The Uttar Pradesh government led by Yogi Adityanath seems to be winning the war against Encephalitis as deaths due to the deadly epidemic disease has dramatically dropped by 66 percent in the 14 most-affected East Uttar Pradesh districts in 2018, reported Economic Times.
According to the reports, on Monday, Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Sidharth Nath Singh informed the UP assembly in a written answer that 187 people died due to encephalitis in 2018 against 553 such deaths in 2017. The number of encephalitis cases reported in 14 most affected districts of Eastern UP significantly dropped from 3817 in the year 2017 to 2043 cases last year.
The UP health minister said that doctors were able to save more patients compared to previous years. As every seventh patient admitted for encephalitis died during treatment in 2017, the casualty rate declined to every eleventh patient in 2018. The Minister also added that till 11 February 2019, no person has died due to encephalitis out of the reported 35 cases.
The UP government has attributed measures like early vaccination, segregating pigs from affected habitation, immediate response teams for fogging to stop outbreak, convincing parents to not let their kids sleep on the mud floor, drinking water from an ‘India Mark-2’ tap or hand pump, and calling the 108 ambulance helpline immediately if they find any symptoms as having helped in reducing the death toll.
Encephalitis is one of the biggest public health problems in Uttar Pradesh. It has killed thousands of children in the last 30 years. Soon after coming to power, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath recognised the seriousness of the health issue and fighting the epidemic was made the top agenda of the UP government.
The UP government had launched the Dastak programme in February 2018, with an aim to immunise every child under 15 years of age and carry out widespread sanitation and awareness programmes. The campaign was planned as a holistic programme to educate and provide facilities to the families, not only for vaccination but also for the prevention and treatment of the disease.
With regards to the drive, Yogi Adityanath had stated that, for the 38 districts of UP affected by the disease the state health department would be made the nodal agency and other departments like urban development, Panchayati Raj, Women, and Child Welfare, Rural Development, Medical Education, Animal Husbandry and basic education departments would work under them.
The United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) had praised the Uttar Pradesh government led by CM Yogi Adityanath for successfully immunising all children of the state against Japanese Encephalitis and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome.
Encephalitis is a life-threatening disease causing acute inflammation of the brain. A person afflicted with encephalitis requires serious medical attention. This disease can occur to people of any age group but children and elderly are more likely to be afflicted with the disease. It is caused due to bacterial infection, parasites or may be prompted by other infectious diseases. Encephalitis is a non-communicable disease.
Like it or not, India is the quintessential soft state. It is unable (or unwilling) to project power beyond its borders, even in its own neighbourhood, Pakistan, for example. Its (historically) timid foreign policy has ensured that it evokes neither respect nor fear among its neighbours. Despite its enormous size, it is unable to influence or shape its external environment to suit its national interests.
India is overly defensive. Despite its massive economic and military power, it does not respond to grave provocations (26/11, for example). It does not retaliate when attacked. It tolerates countless attacks on its citizens and affronts to its prestige. Its enemies know that it can be attacked repeatedly, with impunity, at will, and no retaliation will be forthcoming.
If forced to fight, India fights defensive wars. It refuses to cross its borders (Kargil, for instance). It does not aim to conquer enemy territory. If enemy territory or soldiers are captured during the course of a war, it duly returns them once the war is over, without obtaining any concessions in return.
India refuses to play by the same rules as its adversaries, to its immense detriment. It persists in using conventional means to combat Pakistan’s asymmetric warfare and terrorism. It refuses to play dirty. It is more concerned about its “good boy” image than about its national interests.
India’s two major adversaries — China and its vassal Pakistan, employ a host of methods to destabilize the country. Pakistan has bled India with a thousand cuts since the 1980s, first in Punjab, and then in Kashmir, without any fear of retribution. It has been involved in terror activities throughout India for decades, without ever being made to pay for its malfeasance. India has steadfastly refused to respond by employing similar strategies and tactics.
