Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in fine fettle at the ASEAN Summit in Manila. His meeting with US President Donald Trump went off well. Highlighting India’s role in the Asia Pacific region, the Premier, addressed the Indian diaspora, referred to Lord Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi, saying India was committed to peace in word and deed. ‘History does not show a single incident in which India has done bad things to anyone. During World War I and World War II, we did have any territorial ambition, yet more than 1,5 lakh [150,000] soldiers of my country sacrificed their lives in the quest for peace. Because of this sacrifice, any Indian can say with pride that we contributed to world peace…I have come to a nation [the Philippines] and a region that is very important to us,’ he told the cheering crowd.
Quadrilateral dialogue
India, the US, Japan and Australia held a security dialogue on the sidelines of the summit, which is of strategic significance. China reacted with a statement that it hoped this would not target any third country. ‘The relevant countries
should be open and inclusive and should be conducive to a win-win cooperation and avoid politicizing or excluding some relevant parties,’ said China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang.
Indian position
India’s Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar issued the following statement: ‘We do many meetings with many groupings. This is part of the diplomacy that countries do. Chinese also do a quadrilateral with the US. China does a trilateral with Japan and Korea. Diplomacy has a lot of space in between and it is not just for multilateral and bilateral meetings.’ (Hindu, Business Line November 14)
Latvia gateway to European market
Latvia, a small Baltic state sandwiched between Lithuania and Estonia, is advantageously placed with it port Riga, which its government is hard-selling to exporters as an ice-fee free port gateway to the north European market. This will provide an inviting opportunity for Indian exporters to take their goods – mainly pharmaceuticals and car parts - to Bandar Abbas in Iran by sea, from there by rail and road to Riga, cutting the present ocean journey by 40 per cent and carriage costs by 30 per cent.
Latvian PM in Mumbai
Latvi8an Prime Minister Maris Kucinkis was recently in Mumbai at the head of a business delegation in search Indian cooperation and was warmly welcomed. An honorary Latvian consul has been appointed, and the International North South Transport Corridor is fit for purpose (Business Line November 14)
Amazon doubles India investment
Amazon India has almost doubled the authorized capital to $$4.74 billion. Not only does this improve the prospect of further investment but it signals the company’s all-out drive to stave off the challenge from its local competitor
Flipkart. ‘As India’s largest and fastest growing e-commerce player and with a long-term commitment to make e-commerce a habit for Indian customers we continue to invest in the necessary technology and infrastructure to grow the
entire eco-system.and humbled by the from our customers in over four years of business…’ Mint, Times of IKndia November 15)
Godrej surge
Godrej Industries reported a 53 per cent surge in its second quarter net profit to Rs 95 crore on the back of a robust performance from consumer products, properties and share of profits in associate firms. The company stated that it
expected its profits in the coming quarters to rise further because of the reduction in GST rates. Adi Godrej, Chairman, Godrej Industries, said: ‘Overall, the [Indian] economy is going good. We are seeing the revival in rural ares. (Hindu November 15)
Tejas morale booster
India’s own Tejas warplane, designed and manufactured at home, received a welcome boost when the Southern Command’s Air Marshal R.K.S.Bhanduria flew the aircraft solo for 30 minutes in Bangalore. Having flown 100 sorties on
it as an experimental test pilot with the National Flight Test Centre, his latest solo comes at a time when the plane is subjected to a blizzard of critical comments in sections of the media and reportedly from top IAF officers as
well, who favour the induction of US-made aircraft.
Bribes
This is not new. Western companies are known to make generous handouts to media bootlickers and others down the line. The Tejas is currently undergoing final sets of trials, with weapons devices that add to its attack capability.
