EAM Jaishankar To Visit Qatar On June 30

by Pabitra Mohan Senapaty

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar will pay an official visit to Qatar on Sunday (June 30), the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Saturday.

New Delhi, June 29: External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar will pay an official visit to Qatar on Sunday (June 30), the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Saturday.

During the one-day visit, EAM Jaishankar will meet the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.

"India and Qatar share historic and friendly relations which are marked by regular exchange of high-level visits. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Qatar on February 14-15, 2024, and held discussions with Qatar's Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani," said MEA.

"The EAM's visit will enable both sides to review various aspects of bilateral relations including political, trade, investment, energy, security, cultural and people-to-people as well as the regional and international issues of mutual interest," the Foreign Ministry added.

During his Doha visit, Prime Minister Modi thanked the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for taking care of the over eight lakh strong Indian community in Qatar and conveyed India's commitment to further expanding and deepening bilateral cooperation with the country.

The Emir reciprocated PM Modi's sentiments and expressed appreciation for India's role as a valued partner in the Gulf region.

The Emir also appreciated the contributions of the vibrant Indian community in Qatar's development and their enthusiastic participation in various international events held in Qatar.

"India-Qatar bilateral trade roughly stands at close to $20 billion and the two countries also have a multi-faceted partnership in the field of energy, which includes energy trade as also other segments of energy-supply chain contributing to a stronger partnership in the field of energy security," Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra had said after the PM's visit.

In February, on the sidelines of India Energy Week held in Goa, the two countries signed an agreement for supply of 7.5 MMtpa LNG from Qatar to India for 20 years, year 2028 onwards.

This will be EAM Jaishankar's third official visit during the third term of Narendra Modi-led government. He had earlier visited Sri Lanka (June 20) and UAE (June 23).

--IANS

Excise policy case: Delhi HC to hear Kejriwal's plea against arrest by CBI today

by Utkalika Mohanty

New Delhi, July 2: The Delhi High Court will hear Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's petition on Tuesday against his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the ongoing probe into the alleged liquor policy scam.

On July 1, CM Kejriwal was denied two additional meetings with his lawyers through video conferencing (VC) from Tihar Jail by the Rouse Avenue court.

Special judge Kaveri Baweja dismissed the application moved on behalf of Kejriwal. The special judge said, "Learned counsel for the applicant has failed to convince the court as to how the applicant is entitled to two additional legal meetings through VC on the same grounds which have been discussed and dealt with in the earlier order. There appears to be no reason whatsoever to take a different view based on the contents of the application under consideration."

It also said that it is not in dispute that a similar application filed by the applicant seeking the same relief of additional legal meetings with his lawyers was dismissed by this court vide a detailed order of April 10, 2024.

It was submitted that Kejriwal is facing about 30 litigations throughout the country and requires two additional meetings with his lawyers through VC to discuss the cases and claim his right to a fair trial.

The counsel for Kejriwal also submitted that, after filing this application, the applicant has been arrested in one more case by the CBI. Further, co-accused Sanjay Singh was allowed additional legal meetings by an order of February 22, 2024.

The CBI, during the hearing, submitted that during the police custody remand, the accused Arvind Kejriwal has been examined/ interrogated. However, he did not cooperate with the investigation and deliberately gave evasive replies contrary to the evidence on record.

On being confronted with the evidence, he did not give a proper and truthful explanation regarding the enhancement of the profit margin for wholesalers from 5 per cent to 12 per cent under the new Excise Policy of Delhi 2021-22, without any study or justification, the CBI said.

In the light of aforesaid facts and circumstances, the further custodial interrogation of the accused Arvind Kejriwal is not required at this stage, the agency submitted.

On June 26, the CBI arrested the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Kejriwal after a Vacation Judge of the Delhi Court allowed the CBI to examine/interrogate him in the courtroom so that the agency could proceed with his formal arrest.
The court also asked the CBI to place on record the material that they have for his arrest.

(ANI)

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Indian Stocks Open Tuesday's Session At Fresh All-Time Highs; Some Profit Booking Expected

by Hemanta Pande

Mumbai, July 2: The Indian stock market opened at a record high with Sensex opening at 79,840.40, above 364 points or 0.46 per cent, and Nifty at 24,228.75, up 86 points or .36 per cent high.

Bank Nifty opened in green at 52,0793, up 219 points or 0.42 per cent high. The Nifty Midcap 100 opened at 56462.70, up 170.20 points or 0.30 per cent. Soon after opening in green, some indices turned red likely due to a profit-booking trend during the opening trade hour.

Among the sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in the opening hours on Tuesday, the auto stocks opened in red post sales figures for June. The other sectoral indices such as Financial Services, FMCG, Metal, Pharma, PSU Banks, Private Banks, Healthcare, Consumer Durables and Nifty Midsmall Healthcare traded in the red during the initial hours of the trade.

"Nifty has delivered 10.4 per cent returns in the first half of 2024 on top of the 20 per cent returns in 2023. These are impressive returns. An important feature of this bull market which began after the COVID crash of March 2020 (Nifty at 7511) is that it has been devoid of any significant correction. The only above 5 per cent correction in the Nifty was on June 4th, in response to the election results. But this was followed the very next day by a sharp recovery. This one-way move in the market can be attributed to the successful 'buy on dips' strategy being followed by the domestic investors - both institutional and retail, said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

"There is a sustained flow of money into the market through mutual funds, particularly through SIPs. So long as this market construct holds steady, the market will remain resilient. It is worth repeating that some stocks in the broader market have bubble valuations and, therefore, they are vulnerable to a sharp correction," he added.

"We are of the view that the short-term texture of the market is positive but due to temporary overbought conditions, we could see some profit booking at higher levels, said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research, Kotak Securities on the market opening.
On July 1, the Indian market benchmarks made a recovery from last week's downturn on Monday, July 1, regaining most of Friday's losses.

The Nifty 50 maintained above 24,000 levels, closing at 24,142 with a gain of 131 points. The Sensex also showed strength, rising by 443 points to end the day at 79,476.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) significantly increased their investments in the Indian stock markets in the last week of June, according to data from the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).The net investment by FPIs stood at Rs 16,672.2 crore during the last week, with a notable surge on Friday alone amounting to Rs 6,966.08 crore. This uptick marks a turnaround in FPI sentiment for the month. (ANI)

EAM Jaishankar To Visit Qatar On June 30

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