China, which historically has had no role to play in South Asia, claims vast swaths of Indian territory and routinely encroaches into India, often for weeks at a time. It dreams of breaking India into 20–30 pieces. It has been fomentingterrorism, insurgencies, and separatism in North-East India and the so-called “red corridor” since the 1960s. India, on the other hand, has formally recognized Tibet as Chinese territory and has not taken steps to pay China back in kind by employing similar methods in the restive Tibet and Xinjiang regions.
Naga separatist leaders at the Great Wall of China, the 1960s. China has fomented insurgencies and terrorism in India for decades.
China is increasingly encroaching upon India’s supposed sphere of influence by drawing Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and the Maldives into its orbit, and by creating the ever-tightening “string of pearls” and the illegal CPEC.
China and Pakistan, together, have blocked off India’s historic land routes to Eurasia — which should have prompted India to become a maritime nation by developing a formidable maritime and naval presence. This has not happened.
Despite repeated claims that the Indian ocean is India’s backyard, India’s navy has little presence even in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. India’s coastal security continues to have gaping holes. Large aircraft disappear without a trace and are never found. Chinese submarines and ships ply undetected, even encroaching into Indian territorial waters. Italian marines murder Indian fishermen in Indian waters. The Pakistani navy routinely abducts Indian fishermen illegally from Indian territorial waters off the coast of Gujarat. In return, India rescues them when they drown.
India is a soft state because it fails to take care of its national interests. It keeps punching below its weight and does not make its enemies pay a heavy price for their crimes.
Here are ten things that India should start doing immediately, in order to harden up and discard its soft state image.
One: Put a heavy price on being a terrorist. India has played nice with terrorists far too long. Stop handing over dead terrorists’ bodies to their families. Why should enemies of the nation receive martyr’s funerals? Bulldoze the houses of terrorists’ families. If such actions are illegal, then pass new laws legalizing them. Laws must not hamstring the armed forces and prevent them from acting in the national interest. Laws must be adapted according to the need of the times, they must serve the nation and reflect the will of the people.
Two: Develop prodigious asymmetric warfare and proxy warfare capabilities. Deploy these capabilities against Pakistan and China while ensuring plausible deniability. Ensure they have to pay an unacceptably steep price for interfering in India’s internal affairs and illegally occupying and laying claims to Indian territory. Target terrorist and espionage organizations and their infrastructure, as well as individual terrorists, spies and army officers involved in the undeclared war against India. It is high time India stops being the “good boy” and learns to fight dirty.
Develop the ability to penetrate and surveil enemy nations’ government, defense, nuclear and intelligence agencies, to attack their control systems, energy resources, banking and finance, transportation, water facilities, and telecommunications, to commandeer or disable nuclear weapon delivery systems, nuclear power stations and satellites, to shut down electrical power grids, to carry out denial-of-service attacks, and to obtain sensitive information about persons of interest.
It is inexplicable that India, with its millions of talented computer science graduates, has not done this yet.
Four: Modernize and transform the Indian Navy into a force to be reckoned with. The Indian navy suffers from three glaring shortcomings:
Lack of presence in the Indian Ocean region.
Lack of distributed lethality (more power in more places using a variety of delivery platforms).
Severely depleted submarine fleet.
Address the first two shortcomings by building a large number of inexpensive BrahMos-equipped medium-range missile boats to patrol and police what India considers her backyard.
China’s Type 022 catamaran missile boat (coming soon to Pakistan). Missile boats can pack a huge punch. Image courtesy: NextBigFuture.com
Design these missile boats to be 50–60 meters long, in order to support the massive BrahMos missile (length: 8.4 meters, weight: 3 tons) without being imbalanced, unstable or top-heavy, and withstand the force of its launch. Each boat should carry two or three missiles (inclined configuration), have a range of around 5000 km. and an endurance of about two weeks.
Ensure that each missile boat costs no more than $25–30 million apiece, including the cost of the missiles (about $2.8 million apiece). India could, therefore, build 20 to 25 missile boats for the price of a single Kolkata-class destroyer, thereby deploying up to 75 BrahMos missiles, as opposed to the Kolkata‘s 32.
