Month: August 2020

In a significant move, Indian Army occupied the height on the southern bank of Pangong Tso, which can give advantage to the side which holds it for controlling the areas around.

Sources said a special operations battalion was recently inducted into the area. On the night of August 29-30 moved into the area and occupied the heights from where Chinese troops were present barely a few hundred meters, said sources.

“Height occupied by Indian Army troops including a special operations battalion is south of Southern bank of Pangong Tso near Thakung. Height was lying dormant and can give strategic advantage to the side which holds it for controlling the southern bank of lake and areas around it,” said sources.

They said the height is in the area under the Indian side of the LAC but the Chinese also claim it to be on their side.

According to sources, two brigade commander level meetings have already been held in Chushul/Moldo for resolving the matter and the tension but it has not yielded any result.

PLA Western Theater Command earlier said Indian troops violated the consensus reached at “multi-level talks” between the two countries.

“Indian troops have violated the consensus reached at the multi-level talks between #India and #China and again crossed the line of actual control at the border on Monday and purposely launched provocations,” PLA Western Theater Command was quoted as saying by China’s state-run Global Times.

This came after an Indian Army spokesperson earlier in the day said Indian Army has thwarted an attempt by the Chinese Army to transgress into Indian areas near the southern bank of Pangong Tso near Chushul in Ladakh on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday and talks are being held now to resolve the issue there, an Army spokesperson said earlier in the day.

“On the night of August 29/30, PLA troops violated the previous consensus arrived at during military and diplomatic engagements during the ongoing standoff in Eastern Ladakh and carried out provocative military movements to change the status quo,” said Army spokesperson Colonel Aman Anand in a statement.

The Indian Army took measures to strengthen its position and “and thwart Chinese intentions to unilaterally change facts on the ground”.

India and China are engaged in a standoff since April-May over the transgressions by the Chinese Army in multiple areas including Finger area, Galwan valley, Hot springs and Kongrung Nala.

The talks between the two sides have been going on for the last three months including five Lieutenant General-level talks but have failed to yield any results, so far.

The Chinese Army has refused to withdraw or disengage completely from the Finger area and seems to be buying time to delay its disengagement from there.

While efforts are underway to resolve the ongoing border dispute, India has rejected the Chinese suggestion to disengage equidistantly from the Finger area in Eastern Ladakh. (ANI)

By Prashant Sood

A leader of vast experience and knowledge who strived for consensus in the polity and left an imprint on India’s modern history, Pranab Mukherjee was India’s 13th President and was conferred its highest civilian honour.

The 84-year old veteran Congressman who played a crucial role in the functioning of the UPA governments till he was chosen the President in 2012, Pranab Mukherjee reflected decency in politics that had no place for rancour, acrimony and personalised attacks even as he remained firmly committed to the party’s ideology.

He oozed a natural warmth and his intellect, knowledge, power of persuasion, memory and skills made him a go-to man in the Congress, especially in the last about 15 years of his political life.

He was a Union Minister for over 20 years and had a rare distinction of having served as Union Minister for Finance, External Affairs, Defence and Commerce. Another rare distinction was that he served as leader of both Houses of Parliament – Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha (1980-85) and Leader of House in Lok Sabha (June 2004 to June 2012). He was also Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission (1991-96).

Having witnessed the country’s politics for close to five decades as a participant and an observer, Mukherjee had an encyclopedic knowledge of time and events.

He was elected five times to Rajya Sabha and twice to Lok Sabha and was a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest policy-making body of the party for 23 years. He was also chief of West Bengal Congress for almost 11 years and chief whip of Congress in Rajya Sabha from 1996-2004.

He was firm in his views and addressed an RSS event in Nagpur in 2018, even as many in Congress disagreed with his decision and aired their differences.

It might be a coincidence but Congress fortunes nosedived since he resigned from the party in 2012 to contest the presidential election. The Congress has received its worst electoral drubbings in the last two Lok Sabha elections having won 44 and 52 seats. However, Mukherjee had a lot of faith in the party’s ability to reinvent itself saying it had faced several difficult challenges in its history of 135 years.

Mukherjee had a vast memory of events and people and could verbatim recite what a leader said at a particular point. This came handy in dealing with tricky situations. His indispensability to Congress can be gauged from the fact that he has headed 95 Group of Ministers to sort out ticklish issues.

