IndIa’S COVId CaSES’ TaLLY nOw 648,315New Delhi: india on Saturday recorded the highest single-day spike of 22,771 cases, pushing the total tally to 648,315, the Ministry of health and Fam-ily welfare said. The country recorded a spike of 20,903 cases on Friday. The death count rose to 18,655, with 442 people succumbing to the deadly virus in 24 hours. A total of 394,226 people have recovered and been discharged from hospitals. The recovery rate is 60.73% among the Covid-19 patients. with a spike of 6,364 cases, Maha-rashtra remained the worst pandemic hit state in the country. Tamil Nadu is on the second spot with 102,721 confirmed cases, of which, 1,385 people have died, 58,378 recovered and 42,958 are active. Delhi with a total of 94,695 cases, including 2,923 deaths and 65,624 recoveries is on the third spot.

PM LaunChES ‘aaTManIrbhar bharaT aPP InnOVaTIOn ChaLLEngE’New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched the “Aatmanirbhar Bharat App innovation Chal-lenge” to facilitate techies and the start-up community to create world-class Made in india Apps. The challenge is an endeavour of the Ministry of electronics and information Technology and Atal innovation Mission. Taking to Twitter, Prime Minister said that there was im-mense enthusiasm among the tech and start-up community to create world-class Made in india Apps.

TErrOrIST kILLEd In EnCOunTErSRiNAGAR: One terrorist was killed in an encounter at South Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Saturday, inspector General Kashmir Vijay Kumar said. The encounter started after security forces got an input about the presence of terrorists in the Arrah area of Kulgam. As the forces zeroed in on the spot where the terrorists were hiding, they came under heavy fire drawing retaliation of the forces and triggering the encounter.

top of saturday

Commentators less than receptive to Prime Minister Na-

rendra Modi have been pointing out that trade with India forms only a small part of China’s overall trade, and hence that any trade war ini-tiated by India would prove

futile. They seldom mention the fact that India accounts for the second largest trade surplus of the PRC, next only to the United States. And critics of Modi may not accept (or even be aware of the fact) that the move to criminalise the use of as many as 59 Chinese apps that are of everyday use in India could potentially

shave off hundreds of bil-lions of US dollars from the valuations of Chinese com-panies. While de-linking of hardware from China may take longer (although secu-rity considerations mandate that such a process start), apps are a different matter. Some may argue that VPNs would enable users to access the banned apps, but this

would be used by few. Most would switch to other, more accessible, apps. The replace-ment of the banned apps by domestic alternatives would be a matter of weeks, not the months or years needed to replace hardware, for exam-ple in telephony systems. In India, careless security has resulted in ZTE and Hua-wei dominating the back

ends of the entire mobile telephony network, a situa-tion that calls for immediate remedial action. Over the last decade (an eternity of time in the digital age), both societal implications as well as value creation have been far faster and more profound than in the case of hardware such as 3G, 4G or 5G. Most of the entities developing

and marketing apps valued at several billion dollars each were not even around before 2009. WhatsApp and Uber came on the scene that year, WeChat in 2011 and TikTok in 2016. Had the governance system in India not been as prone to sabotage by hostile alien entities as it is (given the ease of litigation and the forests of regulations need-

ing to be navigated), several apps designed in India may have been world beaters, rivalling their international competitors and generating millions of jobs locally in the process. In this way, the mass culling of innovative enter-prises that took place during India’s “Foreigner First De-cade” would get remedied to an extent.

EXTEND BAN TO OTHER APPSThe list of 59 banned Chinese apps initially announced un-der the direction of the Prime Minister will need to get ex-panded to other apps that may later be adiscovered to be controlled from within China. This would imme-diately deprive the PRC of

05 – 11 july 2020 | Vol.11 Issue 26 | new delhi | rs. 30.00

PM MOdI STrIkES a dEadLY bLOw TO ChIna’S TECh aMbITIOnSMADHAv NAlAPATNew Delhi

Frontline warrior

A man carrying a sack walks past the graffiti of a healthcare worker fighting to tackle the spread of the coronavirus disease, in Mumbai, on Monday. reuTers | FrancIs Mascarenhas

MaTTEr OF METadaTa

hard dECISIOnS LIkELY

TaLIban-ISI LInkMOunTIng LOSSES ‘agaInST SPIrIT OF ISLaM’

India not giving in, will hold its ground against China

Pak hOPIng TO TOPPLE ghanI, InSTaLL PuPPET In kabuL

Wahhabi fanatics oppose Krishna temple plan in Islamabad

CuLInarY COSMOS aMId ThE PandEMIC

The US side is putting in place measures designed to constrict the supply of dollars to China, including through delisting Chinese companies on US exchanges. The Modi app ban will compress Chinese company valuations further, which will fall more and more with every new entry into the app ban bandwagon.

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fP12fP12 fP12

Wahhabi fanatics in Paki-stan have started protesting against the federal govern-ment’s move to support the construction of a grand Lord Krishna temple in Pakistan’s capital city Is-lamabad. If constructed, it will be the first temple to be built in Islamabad after Partition in 1947.

The foundation stone for the construction of the temple was laid recently, at the initiative of Lal Chand Malhi, a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member of the National Assembly and Parliamentary Secretary on Human Rights. The temple, as per plan, is to be built on a 20,000 sq ft land in the

H-9 sector of Islamabad. However, soon after the ground breaking ceremony, protests by fanatic elements started, following which construction work has been stopped by the local author-ities.

The ground-breaking ceremony of the Krishna temple was held under the aegis of the Islamabad Hin-du Panchayat. The plot for the temple was allotted to the Hindu Panchayat by the Capital Development Au-thority (CDA) in 2017. How-ever, construction work got delayed due to some tech-nical reasons like the ap-proval of the site map and documents from the CDA and other authorities.

Leading the front against

ABHiNANDAN MiSHRANew Delhi

NAvTAN KuMARNew Delhi

ABHiNANDAN MiSHRANew Delhi

DiByENDu MONDAlNew Delhi

2gOVErnMEnT bOdIES OwE OVEr rS 526 Cr TO aIr IndIa

7waTCh ChIna’S aCTIOnS, dOn’T LISTEn TO ITS wOrdS

4bEngaLuru TurnS COVId hub aFTEr EarLY SuCCESS

The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked the Pakistan naval head-quarters not to push for the conclusion of a water-shar-ing agreement with Afghan-istan at present as a dialogue on the topic with the pres-ent Afghan government led by President Ashraf Ghani would be “detrimental to Islamabad’s interests” as it would open up “conten-tious issues”. The ministry has advised the naval head-quarters to “withhold the matter till the formation of a new political dispensation in Afghanistan”.

The foreign ministry’s recommendation has also mentioned that the “topic”

(of water sharing) should be avoided as “Pakistan is already receiving double the share of its water from Kabul river that originally flows from the Chitral river”.

These recommendations, sent to the Pakistan naval headquarters last month, and accessed by The Sunday Guardian, have not identi-fied the “new political dis-pensation” that the Pakistan Foreign Ministry is so sure of siding with Pakistan’s cause in the near future, but it is not rocket science that the Foreign Office is most likely alluding to a Taliban-led government in Afghani-stan, which ISI has been pushing for even since the US-Taliban peace deal was signed.

On 7 March, The Sunday

Guardian had written that the Taliban, in collabora-tion with Pakistan’s ISI, was working on the ground with an objective to remove the present political dispensa-tion (Taliban eye replacing

‘pro-India’ Ghani in Kabul).The Foreign Office of Paki-

stan has also asked the naval office to reconvene the inter-ministerial group, which was constituted in March 2017 to strategize Pakistan’s national interest in light of Indian projects in Afghani-stan, at the earliest to delib-erate on the developments.

Strategic observers, who are following the issues, believe that these develop-ments are possible signs of ISI and Taliban making a move to remove the pres-

India will continue to hold its ground militarily and economically against China even as it continues to en-gage with the Chinese at the diplomatic level to ensure that the previous status quo that existed at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) until mid-April before the PLA moved into “disputed areas” is achieved.

“The talks are revolving around this broad premise. The situation on the ground has to go back to as it was in April. We have been telling them, directly and indirect-ly, that we have made up our minds (as to how seriously

Indian government is seeing this whole development). The military presence on both sides is ‘huge’. Both of us know that things cannot be resolved by using force and ultimately it will have to be resolved through talks. Having said that, our atti-tude is of acting ‘aggressive-ly’ now rather than waiting for things to happen on their own. Things are moving at multiple levels, the results of some of them will be seen in the coming days, and some in the coming months,” a government official said, while sharing the overall policy-wise sentiment of the Narendra Modi government which is dealing with one of its biggest challenges.

Last week, India banned the use of 59 mobile applica-tions that were of Chinese origin while also banning the involvement of any Chinese company, includ-ing those which are work-ing in joint ventures, to participate in the lucrative national highway projects in the country. The official source said that if things do not move at the LAC as the Government of India wants it to, in the coming few days, policymakers will be taking more decisions that will en-sure that China does not get access to one of the biggest markets in the world.

“We are the biggest mar-ket in the world. In the

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The Covid-19 pandemic has left the restaurant industry bleeding with an estimated loss of about Rs 1 lakh crore in the last 100 days.

The sector is also witness-ing a closure of about 30% of restaurants across India and with the rest 70% see-ing a drop of about 60%-70% in business compared to the same period last year.

According to Anurag Katriar, president of the National Restaurant As-sociation of India (NRAI), huge amounts of fixed and operational costs are mak-ing restaurants bleed at a time when business is at its lowest.

“In our industry, the pro-

portion of fixed operating expenses by way of rentals, utility expenses and sala-ries is quite significant and with little or no revenues, it is getting very difficult for restaurants to survive through this pandemic. I won’t be surprised if 30% to 40% of the restaurants close down in the coming days. Closure in bigger cit-ies would be much higher due to higher cost of op-erations in these cities,” Ka-triar told The Sunday Guard-ian,

He further added that a closure of 30% of restau-rants would also mean a huge number of job losses in the coming days as the restaurant sector is the sec-ond largest employer of hu-man capital in India after

Pandemic leaves restaurants bleeding

2 nation the sunday guardian05 – 11 july 2020new delhi

www.sundayguardianlive.com

TibeTans Ready To fighT foR indiaMany Tibetans living in exile in India and in the western countries are ready to fight along with Indian soldiers against the Chinese, The Sunday Guardian has reliably learnt.

Highly placed sources said that some Tibetan leaders have conveyed to responsible Indian quarters their desire to fight against the Chinese dragon: “We are ready to pick up arms and fight shoulder-to-shoulder with Indian soldiers on the Tibet border—or in any theatre or in any manner.” Indian Army used to run a secret unit of young Tibetans, including women, in the dense hilly jungles of Chakrata, Uttarakhand, till the 1980s. Nicknamed “22”, the Tibetans were trained in military warfare. The Chinese had strongly objected to it when they learnt about this venture. The unit was disbanded following improvement in India-China relations. Meanwhile, US-based Executive Director of the Students for Free Tibet (SFT), Dorjee Tseten, told this newspaper that the world has witnessed the deadliest Chinese attack on Indian sovereignty in 45 years. “We pay tribute to the courage of the Indian soldiers and offer our condolences to the bereaved families,” said Tseten. “We have started an urgent online petition to call world leaders to stand with India against this illegal aggression by Chinese troops on Indian soil and work together to counter China’s expansionism.” “As a Tibetan refugee born and raised in India,” Tseten said, “I consider India to be my second home, which has given asylum to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people. For centuries, Tibet and India enjoyed peace and friendship; China did not share a border with India until 1959. Over 1.2 million Tibetans have died as a direct result of China’s occupation of Tibet. However, Tibetans inside Tibet and in exile have never wavered in our struggle against the colonial occupation of our homeland.” The SFT-India has joined five leading Tibetan organisations in Dharamsala—the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile—to issue a joint press statement to express solidarity with India.

A large number of Tibetans have signed the petition to call on members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, Indian Parliament, and world leaders to hold China accountable for their actions.

PRo-KhalisTan Calls fRom Us inCReasingThe US-based pro-Khalistan Sikh For Justice (SFJ) has increased the frequency of its recorded phone messages asking Sikhs living in India to join the 2020 referendum to “free Punjab”. This writer has received such calls daily for the past one month. The caller is always Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, a US-based lawyer and chief campaigner for SFJ.

In view of the SFJ’s claim to start registration for “the Punjab referendum”, a heavy police bandobast has been made around the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The Ministry of Home Affairs has declared Pannu a terrorist. The Punjab Police on Thursday registered two separate FIRs in Amritsar and Kapurthala, against him and his associates, including an active SFJ member, Joginder Singh Gujjar, who reportedly came to India from Italy in February this year. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh recently said that Pannu was actively involved in promoting terrorism in Punjab.

42 feeT KRishna sTaTUe in KURUKsheTRaBy the end of this year, Krishna-bhakts, who visit Jyotisar Tirtha, the birthplace of the Gita, in Kurukshetra, will be able to witness a 42-feet-tall bronze statue of Lord Krishna which is being built at a cost of Rs 10 crore.The model of the Lord Krishna’s “Virat Swaroop” (universal

form) was recently revealed. The Kurukshetra Development Board is hopeful of inaugurating the statue in December during the Gita Mahotsava. The idea of installing Bhagwan Krishna’s “Virat Swaroop” was conceived during the Congress regime. But its foundation stone was laid by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar during the Gita Mahotsava in 2017. The statue is being sculpted by Ram Vanji Sutar’s unit in Noida. Sutar earlier designed the Statue of Unity (of Sardar Patel) in Gujarat.

iCCR will have vajPayee PoRTRaiTIndian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) will install a life-size portrait of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at its headquarters in New Delhi on his second death anniversary in August. ICCR president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, who is a BJP Rajya Sabha MP, had planned it long back but the lockdown emerged to upset his plans. But the project is back on course again after unlock 1.0 was announced. Some had raised the issue on what basis the portrait was being installed. A solution has been found: Vajpayee was a former ICCR president who went on to become PM. Vajpayee had served as ex-officio president of ICCR under its then rules when he was Foreign Minister in the post-Emergency Janata government.

sCooTeR nUmbeR PlaTe foR Rs 18.22 laKhIn Haryana’s Shahpur subdivision, the number HP-90-0009 was sold through auction for Rs 18.22 lakh on Tuesday. The number was bought by a Karnal-based company. The number has been bought for a scooter worth about Rs 80,000. SDM Shahpur said that a total of five VIP numbers were auctioned, fetching Rs 24 lakh.

MAN MOHAN

On My RaDaR

Man Mohan can be contacted at rovingeditor@gmail.com

Dismantling of old abandoned unsafe Foot Over Bridge (FOB) at Ludhinana was done during the lockdown period. It was overdue since 2014 after the new FOB was commissioned.

debT-Ridden aiRline

goveRnmenT bodies owe oveR Rs 526 CR To aiR indiaThis is as per an RTI reply received by this newspaper from Air India.

This is expected to boost safety and speed of train operations across the country.

Different government agencies and depart-ments owe more

than Rs 526 crore to ailing national carrier Air India as on 31March this year, accord-ing to an RTI reply received by The Sunday Guardian from Air India.

The RTI reply from Air India has given a detailed breakup of the money owed to the airline by numerous different government de-partments, bodies and insti-tutions.

According to the RTI re-sponse, the Commissioner of Customs, Ministry of Fi-nance, owes a whopping Rs

64.37 crore to the national carrier, while the office of the Director General of Post and Telegraph, Department of Telecommunications, Min-istry of Communications, owes more than Rs 31 crore, 37 lakh to the airlines as on 31March this year.

Several offices of the Cen-tral Reserve Police Force (CRPF), that come under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), also owe at least Rs 70 crore to Air India as on 31 March. For example, the office of the Deputy I.G., CRPF-Guwahati, owes Rs 3 crore and 46 lakh to Air In-dia; likewise the office of the I.G., CRPF Kolkata, owes more than Rs 1 crore 9 lakh to Air India.

The office of the Secretary to the Governor of Tripura also owes more than Rs 17 lakh to Air India, while the West Bengal State Electric-ity Board owes around Rs 40,000 to the airline.

The Airport Authority of India also owes around Rs

3 crore to Air India as on 31 March this year, while the Bureau of Civil Avia-tion Security (BCAS) owes more than Rs 50 lakh to the airlines.

Not only this, even the President of India’s secre-tariat owes more than Rs

60 lakh to Air India as of 31 March this year. The Lok Sabha, along with the Lok Sabha Secretariat, owes more than Rs 4 crore 50 lakh to Air India, while the Rajya Sabha, along with the Ra-jya Sabha Secretariat, owes more than Rs three crore to the debt-ridden national carrier.

The Ministry of External Affairs owes more than Rs 10 crore to Air India and this ex-cludes the different Embas-sies and High Commissions of India in different countries across the world, which also owe at least Rs 70 crore to Air India as on 31March this year, as per the RTI reply.

Apart from this, several other ministries, including

the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Home, the Min-istry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Environ-ment and Forests, among many others, also owe lakhs of rupees each to the airlines. Even the Intelligence Bureau and its allied subsidiary bod-ies across the country, the CBI, the ITBP, and some of-fices of the Army also owe lakhs of rupees to Air India as per the information pro-vided by the airline to The Sunday Guardian.

It is pertinent to mention that Air India is already fac-ing a huge debt of about Rs 62,000 crore and the govern-ment is planning to disinvest the airline and is waiting for prospective buyers.

DibyenDu MOnDalNEW DELHI

The Indian Railways utilised the Covid-19 lockdown peri-od to complete 200 pending maintenance projects, which is expected to boost safety and speed of train operations in key sections of tracks across the country.

The national carrier has stopped most part of its op-erations though it is running 230 passenger trains, apart from the freight operations which are continuing as usual. Till some time back, it also ran “Shramik Spe-cial” trains to ferry migrant workers. This, Railway offi-cials say, gave them sufficient time to focus on those pend-ing works, which were com-pleted during the lockdown period.

Pending for several years, these unfinished projects of-ten confronted Indian Rail-ways as bottlenecks.

These works taken up for removal of bottlenecks and enhance safety include 82 rebuilding / rehabilitation of bridge, 48 limited height sub-way / road under bridge in lieu of level crossing gate, 16 construction / strengthening of foot over bridge, 14 disman-

tling of old foot over bridge, seven launching of road over bridge, 5 yard remodelling, one commissioning of dou-bling and electrification and 26 other projects, as per the information provided by the Ministry of Railways.

For example, yard modi-fication work in Jolarpetti (Chennai Division) got com-pleted which resulted in eas-ing out of curve and enhanc-ing the speed up to 60 kmph on Bengaluru end and facili-tated simultaneous reception and dispatch.

Similarly, dismantling of old abandoned unsafe Foot Over Bridge at Ludhinana (Firozepur Division) was also completed. Dismantling of

this 135 meter long old aban-doned FOB structure over 19 tracks and seven passenger platforms was overdue since 2014 after new FOB was com-missioned.

Work of re-girdering of bridge on Tunga River (My-suru Division) was completed in May. Similarly, dismantling of unsafe deck of Kopar Road ROB near Dombivali (Mum-bai Division) was completed during the lockdown which has enhanced its safety. This deck, covering six railway tracks, was declared unsafe for road users in 2019.

Two projects of doubling with electrification in Varana-si Division were completed on 13 June. One of these projects

is Kachhwa Road to Madhos-ingh Section and the second is 16 km of the Manduadih to Prayagraj section. This has resulted in decongestion of east-west routes and facilita-tion of freight movement.

The dismantling work of ROB crossing eight railway tracks in the approach of Chennai Central Station was also completed. This ROB was declared unsafe and was closed for heavy ve-hicles since July 2016. ROB dismantling could not be done as traffic block require-ment was very high resulting into massive cancellation / re-scheduling of trains with loss of passenger revenue.

Similarly, works on con-struction of two new bridges in Vijayawada Division of South Central Railway were completed on 3 May. Signal-ling upgradation work of Azamgarh station (Varanasi Division) was completed in May. Apart from ensuring supply chains of all essen-tial commodities running through parcel trains and freight trains, Indian Rail-ways executed these long pending maintenance works during this lockdown period when passenger services were suspended.

In response to recent media reports that Pakistan was moving troops to Gilgit-Baltistan along with some Chinese presence, a series of high-level meetings were held at New Delhi, including by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.Lieutenant GovernorGirish Chandra Murmu, along with Chief Secretary and other officials, was summoned to New Delhi and held meetings for two days this week and met Defence Ministry officials also, apart from Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

Highly-placed official sources said that after ground intelli-gence reports that more and more infiltration attempts were being made in the past two weeks, the Union government has decided to move additional troops to LoC in Kashmir and also in Rajouri and Poonch sectors of Jammu region.

Recently, several attempts were made in the Rajouri sec-tor in which security forces killed one infiltrator and foiled half-a-dozen infiltration attempts. On Friday, the govern-ment told the media that they have lodged a strong protest with Pakistan over unprovoked ceasefire violations along the LoC and international border, trying to push terrorists in Kashmir. According to the official data, 14 Indians were killed and 88 sustained injuries in more than 2,432 incidents of unprovoked ceasefire violations carried out by Pakistani forces till June this year.

The Union Home Ministry called L-GMurmu and Chief Secretary B.V.R. Subramanyam, and held several meetings on Wednesday and Thursday in which top officials of intel-ligence wings also participated. Reports said that it was de-cided to move more troops to LoC also in Uri, Keran, Karnah and Machil sectors of Kashmir as the firing incidents from across the LoC have increased.

Apart from attempts of infiltration, Union Home Ministry also wanted a comprehensive security plan for UT admin-istration of Jammu and Kashmir if they wanted to go ahead with their plan of two weeks’ Amarnath Yatra in Kashmir.The government is also worried about the growing curve of Covid-19 cases in Jammu and Kashmir as hundreds of fresh cases are being reported on a daily basis, forcing the authorities to rethink about the re-imposition of lockdown in Kashmir.

India in the recent past has developed several indig-enous missiles, attack and defence systems to counter threats from China, Pakistan and other such countries.

India’s indigenously de-veloped surface-to-air mis-sile Akash is one of the most marvelling missiles in In-dia’s attack and defence sys-tem. The missile developed by DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisa-tion) is capable of targeting aircraft up to 30 km away and at an altitude of 18,000 metres and neutralise aerial targets like fighter jets, cruise missiles, air-to-surface mis-

siles and even ballistic mis-siles. At the heart of the mis-sile is the Indian Rajendra PESA radar system which is used for 3D target detection, multi-target tracking and to launch multiple guided mis-siles even in extremely hos-tile environments. Akash can fly at twice the speed of sound and can maintain the speed at all altitudes. The missile system is designed in such a way that it can be manoeuvred at all altitudes and speeds.

Another feather in the In-dian defence artillery section is the indigenously devel-oped Indian Ballistic Missile Defence System. This has been primarily developed by India to intercept and thwart

a ballistic missile threat from China and Pakistan.

The Ballistic Missile De-fence System is a double-tiered system—one being Prithvi Air Defence Mis-sile, which helps India to intercept any airborne mis-sile from as far as 5,000 km away, while the second Advance Air Defence is a lower altitude interceptor missile which can intercept an incoming missile from as low as 30 km and destroy it. India is part of the elite club that has the missile guarding system and apart from India, only the United States, Rus-sia and Israel has such a sys-tem in place.

BrahMos is also one of the finest supersonic cruise

missiles that India has. The versatility of this missile makes it capable of launch-ing it from a submarine, ship, aircraft or from land. This missile has been devel-oped under a joint venture between the Russian Feder-ation’s NPO Mashinostroy-eniya and India’s DRDO. It is the world’s fastest anti-ship cruise missile that is in operation currently. India is also working on developing BrahMos II which will fur-ther increase India’s aerial strike capacity in the coming times.

India has also been able to successfully develop a 5,500 km long range missile called Agni 5, that is capable of car-rying 1,500 kg of conven-

tional or nuclear warhead. This missile developed by the DRDO is a guided long-range missile having a Ring laser gyroscope and an iner-tial navigation system. It has attained single digit accuracy despite travelling at a very high speed. The missile has been designed in such a way that it can be carried by road or rail.

India has also recently inducted the indigenously developed light combat air-craft Tejas into its fleet of fighter aircraft. Tejas is a 4th generation light weight com-bat aircraft designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency and manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The aircraft

is capable of firing air-to-air missiles both within the vi-sual range and even beyond the visual range. It also has the capability to fire air-to-ground guided missiles and bombs.

Apart from these, the Indian army has also de-veloped indigenous tanks, such as the Arjun Mark II tank which is one of the most outstanding and ad-vanced tanks available with India. The DRDO has also developed a multiple rocket launcher for the Indian army called Pinaka having a range of 40 to 65 km.

This rocket launcher can fire 12 rockets in just 44 sec-onds destroying a target of over 3.2 sq km.

wiTh Time in hand infilTRaTion aTTemPTs

fiRe PoweR

Indian Railways did pending maintenance work during lockdown

CenTRe will move addiTional TRooPs To loC

India develops indigenous attack, defence systems

navtan KuMaRNEW DELHI

nOOR-ul-QaMRainSARINAGAR

DibyenDu MOnDalNEW DELHI

nationthe sunday guardian05 – 11 july 2020

new delhi 3www.sundayguardianlive.com

The JaiTley Gen nexTIs Arun Jaitley’s daughter planning a political debut? One look at Sonali Jaitley Bakshi’s Twitter timeline would certainly indicate so, because despite being a lawyer by profession, her tweets are largely political. From the International Yoga Day to the Prime Minister’s trip to Leh, from the PM’s Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan to the Home Minister’s visit to the LNJP hospital. Given that, like her dad, she is a lawyer by profession, her instincts seem to veer towards the political. Having said that, don’t forget that Arjun Jaitley wore many hats, politics and law being just two of them. As for this third passion, his son Rohan is said to be keen to contest the DDCA (Delhi cricket board) election for the post of president.

PoliTics of hierarchyThe Sachin Pilot vs Ashok Gehlot face-off continues unabated. We saw some of it during the Rajya Sabha elections where the MLAs were divided into two camps, thought they all ended up voting on the same page. But recently Sachin, who still continues as the state PCC chief, apart from being the Deputy Chief Minister, announced that whether he continued in the former post or not, depended solely on the discretion of the Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi. What was implied was that the CM didn’t get to have a say in his continuance.

of TiGers and PoliTical shooTsOn the other side of the political divide, Sachin Pilot’s former colleague, who switched camps, Jyotiraditya Scindia seems to be doing well. Freshly recovered from Covid, Scindia was first seen in the headlines handing over a cheque for Rs 30 lakh for the Madya Pradesh CM’s relief fund. Two days later, again Scindia was back in the news as a large chunk of his camp followers became ministers in the state government. He got as many as 14 of his camp followers in, versus Shivraj Chouhan’s 12 in the Cabinet expansion. He was so chuffed that he sent a message to his two detractors in the Congress camp—Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh that “Tiger Abhi Zinda Hain”. To which Digvijaya SIngh retorted that when hunting was permissible he had hunted tigers with Scindia’s dad, the late Madhavrao, but now he preferred to shoot them with his camera. But clearly in an attempt to create some mischief, Singh also pointed out that it was the nature of the tiger that only one got to rule over the forest. Hence hinting that Scindia was sending a message not just to his former colleagues but also to the BJP state CM. Well, the mischief maker has stirred the pot. Over to the BJP now. For it must be noted that with as many as 33 ministers the Shivraj Singh Cabinet is nearing its optimum size of 34. One way out, say Congressmen, could be to ensure that some of Scindia’s 14 don’t make it back in the coming byelections!

Where is sanJay Jha headed?Sanjay Jha, the erstwhile Congress spokesperson, may have handed his resignation to express his displeasure with the workings of the Congress; but his sentiments firmly remain anti BJP. He was back again on a news channel recently, identified as a Congress leader, taking on the Narendra Modi government for lapses on the LAC. Which makes one wonder what his next move will be, for judging by his comments, he is not heading the BJP way, as was earlier speculated. Could he then opt for the middle ground and join the JD(U), for he is from Bihar and elections are due there soon? Plus there is a vacuum for an articulate voice to be fielded in the TV studios—a space vacated by Pawan Varma that Jha could fill. After all, Priyanka Chaturvedi has shown the way that joining smaller regional outfits is more rewarding than being lost in a larger outfit like the BJP.

By Priya Sahgal

COOLBREEZE

The feud between families of Lalu Ya-dav and Chandrika

Rai in Bihar has intensified with Tej Pratap Yadav’s es-tranged wife Aishwarya Rai planning to contest against RJD leader and Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav from the Raghopur Assem-bly constituency. To counter this, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has inducted Aishwarya’s niece Karish-ma into the party fold, who may be filed against Chan-drika Rai, Aishwarya’s fa-ther. The state Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in October.

RJD sources said the

party may field Karishma against her uncle, Aish-warya’s father Chandrika Rai at the Parsa Assembly constituency. Chandrika had won the last elections on the RJD ticket. However, after the unpleasant divorce issue of his daughter Aish-warya with Lalu’s elder son Tej Pratap, he is planning to desert RJD and it is specu-lated that he may contest from JDU this time.

Karishma is a doctor by profession. While joining the RJD, Karishma report-edly said that they have old relations with the family of Lalu Yadav. The Parsa seat has become a matter of prestige for the RJD. Sourc-es said there is considerable resentment against the RJD

over the divorce issue, after which Aishwarya had lev-elled charges against Lalu’s wife Rabri Devi and daugh-ter Misa Bharti, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP.

The issue has further cre-ated a rift in the Lalu family which is already facing se-vere infighting. Tej Pratap Yadav has expressed his

unhappiness over the de-cision to induct Karishma into the party fold. He has alleged that that he was not consulted (by his younger brother Tejashwi Yadav) before taking such a crucial decision of taking a mem-ber of his wife’s family into the RJD. He took to Twitter to say that he does not trust

anyone who is related to the family who “ruined his life”.

Tej Pratap got married to Aishwarya with great fan-fare in May 2018. But in the same year in November, Tej Pratap filed a divorce peti-tion. But even after that, Aishwarya was staying in the residence of Rabri Devi. However, in Decem-ber last year, Aishwarya alleged that she was being “harassed and tortured” and subsequently, thrown out of the Rabri Devi resi-dence, something which was denied by the Lalu fam-ily members. The incident widened the rift between the families of Lalu Yadav and Chandrika Rai. Chan-drika Rai, who has been very close to Lalu, stopped

attending party meetings and functions ever since then. The battle between the two families is getting murkier with the JDU plan-ning to field Aishwarya from Raghopur, the Assem-bly constituency currently retained by Tejashwi Yadav. Sources said the JDU game plan is to restrict Tejashwi, who is going to be the star campaigner in the absence of Lalu who is serving his jail term, to Raghopur. RJD sources said Aishwarya may get sentiment votes by telling the voters about the “injustice” meted out by the Lalu family. Sources, in fact, said that Aishwarya may also contest against her hus-band Tej Pratap from the Mahua constituency.

rJd To field Karishma To blunT aishWarya’s symPaThy cardNavtaN KumarNeW DeLHI

feudinG families

Aishwarya’s divorce saga has widened rift between Lalu, Chandrika Rai families.

Is the NDA headed for a cakewalk in this year’s As-sembly elections in Bihar? Well, the way Mahagath-bandhan has ceased to be even a loose gathbandhan would suggest the same. The demand for a coordi-nation committee is long pending and even the lead-ership of Tejashwi Yadav is disputed. On the other hand, the RJD is finding it hard to keep its own flock intact with desertions be-coming an everyday affair within the party. Minutes after the resignation of five MLCs from the party and their joining the JDU, senior party leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh left all party posts. On 27 June, senior RJD leader and one-time trusted of Lalu Prasad Ya-dav, Vijender Yadav also left the party.