Missile boats are easier and faster to build, deploy, maintain, repair, and replace. They pose a huge threat to an opposing force as they are numerous, dispersed, lethal, and, if deployed in large numbers, present too many targets to effectively engage. Missile boats can pack a huge punch. A number of spatially dispersed missile boats firing salvos of BrahMos missiles can overwhelm any enemy fleet, even an aircraft carrier battle group.
Address the third shortcoming by acquiring a large number (at least 50) of small, cheap diesel-electric submarines such as the lethal, super-stealthy Gotland class, which cost a mere $100million apiece (half the price of a Rafale fighter jet).
Launch more dedicated naval satellite (ideally two, for redundancy) to identify and track targets, track and coordinate naval resources, integrate the battlespace, enhance each naval asset’s situational awareness, and control and coordinate multiple manoeuvres in each theatre of operations, all in real time. Complement the satellite(s) with long-range, long-loitering drones.
Ensure that India establishes effective control (regular, visible patrolling presence) of the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean up to the south of the Maldives. Make every Chinese and Pakistani naval vessel aware that it is being continuously monitored and trailed while it remains in India’s regions of strategic interest.
Develop the capability to control and protect India’s sea route to Chabahar in Iran, keeping in mind China’s growing military presence in nearby Gwadar and Pakistan’s acquisitions of Chinese submarines and stealth catamaran missile boats.
Five: Militarize the strategically-located Andaman and Nicobar archipelago by developing naval and air force bases and electronic surveillance facilities. Transform the islands into unsinkable aircraft carriers. Create Anti Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) bubbles around the archipelago by deploying BrahMos and LR-SAM regiments. These actions will give India the capability to control and blockade the vital Strait of Malacca at will.
The strategically-located Andaman and Nicobar islands are the key to controlling naval traffic passing through the Strait of Malacca. Image via: The Indian Interest
Create artificial islands in the Lakshadweep archipelago (à la Great wall of sand). Use them as forward bases for the navy and the air force. Create an A2/AD bubble around the Nine Degree Channel, through which nearly all the merchant shipping between Europe/West Asia and East Asia passes.
In short, develop the capability to monitor, surveil, and interdict if necessary, all shipping passing through the Lakshadweep and Andaman archipelagos and the Strait of Malacca. Make it well-known that the purpose of this capability is to carry out India’s responsibility as the Indian Ocean Region’s net security provider, and as such is peaceful and defensive in nature.
At the same time, leverage this naval capability as a powerful negotiating tool against China, and to compel it to behave at the northern and north-eastern borders.
Six: Develop a full-fledged marine corps, and develop expeditionary warfare capabilities by acquiring the necessary hardware (amphibious transport docks, assault ships, and air-cushioned landing craft such as the Zubr-class). India may not harbour hegemonic ambitions of invading and conquering neighbouring countries by sea, but it must develop the full spectrum of military capabilities nonetheless.
Seven: Conduct regular large-scale, full-spectrum military exercises. This is the only way to keep the armed forces rust-free and fighting fit, to test and hone doctrines, strategies, and tactics, and to discover and address shortcomings (note, for example, Russia’s regularZapad exercises, which have proved to be immensely valuable over the years). Publicize these exercises to boost public morale.
Eight: Modify Nuclear Doctrine. Abandon the outdated no first use (NFU) policy, which only serves to embolden India’s enemies and further India’s “good boy”, soft state image. Reserve the right to use nuclear weapons first in the case of conflict.
Nine: Expand India’s diplomatic service (the IFS) significantly. India has one of the world’s smallest diplomatic corps, with just 770 IFS officers. Compare this with much smaller countries such as Japan (5,700) and France (6000). The IFS’s minuscule size is grossly inadequate for India’s foreign policy requirements, and as such, is highly detrimental to India’s national interest. Take immediate steps to redress the situation.
