PB CM flays centre for intimidating Arhtiyas with motivated I-T raids

SAYS SUCH VENDETTA POLITICS A DANGER TO INDIA’S CONSTITUTIONAL ETHOS

URGES GoI TO REVOKE FARM LAWS & START FRESH DIALOGUE FOR NEW PROGRESSIVE LEGISLATIONS

Chandigarh, December 19, 2020 : The Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday castigated the Centre for its intimidatory tactics against Arhityas supporting the agitating farmers, and warned that such draconian measures will further aggravate the angst of the people against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government.

Terming the clearly motivated Income Tax (I-T) raids against some Punjab Arhtiyas as an obvious pressure tactic to curb their democratic right and freedom, Captain Amarinder said these oppressive actions will backfire against the ruling BJP.

The Chief Minister said it was evident that having failed to persuade, mislead and divide the farmers into ending their prolonged protest against the black Farm Laws, the central government was now trying to weaken their struggle by targetting the Arhtiyas, who have been actively supporting the agitation since Day 1.

The IT raids were conducted at the premises of several big Arthityas of Punjab within a span of just four days of issuing notices, without waiting for responses to the notices, Captain Amarinder noted, dubbing it a clear debasement of the due process of law. Even the local police were not informed or taken into confidence, as is the normal procedure, and instead, the CRPF was used to provide security during the raids by the I-T teams, he further pointed out.

“What is this if not a clear case of vendetta politics by the Centre, which is hell-bent on demolishing the farmers’ protest by hook or by crook?” asked the Chief Minister.

Among the victims of the night-long raids, which were conducted in the presence of 2 bus-loads each of CRPF personnel, were Vijay Kalra (President Punjab Arthiya Association), Pawan Kumar Goyal (President Samana Mandi), Jaswinder Singh Rana (Patiala Dist President), Manjinder Singh Walia (President Nawanshehar), Hardeep Singh Ladda (President Rajpura) and Kartar Singh & Amrik Singh (Arthiyas Rajpura). A total of 14 Arhtiyas across Punjab have received notices from the IT department.

Captain Amarinder observed that this was not the first instance of misuse of a central agency by the central government to browbeat dissidents into succumbing to its writ and diktats. “These bullying actions of the government do not augur well for the world’s largest democracy,” he added.

Pointing out that even the Supreme Court had upheld the people’s right to protest peacefully, the Chief Minister said the central government’s actions amounted to gross violation of the apex court’s directions and the spirit of the Constitution, which granted every citizen the right to raise his voice.

The Chief Minister said it was unfortunate that instead of hearing the voice of the farmers, who have been battling cold and Covid for more than 3 weeks now (with nearly 2 dozen losing their lives during the protest), the central government was resorting to all kinds of cheap manoeuvres to break their will, he lamented. The Centre should realise that it is not just the future of the farming community but the very Constitutional ethos of the nation that it was endangering with such acts of omission and commission, he stressed.

Captain Amarinder reiterated his appeal to the central government not to stand on ego on the issue but to revoke the farm laws and start afresh with a meaningful dialogue with the farmers and all other stakeholders to come out with more progressive reform legislations that are in the interest of all.

Kisan-Farmers Movement-Agri Acts Dec 2020

Income tax raids are part of vendetta politics in view of Kisan Andolan: Vijay Inder Singla

ncome tax raids are part of vendetta politics in view of Kisan Andolan : Vijay Inder Singla

Cabinet minister Vijay Singla conducts meeting at residence of Arhtiya Association president in Makhu

Commission agents and farmers are knit in brotherhood, says Singla

Ferozepur, December 19, 2020: The Union government is using all kinds of tactics to abate ongoing Kisan Andolan and the raid of Income Tax at house of Commission Agent President Vijay Kalra is a part of vendetta politics.

The education minister Government of Punjab Vijay Inder Singla said this while interacting with media at the residence of president Vijay Kalra.

He added that the income tax raids were being conducted on various commission agents of Punjab since Friday. He added that the farmers and commission agents have lived together in brotherhood for the past many ages.

He said that two buses full of CRPF Jawan raided the house of Vijay Kalra along with the team of Income Tax Department. Similarly, at Patiala the house of district Patiala President Rajendra Rana, also witnessed raids by Income Tax Department with the CRPF jawans in tow. The raids were conducted at the residence of Samana commission agent Association president Pawan Bansal and that of Nawanshahr Association president Bittu.

Cabinet minister said that when the Chief Minister Captain Amrinder Singh and Congress party raised voice against the cancellation of faulty  3-Farm Laws,  the enforcement department sends notices to the CM and register cases against him and his family members. After this, when Union Minister talked to the farmers on the issues, the work was started on dividing the farmers in a bid to rule on them. Now when the central government has not been able to abate the Kisan Andolan, it has started conducting raids on presidents of commission agents across Punjab and by using CRPF forces it is trying to intimidate.