On the other hand, the other constituents within the Mahagathbandhan, too, are sulking on the issue of being relegated. HAM su-premo Jeetn Ram Manjhi remains a sulking man and has been losing no oppor-tunity in praising CM Ntish Kumar. That’s a mammoth transformation possibly engineered by prospects of certainty within NDA and uncertainty within the Ma-hagathbandhan. Even the JDU was quick to respond to the praise of Manjhi by saying that he would be wel-come provided he makes up his mind to first leave the Mahagathbandhan.

Manjhi has been issuing one deadline after another which never caused any flutter and ultimately he is left licking his own wounds. As his first deadline for set-ting up a coordination com-mitte expired with the RJD not even blinking, Manjhi

had to make a frantic rush to Delhi to seek the help of the Congress.

With veiled assurances coming from the Congress, Manjhi had no choice but to issue a second deadline. The second deadline also expired on 3 July. Obviously, the muscle flexing tactics of Manjhi did not work.

Manjhi knows it well that the RJD is not even both-ered and that his party is being considered too small a fry to be attached any im-portance. Another smaller party within Mahagtha-bandhan VIP and the RLSP, too, have been raising the demand for a coordination committee.

The Congress, however, wants to tread very care-fully with no intent to alien-ate any party within the Mahagathbandhan. Talk-ing to The Sunday Guardian, Congress in-charge for state affairs Shaktisinh Gohil

said, “Even prior to the Lok Sabha, it was widely being speculated that the Maha-gathbandhan would not re-main intact, but we proved those people wrong. Maha-gathbandhan is very much intact and there is ideologi-cal commitment among us. As time comes, we will be able to deal with the small hiccups.”

On the question of the long-pending demand for a coordination committee, he indicated that during the preliminary meeting which was also attended by RJD leader Manoj jha, he had endorsed the views of hav-ing a coordination commit-tee and said that it would be formed after consultations with Laluji. The coordina-tion committee, however, is yet to be formed, leaving parties like RLSP, VIP and HAM sulking.

Another major bone of contention is the leadership

issue within the Mahagath-bandhan. The Sunday Guard-ian repeatedly asked this question to Shakti Sinh Go-hil to evoke a direct answer. However, Gohil tried to skirt the issue by saying that there is ideological commit-ment among the various parties of Mahagathband-han; however, the NDA is not intact and that Ram Vilash Paswan has been left fuming.

On being asked again if the leadership of Tejashwi Yadav would be acceptable to the Congress, he said, “This is not the issue. All the issues will be decided at an appropriate time and there is absolutely no difference within the Mahagathband-han.”

It is apparent that even the Congress is having reserva-tions on the leadership of Tejashwi Yadav and in the times to come, possibly the problem is bound to mani-

fest itself in more magnified magnitude.

The JDU considers Ma-hagtahbandhan to be a fu-tile exercise. Talking to The Sunday Guardian, JDU lead-er Dr Ajay Alok said, “Ma-hagathbandhan is a futile exercise in absence of Lalu Prasad Yadav. His vaccum is yet to be fulfilled. Vansh se Gaddi aati hai buddhi nahi,”—an obvious connotation to Tejashwi Yadav.

Even as the NDA is all set to put its best foot forward and has already sounded the poll bugle, the Maha-gathbandhan is still en-grossed in the herculean task of properly cobbling up its alliance. That gives the NDA a clear advantage and possibly a cake walk.

Another glaring problem within the RJD that may turn out to be a dampener for the entire Mahagath-bandhan is the family trou-ble of Lalu Prasad Yadav.

As the coronavirus pandem-ic has spread in Maharash-tra, so has the discontent in the Maha Vikas Aghadi. While the Uddhav Thac-keray government is already facing a big challenge due to the rising Covid-19 cases in the state, Thackeray is hav-ing to contend with another headache—the increasing political tussle not only with now opposition and then ally BJP, but with then op-position Congress and NCP and now allies in the Maha Vikas Aghadi.

Be it ministerial posts or legislative council polls or bureaucrats or now the is-sue of reimposing lockdown in Mumbai, the difference of opinion within the Maha Vikas Aghadi has come out in the open. First, it was the Congress which openly ex-pressed its disappointment on certain issues with Ud-dhav Thackeray and now it’s NCP which is miffed with Thackeray and his style of working in handling the

pandemic in worst-affected Maharashtra. The BJP’s constant attempts to pull up the Thackeray government have made things difficult for the Chief Minister—it seems a big political slugfest in Maharashtra. On Fri-day, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar went to meet Uddhav Thackeray at the Balasaheb Thackeray Memorial site in Dadar to discuss the 2 km “Lakshman Rekha” rule in Mumbai and frequent lockdowns. As per sources, in the more than an hour meeting, Pawar didn’t only discuss about these things, but also gave Uddhav Thac-keray advice and lessons on handling the pandemic by sharing his past experience as Maharashtra chief minis-ter in handling such crises.

All this happened in the backdrop of several Con-gress and NCP ministers in the state Cabinet not being consulted over various deci-sions. One of such decisions was the decision-making process pertaining to lock-down orders and rising cases of Covid-19. There is reimpo-

sition of lockdown by civic bodies neighbouring Mum-bai like Thane, Navi Mum-bai, Kalyan and Dombivali after the Chief Minister an-nounced an extension of the ongoing lockdown. Amid confusion of whether or not complete lockdown will be reimposed in specific areas and different rules being im-posed, citizens are angry and the NCP and Congress have also expressed displeasure over not being kept in the loop. Sharad Pawar report-edly also discussed the relat-ed coordination between the three parties of Maha Vikas Aghadi.

The other issue is bureau-crats. Many leaders, po-

liticos and even ministers within the government feel that bureaucrats are heard and considered, rather than ministers in Cabinet. Like then chief secretary Ajoy Mehta who was recently ap-pointed as the chief advisor to Uddhav Thackeray after he retired as chief secretary. He was the same officer who was opposed by the Congress-NCP during his appointment in the CMO office. This “elevation” has made the Congress and NCP worry about dominance of bureaucrats in government. Sharad Pawar advised Thac-keray to take local political leaders and ministers in the government into confidence for larger public interest, rather than bureaucrats and government officials.

The other decision was about the 2km “Lakshman Rekha” by Mumbai police whereby cops prohibited citizens from venturing be-yond the 2km radius of their homes, except for office go-ers and medical emergen-cies. This rule resulted in cops taking strict action in

which many vehicles were impounded. Many within the state Cabinet were not happy with this.

The NCP chief has also conveyed how since the be-ginning, he has been saying that the state cannot be un-der a prolonged lockdown and that lack of economic activity will make state suf-fer more on economic terms. The strict rules of lockdown should be relaxed, while moving towards unlock at least in areas not much af-fected by the coronavirus. It is understood that Sharad Pawar has requested the Chief Minister to consider the rising unemployment of the people. The burden on the state coffers is also increasing exponentially. So there was a discussion on how to increase revenue.

Lastly, Pawar also dis-cussed the increasing num-ber of corona cases and ways to check them. There was a detailed discussion on all the issues that should be taken into account while checking the corona pandemic.

It was on 18 June when

senior state Congress lead-ers Balasaheb Thorat and Ashok Chavhan met the Chief Minister to discuss Congress’ complaints with the government. Senior BJP leader and former Maha-rashtra Chief Minister De-vendra Fadnavis on Satur-day alleged that there was a lack of coordination among the three constituents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi govern-ment and also between Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his Cabinet in fighting Covid-19.

While the first priority should be to tackle the out-break, it’s important for Thackeray to take along ev-eryone, all his allies plus the BJP, and to clear the air on the impression that bureau-crats are heard and consid-ered, rather than ministers in Cabinet.

Also, other parties should understand that it’s pandem-ic time and they should not play politics. To win the war against the coronavirus in the state, it’s important that politicians understand that politics can wait.

in bihar

mulTiPle headaches

Advantage NDA as Mahagathbandhan in disarray

Tough for Uddhav as differences arise in Aghadi

Shiv PujaN jhaPATNA

urvaShi KhoNaMUMBAI

Aishwarya Rai

Uddhav Thackeray

Karishma

RJD is finding it hard to keep its own flock intact, with desertions becoming an everyday affair.

The BJP’s constant attempts to pull up the Thackeray government have made things difficult for the Chief Minister.

top of saturdayoN 18 july

ram TemPle TrusT members seT To meeT in ayodhya AYODHYA: Mahant Kamal Nayan Das, spokesperson for president of Shri Ram Janambhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, has said that the trust members are scheduled to meet on 18 July in Ayodhya for the purpose of construction of Ram temple. “Trust members will meet on 18 July in Ayodhya. The purpose will be the construction of Ram temple. We want that (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji should visit here once so that construction begins,” said Mahant Kamal Nayan Das. earlier on Wednesday, Nritya Gopal Das said that they have requested the Prime Minister to inaugurate the construction activities at the tem-ple site in Ayodhya. “We have written a letter to the Prime Minister requesting him to visit Ayodhya and inaugurate the construction activities of Ram temple. Pooja and other rituals have been ongoing for three months at the site,” Das said. “We just want him to come and we will ensure that there is no crowding,” he said. In March this year, the “Ram Lalla” idol was shifted to a temporary structure near Manas Bhawan in Ram Janmabhoomi premises, till the completion of the construction of Ram temple. The Supreme Court had on 9 November last year directed the Central government to hand over the site at Ayodhya for the construction of a temple and set up a trust in its verdict on the Ayodhya issue.The apex court had also directed the government to give a suitable land measuring five acres to the Sunni Waqf Board. ANI

4 nation the sunday guardian05 – 11 july 2020new delhi

www.sundayguardianlive.com

A Delhi-type focus by both the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the state government to tackle Covid-19 is ur-gently needed for the three metropolitan cities—Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad—which are struggling to keep the spread under control for the last one month. Absence of coordinated efforts by the local governments, too, is a reason for a uniform strategy.

Not surprisingly, the governments in three states—Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana—have been facing PILs (public interest litigations) in their respective High Courts exposing chinks in their armour in battling the virus spread. There are glaring anomalies at every stage of testing, tracking and treating Covid patients in these three big cities.

Even the Centre is worried over the uncontrolled Covid situation in these cities which are witnessing a steep spike in cases, albeit with a low mortality rates around 3% of the posi-tive numbers. After witnessing the way the National Capital Region has handled and brought down the situation under control this week, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, too, need to be apply similar strategies.

On Friday, Chennai accounted for 2,027 new positive cases out of 4,343 in Tamil Nadu. With this, the total active cases in Chennai stand at 22,777, and 1,321 deaths. Most parts of Chennai city have been observing voluntary lockdowns since 1 June. The E. Palalinswamy-led AIADMK government has extended the general lockdown till July end, after the state crossed one lakh cases.

The situation in Chennai is so alarming that in many lo-calities, people, mostly traders and shopkeepers, are volun-tarily calling for shutdowns since June last week. As a result, though there is no official ban, cabs and taxies are off the roads, thus completely paralysing normalcy. The government has been forced to extend the lockdown till 31 July.

The Greater Chennai Municipal Corporation, which re-ceived a large number of returnees from abroad in the last three weeks, has identified around 15 clusters where 80% of positive cases are concentrated. This in a way is useful to the public health officials, but in other ways a curse as police has to use force to keep crowds off the streets. The recent custo-dial death of a father and son is linked to this situation.

Similar is the situation in Bangalore. On Thursday, the city saw 889 new positive cases, taking the total number to 6,090. The city witnessed some downward trends in the positives for the last few days, but the figure jumped up again, causing alarming to the government. The sensitive areas like IT Cor-ridor and the business hub of MG Road have been completely out of bounds for business activity, due to more cases.

As many as five divisions of Brutah Bengaluru Mahanaga-raPalike, the civic body of the city, have been placed under a lockdown till 7 July. The divisions—Chamarajpet, Kalasi-palya, Chicpet, VV Puram and Byatarayanapuram—have recorded more number of cases in the last fortnight, thus accounting for more containment zones.

Chief Minister B.S. Yedyurappa is personally against to re-imposing lockdown in Bangalore city, but he made it clear that he won’t hesitate to enforce restrictions in case there is no let-up in the situation. The CM is in talks with private hospitals to ramp up the bed capacity and cap a fee package for the Covid patients, but the talks are incomplete.

Hyderabad, one of the Covid hotspots in the country, too, has become unwieldy to the K. Chandrasekhar Rao-led TRS government in Telangana. Though KCR is personally against extending the general lockdown in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation limits, the health ministry has been seeking one in the wake of a spike in cases for the last few days, which touched 998 per day on Thursday. Hyderabad with some downtown areas where density of population is as high as 35,000 per sq km has become unmanageable to the officials to enforce social distancing and isolation of contain-ment zones since 1 June. This has pushed the total number of cases by ten folds—from a daily figure of 100 to 900, thanks to ramped up testing, which now stand at 4,000 per day. One common feature of all these three cities is a lack of clarity on tracking and treatment of Covid patients. Though help-lines are in place, there are reports that patients or suspected pa-tients are complaining that they couldn’t get admitted to hos-pitals despite showing symptoms. Tracing has now become just impossible due to the mushrooming number of positive cases, bordering community spread. Only a Delhi-type con-certed effort, where a 10,000-bed Covid hospital has been opened and massive testing and awareness drive has been launched after the Centre stepped into rein in the pandemic, can change the situation. A focused and well-coordinated strategy alone can help Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad—of course through a joint drive between the Centre and states.

eye on SouthRama KRishna sangem

Southern cities need Delhi-type Covid focusA uniform strategy is needed due to lack of coordinated efforts by local govts.

BOUQUETS TO BRICKBATS

BEngAlURU TURnS COvId HUB AfTER EARly SUCCESSExponential rise in cases has sent the B.S. Yediyurappa government into a tailspin.

Call it complacency, ineptness of the au-thorities or lack of

preparedness, the Benga-luru model of tackling coro-navirus, which was to be replicated across the coun-try, has faltered. As the say-ing goes, success has many fathers, but failure is always an orphan; the blame game has already begun in the sili-con valley of the country. All the accolades and adulations the government received just under a month ago have now turned into a barbwire.

The exponential increase in the number of the cases has sent the B.S. Yediyurappa government into a tailspin. Every day for the past one week, the city is setting a new record as far as Covid-19 cases are concerned. On Saturday, Karnataka breached the 20,000 Covid cases mark. The number of fresh cases in

Karnataka on Saturday were 1,839, out of which Bengaluru saw 1,172 cases and 42 deaths. Total cases in the state were 21,549 out of which active cas-es are 11,966 and total deaths are 335. The number of active cases in Bengaluru was 7,250. As on Saturday, this is the big-gest spike for a day so far, state wise and Bengaluru-wise.

The action has now shifted from BBMP’s Covid war room to the CM’s conference hall where BSY, along with his battery of ministers—Deputy CM Ashwathnaraya, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Health Minister B. Sriramulu and Medical Education Minister Dr Sud-hakar—is locked up for hours strategising on how to tackle the pandemic which has gone out of control.

The state government would swear by the mantra—Tracing, Tracking, Testing and Treating. This was seen as the most methodical ap-proach to contain the deadly

virus. But once the virus graduated from local trans-mission to community trans-mission, something which is still not officially accepted by the ICMR, things went out of control. The sheer number of positive cases, which were in the 10s turned to 100s and now to 1000s in the state, and has left the Covid authorities in tatters.

According to health minis-try sources, there is a back-log of over 25,000 samples to be tested as of today and this number is only grow-ing. “After the Union Health ministry revised guidelines on treatment of Covid pa-tients, we have issued or-ders that asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients be treated at home. We need beds to treat critically affect-ed patients. We are creating medical infrastructure on a war-footing. But every day, it is like going to war,’’ he said.

Dr Vishal Rao, well-known oncology surgeon

at HCG, who is also part of the task force on Covid con-stituted under BSY, said: “There are only two wrong choices to make and we have picked that which can limit damage—either open up the economy or lock down in the interest of health. Un-lock 1.0 is the main reason behind Karnataka witness-ing this kind of surge. We imported the virus from across the country. Un-less we see zero cases for two consecutive weeks, we shouldn’t have opened the borders. But these are hard decisions to make and easier said than done,’’ he said.

Globally till today nobody has got it right, neither eco-nomically advanced coun-tries nor medically or scien-tifically advanced countries. “Countries like Germany, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea went into com-plete lockdown. Today, they are way ahead and have contained the virus, but at

the same time, they had to pay the premium,” said Dr Rao, adding that “we need a pandemic drill which is the main reason behind Kerala’s success. They had exposure to SARS and Nipah virus, so they knew what should have been done”.

Deputy CM Ashwathna-rayan told The Sunday Guard-ian that it was inevitable to open the borders. “Damned if you do and damned if you don’t. We were the first to clamp down on movement, we were the first to an-nounce lockdown and the first to come up with sealed down and containment zones. We had our share of success too. Even now, we are far better compared to all the metro cities, but there is a lot that needs to be done. We have prioritised Covid management over every-thing else. We are building large medical facilities in ex-hibition halls, auditoriums, sports complexes and sta-

diums. It’s not easy to carry out such works in a thickly populated country like In-dia. The private hospitals, too, have chipped in. We are preparing for the worst,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Sudakar, medical education minister in charge of Covid issues, told The Sunday Guardian that booth-level task force, both at rural and urban areas of the state, will be formed in three to four days. “We don’t know how long this pandemic will exist, three months or six months…this task force will be structural and func-tional. Bengaluru alone will have 8,880 booths in 28 Assembly constituencies. Tracking and handling of all Covid cases at the local level will begin shortly,’’ he said. He, however, ruled out any further lockdowns as far as Bengaluru or Karnataka is concerned in the wake of the increasing cases.

R. JayapRakashBengaluRu

BJP has given clear-cut messages to Opposition rebels that those who want to join them will get due respect and position.

The expansion of the Mad-hya Pradesh Cabinet is a fire alarm for the Congress. Success of the rebel formula may create a greater crisis for Congress in other states too.

The BJP has given clear-cut messages to Opposition rebels that those who want to join them will get due re-spect and position. BJP has appointed 14 supporters of Jyotiraditya Scindia as min-isters out of 22 former MLAs in Madhya Pradesh Cabinet expansion. However, the suc-cess of this move will depend on the outcome of the upcom-ing byelections in 24 seats. Therefore, the byelections in September will be a test for the BJP think-tank and Scindia. At the same time, it will also test the might of two Congress stalwarts and former CMs Kamal Nath

and Digvijaya Singh. If the Congress fails to touch the double-figure in these by-elections, this will lead to more trouble for the Central leadership. Already, there is a sense of insecurity among the many state leaders. Top-pling of the Kamal Nath gov-ernment was also a failure of the Central command. Had they taken timely decisions, the Kamal Nath government would have survived.

Congress high command has not yet learned from the miscalculation of Madhya Pradesh. Meanwhile, BJP tried hard but couldn’t topple the governments in Rajasthan and Chhattigarsh due to able leadership of Ashok Gehlot and an overwhelming major-ity, respectively. In Rajasthan, the BJP failed due to Gehlot’s strategy, but Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra are still under BJP’s watch. In addi-tion to that, BJP is also eye-

ing to cash in on the tussles and discontent among other state government leader-ships as well. There are many states like Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand where leader-ship is either sidelined or divided. The BJP is aiming at the young team of Rahul Gandhi. If BJP is successful in retaining power in Madhya Pradesh, their next target is Bihar, where the Congress is completely marginalised. Ex-cept for Assam and Punjab, Congress is not in a position to do miracles in poll-bound states like Bihar, West Ben-gal and Uttar Pradesh. The Central leadership is not yet able to finalise teams for these states. On the other hand, the BJP is eying every state.

Every young Congress leader wishes for the posi-tion of political secretary as soon as Rahul Gandhi takes

over command, while the old guard starts worrying about their posts. It seems that Ra-hul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are either happy or have been convinced that they will get power back only by attacking PM Modi and Yogi Adityanath. They don’t want to touch the or-ganization. It is strange that a non-Hindi speaking, inex-perienced leader has been made organization general secretary, which even affects the ground reporting from the Hindi-speaking states. Under these circumstances, it is difficult to say whether the Delhi leadership has un-derstood the importance of Madhya Pradesh byelections or not. Rahul Gandhi’s fierce attack on PM Modi over the coronavirus crisis and Chi-na will be tested in Madhya Pradesh byelections. There is no clarity over Rahul Gan-dhi’s campaign in the state.

Congress has left the fight to two former CMs, Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh.

The BJP high command also relied on CM Shivraj Chou-han and Scindia. Prime Min-ister Modi and Home Minis-ter Amit Shah are unlikely to campaign. BJP national president J.P. Nadda can par-ticipate, but a final decision is pending. These will be the first elections held during the corona pandemic. As per the rules, this election has to be held before 20 September. These byelections will be a big experiment before the Bihar elections. If successful, then the party will enter the Bihar poll battle with a high morale. These byelections will also shape the political career of Shivraj Singh Chou-han and Jyotiraditya Scindia. The entire Cabinet expansion has been done by keeping on mind 24-seat by-elections in September. The BJP has to

win more that 15 out of 24, otherwise the Congress will leave no stones unturned to return to power. On the other hand, the Congress is wish-ing to get 50% seats. With 12 seats, the Congress will try to pull some possible rebel MLAs from the BJP. They are targeting around 8-10 MLAs from Bhind district.

If this is true, then certainly there is a threat to the Shivraj Chouhan government. But it is certainly not a cake walk. Experts suggest that Scindia will leave no stones unturned for the 16 seats in his strong-hold Chambal-Gwalior divi-sion. That is why all ministers in the Kamal Nath govern-ment have got birth again in the Shivraj Chouhan govern-ment as well. These byelec-tions will decide the politi-cal future of not only Shivraj Chouhan and Scindia, but for Kamal Nath and Congress as well.

MP CABInET EXPAnSIOn

Alarm bells in Congress over Scindia formulaaJit Maindolanew delhi

Bilateral trade relations between India and Bangla-desh have taken a hit due to the West Bengal govern-ment’s decision not to allow imports from Bangladesh despite explicit and repeated orders from the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Bengal government.

Due to this “discrimina-tory” action by the state gov-ernment, protests erupted at the Bangladesh side ear-lier this week, resulting in a stoppage of entry of Indian goods into Bangladesh. The Bengal government’s deci-sion not to allow imports from the neighbouring coun-try has been attributed to the fear of spread of Covid-19.

According to exporters in Bongaon (North 24 Parganas district) which has one of the largest land ports between India and Bangladesh called the Petrapole border, the ab-

sence of an order from the West Bengal government has halted all imports from Ban-gladesh. This has not been well received by the Bangla-deshi counterpart who had been receiving Indian goods for the last 20 days without being able to send anything to India.

“The Bengal government has still not issued any SOPs for receiving imports from Bangladesh which has agitated the Bangladeshi exporters who have now stopped all exports from India. For the last four days, there has not been any ex-port or import from any of the Indo-Bangla borders in Bengal,” an exporter from Bongaon told The Sunday Guardian.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has issued repeated orders to the state government to allow im-ports from Bangladesh, but despite that, the state gov-ernment has still not issued

any order to resume imports from Bangladesh.

E x p o r t - I m p o r t w a s stopped between the two countries from 23 March in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The trade be-tween these two countries had briefly resumed in May after which it had to shut down following protests from the neighbouring vil-lages. Trade resumed in high capacity only on 7 June, but even then, imports from Bangladesh were banned and only exports from India to Bangladesh was taking place.

But after almost 20 days during which only goods were being exported from India to Bangladesh, the Bangladeshi traders and exporters decided not to re-ceive any products from In-dia unless India also starts receiving products from Bangladesh. The Petrapole Border, according to official figures, witnesses Rs 1,000

crore-Rs 1,200 crore trade every month, with at least 500-550 trucks moving across the border daily.

The problems for Indian traders, according to those who spoke to The Sunday Guardian, has further in-creased due to corruption by the local Trinamool Con-gress (TMC) leaders which includes the TMC controlled Bongaon Municipality.

One of the exporters from Bongaon, who did not wish to be named, told this cor-respondent, “The corrup-tion of the TMC leaders is so widespread here that you need to pay a bribe to even move a truck from the Kali-tala parking (this parking is controlled by the local TMC Municipal chairman Shan-kar Addhya) to the Central government’s parking. The Kalitala parking is charging all exporters a parking fee from 23 March by issuing backdated parking entry re-ceipts, even if their truck has

entered the parking in June.”Another transporter,

whom this correspondent spoke to, said, “I had to pay Rs 15,000 extra as parking charge to the Bongaon mu-nicipality because they are charging parking fees from 23 March. They say that the DM of North 24 Parganas had issued an order on 23 March to stop parking in Kalitala and that order has still not been withdrawn so the municipality, citing that order, is charging a parking fee from 23 March even if a truck enters in July. More-over, we are not receiving proper receipt for the park-ing fees being charged.”

The Sunday Guardian reached out to the DM of North 24 Parganas for a re-sponse on these allegations, but none was received.

Exporters have also alleged that the Bongaon municipal-ity controlled parking has stopped giving out a list of the serial number of trucks

in the parking which, ac-cording to them, has paved the way for corruption by illegally moving out trucks of exporters who owe their allegiance to the Trinamool Congress.

“We have been requesting for the serial numbers of all the trucks that are parked for export, but we are not be-ing given that. This is being done because the Bongaon municipality chairman is charging hefty amounts of money from exporters for bypassing the queue and only those who can afford to pay the hefty bribe amount to the municipality chair-man, only their trucks are being allowed to carry the export goods into Bangla-desh. This is totally illegal. For example, on the night on 8 June, the Kalitala parking had released 100 trucks and on that very day, export of 140 trucks happened; where and how did those 40 trucks come?” the trader asked.

fEAR Of COvId-19

Mamata not allowing imports from Bangladeshdibyendu Mondalnew delhi

top of saturdayContaininG CoVid-19

nO flIgHTS TO KOlKATA fROM SIX CITIES fROM 6-19 JUlyKOlKaTa: no flights from six cities will land in Kolkata for three weeks starting 6 July, or till further orders, Kolkata airport authorities said on saturday as the Bengal govern-ment stepped up measures to contain coronavirus. “it is informed that no flights shall operate to Kolkata from delhi, mumbai, Pune, nagpur, Chennai and ahmedabad from 6th to 19th July 2020 or till further order whichever is earlier. inconvenience caused is regretted,” said Kolkata airport. ani

nationthe sunday guardian05 – 11 july 2020

new delhi 5www.sundayguardianlive.com

access to metadata

of about a billion individuals. Such a move would se-

verely affect progress devel-oping Artificial Intelligence algorithms, technology of immense value in both civil-ian as well as military appli-cations. Under the personal supervision of President Xi Jinping, who has made global leadership in technol-ogy a primary objective of his period in office, the past four years have witnessed China overtaking the US in both AI patents as well as the commercial exploration of AI systems. Given the use that AI can be put to in the spheres of intelligence and military operations, the Modi app ban—especially if followed by other countries with large smartphone-en-abled populations—could have the effect of reversing PRC success in AI where its existential competitor, the US, is concerned. Who wins the Knowledge War will prevail over the other, and access to Indian metadata is a necessary component for such a victory. This had been freely available to China until Prime Minister Modi decided it was time to show that there would be a heavy cost for the CCP to bear if it continued to indulge the PLA’s GHQ Rawalpindi-seeded phobia about India.

Mapping out populations on demographics, ethnici-ties, lifestyles and dialects is helpful both in commerce and in conflict, and requires the access to varied popula-tions that Chinese software and hardware are designed to penetrate. Although 59 Chinese apps have been banned, there may be other major apps that are in fact Chinese, although technical-ly belonging to a third coun-try or to Hong Kong. After the security legislation be-came law in Hong Kong on 1 July 2020, the distinction between the PRC and the Hong Kong Special Admin-istrative Region has been almost completely elimi-nated in any practical ease. Now that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown the way, agencies in India will need to identify other apps where the servers are in PRC control, despite the apps technically originat-ing in another country. And there are security challenges outside the virtual. Under-sea cables carry voice and data across vast distances, and these have been subject to snooping through clan-destine physical access in the past. The app ban of the Prime Minister is only the first step of a long chain of

steps that need to be taken to ensure that the security of India is not compromised through being accessed by a country whose military is hand in glove with GHQ Rawalpindi, a fulcrum of terrorism across the world.

CHINA’S WATERLOO WILL BE PAKISTAN Just as Afghanistan was a Waterloo for both the USSR as well as later the US, Paki-stan is likely to be a similar quagmire for China within a relatively brief period of time. The folly of going along with the requirements of GHQ Rawalpindi will soon become evident to percep-tive scholars and analysts in the PRC. Many there do not accept the PLA policy of trust in the Pakistan army and of permitting GHQ Rawalpindi to stamp its in-fluence on policies directed against India in a manner that goes counter to the in-terests of the 1.4 billion peo-ple of China. It seems only a matter of time before an objective cost-benefit analy-sis gets done within the CCP on the relationship between Pakistan and China, includ-ing its effect on relations with India. However, as yet, there is no evidence of such a shift in policy. China and Pakistan are joined at the hip in the military sphere, in the same way as China and Russia now are under Putin and Xi. Ties with China have crossed a point of inflexion as a consequence of PLA activity on the Sino-Indian border since 3 May, especial-ly the Galwan encounter on 15 June. On the Indian side, the tardiness shown thus far in the essential task of marking India’s territories in Ladakh and elsewhere that are susceptible to nib-bling by the PLA’s “forward policy” will now hopefully be a thing of the past, just as the earlier neglect of bor-der access infrastructure had been till PM Modi took up the matter and rescued it from the obstructive at-titude of elements in North Block, who have remained wedded to Morarji Desai’s policy during his 1958-63 stint as Finance Minister. He starved the Ministry of Defence of necessary funds, as in the view of him and presumably Prime Minis-ter Nehru, “conflict with China is impossible in our lifetime”. Desai was shown to be wrong in 1962, when the PLA marched across the frontier. This is still being kept undefined by Beijing despite multiple rounds of negotiations with India on the subject. Till now, until PM Modi intervened, there had not been any visible cost

to Beijing of such a policy of stonewalling a task so es-sential to stable peaceful re-lations with India.

