The Evening Wrap: SBI sends electoral bonds details to Election Commission

The State Bank of India (SBI) sent details of electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI) in compliance with the Supreme Court order on March 12. The poll panel has confirmed that the SBI submitted the data regarding electoral bonds. The Supreme Court had ordered SBI to disclose the details of electoral bonds to the EC by close of business hours on March 12. As per the order, the EC will have to publish the details shared by the bank on its official website by 5 pm on March 15. According to sources, the SBI has complied with the orders of the apex court and submitted the details of the electoral bonds to the EC. The SBI has issued electoral bonds worth ₹16,518 crore in 30 tranches since the inception of the scheme in 2018. The Supreme Court, however, in a landmark verdict on February 15 scrapped the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding, calling it “unconstitutional” and ordered disclosure by the EC of donors, the amount donated by them and recipients. SBI had sought time till June 30 for disclosure of the details. Its plea, however, was rejected by the apex court, and it asked the bank to submit all details to the EC by the close of working hours on Tuesday. Electoral bonds were introduced as a substitute for cash donations made to political parties with the aim of enhancing transparency in political funding. The first sale of electoral bonds took place in March 2018. Electoral bonds were to be redeemed exclusively by an eligible political party through an authorised bank account, and the SBI is the sole authorised bank for issuing these bonds. Lok Sabha polls | Congress releases second list of candidates for 43 seats The Congress on March 12 announced its second list of 43 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, fielding Kamal Nath’s son Nakul Nath once again from Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara and Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav from Rajasthan’s Jalore. The party’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi has been fielded from Assam’s Jorhat and Pradyut Bordoloi from Nagaon. Rahul Kaswan, who switched over from the BJP a few days ago, has been fielded from Churu in Rajasthan. The second list came a day after the Congress’ central election committee, chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, met at the party headquarters here to finalise the candidates. In the meeting, discussions were held for more than 60 seats in the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Assam and the Union Territory of Daman and Diu. The seats announced on March 12 include 13 from Assam, 10 from Madhya Pradesh, 10 from Rajasthan, seven from Gujarat and three from Uttarakhand, besides one from Daman and Diu, AICC general secretary K. C. Venugopal said at a press conference. Congress leaders Ajay Maken and Pawan Khera were also at the briefing. IAF’s Tejas Aircraft crashes at Jaisalmer; pilot ejects to safety A Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) of the Indian Air Force crashed at Jaisalmer during an operational training sortie on March 12. This is the first crash of the indigenous jet since it first flew 23 years ago on January 4, 2001. “The pilot ejected safely. A Court of Inquiry has been constituted to find out the cause of the accident,” the IAF said in a post on social media. The incident occurred as the tri-service fire power demonstration exercise Bharat Shakti was underway not far away which was witnessed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The IAF currently operates two LCA squadrons and is set to third squadron shortly. On November 25, 2023, Modi visited Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Bengaluru and undertook a sortie on a twin-seater LCA. On the overall project cost, the Government informed Parliament in March 2020 that ₹9,063.96 crore was spent on LCA and ₹2,032 crore on the now shelved Kaveri jet engine programme. The Government had originally sanctioned ₹2,188.00 crore for Full Scale Engineering Development (FSED) — Phase-I programme to design and develop two Technology Demonstrators (Tds) in April 1993, and ₹5,777.56 crore for FSED — Phase-II Programme. The objectives of Phase-II are fabrication of three Prototypes Vehicles (PVs), establishment of production facility at HAL for production of eight aircraft per year and manufacturing and delivery of eight Limited Series Production (LSP) aircraft, the Government had informed the Parliament earlier. The maiden flight of the first Technology Demonstrator (TD1) took place on January 4, 2001 and was christened Tejas in 2003. The LCA achieved Initial Operation Clearance (IOC) in December 2013 and Final Operational Clearance (FOC) in February 2019. The IAF had earlier signed two contracts with HAL, for 20 IOC configuration aircraft including four IOC trainers on March 31, 2006 and for 20 FOC configuration aircraft including four FOC trainers on December 23, 2010. All through the development phase, the LCA maintained an