EP 161: India sees light at the end of the tunnel in the Second wave; Modi won’t attend G7 & more!

Sree Iyer: Namaskar. Welcome to Daily Global Insights Edition 161, with Sri and Sree.  Today is the 12th of May 2021. And in US News, education security Cardona says dreamers are eligible for emergency college grants. Welcome to our Channel, Sridharji, and your thoughts on what the education secretary is saying?

Sridhar Chityala: Namaskar, Good morning to everybody on this May 12^th and wonderful day a wonderful day or wonderful evening. Education secretary’s comments, is they are trying to figure out how best to accommodate dreamers for those who don’t understand who your dreamer is?  Dreamers are those youth who came into the country as unaccompanied youth with no documentation, but who pretty much stayed on and they call themselves US citizens.  And there was an attempt to pass a law which gives them the passage to citizenship in 2010 during Obama and it didn’t succeed, but they still have a path if they go through security checks, path documentation, Etc, Security checks provide documentation, and go to the due process, they would be normalized. But these people exist here, so, how to accommodate them as normal people in the absence of that documentation in the absence of the natural path. There was a bill that was passed called DACA which is Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals. So some of these DACA members have been able to get limited grants and other facilities like US citizens. So, dreamers who are caught between this situation and now they’re saying, the US government is saying they will be eligible for emergency college grants. So in other words, they want to go and study in a college. They say, I belong to the dreamer category and, now, you know, I’m not going to be thrown out. I may not have a DACA qualification, but can you give me college grants support, so I can go and study, and once I do that, then I may apply for DACA. And then through data, then I may have an opportunity to become a normal citizen when the law is enacted. So it’s very interesting advocacy inconsistent with all these border surges who are being allowed to come in. They’re saying they will give these grants to people you know who are here and staying as normal citizens. I’m explaining this construct. So people understand who these dreamers are and what their status is along with so many different statuses that we have within the United States.

Sree Iyer: Sir, what is happening on the border now, is it now more regulated or it’s still open,

Sridhar Chityala: Nothing is regulated like anything else. So therefore just to give you an example today, in Manhattan, we came in from Long Island, Oh, you know, I’m pretty much in cities. You don’t have a cop’s injunctions, in Prime Avenues. We can take a left turn between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m, when actually, left, turns are not allowed up to 7 p.m. There is nobody to monitor. So, you know, pretty much. It’s very similar to this if it’s right in the middle of a city. If you can imagine what the scenario is in the Border. So, the Surge has continued and there is no ICE and if people get caught, they get caught. So states are passing legislation. It may not be a flood gate, but things are happening on a normal basis. By the way, Miss Harris who is supposed to be responsible for the border, is yet to visit the border and probably 50 days have elapsed and she is yet to give the press conference.

Sree Iyer: Texas State House passes the bill, that will punish cities, which the defund police. Sir, the way I understand the funding for all these organizations, police, fire and things like that, I think the state has a budget and then the state budget gets divided among counties and depending on what the population of the county and inside the county, if there’s a city and if that City requires the police force, then funding is done. So, this defunding of police, who is this call and now why is Texas State as I state trying to stop that sir?

Sridhar Chityala: Local counties, make the decision, you have the state, the state passes, it to the local counties and local counties passes it to you know respective Villages or respective consoles. They in turn make decisions. So it’s a local Administration that takes determinist action as to how to allocate the budget. They allocate part of the budget to water, they are getting part of the budget to police. They allocate part of the budget to probably fire stations and so many other types of activities that happen within your village or within a district or within a council. So they may say, you know, they may choose to say, okay? I’m not allocating money to the police. I will take that money and allocated it to maybe, you know these illegal immigrants shelters that are here. I may be allocated to normalizing Army allocated to educational grants etc. Etc. So again allocated to the school budget. So I think they have the discretion, so they’re saying the state is statehouse, Pastor in legislation, which is to say, you do not have that, right to defund, police if it is given for police, money should be allocated to police. So they are taking a deterrent measure and action fearing that some of these could go Democratic and the local Administration for Democratic and they may defund on the police and overall upset the law and order in the state. So it’s pre-emptive action.

Sree Iyer: And the US police inspection arm, are being questioned, over alleged spying reports. Wow, that is something else. I mean, so, is the US Postal Service, going through our mail, sir.

