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Politics World World News

Marxist, right-wing populist tied in Peru polls

The two candidates were essentially tied, with polls giving Fujimori the narrowest of leads with 50.3 per cent to Castillo’s 49.7 per cent…reports Asian Lite News

Marxist village schoolteacher Pedro Castillo and right-wing populist Keiko Fujimori were neck-and-neck in second round of Peru’s presidential election, according to exit polls.

The two candidates were essentially tied, with polls giving Fujimori the narrowest of leads with 50.3 per cent to Castillo’s 49.7 per cent, the newspaper El Comercio reported, highlighting that the exit polls by Ipsos had a 3 per-cent margin of error.

After casting her vote on Sunday , Fujimori tweeted that she had “a lot of hope and belief that we can make it”, reports dpa news agency

More than 25 million Peruvians were called on to vote in the election.

Castillo wants to build a socialist state, tighten control of the media and abolish the constitutional court if he wins.

Fujimori, who in case of victory plans to pardon her father, former authoritarian President Alberto Fujimori, stands for a neo-liberal economic policy and a hard-line security strategy.

In recent years, she has been remanded in custody several times and could face a long prison sentence in an ongoing corruption trial.

Alberto Fujimori is serving a 25-year prison sentence for serious human rights violations.

During his 10 years in office, he had security forces take rigorous action against leftist and allegedly subversive forces, and Parliament was stripped of its power.

Tens of thousands of indigenous women were also forcibly sterilised.

Although Castillo and Fujimori represent opposite extremes on the political scale, they are not far apart in their socio-political views.

Both represent a conservative image of the family and are against same-sex marriage and abortion, as well as focus on the exploitation of natural resources and do not attach great importance to the protection of the environment and human rights.

Whoever wins will face enormous challenges.

Peru is suffering particularly badly from the coronavirus pandemic. It is one of the countries with the highest mortality rate in the world, and its economy also collapsed by 12.9 per cent last year.

In addition, splinter groups of the guerrilla organization Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) are still active in the country’s interior.

Two weeks ago, rebels killed 16 people and called for a boycott of the election. However, according to the electoral office, things initially remained quiet on Sunday.

Political turmoil has also marked the past year, as the Congress was locked in a bitter conflict with the government.

Parliamentarians first forced president Martin Vizcarra out of office, and then his successor, Manuel Merino, threw in the towel after fierce protests.

Interim President Francisco Sagasti has been in charge meanwhile.

ALSO READ: Peru prepares for general elections in April

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Politics

Surendran faces heat in BJP core committee meet

On Sunday before the core committee meeting, senior BJP leader and former state President Kummanam Rajashekhran told the media that the BJP will not allow targeting of Surendran…reports Asian Lite News.

BJP’s Kerala President K. Surendran faced a barrage of criticism at the core committee meet on Sunday – the first after the party’s washout in the April 6 Assembly elections and as it faces heat over the Thrissur “money heist”.

The core committee has all the four state General Secretaries as members, along with all former state chiefs. With the state party is divided into factions headed by Union Minister V. Muraleedharan, and former state chief P.K. Krishnadas, the meeting was stormy.

Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan

BJP sources said that in the meeting, Krishnadas, state General Secretaries A.N. Radhakrishnan and M.T. Ramesh came out heavily against Muraleedharan and Surendran, saying the state leadership failed in arriving at a consensus with all and this was the main reason for the drubbing the party had faced in the elections.

Another charge was that the candidate selection process was opaque and the state leadership failed to field proper candidates, leading to the wipeout. The BJP had drawn a blank in the 2021 Assembly elections, even losing the Nemom seat it had won in 2016.

The rival faction raised the allegations levelled by BSP candidate K. Sundara, who had withdrawn his nominations from Manjeswar Assembly constituency from where Surendran contested, telling the media that he was given Rs 2.5 lakh and a smartphone to pull back. He said that he was also offered Rs 15 lakh, a home, and a wine parlour in Karnataka if Surendran wins.

Surendran and Muraleedharan, however, contended that the party candidates were finalised in the best interests of the party.