Mukherjee reflected inner compassion and ability of calm, rational analysis of any complicated situation. He was a voracious reader and had a deep knowledge of international relations, financial affairs and parliamentary process.

He wrote three memoirs — The Dramatic Decade: The Indira Gandhi Years’, The Turbulent Years: 1980-1996 and The Coalition Years: 1996 – 2012 and the books are useful education for any student of the country’s politics.

Mukherjee had strong cross-party connections and could easily share a laugh with an opposition leader. He was conferred Bharat Ratna in 2019 during the rule of BJP-led NDA government. He and Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared a mutual respect.

While he formulated policies and strove for reforms in diverse areas as a union minister, Mukherjee consistently worked to improve the status of India’s higher education as President. In speech after speech, he urged universities to toil hard to come in the league of top global universities and also took steps to foster innovation.

Sometimes described as the best Prime Minister India never had, Mukherjee in an interview said that the Sonia Gandhi had taken the right decision by choosing Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister in 2004.

After Sonia Gandhi joined politics in 1997 and became Congress chief the next year, Mukherjee aided her in her work of managing the affairs of the party.

Pranab Mukherjee was first elected to Rajya Sabha in 1969 and began a nearly five-decade journey of exemplary public life. He rose to positions of growing responsibility under the mentorship of Indira Gandhi. Mukherjee was Deputy Minister (Industrial Development) 1973-74, (Shipping and Transport) 1974, Minister of State for Finance (1974-75) and MoS (Independent Charge) Revenue and Banking 1975-77.

After Indira Gandhi returned to power in 1980, Mukherjee was appointed Cabinet Minister for Commerce, Steel and Mines. He held the portfolio till 1982 when he was appointed Finance Minister.

Mukherjee had an apparent falling out with Rajiv Gandhi, who became Prime Minister in 1984 following her mother’s assassination, and left the Congress in 1986 and formed his own political party Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress. However, the two leaders reconciled by 1989 and Mukherjee merged his party with the Congress.

Mukherjee was Union commerce minister (1993-95) and external affairs (1995-96) and Deputy Chairman Planning Commission (1991-96) when PV Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister.

When Congress-led UPA came to power in 2004, Mukherjee was appointed defence minister and continued in the position till 2006 when he was made External Affairs Minister, a position he served till 2009.

Mukherjee served as Finance Minister in the second UPA government till 2012 when he was chosen the candidate of the ruling coalition for election to the office of President.

During 2004-2012, Mukherjee spearheaded critical decisions of the government on a range of issues such as administrative reforms, Right to Information, Right to Employment, food security, energy security, information technology and telecommunication and setting up of UIDAI through GoMs he headed.

In the seventies and eighties, he was instrumental in setting up the Regional Rural Banks (1975) and the EXIM Bank of India as well as National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (1981-82).

Mukherjee was also the author of a modified formula for resource sharing between the Centre and the States in 1991 which came to be known as the Gadgil – Mukherjee formula.

He was born in the small village of Mirati in Birbhum District of West Bengal to freedom fighters Kamada Kinkar Mukherjee and Rajlakshmi on December 11, 1935. His father, also a Congress leader, went to jail several times for his role in India’s struggle for independence.

After pursuing a Master’s degree in History and Political Science and a degree in Law from Kolkata University, Mukherjee took up teaching in a college and also became editor of a Bengali-language monthly.

Mukherjee has served on the Board of Governors of IMF, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and African Development Bank.

He led the Indian delegations to the Commonwealth conferences, United Nations General Assembly, Non-Aligned Movement conferences.

He was given the Best Parliamentarian Award in 1997, and Best Administrator in India Award in 2011 and was conferred honorary doctorate by several universities including by Al-Quds University, Palestine and Hebrew University, Israel.

He was rated one of the best five Finance Ministers of the world in 1984 according to a survey conducted by “Euro Money” Journal published from New York and was declared ‘Finance Minister of the year’ for Asia in 2010 by “Emerging Markets”, the journal of record for the World Bank and the IMF.

He was married to Suvra Mukherjee who passed away in 2015.

Mukherjee is survived by two sons and a daughter. His daughter Sharmishta Mukherjee is a Congress spokesperson and president of Delhi Mahila Congress. His son Abhijit Mukherjee is a former MP. (ANI)

The Indian economy contracted by 23.9 per cent in the April to June quarter (Q1 FY21), marking the first contraction in more than 40 years as COVID-19 pandemic compressed consumer demand and private investments, government data showed on Monday.

