrimination on the basis of ancestry” with 31-5 votes last week. Aditya L1 mission | ISRO successfully conducts third earth-bound manoeuvre The third Earth-bound manoeuvre of the Aditya L-1 mission to study the Sun has been performed successfully from ISTRAC, Bengaluru in the early hours of September 10. “The third Earth-bound manoeuvre (EBN#3) is performed successfully from ISTRAC, Bengaluru. ISRO’s ground stations at Mauritius, Bengaluru, SDSC-SHAR and Port Blair tracked the satellite during this operation,” ISRO posted on X (formerly Twitter). The new orbit attained is 296 km x 71767 km, the space agency said. Two more manoeuvres are scheduled to take place. “The next manoeuvre (EBN#4) is scheduled for September 15, 2023, around 02:00 Hrs. IST,” ISRO said. After the final manoeuvre on September 18, Aditya-L1 undergoes a Trans-Lagrangian1 insertion manoeuvre, marking the beginning of its 110-day trajectory to the destination around the L1 Lagrange point. Upon arrival at the L1 point, another manoeuvre binds Aditya-L1 to an orbit around L1, a balanced gravitational location between the Earth and the Sun. The spacecraft will perform orbital manoeuvres by using its Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) engine to reach L1. Aditya-L1 will stay approximately 1.5 million km away from earth, directed towards the sun, which is about 1% of the earth-sun distance. On September 2, ISRO launched India’s first solar observatory mission — Aditya-L1 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. On September 7 ISRO on Thursday released a selfie and images of the Earth and the Moon taken by the camera on-board Aditya-L1 solar mission spacecraft. West Bengal Education department notifies new State Education Policy The West Bengal Education department has notified the new State Education Policy (SEP) which retains the existing pattern of school education. The Education department issued the notification on September 9 which mooted the continuation of the State’s 5+4+2+2 school structure. “Whereas, the State government has been considering the need of revamping its existing education system starting from pre-primary to higher education level in the state of West Bengal to ensure higher standard of education to all students, with particular focus on marginalised, disadvantaged and under-represented groups,” the notice said. The West Bengal government had set up the committee in April 2022 having distinguished academics — Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Sugata Bose, Suranjan Das — to guide the state about its response to the National Education Policy, which had been approved by the Union Cabinet on July 29, 2020, replacing the 34-year-old National Policy on Education. The committee submitted its findings to the West Bengal Education department earlier this year. An education department official said the SEP has notified to continue with the 5+4+2+2 pattern for school education. In the higher education level, classes 11 and 12, semester-level exams have been specified “to ease the transition from school to university in a phased manner... having a combination of multiple-choice questions and descriptive ones” in the two semesters. About the three-language formula, it said “it will be introduced for students of classes 5 to 8 depending upon the availability of infrastructure.” At the primary level, the policy suggested Bengali as a subject may be introduced from class 1 for students of other mediums of instruction. The State has already mooted 4+1 formula for higher education where UG honours courses have been structured for four years instead of three and PG courses for one year in place of two. In Brief: Maldives presidential election heading for second round after no clear winner emerges The Maldives Presidential election on September 9 was headed toward a second round between the top two candidates after none of the eight contestants secured more than 50% of the vote for an outright win, local media reported. Main opposition candidate Mohamed Muiz secured a surprise lead with more than 46% of votes, while the incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih secured 39% in an election that turned into a virtual referendum over which regional power — India or China — will have the biggest influence in the Indian Ocean archipelago state. The elections commission was scheduled to announce its official results on September 10. A second round, if confirmed, will take place later this month. Archery World Cup Final | Silver for India’s Prathamesh Jawkar Prathamesh Jawkar narrowly lost to Denmark’s Mathias Fullerton in the compound men’s individual title clash to take the silver medal in the Archery World Cup Final in Hermosillo, Mexico. Jawkar was beaten 148-148 via a tense shoot-off, where both archers hit the ‘X’, but the Danish rode on his luck to shoot closer to the centre. In the women’s section, World champion Aditi Swami and the seasoned V. Jyothi Surekha exited in the quarterfinals. Colombia’s Sara Lopez won the women’s crown. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 10 September 2023 [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]( G-20 Summit concludes; India hands over presidency to Brazil [India on September 10 formally handed over the G-20 presidency to Brazil]( at the closing ceremony of the annual summit of the grouping. Prime Minister Narendra Modi completed the transition by handing over the ceremonial gavel of the presidency to Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. However, India will continue to hold the position until November 30. [Modi also proposed a “virtual summit” of the grouping at the end of November this year]( to assess the status of the suggestions and proposals put forth by members and determine “how their progress can be accelerated”. Modi made a renewed push for expansion of the U.N. Security Council and reforms in all global institutions to reflect world’s “new realities”, as the G20 summit drew to a close with the U.S., Russia and France praising the meeting outcomes under Indian presidency. Earlier in the day, G-20 leaders visited