Sridhar Chityala: Well, this is interesting because there is an inspection arm or US inspection police arm which monitors the activities to make sure that there are no breaches. If you remember, the US post office has a multitude of functions including the issuance of passports, validation initiation of various government documents. They have direct access to the name, address of individuals and in many instances, these post people are aware, who the people who live in each of these households. So there is a vast amount of confidential information. And there is the underlying law that the identity is preserved and protected and there is no violation on the compromise of the individuals, what you call as personal preferences and pro formas. So, what are now saying, is that the postal service has been surreptitiously been asked to even monitor the social media websites because they have the name and collect information. So, this is what this inspection arm has found. And now, they’re beginning to question the validity and the constitutionality of monitoring that violating the privacy laws.

Sree Iyer: Republicans fight big government control over Broadband expansion plan. Now, this has been one of those touchy subjects, where the companies such as AT&T, and anybody who is doing the infrastructure, they say that you know, we have to lay cable to remote areas that cost a lot of money and regard charge an extra, isn’t it? I mean, this is one of the big thorny issues.

Sridhar Chityala: It is a big thorny issue the 90% of the United States homes don’t have Broadband access. They don’t have the facilities. With the pandemic and with remote learning and remote capabilities, there is a growing recognition that everybody must have Broadband access or everybody must have high-speed access to have facilities to do online access and even Medical Services today, you know, is video bases services. So you can’t people, you know, being denied. But, what the Republicans are saying here is that Republicans are stating here that look we do not want the government to control. So they came up with this hundred billion dollars or some big number in the infrastructure plan budgeting of the 2.1 trillion dollars, that was presented. These 100 billion dollars include all these people being given a grant of 50 dollars a month and that grant going towards funding the Broadband access to each of these individual homes. But it discriminates or delineates those people who don’t fall under the category of receiving these grants and benefits. And for them, the charges will be determined or the levy will be determined by the government. The government says you will pay 100 dollars. You will charge around $120, so it’s no longer the Broadband access provider, who is determining the pricing rules. It is the big government at the Centre, which makes this so that one party, which is subsidized, is like a $50 credit.  The actual cost is 100 you pay 50. There’s a $50 that still needs to be covered. That $50 is going to be funded from the revenue generated by the rest of the universe, who may be charged, instead of $69 that $119 to cover the Gap. The gap between what the government offers by way of subsidy versus the actual cost of the broadband service. So, this is what the Republicans are saying, which is to say no longer the ISPs or the service providers control the pricing, the government is going to be the agency, which determines and this is the broad part of the Democratic plan. It’s almost what I call the socialization of the commercial deployment of various Services, where the government monitors managers and determines, how they kind of dispense out these rolls out.

Sree Iyer:  Sophisticated and well-designed Ransomware Attack on Colonial Pipeline traced to criminal enterprises in Eastern Europe. Now, this was something that we were suspecting that it’s either Eastern Europe or China or North Korea or one of those rogue Nations which indulge in this. Now what additional information have the sleuth got to say that this is actually from Eastern Europe and not somebody else doing this proxy stuff.

Sridhar Chityala: At least the FBI investigations have revealed that this leads, the pathway to Eastern Europe, probably with a Russian connection. I think it’s a website or it’s the group called, The Dark Side, which is trying to attack. They say that, that this is where they trace it to. This is only the information that we are getting. Whether it is verified, whether it is independently auditable, we don’t know, but the information with Russian linkages. They say that it’s a ransom, they have not attributed to your Russian government, they don’t say that it is a government-initiated, but it looks like a private. They also say that this is extending to other infrastructure and you may see more and more such attacks and they believe that this purely may be for monetary purposes and demanding certain price tags for stopping such attacks.

Sree Iyer:  Russia Gates specialist Susan Hennessey to join Biden’s Department of Justice team. Susan Hennessey’s, name rings a bell. Was she a TV commentator sir?

Sridhar Chityala: Yes, Susan Hennessey is a CNN analyst. She served in the Obama Administration in the department of our national security. She’s actually, again, joining the DOJ within which her brief would be around the National Security issues. It’s very interesting she’s called the Russia gate specialist. She was the one who was investigating this whole Trump-Russia collusion during the Obama period. Not much came out of it, but it’s another reflection of this witch hunting, that is going on to go back and bring and load people with, you know, very specific biases and Views, which they did not prove anything out in that but the probably the journey continues for the rest of the three years or four years of Biden’s term.

