External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that the use of Afghan soil to promote terrorism in any manner by any country is unacceptable and the Taliban must live up to its declarations to that effect. He was addressing the Afghanistan conference co-convened by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.

Dr Jaishankar said resumption of travel out of Kabul is a priority. He said the world should not countenance interference by external players, especially those intensifying violence at this difficult time. He added that the collective approach should be guided by UNSC resolution 2593.

As part of India’s ongoing Chairship of BRICS in 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair the 13th Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa  Summit  today in virtual format. The theme for the Summit is BRICS@15: Intra-BRICS cooperation for continuity, consolidation and consensus. India had outlined four priority areas for its Chairship. These are reform of the multilateral system, counter terrorism, using digital and technological tools for achieving SDGs and enhancing people to people exchanges. 

The BRICS leaders  will  exchange views on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other current global and regional issues.  The meeting will be attended by the President of Brazil Jair Bolsanaro,  Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa. This is the second time Prime Minister Modi will be chairing the BRICS Summit. Earlier he had chaired the Goa Summit in 2016. 

The Indian Chairship of BRICS this year coincides with the fifteenth anniversary of BRICS. India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, President of the New Development Bank Marcos Troyjo, the pro tempore Chair of the BRICS Business Council, Onkar Kanwar and pro tempore Chair of the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance, Dr. Sangita Reddy will present reports on the outcome pursued this year under their tracks to the leaders during the summit. Anupam Mishra, AIR News, Delhi.

Talking to AIR News, Defence Expert and Director of Society for Policy Studies, C. Uday Bhaskar said the summit is significant in view of the ongoing developments in Afghanistan.

He also said the situation in Afghanistan is a cause of concern for India as the Taliaban led government is pro-Pakistan.

In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, District Commander of banned terror outfit, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), identified as Nishaz Lone, one Pakistani terrorist among five terroristshave been gunned down by security forces today in a gunfight which had broken out late last night at Hanjin village of Rajpora area in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
 
During the operation, One Army Jawan namely Hav Kashiray Bammanalli also laid down his life in the line of his duties in a fierce firefight with terrorists and attained martyrdom. As per police sources, the encounter started after the joint team of security forces were fired upon who had laid a Cardon and Search Operation (CASO) on the basis of a specific intelligence input about the presence of terrorists in the village and in retaliation, Five terrorists including a Lashkar-e-Toiba District Commander and one Pakistani terrorist were neutralised by the joint team of security forces. 

The Union Government has said that India is registering a significant decline in active caseloads and fresh cases amid the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic. With this, the recovery rateis continuously improving and it has reached 97 per centin the country. Briefing the media in New Delhi today, Joint Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Ministry, Lav Agarwal has said, the country is witnessing decline in the daily number of cases due to continued efforts of containment and restriction strategies.

He said, India has reported over 46 thousand cases during the last 24 hours. He said, the number of daily active cases has also come down drastically within the two months. He said, almost 86 per cent decline in active caseloads have been registered since the highest reported peak. Mr. Agarwal said that the recovery rate is continuously improving in the country. He said, the recovery rate was over 81 per cent in the country on 3rd May of last month and now it has reached over 97 per cent.

Lav Agarwal has said, the country has ramped up Covid-19 testing for the early detection of the cases. He said, various laboratories are conducting on an average 18 lakh 29 thousand tests in the country these days. Mr. Agarwal has said the country is witnessing a declining trend in case positivity for the last eight weeks. He said the average positivity rate was 21.6 per cent in the first week of May last month which has come down to 3.1 per cent in the last seven days. However, 71 districts in the country are still registering case positivity more than 10 per cent. He said, India is still under the grip of a second wave, hence, the efforts must be put on effective containment strategies to contain the spread of corona virus.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman has replied that the Central Government is playing a proactive role in addressing the issue of rising prices of essential commodities in the country. Speaking to media persons in Bengaluru today, she said that the Government has announced a series of financial packages to reduce the burden of the poor during the pandemic.
 