CHINESE COMPANIES’ VALUATIONS FALL Prime Minister Modi’s move banning 59 Chinese apps is of immense significance, and every country that joins the ban will wipe out more and more of the value of the Chinese entities involved. And this is a trend-setter that is likely to be followed by other countries, includ-ing the United States and the other four members of the “5 Eyes” intelligence combo (to which India seems on the way to be belonging to, as the sixth “eye”). Over the past decade, while the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has itself created a wall prevent-ing external apps and inter-net applications from entry into its market, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has encouraged a handful of “national champions” to reach globally competitive standards and join the list of the top tech entities across most continents. TikTok, for example, had nearly 840 million users worldwide in-cluding 210 million in India, while its parent company ByteDance was valued at over $100 billion. The India ban will knock the bottom off both these calculations, leaving the company at risk of closure, should other countries follow the exam-ple set by PM Modi. The per-ception within the National Security Council and the Department of Commerce in Washington is that the Chinese side intentionally hid the fact of the Covid-19 pandemic while signing the Economic & Trade Agree-ment with the US early in 2020, by which time the disease was already being

documented in Wuhan. The US side is therefore putting in place measures designed to constrict the supply of dollars to China, including through threats to delist Chinese companies from US exchanges. The Modi app ban will compress Chi-nese company valuations further, which will fall more and more with every new entry into the app ban band-wagon. Who remembers tech giants of the past such as AOL or MySpace? The ban may result in current PRC champions heading in the same direction. The apps ban is unique in that it tar-gets the metasphere, which is today getting dominated by the PRC, and which seems to have traditionally been outside the major fields of interest of security agen-cies in India. This is incom-prehensible, as online gam-ing (within the metasphere) is 74% controlled worldwide by Chinese entities, and this pastime has become the re-ality of the present genera-tion in countries across the world, including the US and India. Tencent, a wholly Chinese entity, controls on-line products that are im-mensely popular among hundreds of millions of people, and which can suck up personal data with every minute of use by these in-dividuals across the world. Once WeChat and other apps used to communicate with the Chinese in the PRC get banned in major econo-mies, and because What-sApp, Facebook and LINE are banned in China, there will be fewer ways for Chi-nese entities to seamlessly communicate with outside customers or suppliers. This will severely impact business unless Facebook, Google and other foreign systems are allowed in the

PRC. Despite his friendly feelings towards President Xi, President Trump is feel-ing the pressure of many in his team to follow the exam-ple set by Narendra Modi.

HOW WECHAT AND TIKTOK FUNCTIONAmong the apps now banned in India is WeChat, which has been used to give the CCP point of view in a manner that is often sub-liminal and subtle, such as by the display of maps that do not reflect actual legal or factual situations on the ground, including on borders. China has for long banned foreign chat programs from operating within its territory, such as LINE or WhatsApp, but is protesting a similar ban in India of its own products. This again in a context where Twitter, YouTube, Google, Facebook and other such global tech giants are barred from use in China. Backchannel efforts have long been ongoing by some of these tech titans to genu-flect to the CCP and thereby get the ban lifted, although thus far efforts at ingratiat-ing themselves with author-ities in the PRC have proved a failure. The banning by PM Modi of China’s own communications program (WeChat) within India is the first time this has taken place after it was banned in Iran in 2013, and is likely to be a trend setter among major democracies such as the US, Germany, Japan, the UK and France that are eager to protect their data and ensure that China does not emerge the champion in AI and its applications. Of the top ten unified apps downloaded in India dur-ing 2019, six are Chinese, three are from the US and only one (Hotstar) is from

India. In 2015, there were two from India, five from the US and three from Chi-na. The importance of India to the online industry in China is clear from the fact that downloads of Chinese products have risen fast-est in India as compared to other large countries such as Indonesia, Brazil, Ni-geria and Egypt. Chinese apps have overtaken US apps and left Indian apps far behind since 2015. A few years more, and this tech space in India would have been almost complete-ly dominated by Chinese companies.

Among the hardest hit by the app ban is TikTok, which has more than 200 million active users in India, or 4 out of every 10 of its users. While it is technically a social me-dia app, experts warn that it can very quickly be used for surveillance purposes. It can be remotely controlled and can track an individu-al’s activity and identity if a smartphone is used, which in India is most likely to be a Chinese model, given the dominance of that country in the hardware market in this country. A single entity, Xiaomi, controls a third of India’s smartphone market. The company has not hid-den the fact that it relies on a strategy of “building the ecosystem” through its us-ers. This means that they collect a huge trove of data about each user through items such as refrigerators, clothes washers, televi-sion sets and even weigh-ing scales, besides of course the ubiquitous smartphone. Their stated goal is to run Artificial Intelligence analy-ses on its users better than any other electronics com-panies, thereby posing an obvious risk to data security in a context where not just strategic but even tactical planning seems to be jointly carried out these days by GHQ Rawalpindi and the PLA. This has significance because a company such as Tencent can listen to ev-erything its WeChat users say. In the case of Alipay payment app of AliBaba (which has significant say over some entities operat-ing in India that are as yet outside the ban just an-nounced), a single spend can result in more than 200 data points getting collected for Artificial Intelligence analyses. Surveillance and the collection of data has therefore become an impor-tant by-product of Chinese software companies, which is the reason why they are being given so much atten-tion to by the CCP under the tech-savvy Xi.

INVISIBLE TRANSFER OF DATAGiven the carelessness with which both officials and non-officials in India han-dle software and hardware that have immense snoop capability, it would be no surprise if there have been few surprises from India to countries with an advanced capability in metadata col-lection. Advance informa-tion, whether political, social, economic or even security related would have flowed through the invis-ible transfer of data. India will need to build up its own wholly owned nation-al champions (anonymity through the Participatory Note route can no longer be permitted in such sensitive sectors) as otherwise meta-data will continue to flow out of India to countries that are using the same to ramp up their Artificial Intelli-gence (AI) capabilities. At present, the US is still ahead, but China has been catch-ing up fast. Interestingly, AI requires not so much human intelligence as data from humans for getting developed, and after China, India is the biggest source of such data. Because of the absence of policies de-signed to protect metadata till some recent steps by Prime Minister Modi, thus far such data has mostly gone to two countries, the US and China, with coun-tries such as France in this list thanks to penetration of the Indian software and applications market. Aad-haar for example is a prime example of an oceanic trove of metadata, and a reckon-ing of where its data has gone would be of immense value in understanding the scope of the security chal-lenges being faced by India. Any lack of cold-blooded objectivity in judging risks would do immense future harm, just as it has done in the past. Indian champions need to be developed, for the brainpower exists for this within the country, if protected from regulations and administrative practice that seem designed to fa-vour external competition. The manner in which pat-ents are being looked at, for example, needs a compre-hensive relook during Modi 2.0. Even during Modi 1.0, the effect of several regula-tory moves on patents was to handicap domestic en-tities and give preference to alien competitors. It is clear from Modi 2.0 that the Prime Minister has mas-tered the processes of gover-nance and that continuation of UPA-era policies favour-ing foreign competition will

no longer be permitted. The pioneering move by India of beginning the process of delinking India from China in the matter of technology needs to be followed by the US. Secretary Mike Pom-peo’s strong words are of little value unless matched by action matching such language. During the Clin-ton presidency, it was com-monplace to see a combi-nation of strong language and concessional policies co-exist where China was concerned. This was in con-trast to India, where Clin-ton’s policies were brutal in terms of sanctions and the effort to give GHQ Rawal-pindi the upper hand in Kashmir. This tilt, at least, has changed, although the reluctance of Donald J. Trump to sanction Turkey for explicitly going against NATO interests is being used as evidence for the proposition that the US (at least under President Trump) is not a reliable partner. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s pusillanimous stance to-wards sanctions on Turkey and other critical issues in-volving the need for strong action is leading to a trust deficit between the US and its present and future allies that is reaching a level dan-gerous for US long-term interests, and could cost Trump the White House in November.

CHINA PAYS THE PRICE FOR PLA MOVES The move to ban 59 Chinese apps by PM Modi, which is expected to be followed by several other steps in the same direction, will do severe damage not only to the valuations of Chinese “national champions” but also to the development of Artificial Intelligence, and thereby substantially slow down China from overtak-ing the US in this field. Who leads in AI leads the world. This would inevitably be the case, were President Trump to accept the advice of his National Security Ad-visor and his Secretary of State to put into operation the steps initiated by Prime Minister Modi in India in the crucial combat theatre of the virtual world and the metasphere. By the Indian Army’s ro-bust response to its GHQ-orchestrated actions in the Galwan Valley and on other points on the Himalayan frontier, the PLA has done incalculable damage to President Xi Jinping’s am-bitious drive to make China the numero uno tech power in the world in the next few years.

PM Modi strikes a deadly blow to China’s teCh aMbitions

Matter oF Metadata

asaadh PoorniMa aMid PandeMiC

India wants to focus on connectivity to Buddhist sites, says PM Modi

I-Day celebrations at Red Fort might be muted

Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi on the occasion of Asaadh Poornima and the inauguration of the Dharma Chakra Day, on Saturday, said India wants to focus on connectivity to Buddhist sites to improve tourism. The Prime Minis-ter’s remark came at a time when the country is passing

through its worst economic phase and needs improve-ment in all sectors including tourism to attract revenue. “We want to focus on con-nectivity to Buddhist sites. A few days back the Indian cabinet announced that Kushinagar airport will be an international one. This will bring people, pilgrims and tourists,” Modi said. Addressing through video conferencing, Modi said he

is very hopeful about the 21st century and this hope comes from young friends. He lauded the efforts of youths in start-up sectors saying, “If you want to see a great example of how hope, innovation and compas-sion can remove suffering, it is our start-up sector led by our youths.” Noting that bright young minds are finding solutions to global problems, the Prime Minis-

ter said India has one of the largest start-up eco-systems and I would urge my young friends to also stay con-nected with the thoughts of Lord Buddha so that they could be motivated and find the way ahead. The Prime Minister said that the event is also known as Guru Purnima. “This is a day to remember our gurus who gave us knowledge. In that spirit, we pay homage

to Lord Buddha,” PM said. “The eight-fold path of Lord Buddha shows the way to-wards the well-being of many societies and nations. It highlights the importance of compassion and kind-ness. The teachings of Lord Buddha celebrate simplicity, both in thought and action,” He said. Buddhism teaches respect for people, the poor and women, for peace and non-violence.

This year the Independence Day celebrations at Red Fort might not be as grand as in the previous years because of the Covid-19 pandemic and social distancing norms to be followed. This means that the gathering at the Red Fort would be limited and more emphasis would be on the virtual transmission

of the event. “The gathering might be limited to one third or even less this year. This means the security agencies would strictly adhere to social distancing norms,” said an of-ficial at the Red Fort. The Del-hi Police would be manning the outer layer of the security ring as the security of the Red Fort has been taken over by the Defence Ministry and the Prime Minister’s security.

Seating arrangements for

dignitaries would be accord-ing to social distancing norms and there would be less chairs this year. Decision on entry of the general public is under consideration. “There would be 4 isolation chambers, two inside and two outside the Red Fort. The number of am-bulances deployed this year might be more than previous years, the staff of the Red Fort would also undergo the Covid test,” the official said.

IANSnew delhi

IANSnew delhi

Women watch Prime Minister Narendra Modi address the nation amid the spread of the coronavirus disease, on TV screens inside a showroom in Ahmedabad, on Tuesday. REUTERS

The eviction notice served on Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has brought to relief a trait

of India’s democracy which has no known parallels in other major democracies in the world: provision of niche government accommodation in downtown area of the na-tional capital to people not occupying any elected or otherwise designated pub-lic office. The rent assigned for the bungalow occupied by Ms Vadra is said to be Rs 37,000 per month—a rent at which normally apartments are available in far-flung areas of Delhi like Dwarka, Patparganj, Ro-hini, etc. Rental of a decent apartment accommodation in New Delhi area runs into

lakhs. (According to one report, Ms Vadra, after re-ceiving the eviction order, cleared her past dues, up to 30 June, amounting to nearly Rs 3.5 lakh—not only is the rental low, the exchequer is denied regular remittances for the bounty provided at taxpayers’ expense.) Ms Vadra herself has not imme-diately made any statement on the eviction issue, though Congress spokesperson, on expected lines, has decried the notice.

The government’s clarifi-cation that two veteran BJP leaders, Lal Krishna Advani and Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, who chose to retire from electoral fray in 2019, will continue in their bungalows till 2022 has made Congress attribute motives. Unlike Ms Vadra, who stepped into political turf as recently as January 2019 and has not

held any elected office, Ad-vani and Joshi are veterans of parliamentary politics and both have held the post of BJP president. Ms Vadra is a general secretary of Con-gress, charged with “eastern Uttar Pradesh”—an entire state is yet to be assigned to her (though being a member of the “first family” her infor-mal footprint over Congress has been noticeable for past many years).

Namita Bhattacharya, the daughter of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, set an example after the former PM passed away—she vacated the of-ficial bungalow on Krishna Menon Marg allotted to her father and moved to her private apartment in Gurugram. The family of Chandrasekhar had set the tone—they had vacated his South Avenue Lane bun-galow many years back.

Sushma Swaraj left her of-ficial house and moved to a private accommodation soon after ceasing to be a min-ister, though she was criti-cally ill. So did Arun Jaitley. Both these illustrious souls breathed their last outside the pomp and show of Lu-tyens Delhi.

The family of Sonia Gan-dhi occupies three bunga-

lows—10 Janpath, 12 Tu-ghlaq Lane (allotted to Rahul Gandhi as MP) and 35 Lodi Estate (Priyanka Gandhi Vadra). She was accommo-dated as she was protected by the elite Special Protec-tion Group (SPG). In No-vember last the government did threat perception assess-ment and reintroduced the original mandate of SPG of

1985—protection of the in-cumbent PM. Congressmen, including Chief Ministers, have argued that the removal of SPG cover and eviction of Ms Vadra could create a se-curity threat. Considering that Indira Gandhi and Ra-jiv Gandhi were eliminated by assassins, threat to mem-bers of Sonia Gandhi’s family cannot be ruled out—howev-er the Z+ security cover with CRPF protection, which is available to Dr Manmohan Singh, Advani, Joshi, Sonia Gandhi, inter alia, cannot be rated as inadequate. SPG was set up for protection of PM. V.P. Singh and Chan-drasekhar governments continued with the original mandate for SPG; it was di-luted in the P.V. Narasimha Rao days.

The Sonia Gandhi fam-ily has inherited a 4.9-acre farmhouse in Sultanpur

village of Mehrauli tehsil in South West Delhi. The prop-erty was purchased by the Indira Gandhi family in the 1960s. It is shown as part of Rahul Gandhi’s assets in his election declaration. It came into limelight during the Janata days post Emergency when CBI went around dig-ging up the grounds in a quixotic search for “hidden wealth”. It again sneaked into newspapers in Decem-ber 2018 when Indian Ex-press reported that in 2013 while Jignesh Shah was be-ing investigated by the UPA regime, Rahul and Priyanka had rented out the premises, known as “Indira Gandhi Farmhouse” to Shah’s firm National Spot Exchange Ltd, a subsidiary of Finan-cial Technology (India) Ltd, which was accused of insider trading in commodities ex-change and also of running

a Ponzi fund. The monthly rent was fixed at Rs 6.7 lakh for the property, which as per Rahul Gandhi’s poll dec-laration, was valued at Rs 9.86 lakh. An interest free deposit of Rs 40.20 lakh was collected as advance rent. The rent lease was abruptly cancelled when the scam broke out. Could this prop-erty not have been used to provide secure premises to unelected members of the family?

Last week Ms Vadra tweeted to assert that she is the granddaughter of Indira Gandhi: that undoubtedly is her exclusive privilege. Indira Gandhi’s spouse, Feroze Gandhi, was a scam buster—the first ever scam discussion took place in Parliament due to his honest endeavour. Will Ms Vadra be able to measure up to her grandmother on this score?

on our terms

tHereBY HAnGs A tALe

6 covert the sunday guardian05 – 11 july 2020new delhi

www.sundayguardianlive.com

At Lum-pu, there

is a hut of re-membrance. An inverted .303 Lee En-

field Rifle with a helmet placed on it overlooks the Nyamjang Chu that flows north to south from the di-rection of Khenzemane, the border post where the Dalai Lama had stepped onto In-dian soil in 1959. Also visible from the hut is the Thagla ridge that runs off to the west from Khenzemane to the tri-junction with Bhutan, while at the base of it, is the Nam Ka Chu. The names of those who fell in the valley are enshrined on the walls all around the ri-fle—men from 1/9 Gorkha Ri-fles, 4 Grenadiers, 9 Punjab, 5 Assam Rifles, some gunners, some signalmen, some sap-pers—but the longest list is of 2 Rajput, which lost 281 men on the fateful morning of 20 October 1962. Also written on the wall, are three words which together carry a lot of meaning: “We Shall Avenge!”

Six decades ago, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had paid the price by trust-ing the PRC, which under the Communists was a very different animal from the earlier Kuomintang Chinese with whom Indians over the centuries had never had any serious issues. “President for Life” Xi Jinping, the Chinese strongman, who, at the begin-ning of 2019, was not only dreaming but preparing his people for a new world or-der, has made a few funda-mental mistakes. The PRC, whose own ruthless march to power was fuelled by years of oppression and humiliation, forgot that other people too have a DNA and they also will fight back when pushed to a corner. If they have embed-ded in their collective national consciousness humiliation at the hands of the Chinese, the fight-back will be even more resolute, even if they have to fight with sticks and stones.

Even though on the face of it, the Chinese virus had the world on its knees, Xi Jinping forgot that there are three positions to fire back from. In the initial post-1962 period, a lot of the disguised propaganda unleashed by the likes of Neville Maxwell was unleashed upon us to the ex-tent that even Indian history text books defensively stated “the 1962 War was the result of Nehru’s Forward Policy”. Fortunately, more recently, this mindless acceptance of “history” has been countered

and when we look at what happened in 1962, two things stare us in the face—we lost not so much to the Chinese but to ourselves; and we were definitely not the aggressors. Maxwell’s book’s title, India’s China War has been stood on its head by the research and subsequent writings of most scholars, among whom is the Swedish journalist, Bertil Lintner. The title of his book, China’s India War, says it all.

In 1962, the Chinese may have achieved their military and strategic objectives vis-a-vis India, but the PRC lost out on many fronts, which will forever haunt the Chi-nese people. By annexing Tibet, it destroyed a country and a culture that had never harmed anyone. Living in their isolated Shangrilas, the Tibetan people stood no chance against a ruthless and conniving Mao Zedong, who not only created the PRC, but ruled over it with an iron hand till his death in 1976. Prior to grabbing Tibet, Mao had annexed Xinjiang—or as we know it, Sinkiang—where he subjugated the Uyghur people among other Turkic groups who until then were more or less a Soviet pro-tectorate. Mao then had his fingers in just about every post-WWII pie, be it the Ko-rean War, the split with the Soviets, the rise of the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnam War. In the subcontinent, the PRC was not only involved in grabbing Indian terri-tory in Ladakh and NEFA, but was actively involved in fanning the Naga and Mizo insurgencies. In addition, as brought out in my forthcom-ing book, 1965: A Western Sun-rise (Aleph), it was none other than Chairman Mao who had sat with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, then the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, and worked out the

blue-print for “Operation Gi-braltar”, wherein thousands of armed “Mujahids” were let loose into the state of Jammu & Kashmir.

Chairman Mao, whose reign was autocratic and to-talitarian in the extreme, is considered to be responsible for the death of a staggering 80 million people, through starvation, religious and ideological persecution, la-bour camps and executions. Xi Jinping has inherited that legacy.

One of the reasons why Mao succeeded in getting away with his massive land grabs, was the fact that the world was fed up of war. Europe was in a shambles, colonial empires were at last disinte-grating, allowing the peoples of Asia and Africa to breathe the air of independence, and the United States was locked in a deadly cold war with the Soviets. As they stared un-

blinkingly into each other’s eyes, Communist China qui-etly expanded its frontiers based on the simple “might is right” principle.

However, the rest of the world, has also evolved since the 1950s and 60s, even though it watched passively as the PRC steadily worked its way to being a superpow-er. The Americans, naively believing that the influx of big money would sound the death knell of commu-nism and that China, like them would go soft on their stated “world domination” policy, couldn’t have got it more wrong. To make mat-ters worse, the Americans, by their abrasive manner, where they often let their allies down after having used them, had also made the world extremely wary of them. The answer, especially for the Indian subcontinent, was to make sure it carried

a big stick, and was capable of staring down the dragon that every now and then let out a waft of fire from across the Great Himalayan Range.

After the start of the pan-demic, when the world felt China owed moral respon-sibility for what had trans-pired, few would have ex-pected Xi Jinping to don the war paint and literally follow in Mao’s footsteps where ev-eryone, and everyone, was an enemy, to be bullied and dominated to a point where they would go into collective home quarantine and didn’t dare look towards China. In early April, during an interactive session with the Rotary Club of Chennai and Kampala (Nigeria), I had pointed out that World War III had already begun and it was a matter of time before India too would feel the heat of Chinese aggression. In my opinion, the US and the rest

of the world today have no choice but to not only take on but dismantle the PRC—a task that is more easily said than done.

India, with its teeming masses and on the face of it, especially to Chinese eyes, complete chaos would have been and was Xi Jinping’s first port of call, especially since the PRC has its careful-ly nurtured pet poodle ever ready to bite from the west. It also made sense to try and precipitate a limited military confrontation in the Hima-layas where if other nations were to get sucked in, China would have the advantage of a huge buffer between its ac-tual frontier and the conflict zone.

There is a lot that Indian political parties have done over the years that has ad-versely affected the coun-try’s defence preparedness. Jawaharlal Nehru, hugely

guilty of interfering with the Armed Forces’ structure has been joined by other wor-thies and the institutional integrity has been repeatedly attacked, so much so that to-day there are a lot of parallels with the pre-1962 situation. However, the country itself, the people and the Armed Forces, have undergone a sea change. Institutions like the National Defence Acad-emy and the Indian Military Academy have nurtured generations of fighting men, who are today in a class of their own and quite capable of sorting out any misadven-ture by not only the Chinese, but also the Pakistanis, who face us in a different environ-ment where the dynamics are quite different.

Pangong Tso and Galwan are the perfect example of what and how the leader-ship at the higher levels has evolved. That the so-called intelligence agencies, whose job it is to anticipate these sort of build-ups, failed is something we shall never have definite answers to. It may have taken 59 years for the message to sink in, but the commanders of today have done what Lieutenant General S.P.P. Thorat ad-vocated in April 1961—do not let the Chinese decide where and when to fight. Choose your own ground and then take them on. The cacophony of orchestrated voices in the Indian media, some of them undoubtedly controlled by handlers both within and across the Hi-malayas, did its level best to provoke a reaction.

The Indian leadership, having withstood the initial onslaught and after the Chi-nese faced the fury of but a handful of soldiers after they murdered the commanding officer of an Indian infan-

try battalion, has shown its willingness to open up oth-er fronts as well. The PRC’s calculations were based on similar propaganda that had been launched by the Pakistanis in 1965 when the self-styled Ayub Khan was at the helm of affairs—that the Indians as a race were buzdil (cowards) and would crum-ble like a house of cards the moment any pressure was applied.

The time has also come for India to take on the Chinese narrative about Claim Lines and territorial sovereignty over large tracts like the Aksai Chin. We may not have been in a position in the 1950s to take them on, but historically and even going by the PRC’s own pre-Panchsheel maps, the Inter-national Boundary is what we have to eventually rede-fine, not some arbitrary sub-sequent lines on the ground. Eventually, the people of India and China must also realise that as Asian neigh-bours, our destiny on this planet is closely inter-linked. However, until the Chinese return to the Tibetans what is rightfully theirs, and undo the injustices meted out through the barrel of a gun in the past, the dark shadows will continue to haunt our collective existence.

The “great game” is far from over and it is but a matter of time before the next flash-point emerges. It could be anywhere, on the Indian borders or elsewhere. China is at a disadvantage against the US in the South China Sea, so it will try again to take the fight to terrain where it perceives itself to hold the advantage. Indians on the other hand, twice bit-ten, know that the carefully built up myth of a 9-foot Chinaman is pure hogwash. It is not just the Bihar, Pun-jab and the gunners who had a point to prove, but the Gorkhas, Jats, Grenadiers, Nagas, Assamese, Kuma-onese, Garhwalis, Guards, Mahars, Madras, Dogras, Sikhs, Marathas, Sikh LI, Rajputs—all are waiting quietly to step forward, to say nothing of the people of this country. As I said a month ago in The Sunday Guardian, we didn’t light the fire, but now we must take it upon ourselves to put it out on our terms. Only by doing that would we have laid to rest the ghosts of 1962. Shiv Kunal Verma is the author of “1962: The War That Wasn’t” and “The Long Road to Siachen: The Question Why.”

CHinese CHeCkers: LookinG BeYond tHe mAskAfter the start of the pandemic, few would have expected Xi Jinping to don the war paint and literally follow in Mao’s footsteps where everyone was an enemy, to be bullied and dominated. India, with its teeming masses and on the face of it, especially to Chinese eyes, complete chaos would have been and was Xi Jinping’s first port of call, especially since the PRC has its carefully nurtured pet poodle ever ready to bite from the west.

A lama gets ready to perform the Cham dance in Ladakh’s Matho Monastery earlier this year. Photo: Shiv Kunal Verma/KaleidoIndia

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Of sprawling Lutyens bungalows and the FamilyThe rent assigned for the bungalow is said to be Rs 37,000 per month, a rent at which apartments are available in far-flung areas of Delhi like Dwarka, Patparganj, etc.

Shiv Kunal vermaNew Delhi

Shubhabrata bhattacharya

India has finally reached the conclusion that its national security priorities, includ-ing data security, can no lon-ger be taken lightly. This got reflected in its decision to ban 59 Chinese apps. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to quit Chinese so-cial media site Weibo also sent out a strong message that India no longer trusted China.

India took this major de-cision to reinforce national security in the wake of the India-China standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. The Union government invoked the provisions of Section 69A of the IT Act and imposed a ban on 59 apps that have Chinese origin. It is no se-cret that the advances made in the Information Technol-ogy field have drastically changed the way people communicate, transcending borders and continents. But it is equally true that cut-

ting edge communication technology cuts both ways. The United States, in the meanwhile, has welcomed and supported the Indian government’s decision to ban Chinese social media and communication apps.

New Delhi’s action comes soon after similar action by the US Federal Communi-cations Commission (FCC). Imposing a ban on China’s Huawei and XTE Corpo-ration, US FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said, “Both com-panies have close ties to the Chinese Communist Party and China’s military appa-ratus and both companies are subject to Chinese law obliging them to cooperate with the country’s intelli-gence services”. Not a single dollar out of the $8.3 billion fund of the FCC will be used to buy any products or ser-vices offered by Chinese companies.

Although many govern-ments, especially in the West, have been consider-ing taking action against Chinese origin apps, New Delhi was lenient in its ap-proach—to the extent of officially sponsoring China financed Paytm as the offi-cial payment gateway in the wake of demonetisation. It

took great persuasion by technology and security ex-perts to impress upon the government to create par-allel indigenous payment gateways. Meanwhile, Chi-nese technology companies like Xiaomi and Tencent, besides, Alibaba increased their footprints, service outlets and investments in the Indian market, clearly challenging the supremacy of American corporations.

While business entities in China exploited the tech-

nological void in India to corner millions of users, political China continued to unleash its PLA on our borders to nibble away our territory. A far more seri-ous aspect was the extreme threat to national security and the defence aspects. All these apps are created in such a manner that the moment they are down-loaded they automatically collect strategic informa-tion from the user including internet service provider

details, network activities, IP address, geo-location data, unique device iden-tity (UDI), browsing his-tory, content chart and even cookies. With all this data collected from millions of users, Chinese companies virtually become owners of rich data mines. While a large chunk of the user base could be ordinary citizens, but a large number also comprises persons con-nected with government, the defence establishment

and other strategic and se-curity related areas.

The ban on Chinese apps, a much needed step, although late, clearly indicates that the dividing line between technology and geopolitics is wafer thin. Any slack-ness in the control and sur-veillance mechanism could jeopardise national security beyond repair.

It is also important for the government to take cer-tain positive steps towards strengthening social media sites and their optimum positive utility without com-promising with national se-curity. The ban will lead to a void which in all likelihood will be filled by apps devel-oped in the US or EU coun-tries. Though they may be democratic dispensations, the data storage and own-ership will be with these countries and not in Indian hands. This could result in another set of problems to our detriment.

A better option would be to encourage Indian compa-nies, technology research-ers and start-ups to fill the gap in the social media space. Almost ten years ago, a team of researchers in the US conducted research on using buffer space (unused

gaps between beamed sig-nals in the VHF and UHF spectrum bands) in broad-casts. This unused buf-fer spectrum (white space technology) actually used low power frequency that is able to penetrate obstacles such as mountains and thick forested areas. India with a large rural area needs to use all the spectrum avail-able and make the most of technology to reach remote areas.

The government needs to undertake a massive pro-gramme to educate and in-form the people, social me-dia users, service providers and stakeholders that the ban is not another disrup-tive reform but is a step to-wards Atma Nirbhar (self-reliant) Bharat. Around 315 broadband providers in India provide service to 544.89 million wireless broadband customers and 18.42 wired services, reach-ing 40.9% of the population.

In the present crisis, the need for internet access to work and learn has in-creased manifold. Roughly 50% of the people in rural and semi urban areas have no quality broadband. This digital divide has to end.

It is high time India

concentrated on becoming self-reliant. The protection and security of data will remain pivotal to the maintenance of India’s national security. The ongoing competition among major powers in achieving both information assurance and information dominance across the spectrum with the help of the use of information communication technology will provide an impetus to India in making investments in this regard. India’s achievements in ICT have been phenomenal. What it requires to do is to integrate all the existing capabilities and prioritise the areas specifically linked with both India’s sovereignty and the maintenance of national security. Those who argue that India’s ban of Chinese apps is arbitrary do not understand how China had intruded into India in managing data and information relating to India which obviously was detrimental to India’s national security.Arvind Kumar teaches geopoli-tics and international relations at Manipal Academy of Higher Education. Seshadri Chari is a well known political commen-tator and strategic analyst.

PARASITIC MODEL

MUCH NEEDED

7covertthe sunday guardian05 – 11 july 2020

new delhiwww.sundayguardianlive.com

Words mat-t e r. T h e y shape your thoughts

and your thoughts shape your actions. The more complex the situation, the more important the need to use precise words. They are the solid stepping-stones that can lead you to real so-lutions, and help you avoid the sucking quagmire of ob-fuscation.

One of the most complex situations at the moment is the changing nature of na-tion-to-nation relationships with China. The words Chi-na wants us to use are telling.

In the case of the US-China relationship, the Chinese Communist Party has been very keen to use words (both positive and negative) that create an impression of equality between Beijing and Washington.

A few years ago, Beijing promoted the idea of China and the US being the “G2”—two equal governments, with primacy over the rest. The G2 construct allowed Bei-jing to imply that the world should be divided into two colonial-style spheres of in-fluence, one for the US, and one for China.

This was explicit. In 2008, US Navy Admiral Timothy J. Keating told the Senate Armed Services Commit-tee about a comment a se-nior Chinese officer made to him: “As we develop our aircraft carriers, why don’t we reach an agreement, you and I? You take Hawaii east. We’ll take Hawaii west. We’ll share information, and we’ll save you all the trouble of deploying your naval forces west of Hawaii.”

While American allies west of Hawaii took China at its word, and became increas-

ingly concerned, Washing-ton insiders seemed largely to accept the inevitability of the G2 narrative—that also conveniently provided sub-stantial financial returns and opportunities for key bridging individuals, includ-ing some American CEOs, academics, policy analysts, politicians, consultants and others. When pressed by doubters, obscuring verbal dust was thrown in the air in the form of the term “China’s peaceful rise”.

More recently, especially as a result of Beijing’s misman-agement (at the very least) of the Covid-19 outbreak, its aggression along its land and maritime borders, its re-pression in Hong Kong, and its overt talk of doing things like withholding antibiotics to put pressure on the US, the terminology has turned to, at least economically, “di-vorce” from China.

The word “divorce” again implies the situation in-volves equals, with the add-ed element that divorce is a loaded, negative word, with deep emotional baggage for many—something to be avoided if possible.

“Divorce” is a word that suits Beijing. It is also com-pletely inaccurate.