They also said Surendran was in no way involved in the money heist.

The state BJP is under pressure after RSS worker Dharmarajan registered a complaint at Kodakara police station that a group of people had attacked him after blocking his car on April 3 — days before polling — and looted an amount of Rs 25 lakh from him.

Police arrested several known criminals, and during the course of the investigation, BJP youth wing’s former state treasurer Sunil D. Naik’s name also surfaced. Naik was a close associate of Surendran and the case turned into a major topic of discussion after interrogation of the arrested people led to unearthing of more than Rs 1 crore.

Police questioned BJP state General Secretary, Organisation and senior RSS leader M. Ganeshan, and party state Office Secretary, G. Gireeshan. Sources also said that Surendran’s son Harikrishnan would also be questioned in the days to come.

On Sunday before the core committee meeting, senior BJP leader and former state President Kummanam Rajashekhran told the media that the BJP will not allow targeting of Surendran.

Bihar BJP workers .

“The CPI-M and the Kerala media is targeting BJP and K. Surendran, and this vilification is the victimisation of the BJP and its President,” he said.

Muraleedharan also told media that the CPI-M is trying to tarnish the image of the party.

The core committee decided to come out against the CPI-M-led state government for the “false charges” being made against the BJP.

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-Top News India News Politics

Rajender joining saffron camp sparks debate in TRS

Eatala Rajender

Political analysts say by raising the issue of self-respect and KCR promoting his family, Rajender may be encouraging other TRS leaders unhappy with the leadership to speak out, reports Mohammed Shafeeq

The exit of former minister Eatala Rajender from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) marked the end of a cold war between him and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and sparked a debate on the impact the former would have on the ruling party with his joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

A month after being dropped from the state Cabinet following allegations of land encroachment, Rajender on Friday announced his decision to quit the party and also resign as a member of the Legislative Assembly.

Though Rajender’s announcement to end his nearly two-decade-long association with the TRS and decision to join the saffron camp may not have any immediate impact on the ruling party, the development may encourage others unhappy with the leadership of Chandrasekhar Rao aka KCR to raise their voice.

The development came at a time when Telangana entered the eighth year of its formation under KCR, whose leadership so far remains unchallenged.

“Exit of Eatala Rajender reiterated the fact that TRS is synonymous to KCR, and he is the sole proprietor of the party. The claims of multiple owners to the pink brigade can be put to rest. This development will re-establish supremacy of KCR, and this is an answer to all future dissidents in the party,” said political analyst Palwai Raghavendra Reddy.

Etela_Rajender(wikipedia)

While KCR and his party will defend the action against Rajender by citing his alleged acts of omission and commission, the bitter allegations by the former minister are likely to embarrass the TRS leadership and provide ammunition to the otherwise weakened opposition.

KCR, who revived the Telangana movement in 2001 by floating the TRS, continues to have a vice-like grip over both the party and the government.

In fact, the action against Rajender, who has been his confidante since the formation of the party, is believed to be a well calculated move to nip in the bud any possible rebellion or challenge to his authority.

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While there had been reports of a fissure between KCR and Rajender for more than three years, the TRS chief took everyone by surprise by ordering a probe against him after a group of farmers from Medak district complained that Rajender grabbed their lands for a poultry unit owned by his family.

The action came when the state was in the grip of a Covid surge and Rajender as the health minister was busy holding meetings with officials to review the pandemic situation. The chief minister himself was recovering from Covid at his farmhouse.

As the officials went on record that 66 acres of land was encroached, KCR stripped Rajender of his health portfolio on May 1 and the next day dropped him from the cabinet.

Rajender, a member of the Assembly from Huzurabad constituency in Karimnagar district, hit back at KCR and alleged that there is a conspiracy to defame him.

The former minister faced another probe as KCR formed a committee comprising four IAS officers to investigate encroachments and illegal transactions of Sri Sita Rama Swamy temple land at Devarayamjal village in Shamirpet near Hyderabad. Rajender and his supporters had allegedly encroached 1,521 acres in the village.