The National Statistical Office (NSO) said gross value added (GVA) came in at minus 22.8 per cent.

“The GDP at constant (2011-12) prices in Q1 of 2020-21 is estimated at Rs 26.9 lakh crore as against Rs 35.35 lakh crore in Q1 of 2019-20, showing a contraction of 23.9 per cent as compared to 5.2 per cent growth in Q1 2019-20,” said the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in a statement.

“The quarterly gross value added at basic price at constant (2011-12) prices for Q1 of 2020-21 is estimated at Rs 25.53 lakh crore as against Rs 33.08 lakh crore in Q1 of 2019-20, showing a contraction of 22.8 per cent.”

The statement said trade, hotels, transport and communication saw a dip of 47 per cent while manufacturing shrank by 39.3 per cent. The construction sector took a hit of 50.3 per cent as mining output struggled at 23.3 per cent, and electricity and gas dipped by 7 per cent.

However, agriculture was the lone bright spot which grew at 3.4 per cent.

The government and Reserve Bank of India have been prompt to take measures for mitigating the impact of pandemic on economy by rolling out stimulus packages, reforms and interest rate cuts.

However, the revival is expected to take time as there is still high uncertainty regarding COVID-19 cases across the country.

The economy was already slowing before the pandemic struck, growing only 4.2 per cent in the last fiscal year, its slowest pace in 11 years. (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday paid his tributes to former president Pranab Mukherjee and said the late leader left an indelible mark on the development trajectory of the country and was a scholar par excellence, a towering statesman who was admired across the political spectrum.

The Prime Minister, who made a series of tweets, also shared some images including one in which he touched the late leader’s feet to seek his blessings.

PM Modi said Pranab Mukherjee’s wise counsel on key policy matters will never be forgotten by him.

“India grieves the passing away of Bharat Ratna Pranab Mukherjee. He has left an indelible mark on the development trajectory of our nation. A scholar par excellence, a towering statesman, he was admired across the political spectrum and by all sections of society,” the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister also shared an image of his being administered oath of office by Pranab Mukherjee in 2014.

“I was new to Delhi in 2014. From Day 1, I was blessed to have the guidance, support and blessings of Pranab Mukherjee. I will always cherish my interactions with him. Condolences to his family, friends, admirers and supporters across India. Om Shanti,” he said.

The Prime Minister said Pranab Mukherjee made long-lasting contributions in key economic and strategic ministries.

“He was an outstanding Parliamentarian, always well-prepared, extremely articulate as well as witty,” he said.

Referring to Pranab Mukherjee’s years as the President, the Prime Minister said he made the President’s house a centre of learning, innovation, culture, science and literature.

“His wise counsel on key policy matters will never be forgotten by me,” the Prime Minister said.

Pranab Mukherjee passed away on Monday at the Army Hospital (Research and Referral) Hospital where he was admitted earlier this month and had undergone surgery for removal of a clot in his brain. He was 84. (ANI)

Chinese military on Monday said it strongly demands India to withdraw its troops from China-India border in order to avoid escalation of tension, according to Reuters.

People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Western Command said Indian troops violated the consensus reached at “multi-level talks” between the two countries.

“Indian troops have violated the consensus reached at the multi-level talks between #India and #China and again crossed the line of actual control at the border on Monday and purposely launched provocations,” PLA’s Western Command was quoted as saying by China’s state-run Global Times.

The Indian Army has thwarted an attempt by the Chinese Army to transgress into Indian areas near the southern bank of Pangong Tso near Chushul in Ladakh on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday and talks are being held now to resolve the issue there, an Army spokesperson said earlier in the day.

“On the night of August 29/30, PLA troops violated the previous consensus arrived at during military and diplomatic engagements during the ongoing standoff in Eastern Ladakh and carried out provocative military movements to change the status quo,” said Indian Army spokesperson Colonel Aman Anand in a statement.

The Indian Army took measures to strengthen its position and “and thwart Chinese intentions to unilaterally change facts on the ground”.

“The Indian Army is committed to maintaining peace and tranquillity through dialogue but is also equally determined to protect its territorial integrity. A Brigade Commander level Flag Meeting is in progress at Chushul to resolve the issues,” Anand said further.