Ten: Create a worldwide television and internet news and broadcasting network, with reporters and crews in all major world capitals. Use it to promote India’s national interest, further India’s ability to inform and influence, boost India’s soft power, and counter harmful propaganda. Every major nation has a dedicated news organization that acts as its global voice. Examples are BBC, CNN, RT, CCTV, NHK, al Jazeera, etc. It is vitally important for India to create one of its own, in order to gain visibility worldwide.
The world is changing rapidly. Major geopolitical realignments are underway. Old relationships and equations are dissolving. The era of American pre-eminence may be ending, and China is rushing in to fill the gap, especially in Asia. There are more indications than ever that China’s “peaceful rise” will not stay peaceful for much longer.
The next ten years are crucial for India. Its actions over the next decade will determine whether it will rise as a major power, or keep playing its familiar post-independence role of the soft state punching bag and be relegated to mediocrity and possible subjugation.
India must quickly adapt to the changing world order. It must harden up. Being hard or soft is all about attitude. It about intent. India now has the economy and the resources to pursue its ambitions and safeguard its national interests. It is time for it to show the right attitude and intent.
(This article has been authored by The Indian Interest and was originally published on Medium. The article has been republished here with permission)
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has issued a statement (which sounded more a deranged rant) over the Pulwama Terror Attack. In his statement, Khan claimed that his country had nothing to gain from attacking India. Apart from that, he threatened India with retaliation should the Indian Army decide to attack Pakistan.
Imran Khan claimed that the Indian government was blaming them without any evidence. He said, “My statement is for the Indian government. You (Indian government) have blamed the Pakistan government without any evidence.”
Khan also remarked that Pakistan had nothing to gain from the Pulwama Terror Attack. He stated, “What does Pakistan gain from this? Why will Pakistan do this when the country is moving towards stability?”
Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s statement on #Pulwama terrorist attack: Pakistan ko isse kya faayda hai? Kyu Pakistan karega iss stage ke upar jab Pakistan stability ki taraf ja raha hai? pic.twitter.com/Z1rdaIbTcJ
The Pakistani Prime Minister asserted that if India has evidence, then Pakistan will take action if it is shared with them.
Most significantly, however, Khan promised that Pakistan will retaliate back should India retaliate.
Pakistan PM Imran Khan: If you (Indian govt) thinks you will attack us and we will not think of retaliating, we will retaliate. We all know starting a war is in the hands of humans, where it will lead us only God knows. This issue should be solved through dialogue. pic.twitter.com/kbyvmAiJgk
It had surprised many that Pakistan had not brought up the nuclear bogey as the clouds of war started gathering in the sky. But the country that is known to harbour and support terrorist groups did not disappoint. Khan said, “We all know starting a war is in the hands of humans, where it will lead us only God knows.”
Unlike in the past, when Pakistan used to constantly remind India of its nuclear capabilities, they have been uncharacteristically subdued until now. Even Khan’s threat was very subtle, far from the boisterous cry of earlier times.
As certain as sunrise and sunset, Khan propped up Kashmir and asserted that India needs to rehash is Kashmir policy. He said, “India should have a new thought, new introspection regarding Kashmir. Is using military and force going to solve any problem? That has not helped yet. There should be a discussion about this in India.”
Overall, Khan’s statement appeared to be tailor-made for the ‘intellectual’ secular ‘liberal’ elite of Indian polity which keeps on harping on dialogue with Pakistan and asserts that India needs to distinguish between the Pakistani government and the terrorists. Despite incontrovertible evidence that the Pakistani state apparatus uses terrorists as means in a proxy war with India, Khan appeals to the sensibilities of the section of Indian polity that is sympathetic to his country.
About Kashmir as well, Khan accused the Indian government of ‘oppression’ and suggested that India take a different approach, obviously hinting towards a plebiscite in the region, something which has been a long-held fantasy of the Pakistani state. Certain sections of ‘liberals’ in India, too, harbour similar opinions. Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan recently advocated for a plebiscite openly.
Consistent with that approach, Khan also insinuated that Indian politicians were accusing Pakistan keeping the General Elections in mind. “We are hearing the voices of politicians who are saying they should teach a lesson to Pakistan, and that they should strike Pakistan. I ask them how they can presume the role of judge, jury and executioner,” he said. He added, “We understand that this is an election year for you, and we understand that you will benefit from this.”