Eatala, one of the founding members of the TRS and a six-time MLA, had entered KCR’s bad books a couple of years ago when he took potshots at him on a few occasions.

“The minister’s post is not anybody’s pittance. We are the owners of TRS who have carried the party flag,” Rajender had said at one party meeting.

On another occasion, he remarked that he reached his position not because of his caste but by his sheer hard work.

“I am not here because I am somebody’s son,” Eatala had remarked in what was believed to be an attack on KCR’s son and minister K.T. Rama Rao.

Rajender said he quit the TRS because he did not want to continue as a slave. Alleging there is no freedom for ministers and MLAs to function, he said they are treated like slaves.

“In the past I resigned several times from the Assembly for the sake of self-respect of Telangana. I am resigning again but this time for my self-respect as I can’t continue as a slave,” he said.

Interestingly, Rajender also claimed that Finance Minister T. Harish Rao too faced humiliation.

Harish Rao is KCR’s nephew and there have been reports of a chasm between the two ever since the TRS started projecting his son Rama Rao as his political successor.

“The TRS was born from the movement and is not run like a family party like Lalu Prasad’s or Mayawati’s parties. Telangana state was achieved with sacrifices of thousands of people and not with a handful of people,” Rajender said while targeting KCR for promoting his son and daughter.

Political analysts say by raising the issue of self-respect and KCR promoting his family, Rajender may be encouraging other TRS leaders unhappy with the leadership to speak out.

The counterattack by TRS on Rajender has been on expected lines.

“He is talking of self-respect after being dropped from the cabinet following allegations of land encroachment. How can he acquire assigned land of the poor which is illegal. He has more respect for his properties than the law of the land,” said TRS legislator P. Rajeshwar Reddy.

Now that Rajender has decided to quit his Assembly seat and sail with the BJP, all eyes will be on Rajender’s stronghold Huzurabad.

“By joining BJP, Eatala indicated that he needs a safe haven and support of the party in power in New Delhi. He did not show the might to start a party of his own or fight as an Independent to win the seat he currently represents,” said political analyst Raghavendra Reddy.

The by-election in Huzurabad will be the fourth in the state in three years and will provide the BJP another chance to prove itself as an alternative to the TRS.

After wresting the Dubbak Assembly seat from the TRS and posting an impressive performance in the elections to Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) late last year, the BJP suffered humiliation in recent elections to two graduates’ constituencies of the Legislative Council and by-election to Nagarjuna Sagar Assembly seat.

Analysts say the BJP may gain in the narrative by projecting itself as the real alternative to the TRS. With Eatala joining its ranks, the BJP will be hoping to garner more votes.

The TRS, which appears to have bounced back after the shock defeat in Dubbak, is likely to go the whole hog in Huzurabad to check both the BJP and Rajender.

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-Top News India News Politics

Kejriwal slams Centre for blocking ‘ration at home’

Kejriwal said the Centre had put the scheme on hold a couple of days before it was supposed to launch across the national capital….reports Asian Lite News

If Pizza, Burger, Smart phones, clothes etc can be delivered at home, why not ration, said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday, alleging that the Centre is “blocking” Delhi government’s “ration at home” scheme again.

Addressing a digital press conference, wherein he mainly focused on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kejriwal said the Delhi government will deliver ration to 70 lakh ration card holding residents in the national capital.

Referring to Modi, Kejriwal said, “Sir, you had objected that Delhi government’s door step ration scheme cannot be implemented in the name of ‘mukhyamantri ghar ghar ration yojana’, then we decided not to give any name to this scheme. You again stopped this important scheme saying the Delhi government has not taken the Centre’s approval. Sir, in the last few months, I have written 5 letters to you to seek your approval to run this scheme. Now what kind of approval the Delhi government needs from the Centre?”

Kejriwal said the Centre had put the scheme on hold a couple of days before it was supposed to launch across the national capital. He said that all the process to launch the scheme was completed, tenders were issued and the Delhi government was ready to run the scheme in the next one or two days, however, it was stopped by the Centre again.

