Nine Nepalese injured in Hamas attack in Israel
Kathmandu (PTI): At least nine Nepalese nationals were injured in the terrorist attack by the Hamas militant group in Israel on Saturday, the Nepal government said as it condemned the unprecedented assault and vowed solidarity with Tel Aviv.
The Nepali government has strongly condemned the "loss of precious human life" in the attack that also "injured many more", said a statement issued Nepali Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"At this critical hour, we convey our solidarity with the government of Israel," the statement said.
When the Islamist group Hamas launched an attack in Israel, nine Nepalese were injured, two of them seriously, according to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official.
"We have been informed that a farm where 14 Nepalese were working was also under attack, nine of the Nepalese have been reported injured while two of them are in serious condition," the ministry said.
"The Government of Nepal extends heartfelt condolences and deepest sympathies to the people and the government of Israel as well as the victims of this cruel attack and their families," reads the statement, adding that Nepal "wishes for the speedy recovery of the injured".
"The Embassy of Nepal in Israel is in close communication with the Nepalese living in the areas under attack."
"The Embassy of Nepal in Israel is also in contact and coordination with the Israeli authorities for the safety, security and rescue of the Nepalese as well as the medical treatment of the injured," the statement issued by the ministry here said.
Hamas militants captured an underground shelter near the farm where the attack took place, Nepal's Ambassador to Israel, Kanta Rizal, told CNN. The embassy is in touch with some Nepalis inside the shelter, Rizal said.
The embassy has no information about any Nepalis taken hostage and moved elsewhere, the ambassador added.
Hamas militants fired more than 2,000 rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel, according to the Israeli military, while Hamas fighters entered southern Israel by land, sea and air, using paragliders. Hamas says it captured several Israeli soldiers near the border.
The surprise attack has killed 70 people and injured more than 600 in Israel. In the Gaza Strip side, more than 195 deaths and about 1,500 wounded have been reported in Israel's counterattack, media reports said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared "war" and asserted that his country would extract an "unprecedented price" from its enemy.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
India should create strategic buffers to navigate 'most difficult' energy shock: CEA Nageswaran
New Delhi (PTI): Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran on Saturday said India needs to create strategic buffers in the face of the "most difficult" energy shock that the country is facing amid the West Asia crisis.
Nageswaran also said the rising prices of fertiliser and petroleum products globally due to the crisis will make it challenging to achieve the 4.3 per cent fiscal deficit target for the current fiscal, while below normal monsoon and pass-through of higher energy prices could lead to "potential inflation spike".
He also said India has employment challenge emanating from AI, and there is a need to ensure that IT sector becomes more competitive and not lose jobs to AI, and instead create jobs that use AI within the IT sector or in other services.
Speaking at the ICPP Growth Conference organised by the Ashoka University, Nageswaran said the current account deficit (CAD) in the current fiscal could rise to over 2 per cent of GDP, from less than 1 per cent in FY'26.
"The ... priority for us is to create strategic buffers. This energy shock is the most difficult one compared to any other previous energy shock in terms of energy lost as a percentage of total global energy supply, not just oil, including gas.
"And we also need to use this occasion to think about other areas where we are vulnerable in terms of import dependence, nickel, tin, and copper. We need to build strategic buffers if we have to make a shot at manufacturing and becoming indispensable," Nageswaran said.
Since the beginning of the war in West Asia on February 28, crude oil prices soared to a four-year high of USD 126 per barrel on Thursday, from about USD 73 level before the war.
Stating that geopolitics will compel policymakers to be nimble and flexible and shed old model of thinking, Nageswaran said India is better prepared than many other countries to deal with the crisis because of the fiscal leeway that the country has due to lowering of fiscal deficit ratio to 4.4 per cent of GDP in FY'26.
Nageswaran said the West Asia conflict is more of a price shock than supply shock for India as the government is managing the supply side deftly.
"This particular conflict, which is going to be on a low simmer or a high flame situation, whatever it is, it is going to be there with us in some form or the other because the military conflict may be over, but the strategic conflict is well and truly alive. It will be so for some time," Nageswaran said.
He said the conflict has four channels of shock: price and supply shock, trade impact, sticky logistics costs and remittance shock.
India imports 60 per cent of its LPG usage and of that, 90 per cent flows through the now closed Strait of Hormuz.
Nageswaran said the pass-through of high global energy prices would have to be a "balancing act". He said some pass-through is already happening in commercial LPG, and the levy of export duty on diesel and ATF.
The government has cut excise duty on petrol and diesel to shield customers from the impact of the rise in petroleum prices. "We are coming around to arriving at a certain modus vivendi with respect to burden-sharing between the fiscal policy side, inflation, households and the oil marketing companies. So it has to be a balancing act," Nageswaran said.
