November 26, 2017 was the ninth anniversary of the Pakistan-based terrorist attack on Mumbai, India’s financial hub. The jihadi unit came by sea from Karachi and launched their premeditated assault on targeted sites, including the railway station, the iconic Taj Hotel, a popular eatery and the Jewish Centre; it was a commando-style operation, with Pakistani handlers guiding the operatives through cell-phones. Some 167 men, women and children perished on a day that will live with infamy. Mumbai was deliberately chosen: in March 1993 a similar assault resulted in almost 300 civilian deaths; between times a suburban train was subjected to bombings.
Other Indian cities were victims of similar assaults. In December 2001, Parliament in Delhi was attacked by jihadi gunmen seeking to enter the chamber but prevented from doing so by an alert police woman who sacrificed her own life in raising the alarm. Carnage would have ensued but for her courage and call to duty.
Earlier, the BJP Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had made a peace journey to Pakistan, the response was an invasion of Kargil in the summer of 1999 by the Pakistan army, leading to a limited war in which 700 and more Indian soldiers died. The jihadi attack on the Indian Air Force base at Pathancot in 2016 awoke the Indian establishment from its slumbers to the realization that Pakistan was conducting a covert war against India, necessitating an appropriate response.
PM’s speech
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a rousing speech on Sunday (November 26) on the anniversary of the Mumbai attack of 2008. He paid homage to the victims and said nations had come to realize that terrorism was now knocking on their doors, Indeed, the barbarians are not only at the gates but through the gates, as their depredations in London Paris, Belgium and German cities demonstrate only too well. Mr Modi said the world must unite against terrorism, and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley declared that Pakistan will be isolated (Hindu, Times of India November 27)
However, if the past is anything to go by, such expectations are a trifle optimistic. States that were once abettors of jihadi terror as an instrument of realpolitik, cannot jettison old habits easily. Some still distinguish between good and bad terrorists, the former given an appropriate label fit for purpose. Such double standards and double talk endure. Pakistan thus escapes censure as an exporter of terrorism and remains America’s ‘closest non-Nato ally.’
Israeli family in mourning
Rabbi Shimon Rosenberg, the father of Gavriel Rosen, who, along with his wife Rivka were murdered in cold blood at Mumbai’s Jewish Centre by the Pakistani jihadis on that terrible day, mourned their passing in dignified seclusion and prayer. The only source of comfort was the near miraculous escape of his two year-old grandson Moshe Holtzburg, thanks to the courage and presence of mind of his Indian nanny Sandra Samuel, who fled the scene carrying the toddler in her arms. Now an 11 year-old boy, ‘He feels a strong connection with Mumbai,’ said his grandfather Shimon Rosenberg (Hindu November 27).
Mumbai security beefed up
The security apparatus in Mumbai has undergone radical changes, with closer coordination and smarter responses to such crises in future. Technology training, effective weaponry and new gadgets have strengthened the police force. Sensitive sites in the city are under close watch and surveillance (Hindu November 27)
Bangla jihadi held
Special anti-terrorist team of the Kolkata police tracked down and arrested yet another operative, Umar Farooque by name, of the Bangladesh-based Ansar-ul-Islam at a village in the Darjeeling hills, the third such operative to caught in a week (Telegraph November 29)
Rajnath Singh in
Moscow for talks
India’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh left for Moscow for talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Kolokolov on intelligence sharing and related measures against international terrorism. These were formalized in treaty by the two ministers. This replaced the treaty of 1993. Mr Singh also called on other senior Russian leaders to discuss the entire gamut of the Indo-Russian relationship set against the international scene
Significance of visit
Defence experts in Delhi recalled the critical help rendered to India by Russia in 1971 in the war with Pakistan. As in 1971, Mr Singh’s presence in Moscow was a message to Pakisan and China. Meanwhile, T. Suvarna Raju, CEO of the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd assured the government that the facility, which manufactures the Sukhoi-MKI30, has the infrastructure and skills to construct to produce the Russian Fifth Generation fighter jet should the Cabinet decide on a joint venture with Russia, a hint swrely that the project is likely to pass (Hindu, Mint November 27).
GDP figures point
to recovery
According to the second quarter figures (July-September), India’s economy has bounced back from a sluggish start of 5.7 per cent to 6.3 per cent. The manufacturing sector, in particular, has recovered from its July blues when the GST [General and Services Tax GST] took wing, posting 7 per cent growth. The early glitches have been sorted, and the economy is powering ahead. However, there are fears about the rising fiscal deficit (Hindu, usiness Line, Times of India December 1)
Jihadi death toll in
Kashmir 200: DGP
Director General of Police S. P. Vaid told reporters in Srinagar that jihadi death toll this year had reached 200 and rising. ‘Today, the collective efforts of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, the Indian Army [and the paramilitary], CRPF and the people of Kashmir have led to the neutralization of of more than 200 militants in 2017 alone,’ he said. Three were killed in the latest encounter (Hindu December 1).
Hyderabad Metro a
game-changer
Inaugurated with pomp and circumstance last week by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the 30 kms, 24 station stretch of the Hyderabad Metro is a landmark in the city’s history and opens a new and exciting chapter of its unfolding future development as one fit for 20th century purpose. Constructing the Metro was no easy task; its pains of labour were a fraught experience involving litigations for land clearance of shanties, surmounting numerous ecological hurdles, resulting in delays and costly overruns. ‘Sweet are the uses of adversity,’ wrote Shakespeare, and how right were (and are) his words.
Link to Old City
The last mile linking the spanking new Hyderabad to the Old City is work in progress to cut through congested dwellings and alleyways and bazaars and the like. What has been achieved in Phase 1 is an engineering marvel for Hyderabad, Secunderabad and the IT hub of Cyberabad; its commercial and social impact will be hugely far-reaching.
Phase II will extend the Metro to 66kms and 61 stations by November 2018. Smart cards which can package different transport services will make journeys easier for consumers. NVS Reddy, Managing Director of HMRC, describes the Metro as an urban rejuvenation project that would transform Hyderabad into a global metropolis (Business Line November 28,29)
US envoy lauds
Hyderabad
US Ambassador to India Kenneth Justa hailed Hyderabad as an investment hub for American IT companies. ’This is the most dynamic part of the world as a large part of the world’s economic growth is here. It is also critical for international relations, prosperity and freedom of trade,’ he said (Mint November 28, 29).
Indian carmaker’s
Detroit waves
Mahindra & Mahindra’s arrival in Detroit, Michigan, has created quite a splash, with local dignitaries out in force to welcome the company and Managing Director Anand Mahindra (See page 3).
Ivenka Trump in Hyderabad
Ivenka Trump – US President Donald Trump’s daughter – arrived in Hyderabad to a glittering welcome by the Telangana government and by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She was the star attraction at the international conference on empowering women entrepreneurs (Hindu, Times of India November 29).
IIT-Kharagpur makes
major tech discovery
A research team at the Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur, led by Sajlal Dhara, has had their researches published in the prestigious science journal ‘Nature Physics’. Their work promises a quantum leap in the speed of the storage capacity at which laptops and smartphones work; they will be smaller, more efficient. The Dhara team showed how the next generation devices like quantum computers can be designed without the use of electrons, as the artificially created new particle is higher than the mass of the electron by 0.0001 times.
Simply understood
For the layman this will translate into simple solutions to the most intricate problems and lightning fast solutions. ‘Quantum computation is just one application, there are limitless possibilities…the new particle is half-light, half-matter,’ said Professor Dhara. This work was a collaborative effort of many institutions including the University of Rochester, and the The International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Bangalore (Times of India November 27).
