Front Page
Ahead of Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting, mainstream newspapers Friday identify trade and border disputes as topics for discussion. The Indian Express, The Times of India and Hindustan Times also features photographs of students in Chennai sporting Xi Jinping masks.
In other news, TOI and HT carry the government’s order to review GST, on Page 1
Modi-Xi Jinping meet: Newspapers provide an overview of the two day summit: “New and updated confidence building measures (CBMs) along the border” will be one of the “major themes of discussion, reports Express. It notes, “Modi is likely to convey to Xi that Beijing has to be ‘sensitive’ to India’s core concerns.”
The Hindu states, “no joint statement is expected after the talks, nor have any MoUs or agreements been prepared as the outcome”.
HT focuses on their plans to “refresh ties” and notes that the arrangements “give no inkling of the sharp exchanges on Kashmir that have clouded the atmosphere over the past few weeks.”
TOI details the logistics of Xi Jinping’s arrival: he will “brave challenging roads” when he drives “into this Tamil Nadu town on his Hongqi L5 sedan.” It writes, the government is “working hard to ensure security and beautify the temple town, while the Coast Guard keeps a watchful eye off shore.”
GST tweaks: TOI notes that “two years after its launch,” the government “has begun the biggest review of goods and services tax (GST),” which will include “resetting of rates along with a scrutiny of the slabs – to tone up collections and plug leakages.” HT reports that is being done in order to “check evasion and make new regime simpler for ease of compliance” which will help in “expanding the tax base.”
India on Turkey: TOI highlights an unusual diplomatic move by India: “In rare censure, India chides turkey for Syria offensive.”
India “described Turkey’s military action in Syria as ‘unilateral’ and asked Ankara to respect Syria’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” reports Hindu.
TOI explains that India’s “rare move” is being “read as part of India’s response to Ankara’s persistent backing of Pakistan.”
The Hindu makes a note of this news under the fold, Express sand HT don’t report it on the front page.
Ranbaxy: “Former Ranbaxy promoters Malvinder and Shivinder Mohan Singh were arrested in a case of fraud along with three others,” reports HT. Hindu and TOI also carry the news on Page 1.
Others: Records investigated by Express, a “complex web of firms” linked to Housing Development Infrastructure (HDIL), “borrowed money from Punjab & Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank Ltd.” and “in turn invested in each other and related companies.” In its Explained box it writes, “the wrongdoings at PMC Bank suggest laxity in RBI’s regulatory oversight.”
Only Hindu carries J&K government’s’ decision to withdraw the August advisory. The move is “aimed at high value foreign tourists who visit the State during winter to enjoy skiing and adventure sports,” it writes.
HT and TOI report Delhi’s worsening air quality on Page 1. The quality dipped “to its worst level in nearly three months” because winds slowed down, the temperatures dipped and an increase in the number of farm fires. (HT)
Opinion
Hindu: In “Going Down Together”, the newspaper calls on the world to “heed” to the IMF’s warning that “everyone loses in a trade war.” Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of IMF, said that India is witnessing, “a ‘pronounced’ growth slowdown as global growth experiences a ‘synchronised’ downsizing.” Hindu notes that she made the “right noises” about how “synchronised global policy actions can help everyone.” It points out aspects she missed out – “the failure of even the prolonged period of extremely loose monetary policy to sustain global growth.” Hindu states that her emphasis on the “need for structural reforms to boost growth, particularly in the emerging market economies” is “worth noting” and the Centre would “do well to heed to such advice.”
HT: The newspaper maintains that the Turkish military action against the Kurdish Syrian enclave is a “useful indicator of several geopolitical trends in West Asia.” US President Trump continues to “receive flak” but it won’t sustain for long. HT predicts that the Turks will “seek to create a buffer zone between themselves” and the Kurds, but will “refrain from entering Kurdish population centres.” Then, Trump will “portray it as a fulfilment of his promise to limit” military involvement and a “flash-in-the-pan war will be quickly forgotten by the world.” HT views Erdogan’s “military push into Syria” as a sign of weakness. It notes that the US has “reinforced the sense” that its “strategic commitment to West Asia continues to fade its interventions intermittent and short-lived.”
Prime Time
Republic, CNN-News 18 and Times Now accused the Congress party of betraying India using images of its UK wing met Labour Party chief, Jeremy Corbyn. They reportedly discussed Kashmir and Article 370.
NDTV 24×7 looked at the “horrific” murder of a family in Bengal – an RSS worker, his pregnant wife and their 8 year old.
India Today: Ahead of the highly anticipated Modi-Xi summit, anchor Rajdeep Sardesai discussed the possible outcome of the meeting.
Einar Angen, economic and political affairs commentator, said, “This is a negotiation in terms of trust. India is caught between China and the US. China is caught between India and Pakistan. How do we solve this?’’
Sardesai asked, “Is this Narendra Modi’s classic photo-op diplomacy?”
Professor Brahma Chellany said, “There’s a Chinese saying that one mountain cannot hold two tigers. China wants to be the sole tiger. Given that reality, India faces a very troubled neighbourhood.”
Times Now: Photos of “Rahul Gandhi’s aide’s UK meeting” with Jeremy Corbyn annoyed anchor Rahul Shivshankar who asked on `Upfront’ – “Does Cong want British ‘Raj’ in India?”
BJP’s national spokesperson Sambit Patra made a false allegation against the Gandhi family: “The Congress never seeks permission before doing anything. While the Doklam stand-off was going on between India and China, the Gandhi family went and had dinner with the Chinese envoy.”
Senior journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta said, “You have conveniently chosen to ignore the official statement that has come from Congress that this delegation that met Mr. Jeremy Corbyn in London has claimed that they went to meet him to condemn the Labour party’s position on Kashmir.”
He went on to accuse Shivshankar of having an agenda favouring the BJP.
India TV: Anchor Saurav Sharma discussed the India-China summit.
BJP’s Zafar Islam stated that it is a meeting without any fixed agenda, “but PM Modi will surely talk about efforts to uproot terrorism.”
Lt. Gen. Shankar Prasad (retd.) said, “Currently, economic development is the biggest challenge in front of all the major countries. So both leaders might focus on trade related issues along with terrorism.”
Sunil Chopra, CPI-M, said the focus should also be on the long shared history of both countries. “The talks will focus on peace, economic development and trade as well,” he added.
NDTV India: Anchor Sanket Upadhyay interviewed NCP leader Supriya Sule on the possibility of a merger with the Congress for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections. “That is obviously not going to happen,” she said.
On the question of corruption charges against NCP chief Sharad Pawar and other leaders, Sule said that the allegations are baseless – “It is political vendetta. The BJP government has nothing else to talk about as they did not work in these five years, that is why the personal attacks.”
Targeting Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, she said that he is merely playing the role of a translator, “Whatever PM Modi speaks in Hindi, he translates it to Marathi in his speeches.”
Good summing up. Thoughtful.