Following these trials, the Tejas will apply for Full Operational Clearance (FOC). (Hindu November 15)
India, Russia deal on track
India and Russia are in the final stages of sealing their deal for purchase of Russian Kamov-226T helicopters for the Indian Air Force. ‘A Russian team is in India for technical discussions on joint venture that will manufacture the
helicopter with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). India and Russia have concluded the an Inter-Governmental Agreement for 200 helicopters at an estimated $1 billion or more. The two partners plan to export these machines
to third countries (Hindu November 15)
Award for Super-30 founder
President Ram Nath Kovind awarded this year’s ‘Rashtriya Bal Kalyan Award’ to Super-30 founder Anand Kumar for his contributions to teaching and education for youth from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. Kumar’s Super- 30 tutorial institute has provided free coaching to students to crack the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) entrance examinations. He said the ‘smiles’ he sees on the faces of successful students have been an inspiration to him inhis work (Hindu November 15)
Feathered friends in Lake Chilka
With the approach of winter migratory birds have started flocking to Odisa’s famed Lake Chilka, the largest brackish water lagoon in India. According to forest officials, at least 100,000 avian guests have arrived at the lake so far,
and more are expected with the fall in atmospheric temperature. The larger species are yet to arrive. The later arrivals are also the last to depart. The birds come from afar: Siberia, China, Mongolia, the Himalayan belt and the
Middle East. The spectacle is a delight for ornithologists and amateur bird watchers who also flock to Lake Chilka for the season Hindu November 15)
New York Times scorned
The toxic New York Times has liked the sari to ‘Hindu nationalism’. A long- time India-baiting rag, this squalid report has provoked a swarm of protest from Indians of all political persuasions. Hopefully, we may be spared its odious curt-price syndicated columns in the Indian print media (Times of India November 15)
Steps to counter Delhi smog
It takes time for Indian politicians and bureaucrats to respond to any crisis, especially those that are environmental. The notorious Delhi smog has plagued the city for years before the city fathers were bestirred to act. The most recent one was so bad, so clearly a health hazard the schools were closed for almost a week. At long last the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Haryana Chief Minister Khattar met for talks and agreed on measures to counter the threat. Then the authorities decided to bring forward the introduction of BS-VI fuel for automobiles – one of the world’s cleanest – from 2012 to next April (2018) to meet the meet the current challenge to civilized urban life (Mint, Hindu, Business Line November 16)
Electric vehicles on board
Nothing so concentrates the mind than a life threatening crisis. Something big was required to catch the public imagination. The drive to move from petrol driven vehicles to electric driven substitutes was just the right ticket. This
doesn’t merely address an Indian concer but the global one of climate change. With Swedish manufacturer Volvo’s announcement that it would phase out the internal combustion engine for electric or hybrid vehicles by 2019, the critical
moment for others to take the cue has surely arrived Indian game plan State-run firm Energy Efficiency Services Ltd, which led the way by reducing LED home lights by 86 per cent floated a tender for 10,000 electric cars, the largest such order in the world. Tata M otors won the contract, with Mahindra & Mahindra winning a subsidiary order. The vehicles will be priced at Rs 100,120, with aim of creating a platform for a broader switch over by 2030 (Mint November 16)
BrahMos set for Sukhoi-30MKI test
India is all set to upgrade its supersonic BrahMos cruise missile into a deep surgical weapon through its integration into the IAF’s most lethal aircraft, the Sukhoi-30MKI with its cruising range of 3,200 km. This air to ground missile
can be used for strikes against terror cams in hostile territory, also underground bunkers, command centres and other high value assets. The 290-km- range BrahMos, produced jointly by India and Russia, has been inducted into the Army and Navy. India’s armed forces. Work in progress is extending its range 450 km from the present 290 km.
Supersonic to hypersonic
India and Russia are also working on an hypersonic BrahMos with Mach 5, or over, speed (five times that of sound) (Times of India November 14)
Comment Page (November 25)
India’s South East in Asian footprint
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s presence at the ASEAN Summit in Manila and his engagement with local leaders, China’s Prime Minister Li Keqiang and US President Donald Trump (the last two meetings on the sidelines of the Summit) were evidence of India’s lengthening footprint in the region. The spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs announce on the social media that the ‘two neighbours (India and China engaged) in deep conversation.’ However, the consultations between the quadrilateral powers, India, the United States, Japan and Australia were a signal of intent to balance China’s heft in the region in the region - an assurance to the nations of South East Asia that their anxieties on security had been noted in the light of Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea. ASEAN nations have noted the way India
handled the Doklam standoff with China and have been heartened by the spectacle; their keener for greater Indian involvement in their region. Luo Zhiaohu China’s Ambassador to India, writing in The Tribune, referred to futility of trying to ‘contain China.’ No one in the region would be foolish enough to do so, what they seek is ruled-based Chinese policy in the South China Sea rather than the cavalier disregard of the interests of smaller littoral states.
