# Taliban

• A group of Afghan Sikhs who were to leave for India on September 11 were stopped from taking the Guru granth Sahib along with them.
• The Taliban said religious scriptures are “heritage of Afghanistan” and hence cannot be taken out of the country.
• Afghan sikhs started fleeing their home country in the 1990s and it is estimated now there are fewer than 100 left.
• The Taliban’s move drew strong condemnation from Amritsar based Sikh gurudwara prabandhak committee.

# SCO meet

• PM Narendra Modi will depart for Samarkand late afternoon on Thursday to participate in the SCO summit.
• He is expected to exchange greetings with Chinese president Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir putin and other leaders in the evening at a dinner hosted by Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
• Russia has confirmed a bilateral meeting with PM Modi on Friday.
• PM Modi will have bilateral meetings with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the Uzbekistan President.

# National health accounts

• Primary health accounted for over 55% of government expenditure in 2018-19 as compared with 51% in 2013-14, according to the the findings of the National health accounts.
• Between 2013-14 and 2018-19, in government, the share of primary and secondary care together increased from 74% to 86%.
• On the other hand, in the private sector, the share of primary and secondary care together declined from 82% to 70% in the same period.

# WPI inflation

• Wholesale price inflation moderated to an eleven months low in August on the back of easing prices of fuel and power, manufactured food and non food items but remained in double digits for the 17th month in a row.
• Food inflation rose to 9.9% in August from a three months low of 9.4% in July.