Many Indian ‘liberals’, too, have made the same argument. Some have even insinuated that the government might have had something to do with the terror attack.
Prime Minister Modi had made it clear in the past that talks and terrorism cannot go together. And he appears to be consistent in his approach. Khan may boast of ‘Naya Pakistan’ but recent events have proved that the more things change, the more they remain the same in the country.
Conspicuously, the Pakistani Prime Minister, who is believed by many to be a puppet of the Army, did not mention Iran anywhere in his speech. Iran, too, has accused the country of supporting the terrorists who perpetrated the heinous suicide bombing in their country that led to the death of many of their soldiers. The Shia Islamic country has threatened Pakistan of consequences as well.
India’s largest bank, the State Bank of India, is taking various steps to provide respite to the family of the CRPF personnel, who attained martyrdom during ghastly Pulwama attack.
“In this moment of grief, our sincere thoughts are with the families of our bravehearts. These initiatives by the Bank are a small gesture towards the families who have faced irreparable loss.” – Shri. Rajnish Kumar, Chairman SBI. https://t.co/IL24AMuHWg#SBIStandsByOurSoldierspic.twitter.com/7jUBuJk5cb
According to the announcement, the banking giant will be waving off the outstanding loan amounts of 23 CRPF martyrs, who availed loans from the bank, with immediate effect. In addition to this, the bank will expedite the process of releasing insurance money to the next kin of martyred soldiers. All CPRF personnel have been customers of SBI under the Defence Salary Package, under which the bank provides insurance coverage of Rs 30 lakh to them.
“It is extremely distressing and disturbing to witness the loss of lives of the Soldiers who always stand for the safety of our country. In this moment of grief, our sincere thoughts are with the families of our brave hearts,” Rajnish Kumar, SBI’s chairman, said. He also added that steps like waiving off loans of the martyrs are a small gesture towards the irreparable loss.
SBI is also encouraging its employees too make a voluntary donation to the family of CRPF soldiers, though SBI powered National Informatics Centre portal Bharat ke veer. The bank has also devised a UPI-based Virtual Payment Address (VPA): bharatkeveer@sbi, to make donation process hassle-free.
In the wake of Pulwama attack, around 80,000 people have made voluntary payments to martyrs’ families through the portal. The contributed sum as exceeded Rs 20 cores so far. The portal was launched in April 2017 by Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Actor Akshay Kumar was also involved in the opening of the portal.
The sum received through the portal is managed by a committee of senior government officials. The committee ensures equitable distribution of contributed sum to families of Central Armed Police Forces or CAPF. CAPF consists of forces like Assam Rifles (AR), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) etc.
Amidst brewing tension between Indian and Pakistan, in the aftermath of the dreadful February 14th Pulwama attack, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday seeking the UN’s urgent intervention to “defuse tensions” with India. The letter states, “It is with a sense of urgency that I draw your attention to the deteriorating security situation in our region resulting from the threat of use of force against Pakistan by India.”
Fearing unsparing retaliation from India, Pakistan FM urged that the UN must step in to defuse tensions as it is imperative to take steps for de-escalation, maintained Qureshi.
The foreign minister said the Pulwama attack on Indian Central Reserve Police Force was ostensibly and even by Indian accounts carried out by a Kashmiri resident of Indian-occupied Kashmir. Attributing it to Pakistan even before investigations is absurd, Qureshi reiterated.
“For domestic political reasons, India has deliberately ratcheted up its hostile rhetoric against Pakistan,” FM Qureshi said, adding that it has created a tense environment in the region.
Earlier too, Pakistan’s Prime Minister and his men, continuing to animate their denial mode had brazened it out blaming India for the Pulwama terrorist attack.
According to the reports, former interior minister and Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Interior Senator Abdul Rehman Malik has held India responsible for Pulwama attack claiming that RAW had engineered such attacks to not only to divert world attention from the so-called human rights violation in Kashmir but also to sabotage Kulbushan Yadav case.