The US and China were never “married”, economi-cally or otherwise. A mar-riage is a partnership of complimentarily, of shar-ing, of trust, in which both members are enriched, and become stronger.

The US-China relation-ship is much more like the relationship between a host and its parasite.

Let me tell you about the castrator barnacle (sacculina carcini). The female slug-like barnacle finds a crab and probes its hard shell until it finds a weak point where it can inject part of itself into the crab’s bloodstream. Once inside, it spreads its tendrils throughout the crab’s system, feeding on it,

controlling its behaviour, and growing. If the victim is a male crab, the parasitic process castrates it. Saccu-lina carcini uses the crab to host its reproduction and help it spread across the ocean—riding in it until it dies. At which point, the parasite also dies, because it depended on leeching off the host for sustenance.

Can you see where I’m go-ing with this?

Since at least the 1970s, and accelerating since join-ing the WTO, the Chinese Communist Party and its related entities have latched on to the US (and others) probing for entry points, enmeshing with systems, sucking out capital and intel-lectual property, weakening defences, modifying behav-iour, neutering response, and spreading from there. It left its hosts sickened and disoriented. Even though, more often than not, the host at least initially, welcomed the barnacle.

China calls this approach comprehensive national p owe r — a n d i n c lu de s opaquely intermeshed ten-drils such as economic, dip-lomatic, military, cyber and soft power.

Think this is an overstate-ment? The effects can be seen more clearly in smaller economies. Take, for exam-ple, the Kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific, popu-lation 100,000. Within the last twenty years or so, re-cently established Chinese-run shops have taken over about 90% of the retail sec-tor. The vast majority of the products sold are sourced from China, and most of the profits are repatriated to China.

This isn’t normal econom-ic engagement. There are links between major Chi-nese investors, the Chinese Embassy, and some key de-cision-makers in the coun-try, facilitating illegal and corrupt behaviour, further

distorting the market and politics. There are regular is-sues with these shops selling expired or mislabeled items, hiding revenue and attempt-ing to illegally transfer mon-ey out of the country. They are operating, essentially, like they would operate in China—doing what they can get away with. The Chinese Embassy does not help in investigations, background checks, or information shar-ing.

This isn’t about the indi-vidual, hard-working ethnic Chinese. If they have family or business ties to the main-land, and someone with power in the Chinese sys-tem wants them to do some-thing, they don’t have much choice. The system travels with them.

This is about the export of the fundamentally extractive and exploitative Chinese sys-tem and what it is doing to its host country. The result for countries such as Tonga is a constant leeching of capi-tal back to China both for the purchase of the Chinese imports to sell in the shops and from shop owners then sending their profits back to China. It also creates an environment in which lo-cal shops can’t compete, it embeds corruption and it distorts the decision mak-ing process.

To some degree or another this focused takeover of soft and/or strategic areas has happened in myriad other sectors in myriad other countries. Recently Beijing complained because India

blocked 59 Chinese-made apps from its market. Global Times tweeted that the ban could result in a loss of $6 bil-lion to Chinese internet com-pany ByteDance, which gives an idea of how much money Chinese apps suck out of host economies. Another reason for the decision was that Delhi was concerned that the apps were a threat to national security, including allowing for espionage.

In mid-June, at roughly the same time Chinese and In-dian troops were fighting in Ladakh, a Chinese company won a major construction contract in Delhi by under-bidding an Indian compa-ny by a marginal amount. Questions were immedi-ately raised if the Chinese company had somehow ac-

cessed the electronic bids of competitors in order to win the contract. It’s very difficult to know. But policymakers in India seem to think it’s con-sistent with what they know of China’s behaviour, and don’t want to take any more chances.

Beijing may complain but, of course, it has consistently blocked foreign apps from operating in its own market. This has not only allowed it to protect itself from the sort of leeching it is inflicting on others, but it has protected its own technology ecosystem as it develops and prepares itself to expand outwards. The same protection for its own development is true in a range of other sectors, including the forced trans-fer of intellectual property for companies setting up in China. In those cases, it didn’t even have to go to its hosts, its hosts allowed themselves to be desiccated in China.

The Chinese Communist Party is not interested in, and not capable of, being an equal partner, where every-one grows together. Beijing wants to be able to control the economies of others, si-phoning growth to sustain its own goals.

If you want to see what that looks like, just go to the atro-phied manufacturing towns across the US that targeted, Chinese-government sup-ported competition has sucked dry.

If you want to watch the process in action, just keep your eye on Hong Kong. As the CCP extends its tendrils into its economy, society and political system, Hong Kong will shrivel and stagnate, going from a thriving global center to a zombified proxy for Beijing.

The same is true for in-ternational organizations targeted by Beijing, such as the WHO. As was seen during the initial stages of the virus outbreak, WHO seemed more like a carrier

for Beijing’s narrative than an independent, healthy science-based organization.

Of course, the irony here is that as Beijing’s parasitic model weakens the global economy and its institu-tions, its traditional hosts are becoming poorer and so less sustaining. The Chinese Communist Party’s economic heyday will likely have been when the US, European and Japanese economies were big and strong and it could ride them like a young castrator barnacle.

Which is likely one of the reasons why Beijing is now so focused on leeching off of Africa, South America, and others. It’s also why being blocked from a market such as India could be a serious problem. It is running out of healthy targets to infest. So, it is latching on to still devel-oping economies, stunting their growth with predato-ry economics (and in many cases unviable loans) to feed Beijing.

Those who really care about the Chinese people, should work towards creat-ing conditions where China’s economy becomes “normal-ized”. Where there is rule of law, transparency, account-ability—elements that al-low organic and sustainable growth so that China can tru-ly become the global partner it should be. Of course these are all the things that are an-tithetical to the Chinese Com-munist Party.

Which brings us back to words. Disengaging from the noxious elements of the Chinese economy isn’t a di-vorce, it’s a deworming. It may be the only way the host survives, and it’s the best way for the parasite to evolve to a self-sustaining organism. Anything less, and we will may all stagger towards an interlinked extinction.Cleo Paskal is a non-resident se-nior fellow for the Indo-Pacific at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Watch China’s actions, don’t listen to its wordsBeijing’s parasitic model weakens the global economy, its traditional hosts are becoming poorer. Which is likely one of the reasons why Beijing is now so focused on leeching off of Africa, South America, and others. It’s also why being blocked from a market such as India could be a serious problem.

Cleo PaskalMiaMi

arvind kumar & seshadri Chari

Banning Chinese apps boosts India’s securityIndian companies, technology researchers and start-ups must be encouraged to fill the gap in the social media space.

A family member cries and bids farewell to a prison van after an anti-government protester Sin Ka-ho was sentenced to four years for rioting, in Hong Kong on Friday. REUTERS

The Chinese Communist Party is not interested in, and not capable of, being an equal partner, where everyone grows together. Beijing wants to be able to control the economies of others, siphoning growth to sustain its own goals. If you want to see what that looks like, just go to the atrophied manufacturing towns across the US that targeted, Chinese-government supported competition has sucked dry. If you want to watch the process in action, just keep your eye on Hong Kong.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi performs Sindhu Darshan Puja on his arrival at Nimu the forward brigade place, in Ladakh on Friday. ANI

Most of us wish to be-lieve what we wish to believe. Even af-

ter the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in 1939, and the subsequent conquest of Belgium and the Nether-lands, both as Prime Minister and later as a member of the War Cabinet, Neville Cham-berlain and several others in the highest rung of the Conservative Party believed that Hitler could be trusted to agree to an honourable set-tlement with London. From the start of his interaction with Hitler, Chamberlain’s obsession was to save the British from another world war, and to keep the hope

for this alive, he (along with the French) lost opportunity after opportunity to prevent Hitler from plunging Europe into conflict by defeating his forces when they were still vulnerable to a crippling first strike. Of course, it may be argued that the British and French people were weary of war, and may not have been happy if hostilities were ini-tiated by the Anglo-French alliance. However, the re-ality is that the fact of war (once launched) becomes a self-perpetuating elixir of excited aggression among the population. Had Cham-berlain been of the same mind as Winston Churchill so far as the Nazis were con-cerned, he would have edu-cated the British public on the depravity of “Der Fueh-rer” and prepared them for a battle that would have in 1936 (the Rhineland) or in 1938 (an attack by France and the UK in coordination with the defence of their country by the Czechs) led to the hu-miliation of the Wehrmacht

and the downfall of Hitler, who would have entered the history books as just another windbag. More, much more, than the absorption of the Sudetenland by Germany, it was the subsequent occu-pation of the now helpless rump state of “Czechia” (as Hitler termed it) which con-vinced ordinary people in the UK (though possibly not in the much more inward-look-ing France of the time) that Hitler was not to be trusted. That he was a tyrant. From that time, Chamberlain’s tenure as Prime Minister was doomed, with only the grandees in his party refus-ing to acknowledge it. More and more, not just ordinary people but the middle class and finally a growing sec-tion of Whitehall believed that Churchill was right in warning about Hitler and pointing to the need to stop him in his tracks, if needed by force. And that Chamber-lain was wrong in his almost pathetic efforts at seeking an “honourable” accommoda-tion with the dictator of Ger-many, a man who for most of his life regarded the concept of honour as excess baggage.

Although CPSU General Secretary Nikita S. Khrus-chev’s climb-down in the 1962 Cuba missile crisis may have prevented a mili-tary showdown with the US (which would almost

certainly not have crossed into the nuclear zone, given the knowledge both Khr-uschev and President John F. Kennedy had about the consequences of such a war). However, the fact that the impression grew expo-nentially in the US that the USSR had been within an inch of unleashing a hail of nuclear-tipped missiles on the US, ensured that from that time onwards, the con-stituency within the US in favour of seeking coopera-tion with the Soviet Union, rather than a Cold War, shrank and shrank again. Thus was launched the arms race and the containment of the USSR, a strategy that in several particulars continues to be followed by the NATO allies despite the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1992. But what was the spark that ensured the renewal of the Cold War between Moscow and the bigger countries of West Europe? More than the retaking of the Crimea or the further carving up of the Ukraine by effectively detaching a Russified zone from the country as a ri-poste to Kiev seeking to inte-grate into the EU and NATO through street-induced regime change, it was the murder of Sergei Skripal in early 2018 that poisoned relations between Vladimir Putin and the US and UK

establishments. It was not expected that the custom of sparing an agent who had been exchanged for another in a swap would be broken in such a diabolic manner. It may be that President Vladi-mir Putin himself had no role in the Skripal murder, but it has been difficult to find an individual who does not be-lieve his was the order that sent the poisoners to Leices-ter on their mission. From that time onwards, barring Donald J. Trump (who seems in awe of the muscular ju-doka), the leaders of several countries regard Putin as an individual who can resort to anything, and hence to the conclusion that the world would be better served were he to somehow be removed from office. If President Pu-tin once had a chance to be a friend of the Atlantic Alli-ance, the Skripal assassina-tion snuffed that out, leaving him with no option but to fasten his colours to the mast of CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping.

Again despite the gushing admiration for Xi expressed so often and so fondly by Donald Trump, leaders of the Atlantic Alliance regard him much as they do Presi-dent Putin, as an individual who they can never really reconcile with. The moment when this perception hard-ened into concrete was 1 July,

the day when the Hong Kong security law came into force in the former British colony. As in the other instances of such a definitive change of mood, much of it is driven by popular feelings about Xi and the determined manner in which he has been seek-ing solutions entirely—re-peat, entirely—favourable to his perception of Chinese interests in disputes with several countries, as distinct from the more emollient out-comes favoured by the previ-ous hyper-powerful Chinese leader, Deng Xiaoping. The transfer of the judicial sys-tem of Hong Kong to the PRC model rather than retaining its own has ensured that Xi has joined Putin in the list of leaders with whom real compromise with the US and several of its allies is no longer possible. And on 15 June 2020, the loss of twenty courageous Indian soldiers may ensure that from now onwards the Russia-India-China triumvirate is coma-tose. While Russia-China is strong, especially with Pu-tin and Xi at the helm, and Russia-India beats strongly in the hearts of many in the Lutyens Zone, who see scant difference between the 1970s and 2020 where Moscow is concerned, the dream of Chindia or India-China may have fallen through the crev-ices of the Galwan attack.

Hong Kong security law has ensured that Xi has joined Putin in the list of leaders with whom real compromise with the US and its allies is no longer possible.

Cuba, Novichok, HK law and Galwan

I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.Anne Frank

THINGS HAVE CHANGED

At times, push needs to come to a shove before an indi-vidual comes to his/her senses and attempts a course cor-rection. This is an appropriate analogy to describe India’s actions when faced with the threat of a conflict with an increasingly hostile China. But for the Chinese shove, a rather rude one at that, it was quite possible that neither would have India woken up to its exposure to China, in various fields, nor would it have attempted a course correc-tion—such is the bureaucratic sloth, and even corruption, in this country. From realising the need to ban Chinese apps to giving a big push towards indigenous defence pro-duction, these have been “learning times” for the country and its government. But indigenous production will take time and is a long-term plan to reduce India’s dependence on imported defence equipment and to build an export market for itself. But when a conflict appears imminent, it is a bit unsettling to see the rush to buy fighter jets, air defence shields, arms and other armaments. It is unsettling because it paints a sorry picture of one of the world’s largest militaries having fallen short of critical equipment, which need not have been the case but for successive governments not giving defence the priority they should have given. This happens when bureaucrats have too much say over matters of the military. However, it must be mentioned here that a lot has changed ever since Narendra Modi has come to power—from cleaning up corruption in defence purchase to the formation of a unified command with the appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff. In fact what is needed now is lessening India’s dependence on Russian platforms, primarily because of the axis between China, Russia and Pakistan, which is bound to lead to leakage of information and data to India’s enemies, namely, China and Pakistan. It will also hurt India’s strategic interests especially when it comes to the Quad and the Indo-Pacific region. There is no doubt that under Prime Minister Modi diversification of the country of origin of defence imports has picked up pace, even then making purchases such as the Russian S-400 missile system sends out a wrong signal, especially when China too has the same system. According to media reports, China has deployed some of its S-400s near the LAC. How does it help when India has the same system that its enemy has—maybe a slightly advanced version—when India’s deterrence capability has to be directed at that same enemy? As for the 59 Chinese apps that were banned, it’s hoped that this is just the begin-ning. The banning of such data gathering tools that spy on Indian citizens and pass on information to China was long overdue. Also, China needs to pay an economic cost for its transgressions.

Mention also must be made of one of the positive fallouts of the ban: the expected rise of Indian apps that will fill the vacuum left particularly by TikTok. Already there is a rush to download indigenous apps and it is hoped that this ban will go a long way in nudging the Indian IT sec-tor towards research and development and some actual innovation, which has been lacking as the focus has been on growing as a service industry and not as an innova-tion industry. Indian scientists have performed miracles whenever the world, the West in particular, has blocked India from accessing technology from abroad. There is no reason why India’s software engineers cannot do the same. In this case, a huge market is being given to the Indian software sector on a platter. This is the time for industry bigwigs to utilise this major opportunity. The other sector that needs to be decoupled from China is telecom. There has to be a clear message: Huawei will not be allowed to participate in the 5G trials, however much the move may anger China. It’s too risky to have the Chinese control 5G rollout in India. Let China look after its own interests. It is not India’s job to look after China’s interests. Another point that must be made here is, even if any de-escalation takes place and status quo ante is restored—looks unlikely at this point in time—that will not be reason enough to undo the steps being taken. As long as China exists in its present form, it will never be business as usual with China. The Asian Century, with India and China as partners, is a chimera, however well-intentioned India might be. Communist China will not change its spots. India needs to accept that and carve out its own path.

editorialLEARNING TIMES

PM wArNS CHINA AGAINST ExPANSIoNISM

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Happy Fourth

US President Trump and first lady Melania

Trump attend South Da-kota’s US Independence Day Mount Rushmore

fireworks celebrations at Mt Rushmore in South Dakota, US, on Friday.

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KArAKorAM AND oTHEr FACTorS IN INDIA-CHINA STANDoFFSHakti SiNHaf11

V08v

Comment&analysisthe sunday guardian | 05 – 11 july 2020 | new delhi www.sundayguardianlive.com

roots of powerm.d. nAlApAt

THE HISTORY OF INDIA’S ‘FRIENDZONING’It is the winter of 1947. Sardar Patel has just completed the mammoth task of bringing 562 princely-states together to form the Indian Union. Each of these negotiations has been conducted domes-tically, with minimal inter-vention from international agencies.

On the question of Kashmir however, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru decides to take it to the United Nations. Therein lay the seeds of In-dia preferring international-ism over sovereignty. India made a conscious choice to come across as moral and righteous (“woke” in today’s terms), over its domestic na-tional interest.

This was followed by half a century of passivism, of trying to monkey-balance hugely extreme geo-political realities. Insisting on being non-aligned while nations took sides, the widely re-ported rejection of a perma-nent seat at UNSC, insisting on “Hindi-Chini bhai bhai”, dismantling and sometimes endangering RAW of its orig-inal mandate (despite their successful interventions in East Pakistan), toggling be-tween support from the USA (1962 war) and USSR (1971

war). All these prevented a long-term strategic partner-ship with either the US or other western democracies.

Domestic national inter-est took a backseat to cre-ate space for woke optics of Gandhian righteousness.

In short, internationalism trumped sovereign-interests.

International Law, which forms the basis of bilateral and multilateral relation-ships, is framed by the be-haviour of states, not the other way around. As op-posed to domestic law, in-ternational law is horizontal and not vertical. It is the set of rules which different sover-eign states “agree” to comply with, and hence cannot be enforced like domestic law can. Technically speaking, nations are free to walk out of treaties or conventions, dis-regard rules of international law, simply because they are sovereigns.

So here we were, living in a conundrum. While India insisted on internationalism over sovereignty; nations In-dia was dealing with insisted on the opposite. India found itself “friendzoned” into a Stockholm syndrome.

INDIA JOINS THE GYM AND FLEXES ITS MUSCLESContemporary history is stuffed with examples of na-tions asserting themselves over internationalism. The US and Israel recently walked out of UNESCO. Is-rael’s Prime Minister Benja-min Netanyahu said, “This is a brave and moral deci-sion, because UNESCO has

become a theatre of the ab-surd. Instead of preserving history, it distorts it.” Even Pakistan found the muscle to object to ICJ’s instructions on the Kulbhushan Jadhav case. Between the extremes of USA and Pakistan, lie a huge range in nations that are proudly asserting their sovereign rights.

China exited the arbitra-tion on the South China Sea dispute. China built mar-ket-access through WTO’s international trade order under the WTO, and at the very same time, denied ac-cess to its own market, and allegedly indulged in IP theft. Reports even suggested that China may be stealing back their heritage that was stolen from them.

India has only recently re-alised it has this muscle. The Vajpayee government tested India’s nuclear capabilities and refused to be bogged down by the NPT.

More recently, India re-sponded militarily to the acts of terrorism in Uri and in Balakot. Compare this to In-dia’s response to much larger terror attacks on Parliament or the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

When Malaysian PM com-mented on CAA and Kash-mir, India responded with banning their palm-oil (one of their biggest exports). There has been a very disci-plined silence since.

When Iran and Turkey criticised India, our Exter-nal Affairs Minister, S Jais-hankar said “we are getting to know who our friends are really are”. Former RAW chief Vikram Sood echoes a

growing sentiment, that In-dia needs to stop being the the “good boy” of interna-tional affairs; and advocates responding to terror with “make the sponsor pay a price he cannot afford”. De-fence policy analyst, Abhijit Iyer-Mitra stresses, “Moral-ity and principle will get you slaughtered—the Chinese are ruthless.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing India’s troops on the border boldly asserted that the “age of ex-pansionism is over”. Such strong posturing is unprec-edented. A very visible shift in India’s foreign policy and rejection of Nehruvian paci-fism.

Gautam Chikarmane of ORF thoughtfully wonders if it is time that “a nation comes together and sheds its Tama-sic mode and embraces the Rajasic spirit?”

THREE-PRONGED RESPONSE: DIPLOMATIC, SECURITY AND ECONOMIC FRONTSThe recent ban on TikTok and 59 Chinese apps needs to be seen in this wider context, of a shift in India’s foreign policy. The soft Indian state of yore wouldn’t have taken a bold, cold, calculated stand like this.

At the very least, this is a reality-check for China, given its checkered record of respecting international law. More practically, they should now expect reciprocity, with India restricting their tech-nologies, exactly the way they have restricted others’. With the United States re-

cently banning Huawei and ZTE over national security concerns, China may have just pulled the US into India’s side of the boxing ring.

This limited move of re-stricting market-access (albeit for national security reasons), coupled with do-mestic calls for “Atma Nirb-har Bharat” (remember, President Reagan’s call to boycott Japanese goods in the US worked), may just trigger the butterfly-effect that makes China question its choices.

So is the “digital ban” an isolated act? Definitely not! Is this reassertion likely to amplify? Most likely.

On the diplomatic front, In-dia has just raised the Hong Kong protests at the UN; re-minding China to address the issue “properly, seri-ously and objectively”. Tai-wan and Tibet may also get discussed, both openly and through Track 2 channels. Soft, opportunistic coalition opportunities exist with na-tions like Japan and the US, and with multiple smaller nations in the Pacific rim. Remember, East Timor has as many votes in the UN as UK does.

On the digital security front, one should expect fur-ther sanctions. After all, ban-ning a few apps is pointless if the handsets as well as digital infrastructure is manufac-tured in China. This opens up a whole new box of possi-bilities in India’s 5G journey.

On the economic front, certain domestic industry-bodies were successful in lobbying for anti-predatory-

pricing policies. We should not rule out an outright ban on certain products and in-dustries, and expect “pro-cessing delays” to approvals and certifications with Chi-nese funds and companies. That Chinese firms haven’t invested in engaging on pol-icy and government affairs, only complicates it further for them. Corporate India also seems to have joined in the chorus with companies proudly setting goals to be “free of Chinese inputs” over the next couple of years.

OF SUN TZU AND CHANAKYAOne cannot blame China for trying to dominate the world. This ambition has been part of their “middle kingdom dominance” strategy for ages. Digital Colonization is just one part of that strategy.

Unfortunately for China, India wrote the manual for resisting colonization. Marry this with the new-found love for Sovereignty over Inter-nationalism, and you have a metaphorical Sparta.

China has always revered Sun Tzu. India is finally starting to invoke Chanakya!

Anuraag Saxena is based in Singapore and has been featured/published in BBC, Washington Post, The Diplo-mat, Economic Times, Sun-day Guardian, Man’s World, Doordarshan, and SPAN. He is passionate about heritage and culinary-history and tweets at @anuraag_saxena.Raghav Pandey is a Visiting Fel-low at India Foundation and an Assistant Professor of Law at NLU Mumbai.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s unannounced visit to the forward areas in Ladakh has sent multiple messages, both internationally as well as on the domestic front. Modi’s meeting with the sol-diers and officers, not too far away from the vicinity of the Galwan Valley—the theatre of

the latest Indo-Sino discord—was aimed at communicating to the Chinese that India was by no means going to tolerate their expansionist adventures, and would with all its might, defend and repulse any incursions into its territory.

The clear warning by the Prime Minister to China from the battleground shows India’s hard-hitting intention, while draw-ing the attention of several other countries in the region, who are facing similar problems vis-à-vis the Chinese. In other words, Modi has taken the lead, so as to become the rallying point for any anti-China front that could be forged by the affected countries, including Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan.

The PM’s aggressive speech, did not mention China by name, yet made it abundantly explicit as to what was meant when he spoke of expansionism. Instead, he stressed on the need to pursue the development agenda. Although Modi in his characteristic style, also used the opportunity of identifying himself with his strong constituency, which shares his belief in nationalism, while concurrently signalling that there was little scope for de-escalation unless the Chinese post-haste pulled out from areas which did not belong to them.

His presence in Ladakh meant that the situation was far more serious than what it was thought to be, and the time had come to go in for concrete action, since diplomacy did not seem to be making any headway. Many foreign policy experts believe that India needs to take a firm and strident position for the Chinese to comprehend that they could not continue with their devious designs. Modi, precisely, has done so. His assertive stance in his address to the armed forces has conveyed India’s preparedness to face the enemy, and thereby it would be a folly to downplay its significance during this highly surcharged atmosphere.

Many analysts are of the opinion that the government should have displayed a similar response several weeks earlier, when the Chinese had intruded into our terrain in the Galwan Valley region, completely disputing the possession of areas belong-ing to India. However, though a little late, this reaction would meet its objective.

Many Sinologists are of the view that President Xi had moulded himself around Chairman Mao’s persona, and thus was a staunch supporter of the “power emanating from the barrel of the gun” doctrine. Just as Mao had in the late 1950s and 1960s diverted the attention of the masses from his failed experiments by intruding into the sovereign territory of Tibet and India, President Xi is adopting similar tactics. He is aware that several ambitious politicians in China are extremely peeved by his declaration of remaining their leader for life. Possibly, a bitter power struggle could be going on within the higher echelons of the Chinese establishment.

Indians have huge expectations from Modi, and he is prob-ably trying to live up to them by his pronounced posturing in the proximity of the conflict zone. His critics have stated that the Prime Minister’s Ladakh Yatra was just for a photo opportunity and did not mean anything beyond that. They perceive that he was trying to shift the focus of the citizens from the massive mishandling that continues to take place regarding the Covid-19 situation, thus wanting the sole agenda to be on nationalism and internal security.

However, the timing of this critical appraisal of the Prime Minister does not seem to be correct since India could be on the verge of a full-scale war with our expansionist neighbour. At this hour, there is a need for displaying total unity. In this context, the Congress should follow other opposition parties, who have collectively decided to back the government on the China issue. Irresponsible statements are uncalled for and if the government falters, there would be ample opportunities to take it to task later.

Modi’s visit to the forward areas in place of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who was originally supposed to have been there on Friday, has also been open to interpretation in political cir-cles. For many, it amounts to the downsizing of Rajnath Singh, who thus could subsequently lose the prestigious Defence portfolio, in the proposed Cabinet reshuffle, that is planned in the next few days. In fact, there has been much speculation that Amit Shah could replace him, with the Home Ministry being bifurcated, to separate the internal security division, as an independent entity altogether.

The Prime Minister must dispel rumours which suggest that when the conflict with the Chinese took place in mid-June, several key-functionaries in the Defence Ministry, who should have been in the loop, were not privy of the critical develop-ments. This thesis seems to be utterly baseless, yet has been doing the rounds of political circles, and therefore requires a strong and robust rebuttal.

The pertinent point is that so far as the security, integrity and sovereignty of the country are concerned, the entire na-tion needs to stand as one, regardless of political differences. This has been the practice in the past as well. The government must ensure that while dealing with China, there should be no attempt to delink border disputes from trade and business. If China does not relent, it should be given a befitting reply, politically, militarily and economically. Between us.

Indo-Sino relations at the crossroads

STAY UNITED

between uspankaj vohra

Sovereignty over Internationalism

MATTER OF RESOLVE

Banning TikTok and other Chinese apps is just one small step towards India’s geo-political repositioning.

This month marks the 15th anniversary of the start of the journey that led to the civilian nuclear cooperation agreement between India and the United States, popularly called the Indo-US nuclear deal. A landmark Joint State-ment of 18 July 2005 was the origin of a transforma-tion of bilateral relations. It envisioned a multifaceted relationship on issues as di-verse as terrorism, science and technology, agriculture, infrastructure, health, com-merce, energy and defence.

The nuclear dimension of the cooperation, however,

monopolised the next three years as both sides worked hard and braved critics to en-able amendment of national laws and international rules to facilitate India’s accom-modation into the nuclear regime. This was not easy since the nuclear positions and policies of both coun-tries had drifted apart sub-stantively since 1974. Three decades of estrangement had to be redressed. A revolution-ary initiative was called for to not only accommodate India into the nuclear regime de-spite its strategic programme, but also effectuate an overall modernisation of the bilateral relationship. The Indo-US nuclear deal was crafted in this spirit.

Two regional developments around this time came in handy for pushing India’s case. The first was the mani-festation of Pakistan’s irre-sponsible behaviour—first in Kargil in 1999, and then in its role in the nuclear prolif-

eration network revealed in 2003. While Pakistan tried to frame the second epi-sode as a private enterprise run by A.Q. Khan, enough archival evidence surfaced to prove State involvement. Both these events exposed Pakistan’s dangerous mis-adventurism and enabled a de-hyphenation of American policy towards the region. The nuclear cooperation agreement with India, only India, thus became possible.

The second development that went in India’s favour was the rise of China. Though Beijing was yet to bare its fangs in the early 2000s, the fact that it had them was be-ginning to become clear even then. The American world-view of the time envisaged the need to counterbalance China and nuclear India was perceived as being able to pro-vide the right strategic weight for the purpose. India’s democracy, liberalism and heterogeneity added greater heft to its appeal against the authoritarian, Communist and monochromatic China. Indo-US nuclear deal illus-trated American preference for policies supportive of In-dia’s rise. The US spokesper-son in 2005 described this as “a global partnership with In-dia which encourages India’s emergence as a positive force

on the world scene”.Basically of course, the

Indo-US nuclear agreement was about enabling a rapid expansion of India’s nuclear energy programme. Given India’s increasing electricity requirements and the need to fulfil them using environ-mentally friendly technolo-gies made nuclear energy a natural choice. But, to effec-tively exploit this, India need-ed more uranium and larger capacity reactors, which was only possible through par-ticipation in international nuclear commerce. The deal enabled this by rehabilitating India into the narrowly strait-jacketed Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). This final step was preceded by many others that included the conclusion of a Separation Plan and sign-ing of an Additional Protocol with the IAEA by India, and amendment of the US Nucle-ar Non-proliferation Act by the American administration.

With the conclusion of all steps by 2008, India had signed cooperation agree-ments with a dozen countries within the next three years. But, nearly a decade hence, India has limited tangible benefits to show by way of an enhanced nuclear capacity built through imported reac-tors. This is because of many factors, such as, the blow

dealt to public acceptance of nuclear power by the Fu-kushima nuclear accident in 2011, contentious land acqui-sition issues, circumstances that led to India’s nuclear liability legislation which inhibited private participa-tion and complicated price calculations. Nonetheless, domestic reactor construc-tion has accelerated with availability of imported fuel. India is also now a part of the global nuclear supply chain.

But then, the Indo-US nu-clear agreement was about more than just the nuclear element. The deal pulled the relationship out of a fractious gridlock and laid the foun-dation for greater trust and friendship. This has with-stood changes in administra-tions on both sides. Indo-US relations today traverse myr-iad dimensions: enhanced counter-terrorism coopera-tion since the 2008 Mumbai attack; a Strategic Dialogue institutionalised in 2010; fillip to military cooperation with the pivot to Asia in 2012 leading to expanded defence trade; increased energy co-operation, including on re-newables technology since 2014; India’s designation as a major defence partner in 2016 opening new possibili-ties for defence acquisitions; conclusion of COMCASA in

2018 enabling Indian access to advanced communica-tion technology for defence. Moreover, India’s mem-bership of export control groups such as the MTCR, Wassennaar Agreement and Australia Group assure access to earlier denied high technologies. All these steps have added new pillars of co-operation to the foundation laid in 2005.