Rajghat where they paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi. Modi welcomed the dignitaries with an ‘angvastram’ or stole. India’s G-20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said that it took over 200 hours of non-stop negotiations by a team of Indian diplomats to deliver a consensus on the G-20 declaration that was adopted at the Leaders’ Summit. The team of diplomats, including joint secretaries Eenam Gambhir and K. Nagraj Naidu, held 300 bilateral meetings and circulated 15 drafts with their counterparts on the contentious Ukraine conflict to drive home a consensus that was clinched on the first day of the G-20 Leaders’ Summit. Also in the day, Modi held bilateral meetings with several leaders on the sidelines of the G-20. He met with French President Emmanuel Macron, Canada’s Justin Trudeau, President of Comoros and the current Chair of the African Union Azali Assoumani, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkiye, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Dutch PM Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel. Chandrababu Naidu sent to 14-day judicial custody in alleged corruption case; Section 144 imposed in Andhra Pradesh Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party president [N. Chandrababu Naidu was sent to a 14-day judicial custody]( till September 23, by the Anti-Corruption Bureau court in Vijayawada on September 10 in a case of alleged corruption. [Earlier in the day, Naidu was produced in the court]( where Justice Hima Bindu heard the arguments by legal counsels from Government and the ones representing the TDP chief. Meanwhile, the NTR Commissionerate Police tightened security at the ACB Special Court. The security system was reviewed Police Commissioner Kanthi Rana Tata. In the early hours of September 10, Naidu was shifted to the SIT office after being taken to a hospital in Vijayawada for medical tests following a 10-hour-long interrogation, a police official said. Keeping the law and order issue in view, [Section 144 of the Cr.P.C. was imposed across the State]( and people were advised not to move in groups and carry any lethal weapons. Even before the verdict, tension prevailed and police had deployed security forces in strength across the State. Police forces were deployed at the ACB Special Court. Public movement was restricted in the vicinity of the Civil Courts Complex, where barricades were set up and rope parties deployed to control crowds. A few TDP leaders were also taken into preventive custody by the police when the party workers tried to stage a protest near the court. Patrolling was intensified to prevent any untoward incidents. Personnel from the Andhra Pradesh Special Police battalions, Quick Response Teams, Octopus and other platoons were deployed. Top police officers reviewed the situation and directed the IGs, DIGs and Superintendents of Police to be on alert. Security was stepped up at the Chief Minister’s residence, the A.P. Police Headquarters and other high-security areas. Traffic was diverted and regulated on some roads. Additional forces were positioned in the bus and railway stations, government offices, houses of Ministers, MLAs, Members of Parliament and MLCs. With the TDP leaders planning to stage protests in some places, the police arranged pickets and kept the cadres under house arrest. Security was stepped up on the Vijayawada-Visakhapatnam National Highway and police cleared the road up to Rajamahendravaram. Nothing Hindu about what the BJP does: Rahul Gandhi Stepping up his attack on the BJP during an interaction with students and academics in Paris on September 9, Congress leader [Rahul Gandhi said there was nothing “Hindu” about BJP’s actions]( and said that the ruling party was out to grab power at any cost. The session was moderated by Professor Christophe Jaffrelot, director of the Centre of International Studies, and chaired by Arancha Gonzalez, dean of the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences PO University, Paris. Gandhi said that the Opposition was committed to fighting for the “soul of India” and the country would “come out just fine from the current turbulence”. “I have read the Gita, I have read a number of Upanishads, I have read many Hindu books; there is nothing Hindu about what the BJP does, absolutely nothing,” he said in response to a question about the rise of “Hindu nationalism”. “I have not read anywhere, in no Hindu book, from no learned Hindu person have I ever heard that you should terrorise, harm people who are weaker than you. So, this idea, this word, Hindu nationalists, this is a wrong word. They are not Hindu nationalists. They have nothing to do with Hinduism. They are out to get power at any cost, and they will do anything to get power… They want dominance of a few people and that is what they are about. There is nothing Hindu about them,” the Congress leader added. Indian-American group asks California Governor to veto anti-caste discrimination bill [Scores of Indian-Americans held a peaceful protest rally in the Californian State Capital of Sacramento, urging Governor Gavin Newsom to veto the anti-caste discrimination bill]( recently passed by the State Assembly, which they asserted is discriminatory and targets the Indians in general and Hindus in particular. If signed into law by Governor Newsom, California would become the first State in the United States and the first jurisdiction outside India to outlaw discrimination based on caste. The legislation revises California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act by adding caste as a protected category under “ancestry”. Displaying posters and banners, the protestors, most of whom had gathered from various parts of the State, urged the Governor not to sign the bill into law as this would end up in discrimination against the Hindu community. Much worse is that the bill amounts to racial profiling of the Hindu community, they argued. Hindu American Foundation has said that it is exploring every option to protect the rights of Hindu Californians and is planning to file a lawsuit against this. The