Pakistan Foreign Minister alleges ‘India planning surgical strike’

New Delhi, December 19, 29020 : 2016’s surgical strike continues to haunt Pakistan. Pakistan has claimed that “India is planning surgical strike to divert attention from its ‘domestic troubles’”. Pakistan Foreign Minister Qureshi claimed that Islamabad has ‘credible inputs’. Qureshi’s made startling claims during press conference in Abu Dhabi on December 18. “An important development has cropped up […] I’ve learned through our intelligence forces […] that India is planning a surgical strike against Pakistan,” Pakistan’s news outlet Dawn quoted Qureshi. NSA to Pakistan Prime Minister in a series of tweets echoed with Pakistan Foreign Minister. Foreign Minister’s comments come amid frequent ceasefire violations by his country. His claims come days after two Pakistan Army soldiers were killed along the Line of Control (LoC) opposite Naushera sector in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district by the Indian Army while retaliating to ceasefire violation by the Pakistan. Qureshi made similar claims in April 2019 when he had said Pakistan has “reliable intelligence” that India will attack. In 2016, days after Pakistani terrorists attacked the Indian Army at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir, Indian Army conducted a surgical strike across Line of Control in Pakistan occupied Kashmir and destroyed launch pads completely, killing many terrorists.

Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 19

Pointing out that China believing that its power based on its impressive economic growth gives it a position of pre-eminence in the Asian region and hence it need not adhere to any kind of a multi lateral arrangement, Shyam Saran, former foreign secretary, said that If this is China’s approach, then there is no alternative but to have a strong coalition to push back against such aggressive behavior.

Stating that India should have less hesitation in taking this forward while speaking at a session on ‘The QUAD: Emerging Indo-Pacific Naval Alliance’ at the Military Literature Festival here today, he said: “The QUAD is an alliance formed by India, United States Australia and Japan”.

“The QUAD is emerging because there is a feeling that a very aggressive and assertive China, which has built up considerable naval power, particularly in the South China Sea, poses an increased challenge,” he said. “Further, with the security relations among the four countries having become much deeper, the building blocks were already in place, while the major European powers like Germany, France and the UK also have an interest in working with other partners for security of the Indo-Pacific region, he added.

Saran said that India’s approach towards maritime security is that the security architecture should be open, transparent and inclusive so that it keeps open the door for China too to join provided that it adheres to various norms and rules that are necessary for sustaining such a maritime security architecture. If we are able to convince China that its interests are better served by being part of this inclusive architecture rather than pursuing unilateral dominance then we would be making some progress,” he added.

Former Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba said that that there has been a great deal of aggressive behaviour by China.

“They are signatories to the majority of international agreements but they have been changing the rules and regulations to suit their own interests,” he added.

Vice-Admiral Pradeep Chauhan, former Chief of Staff, Western Naval Command, said that China considers India as one of its target of military assertion, a challenge which our establishment has so far not been familiar and comfortable dealing with it.

“We need to have a nimble asymmetric strategy and must maneouver our strengths to best of our capabilities in thwarting China,” he added.

Pointing out that China has been weaponising its economic prominence to saddle other countries, he added that India need bold steps across the board to counter rising China and it cannot be choosy while entering alliances. He said that India’s decision to stay out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership was incorrect and not in line with keeping the high ambitions to match geo-strategic goals.

Stating that India faces growing threats and it needs more partnerships globally than ever before, Prof. C Raja Mohan, Director Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore added that in the changed global scenario India cannot remain neutral anymore and it will have to move fast on multiple fronts while strengthening QUAD and enhancing other regional mechanisms.

“The way China threatens India today requires it to dynamically improve national economic capacity along with military capability, in partnerships with intensive international coalitions for which QUAD could be the central fulcrum for the time being,” he added.

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Watch a Military Literature Festival-2020 discussion on self-reliance in defence preparedness.

The panellists are Rahul Bedi, Harpal Singh, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Brig Suresh, M V Kotwal, Vishnu Som

https://fb.watch/2t4bmD-XXV/

Capt Amarinder inaugurates India’s first of its kind paddy straw-based Briquetting Plant in Patiala 

Chandigarh, December 18, 2020: In a major initiative to cut down stubble burning and reduce environmental pollution, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday virtually inaugurated the country’s first-of-its-kind Paddy Straw based Briquetting Plant of 100 tons per day capacity in Patiala.

Calling it an overdue initiative, the Chief Minister said the new technology will not only help check environmental pollution through gainful utilization of paddy straw in the state but will also enable farmers, especially small farmers, earn extra income from sale of paddy stubble.

Confident that more such plants would come up in the future to ease Punjab’s stubble burning problem, he said the low calorific value of 3500 for briquettes (as compared with 7000 for coal) is amply balanced out economically since coal costs Rs 10000 per ton as against Rs 4500 per ton for briquette. Further, with oil becoming expensive, this is also a more viable source of energy, he added.