Interestingly, this broad-based cooperation particu-larly in areas of intelligence sharing, defence, energy and technology acquires a new relevance in the cur-rent military face-off with China. It should not be lost on Beijing that India had gener-ally been mindful of China’s sensitivities on its closeness to Washington, including since the conclusion of the nuclear deal. But, Beijing’s recent military assertiveness leading to the loss of lives at the Line of Actual control is likely to change India’s cal-culus. Fortunately for India, its military, diplomatic and economic options today are many more than in 1962. The role of the Indo-US nuclear deal in opening these possi-bilities for India should not be overlooked.Manpreet Sethi is Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Air Power Studies, New Delhi.

15 years of Indo-US nuclear deal: Benefits transcend nuclear

IMPORTANT ROLE

The deal laid the foundation for greater trust and friendship.

strat-senseManpreet Sethi

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China won’t accept status quo ante The Rao I knew

On 2 July 2020, China’s Global Times inter-viewed me on the

current state of India-China relations. Most of my argu-ments were incorporated and published except for a few answers to a question: “Some Indian experts be-lieve the recent border clash leads to a ‘worrisome and extremely serious’ turning point in India-China rela-tions. What is your take?”

My answer was: “In In-dia, we believe that China has altered the status quo in the Western Sector. If the satellite images are to be be-lieved, China has crossed its own Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Galwan and moved a few kilometers westward in finger areas of Pangong Tso. The coordinates provided by China to India as regards the boundary in Western Sector during the 1960 border nego-tiations, and later reinforced on ground after the 1962, including on its maps of the official history of the 1962 conflict titled History of China’s Counter Attack in Self-Defence Along the Sino-Indian borders (Chinese edition) published by the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences in 1994 have been violated, implying that China seeks boundary be-yond these coordinates.”

I also argued that “some of the Chinese scholars have pointed out that ‘China has actually learned this from

the Indian experience’ per-haps referring to the Doklam standoff, even so, India didn’t change the status quo in Doklam or in any other sector. India’s security establishment and scholarship has come to believe that China is adopt-ing the ‘three step strategy’ of acquiring territory in South China Sea to the India-China border, i.e. to change the sta-tus quo by reclamation and militarization of the territory. Therefore, we believe that it translates into collapse of the confidence building measures (CBMs) and the very Line of Actual Control between India and China. It is in face of such as shift from China, many in India believe that China must be confronted rather than ac-cepting the fait accompli of the territory. From this per-spective, yes, it is a ‘worrisome and extremely dangerous situation’, which will impact adversely on various facets of India-China relations.” I did manage to make some of these points in another interview during a show called “Dia-logue: with China Global Television Network (CGTN) on 3 July 2020.

Above facts, which are in-deed worrisome, have been vindicated by many articles written in Chinese main-stream and social media. One published on 3 July in junshi.china.com, a website dedicated to military affairs, in the backdrop of 3rd round of talks between the corps commanders of India and China posits that “the most important reason as to why the two sides cannot reach consensus on disengage-ment is that the Indian side has insisted on restoration of ‘status quo ante’ in areas such as the Galwan Valley and Pangong Tso. However,

China will obviously not pull back from the Galwan Valley area, and as for the important ‘Finger 4’ area, China said will never compromise!” Accord-ing to the article, “India is also reluctant to accept China’s de-mands. The Indian side stated that they will not retreat from Pangong Tso area, nor would they retreat 2-3 kilometers away from Pangong Dao [per-haps finger 3]. In addition, the patrol points of the Galwan Valley and the Hot Springs were also discussed, but the two sides failed to reach a consensus.”

The main reason for not retreating from the Galwan standoff site has been given as its “commanding height” which if lost will be “difficult to recapture”. The article states that “From the satel-lite images, it could be seen that the Chinese embankment in the Galwan Valley is still intact. This position is very important, for this is the place where one man can hold out ten thousand men. From here, our army can see the Indian camp opposite us very clearly. More importantly, when the water level rises in the river, many places in the vicinity will be submerged, except this commanding height. Once concessions are made, it will be difficult to recapture it. Therefore, we can understand why China is determined not to retreat.” The article further states that “In order to defend this vital place, China has de-ployed more than 100 mili-tary vehicles and established 16 encampments nearby. This place is a key part of the Gal-wan region, and China will not retreat easily until India doesn’t show enough over-tures for peace!”

Another argument, which has been debated in China is that border skirmishes are just one of the facets of India-China relationship and should not hamper relations in other areas. Hu Shisheng, director of the Institute of South and Southeast Asian and Ocea-nia Studies under the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations has aired such views in a discus-

sion of CGTN on 27 June, simi-lar arguments were aired on the 3 July “Dialogue” show where I repeated my earlier arguments given to the Global Times that “The killing of the soldiers and trade with China cannot go on as usual. As far as banning 59 Chinese apps, I believe this is an indication in this direction originating from two concerns. One, the securi-ty implications in terms of big data security, China’s sharp power that makes inroads into other’s societies while the same is denied to others. Two, the revenue earned by these apps in Indian market is also huge. For example, TikTok alone has over 300 million downloads in India with over 1billion-dollar rev-enue.” Cancellation of Chinese contracts in other sectors by India should be seen in this light too.

It is also in this context that the Chinese will often ask you as to “what forms the core of India-China rela-tions?” “Of course, it should be mutual development and exhibiting sensitivity towards each-other’s sensitivities and core interests. I believe the understanding that China will not threaten India’s se-curity, and respect its inter-est in the neighbourhood has been undermined, this could be discerned from China’s pivot to Asia where China’s focus is not on consolidating its ties with India but with the smaller countries in the vicinity. This is reflected in China’s investment and dip-lomatic engagement in the region. Sino Pak entente cor-diale, and China’s stance on the cross-border terrorism, all these factors have made Indians believe that China’s strategy is to pin India down to South Asia,” I argued, while answering to another question from the Global Times. Many commentators in China are equally enthu-siastic about reminding India of the asymmetric economic, military, and technological re-lationship between India and China. It may be so, but does not mean that countries will not stand up against China!

PRIME MINISTER’S HOUSE

NEW DELHI9 June 1980

Dear Natwar, Your letter to the 4thJust when you are talking

about the working of the democratic process in a co-herent way, Badshah Khan is busy giving statements from a Srinagar Hospital that there is no democracy in India and compares us in a vague sort of way to Paki-stan! Can you believe it? All this keeps one from getting a swollen head.

We have won the elections but the going was pretty tough and many of the seats either won or lost, were neck-to-neck.

The real difficulties now begin. The people’s expec-tations are high but the situation both political and economic, is an extremely complex one. I cannot help being an optimist and I have no doubt that if only our leg-islators and the people as a whole have the patience and forbearance to climb the steep and stony path for the next few months, we can get over the hump and arrive at a place from which progress

is possible once again. However, politics is at a low

ebb. All those who shouted so much about democracy have no compunctions now in saying as Charan Singh

2 has, that ‘Parliament is ir-relevant’, or the Jan Sang encouraging anti-national elements in the North-East. The Opposition parties are making frantic efforts, egged on by Bahuguna, to unite. What for? Only to have agi-tations and violence or to encourage defections.

I am glad you are enjoying Islamabad.

Yours sincerely,(Indira Gandhi)Shri Natwar Singh, High Commissioner of In-

dia, Islamabad.

***PRIME MINISTER’S

HOUSE NEW DELHI3 August 1981

Dear Natwar, I have read some of the

interviews in the book you left and I am depressed. I

feel isolated, not because of politics, the correctness of which will be seen in time as it has been before. But while the earth spins on the beauty and with method, the world of men is a hollow one, where words have no meaning and sentiments no feeling, the young have lost wonder, elan and even hope. What can a leaden-eyed civilization do? Can flame of idealism or a vision of a bet-ter man be protected from all this cynicism, hypocrisy and hatred?

8 August 1981I did not send this as I

thought you were coming to Delhi. I am sorry to hear you are unwell and in hospital. Do get well soon.

Thank you for Galbraith’s book though I have it al-ready. We might exchange-you can take mine as it has no name on it.

Sincerely, (Indira Gandhi)

Shri Natwar Singh, High Commissioner of

India, Islamabad.

***Andhra Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Reddy has announced year long programmes for observing the birth centena-ry of the late P.V. Narasimha Rao. He was the ninth Prime Minister of India. He will go down in history as one

of the greatest. He rescued the country from financial bankruptcy. He made India a world class economic power.

He was, as I have written in the past, the most cerebral and scholarly PM. Jawahar-lal Nehru wrote better Eng-lish and was a front rank intellectual. He lacked P.V.’s subtlety of mind and linguis-tic versatility. P.V. could read, write and speak half a dozen languages besides Telagu and English.

I knew him intimately. We had at one time serious pub-lic differences. These fortu-nately did not last long.

Sonia Gandhi was allergic to P.V. This speaks poorly of her judgement. P.V. once told me, “I can take her on, but I do not wish to do so.”

P.V. Narasimha Rao was born on 28 June 1921 and passed away in New Delhi on 21 December 2004.

***It was December 1948. I was in my first year at St. Ste-phen’s College. The first ever West Indies cricket team had come to India. The opening Test match was played at Ferozshah Kotla ground.

About fifty Stephenians trooped in to the Feroz Shah Kotla ground, two hours before the match started. We sat on wooden benches. The West Indies won the toss. They scored over 600 runs. Everton Weekes, 5 feet 6 inches tall, scored a century. Clyde Walcott also clobbered our bowlers. I vaguely remem-ber the handsome Frank Worrell. Amarnath was captaining India. From our side Hemu Adhikari scored a century.

Everton Weekes died ear-lier in the week, at the age of 95 in Bridgetown, Worrell died in 1967 at the age of 43. Walcott at 80 in 2006. It was an unforgettable experience to watch such great cricket-ers play.

The reason The PasT

P.V. Narasimha Rao once told me, ‘I can take her on, but I do not wish to do so.’

10 comment & analysis the sunday guardian05 – 11 july 2020new delhi

www.sundayguardianlive.com

This first appeared on 05 July, 2015. The writer could not write this week due to unavoidable circumstances. His latest column will appear soon.

as i pleaseK. NATwAR SINGH

People Of The Sacred Books

Mullah Nasiruddin once visited Baghdad. The big and famous city was brimming with traders and visitors from nearby places. Fearing that he may lose his way in the crowded lanes he decided to lodge somewhere and rest the afternoon before venturing out in the evening.

He booked himself in a sarai (travellers lodge). As he lay down to sleep, he asked a traveller resting on the next bed, “listen brother, when I wake up in this crowded sarai, how will I recognise myself as me, as there are too many people here?” Taking the mullah to be a fool, the man jokingly offered to tie a balloon to Nasiruddin ‘s ankle as a sign of easy recognition! After Nasiruddin fell asleep the man untied the balloon, and for fun tied it on his own ankle.

On waking, the mullah was totally confused, he said, “listen friend, the balloon says that you are not you, but me! But if I accept that you are me, then do tell me please, who am I?”

This story of the absurd genre connects deeply with a great truth that the Vedanta philosophy propagates; that the real you is not definable by your identifications. Try to define yourself without listing your identifications, (upadhies) as known in Vedanta. Ask who you are? The answer cannot be ‘your’ name, ‘your’ address, ‘your’ father’s name, your education, your position in your workplace, your dress or your body! Interesting.

They all belong to you, but in no way are they you, the possessor of them all. Even your mind is ‘your’ mind. Who pray is the owner?

The mullah’s question is not so stupid as we thought. All great Upanishads try to unravel the same question that Nasiruddin asked: “ Then who am I?” His identity was also tied to a balloon an ( upadhi), without which he was lost!Prarthna Saran, President Chinmaya Mission Delhi.Email: prarthnasaran@gmail.com

If all the stages through which a person will have to pass, death is the most certain. Everyone who is alive now will be dead sometime in the future. One day the eyes of those who see will fade and their tongues freeze into silence. Every human being will one day be leaving this world, never to return, and entering a world which he will never leave.

The gravity of the situation lies in death not being the end of life, but rather the beginning of a new, eter-nal life, a world of everlasting reward or retribution.

Everyone is on a journey from life to death. Some have set their sights on the world, others on the Here-after.

Some strive to satisfy their own desires and egos; others are restless in love and fear of God. Both types of people appear to be the same in this world. But in relation to the life after death, there is a world of dif-ference between the two: those who live in God and the Hereafter are redeeming themselves, while those who live in worldly pleasures and selfish desires are condemning themselves to doom.

Righteous people have a different attitude to death from the disobedient. They are concerned with what comes in the wake of death; they focus their atten-tion on gaining an honourable position in the life af-ter death. Those who disregard the existence of God and the Hereafter, on the other hand, are caught up in worldly affairs. Their ultimate ambition is worldly honour and prestige.

We are obsessed with the world, which meets our eyes. We fail to pay attention to the call of truth. If we were to see the next life with our worldly vision, we would immediately submit to God. We would realise that if we do not submit to Him today, we will have to do so in the future world when submission will profit no one.www.cpsglobal.org

Have you wondered at Jesus’ answer to the reli-gious authorities of the temple who heard children worship Jesus with praise due only to God? Jesus’ answer was simple as he quoted Scripture: “have you never read, “‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise” (Matt. 21:16).

Have you ever been surprised when children break into spontaneous prayer and praise of God, and commit themselves to be the one to exalt God’s name and spread it all over? Here is a true incident narrated by a mother that even surprised the be-lieving parents:

“My husband and I were sitting on the couch in our living room drinking hot tea, and we could hear our five-year-old daughter singing out loud on the balcony. Her high-pitched voice rang loud and clear for everyone to hear.

“God is good and God is great,” was the most of-ten repeated phrase and we smiled at each other, hearing her worship God. I heard her singing, “give me an opportunity to be brave and courageous, even if I die!” “The world does not know about you, but I will tell them,” and something about ‘point at God, He will show you the planets,’ were just some of the things she was singing. Some childish sen-tences, and some so profound, came out spontane-ously from her lips. But all of it was childlike. She wasn’t troubled by who could hear her, what they may think, and had no other care in the world.

She continued singing, “believe in Him today” as my husband and I sat humbled.

Soon she came back in and asked my husband if he had worshipped God today, as she had just fin-ished.

They both went in her room and continued wor-shipping God.”

Hinduism islam cHristianity

The Real You Death: Compulsory eviction

Jesus praised childrenBy Prarthna Saran

By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan By Rev. Dr. Richard Howell

eye on chinaB.R. DEEpAK

When we do good deeds, we are firm in our conviction that God is omnipresent and all-seeing, and a perma-nent t record has been made of our goodness, and will stand us in good stead when we are called to account before Him. But, when we are doing bad deeds, we forget that he can see us, and pretend that nobody knows of our actions.

This surprising misperception arises out of our intel-ligent mind, used as it is to conducting our daily life in this dichotomous manner. My Teacher told me a story to illustrate this.

A person was in great trouble, and promised his inner self that in case his problems are resolved, he would sell his house and give all proceeds to charity. A time came when his problems went away, and he knew it was now time to make good on his promise.

He thought out a very intelligent method where he could keep the proceeds, even as he kept his promise to donate the money from the sale.

He said that he will sell the house and the cat together. The house was priced at one silver piece, and the cat was priced at ten thousand pieces, and both had to be bought at the same time.

When the sale was completed, he readily donated one silver piece for charity, and kept the remaining ten thousand for himself. He reasoned to himself that he had kept his promise, but we all know, that he did not.

He had only been too clever by half. The intelligent mind always barters, do this and get that. Intelligence is a product of the mortal body, and will end when the body falls. When we are done with our clever ways, and surrender to Him with love, that is the beginning of being one with Him. Guru Granth Sahib says:Surrender your intelligent mind before the True Teacher:And all your affairs will be resolved.

sikHism

He is omnipresent, all-seeingBy Davinder P.S. Sandhu

p.V. Narasimha Rao with Dr Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi.

The ongoing dispute at Galwan and Pangon Tso has highlighted

the fragility of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) that separates the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA. Even areas that were considered stable, like the western side of the Depsang Plains of Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO), the extreme north to Demchok and the Chumar area in the extreme south, had been challenged by the PLA’s ag-gressive actions in 2013 and 2014, respectively. In fact, the Chinese slipped into In-dian territory in Chumar in May 2013, even as the DBO crisis was being solved, and managed to link the two areas together in the settle-ment of mutual withdrawal and dismantling of bunkers and posts.

The obvious questions that arise are whether the Chinese actions are merely tactical, or do they have any deep strategic objectives. If so, how should India react?

Not all analysts have caught on to the point that India’s ambitious, though belated, build-up of infra-structure to support effec-tive border management is seen as provocative by the Chinese. It is not that India’s actions are meant to be a provocation, but India’s abil-ity to robustly defend its ter-ritory changes the Chinese calculus. This change has so upset the Chinese that they now say that they would do “whatever it takes to put an end to Indian provocations along the western border”. Over the years, China has been changing the facts on the ground, little by little, to India’s disadvantage. Each time the PLA withdraws from its encroachment along the LAC, it ensures that In-dia’s defensive build-up re-ceives a slight set-back—for example, agree to move from the bunkers or observation posts close to the LAC, etc. The PLA has, in the past, successfully offset Indian Army’s efforts to strengthen its defensive capabilities in Ladakh.

But what does China actu-ally hope to achieve by this “salami-slicing” approach that would increasingly yield lesser and lesser re-turns as India responds with greater firmness and pre-paredness? China’s Ladakh policy has both offensive and defensive objectives, which must be addressed

separately.China in the late 1950s

and once more in the 1983-84 period, offered a swap deal. In return for India’s recognition of Aksai Chin being Chinese, they would accept Arunachal Pradesh (then NEFA) as a part of India. Despite Nehru’s state-ment that not a “blade of grass” grew in Aksai Chin, he could not move forward on any reasonable bound-ary deal as he was seen to have compromised himself on the China question. Un-fortunately, the military had also been sufficiently weak-ened and demoralised to be unable to evict the Chinese occupation of Indian ter-ritory. And Indira Gandhi was domestically distracted by the rising violence in Punjab that was soon to take her life. Now, not only is this swap deal off the table, but the Chinese have also re-siled from their agreement on the broad principle of boundary settlement with India—that settled areas are not to be touched. As the strategic thinker and former diplomat P. Stobdan has persuasively argued, China has succeeded in splitting the Arunachal boundary dispute from the Ladakh-Aksai Chin one. This needs to be understood.

Practically all Prime Min-isters and Presidents have visited NEFA/Arunachal Pradesh, but it was only since the UPA days that China has started object-ing to such visits. Though it claims all of Arunachal Pradesh, and refers to it as “South Tibet”, China’s real objective is Tawang. The Ka-meng area of Arunachal, of which Tawang is the head-quarters, had deep ecclesi-astical relations with Lhasa until the Chinese occupa-tion of Tibet. These relations cannot be ground for sover-eignty as Lhasa had similar relations with Mongolia and with many surrounding Chinese provinces like Qin-ghai and Yunnan. Tawang’s importance for the Chinese lies in the fact that it is the birthplace of the 6th Dalai Lama. Despite the consider-able economic progress that Tibet has seen under Chi-nese rule and the absence of any insurgency or active “Free Tibet” movement, the Chinese behave as if they are not confident of their control over Tibet. The problem of any credible selection of the next Dalai Lama, which is bound to arise over the next decade or so, would serious-ly challenge the legitimacy of Chinese rule over Tibet. As the present Dalai Lama has indicated, his reincar-nation may be born outside of Tibet, in a free land. He has also talked about doing away with the institution or at different times, of choos-

ing his own successor in his lifetime. Clearly, the Chinese are unnerved by this. The irony of an avowed athe-ist organisation, which the Communist Party of China is, choosing the reincarna-tion of a Lama seems lost on the Chinese. The cruel way in which the Panchen Lama, certified by the Dalai Lama, was made invisible and a new person imposed, has not gone down well. Both the Dalai Lama and the Chi-nese agreed on the choice of the Karmapa, but he secretly left Tibet for India and now lives in the West. There-fore, the Chinese want to pre-empt a situation where a person born in India is appointed as the next Da-lai Lama, and accepted as such by the Tibetan com-munity. After all a person born outside of Tibet, in Tawang (India) was the 6th Dalai Lama—while Tawang, as Chinese controlled ter-ritory, would deny such a precedence.

IMPORTANCE OF KARAKORAM PASSChina has another strategic objective in thwarting In-dia’s attempts at strength-ening its defensive positions along the Line of Actual Control across Ladakh-Aksai Chin. The Depsang Plains in the north, with its head at DBO, is not just another location but an im-portant one because of the nearby Karakoram Pass. For India, it does represent an eastern access to the Glaciers, though over high mountains of the Karako-rum Range. For China, it is even more important but not for the reasons often cited i.e. that it sits astride the Kashgar-Hasan Abdal Highway, on which runs the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). That highway crosses over the Karakoram using the Khun-jerab Pass, quite far west from the Karakoram Pass. But that does not lessen the importance of DBO and this region. The whole genesis of the India-China dispute over Aksai Chin began in 1954-55, when China starting build-ing the highway linking East Turkestan (now Xinjiang) with Tibet, now numbered as China National Highway 219. Earlier, Xinjiang’s road link with the Chinese heart-land (Gansu province) was problematic, and rail link was absent. Hence the need for this highway.

Presently, though alternate routes exist, and despite Chi-na’s brutal treatment of the Uyghurs and the physical and psychological violence over the Tibetans, China’s actions indicate its nervous-ness over its hold over these two provinces and their people. The Karakoram Pass was the natural trade link connecting Yarkhand in the Tarim Basin (East Turkes-tan) with Ladakh and Kash-mir, and on to the North Indian plains. Yarkhandi traders were a regular fea-ture of Leh bazaar, and post the troubles in East Turke-stan, a few Uyghur families managed to run away and settle in Srinagar. Though

situated at a height of over 18,000 feet above sea level, the Karakoram Pass is eas-ily accessible from both north and south, the former access controlled by China. It is so windy there that the Pass is free of snow despite its altitude. Though the Chi-nese Highway 219—linking East Turkestan, now Xinji-ang, with Tibet—has veered away from the Karakoram mountains by the time it exits Aksai Chin, the natu-ral slope towards the Tarim makes the highway vulner-

able from the South. Unset-tling India at DBO and pre-venting its build-up here is in China’s interest. And the best way to do so is by not just exerting pressure on the Depsang Plains directly confronting DBO, but by simultaneously challeng-ing the Darbuk-Shyok-DBO Chewang Rinchen road at Galwan. This road has made DBO really accessible to the Indian Army—a situ-ation that the Chinese seem determined to prevent. Gal-wan is relatively early on the

road from Darbuk, and is in a vulnerable position.

Therefore, how should In-dia understand the situation and proceed from there? It should be clear that this con-test is not just over Galwan or Pangong Tso. DBO (2013), Chumar (2013), Demchok (2014) and Dokalam (2017) have shown that agreements to disengage and withdraw have limited shelf-life. The Chinese have no wish to settle the boundary dispute, even to finalise what the Line of Actual Control is.

Ambiguity allows them flex-ibility and deniability. Also, the present Chinese aggres-sion has nothing to do with the changed legal status of Ladakh or Home Minister Amit Shah’s call to take back Aksai Chin. Chinese aggres-sion in Ladakh dates back to the early 1950s. Whether it was the building of the Xin-jiang-Tibet Highway 219, the Hot Springs ambush of 1959, the 1962 war, down to the re-cent intrusions in Depsang, Chumar or Demchok—all pre-date the legal changes of 5 August 2019 or Amit Shah’s call. Some have even suggested that showing Ak-sai Chin as part of Ladakh was an act of provocation and that the Chinese reac-tion should have been ex-pected. In any case, it is not clear why showing Aksai Chin as part of the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir had been acceptable, but showing the region as part of Ladakh is not. Similarly, one may wonder why have earlier statements of past leaders, including by vari-ous Prime Ministers, em-phasising that Aksai Chin was Indian and would someday come back to India were not seen as provoca-tive. Indian Parliament’s un-equivocal resolution in 1994 on the inviolability of India’s sovereignty over the entire state of Jammu & Kashmir is far stronger than Amit Shah’s statement, but that apparently did not ruffle the Chinese!

THE WAY FORWARDGoing forward, India’s boilerplate must be on an agreement on the primacy of fixing the LAC, beginning with an exchange of maps. Special Representatives’ meetings on finding ways to settle the boundary dispute must first agree on what is the present position. China’s refusal to even exchange maps is because it finds that the best way to put off set-tling the boundary dispute is by creating a dispute on where the Line of Actual Control is.

Two, it is not for us to jus-tify Chinese behaviour by explaining that they have a different concept of where the LAC is. Let the Chinese clearly, and upfront, indi-cate what their position on the LAC is. Similarly, it is not for us to tell the world that both countries do not need mediation and that there are structures in place that allow the resolution of disputes. Our touching be-lief in these mechanisms is amazing, considering the regularity of Chinese intru-sions and attempts to dis-turb the status quo forcibly. These mechanisms have failed India. India should be clear that it believes that diplomacy and bilateral dialogue are the best way forward but that the other side clearly has a different view. Government of India was smart enough to duck commenting on Donald Trump’s offer to mediate, but the media and analysts went to town, quoting un-named officials saying that India and China (emphasis

added) rejected this offer and were mature enough to sort out our bilateral dis-putes. A month later we seem to be no closer to a resolution. It is also unclear who authorised these self-appointed spokespersons to speak on behalf of either country.

Three, we should learn from the Chinese and aban-don historical positions, where necessary. For ex-ample, this reliance on lines drawn by the British does not strengthen our case, as for every line in support of India, there is another line that contradicts India’s posi-tion. We ignore Dogra maps showing their control over areas beyond Aksai Chin, in the Tarim basin and villages near Mansarovar. The lat-ter is far more important in the religious sense for India than Tawang is even for the Tibetans. Similarly, the Mir of Hunza’s territory extend-ed well into the trans-Kara-koram range, controlling parts of Southern Xinjiang. India must also note that the Chinese have been clear for decades that they would go to any extent to back Pakistan’s perfidies, block India’s membership to the Nuclear Suppliers’ group (NSG), indulge in mutual nuclear and missile technol-ogy proliferation, prevent the naming of terrorists be-ing prosecuted by Pakistan itself on the UN’s sanctions list and keep on salami slic-ing Indian territory. The economic and military power asymmetry between the two countries cannot be wished away. Consequently, India must look for alterna-tives. And if India wants other countries to politically align with it, then we have to shed our ambiguity about China’s hostility. Quad and the emerging alignment of middle powers including France, Vietnam, and Sin-gapore etc., should be about managing China’s rise in or-der to protect the sovereign interests of others. The time for free rides is over, and as Krishan Verma wrote last week, it is time for Strategic Alignment.

Four, and final, the best “battles” are fought at a time and place of your choice. While no one should advo-cate a war, one has to be pre-pared for it. It would be even better if India were to create other “virtual” battlefields politically, offsetting China by moving away from stated positions on “One China Principle” (not “One China Policy”), on challenging at-tempts to monopolise sea lanes of communication, on expressing concerns about bridging universal human rights including the right to practice religion, and to expand India’s capabilities in the maritime domain by using its logistical sharing agreements with the US, France, Japan and Austra-lia even as it strengthens its military’s ability to defend India adequately.Shakti Sinha is Honorary Di-rector, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Policy Research and International Studies, MS Uni-versity, Vadodara.

FIXING THE LAC

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opinionSHAKTI SINHA

Karakoram and other factors in India-China standoffWe ignore Dogra maps showing their control over areas beyond Aksai Chin, in the Tarim basin and villages near Mansarovar. The latter is far more important in the religious sense for India than Tawang is even for the Tibetans.

Soldiers shout “Vande Mataram” and “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” as Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets them during his surprise visit to Ladakh, at Nimmoo in Leh on Friday. ANI

The present Chinese aggression has nothing to do with the changed legal status of Ladakh or Home Minister Amit Shah’s call to take back Aksai Chin. Chinese aggression in Ladakh dates back to the early 1950s. Whether it was the building of the Xinjiang-Tibet Highway 219, the Hot Springs ambush of 1959, the 1962 war, down to the recent intrusions in Depsang, Chumar or Demchok—all pre-date the legal changes of 5 August 2019 or Amit Shah’s call. Some have even suggested that showing Aksai Chin as part of Ladakh was an act of provocation and that the Chinese reaction should have been expected. It is not clear why showing Aksai Chin as part of the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir had been acceptable, but showing the region as part of Ladakh is not.

India’s ambitious, though belated, build-up of infrastructure to support effective border management is seen as provocative by the Chinese. It is not that India’s actions are meant to be a provocation, but India’s ability to robustly defend its territory changes the Chinese calculus. This change has so upset the Chinese that they now say that they would do “whatever it takes to put an end to Indian provocations along the western border”.

HARD DECISIONS LIKELY

the big story the sunday guardian05–11 july 2020new delhi12

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coming days, it might hap-

pen that we will not allow their products or products of other

MNCs that are being manu-factured in China to be sold in India. The MNCs will have to shift their plants and factories to other countries if they want to sell their products in India. We might even have to take a deci-sion regarding allowing Chinese goods using our supply routes to go to the West. Despite being af-fected by Covid-19, Indians have been spending more money than citizens of other countries. Come Diwali, if things do not improve at the LAC, the huge money that Indian consumers have been

spending for years on Chinese goods, will be spent on products that are not of Chinese origin,” the official said.

The government, according to the official, has given enough signals to both public and private enterprises, officially and unof-ficially, that it will not encour-age any more investments from Chinese companies as it wants to reduce Chinese imports to India by at least two-thirds of what it is now by the end of this year.

The first big step towards this objective, the official added, would be barring Chinese com-panies from investing and earn-ing from the upcoming 5G mar-ket in India. “We have done our studies and we can bring the 5G

environment without them (Chi-nese companies). However, Chi-nese telcos have already invested a huge amount of time and re-sources in anticipation of the 5G rollout. No option is off the table (regarding barring Chinese tel-cos),” the official added.

Another official stated that things are moving at a very rapid pace when it comes to recalibrat-ing ties, especially when it comes to military coordination with the United States and Australia, both of whom have their own problems with Xi Jinping-led China.

“The Indo-Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI) is going to play a major role in the coming days in the region surrounding In-

dia. Australia is facing the same problems of an expansionist Chi-na and naturally we are working together in this context. China is fast losing influential friends across the world. Those who are sitting quietly right now, will have no choice but to take a call soon to secure their territorial in-tegrity, including Nepal,” he said.

The first lot of Rafale fighters (six pieces), which were origi-nally slated to be delivered in February-March next year, will now land in India by the end of this month. Earlier last month, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who was on a visit to Russia, made arrangements for the quick procurement and supply of additional arms and ammu-

nition in the wake of the stand-off at the LAC. All the items on the procurement list, the official added, were accepted and will reach India soon.

The understanding among policymakers is that the econ-omy will be running smoothly and would have recovered from the shock of Covid-19 by mid-September, October.

“Market sentiments are already on an upward trend, the worst is over and now demand will again come back, even if slowly, lead-ing to normalcy of supply. A lot of money and food grains have been transferred into the system and they have already started reaching the beneficiaries. The result of other various govern-

ment initiatives (related to econ-omy) will start becoming visible soon,” another official said while explaining the reasons for the positive sentiments.

As per multiple independent surveys, India will continue to attract maximum investments, after China, in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region in the coming months. According to the latest assessment by Bain & Company, a global management consulting firm (Asia-Pacific Private Equity Report 2020), though China re-mained the top market for in-vestments, India’s challenge to its position at the top is intensi-fying.