Army sources said the Chinese Army had tried to transgress into Indian areas using a sizeable number of troops but Indian Army came to know about their intentions and preempted the Chinese attempt and foiled their move.

India and China are engaged in a standoff since April-May over the transgressions by the Chinese Army in multiple areas including Finger area, Galwan valley, Hot springs and Kongrung Nala.

The talks between the two sides have been going on for the last three months including five Lieutenant General-level talks but have failed to yield any results, so far.

The Chinese Army has refused to withdraw or disengage completely from the Finger area and seems to be buying time to delay its disengagement from there.

While efforts are underway to resolve the ongoing border dispute, India has rejected the Chinese suggestion to disengage equidistantly from the Finger area in Eastern Ladakh. (ANI)

The Supreme Court on Monday slapped Re 1 fine on senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan in connection with a suo motu criminal contempt of court case over his tweets.

A bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Arun Mishra, said that Bhushan should be barred from practicing law for a period of three years and imprisoned for three months if he defaults on paying the fine.

The bench said that the court’s decisions cannot be influenced by the publications or opinions in the media and noted that Bhushan’s statements to the press even before they were considered by this court was to influence the proceedings.

Freedom of expression is there but the rights of others should also be respected, the bench said.

Also noting that the press conference by four Supreme Court judges in January 2018 was wrong, the bench said, “judges are not supposed to hold a press conference”.

The top court had, on August 25, reserved its judgement on the quantum of sentence of Bhushan in connection with the case. Reserving its order on the sentence, Justice Mishra had asked the senior lawyer to tender an apology saying there is no harm in apologising if a mistake has been made.

During the hearing, advocate Dr Rajeev Dhavan had appeared for Bhushan and submitted that Bhushan has the highest regard for the institution but he has his opinion about last four Chief Justices of India (CJIs) about the way in which this court has gone wrong.

Attorney General KK Venugopal had said that several sitting and retired judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts (former) have commented upon corruption in the higher judiciary and suggested to let Bhushan go with a warning if he expresses regret for his remarks.

Bhushan was earlier this month held guilty of contempt of court by the Supreme Court for two of his tweets, the first one posted on June 29, related to his post on a picture of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad Arvind Bobde on a high-end bike.

In his second tweet, Bhushan expressed his opinion on the role of last four CJIs amid the state of affairs in the country. Meanwhile, another contempt of court case against Prashant Bhushan is also pending before the top court. (ANI)

On the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances, scores of people protested outside the Pakistan consulate in New York, at Toronto and outside UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s house, against the forceful abductions of people from the minority communities in Pakistan by its Army and intelligence.

“Today, we are here to protest against all those disappearances which the Pakistani army has enforced and the Pakistani intelligence has been carrying out for a long time. There are thousands of people including politicians, political workers and journalists who have been forcefully disappeared,” said Najeeb Khan, a Pashtun who lives in Balochistan.

“We are here at the Pakistan consulate to raise our voice. We want the world to know that Pakistan has become a huge prison for minority religions today,” he added during the protest on Sunday.

Meanwhile in Toronto, members of Baloch, Sindhi and Pashtun organisations staged a protest to mark the ‘International Day of Victims of Forced Disappearances’, demanding the United Nations and international community to press Pakistan to end forced disappearances, enforced conversion to Islam and extrajudicial killings.

The leaders and members of Baloch National Movement, Canada Pashtun Council, Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement and World Sindhi Congress gathered in downtown Toronto and raised slogans like ‘Pakistan Army Terrorist, ISI Terrorist’. They called Pakistan Army an “occupied Army of Pakistan, Balochistan and Sindh.”

The protestors urged the Canadian government to pressurise Pakistan for reinstating human rights for Baloch, Sindhis, Mohajirs and Pashtuns. They held banners that read ‘stop Baloch genocide’ and ‘stop enforced disappearances in Balochistan’.

A protestor outside the Pakistan consulate in New York said that for the past two decades, Pakistan has been committing atrocities on the minority communities and the cases have been increasing rapidly.

“Before it was Balochistan, but now they have started in other regions of Pakistan. One of the major problems that we are facing is that we don’t have any access to information about the enforced disappearance happening in Pakistan,” he added.

