The plan

• A virtual summit of leaders and foreign ministers was expected to discuss proposals to radically increase China’s involvement in the security, economy and politics of the South Pacific.
• This was seen as a reaction to Quad bloc’s (US, Japan, Australia and India) move to strengthen maritime security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.

China’s offer

• As an enticement, Beijing offered millions of dollars in financial assistance, the prospect of a China-Pacific Islands free trade agreement and access to China’s vast market of 1.4 billion people.
• Ahead of Wang’s visit, China proposed a pact that would see Beijing train Pacific Island police, become involved in cybersecurity, expand political ties, conduct sensitive marine mapping and gain greater access to natural resources on land and in the water.

Why talks failed

• In a letter to other regional leaders, President of the Federated States of Micronesia David Panuelo warned the proposed agreement was “disingenuous” and would “ensure Chinese influence in government” and “economic control” of key industries.
• Western powers have bristled against China’s move into the region, with the US State Department warning South Pacific nations to be wary of “shadowy, vague deals with little transparency”. More details here

• The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Monday in an alleged money laundering case. According to the ED, Jain was involved in hawala transactions with a Kolkata-based firm in 2015-16.
• A senior minister in the Arvind Kejriwal government, Jain was arrested about two months after properties worth Rs 4.81 crore owned by him and his family were attached by the ED.
• The case relates to the one filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2017 for alleged money laundering. According to the CBI case, Jain and his family set up four shell companies to launder Rs 11.78 crore in 2011-12 and Rs 4.63 crore in 2015-16.
• Based on the CBI case, the ED launched its probe into the allegations that led to Jain’s arrest evoking strong reaction from the Kejriwal government.
• Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia linked the arrest to the Himachal Pradesh election saying, “A fake case is being run against Satyendar Jain for eight years. Till now ED has called many times. In between, ED stopped calling for many years as they did not get anything. Now they started again because Satyendar Jain is the election in-charge of Himachal. BJP is losing badly in Himachal. That is why Satyendar Jain was arrested today. He will be released in a few days as the case is completely fake.”
• Interestingly, Kejriwal in January claimed that his sources told him that the ED would likely arrest Satyendar Jain soon. The ED had questioned Jain in 2018 in connection with the money laundering case. More here

• Plot: While social media was flooded with mourning posts over the murder of Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, aka Sidhu Moose Wala, the police suspected that the conspiracy was hatched in Delhi’s Tihar Jail with links to Canada-based Gangster Goldy Brar, who claimed responsibility for the murder in a Facebook post.
• Plotters: Police suspect Lawrence Bishnoi – lodged in Jail No. 8 at Tihar – and his aides Kala Jathedi and Kala Rana as main plotters. There was another jailmate, Shahrukh, who was the link between Bishnoi and Brar. Bishnoi, a former Delhi University student leader, was transferred from a prison in Rajasthan’s Ajmer to Tihar Jail recently. Shahrukh, arrested recently, faced multiple charges and carried a reward of Rs 2 lakh.
• Other suspects: A joint police team of Punjab and Uttarakhand held six persons suspected to be involved in the murder of Moose Wala, who was shot 30 times by around 10 attackers on Sunday in Mansa. The suspects were hiding as pilgrims of the Hemkund Sahib Yatra.
• Revenge? The police suspect Moose Wala’s case to be a revenge killing for the murder of Akali leader Vicky Middukhera last year. A Moose Wala aide, now missing, was an accused in that case.
• Probe: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced judicial probe under a sitting high court judge into the Moose Wala case. This came after Sidhu Moose Wala’s father Balkaur Singh wrote to Mann questioning why his son’s security was withdrawn. Balkaur Singh was tailing Moose Wala’s SUV with two armed security personnel when the killers rained bullets on him.
• Encounter fear: Bishnoi moved a Delhi court seeking protection saying he feared being killed in a fake encounter by the Punjab police. More here

• The crash: The turboprop Twin Otter 9N-AET plane with 22 people onboard went missing on Sunday morning in the mountainous region of Nepal minutes after taking off from the tourist city of Pokhara.
• The cause: Inclement weather was the reason behind the crash, according to a preliminary investigation carried out by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).
• The site: CAAN earlier said that the plane had crashed at Thasang-2 in Mustang district at the height of 14,500 feet.
• The passengers: The Canadian-built plane, flying from the city of Pokhara to the popular tourist town Jomsom in central Nepal, was carrying four Indian nationals, two Germans and 13 Nepalese passengers, besides a three-member Nepalese crew.
• Accident-prone region: Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Everest, has a record of air accidents. In 2016, all 23 people aboard a plane of the same airline flying the same route were killed as it crashed after takeoff.