The report stated that in 2019, investments in India grew faster

than any other market across the region, taking its investment value higher than other major APAC economies such as South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. The country’s invest-ment value was also higher than the Southeast Asia average. As per the report, there were more than 1,000 deals last year, a sig-nificant number of which were large deals in excess of $100 mil-lion. As a result, the overall sum of investments registered a 70% jump from 2018, and was more than 100% higher than the aver-age of the previous half decade. In 2019, India’s internet and tech sector represented 28% of the Asia-Pacific market, twice its share in 2015.

India not giving in, will hold its ground against China

the move is Speaker of the Provincial As-sembly of Pun-

jab (Pakistan), Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, who said that constructing the new temple in Islamabad was

“against the spirit of Islam”. In a video message, he said it was also an insult to the

“state of Madinah”. He is said to have support of the Wah-habi elements in Pakistan.“Pakistan was made in the name of Islam and build-ing another Hindu temple in the capital is against the soul of Islam. After the con-quest of Mecca, Hazrat Mu-hammad along with Hazrat Ali broke 360 idols in Bait-ullah Sharif saying ‘truth has come and falsehood has vanished’,” Elahi added. An advocate in Islamabad High Court has also challenged the government’s decision to construct the temple.

Malhi could not be con-tracted for his comments despite repeated attempts. A text message sent to him also remained unanswered. However, in a tweet, he said: “CDA authorities have informed, work of bound-ary wall of Krishna temple site may be restored after Monday, after getting for-mal approval. Hindu Pan-chayat Islamabad will con-tact CDA on Monday.”

The ground-breaking ceremony for the temple was performed recently by Malhi. The temple complex will also have a cremation site, apart from the space

for separate structures for other religious rites. It will be built with an estimated cost of Rs 10 crore, gener-ated through donations and government funding. Prime

Minister Imran Khan has promised a grant of Rs 10 crore for the purpose.

In an earlier tweet, Malhi had said: “Held a meeting with PM Imran Khan to-

day. He directed minister religious affairs to imme-diately release funds for Krishna temple being built at Islamabad and present a bill on forced conversions

in Parliament within two months.”

Media reports have quot-ed Malhi as saying that the Hindu population in Islam-abad had reached around 3,000, which include gov-ernment and private sector employees, members of the business community and a large number of doctors. He is also reported to have said that while the official for-malities are underway, the initial groundwork, includ-ing levelling of the land and erecting the boundary wall, can continue.

It is to be noted that, last year, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government announced to reconstruct, renovate and reopen all temples and shrines across Pakistan to promote reli-gious tourism.

Sources said, before Par-tition, people of different communities used to live

in religious harmony in Is-lamabad and Rawalpindi. But after the Partition, a large number of Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India, leaving behind temples and gurudwaras, which were later destroyed or grabbed.A survey by the All Paki-

stan Hindu Rights Move-ment says that out of the 428 Hindu temples in Paki-stan, only about 20 survive today and remain neglected by the Evacuee Trust Prop-erty Board, which controls them, while the rest had been converted for other uses. It highlighted that 408 of the 428 temples at the time of Partition “were turned into toy stores, res-taurants, government offic-es and schools after 1990”. There is a small, abandoned temple and gurudwara at the Saidpur village near Islamabad, where no reli-gious ritual takes place.

agricul-ture, providing direct employ-ment to about 7.3

million people.In the national capital,

several restaurants and pubs have already shut their doors because of the huge rentals they were be-ing made to shell out over the last few months, with-out any revenue.

At Connaught Place, which over the years had turned into a destination for partygoers in the heart of Delhi, at least 12 restau-rants and pubs have shut down. Even at the upmar-ket Khan Market in Central Delhi, several restaurants, including the iconic Cafe Turtle, have shut shop be-cause of the massive rent-als.

Restaurateurs in Delhi say that many of them are not being able to stay afloat at this time since the rentals are very high and many say that they have requested their landlords to adjust the rentals in terms of vari-able cost, otherwise many others would also have to follow the exit door.

A restaurateur from Del-hi, who did not wish to be named, said that the gov-ernment’s decision to shut everything by 9 pm and now at 10 pm, coupled with 50% seating and no serving of alcohol has hit business hard.

“If all our staff have to reach home by 9 pm, our last order in the kitchen cannot be later than 8 pm and who in Delhi has din-ner at 7 pm or 8 pm? More-over, with 50% seating and no alcohol, revenue has been slashed significantly. The drop in sales here is at 80% since many are avoid-ing eating out due to the fear of the pandemic,” said the restaurateur quoted earlier.

The NRAI predicts that the road to recovery for nightclubs and pubs would be even tougher as social distancing norms have to be adhered to strictly until the time a cure or a vaccine for Covid-19 is found.

However, the NRAI has proposed a long 100-page list of SOPs (standard op-erating procedures) for res-

taurants across India, call-ing it “Covid proofing your restaurant” to instil confi-dence amongst customers.

According to NRAI, they have suggested the use of digital menu cards and digital payments for all customers; Covid-19 tests for all restaurant employ-ees every 14 days; a com-plete protocol for receiving and handling of all goods including consumables and non-consumables; ad-equate training of kitchen staff while handling uten-sils and cooking; removal of all bar stools and use of glass visors wherever pos-sible, among many other such measures.

The NRAI was also ex-pecting some sort of a moratorium or help from the government, but in the absence of that, the organ-isation has written to the Ministry of Finance with its recommendation to help the industry and has also met the Finance Minister to apprise her of the chal-lenges the industry faces and the demands of the in-dustry.

“We have requested for two forms of support from the government, one being liquidity support and the other being policy support. On the liquidity front, we have requested for mak-ing available easy working capital with six months’ moratorium, lowest pos-sible interest rate and low collateral. We have also requested the government to pay partial salaries of our employees covered under the ESIC Act, using the massive ESIC corpus, so that the restaurants get some respite on cash flow. We have also requested the government to declare this pandemic as an ‘Act of Force Majeure’. On the policy front, we have re-quested the government to restore the input tax credit on GST for our sector, a ro-bust national e-commerce policy which is fair to all stakeholders. We have also requested the Government of India to create dedicated F&B parks or hubs; we want the concept of Make in India to extend to Serve in India,” Anurag Katriar told this newspaper.

ent Afghanistan government in the near future, as India, one of closest allies of Afghani-

stan, both figuratively and literally, is facing challenges of its own with regards to China.PAKISTAN COPYING CHINA’S SALAMI-SLICINGPakistan has also resorted to en-croaching on territory belonging to Afghanistan along the Durand Line, leading to a “war-like” situa-tion among the two countries.

The Foreign Ministry of Af-ghanistan recently lodged a strong protest with Pakistan after it

found that 600 square metres of its territory, including a cemetery, has been encroached upon by the Pakistan army, which has now in-stalled barbed wires there to stop Afghans from reclaiming it. This technique of clipping away small pieces of land and announcing it as its own is what China too has been doing for long now.

The Afghanistan government re-cently found that Pakistan military personnel have encroached on about 500 to 600 square metres of Afghan territory in the area of Sonzi and Warzhala in Tani dis-trict of Khost province and have

installed barbed wire fencing around the encroached upon area.

With the installation of the barbed wire in the Sonzi area, even the cemetery belonging to the village of Sonzi and the tribes of Tani district of Khost province, has now gone to the other side (Pakistan side) of the Durand Line, The Sunday Guardian has learnt through official documents.

This encroachment, according to official reports, has caused a lot of anger amongst the locals. There was a fear that a conflict would break out in these areas, but this has now been “disputed”.

MORE TROUBLES FOR KABULSigns that troubling times lie ahead for Afghanistan can be gauged from the statement issued by Ambassadors of the European Union in Kabul last week on the escalating violence in the country.“The EU Delegation in agreement with EU Heads of Mission based in Kabul believe the situation has further deteriorated since 29 May when the EU Council of Foreign Affairs Ministers declared the level of violence as ‘unacceptable’,” the statement reads.“The attacks by the Taliban

against Afghan National Defence and Security Forces are under-mining the prospect for intra-Afghan negotiations; this must end and a full-fledged ceasefire enter into force. Violence against civilians has also continued. It is a violation of international human-itarian law, which profoundly undermines the confidence and trust necessary for peace negotia-tions. It appears to be a deliberate attempt to stifle debate in advance of peace negotiations. These crimes need to be investigated and the responsible brought to justice,” it further stated.

MOUNTING LOSSES

Pandemic leaves restaurants bleeding

TALIBAN-ISI LINK

‘AGAINST SPIRIT OF ISLAM’

PAK HOPING TO TOPPLE GHANI, INSTALL PUPPET IN KABUL

Wahhabi fanatics oppose Krishna temple plan in Islamabad

A view of the ground-breaking ceremony of the Lord Krishna temple in Islamabad (Photo courtesy: twItter Account of LAL chAnd MALhI, MeMber nAtIonAL AsseMbLy of PAKIstAn).

BEING POSITIVE

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Alliteration survives adversity and also p r ov i d e s s o m e

focus to thoughts stream-ing through relatively idle minds during a pandemic. It may also have some com-monsensical insights for common folks, affected or unaffected.

Having survived almost four months of lockdown, I tested Covid positive on 22 June 2020. Fever around 100° and backbreaking pain on 22nd night led me to immediate testing on the next day and a positive re-sult by 23rd evening.The first thing I learnt is that inconsistency is the only consistency of this devious disease. After Day 1, till Day 13 when I write this, I have been totally non symptom-atic, though positive. No backache, temperature not even crossing 98°, no oxygen saturation issue, no blood pressure issue, no loss of sense or smell, et al. Weakness is naturally there but otherwise, if 22 June is erased, it is as if nothing happened. Hopefully, it will stay that way. But, secondly, Covid’s un-predictability is equally pre-dictable. It may rear an ugly head on Day 13 or 14, defy conventional wisdom to keep alive beyond 15 days to 20 days, keep showing no symptoms and yet remain positive! In the same house, it may affect three family members in different rooms differently, in trajectory, in-tensity, duration and symp-toms. It is best to respect Covid’s intelligence and not insult it. For example, my wife continues to exhibit clear symptoms, my son to a lesser degree and me and my grandson not at all!Thirdly, since our fam-ily may well qualify as one of the Covid first families, much of this is experiential. Apart from me, my wife, my younger son and my grandson also got it! Merci-fully, only my 86-year-old mother and daughter-in-law are exempt. Even my mother’s exclusive maid contracted it (despite 100% separate room isolation for 4 months), but no other domestic servant or driver, of whom there are an ag-gregate of seven in a multi-storeyed bungalow, was in-fected. Amongst my home attached office staff, three of four tested positive but with hugely divergent symp-

toms. My main clerk has fever, ache and clear symp-toms, another tested “inde-terminate” (dominant posi-tive, other trait unclear but treated as virtually positive) with zero symptoms and a third junior clerk fully posi-tive but 100% normal and without any symptoms! Though all generalizations are inherently untrue, let me break my own rule by saying “never try general-izing regarding Covid!”Fourthly, ex post facto blame games and 20x20 hindsight wisdom is a way of life and understandable. Everyone becomes an inter-net expert and “I told you so” wizard in such times. But if logic and reason alone are examined, and truth be told, we were probably the least likely family to be so hugely afflicted. For 120 continuous days my wife and I have not visited a single home other than my own, declined get togethers of even three couples, had no guest home (except one school friend thrice with ample distancing and he re-mains unaffected). All court cases were argued virtually and all press conferences, concalls, interactions etc were virtual. The only ex-ceptions were, firstly, the presence of one of my own in-house legal juniors in each case I argued virtually, at six feet distance, with all safeguards, to assist and no other advocate or client allowed into my room at all. My immediate staff did interact occasionally but at full distance. The second ex-ception could have caused it, though the law of prob-ability must have skewed up against us. In about 10% cases, one additional brief-ing advocate, apart from my chamber junior, was allowed into my room, at proper distance. Hard set papers and some hardware was handled, though after spraying. Only one cham-ber junior additionally tested positive after me but she is also largely asymp-tomatic. This outside route is all I can think of by way of infection infiltration. I am always respectful of the bizarre laws of probability when I see global or Indian images of crowded beaches, growing mall populations and not even standing space for Lutyens gang at Khan Market, in comparison to my complete isolation. Fifthly, no one knows de-finitively why but Covid is gentler on kids. A recent comprehensive Lancet study of over 20 countries so establishes, based on comprehensive age profil-ing of the disease, though it is basically a mathematical model. My precious grand-son is proof positive, with-out symptoms! Though I

am told his viral load could be sufficient to infect oth-ers, by God’s grace, he is pain and trouble free.Sixthly, it is imperative to sync up with one good med-ical service early on. Don’t delay either testing or treat-ment by vacillation. In fact, early start of treatment is a great boon. The best I have found is Max Smart home quarantine. Hospitalization is totally unnecessary and the Max team headed by the efficient and amiable Dr Budhiraja and his able and cheerful colleagues (includ-ing Dr Arun Yadav and the ever available Dr Dhananja-ya) does a great job of home quarantine treatment. At least one regular daily col-lective video call per patient with full medical team, oth-er calls on demand, full and repeated testing at home (even X-Ray machines were regularly sent to my residence, though I insisted later on in going to hospital since I was easily able to and even shifted there for a few days for better testing and reducing home load of multiple patients, coupled with full support for medi-cines and monitoring, was extremely reassuring and generated its own undefin-able sense of security and safety. The Max team did this separately for each of our afflicted family mem-bers.Seventhly, Covid is a self limiting disease, unless one has the bad luck of sudden or severe co-morbidities, but requires a very great amount of discipl ine, awareness and practice of comprehensive safeguards without ever letting down your guard, even for a min-ute, more easily said than done as ennui and “busi-ness as usual” sets in with passage of time. Social distancing, masks and fre-quent washing are a given. A good surface spray is use-ful. Gloves are of marginal or no use. While in quaran-tine, even well after testing negative, keep a servant (ex-isting or new), in a hazmat suit, for all entry or help involving proximity. Make one room your control room and stay inside. Pack multiple paper/disposable cutlery in that room, leave out at door yourself and get your staff to do one full filling of food, kept outside again for you to retrieve. Multiple helpings increase interaction, are avoidable or must be done by disposing of earlier disposables and repeating the process de novo. Put all disposable gar-bage into one basket lined with poly sheets, at night mix with peroxide, leave for the night and put out next morning for removal with normal garbage.Eighthly, I am not a medi-cal doctor (though PhDs were historically a prior award of the appellation Dr than medical degrees!) but I found an early start of so called “Fabiflu” use-ful and effective. Constant repetitive monitoring of standard five parameters five times a day and main-taining a clear chart is vital.

Remdesivir is supposedly working for medium to se-rious cases. Whether Co-vid afflicts blood group A+, then B + then AB+ then O+, in descending degrees of severity, is apocryphal, not scientifically established and should be seen with great scepticism. A better view is that while gargling and steam are both good pre positive testing, steam may be counter-productive post testing positive, on the ap-prehension that such inha-lation further spreads par-ticles deeper inside lungs. Clearly, plasma therapy is the new Mecca and has shown remarkable results if started timely. It is an open secret that Delhi’s Health Minister may owe his life to use of prompt plasma ther-apy at Max. I pledged my plasma weeks ago and am happy that better institu-tional guidelines to ensure its widespread use are now implemented by both Cen-tral and Delhi governments.Ninthly, always remain aware that whatever we are discussing here is based on empowerment, abil-ity, capacity and means, vital words unavailable to 90% of India’s popula-tion. Never forget to spare a thought for our teeming masses, trudging migrants, primary healthcare centres in remote rural outposts, where all this relatively elite, urban advice is ivory towerish. Obviously, this article is limited to the usual suspects, PLUs (people like us). But that is no reason to ignore India’s many “Indias in one” syndrome in ev-ery sector. Always develop an attitude of gratitude in such times of adversity by reminding yourselves how fortunate you are. That was the lesson encapsulated in the constant lament of a poor man complaining of no decent shoes, till he came across a person with no feet! Lament stopped and an attitude of gratitude took over.Tenthly, Covid teaches us so many virtues. Awareness of some is the first step to imbibe a few. I realized that I comfortably passed 120 days of lockdown in hardly 5 or 10 sets of clothes! My

overflowing cupboards of smart designer wear be-came an obscene reminder of futile, mad, insecure, rat race and greed inspired acquisitiveness. Actually, if you discount for the fact that one can do almost all virtual activity merely in shorts (!) with a decent shirt (including official shirt based court dress), the number of those garments halve! One room with at-tached bathroom is all you need to be comfortable, communicate fully and re-lax and rejuvenate mean-ingfully. Excellent wifi, a few favourite books, music and entertainment, at least two usable platforms (one PC and one iPad) for simul-taneous communication while reading documents, disposable cutlery, basic clothing and a few other personal quirks are a must have minimalist list, almost fulfilling the seemingly un-attainable idealistic mini-malism of the bestseller “The power of 30”. I am, of course, acutely aware of human nature and its many follies and foibles, so that recidivism to our bad old ways of maximalism and mindless consumption is likely to again rule the roost as Covid dims into the re-cesses of our collective con-sciousnesses.Eleventhly, it would be foolish to allow only physi-cal court hearings, as being demanded in some quar-ters. Virtual hearings must be permanently embedded in the system, from the low-est civil judge or criminal magistrate to the Supreme Court judge. This has to be the new normal and must continue for all times. It must be significantly en-hanced in capacity and ef-ficiency. Despite the flurry of activity, reportage and webinar culture, ground realities especially below the High Courts are chang-ing at a tragically slow pace.

Virtual hearings are avail-able, accessible and feasible for large sections of our legal brethren. Inconve-nience, obstruction and ex-pense are more often than not pleaded as crocodile tears from vested inter-ests. Yes, there is a small

section which is genuinely handicapped. Full cogni-zance of their limitations must be taken. Each court complex must immediately create adjunct hallways for people who want to come to court and argue from a room where they are con-nected through court infra-structure to the courtroom virtually, with full distanc-ing and safeguards in such hallways. It is mythical and illogical to assume a magic button date when Covid will end or even all forms of lockdown will end, at least in the foreseeable future. For example, it would be ridiculous to seek full and only physical hearings, post the court recess in July. Invi-tation to a 2,000 congrega-tion of lawyers, clients, em-ployees and officials per day to the apex court, double that at Delhi High Court, and much more at the several district courts in NCT, is a recipe for disaster. It will open with a bang and close with a whimper within a few weeks, especially be-cause elementary common sense tells us that zig zag Covid peaks and troughs are with us to stay at less for a few months more, if not longer.Twelfthly, those who insist on physical hearings must be accommodated but vir-tual hearings should be also the new normal, undoubt-edly along with physical ones. Neither should be to the exclusion or substitu-tion of the other. Persisted with long enough, this will revolutionize our system. Already arguments are more orderly, less inter-ruptive, more pointed and briefer. The endless orality of our legal culture, which 70 years have been unable to diminish or discipline, is being set right by Covid. We have to be resolute and we have to persist. Gandhi taught us “that every good reform movement must pass through five stages: in-difference, ridicule, abuse, repression and respect”. Tenacity alone can get you to the fifth. Moreover, there is no inherent paradox in having virtual and real le-gal platforms coexist per-manently and, indeed, al-

low different parties in the same cause to choose any one mode. Tactics to delay cases by any one party will of course have to be nipped in the bud.Thirteenthly, the lighter side of Covid virtual law-yering should be generat-ing its own jurisprudence. A good natured three-judge Bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra upheld my visual preliminary objec-tion against themselves that it appeared that the three judges were sitting too close and immediately proceeded to physically dis-tance within the same room by moving chairs! I compli-mented the E Committee head, Justice Dhananjaya Chandrachud, for appo-sitely starting the practice of judges not sitting physi-cally together at all and of using iPads also. A col-league senior counsel, see-ing my maiden appearance in gloves, referred to it as a “pugilistic stance”, which I endorsed saying some-times that’s what court pro-ceedings are! Waiting room chatter boxes have many other examples. Technol-ogy suggestions were found useful by me in the virtual waiting room, e.g., the infra red machine for screening files, helmets etc.

Fourteenthly, a word about too much of a good thing, about hyper bureau-cracy. Though with the best of intentions, I get five iden-tical calls every day for 11 days from sundry govern-ment departments, with identical queries of well be-ing, each denying the oth-ers’ existence and having identities ranging from DM department, health depart-ment, coordinating depart-ments and several similar diverse fora. No finger knows regarding the other’s existence on the same hand. The mandatory red Co-vid positive notice must be put on the house door. It is loosely affixed. Miscreants or mischievous local mis-chief mongers tear it down, photograph it and gleefully send it on all and sundry WhatsApp groups. Next day, all governmental calls restart, some alleging de-liberate vandalism of man-

datory government notice by patients themselves! All in all a most wasteful and futile expenditure of time by destructive and negative elements.Fiftheenthly, I found drift-ing with the tide very re-laxing. Since I was largely trouble free, apart from some weakness, I was able to enjoy my favorite genre of action thrillers. The sat-isfaction of churning out three articles during even my corona positivity peri-od, apart from several ear-lier ones and webinars dur-ing lockdown as a whole, proved personally very sat-isfying. But I never forced anything on myself. I tried never to create any internal or external obligation. A legal consultation, a press conference, extra detailed newspaper reading, some stray chapter and book reading, maintaining medi-cal charts and the timely taking of medicines, all left me in fact quite short on time, not with excess time. With the start of virtual short yoga breathing exer-cises, I would say my Covid positive time never hung on my hands and instead was always packed but in as spontaneous and easy a way as possible. I always like to think of John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage written by him when laid up flat on a hospital bed after a terrible back accident. It was done as much to enthuse himself not to lose heart, though it became a global bestseller as an exemplar of courage amongst personal, physical adversity. There is always some profit in loss, a lot of blessing in disguise, always reasonable silver in the lin-ing. Sixteenthly, it is difficult to estimate whether India has found its own equilib-rium with Covid. Starting with an early lockdown, I think not. Such relation-ships stabilize only during the hurly burly of peak vi-cissitudes and maybe we have not come anywhere near that. There is fear and trepidation of the unknown and the spiking curves sug-gest that the worst is yet to come. Lockdown is concep-tually a form of evasion, not full faced adjustment and it will be interesting to note how much that will test us as humans and as a nation. Nerves, balance, mental peace and stability, taking each day at a time, curb-ing flamboyance, keeping a low profile, being timid and unadventurous, binding the family, providing rock like support and security to them and minimalism, are some of the hallmarks which will get us through this new era within an era. In any which way, life can never be the same again. Maybe it should not, if we learn our lessons well.Dr Abhishek Singhvi is a senior third term sitting MP; former Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law & Justice; former Additional Solicitor General of India; Se-nior National Spokesperson, Congress Party and eminent jurist. Views are personal.

the sunday gentleman

Abhishek singhvi

Covid, Courts, Creativity, Country: A MiscellanyCovid is a self limiting disease, unless one has the bad luck of sudden or severe co-morbidities, but requires a very great amount of discipline, awareness and practice of comprehensive safeguards without ever letting down your guard, even for a minute.

A healthcare worker checks the temperature and pulse of a resident during a check-up camp for the coronavirus disease, in Mumbai on saturday. ReuteRs

V14v

businessguardian the sunday guardian | 05 – 11 july 2020 | new delhi www.sundayguardianlive.com

top of saturdayEmErgEncy crEdit LinE

Liquidity to MSMEs riSES aS bank SanctionS incrEaSENEW DELHI: The Central government is going all out to ensure that liquidity concerns of the MSME sector are addressed on priority under its Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS). As of 1 July 2020, public sector and private banks have sanctioned loans worth over Rs 1.10 lakh crore under the 100 per cent Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme, of which more than Rs 52,000 crore has already been disbursed. There has been a big jump in sanctions in the last couple of weeks. And just in the last six days up to 1 July sanctions have increased by a whopping Rs 10,000 crore while disbursement has increased by Rs 7,000 crore. In a tweet, office of Finance Minister Nirmala Sithara-man said: “As of July 1, the total amount sanctioned under the 100 per cent Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme by #PSBs and private banks stands at Rs 1,10,343.77 crore, of which Rs 52,255.53 crore has already been disbursed.” The ECLGS scheme is the biggest fiscal component of the Rs 20-lakh crore Self-Reliant India Mission package an-nounced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in May. To ensure that the scheme achieves its objective of providing adequate liquidity to the MSME segment, the finance min-istry has held meetings with the banks. A finance ministry statement said that banks from both public and private sec-tor have contributed to the success of the ECLGS. IANS

in a yEar’S tiME

tV18 Stock May doubLE froM currEnt LEVELS

On 25 March 2020, it warned of a bear market, stocks fell 50% and more from there. A month later, on 25 April 2020, it signalled that a rally was about to begin.A few weeks later the stock market had one of the best trading days in a decade and has continued to climb ever since. Indian equities have recovered a part of its March

losses from its worst plunge in over a decade. Central banks across the world have pumped in trillions to revive their economies after the Covid pandemic. Many analysts are worried about this liquidity driven stock market pushing up prices somewhat unrealistically. With the earning season getting closer, it will be an interesting time for the stock market. Few analysts have argued that the country is in a middle of a recession and a stock market bubble. With first quarter FY 2020-21 results around the corner, it will also in-clude some bit of recovery that ostensibly began in June and hence throw a better idea of where the economy is heading. But the corporate earnings alone is not going to settle the broader bear/bull market debate. Brokers and high-net worth investors have been betting on both defensive and ag-gressive sectors by investing in pharmaceutical stocks and telecom and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) stocks. A given that these segments will do well when most of the Indians are largely stuck inside their homes. Last week marked the end of a historic quarter for the Indian economy and the stock market. Over the next few weeks, corporates across the country will begin opening their books and give us an opportunity to see how the Covid pandemic has impacted their businesses. Trading with an actual earnings announcement could give quick gains, but may not be a consistent approach while trading after earnings announce-ment showing how a stock performs could be a better bet in these volatile times. Investors looking for growth stocks to buy have to be prepared for some volatility in the near term as the stock market copes with virus concerns, Indo-China border tensions and the economy. The most important criteria for choosing a winning stock to buy is staying power. The coronavirus is expected to change the way people live their lives for years to come, which means companies whose services are in line with that trend will prosper. Generally, media stocks should do well and analysts are betting on TV18 Broadcast quoting at around Rs 35 to be an interesting buy at present. The company is owned by Reliance Indus-tries Ltd and is seeing marked improvement in its financial performance over the last few quarters. The company owns and operates many news, current affairs and entertainment channels like CNN IBN, CNBC TV18, IBN, Moneycontrol, News 18, Colors and others. For patient investors, the TV18 stock can double from the current levels in a year’s time.Rajiv Kapoor is a share broker, certified mutual fund expert and MDRT insurance agent.

taking stockrAjIv kApoor

ciViLizationaL bondS

Managing the DragonDecoupling from China requires a deep strategic vision where defending digital territory is as vital as physical territory.

Joined by deep civiliza-tional bonds, the po-litical equation between

India and China post-Inde-pendence and the Chinese revolution has been conten-tious and conflict-prone. When Chairman Mao con-solidated Chinese power by taking over Tibet, India sheltered the Dalai Lama; bound by a centuries-old relationship, independent of China or anyone else. PM Nehru patronized China in Bandung (1955) and the United Nations, reportedly forsaking a permanent seat at the Security Council in China’s favour. With no hint of reciprocation, China has instead adopted a hegemon-ic attitude and repeatedly provoked conflict starting with 1962. Indian strategic thinkers have historically failed to understand China’s hegemonic outlook to be able to build our resilience and self-reliance accord-ingly.

By 1978, both India and China had closed their economies for three de-cades, with low growth, and a similar GDP of approxi-mately USD 150Bn. Post the ping-pong-diplomacy of Kissinger and Mao, China opened up in 1978 under Deng Xiaoping - paving the way for unprecedented growth with a sequential strategy:

1. Liberalized agriculture sector—farmers could grow crops of their choice. They abolished restrictions on selling produce and agri-cultural land use. Farmer income multiplied, creating surpluses for rural growth.

2. Coastal Special Eco-n o m i c Z o n e s —E nt i r e coastal provinces like Guangdong and Fujian were converted into SEZs. Granted flexibility for free market operations, they at-tracted overseas investment for rapid industrial growth. SEZ provinces were decen-tralized and empowered to make investment deals.

3. Labour-intensive in-dustries—China also had a large population that need-ed employment at scales agriculture couldn’t pro-vide. Focus on sectors that could absorb surplus labour like garments and fabrica-tion succeeded in routing China’s workforce toward higher economic growth in the SEZs.

4. Infrastructure develop-ment and urbanization—Excess labour and savings were routed toward infra-structure development, making it a significant eco-nomic driver. Construction grew at 16.6% YoY for near-ly four decades, with feed-forward effects for supply chains, labour utilization and socio-economic devel-opment. China urbanized from 26% in 1990 to 59%

today, while India remains at 34%.

5. Human capital and knowledge economy—Rap-id economic growth was complemented by invest-ment in higher education, R&D, startups, and hi-tech industries. China is now close to the United States in many frontier fields like AI, ML, and quantum comput-ing. It recently announced a USD 150Bn investment in these sectors.

China’s economy is now at USD 15.5Tn, from USD 150Bn in 1978; a feat un-paralleled in human his-tory. Meanwhile, India was brought to its knees with ineffective socialist policies and was finally forced to open up in 1991. Liberaliza-tion is the most significant event in independent India’s economic history, enabling 8.6% YoY growth (in dollar terms) from USD 275Bn in 1991 to USD 2.97Tn in 2020. We missed out on a decade’s worth of growth (1978-1991) and the race for Asian dom-inance due to the disastrous socio-economic policies of Nehru and Indira Gandhi. With rapidly changing geo-political events today, India must pursue an extensive strategy for self-reliance and export-oriented eco-nomic growth.

StAtUS QUOChina can influence the global economy due to its sheer size. It is the largest exporter, second-largest importer, and holds the highest foreign currency reserves. China also leads in manufacturing with 24% of the global share. They flex their industrial influence to dominate trade with India. Over the last ten years, In-dia has built up a trade defi-cit of USD 500Bn. In 2019-20, with imports of USD 65.2Bn and exports of USD 16.6Bn, annual trade defi-cit reduced to USD 48.7Bn from USD 63Bn in 2017-18.

India has repeatedly asked China to increase im-ports but has been mostly unsuccessful. It is only in the last year that PM Modi has been able to insist that China import more, par-ticularly our excess agri-culture products. 70% of our pharmaceutical APIs come from China. China-dependent supply chains dominate many sectors in India, like electronics and telecom equipment. Their production is cheaper, of good quality, and delivered at scale with attractive cred-it terms.

China developed its in-dustry on contract manu-f acturing by building capacity and extending fa-vourable terms. Many inter-national brands have end-to-end production there. Even the ones that don’t, get their tooling and moulds made exclusively in China. Indian industrialists fre-quently look to China to fill supply chain gaps and scale when demand rises, for lack of viable alternatives.

Chinese companies have also invested around USD

8Bn in Indian startups since 2014, out of a total invest-ment of USD 60Bn. Chinese investors have stakes in 15 of India’s 32 unicorns. Do-mestic capital only accounts for 10% of the USD 60Bn. We have invariably made it easier for overseas investors to direct large pools of capi-tal in our startup ecosys-tem while discriminating against and over-regulating Indian investors.

The economic fallout of COVID-19 was worldwide and simultaneous. The world now understands how intrinsically inter-linked manufacturing and supply chains are with China. US, Korean and Jap-anese companies want to di-versify. In India, too, we had to react to dependencies on China quickly. We ramped up PPE and N95 mask pro-duction from almost nil to near-export-surplus vol-umes in three months, be-cause of the surge in global demand combined with defective goods sent from China as humanitarian aid.

