100 words edit on Headlines
By Philip Mudartha
Bellevision Media Network
Correction healthy:
The month of October saw a record foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) outflows from Indian equities, totalling Rupees 82,479 crore. Global factors such as Chinese stimulus and US Fed rate cut made valuations of Indian equities comparatively unattractive.
The domestic institutional investors (DIIs) took it as a buying opportunity. They invested over Rupees 77,000 crore lending support and averting a free fall. However, both Sensex and Nifty 50 traded 6.5% lower.
Analysts however described the correction as overdue and healthy. The advice is to invest mostly in large caps.
South Politicians pitch for bigger families:
Appeals by Naidu and Stalin to have more children highlights the fear that success in curbing population growth could shrink the South’s representation in Parliament. The delimitation exercise which is scheduled in 2026 is expected to decrease the number of MPs from the south.
Hindi heartland states like UP and Bihar with their higher population growth would see their strength in the parliament increase proportionately, thus shifting the power balance.
Only elderly remain in most villages in AP, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. There is large scale labour migration to these states from north. Such large migrant inflows seem to be stirring nativism with concerns of ’North-taking-over-South’.
India and Canada spar over Sikh separatist murder:
Canada expelled the Indian high commissioner and five other diplomats after Canadian police officials claimed they had uncovered evidence that senior Indian diplomats and consular officials were involved in a “criminal network” that targeted Canadian Sikhs. “We will never tolerate the involvement of a foreign government threatening and killing Canadian citizens on Canadian soil,” Trudeau said. India retaliated by expelling six senior Canadian diplomats, calling the allegations “preposterous” and accusing Trudeau of pandering to Canada’s large Sikh community for political gains.
Hoax bomb threats to airlines in India:
Over 250 flights were impacted for the past ten days involving IndiGo, Air India, Vistara, SpiceJet, Alliance Air, and Akasa Air. Majority of these threats originated from social media platforms and found to be hoax. However, thousands of passengers were inconvenienced besides creating a security headache for paramilitary personnel and aviation authorities.
The government plans legislation to deal with fake bomb threats to aircraft and make the punishments harsher to deter pranksters from posting such threats. Changes to Aircraft Security Rules and amendments to Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act -1982 are on the anvil.
Israel hits Iranian Capital:
The much awaited retaliation to the Iranian missile attacks on Israel on October 1 came a few hours ago as dawn broke out on Saturday over Teheran. Iran vowed revenge which meant direct missile hits on Tel Aviv.
The good news is that Israel avoided targeting Iranian nuclear installations and oil facilities. But for how long? Nothing will hold Israel back when it comes to protecting its people from the “axis of evil”, a reference to Iran and its proxies like the Yemeni Houthis, Lebanese Hezbollah, and Hamas in Gaza and Islamist terror groups in Syria.