Newsletter 6 july

July 6, 2020
 Team

News in Box  

Headlines of the Week

  1. Indian and Chinese troops begin disengagement in Galwan Valley on LAC
  2. PM Modi called on by the President, Ram Nath Kobind on Sun
  3. Govt blocks 40 websites of banned pro-Khalistan group Sikhs For Justice
  4. Nepal’s ruling party in grave crisis: PM Oli to Cabinet Ministers
  5. Many retired Gorkha soldiers in 6.6k to get JnK domicile

Indian and Chinese troops begin disengagement in Galwan Valley on LAC

NSA Ajit Doval held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councilor Wang Yi over video call On Sun.

  • Both Indian and Chinese troops have retreated two km each along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Galwan Valley, according to reports.
  • The Chinese Army is removing tents and moving back from certain areas of the Galwan Valley, in a first sign of disengagement of troops from the area, government sources said on Mon.
  • Top official sources told IANS that both sides retreated two km simultaneously on Sunday, following several rounds of talks which had begun after the clash on June 15.
  • The disengagement between Indian and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) happened as per the agreed terms in the Corps Commander’s meeting.
  • NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi had a telephone conversation on Sun.
  • They had a frank and in-depth exchange of views on the recent developments in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas, Ministry of External Affais (MEA) said.
  • Both sides should take guidance from consensus of the leaders that maintenance of peace and tranquility in India-China border areas was essential for development of bilateral relations and that two sides shouldn’t allow differences to become disputes, MEA added.
  • In this regard, they further agreed that both sides should complete the ongoing disengagement process along the LAC expeditiously.
  • The two sides should also ensure a phased and stepwise de-escalation in the India-China border areas.
  • They re-affirmed that both sides should strictly respect and observe the LAC and should not take any unilateral action to alter the status quo and work together to avoid any incident in the future that could disturb peace and tranquility in border areas, MEA said.

Such agreements have also been occurred previously during military level talks, and troops from both sides have agreed to disengagement and de-escalation, on day (June 15th) when fetal clash occurred between both sides. Reports have also came in media that Beijing replaced normal troops by ‘Martial Art personals’. However, experts from India don’t seem optimistic with such agreement.

What is that disengagement? Is China vacating Finger-4? Is China moving back to where it was before May 2020? NO. China has taken the territory and India has accepted the new status quo?

The earlier disengagement process became a ruse for PLA to encroach on two new Indian areas: Depsang Y-Junction; and Galwan’s PP-14. Armed with greater leverage, PLA is now said to have pulled back from PP-14—but after making the Indian side move back from known Indian territory.- Brahma Chellaney

  • Statement released by Ministry of External Affairs
  • “Taking effective measures to ease tensions. There is progress made on the frontline. Effective measures taken to disengage,” the Chinese authorities said according to TV reports.
  • With the retreat from both sides, a four kilometer no-man zone has been created. “Four kilometers in the highly mountainous terrain like Galwan valley, deprives both sides to see each other’s installations and reinforcements,” sources said.
  • The two sides have also agreed, sources said, not to do any aerial surveillance of the retreated area, to rebuild trust which was badly damaged due to the June 15 bloodbath.
  • “As a result, neither side would really know what the other side is doing,” a military source added.
  • Indian Navy’s P-8I aircraft generally used for maritime patrol and reconnaissance, had been pressed into service in Ladakh for high altitude surveillance. The P-8Is carried out similar surveillance operations during the 2017 India-China standoff in Doklam in Sikkim.
  • However, sources said PLA has removed tents and structures at PP14 and rearward movement of vehicles of the PLA were seen at general area Galwan, Hotsprings and Gogra.
  • The retreat on Sunday, sources said, is limited to these areas and no other contentious points along the LAC. Around 30,000 troops of Indian Army are in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation with Chinese troops along the LAC in Ladakh, following the additional deployment of three brigades since the violent face-off last month.
  • The Indian and Chinese armies are locked in a bitter standoff in multiple locations in eastern Ladakh for the last seven weeks.
  • The tension escalated manifold after 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a violent clash in Galwan Valley on June 15. The Chinese side also suffered casualties but it is yet to give out the details.
  • India has been insisting on restoration of status quo ante in all areas of eastern Ladakh to restore peace and tranquility in the region.

India and China have held several rounds of diplomatic and military talks in the last few weeks to ease tension in the region. However, there was no visible sign of end to the standoff though the two sides agreed to initiate disengagement of the forces from the region.

Chinese PLA’s rear defenses in Ladakh’s Galwan valley face an icy challenge

Military commander said it would be tough for China to hold on to current PLA positions in Galwan, Gogra, Hot Springs and Pangong Tso.