However, this is not the first time when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led Delhi government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled Centre came face to face on this ‘door step ration delivery scheme.’ Earlier in March this year, Kejriwal government was prepared to provide ration to the people of Delhi at their homes, the Centre had shown the red-flag, saying the scheme cannot be run by the Delhi government as it is under National Food Security (NFS) Act and hence it cannot be run under any other name.

Following this, Delhi cabinet on March 20 withdrew the name ‘mukhyamantri ghar ghar ration yojana’ saying the AAP government will not give any name to this scheme.

The scheme was announced on January 26 this year by Kejriwal during his Republic Day speech.

ALSO READ: Delhi gears up to tackle 3rd Covid wave

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Politics USA

Unemployment claims dip below 400K

This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020, when it was 256,000…reports Asian Lite News

Initial unemployment claims in the US dropped for a fifth straight week to 385,000, marking the first time the figure dipping below the 400,000 mark since the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the labour market early last year, the Labour Department.

In the week ending May 29, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits decreased by 20,000 from the previous week’s downwardly revised level of 405,000, according to a report released on Thursday by the Department’s Bureau of Labour Statistics.

This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020, when it was 256,000, the report noted.

The four-week moving average, a method to iron out data volatility, decreased by 30,500 to 428,000, Xinhua news agency reported.

The latest report also revealed that the number of people continuing to collect regular state unemployment benefits in the week ending May 22 increased by 169,000 to reach 3.77 million.

Meanwhile, the total number of people claiming benefits in all programs, state and federal combined, for the week ending May 15 decreased by 366,178 to reach 15.4 million, as the country continues to grapple with the fallout of the pandemic.

In the past few weeks, over 20 states have announced plans to end the $300 weekly federal unemployment benefits ahead of their expiration date of September 6, citing labour shortage.

Some states are ending the federal aid as early as June 12.

The Bureau of Labour Statistics is expected to release the crucial monthly employment report on Friday, which will include employment data from both the private sector and the government.

ALSO READ: Biden eyes narrowing racial wealth gap

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-Top News China Politics

China transformed into a full-fledged Surveillance State during Covid

Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Anhui Innovation Center and learns about the technological innovation in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province. (XinhuaYan Yan)

Information flowing through China’s digital networks is closely monitored and controlled on the insistence of the CCP, making its digital security more precarious and vulnerable, reports Pushkar Sinha

Under the garb of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has leveraged its social credit system to coerce and manipulate the behaviour of its own people.

“Every Breath You Take: China’s New Tyranny” -a new book authored by Ian Willams spotlights that the social credit system in the party-state came of age during the Covid-19 pandemic, as the disease became an excuse to roll out new pilot schemes, with major implications on individual freedoms.

While some provinces rate social standings through a point scoring system, others use technology and Big Data to backlist individuals and businesses. For instance, in Rongcheng, a city close to the Yellow Sea, 10 points are deducted for not wearing a mask in public while the cost of failing to self-isolate costs 50 points, as reported by Foreign Policy magazine. Overcharging for medical supplies, selling fake medical goods, not wearing masks, violating quarantine and consuming wild animal products were some of the acts on which the local authorities rapidly imposed social credit retaliation, in the months following the eruption of the pandemic on Chinese soil.

Prohibition from high-speed rail travel, luxury hotel bookings and buying flights were part of a variety of disincentives that were imposed to punish those who were put on the blacklist. Businesses can be blocked from participating in government programmes and subsidies, while citizens can be barred from government employment if their scores fall below the minimum acceptable level.

Adam Knight, the author of a new paper titled Going Viral: The Social Credit System and COVID-19, points out that Ministry of Transport put drivers who used express lanes reserved for key workers have been restricted from carrying out further transportation services. Misdemeanours related to hiding virus symptoms, concealing details of foreign travel, avoiding medical treatment or having contact with suspected patients have been added to people’s personal social credit file. The BBC reports that even whistle-blower medics and journalists exposing the scale of suffering were jailed for allegedly spreading “rumours” or false information, as defined by their enforcers.

