CLSA goes 'overweight' on India, reverses call on China after Trump return to power

Hong Kong-based brokerage firm CLSA raised its India allocation to a 20 per cent overweight while cutting exposure to China. This is seen as a tactical reversal from its early October update when it went 'overweight' on China following Beijing's first stimulus on September 24. 

Turning 'overweight' in India suggests a brokerage house allocating higher resources to Indian equity compared to the weight India has in a benchmark index, say MSCI. 

Resource-spending gap 42% in urban local bodies, 37% staff crunch: CAG

Flagging concerns over the fiscal and overall health of urban local bodies, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has found that the city self-governments in 18 states that cater to 241 million residents are facing a 42% gap between their resources and expenditure and only 29% of their expenditure goes towards programmatic and development work. 

The CAG found that 31 years after the 74th Constitutional Amendment came into effect in 1993 with the aim to empower urban local bodies, these 18 states were yet to fully implement the law in spirit. The CAG released a compendium of audit reports into the implementation of the 74th amendment in 18 states. 

Tribals' role in freedom ignored to give credit to one family: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused former Congress governments of undermining the contributions of tribal leaders to the freedom movement so that "only one party and one family could get away with the credit". 

Addressing a function on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of tribal icon Birsa Munda in Jamui, the PM said the NDA government has been running schemes worth 1.25 lakh crore for tribal welfare across the country. 

He also laid the foundation stone of tribal welfare projects worth ₹6,600 crore at the event, which was attended by the families of tribal heroes Birsa Munda, Sido Murmu and Kanhu Murmu, besides veteran tribal leader from Jharkhand, Karia Munda. 

Not at WTO, COPs, where do you want to discuss CBAM: India, China confronts EU

China and India confronted the European Union (EU) once again on Friday on the issue of trade barriers disguised as climate action and warned that unilateral trade measures could be detrimental to multilateral cooperation.

China and India, along with other BASIC country partners Brazil and South Africa, have been complaining against the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) introduced by the EU. 

CBAM seeks to impose a tax on a certain class of goods imported into the EU if the production of those goods has an emission footprint higher than the emission standards in the EU. 

Ostensibly a step to control emissions, CBAM will have the effect of goods from developing countries like China or India becoming non-competitive in the European markets. 

Bandhavgarh jumbo deaths: NGT sends notice to MP, Centre

Taking Suo motu cognizance of news reports on the death of 10 elephants in Madhya Pradesh's Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR), the National Green Tribunal's principal bench has issued notice to the state and the Union government. 

The tribunal directed them to file affidavits by the second week of December after noting that there seemed to be indications regarding violation of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, and the Environment Protection Act, 1986.

The tribunal order said the matter relates to the mysterious death of 10 elephants in BTR and that initial investigations have linked the deaths to contamination due to Kodo millets. 

It noted that samples have been sent for analysis to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Uttar Pradesh, and a forensic lab in Sagar district, Madhya Pradesh.

BLUNT INSTRUMENT

The state government's actions have been restricted to empty rhetoric, blaming outsiders, imposing internet bans and issuing vague promises of dialogue. 

The Centre's moves to bring the warring communities to the negotiating table too have not inspired confidence. 

Now, after a fresh spell of violence, the Union Home Ministry has reimposed the Disturbed Area status under the Armed Force Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in six police stations of the state. 

The area covered under the Act may not be large. However, given the history of opposition to AFSPA in Manipur - and other parts of the Northeast - the move could aggravate the atmosphere of distrust in the state. 

What we burn is what pollutes

A quarter-century ago, over 200 scientists from the US, Europe, the Maldives, and India came together to study the haze over the Indian Ocean. 

Led by atmospheric scientist V Ramanathan of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California, the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) undertook intensive field observations using aircraft, ships, surface stations, and satellites. 

They discovered a giant brown layer of cloud hanging over much of the Indian Subcontinent and the Indian Ocean between October and February, which they termed the Indian Ocean Brown Cloud or Asian Brown Cloud. 

INDOEX revealed that this layer was primarily created by the burning of biomass in fields and homes, as well as fossil fuels like coal in industries and that it travelled thousands of kilometres. 

The study also found that the haze significantly affected regional temperatures, precipitation patterns, and ground-level pollution, reducing agricultural productivity and causing widespread respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

Sri Lankan President's Left coalition wins a two-thirds majority in Parliament

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's National People's Power (NPP) clinched a commanding two-thirds majority in the country's Parliament in a victory that marks the first time a once-fringe coalition has risen to dominate Sri Lanka's legislature under the proportional representation system. 

The NPP, a coalition of over 20 parties led by the Leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), won 159 of the 225 seats in Sri Lanka's Parliament. 

This comes close on the heels of Dissanayake's decisive presidential win in September, cementing his coalition's transformation from a marginal political force to a dominant player in the South Asian island nation. 

In a historic first, a coalition led by a predominantly Sinhala-Buddhist party secured three of six seats in Jaffna, a Tamil-majority district long dominated by Tamil nationalist parties. 

Such an outcome would have been historically unthinkable, signalling a seismic shift in ethnic politics, too.