On the possibility of reducing the petrol prices, the minister pointed out that the international prices of petrol have reached 75 dollars per barrel and as the rate increases, the price too has increased. She noted that the Central Government levies fixed charges and the state component is added in the petrol price.
 
On GST compensation to the states, the finance minister clarified that back to back borrowing is already given according to the formula arrived in October of 2020. On the residual amount to be given, she added, that that will be paid as and when there is better revenue collection.

The government has decided to bring retail and wholesale trade under the ambit of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME). It has issued revised guidelines to include retail and wholesale trade as MSME and extend to them the benefit of priority sector lending under the RBI guidelines.
 
In a series of tweets, MSME Minister, Nitin Gadkari said, the decision will benefit 2.5 crore retail and wholesale traders. He said that the government is committed to the strengthening of MSME and make them engines for economic growth. With the revised guidelines the Retail and wholesale trades will now be allowed to register on Udyam Registration Portal.

India has joined the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and G20 Inclusive Framework tax deal of global corporate tax. According to a Finance Ministry press release, the members OECD and G20 countries adopted a high-level statement containing an outline of a consensus solution to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy.
 
The proposed solution consists of two components- reallocation of additional share of profit to the market jurisdictions and minimum tax subject to tax rules. However, the technical details of the proposal will be worked out in the coming months and a consensus agreement is expected by October.
 
The Finance Ministry statement, released today, said the principles underlying the solution vindicates India’s stand for a greater share of profits for the markets. It said, India is in favour of a consensus solution which is simple to implement and simple to comply with. At the same time, the solution should result in allocation of meaningful and sustainable revenue to market jurisdictions, particularly for developing and emerging economies.
 
Initially, the global corporate tax was proposed by the United States as Global Minimum Tax (GMT). Yesterday, the tax deal was adopted in the OECD and G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS). BEPS refers to tax-avoiding strategies used by big multinational companies that exploit the gaps and mismatches in tax rules across the globe.
 
Around 130 countries, representing more than 90 percent of global GDP, adopted the global corporate tax rate of at least 15 percent. The countries also agreed on a fairer distribution of ‘profits and taxing rights’ with respect to multinationals including digital giants such as Amazon and Google. However, Hungary and Ireland were part of a small group of countries that did not agree on the tax rate on multinationals.

Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has said that India will be an example to the world as far as e-vehicles are concerned and the priority of the government is to fight pollution.

Addressing India Global forum 2021 yesterday, he said Indian research is working aggressively towards pursuing green hydrogen. Mr Gadkari said  Government is trying its best to convert all the construction material to greener options.

The Minister said encouraging response is being received from the public on the adoption of Electric Vehicles, and he himself uses an electric car and many of the ministers are also using the same.

Mr Gadkari said futuristic development is very important. He said two-wheelers and autorickshaws are very popular and through the FAME II government scheme there are many incentives on offer for them to convert to electric. The Minister said in the road sector there are great opportunities for FDI. 

Over 34 crore vaccine doses have been administered in the country till now under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive. Health Ministry said, over 43 lakh 60 thousand doses were administered in the last 24 hours.  

Over 1 crore 74 lakh doses have been given Health Care Workers, over 2.7 crore doses to Front Line Workers, people in the 18 to 44 age group have received over 9.63 crore doses, people in the 45 to 59 age group over 10.6 crore doses and people over 60 years have been administered 9.26 crore doses.

The recovery rate has gone upto to 97.01 per cent. Over 59 thousand patients recovered during last 24 hours. Over 2 crore 95 lakh people have recovered from Covid-19 so far. Daily recoveries continue to outnumber the Daily New Cases for the 50th consecutive day. The country reported more than 46 thousand new cases in the last 24 hours. India’s Active Caseload has declined to 5 lakh 9 thousand 637.

