1. After NE & Bengal, It’s Delhi Now
The area around Jamia Millia Islamia in southeast Delhi turned into a virtual war zone on Sunday evening when protests against the Citizens Amendment Act led to violent clashes with police that left more than 70 people, including cops, injured, and at least four buses and two motorcycles burnt. Some 50 people were detained.
Police said the protesters hurled stones at cops, houses and a hospital, smashing windows. At least a dozen cars and scores of bikes were damaged. The violence went on for an hour after which police retaliated with 50 rounds of teargas shells and lathi charge.
While cops said they did not open fire, one protester admitted in the Holy Family hospital was found to have a bullet injury in the leg.
Police charged after the protesters and chased them into the Jamia university campus. The students alleged that cops lobbed tear gases in the campus and entered the library to pull out students.
(Source: The Times of India)
2. Willing to Take Back Our Citizens, If Any, Illegally Staying in India: Bangladesh
Bangladesh foreign minister A K Abdul Momen on Sunday said his country has requested India to provide a list of Bangladesh nationals, if any, living there illegally and added that “we will allow them (to return) as they have the right to enter their own country”.
“But if anybody other than our citizens enter Bangladesh, we will send them back,” said Momen, who had cancelled his visit to India on Thursday. He claimed that some Indians were illegally entering Bangladesh due to economic reasons. He said Bangladesh-India relations were normal and “very sweet” and they would not be affected by India’s NRC drive.
(Source: The Times of India)
3. Net Curbs, Peace Initiative in Bengal
The Mamata Banerjee government on Sunday suspended Internet services in parts of Bengal to thwart mischief-makers and nudged community leaders to help ensure the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens remained peaceful and democratic.
Train services between north Bengal and the rest of the state were cut off after protesters vandalised a station in Malda.
Instances of vandalism and blockades were reported on Sunday but the scale of the disruptions appeared lower than that on the past two days.
Sources in the ruling establishment said back-channel talks were on with community leaders and civil society members, who were being urged to see that the protests remained democratic and non-violent.
The chief minister held a meeting at her residence with the top brass of the state’s civil and police administration. “She said all attempts to provoke and foment tension must be nipped in the bud and those behind such activities must be dealt with firmly in accordance with the law of the land,” said a source.
(Source: The Telegraph)
4. Dalit Biryani Vendor Assaulted in Greater Noida, 3 Arrested
After a video of a Dalit biryani vendor being allegedly abused and beaten up came to light on Saturday, three accused were arrested on Sunday evening. According to police sources, the video was recorded on the afternoon of 13 December in the Rabupura area of Greater Noida.
In the video, a man could be seen thrashing the biryani vendor and abusing him with a casteist slur under the busy Rabupura underpass. His pushcart was turned upside down and he was made to apologise for selling biryani in the area.
Meanwhile, the Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad tweeted that the local unit of the Bhim Army should reach out to the victim. The Noida police tweeted back and warned him not to create a law and order situation.
(Source: The Hindu)
5. UK Raised Concerns Over BJP Affiliate’s Support to Conservatives
Days before the U.K. election which resulted in a big majority for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the British government sent a message to the Ministry of External Affairs and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to express its concerns that the party was taking a partisan stand on the election.
The Hindu has learnt that a senior British diplomat met the BJP’s Foreign Cell head in Delhi to express the concerns, after interviews given by BJP-affiliated OF-BJP (Overseas Friends of BJP) leaders, including president Kuldip Singh Shekhawat, that indicated that the Indian ruling party would prefer a Conservative win. “We raised concerns over remarks made in London by OFBJP that the BJP was supporting Conservative candidates,” a source said.
The interviews referred in particular to the Labour Party Conference’s “emergency motion” on the “human rights situation” in Kashmir, which it subsequently regretted, where OFBJP officials spoke of the need to defeat what they called the “anti-India” Labour party.
(Source: The Hindu)
6. China Delays Tariffs on US Autos, Other Goods in Trade Deal
China’s government said on Sunday it will postpone planned punitive tariffs on US-made automobiles and other goods following an interim trade deal with Washington.
The announcement came after Washington agreed to postpone a planned tariff hike on $160 billion of Chinese goods and to cut in half penalties that already were imposed.
“China hopes to work with the US on the basis of equality and mutual respect to properly address each other’s core concerns and promote the stable development of Chinese-US economic and trade relations,” said a statement.
US officials said that under Friday’s agreement, China committed to buy $40 billion of American farm products over the next two years.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
7. Agra May Host India-China Border Talks
In an attempt to strengthen the bilateral relationship, India is planning to host the next round of boundary talks between NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi in Agra on December 21, reports Sachin Parashar.
TOI first reported on December 8 that the 22nd round of boundary talks would happen on December 21. During the last round of talks in Chengdu, Wang had given Doval a guided tour of Mount Qingcheng. Doval is likely to do the same for his guest at Taj Mahal, if Agra turns out to be the venue.
(Source: The Times of India)
8. COP25 Fails to Make Impact
Marathon talks by 197 countries at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) at Madrid failed to reach consensus on issues that are crucial to keep global warming at bay, with a much-awaited decision on carbon markets being postponed to the next edition of the summit.
The two-week-long talks, defined as “disappointing” and “unfortunate” by delegates at the closing session of the negotiations, concluded on Sunday after deliberations went into overtime of nearly 48 hours after the official November 13 deadline.
“I am disappointed with the results of #COP25. The international community lost an important opportunity to show increased ambition on mitigation, adaptation & finance to tackle the climate crisis. But we must not give up, and I will not give up,” United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres tweeted.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
9. Google Wants US Fed to Replicate India's UPI Model
American tech giant Google wants the US Federal reserve to replicate India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for online digital payments.
Developed in 2016, after a push by the Modi government, UPI is an instant real-time payment system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India facilitating inter-bank transactions. The interface is regulated by the RBI and works by instantly transferring funds between two bank accounts on a mobile platform.
"We've been pretty vocal that we believe the right model for driving digital payments is through a partnership between banks, governments & tech companies through open and standards-based infrastructures like UPI," Caesar Sengupta, general manager & vice-president, Payments and Next Billion Users at Google tweeted.
(Source: Deccan Herald)
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