Qureshi expressed his concern, as India has hinted on abandoning the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan, asserting that it would be a grievous error.
He furthered that India must be asked to conduct an open and credible investigation in the terror attack.
“You may also consider asking India to refrain from further escalating the situation and enter into dialogue with Pakistan and the Kashmiris to calm the situation down,” he wrote.
Subsequently, reacting to one of the worst attacks in the last 3 decades in Jammu and Kashmir, amidst the diplomatic breakdown between the two countries the Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria had been called to Delhi for consultations on diplomatic action against the country.
India has rejected any third party intervention in the Kashmir issue and has maintained that all outstanding matters in Indo-Pak ties should be resolved bilaterally.
Though Pakistan has time and again asked the UN to intervene in Kashmir, the US has repeatedly reiterated that it is for India and Pakistan to discuss and decide on the pace and scope of their bilateral relationship.
Meanwhile, PM Narendra Modi, respecting and relating to the Indian sentiments had assured vengeance. Union Minister Arun Jaitley too had announced that India has withdrawn the ‘Most Favoured Nation’ tag to Pakistan. He, too, had stated that the perpetrators of the attack will be made to pay for their actions.
According to a Times of India report, the Gujarat police has received intel of a possible terror attack in the state. The intel has apparently put the state on high alert following the report. As per the alert generated by the state intelligence bureau, a suicide bomb attack could be attempted at public places like multiplexes, railway stations, religious places etc.
The specific input generated by the intelligence agencies speaks of a man associated with the Pakistani terror outfit Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) and is “suspected to have played a role in the Pulwama Attack”.
A top police official is mentioned in the report as saying, “Following the input, cops and agencies across the state have been put on high alert and teams have been formed to keep a hawk’s eye on every suspicious movement in Gujarat and adjoining states.”
“We have beefed up security at possible target areas mentioned in the intelligence inputs,” a top police official was quoted as saying.
The situation in the country has been tense following the terror attack at Pulwama. JeM has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing that claimed the lives of over 40 of our soldiers.
In light of the intel received by Gujarat Police, human and technical intelligence has also been intensified, as per the report.
Two aircraft of the Surya Kiran aerobatic team of Indian Air Force (IAF) have crashed after colliding mid-air during rehearsals on Tuesday afternoon for the Aero India 2019 defence exhibition. The Defence show is scheduled to start from Wednesday at the Yalahanka air base in Bengaluru.
BREAKING: 1 @Suryakiran_IAF pilot confirmed dead in today’s mid-air collision crash. Two have managed to eject with injuries. One of the injured: pic.twitter.com/zEuEOT97xN
Reportedly, the two aircraft belonging to Surya Kiran aerobatic team of the Indian Air Force were practising spin manoeuvres when the accident happened. One of the aircraft was carrying two pilots, while the other aircraft had one pilot. Two pilots were able to eject from the planes, but the third pilot perished in the tragic accident.
This was the manoeuvre. The upper jet (inverted) was flying with a single pilot. The lower one with both seats occupied. pic.twitter.com/YbMJhOVabc
The Surya Kiran Aerobatic Team based at the Bidar Air Force Station in Karnataka was rehearsing their manoeuvres ahead of the 2019 Aero India Show at Yelahanka, Bengaluru. According to reports, two civilians on the ground were also injured in the incident.
The Surya Kiran team comprises of nine BAE Hawk Mk.132 aircraft built by the HAL under license from the BAE. Earlier the aerobatic team used HAL HJT-16 Kiran Mk.2 trainer aircraft, recently it has been upgraded to Hawk Mk-132 advanced trainer jets.
The 12th edition of Aero India 2019, an international aerospace and defence exhibition, will be held from 20-24 February at Yelahanka in Bengaluru. The first edition of the air show was held in 1996. In recent years, Aero India has emerged as one of the world’s most important and largest military aviation exhibitions.
The dastardly Pulwama attack has again led to talks of India abrogating the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 and wage a ‘water war’ against Pakistan to bring it to its knees since diplomacy seems to have had no effect on the rogue nation.