bill was introduced by Senator Aisha Wahab, the first Muslim and Afghan-American woman elected to the state legislature, in February. The California Senate overwhelmingly passed SB403 “Discrimination on the basis of ancestry” with 31-5 votes last week. Aditya L1 mission | ISRO successfully conducts third earth-bound manoeuvre [The third Earth-bound manoeuvre of the Aditya L-1 mission to study the Sun has been performed successfully]( from ISTRAC, Bengaluru in the early hours of September 10. “The third Earth-bound manoeuvre (EBN#3) is performed successfully from ISTRAC, Bengaluru. ISRO’s ground stations at Mauritius, Bengaluru, SDSC-SHAR and Port Blair tracked the satellite during this operation,” ISRO posted on X (formerly Twitter). The new orbit attained is 296 km x 71767 km, the space agency said. Two more manoeuvres are scheduled to take place. “The next manoeuvre (EBN#4) is scheduled for September 15, 2023, around 02:00 Hrs. IST,” ISRO said. After the final manoeuvre on September 18, Aditya-L1 undergoes a Trans-Lagrangian1 insertion manoeuvre, marking the beginning of its 110-day trajectory to the destination around the L1 Lagrange point. Upon arrival at the L1 point, another manoeuvre binds Aditya-L1 to an orbit around L1, a balanced gravitational location between the Earth and the Sun. The spacecraft will perform orbital manoeuvres by using its Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) engine to reach L1. Aditya-L1 will stay approximately 1.5 million km away from earth, directed towards the sun, which is about 1% of the earth-sun distance. On September 2, ISRO launched India’s first solar observatory mission — Aditya-L1 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. On September 7 ISRO on Thursday released a selfie and images of the Earth and the Moon taken by the camera on-board Aditya-L1 solar mission spacecraft. West Bengal Education department notifies new State Education Policy The [West Bengal Education department has notified the new State Education Policy]( (SEP) which retains the existing pattern of school education. The Education department issued the notification on September 9 which mooted the continuation of the State’s 5+4+2+2 school structure. “Whereas, the State government has been considering the need of revamping its existing education system starting from pre-primary to higher education level in the state of West Bengal to ensure higher standard of education to all students, with particular focus on marginalised, disadvantaged and under-represented groups,” the notice said. The West Bengal government had set up the committee in April 2022 having distinguished academics — Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Sugata Bose, Suranjan Das — to guide the state about its response to the National Education Policy, which had been approved by the Union Cabinet on July 29, 2020, replacing the 34-year-old National Policy on Education. The committee submitted its findings to the West Bengal Education department earlier this year. An education department official said the SEP has notified to continue with the 5+4+2+2 pattern for school education. In the higher education level, classes 11 and 12, semester-level exams have been specified “to ease the transition from school to university in a phased manner... having a combination of multiple-choice questions and descriptive ones” in the two semesters. About the three-language formula, it said “it will be introduced for students of classes 5 to 8 depending upon the availability of infrastructure.” At the primary level, the policy suggested Bengali as a subject may be introduced from class 1 for students of other mediums of instruction. The State has already mooted 4+1 formula for higher education where UG honours courses have been structured for four years instead of three and PG courses for one year in place of two. In Brief: Maldives presidential election heading for second round after no clear winner emerges The [Maldives Presidential election on September 9 was headed toward a second round]( between the top two candidates after none of the eight contestants secured more than 50% of the vote for an outright win, local media reported. Main opposition candidate Mohamed Muiz secured a surprise lead with more than 46% of votes, while the incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih secured 39% in an election that turned into a virtual referendum over which regional power — India or China — will have the biggest influence in the Indian Ocean archipelago state. The elections commission was scheduled to announce its official results on September 10. A second round, if confirmed, will take place later this month. Archery World Cup Final | Silver for India’s Prathamesh Jawkar [Prathamesh Jawkar narrowly lost to Denmark’s Mathias Fullerton in the compound men’s individual title clash]( to take the silver medal in the Archery World Cup Final in Hermosillo, Mexico. Jawkar was beaten 148-148 via a tense shoot-off, where both archers hit the ‘X’, but the Danish rode on his luck to shoot closer to the centre. In the women’s section, World champion Aditi Swami and the seasoned V. Jyothi Surekha exited in the quarterfinals. Colombia’s Sara Lopez won the women’s crown. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. Today’s Top Picks [[Talking Politics with Nistula Hebbar | India Vs Bharat | What is the controversy behind the name game?] Talking Politics with Nistula Hebbar | India Vs Bharat | What is the controversy behind the name game?]( [[Himachal Pradesh inches closer to legalise cannabis cultivation] Himachal Pradesh inches closer to legalise cannabis cultivation]( [[Explained | Did Vedanta lobby to dilute ‘green’ curbs?] Explained | Did Vedanta lobby to dilute ‘green’ curbs?]( [[Sergei Surovikin | Fall of ‘Gen. Armageddon’] Sergei Surovikin | Fall of ‘Gen. Armageddon’]( Copyright @ 2023, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. If you are facing any trouble in viewing this newsletter, please [try here]( Manage your newsletter subscription preferences [here]( If you do not wish to receive such emails [go here](