The Evening Wrap: Indian Navy rescues 21 crew members from merchant vessel after hijack attempt

Indian Navy commandos onboard destroyer INS Chennai on January 5 boarded a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier m.v. Lila Norfolk in the North Arabian Sea after it sent out a distress call of a hijacking attempt on Thursday evening. All 21 crew (including 15 Indians) onboard have been safely evacuated from the citadel of the vessel. Responding to the distress call, the Indian Navy diverted destroyer INS Chennai which was on anti-piracy patrol in the region while a Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) overflew the vessel in the morning and established contact with the vessel, ascertaining the safety of the crew. Sanitisation by MARCOs (Marine Commandos) has confirmed absence of the hijackers, the Navy said. The attempt of hijacking by the pirates was probably abandoned with the forceful warning by the Indian Navy’s Maritime Patrol Aircraft and interception by Indian Naval warship. INS Chennai is in the vicinity of MV and rendering support to restore the power generation and propulsion, and commence her voyage to next port of call, the Navy added. “INS Chennai diverted from her anti-piracy patrol intercepted the vessel at 1515h on Friday. MV was kept under continuous surveillance using MPA, Predator MQ-9B and integral helicopters,” the Navy said in a statement. “Indian Navy Marine Commandos present onboard the Mission Deployed warship boarded the vessel and have commenced the sanitisation.” The vessel had sent a message on UKMTO (U.K. Maritime Trade Operations) portal, indicating boarding by approximately five to six unknown armed personnel in the evening on Thursday, the Navy said. The MPA kept monitoring the vessel’s movement while INS Chennai was enroute. The overall situation is being closely monitored, in coordination with other agencies and multinational forces in the area, the Navy said. The crew of 15 Indians and six Filipinos is currently inside the citadel, the strong room inside a ship which also has communication. This is the second hijacking incident in the region which has completely gone down from the peak a decade back. Last month, Malta-flagged tanker m.v. Ruen, with 18 crew onboard, was hijacked by Somali pirates approximately 700 miles from the Indian coast and the vessel is currently off the Somali coast. In addition, there have been a series of attacks on merchant ships by Houthi rebels in Yemen in the Red Sea as well as the Arabian Sea, including a few instances where Indian-crewed vessels headed to India were targeted recently, m.v. Chem Pluto and m.v. Sai Baba. In response to these incidents, the Indian Navy has substantially enhanced maritime surveillance efforts in the Central and North Arabian Sea and augmented force levels. Task Groups comprising destroyers and frigates have been deployed to undertake maritime security operations and render assistance to merchant vessels in case of any incident and aerial surveillance by long-range maritime patrol aircraft and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles has been enhanced to have a complete maritime domain awareness. Supreme Court says Madras High Court was right to ask Tamil Nadu CM to decide on Senthilbalaji’s continuation as Minister The Supreme Court on January 5 said the Madras High Court did right to restrain itself and pass the ball to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to take a call about the continuance of V. Senthilbalaji as a Minister without portfolio. Mr. Senthilbalaji is involved in a money laundering case linked to the cash-for-job scam. “The order is correct… We concur with the decision taken by the High Court. No interference is called for. The petition is dismissed,” Justice A.S. Oka, leading the Bench, addressed advocate M.L. Ravi, the petitioner-in-person. The High Court had asked the Chief Minister to take the decision on Mr. Senthilbalaji’s prospects in the government even as it pointedly observed that “a Minister without portfolio is a constitutional travesty… Political compulsion cannot outweigh the public morality, requirements of good/clean governance and constitutional morality”. Justice Oka also agreed with the High Court’s finding that the Governor did not have the discretionary power to unilaterally dismiss a government Minister. “If the Governor chooses to ‘withdraw his pleasure’ in respect of a Minister, he must exercise his discretion with the knowledge of the Chief Minister and not unilaterally. In the present case, the Chief Minister had never consented for the exercise of discretion by the Governor,” the Madras High Court had noted in its September 5 order. Mr. Ravi had challenged the Governor’s volte face on June 29, 2023 when the latter had first issued an order dismissing Mr. Senthilbalaji as Minister of Electricity and Excise with “immediate effect”, only to issue a second order just hours later keeping the first one in abeyance. Mr. Ravi said the Governor’s decision to put on hold the dismissal of the Minister was “arbitrary and ultra vires the Constitution”. “He cannot take back his order as he is functus officio… and the High Court, instead of directing his removal, had merely advised the Chief Minister to take a decision about the continuance of Mr. Senthilbalaji as a Minister without