The Indian spokesman explained: ‘Prime Minister Modi’ shared concerns of DPRK’s (North Korea) pursuit of missiles and nuclear weapons and called complete verification and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. He also said that North Korea’s proliferation links must be investigated and the parties who have supported these unlawful programmes must be made accountable.’ There is a clear subtext to this statement. It was China that set up the web with Pakistan as the hub. Pakistan trafficked its nuclear weapon technology – much ot purloined in Holland by the rogue scientist A.Q. Khan – and significant transfers of the self-same technology to Islamabad by Beijing. The Carter, Reagan and senior Bush administration were privy to this clandestine network but chose to look the other way. Richard Barlow, the CIA’s desk officer for Pakistani kept badgering his superiors on the dangerous ground realities but his warnings were ignored. Barlow’s persistence eventually earned him dismissal on grounds of mental instability[Refer Adrian Levy & Catherine Scott-Clark, DECEPTION: Pakistan, the United States and the Global Nuclear Weapon Conspiracy; also, Andrew Small, The China-Pakistan Axis:
Asia’s New Geopolitics]
These issues must be squarely faced. Others, too, require close critical scrutiny. The Korean War (1950-53) ended in an armistice along the 38th dividing North from South Korea. Why was there no peace treaty in these intervening 67 years? The answer is simple: the United States preferred to maintain the status quo for geopolitical reasons. Similar why has there been no peace treaty between Russia and Japan since the formal conclusion of the Second World in September 1945? The United States willed it so for the self- same geopolitics. President Trump’s Korean diplomacy has so alarmed legislators back home, that some have tabled a resolution depriving him of final authority to press
the nuclear button. Incendiary language of Presidential threats, complemented by military drills and armadas of aircraft carriers, warships and submarines have failed to bring the North Korean leadership to heel. The South Korean leadership, alive to the devastation that awaited the peninsula in the eventuality of another Korean war, advocated inter-Korean talks, but this earned them a stinging Trump rebuke. Blowing hot and cold bring contradictory signals and the North Koreans are proving stubbornly recalcitrant. North Korea, no pushover banana republic, is calling America’s bluff, much to China’s alarm. President Xi Jinping’s special envoy to Pyongyang will no doubt explain the nuances of Chinese policy towards the United States. North Korea for urgent talks, as Beijing’s economic sanctions against its erstwhile ally don’t seem to be working either. The chickens are coming home to roost for Washington and for Washington. The Obstinate North Koreans appear to be calling the shots. The best laid plans of mice and often go awry.
Curtains for Mugabe
Robert Mugabe was in the forefront of Zimbabaw’s struggle for independence from white colonial rule. Joshua Nkomo, almost forgotten today, also contributed to that cause but was eventually sidelined by the eventual victor, Mugabe, who was sworn into power way back in 1980. His first decade as resident was one of hope for the future for a multiracial society in a country long regarded as the bread basket of Africa. With a sound platform of thriving agriculture there were justifiable expectations of an industrial takeoff somewhere along the line. Ut President Mugabe was a man in hurry, as were the bulk of his land-hungry African supporters. Practical means harnessed visionary ends could have brought about the desired goal. However, the proverbial patience of politics was jettisoned for a quick fix. It turned out to be a disaster. Land grabs gave rise to dispossessed skilled white farming communities. Their successors were largely unskilled in modern farming methods and management best practice. Zimbabwe’s agriculture declined rapidly: accustomed food grain surpluses gave way to searing shortages. There was mounting hunger, scarce employment, galloping inflation and a collapsed currency. The flight of capital from the country was matched by the flight of labour southward to South Africa, where the economy was far from strong and unemployment was unacceptably high. The struggle for scarce jobs pit black South Africans against their erstwhile clack comrades from Zimbabwe.
All the while tragedy followed tragedy: power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So it was with the aging Robert Mugabe. His first wife died after a long illness. He married a typist in his secretariat called Grace. Almost
forty years his junior and vastly ambitious, she thirsted for supreme power and grew more capricious in her methods to achieve her goal. Her husband, with his strength declining by the day, appointed Grace as his successor. It was the last straw for a hitherto loyal army, which took over the reins and put the Mugabe family under house arrest. The great and good of the African Union are understandably reluctant to legitimize a coup, and therefore hope to persuade Mr Mugabe to resign, and introduce a caretaker regime to oversee free and fair elections. The President, known for his stubbornness refuses to oblige. It will need a lot of adroit maneuvering to ease him out of office. The current state of Zimbabwe and its long suffering people deserve better than casuistries to keep a discredited dictator in office on account of his whim. The African Union should exert its authority with courage, resolution and understanding in the larger interests of the continent. A council of elders must find some way of dismissing Mr Mugabe if he refuses an honorable exit. He must not hold his desperate people to ransom any longer.
Sweet words butter no parsnips
Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a Press Day declaration on the role of a free media as the ‘cornerstone of a vibrant democracy,’ and the government’s commitment to uphold media freedom and ‘freedom of expression in all its forms.’ That was good to hear and there is no reason to question his sincerity That said, there is increasing public disquiet at the rising tempo f intolerance across certain areas of the land. A number of notable figures have been assassinated for their agnostic views on religion, a well known columnist was murdered by assailants for her political irreverence. A film actress has received life threatening messages on her film. The signs are from encouraging. The Supreme Court of India has spoken of the need to safeguard our freedom to question and explore concepts and subjects without let or hindrance, because freedom of thought and expression is the spur to artistic and intellectual creativity. Superpatriots are a breed for whom dissent in any form is tantamount to high treason. There are too many such voices. Mr Modi, reveals an opinion poll, is the most popular politician by far in India, with an approval rating 95 per cent in the South and 88 per cent nationally. But 53 per cent of those questioned wanted militarily rule – surely a cause for concern.