India seethes for revenge and turning the taps dry on the water-scarce Pakistan seems an easier way to the hot-heads though it’s an option which is in the realms of fantasy.
When then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru went over to Karachi and inked the deal with Pakistan’s Ayub Khan on September 19, 1960, it allowed the mighty Indus river and its tributaries Jhelum and Chenab to be used up to 80 per cent by the troublesome neighbour while 20 per cent (19.48 per cent to be precise) was left with India to pursue its irrigation, agricultural or power generation projects (as against these Western rivers of the Himalayan region, the eastern ones of Ravi, Beas and Sutlej was completely left under the control of India by the Indus Water Treaty).
The treaty has survived at least three wars and countless skirmishes for technical, practical and moral reasons which seem unsurmountable however grave the provocation is, as the Pulwama attack certainly is at the moment.
The treaty, brokered by World Bank (then the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development), doesn’t have a termination clause and India can’t revoke it unilaterally. The termination clause can only be inserted when both the parties, i.e. India and Pakistan, agree to it in writing which clearly is out of the question.
Practical reasons against the move are no less compelling. If India, being the upstream-controller of these waters, decides to stop or reduce the flow, it sets a precedent for China to do the same on the waters of Brahmaputra rivers which originates from the Tibetan plateau and is under the control of our mighty eastern neighbours. Another compelling reason is that Jammu and Kashmir, is a mountainous region, would be completely submerged in the flow of western Himalayan rivers is unilaterally stopped by India. By an estimate, India needs at least 200 dams to stop the flowing water, the making of which would take many decades.
Pakistan’s survival depends on these rivers. Though economic reasons are big enough—these rivers keep Pakistan’s textile, sugar, agricultural and industries alive—the turning taps dry would cause an unthinkable international uproar and intervention of unprecedented scale. It would also affect Afghanistan massively which presently is a critical ally as India pushes past the physical restrictions imposed by Pakistan on its western borders.
It’s a good enough moment to reflect on the massive Himalayan glaciers which are 20 times the size of those found in the European Alps and its melt causes the origins of many a rivers, such as Ganges, Indus, Yamuna, Mekong, Yangtze, Brahmaputra, Irrawaddy and Salween rivers, as also many minor ones, which is vital to the survival of 2 billion people of nine countries (India, China, Pakistan, Nepal, Vietnam, Laos,Thailand, Burma and Bhutan).
Himalayan glaciers are the largest body of ice outside the polar caps. They store about 12,000km of freshwater. Tibetan Plateau/Himalayan Plateau contains tens of thousands of glaciers and is rightly terms as the “water tower” of the region. Its area is 2,500,000 square kilometres which are about five times the size of France. Its rivers stretch about 1000km north to south and 2,500km east to west.
Two examples should further serve as a deterrent. In 2014, Turkey blocked the Euphrates river for Syria and Iraq in order to pursue its aims against the Islamic State (IS). Faced with an international uproar, it soon enough retraced its steps. In the second instance, Indians ought to remember how violence broke out when the Supreme Court ordered Karnataka to release 3.8 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. (As an aside the volume of water “gifted” to Pakistan is 5,900 tmcft every year).
Pakistan, from time to time, raises the bogey of India messing with the supply of water due to it under the Indus Water Treaty. Pakistan had objections over the Baglihar hydroelectric project on the Chenab river but the World Bank ruled in favour of India. Another was the Kishanganga Hydroelectric project in north Kashmir. Pakistan had moved the International Court of Arbitration at The Hague but nothing came out of it. Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the powerplant on May 19, 2018.
The Kishanganga project isn’t too massive in terms of electricity generation—it would produce 1,713 million units of electricity annually—but it amply reflects Pakistan’s Achilles Heels on the matter of water. Whenever floods or famines occur in Pakistan, their politicians tend to blame the dams which India has constructed on these rivers.
In a shameful display of utter insensitivity and lack of basic human etiquettes, a BJD MLA was seen manhandling, and shoving the family member of a martyred soldier during the last rites.