Apart from the COVID-fallout, the Galwan valley incident has demonstrated the imperative to move away from the economic iron grip of China. Many are calling for a boycott of Chi-nese goods, and the govern-ment too seems determined to reduce dependence. It is also evident that across the world only the US—as the first mover—and China—by design—fully own their dig-ital realms while other na-tions are dominated by the two. Over the last decade, China has acquired vast digital territory in India. The ban on 59 apps is a first step toward ensuring In-dia’s digital security which is as vital to our sovereignty as securing our physical borders.

We must understand that it is difficult for India to sup-port an outright ban on the import of Chinese goods and services or implement a rapid import substitution policy. Global supply chains are intimately integrated. Also, our domestic econo-my cannot suddenly take on the load.

Instead, we need an in-depth strategy with the long-term goal to create high-quality products in India, cater to the massive domestic market and then

export globally to capture market share.

SEctOr-SPEciFic StrAtEgyIndia needs a studied policy to decouple strategically by

1. Identifying large-scale imports in every sector

2. Analyzing reasons for these imports

3. Creating incentives ac-cordingly for Indian manu-facturing to ramp up and cater to domestic demand which will automatically re-duce export dependence

We have already proven this value proposition with our mobile manufacturing strat-egy; India became a signifi-cant exporter last year to the tune of USD 4.5Bn. The new INR 45,000 crore program for electronic manufacturing will increase value-add and make India an electronics ex-port house. These are strong signals for electronics behe-moths in the US, Korea and Japan to consider setting up in India.

In the wake of COVID-19, the government has already instituted strategies to set up API manufacturing. Every sector and sub-sector needs a specific plan, especially criti-cal ones like medical devices, telecom equipment, ACs, etc.

POLiciES And inVEStmEntS FOr cOmPEtitiVEnESSPolicy overhaul and reforms in labour and land are vital for the China-decoupling strategy. India has excellent manufacturing capabilities as seen during the COVID-19 crisis where within 3 months, India has become a dominant producer of PPE, respiratory aids, and diagnostic kits. Sad-ly we haven’t invested enough in developing manufacturing as a dominant economic sec-tor.

Once large import items are identified for domestic manufacturing, India can en-sure industries become com-petitive by further improving supply chains, developing infrastructure, providing tax holidays and incentives, re-forming labour laws, further reducing overhead costs like power and water, and arrang-ing long-term credit.

India must also reduce the immense compliance and regulatory overload on our companies. Failed socialist policies which over-regulate private enterprise combined

with archaic colonial systems to suppress domestic produc-tion, unfortunately, are still part of our policy frame-works. As a result, we find it hard to scale and compete with companies in countries where taxation and compli-ance regimes are friendly to wealth- and job-creators. Large-scale reforms at the state government level are crucial. Tax terrorism at the centre also continues to be one of the biggest threats to foreign and domestic invest-ments.

LABOUr-intEnSiVE mAnUFActUringIndia needs a policy that unlocks labour-intensive manufacturing as a means of export dominance. It is the only way our large 1.38 billion population can access sustainable employment; 70 years of history has shown us agriculture cannot support a massive workforce. Gar-ments, fabrication, electron-ics, are all great industries for labour utilization and skills development, especially in the heartland states.

Additionally, China is mov-ing to automated and hi-tech manufacturing and is slowly vacating labour-intensive manufacturing. Living and labour costs there are sky-rocketing, and it is becom-ing unviable to produce goods as cheaply as before. These industries are mov-ing elsewhere, especially to Vietnam (with a 1,200km Chinese border), Indonesia and Bangladesh.

These countries actively pursue investor-friendly policies and send frequent delegations to the US, EU and Japan. They have marketed and built their brand better than India.

India has not taken ad-equate advantage, but CO-VID-19 presents unique opportunities. We must ac-tively pursue trade treaties with the EU, US and Japan along with large-scale re-form policies in labour, land and SEZs. Indian states can lead here as state govern-ments are responsible for industrial development.

Contract manufacturing is the optimum way to quickly attract international custom-ers without the need for ex-tensive foreign investment. Investors can enter with a capital-light strategy, and set up their plants once the

trust relationship builds. In-dia can scale up quicker this way.

QUALity And dESign FOcUSInnovative design and world-class quality are cru-cial to capturing both the domestic and global mar-kets. Here, our two-wheeler industry stands out for hav-ing repeatedly beaten China because of the farsighted fo-cus on design, quality, scale, marketing and brand build-ing. There is no reason why we cannot build the same capacity and quality in other industries too.

Automation and robot-ics can complement labour to assure repeatability and predictability. For example, Havells has set up an INR 400 crore AC plant near Delhi – fully automated, whose quality and cost structure beats China. We can selectively apply this value proposition to edge out Chinese competition while pursuing high labour-utili-zation strategies elsewhere.

LiBErALiZE dOmEStic cAPitALIn the startup space, India recently announced that investment by China and other neighbouring coun-tries require approval. While this is necessary for national security, it has cut off a major source of growth capital. To replace it, we need friendly domestic funding via insur-ance companies like LIC that have large pools of investable capital. They need to under-stand the substantial ROI from tech companies that will dominate future growth.

Indian pension funds must also do the same. Pen-sion funds from Canada, Europe, the US and Aus-tralia are already investing in Indian startups because they recognize the unique growth proposition and high reward-risk ratio.

Reducing regulatory hur-dles and improving asset allocation avenues into tech startups will liberalize do-mestic capital and increase investment. The Indian eco-system severely needs local funding to counter preda-tory overseas capital like China’s. Without incentiviz-ing domestic capital, we risk becoming a captive digital colony; a fate no Indian citi-zen wants to repeat.

cOncLUSiOnThere are more aspects to improve India’s self-reli-ance. We need substantial investment in intellectual property creation and R&D, quadrupling of supply chain efficiencies, and opening up more sectors to private play-ers like we just did with de-fence and space. The Atma Nirbhar reforms are the first significant step. Decou-pling from China will not be simple, but the decisions and investments to execute it this decade have to start now in a focused manner.T.V. Mohandas Pai is Chair-man, Aarin Capital Partners, and Nisha Holla is Technology Fellow, C-CAMP.

t.V. mOhAndAS PAi & niShA hOLLA

people crossing over China’s flag, during an anti-China demonstration in Agartala on 24 june. ANI

15businessthe sunday guardian05 – 11 july 2020

new delhiwww.sundayguardianlive.com

‘little to offer’

Mumbai missing opportunity to become Asia’s financial hubUnlike India, Singapore and Japan are wooing global capital with massive incentives.

Hong Kong is on the cusp of major changes. Changes

that the present generation will live to narrate in de-tail—from seeing massive dollar influx and huge pros-perity to the Chinese Com-munist Party now passing draconian law and altering its democratic fabric and institutions and reneging its UN obligations. As Asia’s dollar centre, Hong Kong plays a pivotal role in global capital markets, after New York and London. Over the

next few weeks, financial experts and money market specialists are expecting massive capital flight from the territory as new changes in law are making business-es jittery.

But where will these bil-lions of dollars of funds head to? Which city has the financial muscle, world class infrastructure, capital conversion laws and inde-pendent financial institu-tions to replace Hong Kong? This author feels bulk of the capital will head towards Singapore, and the remain-ing will find attractive in-vestment opportunities in Tokyo. Very little, if any, is headed towards Mumbai, India’s financial hub.

While it would have been sweet justice if Mumbai could replace Hong Kong as the third most crucial finan-cial market globally, it is un-likely to be so. Governments

of Singapore and Japan have acted swiftly and made several key announcements to attract multi-billion dol-lar hedge funds, private eq-uity firms and family offices from around the world that operate in Hong Kong.

Consider this. While Ja-pan is tempting business with free office space and visa waivers, Singapore has launched a legal structure called the Variable Capi-tal Company (VCC) which competes with low tax destinations like Cayman

Islands and Luxembourg. In fact, Singapore’s easier structure shares many tax efficient features that these tax havens have. To sweeten the deal, relocation costs up to $100,000 will be reim-bursed by the government. This scheme will be valid till January 2023.

As per reports, several real estate and credit funds han-dling billions of dollars in assets under management have already registered VCCs. Likewise, a private equity fund with over $1.5

billion in assets and Asia fo-cused hedge funds are set-ting up VCCs in Singapore. Already, over 70 VCCs have been set up.

In fact, foreign currency deposits in Singapore—long been the rival Asian finan-cial centre—has jumped 44% year-on-year to a re-cord $44.4bn in April, an acceleration of a trend that started in 2019 when pro-democracy protests en-gulfed Hong Kong.

With both Japan and Sin-gapore aggressively cam-

paigning for more capital, there may be a larger wave of capital that may exit Hong Kong in the coming weeks. This indicates nim-ble-footed policy response to a huge opportunity that exists for Asian countries. In contrast, Mumbai has little to offer. Besides the existing capital convert-ibility laws, infrastructure loopholes, Mumbai has not made any effort to woo top dollar.

The single biggest reason

for Hong Kong’s massive financial muscle has been the fact that in the last 37 years, the Hong Kong Dol-lar has been pegged to the greenback, underwritten by foreign reserves of about $440bn. Firms dealing in Hong Kong’s currency as-sume that it is perfectly fungible with the greenback and have so far assumed (correctly so) that an Ameri-can dollar in Hong Kong is perfectly fungible with one in New York. Simply put,

the Hong Kong Dollar is fully convertible. This belief has ensured most activity in the financial center was dominated by American dollars.

India does not allow full capital convertibility and plays a small role in global currency trade. Of course, there are perils to full con-vertibility, in times of capital flight. 2020 was a perfect time to evaluate the pos-sibility of big ticket capital market reforms.

Hong Kong’s importance for Mainland China can be gauged from the fact that 65% of FDI comes via this territory. For outbound FDI from China, the figure stands at 60%. Essentially, dubious Chinese companies with questionable balance sheets have been successful in raising funds via HK.

Mumbai as Asia’s finan-cial hub would have greatly limited the ability of Chi-nese firms to raise funds, causing massive economic damage to Beijing. But for it to happen, a lot of ground work is needed. Till then, money is headed Singa-pore’s way.Gaurie Dwivedi is a senior journalist covering economy, policy and politics.

pulse of economy

GAURIE DWIVEDI

While it would have been sweet justice if Mumbai could replace Hong Kong as the third most crucial financial market globally, it is unlikely to be so.

Consider this. While Japan is tempting business with free office space and visa waivers, Singapore has launched a legal structure called the Variable Capital Company which competes with low tax destinations like Cayman Islands and Luxembourg. In fact, Singapore’s easier structure shares many tax efficient features that these tax havens have. To sweeten the deal, relocation costs up to $100,000 will be reimbursed by the government. This scheme will be valid till January 2023.

video-conferencing app

buy and sell calls

IANS NEW DELHI

SUBHASH NARAYAN NEW DELHI

With Reliance Jio launching a Make in India free video-conferencing application JioMeet that directly takes on Zoom, the US-based company, said on Saturday they are not worried about the upcoming competition and know what it takes to become a successful unified communications platform.

JioMeet offers enterprise-

grade host control and se-curity that and can be used for 1:1 video calls and host-ing meetings with up to 100 participants. The applica-tion has already been down-loaded more than 1,00,000 times on Google Play Store within no time.

“Zoom has experienced intense competition since it was established in 2011, and yet we have become the plat-form of choice for millions of participants around the

world,” the company said in a statement. “We know what it takes to become the unified communications platform we are today, including the immense amount of work and focus required to create our frictionless user experi-ence, sophisticated security, and scalable architecture,” Zoom added.

JioMeet has created a solid buzz in India. Other high-lights in the desi video meet app include easy sign up

with either mobile number or email ID, meeting in HD audio and video quality. It of-fers support where the users can click on a JioMeet invite link and join from his or her browser without download-ing the application.

Back-end technology op-timises experience with HD video quality even at lower bandwidths and intuitive and user-friendly interface enhances overall conferenc-ing experience.

Indian power exchanges may soon host buyers and sellers from neighbouring countries as India looks to operationalise cross-border sale and purchase of elec-tricity for which regulations were finalised last year.

As per the plan, the coun-try’s largest power exchange, India Energy Exchange (IEX), will begin hosting buyers and sellers from countries such as Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh to participate in power trading with both buy and sell calls initially. Such participation from overseas entities on In-dian exchanges would not be direct but through any elec-tricity trading licensee of In-dia. Trading will be through bilateral agreement between two countries, bidding route or through mutual agree-ments between entities.

“We have recently created

a framework on how cross-border power trading can be initiated on the exchange. The CERC has already come out with regulations in this respect. Now we expect that this should begin in the next couple of months,” said Ro-hit Bajaj, head (business de-velopment) of IEX.

While cross border trans-actions in TAM (Term Ahead Market) segment is currently operational with India exporting power Ban-gladesh, the same is yet to pick up for short-term power purchase through exchang-es. The CERC regulations al-low power producers to offer electricity directly to distri-bution entities in neighbour-ing countries through Indian power exchanges.

Bajaj said the operationali-sation of cross-border trade in the short-term market would provide Indian gen-erators additional market access for sale of their sur-plus power. Both Nepal and

Bangladesh import power and trade through exchang-es here would be possible. Bhutan, which has surplus power, could look at offload-ing some of it through Indian exchanges in markets closer to its borders. This could also help India increase the share of renewable power in its generation mix.

India already has trans-mission links with Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh so power trading through exchanges could be started with them quickly. The facili-ty could be extended to other neighbouring markets such as Myanmar and Sri Lanka once necessary infrastruc-ture is created.

The power market has been going through a down-turn for some time now and the present Covid-19 cri-sis has further depressed power demand putting the country’s generators to lower their plant load factor and look for opportunities

to sell surplus power. Trade through exchanges would provide them some outlet.

Experts point out that cross border transactions would only be successful once the monopoly of state distribu-tion entities is broken and a multi-buyer-multi-seller market is developed for trading for efficient price discovery.

Though correct estimates are yet to be made, industry sources said that there could be demand for 300 to 400 MW from cross border trade in the spot market initially.

Currently, just about 3,000 Mw of power is traded in the South Asia region among seven countries including India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. India annu-ally imports about 1,200-1,500 MW power from Bhu-tan and exports about 1,200 MW to Bangladesh, 500 MW to Nepal and 3 MW to Myanmar. IANS

Zoom says not worried about JioMeet competition

Overseas participants in Indian power exchanges soon

outside politics

Lily Hendrickx, 83, a resident at Belgian nursing home “Le Jardin de Picardie” enjoys hugs and cuddles with Marie-Christine Desoer, the director of the residence, through a wall made with plastic sheets to protect against potential coronavirus disease infection, in Peruwelz, Belgium on Wednesday. REUTERS

help IANSnew delhi

Security forces kill all four men who attacked the Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi on Monday. ANI

16 world the sunday guardian05 – 11 july 2020new delhi

www.sundayguardianlive.com

secuRitY?

AlteR stAtus Quo

‘No iNdiA Role’

stAY out of hoNg KoNg AffAiRs: citY wARNs u.s.

Taiwan opens doors to HK amid security law

China opens border dispute with Bhutan

Continuing with its expan-sionist agenda, China has now created a new border dispute with Bhutan, one of India’s traditional ally.

At a virtual meeting of the Global Environment Facili-ty (GEF) in the first week of June, Beijing objected to the grant for Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary (SWS) in east-ern Bhutan’s Trashigang district bordering India and China, claiming that the location was disput-ed. Even as the rest of the world is struggling with the the coronavirus pan-demic, which originated in Wuhan city of China’s Hu-bei province, Beijing has been aggressively attempt-ing to alter the status quo in East China Sea, South China Sea and with India in Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh.

As per Strat News Global, the GEF Council gathered to decide on funding for various environmental projects across the world, was shocked by China’s objection and instantly rubbished it.

The majority of the GEF

council members sup-ported Bhutan’s view and the draft summary of the chair was approved by the council and despite ob-jection from the Chinese council member, the work programme was adopted.

The council refused to record China’s reason for objection, saying that the footnote would only record that China objected to the project. However, the Chi-nese council member said that he would need time to consult with his higher ups to come to a view on the matter. The reasons were included in the highlights of the discussion, which is a less formal record, and not in the chair’s summary, Strat News reported. The draft summary of the chair mentioned in the footnote that “China abstains and

does not join the Council decision on this project.”

The Bhutan government has since issued a formal letter to the GEF council, strongly opposing the ref-erences questioning the sovereignty of Bhutan and its territory on the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary in the documents of the council’s session. Bhutan has urged the GEF council to purge all references of China’s baseless claims from Coun-cil’s documents.

Bhutan and China have a border dispute since 1984. Talks between Thimphu and Beijing have been lim-ited to three areas of dis-pute (two in North Bhutan -- Jakarlung and Pasam-lung areas -- and one in West Bhutan). Sakteng is not part of any of the three disputed areas.

TAIPEI: Taiwan inaugurat-ed an office on Wednesday to help Hong Kong citizens wishing to study, do business, invest or apply for asylum in response to China’s contro-versial security law for the city which has come into force. The new office began operations on Wednesday, the day on which Hong Kong is commemorating the 23rd anniversary of its return to Chinese sovereignty, reports Efe news.

Taiwan’s China-policy mak-ing Mainland Affairs Council had announced the creation of this department on June 18 “to correspond to the CCP’s (Chinese Communist Party) imposition of the National Security Law on Hong Kong, an action of which has caused unrest in its society”.

“It aims to provide friendly and streamlined services and basic care for Hong Kong citizens arriving in Taiwan in need of assistance, as well as for Hong Kong-based mul-

tinational companies and international corporations relocating to Taiwan,” the Council said in a statement.

The project also hopes to “attract Hong Kong capital and talent to strengthen and expand Taiwan’s economic development” and consists of three sections dedicated to “consultation services”, “program management”, and “administrative affairs”.

The new office, which is officially known as the Tai-wan-Hong Kong Office for Exchanges and Services, is located at the headquarters of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy and is part of the Hong Kong Humanitar-ian Aid Project. “This is an important landmark for the government to further realise its support for Hong Kong’s democracy and freedom,” Chen Ming-tong, the head of the Mainland Affairs Council, told reporters on Wednesday. He said that the Chinese law “not only targets residents in

Hong Kong” but is “also an order issued by the Celestial Empire to people all over the world”, in a reference to China’s government. “The whole world needs to be con-cerned” about the law, Chen added, according to Taiwan’s official agency, CNA. The law establishes sentences of up to life imprisonment for “acts of secession, subversion, terror-ism and collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security”. Moreover, any per-son convicted under the law will not be allowed to stand as a candidate in the elections for Hong Kong’s Legislative Council. The next elections to elect the members of this body are scheduled in September.

A large part of the local population, as well as jour-nalists, activists and lawyers, fear that the new legislation will undermine the freedoms enjoyed by the city and many Hong Kongers are now con-sidering emigrating from the city.

‘Target was Karachi stock exchange, not civilians’

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which claimed Mon-day morning’s attack on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), Karachi, has stated that if it wanted, it could have caused hundreds of civilian fatalities in Karachi, but its intention was only to attack the PSX, and hence its men did not attack any other ci-vilian infrastructure despite they being a more “easy” target.

The BLA has termed the PSX the symbol of the eco-nomic exploitation of “oc-cupied” Balochistan by Pakistan and China. BLA is a Balochistan based sepa-ratist group that is engaged in an armed fight with the Pakistan army.

After the attack took place on Monday, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, while addressing the Pakistani Parliament on Tuesday, had said that he had “no doubt” that the attack was done by India and that they (the BLA) wanted to repeat in Karachi what had hap-pened in Mumbai (referring to the 26/11 Mumbai attack that was carried out by the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and ISI operatives).

In a statement shared with international media after the Karachi attack, the BLA stated that their targets were the members of the Pakistan armed forces and not any unarmed civilians.

“The four martyrs who died in the attack were well armed and had gone pre-pared for a long haul. They

crossed many civilian build-ings and other infrastructure in Karachi before reaching the PSX. If they wanted, they could have easily killed hun-dreds of innocent civilians, but they did not. We never targeted any unarmed men. Our main aim, while decid-ing to target the PSX, was to attack because it is a symbol of the economic exploitation of Balochistan that Pakistan and China are carrying out. The world has so far ignored what is happening in Balo-chistan. Now, hopefully the world will take more inter-est in Balochistan,” Dosten Baloch, a prominent mem-ber of the BLA, said in the media statement.

Commenting on Imran Khan’s statement, the BLA said that ascribing any of BLA’s attacks to India, was

an age-old practice of suc-cessive Pakistani prime ministers.

“If we wanted to repeat what happened in Mumbai in 2008 as Imran Khan has stated, we could have eas-ily done that by entering the libraries, banks, railway sta-tions, public places, malls

around the PSX that have no security, rather than attempt-ing to enter the well-guarded PSX. Imran Khan wants the world to believe that we are being supported by an out-side country (India) so that the world does not get the real picture of what is hap-pening in Balochistan with

China and Pakistan treating the Balochis worse than the colouredwere treated in the West. We wish India had supported us at least when China, to help Pakistan, used its power to declare us as a terrorist group. It is just a fiction, created by the ISI, that India is supporting us, a story that is being circulated for years now,” the statement said.

The U.S. Department of State had declared the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) as a terror group in July last year. This was done, according to official sources, to keep Pakistan “happy” so that it can help the U.S. in execut-ing the peace agreement with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

BLA spokesperson Jeehand Baloch said that the purpose of attacking the stock ex-

change was to give a message to the Pakistan army that the Balochs are capable of carry-ing out attacks anywhere in the country.

“Not only Pakistan, but China is also involved in every step of exploitation of Balochistan’s resources. We had warned China to cease her expansionist and exploitative ambitions. In order to stop China from advancing, the Majeed bri-gade has already attacked Chinese engineers in Dal-bandin, Chinese consulate in Karachi and an attack on the Chinese delegates at PC Hotel at Gwadar. China holds about 40% equity in the Pakistan stock exchange through the Shanghai stock exchange, Shenzhen stock exchange and China finan-cial future exchange. That

is why Monday’s attack was not only aimed at Pakistan, but it was also an attack on Chinese economic interests and if China continues to take part in Balochistan’s exploitation, they will face more attacks,” he said.

“Targeting civilians is not a part of our war-philosophy and unlike our enemy, we do not measure the rate of suc-cess by counting the inno-cent lives taken. During the PSX attack, there were clear-cut orders for the attackers not to target civilians, neither use high explosives which could jeopardize the lives of civilians. We chose the day when there were almost no civilians in the premises of the main building. Our men accomplished their mission with the least casualties to civilianlives,” he added.

China imposed the legislation on Hong Kong that prohibits acts of succession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.

Baloch Liberation Army views the exchange as a symbol of exploitation of ‘occupied’ Balochistan by Pakistan and China.

The US has no right to intervene in Hong Kong’s internal af-

fairs, the city government said in an online statement, a day after the American Senate unanimously passed a punitive sanctions bill in reaction to the controversial new National Security Law imposed by China.

“Once again, we urge the US Congress to immediately stop interfering in HKSAR’s internal matters,” the South China Morning Post quoted the statement, by an uniden-tified spokesman, as saying on the Hong Kong govern-ment’s website on Friday.

“The act and the so-called sanctions are totally unac-ceptable. They will not deter us but will only harm the re-

lations and common interests between Hong Kong and the US,” the statement said.

“The implementation of the one country, two systems principle in the HKSAR is en-tirely the internal affairs of the PRC (People’s Republic of China).”

China imposed the leg-islation this week despite protests by Hong Kongers and criticism from Western nations, which said the legis-lation was setting the finan-cial hub on an authoritarian track.

The Hong Kong Autonomy Act passed the US House of Representatives without ob-jection on Wednesday, and was approved by the Senate unanimously the following day. It now awaits President Donald Trump’s decision to enact it into law or veto it, though a veto would likely

be overturned by a broad bipartisan majority in the Congress.

The legislation would re-quire the US government to punish individuals, along with financial institutions that knowingly conduct business with them, for “materially contributing” to any failure by the Chinese government to live up to its obligations under the Sino-British Joint Declaration or Hong Kong Basic Law.

The national security law, which Beijing put into ef-fect and made public late on Tuesday night, on the eve of the 23rd anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover from British to Chinese rule, criminalises a wide range of behaviour and acts under four catego-ries of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with a foreign power.

IANShong Kong

MISMANAGEMENT?

ex-fReNch pM fAces pRobe iNto coVid-19 RespoNsePARiS: Americans A French court has launched an inquiry into the government’s handling of the coronavi-rus pandemic, focusing mainly on three senior figures, including former Prime Minister edouard Philippe, following complaints from unions and doctors. on Friday, Philippe resigned amid a cabinet reshuffle, reports the BBC.

hours after Philippe’s resignation, it was an-nounced that the law Court of the Republic, which deals with claims of ministerial miscon-duct, would open an inquiry into the way his government handled the pandemic.IANS

MT RUSHMORE SPEECH

tRuMp slAMs stAtue ReMoVAlwAShingTon: US President donald Trump slammed the removal of controversial monu-ments as “a merciless campaign” in attempts to wipe out American history, as he kicked off the independence day weekend by address-ing his supporters from Mount Rushmore in South dakota.

he slammed a “new far-left fascism” in media and schools and “cancel culture”, de-scribing those protest-ers targeting monu-ments which they think are symbols of racial oppression as “angry mobs” while addressing the Fourth of July fire-works celebration at the iconic Mount Rushmore on Friday.IANS

STEP BACK FOR LIBERTY

chiNA RebuKes cANAdA oVeR cRiticisM of hoNg KoNg secuRitY lAwwinniPeg: China fired back at Canada on Saturday for criticising Beijing’s national security law for hong Kong, the second rebuke in a week that has added to strains on their bilateral ties. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday that Canada was suspending its extradition treaty with hong Kong due to the law and Canada’s foreign minister called the legislation “a significant step back” for liberty.

China’s embassy in ottawa said in a statement on its website that Canada had “grossly interfered” in Chinese affairs, adding that the new legislation would safeguard security in hong Kong.

“Some western countries including Canada have been meddling in hong Kong affairs under the pretext of human rights, which seriously violates international law and basic norms of international relations,” a spokesperson said in the statement. REUTERS

ABHINANdAN MISHRAnew delhi

for third day

CoVid oUtBrEaK

tragiC

proxy-war

worldthe sunday guardian05 – 11 july 2020

new delhi 17www.sundayguardianlive.com

thE CUrioUs inCidEnt of pUtin’s assassination Unit 29155

Tokyo seeks travel curbs as new infections top 100

Catalonia CUrBs moVEmEnt of 200,000 pEoplE

mass graVEs aftEr myanmar jadE minE landslidE

Surreal was the only

way of de-scribing that day 31 years a g o . A s a

member of a small UK del-egation, I was sitting on a sofa on a mountain ledge at the end of Pakistan’s Khyber Pass, overlooking the Tork-ham Border Crossing into Afghanistan. As I chewed the nuts and sipped the non-alcoholic drink provided by the Khyber Rifles, the army general briefed us on the ter-rain beyond and the progress of the war. In the far distance the occasional flash and ex-plosion of Soviet bombs added a sound-track to the occasion.

As our armed convoy sped back to Peshawar, the nu-merous British army regi-mental badges carved into the rocky hillside along the Khyber Pass were a reminder of earlier Afghan wars, com-petition for power and influ-ence in Central Asia between Britain and Russia. The ex-plosions I had witnessed

earlier were signalling the retreat from Afghanistan of the more recent invaders, the Soviet army, after a bru-tal 9-year Cold War proxy-conflict. The disastrous con-sequences of this war were Pakistan’s creation of the Taliban, the rise and fall of Osama bin Laden, the 2001 Twin Towers attack in New York and America’s retalia-tory invasion of Afghanistan a month later. Afghanistan’s destabilisation continued.

After 18 years of conflict, the longest war in American history, and with some 2,500 American troops killed and 12,000 remaining stationed in the country, President Donald Trump is desperate to withdraw totally from Afghanistan. An “agree-ment for bringing peace” to Afghanistan was signed in February, under which the US and NATO allies agreed to withdraw all troops if the militants upheld the deal. Since then, a succession of car bombs and suicide at-tacks carried out by the Tali-ban have created doubt that the withdrawal will actually happen, further increased when the US carried out an airstrike against 25 armed

Taliban fighters last month.The latest episode in this

long drama was revealed last week when multiple intelli-gence agencies reported that Russian intelligence opera-tives secretly offered boun-ties to Taliban-linked mili-tants for killing American troops in Afghanistan. The Associated Press reported that, while Russian med-dling in Afghanistan wasn’t new, Russian operatives had become more aggressive in their desire to contract with the Taliban and members of the Haqqani Network. A re-port in the New York Times pointed out that 20 Ameri-cans were killed in Afghani-stan in 2019 and posited that this was the result of a boun-ty. These suspicions were fur-ther underlined when in ear-ly 2020, members of the elite US Navy SEAL Team raided a Taliban outpost and recov-ered $500,000, believed to be Russian money offered to Taliban militants and as-sociated fighters as a bounty for murder. Both Russia and the Taliban have denied this claim, but of course this is always the position when it comes to clandestine opera-tions. Always deny.

How did the money get to Afghanistan? Enter the se-cretive GRU military Unit 29155, one of several top-secret military intelligence units which are believed to have been operating for at least a decade, yet only re-cently discovered by West-ern officials. While working in the British Embassy in Moscow at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union I was, of course, very much aware of the GRU and FSB, successor to the KGB, but the existence of these special GRU intelligence and assas-sination groups was not on my radar.

Recently, a retired GRU officer with knowledge of Unit 29155 confirmed that it specialised in preparing for “diversionary” missions, “in groups or individually—bombings, murders, any-thing!” “They were serious guys who served there”, he continued, “working under cover and as international agents”. In 2012, a directive from the Russian Defence

Ministry assigned bonuses to three units for “special achievements”. One was Unit 29155, the sabotage and assassination unit. Another was Unit 74455, home to the Russian military’s best mathematical minds, later involved in the 2016 US presidential election cyber interference. The third was Unit 99450, whose officers are believed to have been involved in the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

Unit 29155 has been active in at least four operations in Europe in the last decade. In Britain, their most recent operation was the 2018 at-tempted assassination of Sergei Skripal, a former GRU officer who in Putin’s opinion had betrayed Russia by spy-ing for the British.

President Putin had earlier announced that “traitors will kick the bucket”, and Unit 29155 was sent to carry out this threat. The “Novichok” story is well known, but the operation itself helped to uncover Unit 29155. The two members sent to carry out the mission, Colonel Anatoly Chepiga and Dr Alexander Mishkin, were

tracked by CCTV cameras throughout their two days in Britain, including Lon-don and Salisbury where the Skripals lived.

Both Chepiga and Mishkin were later awarded by Pu-tin a Hero of Russia medal, Russia’s highest honour, al-though the Kremlin has de-nied they had any connection with the Skripal attempted assassination, claiming that they were in Salisbury just to admire the “famous” cathe-dral. Always deny.

Why did the Kremlin use Unit 29155 to pay the Taliban to murder American soldiers in Afghanistan? There are a number of theories. Revenge is one possibility. Ever since the bloody confrontation in Syria in 2018, when a mas-sive US counterattack killed hundreds of Syrian forces along with Russian merce-naries nominally supported by the Kremlin, Russia has been keen to even the scales. The Taliban payment was the way of achieving this.