portfolio,” the petitioner argued. Parliament security breach case | All accused, except Neelam Azad, consent to polygraph test Five of the six accused arrested by the special cell of the Delhi police in connection with the Parliament security breach on December 13, 2023, consented to a polygraph test before the Delhi’s Patiala House Court on Friday. In addition, accused Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan also gave consent for a narcotic analysis as well for brain mapping tests. Accused Neelam Azad denied consent for all the tests while appearing before Additional Sessions Court judge Hardeep Kaur. Ms. Azad, earlier this month, had moved a plea in the court seeking regular bail in the present case and has alleged that her arrest was illegal and in contravention of Article 22(1) of the Constitution. The court has sought a response from the Delhi Police Special Cell on her plea and the matter is on January 10 for further hearing. The court also extended the police custody of the accused, Manoranjan D., Sagar Sharma, Amol Dhanraj Shinde, Neelam Azad, Lalit Jha, and Mahesh Kumawat by eight days. Special Public Prosecutor Akhand Pratap Singh, appearing on behalf of the police, told the court that the report regarding the data recovered from the mobile phones of the accused will come by on Monday. India’s real GDP growth for 2023-24 estimated at 7.3% India’s real GDP growth in 2023-24 is estimated at 7.3%, compared to 7.2% a year ago, as per the first advance estimates of national income released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Friday, which reckon the economy will outperform the 7% uptick recently projected by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). With GDP growth in the first half of this year clocking 7.7%, the NSO’s advance estimates, that rely on data for the first six-eight months of a year and are helpful in the Union Budget formulation, indicate the second half will grow about 6.9%-7%. Interestingly, the NSO expects the growth in Gross Value Added (GVA) in the economy to ease slightly from 7% in 2022-23 to 6.9% this year, and pegs nominal GDP growth at 8.9% compared to the 10.5% Budget estimate. This could translate into the fiscal deficit breaching the year’s 5.9% of GDP target to hit around 6%, economists cautioned. GVA growth for the farm sector is estimated to more than halve from 4% a year ago to 1.8% this year, as is the case for Trade, Hotels, Transport, Communication and Services whose GVA uptick is estimated to moderate to 6.3% from 14% in 2022-23. Some economists reckoned even these appeared to be optimistic estimates, while consumption spends have emerged as a worry. “The concerning aspect in the GDP data is the weak consumption growth at 4.4%. This would be the slowest consumption growth in the past two decades barring the pandemic year of 2020-21,” said Rajani Sinha, chief economist at CareEdge Ratings. The NSO said the share of private final consumption expenditure in GDP is expected to drop this year to the lowest in at least three years at 56.9% from 58.5% in 2022-23. While the investment rate is likely to pick up to nearly 30% of GDP, driven by government capex, higher consumption growth is vital for private investments to take on the onus of spurring the economy. Manufacturing GVA growth is estimated to accelerate to 6.5% in 2023-24 from just 1.3% a year earlier, while mining GVA is expected to rise 8.1%, from 4.6% in 2022-23. Construction GVA growth is reckoned to remain solid at 10.7% this year, on top of the 10% uptick recorded in 2022-23. “Real GDP or GDP at Constant (2011-12) Prices in the year 2023-24 is estimated to attain a level of ₹171.79 lakh crore, as against the Provisional Estimate of GDP for the year 2022-23 of ₹160.06 lakh crore, released on 31st May, 2023,” the NSO said. The RBI has pegged third quarter real GDP growth in this financial year at 6.5%, which may moderate further to 6% in the January to March 2024 quarter. The NSO stressed that these are early projections for 2023-24 and improved data coverage, actual tax collections and expenditure incurred on subsidies, data revisions made by source agencies, etc. would have a bearing on subsequent revisions of these estimates. “Users should take this into consideration while interpreting the figures,” it underlined. The First Revised Estimates for 2022-23 are due for release on February 29 and may also lead to a revision in growth rates reflected in the advance estimates released on Friday. In Brief: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has invited comments and suggestions on the draft Press and Registration of Periodicals Rules, 2024, which have been proposed to be notified to implement the provisions of the Press and Registration of Periodicals Act, 2023, as notified on December 29 last year. The last date for submission of comments or suggestions is February 4, 2024, said the notice issued by the Ministry, which also listed salient features of the Act. