Indus Waters Treaty: Five key facts

The Modi govt is under tremendous pressure to take concrete actions against Pakistan to rein in terrorism emanating from its soil against India in the aftermath of the gruesome killing of 18 soldiers in the Uri terror attack on 18 September.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting on Monday with senior government officials to review the Indus Waters Treaty has further raised the possibility that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government may seek to alter or scrap the provisions of the 1960 treaty.

The Modi government is under tremendous public pressure to take concrete actions against Pakistan to rein in terrorism emanating from its soil against India in the aftermath of the gruesome killing of 18 soldiers in the Uri terror attack on 18 September.

But the key question is: Can India take unilateral actions altering the provisions of the treaty? There are no straightforward answers to this question between two hostile nuclear powers.

To put it in perspective, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah wrote in his Tweet last Friday that the 1960 World Bank-mediated Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan has survived three wars and numerous lows in India-Pakistan relations.


Source:-livemint
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Cabinet clears GST Council: The fire test on final rate begins now

The Cabinet's approval on Monday to set up the GST (Goods and Services Tax) Council, after the President's approval for the constitutional amendment last week, marks the beginning of the toughest phase in the road to final implementation. The government has set a deadline of 1 April 2017 for the rollout of the indirect tax reform.
This is the council which will have to do the complex job of arriving at a consensus GST standard rate, for which there is no real consensus between states, central government and Congress-led opposition parties till this point.

Source:-firstpost
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Kerala Congress (Mani) severs over three-decades-long relation, walks out of UDF

CHARALKUNNU: Severing a three-and-a-half decade relationship with the UDF, K M Mani and his party Kerala Congress (M) walked out of the political front on Sunday. The party will take an independent stand and its six MLAs will sit as a separate block in the state Assembly.

Mani ruled out joining the LDF or the NDA. The party will extend issue-based support to the UPA at the Centre. However the relationship with the UDF will continue in the local self-government and cooperative bodies. The party will be reorganised from the grass roots. A state committee which will be held on August 14 in Kottayam will take decisions regarding the future programmes of the party. The camp centre in Charalkunnu which has witnessed several splits, ouster of leaders and violence in the Kerala Congress (M), witnessed one more historical incident in the party as well as in the history of Kerala politics on Sunday.

HIDDEN AGENDA

Mani in his inaugural speech of the camp on Saturday had indicated about the plan to sit as a separate block in the Assembly. The discussions in the camp were held based on this line. IUML leader PK Kunhalikutty had contacted Mani over the phone in the morning requesting him to desist from taking any strong decisions. Oommen Chandy also talked to PJ Joseph. However, both the leaders did not gave a favourable reply to the UDF crisis managers.

Addressing the media and party workers at the end of the two-day camp held at Charalkunnu, an emotional Mani said that he took the decision to leave the UDF with great grief because UDF belonged to Kerala Congress (M) also. Kerala Congress was one of the main ally who had helped in the growth of the UDF. We had sowed, watered and nurtured the UDF. It was like the decision made by a son to leave his house. But leaving the UDF had become inevitable. Some leaders in the Congress were treating Kerala Congress (M) as their No 1 enemy. The tolerance level had reached its extreme limit, he said.

SPECIAL BATTALLION IN CONGRESS

Mani said that there is a special battalion in the Congress party to defeat the Kerala Congress (M) in certain constituencies. "Special recruitment is held for this in these constituencies. There is a separate fund for this and there were study classes held for them. Such things were unheard before. We suffered and forgave the Congress so far," said Mani in his speech.
Source;-TOI
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