accident free track record, an accomplishment among global flight development projects. ED searches 17 locations linked to Congress MLA Amba Prasad in Jharkhand The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 12 conducted searches at 17 locations linked to Congress MLA Amba Prasad in Jharkhand, including her official residence in Ranchi and the premises of her relatives. The searches were related to a land scam and illegal possession. Prasad’s mother Nirmala Devi was present at the native house in Hazaribagh when the agency conducted the search there; her father Yogendra Sao had gone to Delhi. Both parents were once MLAs of the Congress and represented the Barkagaon Assembly seat, same as Prasad. Devi expressed her pain over the ED action and said her daughter should leave politics, calling it dirty. “Nobody is at home, my daughter is in Ranchi and husband has gone to Delhi. In fact, I no longer like politics and even asked my daughter not to contest elections. Politics is dirty now and it destroys people. I have suffered for 10 years in politics. I have seen how it destroys the house. When I was in politics, I hardly used to give time at my house,” she said. She also said the ED search was a practice to demoralise the Opposition ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. “This is election year and this practice is being used to demoralise us,” she added. Prasad is also one of the possible names from Congress to contest the Lok Sabha poll from Hazaribagh. The first-time MLA is a good orator and has been very active in politics especially after her aide Bitka Bawari was shot dead by unidentified miscreants last year. On the occasion of International Women’s Day in 2022, she arrived at the Assembly on horseback. She had said that the horse was gifted by Colonel (retired) Ravi Rathore. During the searches, the ED officials seized the mobile phone of all the staff and nobody was allowed to go outside the house. Prasad, who was present at her official residence, stepped out only once and showed the victory sign to the media and her supporters. Why haven’t you moved Himachal Pradesh HC against disqualification: Supreme Court asks disqualified MLAs The Supreme Court on March 12 asked six rebel Congress MLAs, who had cross-voted in the recent Rajya Sabha polls in Himachal Pradesh, as to why they have not moved the High Court challenging their disqualification. Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania had on February 29 disqualified the six MLAs on the Congress’ plea for “defying” the party whip that required them to be present in the House and vote for the budget. Their plea challenging the Speaker’s decision came up for hearing before a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta and Prashant Kumar Mishra. The counsel representing the six petitioners requested the Bench to adjourn the matter for either March 15 or March 18, saying senior advocate Harish Salve, who would appear for them, was not able to join the proceedings. “But tell us one thing, why didn’t you go to the High Court?” Justice Khanna asked. When the counsel said the petitioners have explained the reasons in the petition and they were elected as MLAs, the bench observed, “That is not a fundamental right”. “It is rare case where within 18 hours, the Speaker disqualified us,” the counsel said. The Bench posted the matter for hearing on March 18. The petitioners have made Pathania, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harsh Vardhan Chauhan and others as party respondents in their plea filed in the top court. These Congress rebels, who had voted in favour of BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha polls on February 27, later “abstained” from voting on the Budget. Senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi had lost the Rajya Sabha election owing to the cross-voting. The disqualified MLAs are Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur and Chetanya Sharma. Following their disqualification, the effective strength of the House has gone down to 62 from 68, while the number of Congress MLAs has shrunk to 34 from 40. The rebel MLAs, in their petition, have alleged violation of the principle of natural justice, claiming they did not get adequate opportunity to respond to the disqualification petition. Announcing the disqualification of the six MLAs at a press conference on February 29, the Speaker had said they attracted disqualification under the anti-defection law as they defied the party whip. He ruled that they ceased to be members of the House with immediate effect. The petition seeking their disqualification was filed by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister before the Speaker for defying the whip that required them to be present in the House and vote for the budget. Under the anti-defection law, any elected member who gives up the membership of a political party voluntarily or votes or abstains from voting in the House, contrary to any direction issued by his political party, is liable for disqualification. These MLAs had signed the attendance