He further said that close to 50,000 individuals have been disappeared by the Pakistani security forces and kidnapping and brutal killing of Baloch people was taking place in Balochistan on an everyday basis.

Speaking on the brutality being committed by Islamabad, a Pakistani journalist said: “I am here meet the people that have gathered to protest against the policy of Pakistan military who abducts people that don’t necessarily agree with their policies.”

He said: “There is a complete media blackout in Pakistan regarding these issues. The reporters are afraid to report on critical human rights issue which has been going on in the last 20 years, especially in the tribal areas. Its high time Pakistan should take notice of this situation because the world is taking notice.”

The Free Balochistan Movement on Sunday held a protest against Pakistan outside the official residence of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson here on the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

Several Baloch and other human rights activists joined the protest from different cities of the UK and expressed their support for the families of those who have been forcefully disappeared.

The protestors were carrying banners and raised slogans against Pakistan military’s atrocities against Baloch people. They demanded the immediate release of previously abducted Baloch people and stopping of more enforced disappearances.

They also urged the international community, including the UK, to stop supporting Pakistan as their support is allowing Pakistan to commit more crimes against humanity.The activists stated that thousands of innocent Baloch people have been arrested and later disappeared. Many of them have been killed in custody. They also strongly condemned the recent murder of Hayat Baloch, who was shot dead by Frontier Corps in front of his parents, in Turbat, Balochistan.

“On International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, we are staging a protest outside Boris Johnson’s residence. Pakistani forces are committing human rights abuses against Baloch people. We appeal to the international community to take note of what is happening in Balochistan,” said an activist.

“We saw how a woman named Malik Naz was killed in front of her four-year-old daughter Bramsh by the Pakistani military. A 12-year-old girl was also killed by the establishment. These things were not coming to light earlier due to blackout (in Pakistan). But now, the news on atrocities committed by Pakistani military is there on social media and people are coming to know about it,” she added.

(ANI)

Ajit K Dubey

Acting swiftly after the Galwan valley clash on June 15 in Eastern Ladakh, the Indian Navy sailed out its frontline warship for deployment in the South China Sea much to the displeasure of the Chinese who raised objections over the move during the talks between the two sides.

The Chinese have been objecting to the presence of Indian Navy ships in the region where it has significantly expanded its presence since 2009 through artificial islands and military presence.

“Soon after the Galwan clash broke out in which 20 of our soldiers were killed, the Indian Navy deployed one of its frontline warship to the South China Sea where the People’s Liberation Army’s Navy objects to the presence of any other force claiming the majority of the waters as part of its territory,” government sources told ANI.

The immediate deployment of the Indian Navy warship in the South China Sea had a desired effect on the Chinese Navy and security establishment as they complained to the Indian side about the Indian warship’s presence there during the diplomatic level talks with the Indian side, the sources said.

During the deployment in the South China Sea where the American Navy had also deployed its destroyers and frigates, the Indian warship was continuously maintaining contact with their American counterparts over secure communication systems, the sources informed.

As part of the routine drills, the Indian warship was being constantly updated about the status of the movement of military vessels of other countries there, they said adding that the entire mission was carried out in a very hush-hush manner to avoid any public glare on Navy’s activities.

Around the same time, the Indian Navy had deployed its frontline vessels along the Malacca Straits near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the route from where the Chinese Navy enters the Indian Ocean Region to keep a check on any activity of the Chinese Navy. A number of Chinese vessels also pass through the Malacca Straits while returning with oil or taking merchant shipments towards other continents.

The sources said the Indian Navy is fully capable of checking any misadventure by the adversaries on either the eastern or the western front and the mission-based deployments have helped it to control the emerging situations effectively in and around the Indian Ocean Region.

The Navy also has plans to urgently acquire and deploy autonomous underwater vessels and other unmanned systems and sensors to keep a close eye on the movement of PLAN from Malacca Straits towards the Indian Ocean Region, the sources said.

The Navy is also taking care of the Chinese vessels present around the Djibouti area and has deployed its assets in the vicinity for protecting national interest.

The Navy has also deployed its MiG-29K fighter aircraft at an important Air Force base where they are practicing missions for conflict over land and mountainous terrain, the sources said.

The Navy is also going to fast track the procurement of 10 Naval Shipborne Unmanned Aerial Vehicles under a deal expected to be worth over Rs 1,245 crore. (ANI)