Active cases constitute 1.67 per cent of total cases. Weekly Positivity Rate remains below 5 per cent and it is currently at 2.57 per cent. Daily positivity rate at 2.48 per cent and it is less than 5 per cent for 25 consecutive days. 853 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

With this the death toll due to the pandemic has reached 4 lakh 3 hundred 12. Health Ministry said, testing capacity has been substantially ramped up and over 41 crore tests have been conducted till now. More than 18 lakh samples were tested yesterday.
 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in the last six years peoples’ lives have been transformed drastically with Digital India. Addressing a function to mark the sixth year of the government’s flagship programme- Digital India, the Prime Minister said that Digital India has played a pivotal role in providing healthcare facilities in different parts of the country as platforms developed for online education to medicine is benefiting crores of Indians.  

Talking about the benefit of digital India during COVID, the Prime Minister said, people from remote areas are getting health benefits of eSanjeevani, especially during the pandemic.  

He added  Digital India and Cowin are helping the country during the world’s largest vaccination drive. CoWin has also attracted interest from several countries across the globe, he noted. He said the vision of minimum government and maximum governance is being fulfilled with help of Digital India.

Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Technology has summoned Facebook India and Google India to appear before it today. The committee will hear the views of the companies about safeguarding the rights of the citizens and prevention of misuse of social or online news media platforms including special emphasis on women security in the digital space.
 
This comes days after representatives of Twitter appeared before the panel to discuss India’s new IT rules and how to stop the misuse of the platform.

President Ram Nath Kovind will lay the foundation stone of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar cultural centre in Lucknow today. In last leg of his five day visit to Uttar Pradesh, he reached Lucknow yesterday and met a host of dignitaries in Rajbhawan.
 
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justice MN Bhandari and other dignitaries attended the high tea organised at Rajbhawan yesterday evening.
 
Today after laying the foundation stone for Ambedkar culture centre in the morning president will return to New Delhi on a special flight. AIR correspondent reports that the proposed Ambedkar culture centre is being developed by culture ministry of state. The Cultural Centre will have a 750 seated auditorium, library, picture gallery, museum, multipurpose hall, dormitory, cafeteria, parking and other basic facilities.
 
State government will spend around rupees 45.04 crore on this project. The Ambedkar Cultural Centre will have a grand statue of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar along with landscaping and will be spread over 3 acre government land opposite historic Aishbagh Idgah.

Department of Fertilisers is ready with an action plan to make India Aatmanirbhar in Rock Phosphate, the key raw material of DAP and NPK Fertlisers. Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukh Mandaviya held a meeting yesterday with officials and stakeholders of Fertiliser industries to improve the availability of phosphatic fertilisers and to reduce the dependence on imports.
 
Rock Phosphate is the key raw material for DAP and NPK fertilisers and India is 90 per cent dependent on imports. Volatility in international prices affects domestic prices of fertilisers and hinders the progress and development of agriculture sector in the country.
 
In view of this, the Minister had a meeting with stakeholders to expedite the exploration and mining of available rock phosphate reserves in India. He directed to commercially exploit and ramp up the production in the existing 30 lakh MT of Phosphorite deposits which are available in Rajasthan, central part of peninsular India, Hirapur, Lalitpur, Mussoorie syncline and Cuddapah basin.
 
Discussion and planning with Department of Mining and Geological Survey of India is going on to expedite the exploration in the potential potassic ore resources in different parts of the country. 

Central government is planning to develop a system of financial ratings for upcoming micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Union Minister for MSMEs Nitin Gadkari said that this system of ratings will help banks to make better credit judgments for such borrowers.
 
The Union Minister was speaking at the launch of the Maharashtra chapter of Indian Bank’s business mentoring programme for MSMEs. Mr Gadkari informed that as per the draft plan, the system of ratings for MSMEs will depend on the annual turnover, goods and services tax (GST) records, income tax records, exports and the credentials of each company.
 
Mr Gadkari added that the Ministry of MSME is working to develop a portal as a single-point platform for all the services offered by the government for small businesses. The Minister also said that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways expects the launch of flexible-fuel vehicles in India in the coming months and these, too, should offer financing opportunities for banks.