Representational image of lawyers at the Supreme Court in New Delhi
| Photo Credit: PTI

SC judge Nagarathna says men should share funds to empower their homemaker wives

Justice B.V. Nagarathna of the Supreme Court, in a judgment on Wednesday, said husbands should share their financial resources with their ‘homemaker’ wives who did not have an independent source of income to empower them.

“An Indian married man must become conscious of the fact that he would have to financially empower and provide for his wife, who does not have an independent source of income, by making available financial resources particularly towards her personal needs; in other words, giving access to his financial resources,” Justice Nagarathna observed in a separate opinion upholding a divorced Muslim women’s right to maintenance under a secular Section 125 of the erstwhile Code of Criminal Procedure.

IIT-Madras ruled out ‘mass malpractice’ in NEET-UG exam, Centre tells Supreme Court

The Centre on Wednesday submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court referring to a data analytics report submitted by the Indian institute of Technology-Madras ruling out “mass malpractice” or localised set of candidates having been benefited in the NEET-UG 2024 exam leading to abnormal scores.

India has given ‘Buddha’ to the world, not ‘Yuddha’: PM Modi in Austria

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 10 said India has given ‘Buddha’ to the world, not ‘Yuddha’ (war) which means it has always given peace and prosperity, and therefore the country is going to strengthen its role in the 21st century. Addressing the Indian diaspora in Vienna, PM Modi also said that India is working towards being the best, the brightest, achieving the biggest and reaching the highest milestones.

ITBP seizes 108 kg gold biscuits near China border

The Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) arrested two men near the China border in Eastern Ladakh on July 9 for allegedly smuggling 108 kg of gold biscuits from China. While smuggling of smaller items was common, it was the first time ever that an alleged gold smuggling racket was exposed in the area with the arrest of two locals. Another person has been detained, an ITBP official said.

Apple issues two fresh Pegasus-like spyware alerts in India

At least two people in India on July 10 reported receiving a Pegasus-like alert from Apple, Inc. on their iPhones. The alerts, sent out on Tuesday night, warn them that they have been targeted by a targeted “mercenary” attack. Apple previously called these attacks “state-backed,” but changed this in April. Such spyware allows attackers to sift through targets’ personal devices, allowing them to view messages, photos, and tap into microphone and camera feeds in real time.

Russia, India agreed to go ahead with trade in national currency: Russian diplomat

India and Russia have decided to establish a system for national currency settlement, Roman Babushkin, Chargé d’Affaires of the Russian Embassy, said on Wednesday. A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi ended his two-day visit to Russia, Mr. Babushkin described the visit as “historic and game-changing”, and slammed the Western powers for supporting Ukraine.

Mumbai hit-and-run case: Key accused remanded to police custody, father sacked from Sena post

Prime accused in the Mumbai hit-and-run case, Mihir Shah, was remanded to police custody by a court in Mumbai till July 16 on July 10. Mr. Shah was arrested on Tuesday evening after being on the run for over 72 hours.

Bihar’s first transgender sub-inspectors make history

In a first, three transgenders qualified the Bihar Police Subordinate Services Commission (BPSSC) exam to become police sub-inspectors. Earlier, following a Patna High Court judgment in 2021, the State government had asked BPSSC to recruit third genders into police services.

India-Sri Lanka to sign MoU on public administration and governance

India and Sri Lanka are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) focused on capacity development and the exchange of expertise in public administration and governance aimed at training around 1,500 Sri Lankan civil servants, a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office of Sri Lanka said.

New textbooks for Class 6 to be made available by July-end, clarifies NCERT

The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) said on Wednesday that new textbooks for Class 6 will be made available by the end of July. In response to a story published by The Hindu on July 9, the NCERT stated that all Grade 6 textbooks would be made available by the NCERT this month and that the two-month timeline referred to in the article was incorrect.

BJP lauds SC verdict on maintenance for divorced Muslim women under secular law

The BJP on July 10 praised the Supreme Court verdict which declared that a divorced Muslim woman was entitled to seek maintenance from her husband under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Addressing a presser at the BJP’s national headquarters in New Delhi, party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said the verdict had “ended” a threat to the Constitution by the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, passed by a Congress government in the past.

‘Germany well positioned in Navy’s submarine deal’

German submarine manufacturer TKMS (Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems) was initially not inclined to bid for the Indian Navy’s mega deal for six conventional submarines under Project-75I due to the “terms and conditions”, but later entered the fray as the German government backed the project, said the company’s India head Khalil Rahman on Wednesday.