Sree Iyer: Liz Cheney vote gains momentum. She looks all but gone from a leadership role, Sir, beyond Liz Cheney, now is the Republican Party, coalescing or getting behind Donald Trump would that be an indication. If Liz Cheney goes, who else would have to be also moved out Murkowski perhaps or what are your thoughts?

Sridhar Chityala: There are not in leadership positions. Liz Cheney is in a leadership position in the House, so they have to replace her. So they’re going through the due process, the Voting is later today, we will get come to know will report it tomorrow as to the outcome from that and she has been a vocal critic of President Trump. There, she calls the big lie and she has stated whether I’m in or out in the leadership position, I am going to continue to do my rants against President Trump. That’s her position.

Sree Iyer: Well, the real proof of the pudding, whether she’s liked, to her stand is liked by the people will be known, come 2022, so we wait and see. And India news PM Modi will not be attending the G7 meeting in a person taking place in Cornwall, this is in England, June 11 to 13th, I think this is expected because there are fires burning at home. What are your thoughts are?

Sridhar Chityala: Well, I think it’s very sad that he would be missing. It’s a very important meeting. India doesn’t get invited to G7, it’s called G7 + 3, the plus 3 countries, include South Korea, India and Australia. It’s a Pity that he will miss out.

Sree Iyer: What did WHO say of the Indian variant? How the false news was spread. Now, this is all the rage now. Somehow we have this nasty Network, which is very ready to just pounce on anything that is Anti-India and by extension anti-Modi, I don’t know which one comes first. And they never seem to learn. Rihanna was a fake, Greta’s thing was read from a package that, you know, something that was given at the package and they don’t seem to bother that they are lying through their teeth sir.

Sridhar Chityala: Well what the left-wing liberal media or the pseudo-left-wing intellectual media in concert with it is very well known that Mr Soros is funding and he made it very clear that he listed few leaders and Modi is in the top three of the list. Trump was one of them. They have a target, What is called ousting of Mr Modi. So therefore they have pumped these organizations you have seen even Mr Rahul Gandhi make a statement which is to say, hey, we the United States, we need your help to oust Mr Modi because we are unable to do you have had this explicit statement. Anyway, to get to this issue, we discussed this, if you have missed yesterday’s session with Mohandas Pai, we discussed it extensively as part of the fireside chat. You know, three of us. We had an extensive discussion on the whole situation around Covid. I suggest if you haven’t watched it you should go and watch it. But having said that to get back to your question, what exactly happened? The double mutant or the B.1.617 coronavirus variant that emerged in India is now classified as a variant of concern. They’ve not stated India but they said it is a variant of concern by the World Health Organization. The doctor who led this press briefing, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove said during the organization’s press briefing that they are classifying this as a variant of concern at a global level as its spreads. Additionally, she said there is some available information to suggest increased transmissibility and went down to add that there is some evidence for reduced neutralization which means some of the current medications may have less potency in terms of tackling this. That’s all she said. So what did the Indian Journalist do? She picked it up and she tweeted that WHO classifies triple mutant covid variant from India as Global Health threat and preliminary studies show that the variant can spread more easily than the original virus and it may be able to evade vaccines. This is her tweet quoting the doctor. Just to clarify, the triple mutant is coded as B.1.618. Dr Maria was mentioning B.1.617. She was not of talking about B.1.618. So, therefore, there is a complete deception in her Tweet when she is referring double to triple. By the way, Dr Fauci has indicated the Covaxin, which we reported in DGI earlier, has the ability to treat and dispense the double mutant virus. But media does not believe in data, what is published, they have their own mechanism and they have their own advocacy in terms of what they put out, and there is no verifiability and there is no enforceability.

Sree Iyer: Well, that is the unfortunate part. There has to be some way to enforce it, but then the Press Council of India is headed by, someone who we shall say is nameless.

In India, the number of new covid cases is lower than the total cured and discharged. So light at the end of the tunnel.

Sridhar Chityala: Yes, 325,000 cases, by my number, were new and 356,000 – 360,000 was the people who were discharged. So the net used to be positive for the total outstanding numbers has now reduced. So today, India reduced, one number is 30,000 that I have, and yesterday Mohandas Pai quoted 36,000. Whatever, maybe the number, the total outstanding cases are less. India is definitely moving in the right direction, but again, we discussed the whole swag of issues around it. People can go and follow much of the content around the covid issue in India in that Fireside chat with Mohandas Pai.

