Newsletter 16 March

National

China to allow travelers only if they have taken Chinese vaccines

How will it Affects the Indian:

More than 22,000 students only are stranded in their home country as China is yet to allow foreign students back into the country.
New Delhi has not approved use of China-made vaccines in the country.
The rule, therefore, will not make it any easier for Indians to get visas.

Also, Not sure, if Beijing is in talks with New Delhi to make its vaccines available as the Chinese embassy or consulates cannot offer the vaccines in India without authorization from the Indian Govt.

Between the lines

The new provisions come at a time China has been promoting its vaccine shots across the world.
It has administered 65 million vaccine doses at home and has been pushing its vaccine in emerging economies.
But given the lack of transparency about the clinical trial data of its vaccines, Beijing has found the response from many countries to be less than enthusiastic.
China has, however, been more successful in introducing its vaccines in Africa and Latin America, a Bloomberg report said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Mon, in response of a question, will China accept WHO approved vaccine, “foreign vaccine producers ‘could file a request’ with the authorities concerned in China for a decision”.
So far, China has not allowed vaccines made in other countries to be used in the country.
The vaccine provision comes against the backdrop of the Quad’s announcing an ambitious plan to distribute vaccines in Asia under the Vaccine Initiative signed off by leaders of the four countries.
The US development bank will assist India’s Biological E to produce one billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines to be rolled out by the end of 2022.
However, it could also be an answer also for “Indian Vaccine Matry” (vaccine diplomacy)

How Indian Media Read it

HT: China Says, it will issue visas in India, makes it impossible to get

The Hindu: China to allow travelers only if they have taken Chinese vaccines

Boris Johnson to visit India in April as UK aims to counter China: Reuters ANI

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will visit India in April to boost UK opportunities in the region and to create a democratic counterweight to China, Reuters reported.

Aim: Expand its influence in the Indo-Pacific region while preserving its strong ties with the US, the British Govt will be laying out the country’s post-Brexit defense and foreign policy priorities on Tue.

As Reuters also mentioned that Johnson will focus “on the UK’s place in the world and the ability to seize the opportunities ahead.”

Calling the Indo-Pacific “increasingly the geopolitical center of the world”, the Govt also highlighted a British aircraft deployment to the region ahead of Johnson’s previously postponed visit to India in Jan, reported Reuters.

Between the lines

Relations between the UK and China have strained over issues such as Hong Kong, COVID-19 pandemic, denying Huawei an active role in Britain’s 5G network, and the potential deployment of Queen Elizabeth aircraft carriers in the South China Sea.
Britain will also be holding two influential roles this year: hosting the first post-pandemic G7 summit in June, and the COP26 climate conference in Nov.
Since completing its exit from the European Union at the end of last year after an acrimonious divorce, Johnson’s Govt has vowed the “Integrated Review” will show Britain still had clout on the world stage and define a new era for the country.
A statement previewing Tue’s 100 pages report listed “the importance of UK relationship with the US” alongside the defense of democracy and human rights, and safety from terrorism as fundamental components of the British policy.
Britain is seeking a trade deal with the US and reassurance over where it sits in President Joe Biden’s international priorities.
Johnson hoped to rearrange his visit before Britain hosted the meeting of leaders from the G7 in June, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to attend as a visitor.
In Feb, Britain made a formal request to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, seeking membership to open new avenues for post-Brexit trade and influence.
It has also applied to become a dialogue partner of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Recruitment scam: CBI books 17 Army officers including 5 Lt Cols

What Happened so far

As reported yesterday, the due to suspicious involvement of some outsiders also, in allegedly irregularities in Army recruitments, the Army handed over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation on Mon.
Since then, The CBI carried out searches at 30 locations across the country on Mon and has booked 17 Army officers including 5 officers of Lt Col rank, and 6 private persons.
Lt Col MVSNA Bhagwan, of the Army Air Defense Corps is alleged to be the mastermind of the recruitment racket, as per media. Several lower-ranking Army officials and relatives of the accused officers have also been booked.

