Newsletter 1 February

Sino-Indian Standoff: China tries to open new front with Naku La clash, test India’s defense: Experts

Defense Ministry acquires strategic land in Arunachal Pradesh’s border village

The Indian Army plans to establish a military garrison in Arunachal Pradesh’s Yorni II which is located 30 km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The land parcel is located in the village of Yorni II in West Siang district and according to a report by ET’s Nidhi Sharma, the Govt plans to establish a military garrison there. Yorni II is located 30 km from the LAC and has a population of about 150.
The garrison coming up in the Indian village is seen as a counter to the Chinese infrastructure build-up in Nyingchi.
Renowned open-source intelligence analyst ‘DetResFa’ shared a picture on Twitter highlighting the Indian position, which tweeted “Amid the border tension with China, the Indian Army has acquired strategic land 30 km from the border in Arunachal Pradesh to establish a military garrison, data from local media suggests the suspected site as below, possibly countering the infra build up in Nyingchi,”
According to report, the rural development ministry has already notified the defense ministry as “appropriate authority” under Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 for the acquisition of the land.
Not a single villager got less than Rs 1 crore and Chief Minister Pema Khandu distributed compensation of nearly Rs 41 crore to the 31 landowners.
The Indian Army had acquired 200.056 acres of lands for housing Key Location Plan Units of Tawang Garrison.
In 2017, the defense ministry had released Rs 54 crore for 152 families of 3 villages in Arunachal Pradesh.

First Indo-US combat drill of Biden era in Rajasthan next week

India and the US are all set to kick off a major combat exercise in Rajasthan next week, in the first such bilateral war-game after the Biden administration took charge in Washington and reiterated India’s role as a key partner in the Indo-Pacific as well as the need to strengthen the “Quad”.
Indian officials say the ‘Yudh Abhyas’ exercise, which will be held at the Mahajan Field Firing ranges from Feb 8 to 21, will once again underscore the continuing upward trajectory in defense cooperation with the US, which enjoys bipartisan support among the Democrats and Republicans.
The US contingent for Yudh Abhyas will include a brigade headquarters and a battalion group of around 250 soldiers from a Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
India will also field an infantry brigade headquarters and a battalion group from the JnK Light Infantry for the exercise.
The Malabar, of course, sent a strong strategic signal to China amidst the continuing military confrontation in eastern Ladakh, with the Quad nations stressing their commitment to “support a free, open, inclusive Indo-Pacific as well as a rules-based international order”.
India, incidentally, also deployed a long-range Poseidon-8I maritime patrol aircraft and other personnel for the `Sea Dragon’ anti-submarine warfare exercise with the US, Japan, Australia and Canada from Jan 14 to 27 in Guam.
The aim, interestingly, was to strengthen interoperability among partner nations for “regional contingencies”.

Budget 2021: No change in income tax slabs, focus on healthcare and infra

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Mon presented the Union budget for the next financial year where she announced a slew of measures to aid the recovery of the economy battered by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) package.
There was also an eye on the upcoming Assembly elections in 4 states as the finance minister announced infrastructure projects for Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and West Bengal.
One of the important policies announced by the finance minister included a voluntary vehicle scrapping policy to phase out old and unfit vehicles.
There were plans for start-ups and pensioners too.
The budget proposals for 2021-22 rest on 6 pillars: Health and well-being, physical and financial capital and infrastructure, inclusive development for aspirational India, reinvigorating human capital, innovation and R&D, and minimum government and maximum governance.
Talking about the Public Sector Banks (PSBs), Sitharaman said that the Govt would infuse ₹20,000 crore into them to meet the regulatory norms.
For the current financial year also, the Govt had made a provision of ₹20,000 crore for recapitalization, she added.
However, import duty was increased on a number of products to facilitate Indian companies in becoming self-reliant.
The economy is projected to contract 7.7% in the current fiscal year, although the government forecasts growth of 11% for the coming fiscal year, after a massive Covid-19 vaccination drive and a rebound in consumer demand and investments.
Total Defense Budget this year is 478195.62 K cr.
CBI allocated ₹835.39 crores in Union Budget 2021-22 to probe high-ticket cases

• Sitharaman projects fiscal deficit in 2021-22 at 6.8% Here is the list of schemes launched by the minister

