Newsletter 8 March

Sino-Indian Standoff: China blamed India for tension

Amid LAC ‘thaw’, China blamed India for Tension

As India seeks early troop disengagement in remaining areas in Ladakh after Pangong Tso, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on Sun reiterated Beijing’s position that the border issue was not the “whole story” of the bilateral relationship and the two countries need to create “enabling conditions” to resolve the dispute and move on.
Speaking at his annual press conference, while he said India and China were partners and not rivals, Wang again blamed India for the border flare-up last year and called for the countries to manage disputes properly.
Responding to a query on ties with India, Wang claimed the “rights and wrongs” of what happened at the border were clear and “so are the stakes involved”, suggesting the two sides move on.
In his recent interaction with Wang, foreign minister S Jaishankar had, however, made the point that ties could not be reset as long as there were tensions on the border caused by aggressive Chinese actions.
“The two sides need to help each other to succeed instead of undercutting each other. We should intensify cooperation instead of harboring suspicion,” Wang said.
“We are committed to settling the boundary dispute through dialogue. At the same time, we are resolved to safeguard our sovereign rights,” he added, as he refrained from making any direct comment on disengagement and de-escalation efforts in eastern Ladakh.
Wang had a telephone conversation with Jaishankar recently in which the latter had emphasized that with the completion of disengagement in the Pangong area, the two sides should move quickly to resolve the remaining issues along the LAC in eastern Ladakh.
Wang said the world expected China and India to safeguard their common interests and advance multi-polarity in the world.
“On many important issues, our positions are the same or close due to similar national realities, therefore China and India are friends and partners, not threats or rivals,” he said.

Chinese hackers continue to target Indian power sector despite Govt attempts to counter them…” said US cyber security firm CEO to ThePrint.

New satellite will help India keep an eye on borders near real-time

India plans to launch on Mar 28 an earth observation satellite that will provide it near real-time images of its borders and also enable quick monitoring of natural disasters.
GISAT-1 is slated to be lofted into space by GSLV-F10 rocket from Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh’s Nellore district, about 100 km north of Chennai.

PM stresses indigenization of national security system

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sat stressed the need for enhancing “indigenization” in the entire national security system, even as he reviewed the operational situation along the Pakistan and China fronts as well as the setting up of unified theatre commands in the country.
Addressing the valedictory session of the 3-day combined commanders’ conference (CCC) at Kevadia in Gujarat, the PM spelt out the “national security directives” for the 15-lakh strong armed forces as well as the “strategic imperatives” being faced by the country.
Modi stressed the importance of enhancing “Aatmanirbharta (self-reliance)” in the national security architecture, not just in sourcing equipment and weapons but also in various doctrines, procedures and customs practiced in the armed forces.
Towards the eventual aim of getting India out of the strategically-vulnerable position of being among the world’s largest arms importers, the Govt has recently finalized the Rs 47,000-crore contract for 83 indigenous Tejas fighters as well as the Rs 8,379-crore deal for 118 Arjun Mark-1A main-battle tanks.
They will then be followed by theatre commands along the land borders with China and Pakistan for a greater integrated military punch, as part of the biggest-ever restructuring under way in the armed forces.
There should be “a holistic approach” focused on “breaking down civil-military silos” and on expediting the speed of decision-making, he said, advising the Army, Navy and IAF “to rid themselves of legacy systems and practices that have outlived their utility and relevance”.
Conveying his appreciation for the “resolute dedication” shown by the armed forces in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic and the “challenging situation” on the northern borders with China, he stressed the need for them to develop into “a future force” with the requisite infusion of cutting-edge military technologies in the years ahead.
The CCC was held at a time when Indian and Chinese troops are yet to disengage at the remaining “friction points” of Gogra, Hot Springs, Demchok and Depsang Plains in eastern Ladakh.
At the CCC on Fri, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh had said India’s “proactive and resolute responses” had led to the troop disengagement with China on both sides of Pangong Tso in eastern Ladakh as well as the fresh ceasefire agreement with Pakistan last month.