• Shruti Sharma, a student of history, has topped the civil services examination 2021, the results of which were announced by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Monday. The top three rank holders are women.
• Ankita Agarwal and Gamini Singla have secured the second and third rank respectively.
• Sharma and Agarwal are both Delhi University graduates in history and economics respectively, while Singla is a BTech in computer science.
• A total of 685 candidates – 508 men and 177 women – have qualified and their names were recommended by UPSC for appointment to administrative, foreign, police and other central services.
• The top 25 candidates comprise 15 men and 10 women. PM Narendra Modi congratulated the successful candidates and had words of encouragement for those who could not clear the exam.
• Of the successful candidates, 244 are from the general category, 73 from economically weaker sections, 203 of other backward classes, 105 from scheduled castes and 60 from the scheduled tribes. More details here

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched the distribution of benefits under the PM-CARES for Children scheme, aimed at supporting those who have lost their parents or legal guardians to the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The beneficiaries were given scholarships, a passbook under the scheme and a health card under Ayushman Bharat programme.
• The PM said that under the scheme if someone needs an educational loan for professional courses, for higher education, then PM-CARES will help in that too.
• He said Rs 4000 would be given every month to these children which would help meet their daily needs.

‘Modi’s popularity soars’

• The popularity of PM Modi has increased to the highest since the start of the pandemic, according to a survey.
• The government has met expectations in the second term, according to 67% of 64,000 people polled by LocalCircles, a jump from 51% last year when a brutal second wave of Covid-19 infections overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums.
• The government was better prepared to handle a third wave of Covid-19 infections and had effectively managed the economy.
• Yet there were concerns over unemployment staying around 7% since the start of the year with 47% of those polled saying India hasn’t been able to address the issue.
• However, there’s also been an increase in confidence in the government’s handling of joblessness with 37% showing approval, a rise from 27% in 2021 and 29% in 2020. More details here

• Attack: All hell broke loose in Bengaluru on Monday when farmer leader Rakesh Tikait was addressing a press conference to refute charges of attempting to sabotage the farmers’ agitation. A group of people targeted Tikait, the leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, who had become the face of farmers’ protest against the three farm reforms laws brought by the Narendra Modi government in 2020, with microphone and ink. Video here
• How: While Tikait was addressing the media at Gandhi Bhawan with his supporters, a man moved forward and attacked Tikait with a television microphone kept in front of him. Another man moved in and threw black ink on Tikait. Soon his supporters rushed in to protect the farmer leader and push back the attackers. Thereafter, chaos erupted with chairs being flung from all directions.
• Tikait was in Bengaluru to speak about a sting operation aired recently on a Kannada news channel. It showed Karnataka farmer leader – Kodihalli Chandrashekhar – alleging on camera that Tikait had been trying to broker an end to the 13-month-long farmers’ agitation in New Delhi by taking money and colluding with the Union government.
• What Tikait said: The farmer leader blamed the BJP government of Karnataka for the attack. He said, “It is the Karnataka government and police’s failure. It was a conspiracy and needs to be investigated.” On attack, he demanded a probe against the farmer leader who accused him of asking money to end the farmers’ agitation and also the news channel.
• Attackers: Their identity was not immediately known. They were caught by Tikait supporters and handed over to the police. Some farmer leaders claimed that one of the attackers shouted “Modi, Modi”.

• Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) reported a profit of Rs 23.72 billion ($306 million) for the March quarter. It is considerably lower than the profit of Rs 28.93 billion it recorded a year ago.
• In its regulatory filing on Monday, India’s biggest insurer and largest domestic financial investor also announced a dividend of Rs 1.50 per share with a face value of Rs 10 each.
• LIC’s net premium income rose from Rs 1.22 trillion to Rs 1.44 trillion during the year.
• Its solvency ratio, a measure of an insurer’s ability to meet its long-term debt obligations, rose to 1.85 from 1.76 a year earlier.
• However, LIC’s 13-month persistency ratio – the number of policies being renewed – fell from 73.24% to 69.24%.
• LIC recently made its debut on the stock exchanges. At Monday close, its stock was down 11.7% from their offer price of 949 rupees per share.
• The government has sold 3.5% of its stake in the LIC to raise about Rs 205 billion from what was India’s largest IPO (initial public offering).

JAMA MASJID. The Monday evening storm damaged the parts of historic Jama Masjid of Delhi. Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari said the kalas (finial) of the main dome fell off. Some stones of the mosque structure also loosened and fell off injuring two people.