Aatmanirbhar package amounting to ₹27.1 lakh crore has been introduced to deal with the coronavirus pandemic impact.
The centrally sponsored PM Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana with an outlay of around ₹64,180 crores spread over 6 years.
The increase in the capital expenditure in the health sector with 137%. The budget expenditure for 2021-22 announced by the minister amounts to ₹2 lakh 23 thousand crore.
Ujwala scheme will be extended to cover 1 crore more beneficiaries. City gas distribution network will be extended to 100 more cities.
Jal Jeevan Mission-Urban was also announced with an outlay of ₹2.87 crore.
The textile parks scheme with the aim to create 7 textile parks over the next three years.
The increased the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the insurance sector from 49% to 74%.
Incentive package from Centre to state will also be proposed by the government for disinvestment in public sector enterprises. The minister has estimated ₹1.75 crores from disinvestment in 2021-22.
For MSME, the finance minister has increased the capital expenditure to ₹15.17 thousand crores, which is absolutely double the expenditure prosed last year.
To further the National Education Policy under the reinvigorating human capital under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat mission the minister said a central university will also be established in Leh for accessible higher education at Ladakh.
The finance minister announced ₹4,000 crores outlay for deep ocean survey spread across five years for conservation of deep ocean biodiversity.

Farmer’s Protests

India’s Ministry of Electronics & IT had directed Twitter to block 250 tweets and twitter accounts which were using Modi planning farmer genocide hashtag and making fake, intimidator and provocative tweets on Sat 30^th Jan. This was done at the request of Home Ministry.

Proposal of Govt given to farmers still stands-PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi While expressing regret over the statue of Mahatma Gandhi getting vandalized in the US on Sat reiterated that the proposal of Govt given to farmers on Jan 22 still stands and should be communicated to all by the leaders of the political parties.

Insult of tricolor on Jan 26 saddened the nation: PM ModiInsult of tricolor on Jan 26 saddened the nation: PM Modi

PM Modi on Sun addressed the nation through his radio program Mann Ki Baat. Today’s episode was the first episode of 2021 and 73^rd episode since the program started in 2014. PM Modi said that the ‘made in India’ vaccine is a symbol of India’s self-reliance. He also said that the country was saddened by the insult to the tricolor on R-day 26.

Massive crowds gather at farmers' 'Mahapanchayat' in Bijnor Distt of Uttar Pradesh

Meghalaya Governor, Satya Pal Malik, a Jat leader from western Uttar Pradesh, said the situation had been made worse by the UP Police’s attempt to evict the agitating farmers from Ghaziabad earlier this week.

Farmers can’t be humiliated, have requested PM to resolve: Satya Pal Malik

Considering low positivity rate of UK returnees regarding the new COVID variant, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Sat did away with the compulsory institutional quarantine for a period of 7 days followed by 7 days of home quarantine for those travelers who are found negative in RT-PCR test at the airport.

Government cold to Opposition demand for discussion on farmers’ stir

Sources in the Opposition said that the signal from the Govt was that a focused discussion on the farmers’ agitation was unlikely to take place in the first half of the Budget session.
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Sun chaired a meeting of floor leaders of the Upper House. His view, the sources said, was that the farmers’ issue can be taken up as part of the debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s Address, for which the Business Advisory Committee has allocated 10 hrs.
Over the past 6 years of the Narendra Modi Govt, the Opposition has managed twice to pass amendments to the President’s Address. But numbers in the Upper House are now in favor of the ruling NDA.
The Delhi Police had earlier issued lookout notices against farmer leaders and further announced an investigation into the Republic Day (Tue) violence.
A Delhi court on Sunday remanded freelance journalist Mandeep Punia, who had been picked up at the Singhu protest site on Sat evening, in 14 days’ judicial custody, his lawyer said.

Terrorist hideout busted in Rajouri, huge cache of arms recovered

During the search operation, war like stores were recovered.
The seizure included one AK 47 rifle, three magazines of AK 47, 94 rounds of AK 47 ammunition, 2 Chinese pistols, 2 Chinese pistol magazines, 8 rounds of pistol ammunition, 5 UBGL grenades, among others
The security forces on Sun busted a terrorist hideout in Rajouri district and recovered a rich haul of arms and ammunition.
A joint operation by Indian Army and police led to swift and timely recovery of large cache of weapons and ammunition from the dense forest area of Gadyog in Khawas region of Rajouri, said Defense spokesman Lt Col Devender Anand.
“Based on specific information from a reliable source, a joint operation was launched on Sun by Indian Army and J&K Police in the general area of Chikakhet in Gadyog forest of Khawas region of Rajouri District, South of Pir Panjal Ranges,” he said.

