Newsletter 26 February

Sino-India Standoff: De-escalation of troops only after Disengagement is completed

Broader de-escalation of troops once disengagement is completed at all friction points: Jaishankar told Wang

- External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s telephonic conversation with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi lasted for 75 minutes.
- The two Foreign Ministers discussed the situation along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh and also issues related to overall India-China relations.
- Noting the completion of disengagement in the Pangong Lake area, Jaishankar emphasized that both sides should now quickly resolve the remaining issues along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh.
- Jaishankar said that once disengagement is completed at all friction points, then the two sides could also look at broader de-escalation of troops in the area and work towards the restoration of peace and tranquility.
- According to the MEA release, “The EAM referred to the meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister in Sept 2020 in Moscow where Indian side had expressed its concern on provocative behavior and unilateral attempts of the Chinese side to alter status quo.
- He noted that the bilateral relations have been impacted severely over the last year.
- The EAM said that boundary question may take time to resolve but the disturbance of peace and tranquility, including by violence, will inevitably have a damaging impact on the relationship.
- He noted that the two sides had maintained continuous communication since then through both diplomatic and military channels.
- This had led to progress as both sides had successfully disengaged in the Pangong Tso Lake area earlier this month.
- State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, on his part, expressed satisfaction at the progress made so far. Wang told Jaishankar: “It was an important step forward for the restoration of peace and tranquility in border areas.”
- He felt that both sides should make efforts to consolidate outcomes.
- It was also necessary to sincerely implement the common understanding reached various levels.
- He spoke about the need to improve management and control in the border areas.
- Wang noted that the Indian side had proposed ‘three mutual’ (mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interests) as the approach to the relationship.
- He also agreed on the importance of taking the long view of our ties.
As per Xinhua “Wang said that the rights and wrongs of last year’s situation in China-India border areas are very clear, and profound lessons should be drawn from the past. Recently, India has vacillated and even moved backward over its policy on China, which has affected and disrupted bilateral pragmatic cooperation, Wang said, noting that it goes against the interests of both sides.
India and China have been negotiating since then over ways to calm the situation, each saying they want to find a way to get along, but at the same time both countries have been building up their military presence in the region.

India’s sudden peace push with nuclear rivals show Biden impact

After a year of some of the worst fighting on India’s frontiers with Pakistan and China, all 3 countries are suddenly talking peace as they wait to see how President Joe Biden will shift policy in the region.
India and China’s foreign ministers on Thursday discussed plans to disengage troops from their Himalayan border, which last year saw the deadliest clashes since the 1970s.
The phone call between S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, which stretched for more than an hour, came shortly after India and Pakistan released a rare joint statement by senior army officials announcing a halt in operations along their border.
The moves reduce tensions in one of Asia’s top flashpoints, where three nuclear-armed countries regularly challenge each other’s territorial claims.
While India and Pakistan have fought three wars since Independence and barely have any trade, tensions between New Delhi and Beijing escalated last year to the point where PM Modi’s Govt banned hundreds of Chinese apps and slowed investment approvals.
The detente in South Asia shows all 3 countries responding to initiatives from the Biden administration, which is formulating policy toward the region following the unpredictable years of President Donald Trump.
Pakistan wants to show the US it’s not too close to China, Beijing wants to lower the temperature as Biden courts New Delhi and India is hedging its bets as it prepares to host BRICS leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year.
“On the one hand India hopes that the US-China peer rivalry means India remains important and Pakistan — as an ally of China — will face more pressure,” said Aparna Pande, director of the Initiative on the Future of India and South Asia at Washington-based Hudson Institute.
“But Delhi is not sure how strong Washington will be vis-a-vis Beijing, so a temporary ceasefire with Pakistan and slow disengagement with China may buy some time and relieve immediate pressure on India.”
India’s borders with Pakistan and China stretch nearly 7,000 km.
Though India and Chinese troops have started pulling back their troops from some parts of the contested border in the remote Himalayan region, there are still areas where soldiers are facing off.
New Delhi and Islamabad in 2003 signed a cease-fire agreement along their 742-km Himalayan frontier, known as the Line of Control, but that truce has been violated repeatedly.
The agreement “will save innocent lives so no one should question the intent,” Moeed W Yusuf, special assistant to Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, said on Twitter. “Nor should wrong inferences be drawn.
There is nothing more than meets the eye here.” The Biden administration welcomed the announcement on re-implementing the 2003 ceasefire agreement, which it had advocated.
“When it comes to the US role, we continue to support direct dialogue between India and Pakistan on Kashmir and other issues of concern,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
Previous moves toward peace between India and Pakistan, including a statement in May 2018 after an escalation of cross-border shelling, have dissipated quickly.
Whether they can actually build on this and move toward a more permanent peace remains an open question, but at least for the moment the shifting geopolitical winds are providing a seemingly rare opportunity to talk instead of fight.