Sree Iyer: Moody’s slashes fiscal year 2022 Indian GDP forecast to 9.3%. Now it was I think in double digits. I think it is lowered a little bit, understandable because May is practically going to be no output for them, sir.

Sridhar Chityala: Indeed, I think 12.5% or more than 12% was protected. It’s going to be 9.3%. The lives of Indians are far more important, GDP, they will get there, eventually. But the good news is they will finish 2021 just past 3 trillion-dollar, it will be somewhere around 3.1. They should be well on the way towards 3.6 – 3.7 trillion dollars but unfortunately, there was a drag last year because the entire year being wiped out by covid.

Sree Iyer: In Global News, Biden and Eastern European allies discuss democracy and regional threats in Bucharest 9 Summit. I am assuming there are 9 countries are participating.

Sridhar Chityala: Yes, 9 countries are participating. The best way to explain this is when Rome Burns Nero fiddled. So we have a major crisis looming in Israel, Palestine with rockets getting fired and there’s a global hullabaloo that is going on. And then we have this Bucharest Summit that is around democracy and around regional threats. They have already had the EU submit, most of these countries are part of the EU. Again, he is going to meet the EU in June when he goes for the Cornwall meeting of G7. So to me, it is a little bit of a red herring and it’s very unfortunate. The other unfortunate thing is that there has been no statement coming from the secretary of State on the events unfolding.

Sree Iyer: Republicans and Democrats lash out at Hamas for launching rockets. Ilhan Omar accuses Israel of terrorism. I don’t know if  Miss Omar forgets that she’s actually a congresswoman of the United States.

Sridhar Chityala: No, they carry their identity and baggage with them, and they basically use this as a mechanism and tool to say, ‘we have a global concern and whenever people with lesser power of threatened for their independence, we as progressives stand up for their rights. That’s our position.

45 Rockets fired from Gaza and Israel responded, it went on for two, three days. This is even after Israel responded with specifically targeted launches into those rocket-firing zones in Gaza. So this thing goes on. It has become a political litmus. So every conceivable leader within the United States is standing up. There is also a concern whether there is a lack of a statement from global leadership that can encourage Iran to be much more active on this specific issue and encourage some of these activities to prop up. So, this is a big topic not only in United States House and Senate but also outside.

Sree Iyer:  This is asymmetric warfare because Palestinians normally fire their rockets from places where there are families, children, women abound because they do not want Israel to retaliate back at the same spot. Because, if by chance, there is life and limb loss, they can blame it on Israel and say, ‘oh, they are trying to wipe us out.’ So this is very asymmetric warfare. It is very unfortunate that Ilhan Omar and her ilk continue to do this kind of stuff when the rest of the Democrats and Republicans are united in condemning Hamas because they were the ones who started this. So it’s very, very unfortunate and I think Madam Nancy Pelosi is supposed to be The Iron Lady of the democratic party. Well, I would like to see some of that iron come out now.

Sridhar Chityala: Well, you know, the iron is a bit rusted right now. So, we just clean up the rest and we may see sparks coming out of it.

Sree Iyer: Is the China virus now, a UK variant, India variant, Brazil variate, how successful is China’s mainstream media’s strategy across the  world to divert attention? Now, this is something that is really straight, they will not accept it, if you call it a China virus, but they would like to give names everywhere, where there is a variant.

Sridhar Chityala: Well, you can see how cleverly and smartly…

Sree Iyer: They think, it is not like they can go.

Sridhar Chityala: You are right. Your observations are absolutely correct. If you recall, the Democrats said that you should not call China virus. It’s discrimination. That gave enough leeway for China to say, we’ll call it India variant. That’s not discrimination. Have you seen Biden Administration come and say or Dr Fauci, stand up and say that you should not call India variant? Why not call it B.1.617 – that is the new virus or CORSARDCON.V1238, why can’t you say that strain of virus? They don’t. Even Fauci himself doubts and says whether it is an Indian variant or Brazil Variant, or it is a UK variant. So, what happens is, when you have leadership taking what I call the discriminatory approach, on one side not call the China virus on the other side call the other country variants, then it gives an opportunity for China to step up the pedal and run its agenda.