register but abstained from the House during the voting on the Budget, the Speaker said. These members were issued notices for defying the whip through WhatsApp and e-mail and were asked to appear for the hearing. The Assembly had passed the Finance Bill by voice vote after the Speaker suspended 15 BJP MLAs. The Speaker had then adjourned the session. In his 30-page order, he said the plea of the lawyer of the rebel MLAs, senior advocate Satya Pal Jain, for giving time to reply to the notice was not entertained as “evidence was absolutely clear”. The Speaker said delivering quick judgment was necessary in such cases to maintain the dignity of democracy and check the “Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram” phenomenon. The judgment had no link with cross-voting by these MLAs in the Rajya Sabha polls, the Speaker added. Assam Police ‘order’ opposition parties to withdraw stir against CAA, warn of action The Assam Police have issued notices to opposition parties “ordering” them to “withdraw” the hartal over the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA and warned that “legal action” will be taken against them if they fail to follow the diktat, officials said on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. The 16-party United Opposition Forum, Assam (UOFA) has called a statewide hartal to protest against the implementation of the CAA. “It has come to the notice of the undersigned from the Press Note dated 11th March, 2024 released by ‘United Opposition Forum’ that you and your organisation have called for ‘Sarbatmak Hartal’ in Assam on 12th March, 2024 from 6 am to 6 pm. Whereas, as a result of the ‘Sarbatmak Hartal’, there is every likelihood of breach of peace and security leading to disruption of normal life of peace loving citizens in the state,” said the identical legal notices, dated March 11, sent to the office-bearers of different parties. “Further, calling of such ‘Sarbatmak Hartal’ will lead to Highway and Railway Track Blockade, which has been declared as illegal and unconstitutional by various judgements of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, Hon’ble Kerala High Court as well as Hon’ble Gauhati High Court,” it added. The notices “ordered” the parties to withdraw the hartal and co-operate in maintaining peace in the state. “...failing which legal action will be taken against you in your personal capacity. Further, be known that in case there is any damage to public/private property including Railway and National Highway properties or injury to any citizen caused due to ‘Sarbatmak Hartal’, legal action under appropriate provisions of law... will be initiated against you and the total cost of damage to public and private properties will be recovered from you and your Organisation,” it said. The notices were shared by Director-General of Police G.P. Singh on social media. In a post on X, he said that the notices were served by the police to ensure there is no damage to public property and risk to the lives of the people by any agitation in the state. Meanwhile, no untoward incident has been reported in the state so far, police said. Security has been tightened with additional deployment of police personnel. All police stations have been put on alert, patrolling has been intensified and check-posts have been set up on major thoroughfares in most towns of the State, including Guwahati which witnessed violent protests over the issue in December 2019, they said. In BriefNew portal for applying for citizenship under CAA launched The Centre on March 12 launched a new portal for people applying for citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)-2019. Besides the portal, the government will also launch the mobile app ‘CAA-2019’ to facilitate applications, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) officials said. Just days ahead of the announcement of general elections, the MHA on Monday notified the Citizenship Amendment Rules, 2024, that would enable the implementation of the CAA passed by the Parliament in 2019. Retail inflation eases marginally to 5.09% in February India’s retail inflation remained virtually unchanged at 5.09% in February from 5.10% in January, even as food prices paid by consumers rose from 8.3% to 8.66%, the National Statistical Office said on March 12. The industrial output growth slowed to 3.8% in January, from an upgraded uptick of 4.24% in December. The manufacturing sector’s growth slowed to 3.2% from 4.5% a month ago, even as the uptick in mining and electricity generation accelerated to 5.9% and 5.6%, respectively. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 12 March 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]( SBI sends electoral bonds details to Election Commission The [State Bank of India (SBI) sent details of electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI)]( in compliance with the Supreme Court order on March 12. The poll panel has confirmed that the SBI submitted the data regarding electoral bonds. The Supreme Court had ordered SBI to disclose the details of electoral bonds to the EC by close of business hours on March 12. As per the order, the EC will have to publish the details shared by the bank on its official website by 5 pm on March 15. According to sources, the SBI has complied with the orders of the apex court and submitted the details of the electoral bonds to the EC. The SBI has issued electoral bonds worth ₹16,518 crore in 30 tranches since the inception of the scheme in 2018. The Supreme Court, however, in a landmark verdict on February 15 scrapped the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding, calling it “unconstitutional” and ordered disclosure by the EC of donors, the amount donated by them and recipients. SBI had sought time till June 30 for disclosure of the details. Its plea, however, was rejected by the apex court, and it asked the bank to submit all details to the EC by the close of working hours on Tuesday. Electoral bonds were introduced as a substitute for cash donations made to political parties with the aim of enhancing transparency in political funding. The first sale of electoral bonds took place in March 2018. Electoral bonds were to be redeemed exclusively by an eligible political party through an authorised bank account, and the SBI is the sole authorised bank for issuing these bonds. Lok Sabha polls | Congress releases second list of candidates for 43 seats The [Congress on March 12 announced its second list of 43 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls]( fielding Kamal Nath’s son Nakul Nath once again from Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara and Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav from Rajasthan’s Jalore. The party’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi has been fielded from Assam’s Jorhat and Pradyut Bordoloi from Nagaon. Rahul Kaswan, who switched over from the BJP a few days ago, has been fielded from Churu in Rajasthan. The second list came a day after the Congress’ central election committee, chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, met at the party headquarters here to finalise the candidates. In the meeting, discussions were held for more than 60 seats in the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Assam and the Union Territory of Daman and Diu. The seats announced on March 12 include 13 from Assam, 10 from Madhya Pradesh, 10 from Rajasthan, seven from Gujarat and three from Uttarakhand, besides one from Daman and Diu, AICC general secretary K. C. Venugopal said at a press conference. Congress leaders Ajay Maken and Pawan Khera were also at the briefing. IAF’s Tejas Aircraft crashes at Jaisalmer; pilot ejects to safety [A Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) of the Indian Air Force crashed at Jaisalmer during an operational training sortie]( on March 12. This is the first crash of the indigenous jet since it first flew 23 years ago on January 4, 2001. “The pilot ejected safely. A Court of Inquiry has been constituted to find out the cause of the accident,” the IAF said in a post on social media. The incident occurred as the tri-service fire power demonstration exercise Bharat Shakti was underway not far away which was witnessed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The IAF currently operates two LCA squadrons and is set to third squadron shortly. On November 25, 2023, Modi visited Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Bengaluru and undertook a sortie on a twin-seater LCA. On the overall project cost, the Government informed Parliament in March 2020 that ₹9,063.96 crore was spent on LCA and ₹2,032 crore on the now shelved Kaveri jet engine programme. The Government had originally sanctioned ₹2,188.00 crore for Full Scale Engineering Development (FSED) — Phase-I programme to design and develop two Technology Demonstrators (Tds) in April 1993, and ₹5,777.56 crore for FSED — Phase-II Programme. The objectives of Phase-II are fabrication of three Prototypes Vehicles (PVs), establishment of production facility at HAL for production of eight aircraft per year and manufacturing and delivery of eight Limited Series Production (LSP) aircraft, the Government had informed the Parliament earlier. The maiden flight of the first Technology Demonstrator (TD1) took place on January 4, 2001 and was christened Tejas in 2003. The LCA achieved Initial Operation Clearance (IOC) in December 2013 and Final Operational Clearance (FOC) in February 2019. The IAF had earlier signed two contracts with HAL, for 20 IOC configuration aircraft including four IOC trainers on March 31, 2006 and for 20 FOC configuration aircraft including four FOC trainers on December 23, 2010. All through the development phase, the LCA maintained an accident free track record, an accomplishment among global flight development projects. ED searches 17 locations linked to Congress MLA Amba Prasad in Jharkhand The [Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 12 conducted searches at 17 locations linked to Congress MLA Amba Prasad in Jharkhand]( including her official residence in Ranchi and the premises of her relatives. The searches