  • China’s PLA, which had amassed a large number of troops 5 km from the standoff points in Galwan, may need to shift around its soldiers after its rear positions on the Galwan bank have been flooded due to a sharp rise in water levels, reported by Hindustan Times.
  • HT reported the water level of the icy-cold, snow-fed Galwan river that originates from the Aksai Chin region had risen sharply due to an increase in temperature. “With snow melting at a rapid pace, any position on the river bank is dangerous,” the senior army officer said, pointing that satellite and drone imagery had indicated flooding of Chinese tents located on the river bank at rear positions.
  • For now, despite the occasional public posturing in Beijing, there is no evidence on ground that China is looking at de-escalating any time soon.
  • To the contrary, there are reports that the PLA was laying fiber optic cables at its locations in the Galwan valley.
  • There is also a report with the army that the PLA is seeking to build a tunnel in the finger area of Pangong Lake.

These inputs confirm the Indian assessment in the early days of the standoff that the situation could go on for a long time, much longer than the 2017 Doklam standoff that lasted 73 days.

 

As tensions soared after Galwan, Pompeo made quiet call to Jaishankar-Indian Express

  • The phone call by Pompeo, sources said, was made about 10 days ago and the conversation revolved around Washington’s support to New Delhi at that time of crisis.
  • At the height of tensions between India and China following the June 15 incident in Galwan Valley where 20 Indian Army personnel were killed in clashes with Chinese troops, US Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo spoke to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, The Sunday Express has learnt.
  • The phone call by Pompeo, sources said, was made about 10 days ago and the conversation revolved around Washington’s support to New Delhi at that time of crisis.
  • Since March, Jaishankar and Pompeo had spoken to each other on at least three occasions, but this was their first conversation after the Galwan Valley incident.

Sources said information about the call was not made public for “strategic reasons” since India and China were in the middle of military and diplomatic talks — the second meeting of the Corps Commanders took place on June 22 and the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) met on June 24.

You might have remember-

  • Washington’s statement on June 17, two days after the Galwan Valley incident, was seen as neutral in tone.
  • “We are closely monitoring the situation between Indian and Chinese forces along the Line of Actual Control.
  • We note the Indian military has announced that 20 soldiers have died, and we offer our condolences to their families. Both India and China have expressed a desire to de-escalate, and we support a peaceful resolution of the current situation,” a spokesperson for the US State Department had said.
  • But US statements in the last 10 days have seen calibration, reflecting a more vocal support. And Pompeo has been leading from the front. On July 1, briefing reporters in Washington DC, he welcomed the Indian government’s decision to ban 59 Chinese apps.
  • “We welcome India’s ban on certain mobile apps that can serve as appendages of CCP’s surveillance state. India’s clean app approach will boost India’s sovereignty, will also boost India’s integrity and national security, as the Indian government itself has stated,” he said.

The US has conveyed, publicly and privately, its steadfast support to South Block amid the tensions along the LAC. This has been matched by optics and some substantive cooperation at the operational level too.

PM Narendra Modi meets President Ram Nath Kovind, after His Leh Visit

briefs him on issues of national and international importance

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sun called on President Ram Nath Kovind and briefed him on the issues of national and international importance at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
  • The official handle of Rashtrapati Bhavan informed about the meeting with a photograph of PM Modi and President Kovind.
  • In the picture, both of them can be seen wearing face masks.
  • The meeting comes after the PM had visited Leh earlier this week and addressed soldiers following the June 15 clashes in the higher reaches of that region with Chinese troops in which 20 army personnel sacrificed their lives for the nation.
  • No details of meeting came out.

Govt blocks 40 websites of banned pro-Khalistan group Sikhs For Justice

  • The Centre on Sun blocked 40 websites linked to pro-Khalistan group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) for ‘a campaign for registering supporters for its cause’.
  • “Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), an unlawful organization under the UAPA, 1967, launched a campaign for registering supporters for its cause. On recommendations of MHA, MeitY, has issued orders under sec 69A of the I.T. Act, 2000, for blocking 40 websites of SFJ”, an home ministry order said.
  • The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is the nodal authority for monitoring the cyber space in India.
  • Last year, the home ministry had banned the SFJ for its alleged anti-national activities, according to news agency PTI.
  • The SFJ pushed for Sikh Referendum 2020 as part of its separatist agenda. The US-based organization had declared July 4 as the inaugural day for registration of referendum on Khalistan.
  • Earlier this week, the Centre had declared 9 Khalistani terrorists, including SFJ’s Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who has been spearheading a campaign under the banner of “Referendum 2020” for a separate Khalistani state, as ‘individual terrorists’ under recently amended fourth schedule of UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Amendment Act).