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 05 January 2024 [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]( Indian Navy responds to hijacking attempt in Arabian Sea; crew onboard merchant vessel safely evacuated Indian Navy commandos onboard destroyer INS Chennai on January 5 [boarded a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier m.v. Lila Norfolk in the North Arabian Sea after it sent out a distress call]( of a hijacking attempt on Thursday evening. All 21 crew (including 15 Indians) onboard have been safely evacuated from the citadel of the vessel. Responding to the distress call, the Indian Navy diverted destroyer INS Chennai which was on anti-piracy patrol in the region while a Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) overflew the vessel in the morning and established contact with the vessel, ascertaining the safety of the crew. Sanitisation by MARCOs (Marine Commandos) has confirmed absence of the hijackers, the Navy said. The attempt of hijacking by the pirates was probably abandoned with the forceful warning by the Indian Navy’s Maritime Patrol Aircraft and interception by Indian Naval warship. INS Chennai is in the vicinity of MV and rendering support to restore the power generation and propulsion, and commence her voyage to next port of call, the Navy added. “INS Chennai diverted from her anti-piracy patrol intercepted the vessel at 1515h on Friday. MV was kept under continuous surveillance using MPA, Predator MQ-9B and integral helicopters,” the Navy said in a statement. “Indian Navy Marine Commandos present onboard the Mission Deployed warship boarded the vessel and have commenced the sanitisation.” The vessel had sent a message on UKMTO (U.K. Maritime Trade Operations) portal, indicating boarding by approximately five to six unknown armed personnel in the evening on Thursday, the Navy said. The MPA kept monitoring the vessel’s movement while INS Chennai was enroute. The overall situation is being closely monitored, in coordination with other agencies and multinational forces in the area, the Navy said. The crew of 15 Indians and six Filipinos is currently inside the citadel, the strong room inside a ship which also has communication. This is the second hijacking incident in the region which has completely gone down from the peak a decade back. Last month, Malta-flagged tanker m.v. Ruen, with 18 crew onboard, was hijacked by Somali pirates approximately 700 miles from the Indian coast and the vessel is currently off the Somali coast. In addition, there have been a series of attacks on merchant ships by Houthi rebels in Yemen in the Red Sea as well as the Arabian Sea, including a few instances where Indian-crewed vessels headed to India were targeted recently, m.v. Chem Pluto and m.v. Sai Baba. In response to these incidents, the Indian Navy has substantially enhanced maritime surveillance efforts in the Central and North Arabian Sea and augmented force levels. Task Groups comprising destroyers and frigates have been deployed to undertake maritime security operations and render assistance to merchant vessels in case of any incident and aerial surveillance by long-range maritime patrol aircraft and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles has been enhanced to have a complete maritime domain awareness. Supreme Court says Madras High Court was right to ask Tamil Nadu CM to decide on Senthilbalaji’s continuation as Minister The Supreme Court on January 5 said the [Madras High Court did right to restrain itself]( and pass the ball to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to take a call about the continuance of V. Senthilbalaji as a Minister without portfolio. Mr. Senthilbalaji is involved in a money laundering case linked to the cash-for-job scam. “The order is correct… We concur with the decision taken by the High Court. No interference is called for. The petition is dismissed,” Justice A.S. Oka, leading the Bench, addressed advocate M.L. Ravi, the petitioner-in-person. The High Court had asked the Chief Minister to take the decision on Mr. Senthilbalaji’s prospects in the government even as it pointedly observed that “a Minister without portfolio is a constitutional travesty… Political compulsion cannot outweigh the public morality, requirements of good/clean governance and constitutional morality”. Justice Oka also agreed with the High Court’s finding that the Governor did not have the discretionary power to unilaterally dismiss a government Minister. “If the Governor chooses to ‘withdraw his pleasure’ in respect of a Minister, he must exercise his discretion with the knowledge of the Chief Minister and not unilaterally. In the present case, the Chief Minister had never consented for the exercise of discretion by the Governor,” the Madras High Court had noted in its September 5 order. Mr. Ravi had challenged the Governor’s volte face on June 29, 2023 when the latter had first issued an order dismissing Mr. Senthilbalaji as Minister of Electricity and Excise with “immediate effect”, only to issue a second order just hours later keeping the first one in abeyance. Mr. Ravi said the Governor’s decision to put on hold the dismissal of the Minister was “arbitrary and ultra vires the Constitution”. “He cannot take back his order as he is functus officio… and the High Court, instead of directing his removal, had merely advised the Chief Minister to take a decision about the continuance of Mr. Senthilbalaji as a Minister without portfolio,” the petitioner argued. Parliament security breach case | All accused, except Neelam Azad, consent to polygraph test Five of the six accused arrested by the special cell of the Delhi police in connection