were related to a land scam and illegal possession. Prasad’s mother Nirmala Devi was present at the native house in Hazaribagh when the agency conducted the search there; her father Yogendra Sao had gone to Delhi. Both parents were once MLAs of the Congress and represented the Barkagaon Assembly seat, same as Prasad. Devi expressed her pain over the ED action and said her daughter should leave politics, calling it dirty. “Nobody is at home, my daughter is in Ranchi and husband has gone to Delhi. In fact, I no longer like politics and even asked my daughter not to contest elections. Politics is dirty now and it destroys people. I have suffered for 10 years in politics. I have seen how it destroys the house. When I was in politics, I hardly used to give time at my house,” she said. She also said the ED search was a practice to demoralise the Opposition ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. “This is election year and this practice is being used to demoralise us,” she added. Prasad is also one of the possible names from Congress to contest the Lok Sabha poll from Hazaribagh. The first-time MLA is a good orator and has been very active in politics especially after her aide Bitka Bawari was shot dead by unidentified miscreants last year. On the occasion of International Women’s Day in 2022, she arrived at the Assembly on horseback. She had said that the horse was gifted by Colonel (retired) Ravi Rathore. During the searches, the ED officials seized the mobile phone of all the staff and nobody was allowed to go outside the house. Prasad, who was present at her official residence, stepped out only once and showed the victory sign to the media and her supporters. Why haven’t you moved Himachal Pradesh HC against disqualification: Supreme Court asks disqualified MLAs [The Supreme Court on March 12 asked six rebel Congress MLAs, who had cross-voted in the recent Rajya Sabha polls in Himachal Pradesh, as to why they have not moved the High Court challenging their disqualification.]( Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania had on February 29 disqualified the six MLAs on the Congress’ plea for “defying” the party whip that required them to be present in the House and vote for the budget. Their plea challenging the Speaker’s decision came up for hearing before a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta and Prashant Kumar Mishra. The counsel representing the six petitioners requested the Bench to adjourn the matter for either March 15 or March 18, saying senior advocate Harish Salve, who would appear for them, was not able to join the proceedings. “But tell us one thing, why didn’t you go to the High Court?” Justice Khanna asked. When the counsel said the petitioners have explained the reasons in the petition and they were elected as MLAs, the bench observed, “That is not a fundamental right”. “It is rare case where within 18 hours, the Speaker disqualified us,” the counsel said. The Bench posted the matter for hearing on March 18. The petitioners have made Pathania, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harsh Vardhan Chauhan and others as party respondents in their plea filed in the top court. These Congress rebels, who had voted in favour of BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha polls on February 27, later “abstained” from voting on the Budget. Senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi had lost the Rajya Sabha election owing to the cross-voting. The disqualified MLAs are Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur and Chetanya Sharma. Following their disqualification, the effective strength of the House has gone down to 62 from 68, while the number of Congress MLAs has shrunk to 34 from 40. The rebel MLAs, in their petition, have alleged violation of the principle of natural justice, claiming they did not get adequate opportunity to respond to the disqualification petition. Announcing the disqualification of the six MLAs at a press conference on February 29, the Speaker had said they attracted disqualification under the anti-defection law as they defied the party whip. He ruled that they ceased to be members of the House with immediate effect. The petition seeking their disqualification was filed by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister before the Speaker for defying the whip that required them to be present in the House and vote for the budget. Under the anti-defection law, any elected member who gives up the membership of a political party voluntarily or votes or abstains from voting in the House, contrary to any direction issued by his political party, is liable for disqualification. These MLAs had signed the attendance register but abstained from the House during the voting on the Budget, the Speaker said. These members were issued notices for defying the whip through WhatsApp and e-mail and were asked to appear for the hearing. The Assembly had passed the Finance Bill by voice vote after the Speaker suspended 15 BJP MLAs. The Speaker had then adjourned the session. In his 30-page order, he said the