In a video that has now gone viral over social media, Cuttack-Barabati MLA Debashish Samantray was seen pushing, shoving and forcing a man, reportedly the uncle of Pulwama martyr Manoj Behera, to kneel down when the soldier’s last remains were kept for the final rites.
In the video, Samantray is seen first objecting to the man, who is reportedly the martyr’s uncle, standing beside him just before the last rites were about to begin. In an attempt to make the man kneel beside the martyr’s coffin (and not stand beside the MLA), he is seen pushing and shoving the man so hard that the old man fell down near the soldier’s coffin.
It is evident that the MLA did not want the man standing up with him as he posed for photographs.
As per reports, BJD minister Pratap Jena and Niali MLA Pramod Mallik and Cuttack-Chowdwar MLA Prabhat Biswal were also present when the incident transpired.
The MLA’s arrogant and shameful act has created a lot of reactions over social media.
— kn0wthing- KALIA ପ୍ରେମୀ- ପ୍ରବୀନ ପତ୍ତନାୟକ୍ (@knothing4) February 18, 2019
Two CRPF personnel from Odisha, Parshana Sahu, and Manoj Behera, were martyred in the February 14 Pulwama attack by JeM terrorists that claimed 40 lives. Martyr Manoj Behera was from Ratnapur village in Cuttack and Parshana Sahu was from Jagatsighpur. The martyrs were cremated in their respective villages on Saturday.
In the aftermath of the Pulwama attack, India expressed its reservations to the Saudi authorities over the India visit of the Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS) directly from Pakistan. According to sources, the Crown Prince Salman’s visit to India, immediately following a stop in Islamabad, would not be acceptable to India.
Therefore Salman, in what can be seen as de-hyphenation of relations between India and Pakistan, has returned to Saudi Arabia from Pakistan before reaching India on Tuesday night. Wednesday is the main day of engagement here after which he will leave for China.
Salman and PM Narendra Modi will oversee the signing of five Memorandum of understandings (MoUs) across investment, energy and housing sectors, confirmed the Secretary, Economic Affairs in the External Affairs Ministry, TS Tirumurti. Saudi Arabia will also join the International Solar Alliance.
“We are confident that this visit will open a new chapter in India-Saudi bilateral relationship,” he said.
“India has been identified as one of the eight strategic partners with whom Saudi Arabia intends to deepen partnership in areas of political, security, trade and investment and culture,” said Tirumurti.
“As part of this engagement, we are finalizing the setting up of ‘Strategic Partnership Council’ between the two countries at ministerial level. We are confident that this will give greater thrust to our strategic partnership and take forward our discussions in a focussed and action-oriented manner,” he said.
The sources said the two sides are looking at joint exercise between the two navies besides significantly ramping up overall defence cooperation. The source added that Saudi Arabia has been providing India information and intelligence about various terror networks. The two countries had inked a pact on the exchange of intelligence related to money laundering and terrorism during Modi’s visit to Riyadh in 2016.
Adding that “there has been an intensification of our engagement”, since Modi’s visit to Riyadh in 2016, Trimurti said that “both sides are looking at ramping up collaboration in the energy sector with Saudi Arabia’s Aramco looking to partner the United Arab Emirates’ Adnoc in putting up the Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Project Ltd. This is a $44 billion joint venture between companies of India, Saudi Arabia and the UAE”, he added.
In reference to cross border terrorism, Trimurti furthered, “Saudi Arabia has strongly condemned and denounced the terrorist attack on Indian security forces in Pulwama on 14 February. We appreciate Kingdom’s cooperation in security and counter-terrorism areas over the years.”
Official sources said Saudi Arabia was no longer accepting Pakistan’s narrative on Kashmir and cross border terrorism and that India will forcefully raise the issue of Pakistan’s support to terror groups during the delegation-level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Crown Prince on Wednesday.
MBS, who arrives in India late on Tuesday, will be given a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host him at lunch in the Hyderabad House while President Ram Nath Kovind will host an official banquet in honour of the visiting dignitary.