Others designated as individual terrorists under UAPA are Babbar Khalsa International’s UK chief Paramijit Singh, Canada-based head of Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Germany-based members of Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) Gurmeet Singh Bagga and Bhupinder Singh Bhinda, and Pakistan-based terrorists – head of BKI Wadhawa Singh, Lakhbir Singh (International Sikh Youth Federation), Ranjeet Singh (Khalistan Zindabad Force) and Paramjit Singh (Khalistan Commando Force).

Nepal’s ruling party in grave crisis: PM Oli to Cabinet Ministers

Oli felt some party members want to remove President Bhandari from power, Nepalese leaders involved in this plot after his govt redrew the country’s map by including Indian territories

  • Senior leaders feel raising baseless accusations against India and leaders of own party by PM was not appropriate
  • Facing growing demand for his resignation, Nepal’s embattled PM K P Sharma Oli has said that the ruling communist party is facing a grave crisis, indicating that it may split soon, according to a media report on Sun.
  • Oli, at an emergency meeting of the Cabinet at his official residence, told the Cabinet ministers that “some of our party members are also trying to remove President Bidya Devi Bhandari from the power,” My Republica newspaper quoted a senior leader as saying.
  • “Now, conspiracies are being hatched to remove me from the post of PM and party chairman,” the prime minister said on Saturday, adding that he will not let it happen.

The ruling party is facing a grave crisis, Oli said.

PM Oli holds talks with Nepal’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Purna Chandra Thapa: ANI reported.

  • “I had to make a quick decision to prorogue the budget session of Parliament last week after coming to know that some of our party members were hatching conspiracy to register an impeachment motion against the President at Parliament,” Oli told the ministers.
  • Surya Thapa, the prime minister’s press aide, said that the prime minister invited the ministers to share the latest political developments in the country.
  • Prior to the meeting, Oli held a one-on-one meeting with President Bhandari at her office in Maharajgunj.
  • Oli’s statement comes at a time when the intra-party rift in the NCP is at its peak after majority of the party’s Standing Committee members and Central Secretariat members demanded his immediate resignation from the post of Prime Minister and party chairman, accusing the government of failing to live up to the people’s expectations.

Turmoil over Citizenship Bill in Nepal

  • Amidst the Covid-19 crisis that has taken the toll to the life of 32 persons and infected over 15,000 people as of July 3, 2020, a chain of political events have been taking place in Nepal and the latest in the series is the controversial bill on Citizenship Act 2063 brought about by the Secretariat of ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) headed by K.P. Sharma Oli.
  • This bill was easily endorsed by the lawmakers of the Parliamentary State Affairs and Good Governance Committee as 16 out of 27 of its members belonged to the NCP.
  • Likely, the bill will be presented to the full house of the parliament for further discussion and endorsement. Since the NCP has close to a two-thirds majority in the parliament, it will not be difficult to pass the bill.
  •  
  • The citizenship issue is most sensitive in Nepal. In its absence, one cannot enter into government jobs, participate in electoral politics, buy or sell the property and even get entry into the academic institutions.
  • Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of people in Nepal are such who have not been granted citizenship certificates so far and the victims are mostly from the Madheshi community, the poor and downtrodden sections of the population.
  • Such people are deprived of all the rights and privileges of the nation. In the past, several commissions were constituted to resolve the citizenship issue, but it is not yet settled.
  • Nepal’s Interim Constitution 2006 (2063) allows the foreign women married to Nepalese men to acquire naturalized citizenship of this country.
  • Such women enjoy all the rights as made available to the Nepalese citizens except the constitutional posts like the Prime Minister, President, Chief Minister, etc.

But now the amendment bill has made it mandatory for the foreign women married to Nepalese men to wait for seven long years to acquire naturalized citizenship.

Many retired Gorkha soldiers in 6.6k to get JnK domicile

  • The past one week since the Jammu & Kashmir administration started issuing domicile certificates, over 6,600 applicants — majority of them retired soldiers and officers from the Gorkha community — have got the document that allows them to buy property and apply for jobs in the Union Territory.
  • “More than 5,900 certificates have already been issued,” said Vijay Kumar Sharma, additional deputy commissioner (revenue), Jammu. In Kashmir, about 700 certificates have been issued, many of them former Gorkha soldiers and officers.
  • “In my tehsil alone, there are nearly 2,500 from the Gorkha community who had served in the Indian Army and their families who got domicile (about 3,500 have applied).
  • There are quite a few from the Valmiki community also,” said Dr Rohit Sharma, tehsildar of Bahu in Jammu.
  • Valmiki community members were brought to the state in 1957 from Punjab after local sanitation workers went on a strike.
  • It was the protest mostly by four groups — Gorkha servicemen, Valmikis, West Pakistan refugees and women who had married outside J&K — that had been at the center of the decision to expand domicile criteria in the Union Territory.
  • The domicile rules had been notified by the JnK administration on May 18th, with a rider that issuing officers (tehsildars in this case) who did not provide certificates in 15 days would be penalised Rs 50,000.