Out of 96 Covid-related infringements, only nine were deemed serious enough to warrant criminal proceedings by the Shanghai government. Nevertheless, these records were made public online and attached to the individual’s credit record. Behaviour condoned by the CCP is rewarded with access to a bureaucratic “green channel” at government offices for faster paperwork-processing, discounts on utility bills or easier access to state-backed loans including cash payments, says a Times report.

The New York Times is reporting that a “Traffic Light”, as it is popularly known, is a colour coded smartphone app that crunches data and awards user with red, amber or green code according to the determination of infection risk. There is a growing interest in the CCP to make the app permanent to bolster its surveillance state and standardise “social control” systems.

Another aspect of the Traffic light app is that it was introduced as a mini app within Tencent’s WeChat and Alibaba’s Alipay apps rather than a standalone one. The data collected by these established apps combined with the GPS tracking ability of the Traffic Light app has led to fears of China becoming a “digital leviathan” that encourages people not to question the system for fear of reprisals.

In areas under lockdown, phone location data is being used to monitor movement and enforce curfews. If a patient is designated for quarantine, geolocation pings on their phone can alert authorities if they stray out of their homes. Phone location data is also being used to map with precision the locations visited by the person two weeks before diagnosis.

A combination of human and automated computer analysis is used to work out the individuals they may have infected. A text message is then sent out through one of the major apps alerting those who may be at risk.

Information flowing through China’s digital networks is closely monitored and controlled on the insistence of the CCP, making its digital security more precarious and vulnerable. The Economist has revealed that information sent through WeChat or Alipay must pass through central servers as plain text, unencrypted so that the company can filter and censor them according to the government’s requirements.

Besides, in China, cameras installed on road walks have facial recognition system, along with licence plate determination abilities that instantly alert authorities if anyone is found breaking quarantine. The system can be accurately described as a clever form of soft totalitarianism as it encourages people not to act against the will of the authorities.

(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)

ALSO READ: India needs to step up game to counter China in S.Asia

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India News Politics

Sasikala signals return to AIADMK helm

AIADMK is reeling under the electoral defeat and infighting between the two senior leaders — former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and former Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, reports Asian Lite News

The close associate of former Chief Minister late J. Jayalalithaa and the former General secretary of AIADMK, V.K. Sasikala popularly known as “Chinnamma” among the AIADMK cadres has reportedly hinted that she would return to active politics.

She in a telephonic call to a party worker on Saturday hinted that she may come back to politics and that she will take over the AIADMK.

AIADMK is reeling under the electoral defeat and infighting between the two senior leaders — former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and former Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam has peaked.

In the telephonic call she is speaking to a party worker that she will not allow AIADMK to fall apart and that after Covid-19 pandemic subsides she would come back to active politics.

Sasikala, before the assembly elections, had dramatically announced her withdrawal from politics after entering the state of Tamil Nadu with a convoy of 1,000 vehicles. She was released from the Parappana Agrahara Central prison in Bangalore after serving a four-year jail term in case related to disproportionate wealth case.

Sasikala’s nephew and Chairman of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), TTV Dhinakaran was not available for comment but his office when contacted by IANS said, “Sasikala Madam has spoken to some of the party members that she will be coming back to Tamil Nadu politics”.

There is an intense rift in the AIADMK after the loss in elections and it was evident during the selection of the opposition leader. Palaniswami had pipped Panneerselvam for the post of opposition leader and Panneerselvam had left the AIADMK headquarters where the meeting was held, in a huff.

While Edappadi had emerged stronger in the party owing to his huge victory in his home constituency Edappadi with a margin of 93,802 votes in the 2021 assembly elections and was instrumental in the victories of AIADMK led front in ten of the eleven seats in Salem district, the home district of Edappadi K Palaniswami(EPS).

In the Southern districts of Tamil Nadu which was once the stronghold of AIADMK, the party faced a drubbing and in the Theni district, the party could win only Bodinayknar seat of O Panneerselvam while the party lost in other seats. This was a major setback for the AIADMK as the predominant “Thevar” community was always aligned with the AIADMK ever since Sasikala had emerged in AIADMK politics.