Army probes data breach as massive Northern Command espionage case could see heads roll soon-IT

- The Indian Army is probing a data breach in the Northern Command after a soldier was found to have passed on tactical and operational Indian military data to Pakistan’s ISI, (as reported yesterday).
- India Today has learnt that the data leaked by the mole-in-uniform includes top secret military maps, positions of forward troops and assets on LAC & LoC.
- The Indian Army has classified as ‘highest concern’
- The data leaked by the mole-in-uniform includes top secret military maps, deployment specifics, patrolling routes, positions of forward troops and assets on the Line of Actual Control and Line of Control.
- Army chief General MM Naravane is said to have taken an extreme view of the breach – not surprising given the time at which the espionage has come to light.
- There are multiple reasons why this latest Northern Command data breach is being seen with an especially harsh glare.
- Most obviously, the breach comes at a time when India has a live military situation on two fronts — in eastern Ladakh with China, and at the LoC.
How did espionage case come to light?
- The breach came to light weeks before India and Pakistan announced a ceasefire on Feb 25. Moreover, it comes on media on the same day, when India and Pakistan announced ceasefire.
- Also, it wasn’t the Army’s own internal checks and balances that detected the breach, but a high-level tip-off from the counter-intelligence arm of India’s RAW.
- It missed the biggest in years, is being seen as a top-level lapse.
- Alarm bells have also rung out over why so much sensitive data was found to be at one place, given that safety protocols prohibit this precisely to avert such large-scale breaches of sensitive information.
- As a result, the inquiry is also pursuing the possible theory that data had been compiled for a separate operational purpose, and was leaked ‘in transit’.
- This latter theory too will be very difficult to stomach, since the Army has powerful safety protocols at every possible step.
- Technical questions also form part of the inquiry, including what method was used to transfer the data.
- USB drives have been banned for years.
- A comprehensive sweep of all equipment, digital protocols and standard operating procedures in data handling has already been conducted, sources say.
The inquiry process
- The Northern Command is currently headed by Lt Gen YK Joshi, the officer who has presided over the Ladakh standoff, and the current disengagement process.
- The inquiry is being conducted at the Army’s 16 Corps headquarters in Nagrota, 50 km northeast of Udhampur.
A preliminary assessment has taken the view that several officers could be held accountable. In the words of a top Army source, “heads will have to roll”.

‘In Tibet’s independence resides India’s security’

According to writer and activist Tenzin Tsundue, India repealing the ‘One China’ policy will empower India politically and diplomatically, and place the country in a position of power.
As activist and writer Tenzin Tsundue, who was in Chandigarh on Thursday, marches on his 500-km walk from Dharamshala to Delhi raising awareness about the issue of Tibet, Pallavi Singhal talks to him about his journey and what lies ahead?
What are you going to do once you reach Delhi?
I am seeking an appointment with the Prime Minister of India. I am not sure if it is possible but I am hopeful. I am also running an online signature campaign which petitions the government of India to change the ‘One China’ policy, asking people to sign in huge numbers.
Once I get to Delhi, I will deliver these signatures to the PM or his office. We will also have a concluding conference about India-China-Tibet relationship in Delhi.

