Sensex plays Chinese checkers, knocks off 1,600 points – (Economics)
· Rupee hits fresh two-year low, closes at 66.65/ dollar; Rs. 7 lakh crore of investor wealth gone in a day; India better off, says RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan.
· An 8.5-per cent slump in China’s Shanghai Composite on Monday that wiped out all the gains it made this year triggered crashes in equity and commodity markets across Asia, Europe and the U.S. Tracking the Chinese plunge, the benchmark BSE 30-share Sensitive Index (Sensex) recorded its steepest single-day crash since 2009 of more than 1,700 points in intra-day trade and the rupee lost 82 paise against the U.S. dollar.
Can’t bring political parties under RTI, Centre tells SC – (Indian Polity)
- Political parties cannot disclose their internal functioning and financial information under the Right to Information Act as it will hamper their smooth functioning and become a weak spot for rivals with malicious intentions to take advantage of.
- This was the answer given by the Union government to the Supreme Court against making political parties publicly accountable under the RTI Act.
U.N. court for status quo in Italian marines case – (International Relations)
- The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) has put a “status quo” in the Italian marines case and asked both India and Italy to “suspend” all court proceedings and refrain from initiating new ones that might “aggravate or extend” the dispute that triggered a diplomatic row.
- Hearing Italy’s appeal, ITLOS president Vladimir Golitsyn asked the two countries to submit the initial report on the entire incident by September 24.
Losing the plot on India-Pakistan ties? – (International Relations)
· Engaging in verbal hostility with Pakistan diminishes India’s standing and attracts unwelcome and gratuitous suggestions of third parties who are often prone to raising the notion of a nuclear flashpoint.
· A diplomatic engagement requires a common script, more so the complex India-Pakistan relationship. Somewhere along the way, from Ufa to the cancelled talks in Delhi, it was clear that the plot was lost sight of and the management of the process was reduced to a rhetorical tit for tat .
The crash of the markets – (Economics)
- Market regulators and even governments have very few options when financial markets go into the kind of panic-driven free fall as witnessed on Monday.
- The shock waves triggered by an over 9 per cent fall in Chinese stocks hit capital and currency markets worldwide. India was no exception to the global sell-off, with the BSE Sensex shedding over 1,624 points — nearly 6 per cent — and the rupee tumbling at one point to Rs.66.60 against the U.S. dollar, its lowest level since 2013.
The new Great Game in Asia – (International Relations)
- Two strategic agreements currently being negotiated by the world’s trading giants will likely determine the global balance of economic power for years to come: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
- The TPP and RCEP are not radically different instruments — they are both free trade agreements (FTAs) designed to lower tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade between countries that conduct the bulk of global commerce.
Jains take to streets in Kolkata against Santhara verdict – (Indian Polity)
- Thousands of members of the Jain community hit the streets here on Monday in protest against a recent judgment of the Rajasthan High Court declaring the practice of Santhara — voluntary fasting unto death — illegal and an offence punishable under the Indian Penal Code.
No change in India’s stand on Palestine: Sushma – (International Relations)
- India told the Arab League on Monday that its policy on the Palestinian cause remained “unchanged” and its support to the people of Palestine would be “undiluted”.