Non-locals who had lived in J&K for 15 years, their children, officers with central government and central institutions and anyone who has studied in J&K for seven years and appeared in the Class X or XII exams became eligible.

Miscellaneous

  • During a search, police have detected one more IED planted in Gangoo area of Pulwama. The IED was defused; investigation yet to conclude. One CRPF jawan injured in IED attack by terrorists in Gangoo area of Pulwama, JnK; area cordoned off, search operation underway.
  • The hospital is equipped with all the facilities for patients free of cost as well as Army personnel will provide their services 24*7. A garbage dumping land was levelled and cleared to build the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel COVID19 Hospital. The Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has manufactured 70 Made in India products so far, to fight against #COVID19. We can manufacture around 25,000 ventilators each month if there is a need. We are ready to export them too. DRDO Chairman G Satheesh Reddy
  • Protest organized outside the Chinese Consulate by Indian diaspora against the illegal intrusion by China in Galwan and human rights violations by Beijing in Tibet and Hong Kong. Posters read: ‘We salute Indian Army’, ‘China Out of Tibet’ and ‘Free The Panchen Lama’.
  • Gujarat: A newly-built bridge in Bamnasa village of Junagadh collapses following heavy rainfall, on Mon

International

Chinese ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming said that “the city [Hong Kong] was defenseless facing anti-China forces” when discussing the reason for implementing the national security law for HKSAR. The national security law for HKSAR won’t impair the city’s high degree of autonomy, and does not remove its capitalist system and judicial independence: Chinese ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming.

Scientists urge WHO to address airborne spread of coronavirus

  • More than 200 scientists from over 30 countries are urging the World Health Organization to take more seriously the possibility of the airborne spread of the novel coronavirus as case numbers rise around the world and surge in the United States.
  • In a forthcoming paper titled “It is Time to Address Airborne Transmission of Covid-19,” 239 signatories attempt to raise awareness about what they say is growing evidence that the virus can spread indoors through aerosols that linger in the air and can be infectious even in smaller quantities than previously thought.
  • Until recently, most public health guidelines have focused on social distancing measures, regular hand-washing and precautions to avoid droplets. But the signatories to the paper say the potential of the virus to spread via airborne transmission has not been fully appreciated even by public health institutions such as the WHO.

Nation Amid COVID-19

  • WHO discontinues hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir trial for COVID19 treatment
  • S. cases surpass 2.8 mln: JHU
  • Iran’s cases nudge 240,000
  • UK’s deaths rise to 44,198
  • Chinese mainland reports 8 new cases
  • COVID testing: Positivity rate of infections
  • COVID death rate: Ratio of Total Deaths to Overall Cases in the Indian states
  • COVID death rate: Ratio of Total Deaths to Overall Cases at an all India level

NATMO publishes 4th updated version of its COVID 19 Dashboard

National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organization (NATMO) functioning as a subordinate department under the Department of Science & Technology, Ministry of Science & Technology, and Government of India published the 4th updated version of COVID-19 Dashboard on its official Portal at http://geoportal.natmo.gov.in/Covid19/ on 19th June 2020.

  1. A single Map Window through which a user may get a wide range of information related with COVID-19.
  2. COVID Statistics: Confirmed Cases, Recovered, Deceased, Rate of Recovery, and Rate of Death information have been given state and district wise, while the health facilities Information like – Hospitals, Test Labs, Blood Banks also shown on the same map frame.
  3. ‘Drill Down’ approach has been adopted to represent the data. Users may select a state to see District wise distribution of COVID cases and available health infrastructural facilities. Users may find individual health facility info at a higher zoomed level. Some useful information to common people like address, categories, and city locations have been indicated with info tool. The cartographic preferences for data visualization has been considered and adopted to ensure easily interpretable data visualization.
  4. States Scenario with an emphasis to last 14 days has been illustrated through charts. First two dominant states in terms of maximum Confirmed Cases are shown by default, and a user may opt to see any other state by choosing the same from the drop-down.
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