with the Parliament security breach on December 13, 2023, [consented to a polygraph test]( before the Delhi’s Patiala House Court on Friday. In addition, accused Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan also gave consent for a narcotic analysis as well for brain mapping tests. Accused Neelam Azad denied consent for all the tests while appearing before Additional Sessions Court judge Hardeep Kaur. Ms. Azad, earlier this month, had moved a plea in the court seeking regular bail in the present case and has alleged that her arrest was illegal and in contravention of Article 22(1) of the Constitution. The court has sought a response from the Delhi Police Special Cell on her plea and the matter is on January 10 for further hearing. The court also extended the police custody of the accused, Manoranjan D., Sagar Sharma, Amol Dhanraj Shinde, Neelam Azad, Lalit Jha, and Mahesh Kumawat by eight days. Special Public Prosecutor Akhand Pratap Singh, appearing on behalf of the police, told the court that the report regarding the data recovered from the mobile phones of the accused will come by on Monday. India’s real GDP growth for 2023-24 estimated at 7.3% India’s [real GDP growth in 2023-24 is estimated at 7.3%]( compared to 7.2% a year ago, as per the first advance estimates of national income released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Friday, which reckon the economy will outperform the 7% uptick recently projected by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). With GDP growth in the first half of this year clocking 7.7%, the NSO’s advance estimates, that rely on data for the first six-eight months of a year and are helpful in the Union Budget formulation, indicate the second half will grow about 6.9%-7%. Interestingly, the NSO expects the growth in Gross Value Added (GVA) in the economy to ease slightly from 7% in 2022-23 to 6.9% this year, and pegs nominal GDP growth at 8.9% compared to the 10.5% Budget estimate. This could translate into the fiscal deficit breaching the year’s 5.9% of GDP target to hit around 6%, economists cautioned. GVA growth for the farm sector is estimated to more than halve from 4% a year ago to 1.8% this year, as is the case for Trade, Hotels, Transport, Communication and Services whose GVA uptick is estimated to moderate to 6.3% from 14% in 2022-23. Some economists reckoned even these appeared to be optimistic estimates, while consumption spends have emerged as a worry. “The concerning aspect in the GDP data is the weak consumption growth at 4.4%. This would be the slowest consumption growth in the past two decades barring the pandemic year of 2020-21,” said Rajani Sinha, chief economist at CareEdge Ratings. The NSO said the share of private final consumption expenditure in GDP is expected to drop this year to the lowest in at least three years at 56.9% from 58.5% in 2022-23. While the investment rate is likely to pick up to nearly 30% of GDP, driven by government capex, higher consumption growth is vital for private investments to take on the onus of spurring the economy. Manufacturing GVA growth is estimated to accelerate to 6.5% in 2023-24 from just 1.3% a year earlier, while mining GVA is expected to rise 8.1%, from 4.6% in 2022-23. Construction GVA growth is reckoned to remain solid at 10.7% this year, on top of the 10% uptick recorded in 2022-23. “Real GDP or GDP at Constant (2011-12) Prices in the year 2023-24 is estimated to attain a level of ₹171.79 lakh crore, as against the Provisional Estimate of GDP for the year 2022-23 of ₹160.06 lakh crore, released on 31st May, 2023,” the NSO said. The RBI has pegged third quarter real GDP growth in this financial year at 6.5%, which may moderate further to 6% in the January to March 2024 quarter. The NSO stressed that these are early projections for 2023-24 and improved data coverage, actual tax collections and expenditure incurred on subsidies, data revisions made by source agencies, etc. would have a bearing on subsequent revisions of these estimates. “Users should take this into consideration while interpreting the figures,” it underlined. The First Revised Estimates for 2022-23 are due for release on February 29 and may also lead to a revision in growth rates reflected in the advance estimates released on Friday. In Brief: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has [invited comments and suggestions]( on the [draft Press and Registration of Periodicals Rules, 2024]( which have been proposed to be notified to implement the provisions of the Press and Registration of Periodicals Act, 2023, as notified on December 29 last year. The last date for submission of comments or suggestions is February 4, 2024, said the notice issued by the Ministry, which also listed salient features of the Act. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [Sign up for free]( Today’s Top Picks [[Centre defends ‘selfie points’ for promotion of its schemes] Centre defends ‘selfie points’ for promotion of its schemes]( [[T20 World Cup 2024: India to face Pakistan on June 9 in New York] T20 World Cup 2024: India to face Pakistan on June 9 in New York]( [[‘VOC dreamed big. More than a century later, it remains difficult to trace the roots of this dream,’ says historian A.R. Venkatachalapathy] ‘VOC dreamed big. 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