England reaches Euro 2024 final by beating Netherlands 2-1 on Watkins late goal

England reached a second straight European Championship final by beating the Netherlands 2-1 thanks to substitute Ollie Watkins’ stoppage-time winner on Wednesday. Watkins, who came on for captain Harry Kane in a bold call by coach Gareth Southgate, turned and smashed a fierce shot into the bottom corner in the first minute of added-on time.

Oil pump jacks outside Almetyevsk in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia on June 4, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The story so far: As India continues to import oil from Russia, it is getting tougher for the country to pay for it. On the one hand, it faces repercussions of breaching the oil price cap of $60 a barrel put in place by the U.S. and European nations as Russia offers lower discounts on its crude. On the other hand, using currencies like the Chinese yuan for payments, which India has already started doing, has its own geopolitical ramifications amid strained ties with Beijing.

Where do oil imports from Russia stand?

Until a year ago, most of India’s oil imports came from West Asia, the U.S., and West Africa but today, a bulk of crude unloading at India’s ports is likely to be coming from Russia.

In February 2023, Russia surpassed Saudi Arabia to become the second biggest exporter of crude oil to India in FY23. Since the start of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Moscow has been hit by Western banking and economic sanctions. Against this backdrop, it found a ready market for its goods, especially crude oil, in India and offered steep discounts. India, meanwhile, unlike the West, chose to not join the list of countries formally imposing sanctions on Moscow.

As a result, India’s imports of crude oil from Russia increased nearly 13 times in 2022-23 to over $31 billion from less than $2.5 billion in 2021-22. Russia is now the largest supplier of oil to India, displacing traditional players such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and UAE. In the four-month period between November 2022 and February 2023, Russia took over the top spot from Iraq. An analysis by Reuters showed how India accounted for more than 70% of the seaborne supplies of Russian-grade oil under $60 dollars a barrel in May.

Which currency is being used for payments?

For starters, as part of war-induced sanctions on Moscow, the U.S., the EU, and the U.K. have blocked multiple Russian banks from accessing the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), a global secure interbank system. An estimated $500 million is pending for goods already shipped by Indian exporters to Russia and it is now not possible to get the payments through the SWIFT channel.

Thus, in an effort to economically strain Russia, the West targeted one of its biggest traded goods — energy — for which transactions have traditionally been dollar-dependent. Besides an oil ban jointly agreed between multiple countries last year, it was also decided to cap the price to a maximum of $60 per barrel of Russian oil transported through waterways. While India is not a formal signatory, it has tacitly agreed to maintain the price cap as much as possible. Besides, banks and traders may not want to get involved in transactions that breach the oil cap over fears of repercussions for their funds. Until recently, the blends of oil India was importing from Russia were largely below the price cap fixed by G-7 countries and India was able to pay for the oil using dollars. However, Russia has lowered its discounts due to high demand from China and lower-grade oil is now in short supply.

Also Read Data | Russia’s exports to India rise further, trade deficit balloons

What about the rupee-rouble mechanism?

Notably, India was in negotiations with Russia to reactivate the rupee-rouble trade arrangement, which is an alternative payment mechanism to settle dues in rupees instead of dollars or euros.

However, media reports showed in May that the rupee-rouble payment mechanism could not take off. There are a couple of reasons for this — analysts point out there is scepticism on the rupee-rouble convertibility as the rouble’s value is kept up by capital controls and not determined by the market, as in the case of reserved currencies. On the flip side, Russia has also pointed out that it finds the rupee to be “volatile”.

Lastly, and more significantly, the unforeseen surge in oil trade between India and Russia in one year alone has led to a massively ballooning trade deficit. India’s trade deficit with Russia touched $43 billion in 2022-23 as it imported goods worth $49.35 billion while its exports were at $3.14 billion. This has led to staggering amounts of Indian rupees in Russian banks that cannot be used by Russia in its war efforts.

Is de-dollarisation being attempted?

Since the dollar is largely considered the global reserve currency, many countries have seen the U.S. sanctions as a way for America to weaponise the dollar. This has given rise to countries looking at de-dollarisation, which means the replacement of the U.S. dollar with other currencies as the global reserve currency.

India too, has recently released a roadmap for the internationalisation of the Indian rupee to create broader acceptance. It is important to note, however, that the value and the acceptability of any currency depend mainly on its purchasing power, that is, the number of goods and services that can be bought using it and right now, the daily average share for the rupee in the global foreign exchange market is ~1.6%, while India’s share of global goods trade is ~2%.

Meanwhile, Indian refiners have also settled some non-dollar payments for Russian oil in the Chinese yuan and the UAE dirham.

What next?

Experts have pointed out that while India could use the yuan for payments, there are concerns about how that would appear geopolitically as it continues to have strained ties with Beijing since the border standoff. Besides, another solution could be to counter the deficit with Russia by getting it to make investments in energy projects in India or to invest in government bonds.