Sree Iyer: Now, viewers, I want you to help us out here. Do you think it is correct on the part of China to call all these variants by the country from where they originated? We would like you to say yes or no in the comments. Say that yes, China is justified in calling all these variants by the country’s name or no, China should first admit that it is a China virus that is actually causing all these variants. So please do say yes or no. Even if you don’t say anything just say yes or a no. We can understand that, we will tabulate the data and share that data, maybe in a couple of days time in a separate or in the future DGI hangout. Thank you very much.

Taiwan denounces China’s shameless lies over WHO access. Now, Taiwan is beginning to find its voice. For the longest time, they used to be very quiet, very sensible about it but I think somewhere along the line they seem to have got some confidence that the US has their back. What are your thoughts, sir?

Sridhar Chityala: I think Taiwan is very clearly establishing its identity. It is showing that it has a spine on its back and it is saying that it is ridiculous, we have contributed and we have been facilitating, assisting are not only development of vaccines and medical facilities as part of the WHO program and China can come back and say that Taiwan is given access by the United States is complete humbug and is one more mechanism to assert our independence and sovereignty. I’m glad they have spoken out. Don’t forget that Taiwan was one of the countries which is supplying cryogenic oxygen cylinders to India. They gave a hundred or so cylinders to India in the hour of need. Even Bhutan gave one.  Taiwan has given hundred, depending on the size of the country and the capacity. The fact is they’ve also been part of many programs of WHO. I think China is over-extending its reach and is trying to exert its influence and determine what sticks.

Sree Iyer: China issues a threat to Bangladesh over joining QUAD. QUAD consists of four countries, now, looks like the quad is expanding. Is it like a multi-tier expansion? Or is it all going to be quad, Penta, Hexa, and so on, sir.

Sridhar Chityala: I think it’s QUAD, it could be multi-tier. Don’t forget that we have the EU likely to join the Quad alliance, we have France and Germany already joining as part of the QUAD alliance, we have the UK joining as part of the QUAD alliance. I think, the inner perimeter countries would now be called, which is where the South China Sea countries, which is where the principal focus is, I think they could also be joining and some of the Indian Ocean islands are joining. That’s the reason why you have Australia and France involved in terms of interest around the QUAD. So you’re beginning to see a broad coalition of members, lending their resources and support because the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific is the gateway for more than 60% of the global trade flowing through maritime waters.

Sree Iyer: In covid news, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia have hit the covid variants with an iron fist. How did they manage to do this?

Sridhar Chityala: They are small countries. They followed the protocol that Taiwan and Singapore followed. There are three things which are very important in managing covid. This is what Singapore, Israel, and Taiwan have demonstrated. The first and foremost is very active testing. Testing testing, testing testing, that’s number one. Number two, isolation, and quarantine. Number three, active tracking of people – not contacted, contracted – active monitoring of those people. So these are the three essential things that they have. In fact, in Singapore, it was so maniacal that when you enter a building you are tested. When you leave a building, you are tested, because you could have contracted. When you are going to stay in the building for a period of time, you’re initially in quarantine, I’m talking about hotels here, and then you move out. So there was such intense and active testing that has helped and the same principle is being used by Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand.

Sree Iyer: In markets news, European and Asia-Pacific markets tank following the US sell-off. Tech stocks fall as the rot depends. Is it because of the unemployment news?

Sridhar Chityala: There is inflation worries and there has been inconsistent statement between the treasurer secretary as well as the Fed. So, the Fed Governor has now taken a backseat. You saw that the treasury secretary said that inflation is possible given the rapid momentum around the economy. But the headline numbers of the unemployment numbers were a big disappointment. That’s the second. The third is, I think Mr Biden himself made the comment in which he said that people are happy to receive Dole, they are not willing to come to work. The employers are complaining that there is a huge employment shortage because people don’t want to come to work. Also, there is a possibility that this is the undercurrent, they all want more pay because now you have this socialization of the commercial industry taking place with unionization, minimum wages etc, etc. So all these are creating a potential headwind in the way the economy is heading in the medium to long term. As I said in 2021, we are well, or away, the question is, what happens? That’s where you’re beginning to see some sell-off.

Sree Iyer: With that, today’s segment comes to an end. Thanks for watching. Please do send in your comments on that one particular line item that I requested. Do subscribe to our channel and please consider joining our membership program. Sridharji, thank you sir. We will be back again tomorrow. Same time, same channels. Namaskar.

Sridhar Chityala: Namaskar. Thank you so much, and have a wonderful evening in India and have a wonderful day in the United States.