With nod for 83 LCAs worth RS 47k-cr, HAL readies 3rd plant

Buoyed by the recent Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approval for procurement of 83 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mark-1A aircraft worth Rs 47,000 crore, Defense PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL is all geared up to make operational a dedicated second LCA plant in Bengaluru.
The new plant at Doddanekundi here, according to sources in HAL, will be inaugurated by defense minister Rajnath Singh on Tue.
“The plant, when commissioned fully, will be able to produce 16 LCAs/year, against 8 at present.
We’ll make the Tejas Mark-1A and the trainers here,” one source said.
The first dedicated LCA plant and HAL’s Aircraft Division are both producing them.
The Tejas Mark-1A aircraft worth Rs 46,898 crore — 73 fighters and 10 trainers — cleared by the CCS on Jan 13, will have 43 “improvements” over the Tejas Mark-1 jets which the IAF has already placed orders for earlier.

India, US start discussions on F-15EX multi-role combat aircraft: Boeing

The US and India have held discussions on F-15EX fighter jets and the two respective air forces have exchanged information about it, a top Boeing official has said after the aerospace major received approval from the American government to offer its latest multi-role combat aircraft to the Indian Air Force.
The F-15EX is the latest and most advanced version of the multi-role, all-weather, and day and night versions of the F-15 aircraft family.
“Since the US Government approved our license request to offer F-15EX to India, we are starting to have more discussions about the platform,” Laine said.

Vaccine diplomacy adds fresh layer to Indo-US ties

India’s health diplomacy is yielding unexpected results with the United States now joining the United Nations in lauding New Delhi’s vaccine heft. On Fri, the newly appointed US Secy of State, A Blinken, in a conversation with External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar, nailed Covid-19 vaccinations as a key dimension of ties during the Joe Biden presidency.

NEIGHBORHOOD/ WORLD

Myanmar’s first vice president Myint Swe appointed as acting president after military coup: Report

Myanmar’s military stages coup, detains Aung San Suu Kyi

The Myanmar military grabbed power in a coup on Mon (Feb 1) morning, ahead of a scheduled meeting of the country’s newly elected Parliament.
Myanmar’s democratic transition had been a work in progress.
The results of the 2020 election, held during the pandemic, were being seen by the NLD as a mandate for its plan of constitutional reform, through which it aimed to do away with the military’s role in politics and governance.
Aung San Suu Kyi, who led the National League for Democracy (NLD) to a landslide win in the 2020 elections, and the de facto leader of the ousted Govt, has been detained, according to reports from Myanmar.
Suu Kyi and President Win Myint were detained in the capital Naypyidaw before dawn, party spokesman Myo Nyunt told AFP, just hours before parliament was meant to reconvene for the first time since the elections.
In a broadcast on its own television early on Mon, the military declared a one-year state of Emergency.

What triggered the coup

The military has alleged that the general elections held in November 2020 were full of “irregularities” and that therefore, the results — a sweep for NLD — are not valid. It has questioned the veracity of some 9 million votes cast in the election.
The military had demanded that the United Elections Commission of Myanmar which oversees elections, or the Govt, or outgoing parliamentarians prove at a special session before the new parliament convenes on Feb 1, that the elections were free and fair. The demand had been rejected.

‘Rule of law must be upheld’: India expresses ‘deep concern’ after military coup in Myanmar-MEA

India on Mon expressed “deep concern” on the developments in Myanmar and said it believes that the rule of law and the democratic process must be upheld.
In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it is monitoring the situation closely.
“We have noted the developments in Myanmar with deep concern. India has always been steadfast in its support to the process of democratic transition in Myanmar. We believe that the rule of law and the democratic process must be upheld. We are monitoring the situation closely,” the MEA statement read.
The India–Myanmar border is the international border between the India and Myanmar (formerly Burma). The border is 1,468 km in length and runs from the tripoint with China in the north to the tripoint with Bangladesh in the south, which make special concern for New Delhi, particularly amid Sino-Indian standoff.
Washington was swift to react to the news. “The United States opposes any attempt to alter the outcome of recent elections or impede Myanmar’s democratic transition, and will take action against those responsible if these steps are not reversed,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the European Union, Britain and Australia were among others to condemn the coup.
China declined to criticize anyone, instead calling for all sides to “resolve differences“.

Afghanistan: Car bomb explosion targets peace affairs ministry official in Kabul

A car bomb exploded on Mon at Kabul PD10 in the morning, near the office of Saadat Mansoor Naderi, Afghanistan’s Minister of State for Peace Affairs.

Security officials informed that the blast targeted an armored vehicle that belonged to Khushnood Nabizadeh, head of Naderi’s office in Kabul.