Lowest...

While the Indian Blue Robbin, spotted for a third consecutive year from Matheran; the Black Eagle; Brown-breasted Flycatcher; and Wolly-necked Stork were some of the rare sightings this year, there were no sightings of vultures, quails, francolin and junglefowls – species that have been reported in earlier counts.

“With rampant and seemingly endless developmental expansion and habitat disturbance, bird observations this year showed the sorry state of affairs of MMR’S ecological health,” said Sunjoy Monga, ornithologist and naturalist writer who conceptualised the Birdrace. “Our actions are bringing about irreversible changes to ecological systems. As concerned citizens, we need to take corrective measures to stop toying with nature and protect changing landscapes.”

Monga cited the example of Talawe wetlands zone in Seawoods, Navi Mumbai, which is proposed to be reclaimed for a residential colony and a golf course. “There are absurd technicalities to prove that a birdrich site of spectacular natural richness is not a wetland, and is fit to be converted into a golf course,” he said.

Habitat-wise observations reported 63 species per aquatic or marsh habitats, down from an average of 75. In forest habitats, the number of species fell to 52 from an average of 70-plus. “The average was around 100 species between 2005 and 2009,” said Monga.

For a second consecutive year, species count across grasslands and scrub patches was 42. “This is the most disturbed and threatened landscapes. The count was significantly lower than previous years (90 species observed on an average between 2005 and 2011),” said Monga.

Birders, too, expressed concern over the dwindling bird numbers. “Organisers and participants were still as enthusiastic as we were 16 years ago. But habitat degradation is happening at a rapid pace. We observed very low number of birds despite spending maximum time on field,” said Kunal Munsiff, an avian enthusiast.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected the MPC to leave its key repo rate unchanged at 5.15% and reverse repo rate at 4.9%.

In its first bimonthly meeting in 2020, which concluded on Friday, MPC decided to continue with a pause on policy rates, same as it did in its December meeting. MPC reduced policy rates by 135 basis points between February 2019 and October 2019. One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.

The pause in rate cuts has been accompanied by an upward revision in inflation projections. MPC has projected Consumer Price Index (CPI) to grow at 6.5% in the quarter ending March 2020. CPI growth in the quarter ending December 2019 was 5.8%. MPC expects CPI to grow at 5.4-5% in the two quarters during the first half (April 2020-September 2020) of the next fiscal year. This is significantly more than the average 3.3% growth in CPI in the first half of 2019-20. CPI growth in the month of December (latest available data) was 7.35%.

When seen in this context, RBI’S projections suggest that while inflation may have started coming down from the peak of December levels, the moderation will only happen gradually.

“Given the evolving growthinflation dynamics, the MPC felt it appropriate to maintain status quo,” MPC’S resolution said.

MPC has also projected that the Indian economy will grow at 6% in 2020-21. This is slightly more than the 5.8% growth projection given in the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) revised World Economic Outlook released in January. It is at the lower band of the 6-6.5% growth projection made in the 2019-20 Economic Survey released by the finance ministry.

The projection for GDP growth in the first half of the next fiscal year has also been revised downwards from 5.9-6.3% in December 2019 to 5.5-6% in February.

India’s GDP growth plummeted to 4.5%, the lowest since March 2013, in the quarter ending September 2019. The National Statistical Office (NSO) has projected India’s GDP growth to be 5% in 2019-20.

Various forward-looking surveys that are released with the MPC resolution give a mixed picture about the economy. Results from RBI’S Order Books, Inventories and Capacity Utilisation Survey for July-september 2019, which were released on Friday, show that capacity utilisation in the September quarter fell to 69.1%, the lowest since the quarter ending June 2008, the earliest period for which data is available. To be sure, the Industrial Outlook Survey suggests that the economy may have bottomed out in the December quarter and things are improving. The Business Expectation Index (BEI) fell to 102.2 in the December quarter, the lowest since June 2009. It is expected to recover to 105 in the March quarter.

This is in keeping with trends from other high-frequency indicators. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) grew at 1.8% in November 2019 after contracting consecutively for three months. Index of core sector industries grew at 1.3% in December 2019 after contracting for four consecutive months. The composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for manufacturing and services has increased for three consecutive months until January 2020, when it reached 56.3, the highest since June 2018, the earliest period for which data is available.

While business sentiment seems to be improving, consumer sentiment continues to be weak. Results from the January round of CCS show that both current and one year ahead perception on general economic situation, income and non-essential spending have fallen further between the November and January rounds.

The net present perception on all three indicators is negative, which means that the share of respondents who have a negative perception of things is greater than those who have a positive outlook.

“The MPC has expectedly kept the policy rate and stance unchanged given the inflation trajectory overshooting beyond the upper level of the target band of the committee. Very aptly, the MPC has addressed the growth concerns through pushing transmission via tweaking the liquidity framework, providing LTROS and incentivising credit to select sectors. We expect these measures to aid transmission with the shorter end of the yield curve expected to rally meaningfully. These measures should help availability of funds at lower costs and aid sectors in stress,” said Upasna Bhardwaj, senior economist at Kotak Mahindra Bank. uary 22, as part of Pakistan’s compliance with the Financial Action Task Force, an inter-governmental agency which combats money-laundering and terror financing. Even as Rawalpindi GHQ does this, the Indian operatives say, it may also launch a fullfledged information campaign to actually project the February 26, 2019, Indian Air Force strike at Balakot as a victory for the Imran Khan regime.

