US President Donald Trump was back on front pages after a long time after he offered to act as mediator between India and China to ease border tensions.
Financial papers note Microsoft eyeing a $2 billion investment in Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Platforms just over a month after Facebook bought a minority stake in the company. And Economic Times predicts Indian banks need to raise $20-50 billion in the next two years to bounce back.
The Indian Express leads Trump’s offer to mediate between India and China. In ‘First time, Trump wades into India-China; Beijing says border situation controllable’, the paper notes that while Trump has offered to mediate between India and Pakistan earlier, this is the first time he is doing so with India and China.
But Express also highlights that things between US and China are not so conciliatory either. “Trump’s comments on the Sino-Indian border tension comes amid a bruising war of words between US and China in the last few weeks — as the US goes into elections later this year,” it adds.
Relations with another neighbour offer some good news in ‘Nepal govt defers Bill on new map…’. It reports, “The Nepal government’s move to bring in a constitution amendment Bill to give legal sanctity to its new map following a territorial spat with India has been deferred for the time being.” Nepal had come out with a new map “ adding to it an area of 370 sq km at the tri-junction of Nepal, India and China (Tibet) that India claims is its territory”,
A shocking report (Himachal BJP chief resigns…’) notes the abrupt resignation of Himachal Pradesh BJP chief Dr Rajeev Bindal “due to a corruption probe into the medical supplies by the government for the Covid pandemic”. The probe found a 42-second audio clip “in which two men are purportedly heard discussing the handover of Rs. 5 lakh” and the Congress alleged that the man offering the bribe was “a ruling party leader”, explains the report.
The paper’s anchor story notes strict Covid guidelines for the film industry issued by the Producers Guild of India. In ‘No hugs & kisses, masks, gloves for all: Film, TV shoot guidelines’, the paper mentions floor markings on set for social distancing and hiring “Anti-Covid boys” — “dedicated help to ensure sanitisation and on-set hygiene” among other protocols.
The Hindu, in its lead, points out that Trump’s mediation offer is contrary to “the stand taken by senior U.S. State Department official Alice Wells, who squarely blamed China for the border tensions and called it a ‘threat’ to all its neighbours”.
In old news that was reported by Telegraph yesterday, Hindu notes that ICMR gave its nod to states and UTs to remove the upper ceiling of Rs 4,500 for a Covid test in private labs, reports the daily. Why? According to the paper (‘Govt. removes ₹4,500 ceiling on COVID-19 test’), ICMR says the price cap is no longer applicable since the “testing supplies situation has stabilised with greater local procurement”.
And away from Covid, Hindu notes the long-awaited verdict on the properties left behind by former Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa in ‘Jaya’s nephew, niece entitled to her assets: HC’. The Madras High Court ruled in favour of family and said that the properties belong to her nephew and niece as legal heirs. The daily makes special note of Justice Kirubakaran who “advised the government to give up its decision to acquire Veda Nilayam” — Jayalalithaa’s bungalow that is reportedly worth over Rs 100 crore.
Hindustan Times reckons Trump’s offer is likely to “irk Beijing more than New Delhi” but does not elaborate. A tiny report below the lead says the Doklam team “is back in action” — referring to PM Modi, NSA Ajit Doval, CDS General Bipin Rawat and foreign minister S Jaishankar. “This was the team that had crafted India’s response to the Doklam standoff in 2017 that lasted 73 days,” the paper notes.
Guess the ‘Maha mayhem’ in Maharashtra is over after the coalition government put up a united front. In ‘Rahul, Uddhav talk, Maha allies put up a united front’, the paper notes that “Separately, key ministers from the three parties in the government — Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress — had an extensive internal meeting and then put up a united front defending the government’s handling of the pandemic.”
In some grim news, “less than 57% of the people who sought work under…[MGNREGS] have received jobs under the programme”. In ‘Welfare mainstay NREGS off to slow start this fiscal yr’, the paper points out that this comes at a time when “millions of migrant workers who have returned home to the hinterland are looking towards it for a livelihood”.
Unlike other papers, The Times of India prioritises Chinese ambassador to India Sun Weidong’s “conciliatory message” about Indo-Sino relations under control as the big news of the day. A tiny report accompanying the three-column lead mentions Trump’s mediation offer.
In an exclusive story, the daily notes that ‘After 41 years, Centre set to redefine ‘migrant workers’’ and register them under the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation to give them access to social security and health benefits. Only at the bottom of the report do we find the significance of the 41-year gap — the only other law that recognises migrant workers is the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979.
In some positive news, Tribune reports that ‘Home-deliver ORS, folic acid in containment zones, states told’. The central government has instructed states to start home-delivery of contraceptives, iron and folic acid for “reproductive health” across containment zones.
Tribune is the only paper to carry news of the “locust outbreak” in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, putting Punjab and Maharashtra on alert too. In ‘Worst locust invasion in 25 yrs; govt ill-prepared, say experts’, the paper goes so far as to compare it to Cyclone Amphan, while quoting agricultural and environmental experts.
With 20-25 million migrants returning to their villages, Mint’s lead “Rural India Is New Virus Flashpoint” says rural areas are now a new “flashpoint” in India’s Covid-19 battle. This, “despite a government panel cautioning states about the need to strengthen health systems in villages in anticipation of a surge in caseload”, it adds.
Nearly a month after the Jio-Facebook deal, Microsoft is now “negotiating an investment of as much as $2 billion in billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Platforms”. In ‘Now, Microsoft looks to grab a $2 billion stake in RIL’s Jio Platforms’, the paper says the company is interested in buying more than a 2.5 per cent stake in the Indian telecom giant. But what’s the end goal? According to the report, Jio “plans to set up data centres across the country and use Microsoft Azure’s cloud services for enterprise clients”.
In an alarming report, Economic Times says ‘Indian banks need to raise $20-50 billion capital in the next two years’. The paper makes sharp remarks while describing India’s sinking public sector banks and notes that they are currently facing rising bad loans and credit. With “the government not budgeting any capital infusion this fiscal”, the hint is “that they should rely on market for capital”, it adds.
And the auto sector’s faith in the country seems to be waning as ‘Covid-19: Suzuki Boss Expects a Bigger…’ notes that “Suzuki Motor Corp (SMC) chairman Osamu Suzuki expects the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in India to be more drawn out than initially expected”.
“SMC attributed the drop in its operating income to the slump in India sales, unfavourable forex movement and the impact of Covid-19,” the report added.