Background

The CBI FIR is based on a complaint from Brig (Vigilance) V K Purohit, alleging that on Feb 28, 2021, an input was received about the alleged involvement of serving personnel in accepting bribes for clearance of review medical exam of temporarily rejected officer candidates at the Base Hospital in New Delhi.

On Mar 1^st, 7 people including 2 serving defense personnel, a defense civilian and 2 ex-Army personnel arrested in Army recruitment exam paper leak case by Pune City Police in a joint operation with Military intelligence. Two different FIRs have been registered & 10 people named: Police

Bhagwan is also alleged to have accepted “undisclosed amount of cash” for selection of Lt Navjot Kanwar.

INS Dhruv can track satellites, strategic missiles, will have a key role in India’s anti-ballistic missiles capability to join navy soon

INS Dhruv, developed with the help of the Defense Research and Development Organization and Indian Navy with India’s Strategic Force Command and National Technical Research Organization will play a critical role in triangulating incoming ballistic missiles in conjunction with geostationary satellites and land-based radars.

With India at the center of the Indo-Pacific pushback to China’s rapidly-expanding People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), India is set to commission INS Dhruv to track satellites, strategic missiles and map the Indian Ocean bed later this year, people aware of the developments said on Wed.

Capabilities

The 15,000-tonne ship, part of a classified project, will not only create maritime domain awareness for India in the Indian Ocean but also act as an early warning system for adversary missiles headed towards Indian cities and military establishments.
Final checks are going on the vessel at Vizag before the commissioning, which is expected in the first half of this year (HT).
INS Dhruv is equipped with the active electronically scanned array radars, or AESA, and can scan various spectrums to monitor satellites of adversaries that are watching over India.
It can also, as one official in South Block put it, understand the range and true missile capability of adversary nations that it finds in the Indo-Pacific.
Once the vessel is commissioned, India will be the only country outside the P-5 – the US, the UK, China, Russia and France – to have this capability
Officials said INS Dhruv will act as a major force multiplier to India’s ocean surveillance capabilities.
The Indian Navy already monitors the region from the Gulf of Aden to all the ingress routes from the South China Sea with long-range unmanned aerial vehicles, surveillance aircraft and Boeing P8I anti-submarine warfare.
INS Dhruv (to which an official said can provide ECG of sea), will help Indian Navy plan better offensive operations in all 3D- sub-surface, surface and aerial.
Strengthening the Indian Navy’s capabilities is key to countering China’s influence in the Indian Ocean given how Beijing’s sea doctrine has taken priority over its land forces.
Experts believe the Indo-Pacific will be the front-line of the future as PLAN’s nuclear submarines try to avoid detection before crossing the first island chain in the South China Sea.
Although China has claimed that the Quad will never have tangible deliveries – in 2018, China had even called it a sea foam before describing it a security threat two years later – the security grouping is already monitoring the Indo-Pacific and sharing real-time intelligence to check Beijing creation of military leverage over the busiest shipping lanes in the world and carrying billions of dollar worth of cargo.

Army to equip all infantry battalions, not just frontline troops, with US Sig Sauer rifles

At least 2 companies — about 100 soldiers each — in all infantry battalions are being given Sig 716, irrespective of whether they are in the field or at peace stations.
With the much awaited deal for AK 203 getting delayed, the Army is equipping its over 400 infantry battalions with the American Sig Sauer assault rifles, procured under fast-tracked process (FTP), as against the original plan to arm only its frontline troops with the latest weapon.
The Army had initially bought the Sig 716 G2 Patrol assault/ battlefield rifles, chambered for the 7.62×51 mm rounds, in 2019 under FTP for frontline soldiers — posted at the borders and involved in counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations.
The Sig 716 rifles, Weighing just 3.82 kg without the magazine are more accurate and lethal than the INSAS because it has a higher caliber -7.62 mm as against 5.56 mm.

Has the Supreme Court set the ball rolling for a Uniform Civil Code?

Last week, the top court sought a reply from the Centre over religion-neutral inheritance and succession laws in India. Supreme Court lawyer and BJP member Ashwini Upadhyay has succeeded in getting five such petitions admitted by the apex court that can be seen as a precursor to a Uniform Civil Code (UCC)

It has been more than 4 decades since the SC set a legal milestone in the battle for protection of rights of Muslim women and dwelt on the need to implement a UCC in the matter famously known as Shah Bano case.