Day after govt's social media rules, Twitter says, 'Many people don't trust us'

Centre has announced a host of rules according to which social media platforms will have to act quickly if some content is flagged by the Govt.
A day after the Centre released regulations for social media and over-the-top (OTT) platforms making it mandatory for Twitter and WhatsApp to identify the source of a post deemed anti-national by authorities, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said the micro-blogging platform is lacking in transparency and it has been evident in the last few years.
“… We agree many people don’t trust us. Never has this been more pronounced than the last few years… And we aren’t alone: every institution is experiencing a significant trust deficit,” he said to analysts, as reported by PTI.

Kerala: RPF seizes bag with explosives at Kozhikode railway station

A woman from Tamil Nadu, identified as Ramani, who had bought a ticket from Katpadi to Thalassery, claimed ownership of the bag. She said the items were to be used to break rocks and dig a well in Thalassery.

CRPF jawans going on leave get MI-17 ferry facility in Kashmir to avoid Pulwama-like attack

Days after the second anniversary of the Pulwama terrorist attack, the Govt of India has provided ferry facility to Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans deployed in Kashmir.
The soldiers going on leave from Kashmir will be transported to the nearby destination through an MI-17 helicopter to avoid IED attacks.
The decision was implemented by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and an order has been issued by CRPF on Thursday.

Assembly Election 2021: EC announces dates for West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, Puducherry polls

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Trinamool Congress (TMC) are among the major political parties which will contest these elections in these four states and the Union territory.

A total of 824 assembly constituencies shall be going for polls during these elections. 18.68 crore electors will cast vote at 2.7 lakh polling stations in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry.

States	constituencies	Phase
Assam	126	1^st phase Mar 27^th , 2^nd phase Apr 1^st , 3^rd phase Apr 6^th,
Kerala	140	Apr 6^th
Tamil Nadu	234	Apr 6^th
West Bengal	294	1^st phase Mar 27^th, 2^nd phase Apr 1^st, 3^rd phase Apr 6^th, 4^th phase Apr 10^th, 5^th phase Apr 17^th 6^th phase Apr 22^nd, 7^th phase Apr 26^th, 8^th phase Apr 29^th
Puducherry	30	Apr 6^th

Date of counting May 2^nd

India’s food grain production to be an all-time high at 303 million tons

India’s foodgrain production in the 2020-21 crop year will touch a new all-time record high of around 303 million tons (MT), which is over 2% higher than the previous year’s output.
Agriculture ministry’s 2^nd advance estimates for the current crop year (July-June cycle), released on Wed, shows record output of paddy (120 MT), wheat (109 MT), maize (30 MT) and gram (12 MT) in the food grain basket.
The ministry’s figures show that the production during 2020-21 is higher by 24.47 MT than the previous five years’ (2015-16 to 2019-20) average production of food grains.
Good monsoon rainfall (9% higher than the long period average) and its better distribution in most states last year helped in higher acreage of both Kharif and Rabi crops, leading to better output of most of the crops in the pandemic-hit year.

"National Medical Commission Will Bring Great Transparency," said PM Modi

The Govt is transforming the entire medical education and healthcare sector and the National Medical Commission would bring great transparency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday.
“Friends we are transforming the entire medical education and healthcare sector,” he said addressing the 33rd convocation of the state-run Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University through video conferencing.
The National Medical Commission would bring great transparency and also rationalize norms to set up new medical colleges, he noted.
“It will also improve the quality and availability of human resources in this sector.”
During the last 6 years, MBBS seats increased by more than 30,000, which is a rise of more than 50 per cent from 2014.
The number of postgraduate seats increased by 24,000 which is a rise of around 80% from 2014.
In 2014, there were six AIIMS in the country. “In the last six years, we have approved 15 more AIIMS across the country.”

NEIGHBORHOOD/ WORLD

Terror funding: FATF keeps Pakistan on ‘grey list’

Pakistan will continue to remain in the grey list of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force as it failed to fully implement all the points of a plan of action set by it to curb terror activities.
The anti-terror watchdog said that Pakistan has now largely addressed 24 of the 27 action items and urged Islamabad to swiftly complete its full action plan before June 2021.

US welcomes India-Pakistan joint statement on ceasefire

The United States has welcomed the joint statement of India and Pakistan to strictly observe all agreements on ceasefire along the Line of Control and other sectors, saying it is a positive step towards greater peace and stability in South Asia.