According to them, the aim of such a campaign would be to boost public confidence in the political and military leadership, lift the morale of Kashmiris, counter the Indian narrative on both Balakot and Kashmir, and present India internationally as a threat to global peace and security.

The fact is that Pakistan’s terror factory is alive and kicking with no less than 32 foreign terrorists belonging to both JEM and fellow jihadist group Lashkar-etaiba being gunned down by Indian security forces from January 1, 2019, to January 31 this year. Three LET terrorists were apprehended and no less than 102 Pakistani terrorists are still active in Kashmir valley, the Indian officials added. Available records show that out of 102, 59 belong to LET, 37 to JEM and 6 to Hizbul Mujahideen.

Yet the Pakistani narrative is designed to establish that Balakot was a victory for Islamabad as the military shot down an Indian MIG-21 Bison fighter and captured Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. The Imran Khan government is expected to use the media to propagate that Pakistan is all for peace but ready for war. The propaganda is designed to convey that the Pakistani leadership was strong as it “defeated” India in battlefield and at global forums. And it will use the wing commander’s return to substantiate its claims that it did so out of a desire for peace and from a position of strength.

The officials said that Islamabad was forced to hand over Abhinandan after India signalled its readiness to follow up with a missile strike.

Interestingly, the officials said that the Imran Khan government will also try to highlight that for the first time India was brought under international pressure over Kashmir, despite Islamabad’s continued failure to do so at the United Nations. minister’s comments oscillated between stand-up comedy, half truths and rank communalism. It is regrettable that the Prime Minister of India should quote one of his illustrious predecessors Jawaharlal Nehru completely out of context,” said Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari, calling on Modi to apologise for it.

While the PM’S speech was peppered with strong jibes and sarcastic attacks on the Opposition, particularly the Congress and its former president Rahul Gandhi, the most combative points of his speech were when he was talking about the CAA protests and Kashmir.

On Kashmir, particularly, he quoted comments by the former CMS made in August – at the time when Parliament cleared the nullification of Articles 370 and 35A, and the reorganisation of the region into two Union Territories – to suggest that they were not in sync with the spirit of the Indian Constitution. Saying that former CM Mehbooba Mufti of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) called the move a “betrayal”, Omar Abdullah of the National Conference (NC) warned of an “earthquake” in the aftermath of the decision, and Farooq Abdullah said people would stop waving the Indian flag in the region, Modi asked if any “true Indian” would “advocate the cause of such people”.

Mehbooba and the Abdullahs have been in preventive custody for the past six months – a move that has been criticised by opposition parties, civil society members, and raised in international forums.

Representatives from the NC and the PDP rejected Modi’s claims. “What former CMS had said in context of the Article 370 was that it is a right and guarantee given to them under Indian Constitution,’’ said PDP spokesperson and youth leader Tahir Sayeed. NC spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said the government must answer what development had taken place since the Article 370 move for the region’s development since that was one of the reasons given for it.

In what was his first speech in Parliament on the anti-caa protests, the Prime Minister repeated the government’s assurance that the law would not impact any Indian citizen. “From this House today, I would like to make it clear that the CAA law will not affect any Indian citizens, whether they are Muslim, Hindu, Sikh or from any religion,” he said.

CAA, passed by Parliament on December 11, identifies people from religious minorities from some neighbouring Muslim-majority countries as those eligible for Indian citizenship if they have faced persecution.

Just as he brought up Nehru in the Lok Sabha, Modi quoted Lal Bahadur Shastri, Ram Manohar Lohia, and a Congress Working Committee resolution of 1947 to contend that CAA was an idea that had endorsement in the past from the same parties that now opposed it.

In the same vein, he brought up NPR in the Rajya Sabha speech, saying it was the previous regime’s idea but was now being used to stir up a frenzy by “provoking” people with “false information”.

“The NPR is a normal administrative process. You brought it in 2010, now you are misleading people? These are procedural issues, don’t spread rumours,” he said.

With the Delhi elections just two days to go, the national capital made only fleeting appearances in the speeches – briefly while talking about anti-caa protests; during a reference to the Eastern Peripheral Expressway as an example of the government’s pace of work; when he mentioned a scheme for regularising 1,700 unauthorised colonies; and once towards the end when he said that people accused in the 1984 anti-sikh riots in Delhi had been made chief ministers by the Congress. (The reference was to Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath, who was named in connection with the riots but has not been formally accused and denies any link).

Modi said that the difference between his government and opposition governments was its ability to deliver, and its intention to take everyone along (“sabka saath”). “Where the Congress saw Muslims, we see Indians,” he said, naming Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, Ashfaqullah Khan, Begum Hazrat Mahal, Abdul Hamid and former president APJ Abdul Kalam as a few examples of Muslims who are forever linked with India’s values and identity.

If we had done work like the Congress, it would have taken us 50 years to get the enemy property law, 35 years to get next generation fighter aircraft and, even after 28 years, we wouldn’t have had a benami property law.

Modi also addressed specific members of the Opposition – including Gandhi, Congress’s floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Shashi Tharoor – for specific remarks made by them inside and outside the House in the past few days.

To Gandhi, who said in a rally in Old Delhi on Wednesday that the youth of the country would “lathi-charge Modi” over unemployment, the Prime Minister said he was happy with the forewarning and would prepare to make his back ready for the lathis by doing more ‘surya namaskara’.

When Gandhi first got up to object to Modi’s comment, the PM, without naming him, said: “I have been speaking for 30-40 minutes, but the current has finally reached only now.”