Army officer arrested from Tamil Nadu in army recruitment exam paper leak case

A 45-year-old army officer of a major rank has been arrested by Pune city police in Tamil Nadu in connection with the Army recruitment exam paper leak.
The police said that the accused was arrested in Wellington town and has been brought to Pune where he will be produced in a court later on Mon.
The police further informed that it was the 9^th arrest in the case in which two different FIRs were registered with the police last month.
Earlier, in a joint operation with military intelligence of southern command of the Indian Army, Pune city police had arrested 8 accused in this case including two serving defense personnel, a defense civilian and some who were running pre-military training institutes in different parts of the country.
The army recruitment exam scheduled for Feb 28 was cancelled by the Indian Army after leak was revealed.

Navy, Army and IAF finally agree to procure armed drones from US in $3 bn deal -ThePrint

The Navy, Army, and IAF’s decision comes just days before US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s visit to India later this month.
Impressed with the performance of the two leased Sea Guardian drones, the Navy, Army and the Air Force will finally jointly procure 30 armed versions of the American unmanned aerial system in what could be a $3 billion deal, has learnt.
Austin’s visit could be a precursor to the impending meet of the ‘Quad’ leaders — US, India, Australia and Japan — which is likely to be held soon.
As per sources, initially 1 of the 3 services were not on board about procuring the armed predator drones but now all 3 are finally on the same page.
They added that the Defense Minister Rajnath Singh-led Defense Acquisition Council could take a final decision on this “soon”.
If approved, this would be the first tri-service procurement since Chief of Defense Staff General Bipin Rawat was appointed to steer the Indian armed forces into a more united force, both in terms of operational doctrine and procurement.
The erstwhile Trump administration had expected the deal for 30 armed drones to be announced at the 2+2 ministerial dialogue in New Delhi on Oct 27^th, 2020.
However, India did not succumb to the hard American push to seal the deal then.
India to procure armed version of Sea Guardian drones
In 2018, the US had offered India the armed version of the Guardian drones, which were originally authorized for sale as unarmed and for surveillance purposed.
India was earlier eyeing both the unarmed Sea Guardian drones for the Navy and the armed Predator B for attack options, but there was a growing feeling that both surveillance and attack could be done by the same drone. This was because of the prohibitive price involving American drones.
The Navy had initially planned for 22 Sea Guardians which were priced at over $2 bn, but then brought down the number to just 12.
However, since all the tri-services wanted weaponized drones, a decision was taken to jointly pursue the deal.
According to the deal, India will be acquiring 30 MQ-9 Reaper or Predator B, 10 each for the three services.
The MQ-9B has an endurance of 48 hours and a range of over 6,000 nautical miles. It comes with nine hard-points, capable of carrying sensors and laser-guided bombs besides air-to-ground missiles, with a maximum payload of two tons.
The Navy, which is the lead agency for procurement of HALE (High Altitude Long Endurance) UAVs, will seek the Acceptance of Necessity (AON) from the DAC.
In Nov last year, it has reported that the Navy had inducted two Sea Guardian drones on lease under emergency procurement.
As per sources, the Navy is really impressed with the 2 UAVs it took on lease from the US firm General Atomics.

Other contracts

This development comes as India pursues ‘Project Cheetah’, under which a Rs 5,500 crore contract is being taken up to upgrade the ‘Heron’ medium-altitude long-endurance drone fleet with all three services into an armed one.
The Navy is also pursuing another contract for 10 Naval Shipborne Unmanned Aerial System, for which American firm Boeing is the front runner.
It is also looking at leasing minesweeper vessels and helicopters, as reported in December last year.

BEL pays Rs 174.43 crore interim dividend to Govt

Navratna Defense Public Sector Undertaking (DPSU) Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) has paid interim dividend of 140% on its paid-up capital to the Govt for financial year 2020-21.
Chairman & Managing Director of BEL Shri M V Gowtama presented the Interim Dividend cheque of Rs 174,43,63,569.20/-, payable on the shares held by the President of India, to the Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Mon.
The BEL has declared 140% as interim dividend to its shareholders for the FY 2020-21.

'Sticky bombs' in J&K: 'Don’t leave vehicles unattended'

Suspecting that ‘sticky bombs’ may have entered the valley, security forces are redrawing their standard operating procedures and also advising general public not to leave their vehicles unattended, officials said on Sun.
The ‘sticky bombs’ (magnetic IEDs) dropped by terrorists sitting across the border in Pakistan using drones, were recovered in Samba sector of Jammu region along the International Border on Feb 14.
The ‘sticky bombs’ have found their maximum use in war-ravaged Afghanistan where Taliban used them against US-led allied forces and in Iraq and Syria where IS terrorists have triggered them against Govt forces.
Immediately after their recovery, a video originated from across the border on social media which gave step by step instructions about its usage and triggering mechanism, a development which took the security agencies back to the drawing board for redrawing its Standard Operating Procedures for their movement.