Another theory is that while Russia has at times cooperated with the US and showed interest in Afghan stability, it frequently appears to work at crosscurrents with

its own national interest if the result is to damage American national interests. Russia is conducting a continuous hy-brid war with America, with cyber-attacks and covert military operations which can always be denied.

For a more convincing theory, however, you have to go back 31 years to the time I was sitting on that sofa at the end of the Khyber Pass. At that time an unknown KGB colonel, Vladimir Pu-tin, was working in the East German city of Dresden and was about to witness the collapse of his Communist world. Putin would have received reports of endless streams of military body bags leaving Afghanistan for the homeland. About 14,500 young Soviet soldiers were killed in the war, many as a result of a secret CIA pro-gramme to supply the Af-ghan Mujahideen with US Stinger shoulder launched anti-aircraft missiles. These weapons were perfect for destroying Soviet helicopters and without air defence and re-supply, the Soviet invasion was doomed to failure.

Vladimir Putin has a lasting memory of the Soviet Union’s

ignominious defeat and with-drawal from Afghanistan in 1989 being directly linked to American undercover op-eratives assisting the enemy. Could it be that Unit 29155 is doing the same, albeit in only a small way? If more and more Americans are killed by the Taliban, and there is emerging evidence that Rus-sia has been supplying the Taliban with weapons since 2018, then the peace initia-tive will fail and in despera-tion President Trump might decide to withdraw unilat-erally—and ignominiously. That would give President Putin enormous satisfaction. Touché.

Many analysts have iden-tified the disaster of the So-viet military adventures in Afghanistan as one of the causes of the collapse the Soviet Union two years later. Putin has always lamented this collapse as “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century”, so could Unit 29155 be his way of payback to America?John Dobson is a former Brit-ish diplomat to Moscow and worked in UK Prime Minister John Major’s Office between 1995 and 1998.

TOKYO: Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike on Saturday urged residents of the Japa-nese capital not to travel beyond its borders as new coronavirus infections topped 100 for a third day, public broadcaster NHK re-ported.

Tokyo confirmed 131 new cases of infections of the coronavirus on Saturday, NHK said. Cases in Tokyo have risen to a two-month

high, driven by the spread of the virus in the capital’s night spots. Of Saturday’s tally, 100 were people in their 20s and 30s, Kyodo news agency said, citing Koike.

Tokyo on Friday reported 124 new cases, up from 107 the day before, partly due to increased testing among night-life workers in the Shinjuku and Ikebukuro districts.

Despite the three-day string of high infections, Ja-pan Economy Minister Ya-sutoshi Nishimura said the government was not plan-ning to reintroduce a state of emergency, telling a news conference it is looking at overall conditions, includ-ing the capacity of medical system, when deciding the need for the emergency.

Curbs on movement pushed the world’s third-

biggest economy into a re-cession in the first quarter, with a deeper contraction expected in the April-June period.

Japan’s infection rates remain far below those of many other countries, but the recent rise in cases and the possibility of renewed restrictions have put au-thorities and businesses on edge.REUTERS

MADRID: Tokyo Spain’s north-eastern region of Catalonia enforced a new lockdown on more than 200,000 people on Saturday, after several new outbreaks of the coronavirus were detected.

Residents in Segria, which includes the city of Lleida, will not be able to leave the area from 12 noon (1000 GMT) on Saturday, but will not be confined to their

homes as was the case in Spain’s original strict lock-down in March. “We have decided to confine Segria due to data that confirm too significant a growth in the number of Covid-19 infections,” Catalan regional president Quim Torra. Re-gional health ministry data showed there were 3,706 cases in the Lleida region on Friday, up from 3,551 the previous day. Movement

for work will be permitted, but from Tuesday work-ers entering or leaving the area will have to present a certificate from their em-ployer. Spain has registered 205,545 coronavirus cases and 28,385 deaths, making it ne of the worst affected countries in Europe. After imposing a strict lockdown on 14 March, the govern-ment has been gradually easing restrictions.

NAypyITAW: Dozens more jade miners killed in a land-slide in northern Myanmar will be buried on Saturday, a local official said, after 77 others were interred in a mass grave on Friday following one of the worst mining accidents in the country’s history.

More than 170 people, many of them migrants seeking their fortune in the jade-rich Hpakant area of Kachin state, died on Thurs-day after mining waste col-lapsed into a lake, triggering a surge of mud and water.

The miners were col-lecting stones in Hpakant

- the centre of Myanmar’s secretive billion-dollar jade industry - when the wave crashed onto them, en-tombing them under a layer of mud. Thar Lin Maung, a local official from the infor-mation ministry, said 171 bodies had been pulled out but more were expected.

Recently, a retired GRU officer with knowledge of Unit 29155 confirmed that it specialised in preparing for ‘diversionary’ missions, ‘in groups or individually—bombings, murders, anything!’

covid-19

indonEsia rEports 1,447 nEw infECtionsJAKARTA : Indonesia reported 1,447 new coronavirus infections on Saturday, Health Ministry official Achmad yurianto said, taking the south-east Asian nation’s tally to 62,142, while 53 more deaths took its toll to 3,089. REUTERS

63,000 dead

Brazil sUrpassEs 1.5 m CasEsRIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil registered 42,223 ad-ditional coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total tally to 1,539,081, the second-worst outbreak in the world. The number of coronavirus deaths rose by 1,290 to 63,174. REUTERS

john dobsonLONDON

05 july-11 july 2020

The busiest streets which lead to the great Indian food ba-

zaars are now empty. The eerie silence and silhouettes of bleak future constantly linger upon the hospitality industry across the globe. The coronavirus pandemic has crippled India’s ris-ing culinary business and nobody knows what lies at the end of the tunnel. Hos-pitality stalwarts, celebrity chefs, and business experts are now eyeing at new ways to adjust to the ‘new normal’.

“These are tough times and we don’t know what is going to happen in the future. Whatever we say is pure guesswork. We just hope things normalise soon. Looking forward to better times ahead” says Manish Mehrotra, Corporate Chef, Indian Accent Restaurants.

The pandemic hit the culi-nary world the most. With sudden travel bans, closing down of eateries, the crisis took everyone by storm, resulting in massive layoffs and revenue loss. Well-known celebrity chef Kunal Kapoor, who is famous for his appearance in TV show MasterChef India, says that the future of this industry looks jeopardised which is saddening. He says, “The industry is going through a difficult time. There have been job losses. People are not being paid. So, at this point, the industry has tak-en a huge hit. Most of the people who were working down the line in kitchens or those who were associ-ated with the industry like fruit suppliers, vegetable suppliers, cleaning staff,

maintenance workers, transporters, etc are also hit. The majority of people, who were working in restaurants are now looking at odd jobs like driving Ola/Uber cabs, delivering food, etc, which is not encouraging.”

Talking more about the situation of the restaurant workers, nutrition and well-ness panelist at Get a Life Fitness (GALF) and celeb-rity chef Ajay Chopra says, “A majority of the staff is not there because they’ve gone back to their family in their homes, and majorly, people have stopped stepping out of their home. So, it’s a chal-lenge between the need and the want, and demand and supply, so it’s going to be very difficult for the restau-rants to go back to normal unless life comes back to be-ing normal.”

The outbreak of the Coro-navirus not only brought the entire globe to an indefinite halt but has also instilled fear and confusion within the masses. The government did ease many lockdown re-strictions with Unlock 2.0 but the businesses are still in jeopardy because people are reluctant and afraid to go out and eat. Chef Kunal feels that due to this lack of confi-dence, more than 50 percent of restaurants are still closed. “The confidence of people is pretty low. This situation has given rise to home delivery but that comes with its own set of problems like hygiene issues or doubts like whether the food is Covid-safe or not. In totality, the confidence is not there. I don’t see restau-rants and clubs going back to the same kind of businesses very soon,” he says.

Ease in lockdown re-strictions, guidelines after

guidelines, and the much-hyped relief package were supposed to help the hospi-tality world but didn’t. ”Just to give an example, a restau-rant’s rent would be around Rs 15 lakh for a 3,000 sq ft area and including GST, it would be around Rs 18 lakh. Suppose you have built a restaurant with a seating of 120 people, but regulations during lockdown permit only 60 seats, so that puts you in a position of confu-sion as to what to do now?” elaborates Ajay.

Running restaurant busi-

ness, however, for owners doesn’t seem feasible at the moment for many.”It’s dif-ficult for even the govern-ment right now. Guidelines are changing based on the day to day situation. As per the current guidelines, res-taurants have to close by 9 pm and have to operate at 50% capacity, which means the restaurants cannot have dinner service. Financially this may not be viable for most restaurants”, says Manish.

“It ’s a double-edged sword. We have to under-

stand that whatever we do now will have a positive and negative impact. Today, if we open our industry, the positive side is that restau-rants and the industry will start reviving but the flip side is that there will be chances that more people will get infected and vice versa,” adds Kunal.

However, the ongoing pandemic has made chefs and restaurateurs navigate new ways to keep going. Celebrity Chef and TV show judge Ranveer Brar tells that the situation has al-

lowed him to diversify him-self into online content pro-duction and other verticals that go beyond direct food consumption. “The new normal will be different but things will normalise. It’s a time when small businesses work. People are looking at smaller places or smaller restaurants to eat. I think it is a great opportunity for chefs who are working on cloud kitchen models, meal kits, etc. It’s a great opportu-nity to work from home. As chefs, we get too occupied with jobs more than the

profession. It is time to look more at the profession than the job,” says Ranveer.

The food industry has majorly changed over the past months, and it is due to change even more, with more and more focus on DIY kits (do-it-yourself kits), rent-to-eat food, re-tort packaging food and food that can be quickly churned into a gorgeous meal without much effort, because the business has not gone out of our lives, it has been added with lesser. “I have seen lots of chefs

taking to social media as a source of their recognition and trying to make a busi-ness out of social media by sharing recipes, planning menus, taking classes like webinars, personal chefs, etc,” says Kunal.

With things now open-ing up, there are a few steps that should be taken to avoid risks of infection and run the business smoothly during a pandemic. Every organisa-tion should make sure that each of their employees is scanned for their body tem-perature, washing hands every hour or half-an-hour and before and after they’ve touched something that could be contaminated. The organisations should make sure that the employees; their hands, their clothes, their workplace, and every-thing else are sanitised. They should also make their em-ployees change their clothes whenever they’re coming back from outside.

Basically, on some level, they should try and function like any Biotech industry would function with regards to sanitation and hygiene be-cause this is what this pan-demic has come to demand of us. They also have to make sure that they’re cook-ing safe, with clean utensils, packing food into sanitised containers, and doing as much as they can to ensure that the food has minimal contact with any foreign ele-ment or environment.

Ajay says, “The whole pandemic has taught us that God has made a life cycle of products and we must re-spect that. Stretching things beyond what God has al-lowed creates a disturbance, and this is what we need to see during this pandemic.”

Kunal RoyNew Delhi

Culinary Cosmos amid the pandemiC

The young actor still feels it is sur-real that she is part of Bollywood star Salman Khan’s Radhe. Actress Megha Akash made her debut in 2017 and has already worked with some of the biggest stars in South India. With Salman Khan’s Radhe, it looks like there’s no looking back for Megha!

A rising star in south cinema thanks to her roles in Superstar Rajinikanth Petta and Dhanush’s Ennai Noki Payyum Thotta and Telugu films, Chennai girl Megha says she couldn’t believe it when director Prabhu Dheva called her about the role in Radhe. “I can’t talk much about it but it’s a wonderful role and very interesting. Of course, I don’t play Salman Khan’s love in-terest,” she says.

Ask her about working with Salman Khan and Megha gushes, “I had a conversation with him and mentioned his Being Human foun-dation and the next day, I couldn’t believe it when he actually got me

a few Being Human t-shirts! He is so kind and remembers every little thing you speak about.”

Another huge star she has worked with is Rajinikanth, and Megha states she has been a huge Rajini fan forever. “I was so ner-vous when I got on set for ‘Petta’ because the first shot I had was to go and hug him. I just couldn’t fathom it and wasn’t sure I could do it,” adds the pretty actor.

The actress, who speaks fluent Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Malay-alam, is looking forward to getting back on sets once things are nor-mal. “But I do have some principles and if a role goes against those prin-ciples, I won’t take it up. Having said that, I am looking forward to playing a negative role - I hope I get a script like that soon!” says Megha.

But it’s not all just films for Megha, she loves cricket and MS Dhoni. “I bleed yellow! I have gone for all the Chennai Super Kings matches right from my school days and I can’t wait to watch the IPL matches again,” smiles Megha as she signs off.

Salman Khan is so kind, says Megha Akash Latha SrinivaSan 

Covid-19 has hit the culinary world the most. With sudden travel bans and closing down of eateries, the crisis took everyone by storm, resulting in massive layoffs and revenue loss. Will the sector revive? Here’s what the industry insiders are saying.

radhaHow dare you hang in there, Moon?

Brushing by the stars

They say His eyes are like you

I have seen Him most

With eyes closed

His touch like yours

Cool and refreshing

How dare you hang in there, Moon?

Where is He,

who promised eternal love

To me, his mother, his father, his friends

And to the whole of this land?

Indra chuckles at our plight

For who will lift Govardhan now

To shelter us all ?

Indra has sent a bonsai monsoon

falling from our eyes

How dare you hang in there, Moon

lighting up

those empty paths in Vrindavan?

—Lakshmi Bayi

Manish Mehrotra, Corporate Chef, indian accent restaurants.

Guardian 20 19t h e s u n day g u a r d i a n 20: supplement to the sunday guardian | 05 j u ly-11 j u ly 2020 2020 | new delhi

An ode to Raphael: The Prince of PaintersKunal royNew Delhi

neeVa jain

Many believe that the period of Re-naissance (1400-

1600 A.D.) bridged Middle Ages and modern history. This period witnessed the rebirth of cultural and in-tellectual movement but was also influenced by clas-sical art. A new method of thinking evolved and ideas nurtured during this period paved the way for socio-po-litical upheaval, especially in Europe. During this, patrons made it possible for Renaissance artists to develop new techniques. The Catholic Church com-missioned painters. Many wealthy individuals also become patrons including the Medici family. The fam-ily helped artists such as Mi-chelangelo, Botticelli, Leon-ardo da Vinci and Raphael.

Raphael, born as Raffa-ello Sanzio, was crowned as the ‘Prince of Painters’ by Giorgio Vasari, a sixteenth-century biographer of art-ists. He was seen to be more versatile than Michelangelo and more prolific than their older contemporary Leon-ardo da Vinci. Recognised as the supreme High Renais-sance painter and a paragon of classicism, he dominated the academic tradition of European painting until the mid-19th century.

An artist of extraordinary refinement and deep feel-ing, he was trained in the ‘Umbrian’ style by the mas-ter painter Pietro Perugino and later became renowned

for his jewel-toned artworks distinguished by the almost evanescent delicacy of his figures’ features. He imi-tated his master closely, and their painting styles are so similar that art historians

have found it difficult to de-termine which were painted by Raphael, and which were by his master. It is said of Ra-phael that whatever he saw, he took possession of, always growing by what was taught

to him.His master’s influence on

him can be seen in one of his masterpieces “The Mar-riage of The Virgin (the year 1504)”. He worked on this painting, also known as ‘Lo

Sposalizio’, while he was still an apprentice to Peru-gino. Critics believe that the painting was inspired by two compositions by Perugino: the celebrated Christ Deliv-ering the Keys to St Peter from the fresco cycle in the Sistine Chapel and a panel containing the Marriage of the Virgin now in the Mu-seum of Caën. By painting his name and the date, 1504, in the frieze of the temple in the distance, Raphael aban-doned anonymity and confi-

dently announced himself as the creator of the work.

This was his beginning. When he left Perugia for Florence, he embraced the innovative styles of Michel-angelo and Leonardo da Vinci. Although he assimi-lated the styles of different masters of the time, he con-tinued to pursue his unique style. From 1500, when he became an independent, he worked throughout central Italy and became a noted portraitist and painter of

Madonnas. In Florence, his many paintings of the Ma-donna and Child  display his characteristic human warmth, serenity, and sub-limely perfect figures.

The Sistine Madonna is per-haps the most thoroughly discussed and analyzed of all his paintings. Commis-sioned in 1512 by Pope Julius II for the Church of San Sisto, Piacenza, the canvas was one of the last  Madon-nas painted by him. Giorgio Vasari called it ‘a truly rare and extraordinary work’.

Raphael’s use of the curtain in this picture invoked a device that had been employed by a number of the Old Masters as ‘Trompe l’oeil (deceive the eye) technique of drawing the viewer into the composition, functioning to reveal this vision of the holy personages as if they constituted some sort of sacred relic that is exposed only temporarily. The use of drawn-back curtains had a long tradition in medieval and Renaissance tombs, in

both three-dimensional and bas-relief sculptures, and these monuments may have provided Raphael with the original idea.

Raphael’s art epitomised the High Renaissance quali-ties of harmony and ideal beauty. In four years, his fame led to the summons to Rome from Pope Julius II to help with the redecoration of the papal apartments. As a painter to the papal court, his work met with high praise, and he established himself as the most favoured artist in Rome. He was com-missioned to paint portraits, devotional subjects, and the Pope’s private rooms.

Raphael’s career falls nat-urally into three phases and three styles. First described by Vasari: his early years in Umbria, then about four years (1504-1508) absorb-ing the artistic traditions of Florence, followed by his hectic and triumphant twelve years in Rome, working for two Popes and their close associates. Ra-phael spent the majority of his working life in Rome. The boy genius and man of passion died in Rome in 1520, at the tender age of 37 years. Recently, the India International Centre, in col-laboration with the Italian Embassy Cultural Centre and Bell’Italia 88 organised a 55-minute digital exhibition “Raffaello Sanzio: A Painter Called Master” to mark the 500th  death anniversary of the Prince Painter. The exhibition showed how Rome influenced Raphael, and how he changed Rome.

Raphael, born as Raffaello Sanzio, was seen to be more versatile than Michelangelo and more prolific than his older contemporary Leonardo da Vinci. A tribute on his 500th death anniversary.

Raphael’s art epitomised the High Renaissance qualities of harmony and ideal beauty. In four years, his fame led to the summons to Rome from Pope Julius II to help with the redecoration of the papal apartments.

Created by: David FarrStarring: Esme Creed-Miles, Mireille Enos, Joel Kin-naman, Noah TaylorThere is something about the long-form storytell-ing that makes it highly addictive and ever reliable. About a decade back, the English filmmaker Joe Wright came out with a film called Hanna (2011), which was based on a story by the Canadian writer Seth Lochhead who also co-wrote the screenplay along with the British writer-theatre director Da-vid Farr. It revolved around a sixteen-year-old girl who is raised in the wilderness by a man named Erik to be the perfect assassin even as a CIA agent named Marissa tries to track her down. It proved to a box-office success. Last year, about eight years after Hanna was released, a series adaptation of the movie premiered on Amazon Prime Video. Helmed by David Farr, who was also one of the screenwriters

on the original movie, the Amazon series more or less retells the same story. But why tell the same story all over again? Well, that’s precisely where the charm of the long-form storytelling comes into play. But, for it to work well, the most important ingredient, perhaps even more important than the story itself, are characters.

Now, as far as the long-form narrative is concerned, one or two good characters aren’t enough. For, it re-quires a lot more than that. We are talking about an entire gamut of interesting characters fully capable of being developed further and further, as and when required, episode after episode, season after season. There is no denying that the story of Hanna in itself is quite engaging—a teenage girl who is raised in the wilderness to be an assassin relentlessly chased down by a CIA agent. So, with a character like Hanna at the centre, it becomes relatively easier to shape up other characters around her. But Farr goes further than that. What he manages exceptionally well in the series is that he is able to give it a gender flip. In Farr’s own words, “I’ve always felt the film was weirdly male, but knew this TV series would have a more female-centric quality.” What’s even more heartening is that the second season of Hanna, which recently got released on Amazon Prime Video, is even more female-centric than the first.

In a space flooded with male-centric content, Han-na comes across as a breath of fresh air. While the first season was about Hanna, Eric, and Marissa, the second season is about Hanna, Marissa, and a bunch of other girls of Hanna’s age (Clara, Sandy, and Jules, among others) who are part of the same Utrax program Hanna was rescued from as a child by Erik. The new season offers an interesting contrast between Hanna and the other girls. Hanna, who has grown up in the wilderness, enjoys freedom of the will that the others don’t, having lived all their lives in a virtual jail under strict supervision. While the performances are solid all around, it is Mireille Enos who is absolutely brilliant as Marissa Wiegler. The character in the second season has more layers and her complex relationship with Hanna, among other things, elevates the series far beyond the scope of the original film, effectively demonstrating the enormous potential of the long-form storytelling.

Q. Can you enlighten our readers about your journey?A. I grew up in a joint family. I was the young-est among four girls and jewellery would al-ways amaze us. We would go through our mother’s and grandmother’s drawers and raid them. As I grew up, I realised I wanted to do something creative and artistic. I jumped into jewellery designing and gemology, which

for me at the time seemed the most obvious choice. Design came into my life much later, with me doing up my own little corner dream house, in South Delhi. I realised I had a talent and passion for this art form. Q. How does designing the Shop Windows in India feel

like? A. I don’t do too much of it as of yet. I have de-signed wherever my cli-ents are willing to allow me to experiment and create spaces which de-fine their brands and the innovation involved. Q. How has the design-ing arena evolved in In-dia since you started? A. I feel that consumers want straight lines and clear open spaces. But what I try to give my cli-ents is the journey that has unfolded in their life, meshing it with art, sculpture color, carpets and books to enhance their experience. Most of the clients want a lot of daylight streaming in and they also want it to blend with colors and hues. This has really evolved and become very popular and appealing. Another concept which has flown into India is penchant for intricate artworks in the closets— women like it especially.Q. How do you balance

your work, life and family space? A. Before my daughter Siena was born, It was easy. Today I am taking things a bit easy, because of the lock down. I am, how-ever, utilizing this period to re-invent my work and the way interiors for clients will evolve. I am looking forward to the new challenges that would unfold in the next part of my journey.

Hanna returns witH tHe cliffHanging season two

The art of painting lives through jewellery & designPayal Bahal Chopra, artist and interior-cum-jewellery designer, talks to G20 about the intricacies of designing, her itch for jewellery, and how she manages her time during the lockdown.

Muratza ali Khan

Payal Bahal Chopra

raphael was called the ‘Prince of Painters’ by giorgio Vasari.

ochre mining found WASHINGTON: Re-searchers diving into dark submerged caves on Mexico’s Yucatan Penin-sula have found evidence of an ambitious mining operation starting 12,000 years ago and lasting two millennia for red ochre, an earth mineral pigment prized by prehistoric peoples.

More than 100 dives totaling more than 600 hours in Quintana Roo state turned up numer-ous mining artifacts, the scientists said on Friday. These included ochre ex-traction pits, digging tools like hammerstones and small piledrivers made of stalagmites, markers that helped the miners navi-gate the extensive cave network and hearths used to provide light. The caves were not underwater at the time of the mining.

The mining was under-taken as human popula-tions first spread through the region. The caves subsequently were aban-doned for millennia before becoming submerged roughly 8,000 years ago amid rising sea levels after the last Ice Age.

20 the week the sunday guardian05 – 11 july 2020new delhi

drive-in horrorfrom tubs to toilets covid time

tokyo scare squadTOKYO: A Japanese performance group is starting a run of drive-in horror shows for people who are scared of catching the coronavirus but still want to get close-up frights from ghouls and zombies.

Audience members will drive into a garage in Tokyo, one car at a time, and listen to a murder story and sound effects blared out of speakers, as actors dressed as monsters bang on the side of the vehicle and spray fake blood over the windows. The performance group Kowagarasetai - which roughly translates as the “scare squad” - is hoping to frighten as many as 11 carloads of people a day at weekends in July and hopefully August, coordinator Kenta Iawana said.

vietnam hotel opens with gold-plated pizzazzHANOI: A five-star hotel in Vietnamese capital Hanoi has opened with a twist that it hopes will attract guests with in-timately expensive tastes: gold-plated bath tubs, basins and even toilets, all housed behind a massive golden exterior.

The Dolce Hanoi Golden Lake Hotel has made the extra effort to bring visitors back to Vietnam where the tourism sector is slowly reopening after a three-month coronavirus lockdown. The hotel, owned by Hoa Binh Group and man-aged by U.S.-based Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Inc, stands in stark contrast to its surrounding weather-worn Soviet-era buildings. “At the moment, there is no other hotel like this in the world,” said Nguyen Huu Duong, majority owner and chairman of Hoa Binh Group. Hotel facilities include a 24 karat gold-tiled infinity pool on the rooftop, while inside guest rooms, bathrooms are laced with yellow metal. From $250 a night, the hotel is in the same price bracket as rival luxury accommodation in the city. “It has changed my mind about what luxury can be. Other luxury hotels usually use marble as tiles, but here everything is gold-plated down to the washing basin,” said 62-year-old guest Luong Van Thuan, himself a hotel owner. Vietnam has been relatively successful in containing the coronavirus outbreak with only 350 or so cases and no reported deaths.

spain fears bull-running fiestaMADRID: Authorities in the Spanish city of Pamplona, which would usually be gearing up for the San Fermin bull-running festival at this time of year, are readying stringent security measures amid fears of crowds gathering despite the fiesta being cancelled. “Of course there are some concerns. It would be naive not to be worried,” Mayor Enrique Maya said at an event run by local newspaper Diario de Navarra this week. “But I have great faith in our citizens.”

Propelled to international fame by Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises”, the eight-day festival draws hundreds of thousands of revellers from across the globe to drink, dance and race through the streets pursued by six fighting bulls.

But in April, with Spain’s coronavirus outbreak spiralling out of control, the city called off the festivities for the first time in four decades. The fiesta traditionally kicks off with the “Chupinazo” at noon on 6 July, when a rocket is fired from the city hall to the cheers of people crammed into the square clad in white clothes and red neck-scarves. This year, police will set up 14 checkpoints around the Old Town’s narrow streets, enforcing compliance with strict capacity limits. Electronic panels will alert passers by when the main squares have filled up. Bars and restaurants, some of which rely on San Fermines for a fifth of their annual revenue, must adhere to distancing guidelines and are banned from setting up extra tables on the streets.

sushi meets aiTOKYO: If you’ve ever bought supermarket sushi, you may know the taste trauma that hit Kazuhiro Shimura one night. But “disappointing” tuna sparked an idea: he’d develop an artificial intel-ligence (AI) system to make sure your sashimi is always delicious. Shimura, a director at advertising firm Dentsu Group’s Future Creative Center, came up with the concept for “Tuna Scope” AI as he chewed his raw dish while watching a television show on fish merchants who spend a decade mastering the skill of selecting high-quality tuna for sushi restaurants.

Using a deep learn-ing algorithm to crunch through grading data from merchants, Tuna Scope has now evolved into a smartphone app.

Clients can download and use it anywhere, creating “a unified grading stan-dard” for an industry that relies on local know-how, said Shimura, who is work-ing with Japanese trading company Sojitz Corp to promote his technology.

“That means people can be sure they are getting de-licious tuna,” Shimura told Reuters at fish merchant Misaki Megumi Suisan, which ships AI-certified tuna overseas.

The highest quality fish - which can each weigh around 300 kilogrammes - have sold for more than $3 million in past tuna auctions.

According to the Orga-nization for the Promo-tion of Responsible Tuna Fisheries, around 2 million tons of tuna is consumed around the world annually, of which Japan accounts for a quarter.

prehistoric

choice tuna cuts

Times have changed

Vehicles are parked at the first drive-in movie theatre for people to enjoy movies while keeping social distancing amid the spread of the coronavirus disease in Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday. REUTERS

insurance to back broadway showsNEW YORK: As they reel from canceled productions and shuttered theaters, the shows that give Broadway its bright lights and draw millions of tourists to New York are facing a new obstacle to reopening: lack of pandemic insurance. Broadway producers, directors, general managers and insurance brokers told Reuters that shows face an extra hurdle because policies now exclude coverage for commu-nicable diseases. “Right now most insurers, if not all, have come out with a virus or communicable disease exclusion that they’re putting on their policies,” said Peter Shoemaker, managing director of the New York entertainment division at insurance broker DeWitt Stern. Shoemaker said he recently spoke with insurers at Lloyd’s of London to see if special coverage was available. “I still haven’t seen anything for cov-ering a pandemic,” he said. Insurers’ caution also is halting films and television shows, which need insurance to get the financial bond necessary to start production. But Broadway is particularly vulnerable because of the large numbers of people needed to mount a big production and to fill the theater night after night.

scarce

without tourists

July 4 celebrations go virtual in usWASHINGTON: On a holiday weekend that would typically draw crowds to watch fireworks, march in parades and wave the red, white and blue, many Americans kicked off Independence Day exactly where they have been for months: at home. The holiday marking the country’s 244 years of independence comes four days into a month when at least eight states have seen record daily increases in coronavirus cases, leading several governors to toughen social distanc-ing measures and urge people to celebrate from home.

independence day

havana stirs to lifeHAVANA: The Cuban capital stirred to life on Friday after more than three months of lockdown but there were no signs of tourists on Havana’s quiet streets while residents fretted over shortages of food and other basic goods. The city of 2.2 million people on the Caribbean coast is the last of Cuba’s provinces to enter phase one of a three phase process to a new normal. All but one other province began phase two on Friday. Havana’s residents were able once again to use public transportation and private taxis, go to the beach and other outdoor recreation centers, and enjoy the city’s famed Malecon seafront drive.

FREEZEFRAME

www.sundayguardianlive.com

tencent launches new u.s. game studio for global appealHONG KONG: Tencent Holdings, China’s biggest social media and video game company, launched a new California-based studio this week, as it looks to further expand its presence overseas. The new studio, LightSpeed LA, will be led by former Rockstar veteran Steve Martin and will focus on the development and publishing of AAA titles, Tencent Games’ LightSpeed and Quantum Studios said in a state-ment to Reuters.

“We’re ushering in a new era of game culture by combining world-class development with a stress-free work environ-ment,” Martin said in the statement. Tencent is trying to build an array of studios overseas with the goal of creating content with original intellectual property that has global ap-peal. The launch is also the firm’s latest move in a strategy to derive half its games revenue from overseas, a category that accounted for about 23% of its fourth-quarter online game sales.

The company has most recently hired Halo 4 lead designer Scott Warner to head another newly-minted new studio grouped under TiMi Studios, the maker of Arena of Valor and Call of Duty: Mobile. Tencent is also the owner of League of Legends creator Riot Games, and has majority control of Clash of Clans maker Supercell.

scaled-down czech film festival opens in empty auditoriumPRAGUE: A Czech film festival disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic unveiled a scaled-down programme of movies on Friday with an opening ceremony in an empty auditorium and a star-free red carpet. The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, central and eastern Europe’s leading movie extravaganza, announced in April it was cancelling its main events as the novel coronavirus shuttered cinemas and mass gatherings.

Restrictions have since eased, allowing the festival’s presi-dent, actor Jiri Bartoska, to unveil a list of 16 foreign and domestic films on Friday. He gave his speech in the festival’s main venue, with the red carpet laid out at the entrance but no guests around to walk on it this year. The event usually draws A-list celebrities, dozens of films and hundreds of fans to the screening rooms in the spa town of Karlovy Vary from June to July.

This year organisers said the 16 films will instead be screened in 96 cinemas across the country.

“Each year at this moment, we present the Crystal Globe (the festival’s award) and this year it belongs to you, cinema managers and spectators,” Bartoska said in the speech that was recorded to be screened at the cinemas before each film.