plea of the lawyer of the rebel MLAs, senior advocate Satya Pal Jain, for giving time to reply to the notice was not entertained as “evidence was absolutely clear”. The Speaker said delivering quick judgment was necessary in such cases to maintain the dignity of democracy and check the “Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram” phenomenon. The judgment had no link with cross-voting by these MLAs in the Rajya Sabha polls, the Speaker added. Assam Police ‘order’ opposition parties to withdraw stir against CAA, warn of action The [Assam Police have issued notices to opposition parties “ordering” them to “withdraw” the hartal over the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act]( or CAA and warned that “legal action” will be taken against them if they fail to follow the diktat, officials said on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. The 16-party United Opposition Forum, Assam (UOFA) has called a statewide hartal to protest against the implementation of the CAA. “It has come to the notice of the undersigned from the Press Note dated 11th March, 2024 released by ‘United Opposition Forum’ that you and your organisation have called for ‘Sarbatmak Hartal’ in Assam on 12th March, 2024 from 6 am to 6 pm. Whereas, as a result of the ‘Sarbatmak Hartal’, there is every likelihood of breach of peace and security leading to disruption of normal life of peace loving citizens in the state,” said the identical legal notices, dated March 11, sent to the office-bearers of different parties. “Further, calling of such ‘Sarbatmak Hartal’ will lead to Highway and Railway Track Blockade, which has been declared as illegal and unconstitutional by various judgements of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, Hon’ble Kerala High Court as well as Hon’ble Gauhati High Court,” it added. The notices “ordered” the parties to withdraw the hartal and co-operate in maintaining peace in the state. “...failing which legal action will be taken against you in your personal capacity. Further, be known that in case there is any damage to public/private property including Railway and National Highway properties or injury to any citizen caused due to ‘Sarbatmak Hartal’, legal action under appropriate provisions of law... will be initiated against you and the total cost of damage to public and private properties will be recovered from you and your Organisation,” it said. The notices were shared by Director-General of Police G.P. Singh on social media. In a post on X, he said that the notices were served by the police to ensure there is no damage to public property and risk to the lives of the people by any agitation in the state. Meanwhile, no untoward incident has been reported in the state so far, police said. Security has been tightened with additional deployment of police personnel. All police stations have been put on alert, patrolling has been intensified and check-posts have been set up on major thoroughfares in most towns of the State, including Guwahati which witnessed violent protests over the issue in December 2019, they said. In Brief New portal for applying for citizenship under CAA launched [The Centre on March 12 launched a new portal for people applying for citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act]( (CAA)-2019. Besides the portal, the government will also launch the mobile app ‘CAA-2019’ to facilitate applications, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) officials said. Just days ahead of the announcement of general elections, the MHA on Monday notified the Citizenship Amendment Rules, 2024, that would enable the implementation of the CAA passed by the Parliament in 2019. Retail inflation eases marginally to 5.09% in February [India’s retail inflation remained virtually unchanged at 5.09% in February from 5.10% in January]( even as food prices paid by consumers rose from 8.3% to 8.66%, the National Statistical Office said on March 12. The industrial output growth slowed to 3.8% in January, from an upgraded uptick of 4.24% in December. The manufacturing sector’s growth slowed to 3.2% from 4.5% a month ago, even as the uptick in mining and electricity generation accelerated to 5.9% and 5.6%, respectively. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [Sign up for free]( Today’s Top Picks [[What the developing countries were fighting for at WTO’s Abu Dhabi session | In Focus podcast] What the developing countries were fighting for at WTO’s Abu Dhabi session | In Focus podcast]( [[Indian troops begin withdrawal from Maldives] Indian troops begin withdrawal from Maldives]( [[Airlines damaged luggage of one in every two flyers: survey] Airlines damaged luggage of one in every two flyers: survey]( [[Watch | All about Citizenship Amendment Rules, 2024] Watch | All about Citizenship Amendment Rules, 2024]( Copyright© 2024, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. If you are facing any trouble in viewing this newsletter, please [click here]( Manage your newsletter subscription preferences [here]( If you do not wish to receive such emails [go here](