What exactly is a Uniform Civil Code and why do the proceedings in the Supreme Court matter?

What is UCC?

UCC refers to a common set of laws governing personal matters such as marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance and succession for all citizens of the country, irrespective of religion.
Currently, different laws regulate these aspects for adherents of different religions and a UCC is meant to do away with these inconsistent personal laws.

What does the Constitution say about UCC?

Article 44 of the Constitution, which is one of the Directive Principles of State Policy, says: “The State shall endeavor to secure for the citizens a Uniform Civil Code throughout the territory of India.”
Directive Principles, as Article 37 makes clear, are not enforceable by any court but lays down at the same time that these are nevertheless fundamental in the governance of the country and it shall be the duty of the State to apply these principles in making laws.

How has the Supreme Court handled the issue of UCC?

The top court has dwelt on the UCC in several of its judgments.
In many of these, the court favored a common law for all citizens and reminded the Parliament of the spirit of Article 44.
But the Supreme Court also remained mindful of its boundaries under the Constitution when it refrained from issuing any positive directive to the Govt in this regard, underlining that law-making is the exclusive right of the Parliament.
Again, in Sarla Mudgal Case (1995), which dealt with issue of bigamy and conflict between the personal laws existing on matters of marriage, the court noted that until UCC was enacted for all the citizens of the country, there will be always a loophole.
In 2019, the top court again expressed its disappointment over lack of UCC.

How has the BJP-led government dealt with UCC?

The Bharatiya Janata Party considers the introduction of the UCC as a core ideological issue, and has, in the past, cited the example of Goa, which has a common law called the Goa Civil Code.
PM Narendra Modi, in an interview published in May 2014, had acknowledged that the Constitution said the Govt will make efforts to implement UCC while adding that a common law did not mean thrusting of Hindu code on all citizens.

How have the petitions in the Supreme Court renewed the debate on UCC?

The first two petitions to be admitted by the Supreme Court on Dec 16 last year related to uniform grounds of divorce and uniformity in providing maintenance and alimony.
Upadhyay’s petitions argued that divorce, maintenance and alimony laws in certain religions discriminated and marginalized women.
These anomalies, varying from one religion to another, were violation of the right to equality (Art 14 of the Constitution) and right against discrimination (Art 15) on the basis of religion and gender and right to dignity.
PIL also complained that the current practice of adoption was blatantly discriminatory as Hindus have a codified law of adoption but Muslims, Christians, and Parsis did not have it.

What Next:

While the Central government is still to make its stand clear on these issues, what cannot be doubted is that by entertaining as many as 5 petitions, the SC is set to rekindle a debate yet again on a Uniform Civil Code in India.

Cabinet approves formation of Development Finance Institution to generate funds for investment in the infrastructure sector in the country

Cabinet approved the setting up of Development Finance Institution (DFI) with an initial capital infusion of Rs 20,000 crore and there will be additional grants within a limit of Rs 5,000 crore.
The Union Cabinet headed by PM Narendra Modi on Tue approved the bill for setting up of DFI which was announced during the Union Budget 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
She said that the government expects the DFI to raise up to 3 lakh crore in the next few years.
The DFI will have a professional board and 50% of them will be non-official directors and will have certain tax benefits for 10 years and the Indian Stamp Act too is being amended, she said.

Background

The FM in her Budget 2019-20 speech had proposed a study for setting up DFIs for promoting infrastructure funding. About 7,000 projects have been identified under the National Infrastructure Pipeline with a projected investment of a whopping Rs 111 lakh cr during 2020-25.

Adani Ports-led consortium to develop West Container Terminal in Colombo

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones Ltd (APSEZ), a key subsidiary of the diversified Adani Group, has received a Letter of Intent (LOI) from Sri Lankan authorities for development and operations of West Container Terminal (WCT) in Colombo. APSEZ will partner with John Keells Holdings PLC, Sri Lanka’s largest diversified conglomerate, and with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) as a part of the consortium awarded this mandate.