Batla House case: Court pronounces Ariz Khan guilty of killing Delhi cop-HT

A Delhi court on Mon pronounced Ariz Khan guilty of killing inspector MC Sharma in the Batla House encounter which took place in the national capital in Sept 2008.
35-year-old Khan was arrested by the Special Cell of the city police in Feb 2018 after being on the run for 10 years.
The court said that through evidence adduced on record, including ocular, documentary and scientific, prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that Khan along with accomplices, in furtherance of common intention, obstructed inspector Sharma in discharge of public function in common intention.

Its opportunity to showcase to world our achievements since 1947: PM tells panel on celebrations for India's 75 years of independence.

The National Committee of 259 member, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi set up to celebrate 75 years of India’s Independence will hold its first meeting on Mon to discuss modalities relating to preparatory activities.
The committee includes Union Ministers, CMs, Governors as well as leaders of different political parties including BJP President JP Nadda and Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi.
Former President Pratibha Patil, Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, former PMs HD Deve Gowda and Dr Manmohan Singh and Nobel Laureates Amartya Sen and Kailash Satyarthi are also part of the committee.
The Govt has decided to commemorate 75 years of India’s Independence in a befitting manner at National and International level in the form of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

Madhya Pradesh Assembly Passes Anti-conversion Bill; 10-year Jail, Hefty Fines for Violators

The Madhya Pradesh Assembly on Mon passed by voice vote a bill that checks religious conversions through marriage or by any other fraudulent means.
The bill earlier replaced the ordinance, cleared by the cabinet in Dec and promulgated in Jan, which had provisions of 10 years imprisonment in some cases and hefty fine for violators.
On Mar 1^st, state Home Minister Narottam Mishra presented the MP Freedom of Religion Bill 2021 in the House. After a discussion on the bill, it was passed by voice vote in the Assembly on Mon.

MPs from poll-bound States seek curtailed Budget session

Sources say Speaker will arrive at a decision only after ascertaining the ‘sense of the House’ on the matter Lok Sabha members hailing from the poll-bound West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry have requested an early curtailment of the 2^nd part of the Budget session that began on Mon morning.

As budget session resumes, RS adjourned twice amid uproar over fuel prices

Following Mallikarjun Kharge’s remarks, there was uproar over the issues as Congress MPs began raising slogans and demanded a discussion over fuel prices hike.
Citing figures, the leader of opposition said, “Petrol and diesel prices are nearly ₹100/l & ₹80/l respectively.
LPG prices have also gone up.” He alleged that ₹21 lakh crore have been collected by putting excise duty/cess due which the entire nation, including farmers, is suffering.
The rates of fuels have been rising due the production cuts by the global oil producers.
Last week, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies agreed to not to increase supply in April as they await a more substantial recovery in demand.
Calling out the move, India, which is the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, said the move to extend cuts could threaten the consumption led-recovery in some countries.

Rajya Sabha Chairman to MPs: Attend Parliament, observe debates

Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Mon said that members should make it a point to be present in the House to enhance understanding of parliamentary procedures and also use the library facility.
On the first day of the second part of the Budget Session, Naidu said that he has been told that some members do not attend the proceedings even when they are in the national capital.

Farmers Protest: Rakesh Tikait in MP on Mon; farmers warn of stir if he is arrested in 2012 case

Pradesh’s Sheopur in the afternoon to address a Kisan Mahapanchayat to garner support against the new farm laws. He is expected to address 3 rallies this week
Tikait, along with 100 others, was arrested under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with armed weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC but as released on bail.
Later, he didn’t appear during a hearing and an arrest warrant was issued against him in 2016. Since then, he is absconding.

Your game’s over: PM Modi targets Didi at massive Kolkata rally, in Poll bound West Bengal

Playing on Mamata Banerjee’s winning 2011 slogan of “paribartan (change)” while declaring that the “game” is over for her party, PM Narendra Modi on Sun pitted BJP’s “politics of development” against Trinamool’s “model of corruption and violence” and urged Bengal voters to help him usher “ashol paribartan (real change)”. On Sun, the 70-year-old actor’ Mithun Chakroverty political life came full circle when he daubed himself in saffron joining BJP.