Sasikala, according to the sources in AMMK is inclined to take over the AIADMK and pose a threat to the ruling DMK dispensation and it has to be seen how far she will succeed in wriggling her way to the top in the new avatar of AIADMK in which Edappadi K Palaniswami has emerged stronger.

EPS-OPS rift

The AIADMK is now facing rough weather with its two most powerful leaders – Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam (OPS) – engaged in a fight over political supremacy within the party.

OPS is a Thevar and a former loyalist of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and her friend VK Sasikala. Incidentally, both Sasikala and OPS are from the Thevar community, considered as fighters and warriors among the various caste denominations of Tamil Nadu.

With Stalin emerging as a popular Chief Minister, the AIADMK has to settle the differences between its main leaders, Palaniswami and Panneerselvam. The theory doing the rounds in Tamil Nadu is that they have to be together or it could lead to the AIADMK getting marginalised in the days to come as a wounded Sasikala and TTV Dhinakaran are waiting in the wings to try and make a comeback in the party and to forge an alliance with OPS who is from the Thevar community as much as they are.

However, political observers are of the opinion that at present the minor rift between the two main leaders of the AIADMK has not yet reached a no comeback point. But if the rift widens and Sasikala and Dhinakaran try to make a comeback, it could lead to a major division where the EPS faction may use all the weapons in its armoury to block their entry. (with inputs from IANS report by Arun Lakshman)

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India News Politics

For the first time, red lines breach approval ratings of Modi 2.0

As many as 47.4 per cent respondents in the survey said that abrogation of Article 370 has been the biggest achievement of Modi 2.0…reports Asian Lite News.

For the first time in seven years, red lines have been breached on the approval ratings of the Narendra Modi government.

As per ABP-C Voter Modi 2.0 Report Card, voters say that abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir is the biggest achievement of the Modi government, while not handling the Corona crisis effectively is its biggest failure.

The sample size of the survey was 1.39 lakh with the samples spread across 543 Lok Sabha seats. The fieldwork was done between January 1 and May 28.

The survey shows that on many issues, voters are disappointed with the Modi government and the high popularity ratings enjoyed by the Modi government in the last seven years are now dissipating.

As many as 47.4 per cent respondents in the survey said that abrogation of Article 370 has been the biggest achievement of Modi 2.0.

The biggest failure is handling of the Corona crisis with 41.1 per cent respondents saying so.

Also, 23.1 per cent said dissatisfaction and anger in the farming community over the new farm laws is the second biggest failure of the Modi government.

In a castigation of the Centre, more than half or 52.3 per cent said that government help did not reach them during the lockdown.

Voters are also unhappy with the poll campaign during the second wave of the pandemic.

To a question on “Do you think it was appropriate for Prime Minister to participate in the poll campaign and address election rallies during second wave of the pandemic in the country?”, a massive 59.7 per cent said as Prime Minister of the country, Modi’s participation in election campaign was wrong.

While there may be anger against the government, voters still do not want Congress scion Rahul Gandhi, who has been very critical of government’s handling of the pandemic.

On a question, “Do you think Rahul Gandhi would have handled the Corona crisis in a better manner, if he was Prime Minister of the country? Or you believe that PM Narendra Modi is handling it in the best possible manner”, 63.1 per cent said Modi is handling the situation in the best possible manner.

Most voters – 60.8 per cent — think that the Assembly polls in five states/UT and panchayat polls in Uttar Pradesh should have been postponed.

A majority of 55.3 per cent of the respondents said that the Kumbh Mela should have been held symbolically from the beginning, in view of the second wave of the pandemic.

As many as 47 per cent of the respondents hold the Central government responsible for the rise in diesel and petrol prices.

In a criticism of the Modi government, a massive 64.4 per cent said that big corporate houses benefitted the most in economic terms from the works of the Modi government.

A total of 44.8 per cent said China’s encroachment in Laddakh region is a failure on the part of the Central government.

However, voters are very happy with the government’s handling of Kashmir, and improvement in relations with foreign countries, but feel that the demands of the farmers should be met.

