Four Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets and two C-17 heavy-lift aircraft of the Indian Air Force on  Aug 19 joined a 17-nation air combat exercise in Australia.

The three-week 'Pitch Black' exercise, being hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), is taking place amid the conflict in Ukraine and China's military muscle-flexing in the Taiwan Strait following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taipei.

Over 100 aircraft and 2,500 personnel from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, India, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Republic of Korea, the UAE, Singapore, Thailand, the US and the UK are participating in the exercise in Australia's Northern Territory.

The RAAF considers the biennial exercise as its "capstone" international engagement activity with the air forces from strategic partners and allies.

The CBI on  Aug 19 raided the home of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and 20 other locations in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy, escalating tensions between the government and the Aam Aadmi Party which alleged the agency was acting on orders “from above”.

Delhi Police has detained AAP leaders. It has imposed Section 144 around the Supreme Court and in the New Delhi district. Earlier, the section had been imposed around Sisodia's residence and the Mathura road area.

The searches at the AAP leader's home, the residence of IAS officer and former excise commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna and 19 other places came after the CBI registered an FIR for alleged irregularities in the formulation and execution of the Delhi Excise Policy brought out in November last year.

The searches covered seven states and union territories.

The premises of two other public servants were also searched.

Sisodia 'welcomes' CBI raids

Sisodia holds multiple portfolios, including excise and education.

The Excise Policy 2021-22, formulated on the basis of an expert committee report, was implemented from November 17 last year and retail licences were issued under it to private bidders for 849 vends across the city, divided into 32 zones.

Several provisions such as slashing the number of dry days to three from 21 per year, the government's exit from retail liquor sale, allowing bars in hotels, restaurants to stay open till 3 am (awaiting police permission) and the retail licensees to offer rebates and schemes on alcohol were implemented by the excise department.

However, under the policy, many liquor stores failed to open for being located in non-conforming areas of the city. Several such vends were sealed by municipal corporations for violations of the Master Plan.

At a time when India is struggling to retain the World Cup at home and facing a FIFA ban, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde  has gave adventurer sport status to Dahi Handi and announced Rs 10 lakh insurance cover to ‘Govindas ’.

The Dahi Handi (earthen pots filled with yogurt) is part of the Janmashtami festival where young participants called ‘Govindas’ make a human pyramid to reach the pot hung mid-air, and break it.

The dahi-handi is an old and traditional game that youth participates in large numbers, Shinde told the Maharashtra Assembly on the eve of Janmashtami. 

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on  Aug 18 said India's time-tested relations with Thailand are poised to move to the next level, as New Delhi looks forward to working closely with its strategic neighbour for its active participation in the implementation and progress of the rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region.

Delivering a lecture on 'India's Vision of the Indo-Pacific' at the prestigious Chulalongkorn University, Jaishankar said the strategic Indo-Pacific region traces a wide arc of immense diversity, but with specific dynamics, as India and Thailand marked the 75th year of diplomatic ties.

The minister said New Delhi envisaged a free, open, inclusive and peaceful Indo-Pacific built on a rules-based order, and sustainable and transparent infrastructure investment, as he emphasised on mutual respect for sovereignty.

China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea. China claims sovereignty over all of the South China Sea. Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims.

Terming Thailand a civilisational and a strategic neighbour, Jaishankar asserted that the ties between the two countries fit seamlessly into the vision and agenda of the Indo-Pacific.

The Russian military said that it has deployed warplanes armed with state-of-the-art hypersonic missiles to the country's Kaliningrad region, a move that comes amid soaring tensions with the West over Moscow's action in Ukraine.

Russia's Defense Ministry said three MiG-31 fighters with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles arrived at the Chkalovsk airbase in the Baltic Sea enclave as part of "additional measures of strategic deterrence."

The ministry said the warplanes will be put on round-the-clock alert. A video released by the Defense Ministry showed the fighters arriving at the base but not carrying the missiles, which were apparently delivered separately.

The deployment of Kinzhal missiles to Kaliningrad as Russia's campaign in Ukraine nears the sixth-month mark appeared intended to showcase the Russian military's capability to threaten NATO assets. The region borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania.

Privatisation is not a panacea for all ills, say RBI economists as they argue against big bang privatisation of public sector banks. The economists have instead argued for a gradual approach to privatisation so as not to create a void in fulfilling important social objectives of financial inclusion and monetary transmission.

A study by the economists of the Department of Economic and Policy Research, Reserve Bank of India, has noted that public sector banks (PSBs) are not solely driven by profit maximisation but they have done better in promoting financial inclusion.  The study also notes that PSBs score over private banks on labour cost efficiency.

The study says that PSBs account for the highest share of bank branches in rural areas, followed by semi-urban areas. They also dominate in meeting the credit demand of rural areas – PSBs account for 63 per cent of rural credit compared to 16 per cent of private banks. Though private banks are making some inroads in rural areas, their progress remains slow, says the study.

The study says that when profit maximization is the sole motive, the efficiency of private banks surpasses that of PSBs but when “the objective function is changed to include financial inclusion —like total branches, agricultural advances and PSL advances PSBs prove to be more efficient than private banks”.

In its third fortnightly review of windfall gains tax, the Centre on August 18 cut the cess on crude oil and reduced it to Rs 13,000/tonne from Rs 17,750 per tonne, reports said.

The Moneycontrol quoted a circular issued by the Centre saying that the export duty on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) was hiked to Rs 2 per litre from nil while the export duty on diesel was hiked by two rupees to Rs 7 per litre from Rs 5 per litre.

The changes will come into force on August 19, 2022.

In the previous review meets, the export duties on petrol and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) were removed by the government.

The Business Standard reported that The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBIC), in its notification, has however reduced the windfall tax on domestically produced crude oil to Rs 13,000 a tonne from Rs 17,750 a tonne earlier, a move that will come as a relief for producers like ONGC and Vedanta Ltd.

Earlier this month, the government had scrapped the windfall profit tax on ATF (Aviation Turbine Fuel) exports. Alongside, the tax on domestically produced crude oil has been cut to Rs 13,000 per tonne from Rs 17,750.

The tax on exports has been raised as cracks or margins rose but the same on domestically produced oil was reduced as international oil prices slid to a six-month low.

India first imposed windfall profit taxes on July 1, joining a growing number of nations that taxes super normal profits of energy companies.

But international oil prices have cooled since then, eroding profit margins of both oil producers and refiners.

Young striker Manisha Kalyan has become the first Indian footballer to play at the UEFA Women's Champions League when she made her debut for Apollon Ladies FC in the European Club competition in Engomi, Cyprus.

Kalyan replaced Cyprus' Marilena Georgiou in the 60th minute at the Makareio Stadium, as Apollon Ladies FC beat Latvian top flight club SFK Riga 3-0 in their UWCL opener on Aug 18.

The 20-year-old had emerged as the fourth Indian women's international footballer to sign for an overseas club when she landed a multi-year contract with Cypriot top division winners Apollon Ladies.

Kalyan had produced impressive performances for the national team and Gokulam Kerala in the Indian Women's League (IWL).

She was recently awarded the AIFF Women's Footballer of the Year for the 2021-22 season.

Kalyan had shot to fame last year when she scored against former World Cup runners-up Brazil in their own den during an international friendly.

Kalyan is the second player from Gokulam Kerala to sign for an overseas club after Dangmei Grace joined Uzbek outfit FC Nasaf.

Apollon Ladies will next play FC Zurich Frauen on August 21.