Mamata hit back at Modi, said ‘change will come in Delhi’

The only “syndicate” in India is that of PM Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said in response to accusations by both that TMC has institutionalized “syndicates” in the state.
Equating the upcoming assembly elections with a “battle for survival”, Mamata exhorted a large gathering in N Bengal’s Siliguri to help her win fight.

Kerala Polls: Actors Devan, Radha, former bureaucrat KV Balakrishnan join BJP in presence of Amit Shah

Kerala People’s Party chief and actor Devan, along with actor Radha and former bureaucrat KV Balakrishnan joined Bharatiya Janata Party in Kerala in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sun.
Shah was in Thiruvananthapuram on Sun to participate in the valedictory function for BJP’s Kerala Vijay Yatra being held in the Shangumugham area.
Kerala state BJP chief K Surendran and ‘Metro Man’ E Sreedharan were also present during the event.
Slamming the popular alliances Left Democratic Front and United Democratic Front in Kerala, Shah said the state that was known as the land of social revolution is now known for corruption, political violence and ill-governance.

Tamil Nadu elections: Congress reaches seat-sharing deal with DMK, an state based party out of power more than decade, to contest 25 Assembly seats

NEIGHBORHOOD/ WORLD

Blinken writes to Ghani for UN-led meeting of India, 5 other countries on Afghan peace process-ANI

US State Secretary Antony Blinken has written to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani proposing a United Nations-facilitated peace conference with representatives of 6 countries including India to discuss a “unified approach to supporting peace in Afghanistan”.
In the letter sent to Ghani on Sun, Blinken said that Turkey will be approached to host a senior-level meeting of both sides in the coming weeks to finalize a peace agreement.
According to the letter published by TOLO News, the UN should convene a meeting of foreign ministers and envoys from Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, India and the US to discuss a unified approach to supporting peace in Afghanistan.
It further said that US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad should share with President Ghani and the Taliban leader’s written proposals “aimed at accelerating discussions on a negotiated settlement and ceasefire. These proposals reflect some of the ideas included in the roadmap for the peace process”.
Blinken also said that Turkey will be asked to host a senior-level meeting of both sides in the coming weeks to finalize a peace agreement. He also urged Ghani or his “authoritative designees” to attend the meeting.
The US State Secretary said these documents will help the Afghan government and the Taliban to move towards developing principles, which will guide the country’s constitutional and governing arrangements, develop a road map to a new, inclusive Govt and develop the terms of a permanent ceasefire.
While concluding his letter, Blinken said, “We are considering the full withdrawal of our forces by May 1, as we consider other option”.
“Even with the continuation of financial assistance from the United States to your forces after an American military withdrawal, I am concerned that the security situation will worsen and that the Taliban could make rapid territorial gains,” he said.
Last year in Feb, then US President Donald Trump and the Taliban had signed an agreement that calls for a full US withdrawal from Afghanistan if the terror group upholds counterterrorism commitments such as denying safe haven to al Qaeda.
Since the deal was signed, the Taliban has stepped up attacks against Afghan forces, which US officials have repeatedly condemned as threatening peace process.

China calls on Biden to roll back Trump’s ‘dangerous practice’ on Taiwan ANI

With the US repeatedly affirming its support to Taiwan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called on President Joe Biden to reverse the policies of former President Donald Trump on Taiwan.
Speaking at a press conference on Sun on the sidelines of the fourth session of the 13^th National People’s Congress in Beijing, Wang warned the Biden administration to take back former President Trump’s “dangerous practice” of supporting Taiwan, which is claimed by China as its own territory.
CGTN quoted the foreign minister as saying that the US Govt will properly handle the Taiwan issue and depart from the previous administration’s dangerous practice of “crossing the red line” and “playing with fire”. “This is the trend of history and collective will of the entire Chinese nation. It will not and cannot be changed,” he added.

INDIA: COVID-19

Indian-Americans taking over US, says Biden

Indian-Americans are taking over the country, US President Joe Biden said on Thu, referring to the high number of people from the community getting a place in his administration. In less than 50 days of his presidency, Biden has appointed at least 55 Indian-Americans to key leadership positions in his administration ranging from his speech writer to the NASA, to almost every wing of Govt.