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Asia News Politics

‘Won’t let govt pass anti-people budget’: Shehbaz

Shehbaz said that he would resist getting the budget approved because it is “against the public interest”…reports Asian Lite News

Pakistan’s Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday vowed to not let the Imran Khan-led ruling government pass an “anti-people budget”.

In a statement, Shehbaz said that he would resist getting the budget approved because it is “against the public interest”, according to Geo News.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president also said that he has directed the party’s economic advisory to hold a pre-budget seminar so that the people can understand the reality of the economy.

“Economists will tell the nation the reality of the economy in the pre-budget seminar. The masses are paying the price of the government’s economic manipulation every day due to inflation,” said Shehbaz.

On Monday, Shehbaz had hosted a dinner reception in which he had invited leaders from the opposition parties. However, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari did not attend the meeting.

“The economic situation of the country is not good as the government has failed miserably in every field,” Shehbaz had said while addressing the gathering earlier this week, reported The Express Tribune.

“It is necessary to work together against the incumbent government for the sake of national interest otherwise the people will have to face many difficulties in the budget. Yes, the government should be given a tough time in the budget session. It is taking political revenge in the name of accountability,” he added.

Meanwhile, PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz claimed that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had lied about the gross domestic product (GDP) growth, which even the ruling party’s own representatives are not ready to accept, Geo News reported.

The government had estimated a GDP growth of 3.94 per cent for the outgoing year, after earlier estimating 2.1 per cent for 2020-21. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, on the other hand, had predicted the GDP growth in the range of 1.5 per cent for the current fiscal year.

Pakistan’s economy is in dire condition and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has further affected the economic growth. The World Bank recently set tough conditions for USD 1.5 billion lendings such as an increase in electricity rates, introduction of new power and tax policies, putting the Imran Khan-led government in a tight spot that is already seeking a review of the IMF deal.

Earlier this month, inflation in Pakistan skyrocketed to over 11 per cent amid a surge in food prices amid the Ministry of Finance’s failure to give a realistic and professional assessment of the increasing prices in its monthly reports. (ANI)

ALSO READ: Pakistan and Turkey’s selective support to Muslim causes

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China Politics

China arrests priests on charges of ‘brainwashing’

The incident was reported by International Christian Concern (ICC), which monitors the persecution of Christians, reported New York Times Post…reports Asian Lite News

China on May 20th seized four Christian priests working as seminary professors along with three priests who had been carrying out pastoral work in Hebei province on charges of ‘brainwashing’.

The incident was reported by International Christian Concern (ICC), which monitors the persecution of Christians, reported New York Times Post.

Ten students were also detained in the raid which took place in the town of Shaheqiao. Three briefly managed to escape before being arrested. Chinese authorities seized Giuseppe Zhang Weizhu, the bishop of Xinxiang. Bishop Weizhu had run the diocese of Xinxiang for 30 years since 1991, reported New York Times Post.

The ICC claims the arrested priests were subjected to “brainwashing” from China’s governing communists.

They said: “The bishop and the 10 priests arrested were taken to a hotel, where they were held in solitary confinement.”

According to the ICC, they were instructed to halt their study of Christian theology, reported New York Times Post.

On May 1 China’s new regulations on religious activities, a set of strict rules for religious conduct, came into effect. This country’s Catholic clergy must be approved by the Chinese Catholic Bishop’s Conference, which is state-approved.

To remain in position, they are required to back Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership. For preaching without being officially approved Bishop Weizhu and the priests are considered to be “criminals”, reported New York Times Post.

According to the ICC Christian persecution has increased since the new regulations took effect.

In western China up to a million Uyghurs, and other Muslim minorities, are reportedly being held in re-education camps. There have been reports of serious human rights abuses including torture, rape and forced labour at the facilities, reported New York Times Post.

However, claims of abuse have been rejected by the Chinese government.

China is officially an atheist country and the regime regards organised religion with suspicion. However, in practice any religious group that does not submit to the regime can become a target.

Officially the government recognises five religions; Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam and Taoism. (ANI)

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