The plant has been set up at village Kulburchan in Patiala district, at a capital cost of Rs 5.50 crore, by Punjab State Council for Science & Technology (PSCST) in collaboration with Private Partner M/s. Punjab Renewable Energy Systems Pvt. Ltd, with the support of Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Govt. of India under the Climate Change Action Programme.

Lauding the efforts of scientists, farmers and farm equipment manufacturers to make India self-reliant in food production, the Chief Minister said that with this new technological intervention, paddy straw from around 40 villages in the plants’ vicinity will be converted to green fuel.

Not only will this help in checking environmental pollution, which has become more dangerous amid the Covid pandemic, it will also the resultant health hazards, he added. The plant will utilize 45000 ton paddy straw and would help replace fossil fuel in industries, thus resulting in carbon footprint reduction to the tune of 78,000 ton CO2.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan welcomed the establishment of the plant as an important initiative as part of the various measures being taken by the state government to check the menace of paddy burning in the field. She expressed the confidence that successful commercialization of such technological interventions will pave the way for their replication not only across the State but the entire country.

A predominantly agricultural state, Punjab generates huge quantities of agri-residue, and while wheat straw gets consumed as fodder etc., the management of paddy straw is major challenge for the state, said the Chief Secretary.

Besides initiating the State Action Plan for paddy straw management, Punjab had been able to divert about 3 lac hectare of area from paddy to other alternative crops such as cotton, maize etc, said Mahajan, adding that the state is also promoting in-situ management of paddy straw through distribution of crop residue management machines to the farmers. More than 75,000 machines have been distributed so far, she disclosed, adding that 18,878 Custom Hiring Centres have also been established for distributing the crop residue management machinery, said the Chief Secretary.

Mahajan disclosed that 11 biomass based Power Plants have already been set up in the State, and a number of units for ex-situ manage of paddy straw are under installation. The first bio-CNG plant of about 33 ton per day capacity would be operational in March, 2021, she added.

Meanwhile, Executive Director, PSCST, Dr. Jatinder Kaur Arora, in her brief presentation, spoke about the salient features of the project. She shared that extensive R&D was carried out to stabilize machinery, the process of briquette manufacturing from paddy straw, as well as combustion behaviour of briquettes for use as fuel in industry. She said that the Punjab Pollution Control Board and NABARD had supported these activities in the initial stages of the project.

Thereafter, the first briquetting plant with 24 TPD production capacity was successfully set up at village Jalalabad in Moga district at a capital cost of 85 lac. Subsequently, within one year, the second paddy straw briquetting plant with four times higher production capacity had been set up in village Kulburchan in Patiala district.

She further said that with support of Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India, the Council was also setting up a pilot unit within the Briquetting Plant site at Patiala, which can be used by R&D institutions to carry out research for further increasing the life cycle of wearable components of paddy straw processing machinery.

Speaking on the occasion, MD, Punjab Renewable Energy Systems Private Ltd (PRESPL) Lt. Col Manish Ahuja (Retd), who is the private partner for the project, said that key management personnel of PRESPL were all ex- Defence forces. PRESPL plans to invest Rs. 5000 million in cleaner technologies in coming 4-5 years across the state.

Military Literature Festival: Air Force experts discuss airpower of China

Chandigarh, December 18, 2020: An extensive debate on the airpower capability of China was held on the first day of the 4th edition of the Military Literature Festival, organized on virtual mode this time.

The debate was moderated by former Air Force chief BS Dhanoa. Other participants included AVM Arjun Subramaniam, GP Captain Ravinder Chhatwal, and Dr. Ming-Shih Shen.

The former Air Force chief started the talk by discussing the role of artillery support to the Air Force. He gave an insight into the contours of India bordering China. The former air chief talked about the fighter planes’ distance from the airbase and said that the return of planes to their base to get the fuel refilled is important in a battle.

He compared the distance covered by fighter planes and the distance between airbases. The strategy of recouping, the ability to operate from dispersing location, squadron strength, combat experience, base strength, and the importance of the Himalayas was also discussed during the talk.

Dr. Ming-Shih Shen from Taiwan throws light upon the bombers attacking the ground and the importance of artillery on launching the air attack.

He also revealed the air capabilities of China, new airports coming up in border areas, and delay in the manufacturing of large planes due to COVID-19. The offensive and defensive strategies of China’s Air Force and the role of drones, cyber, and electronic intelligence were also a part of his talk.

Author of two books based on his personal experiences, Arjun Subramaniam talked about the probability of conflict between India and China. He talked about the effectiveness of combating war with the importance of airpower, disruptive strategies, and the role of ground power.

GP Captain Ravinder Chhatwal spoke about China’s limitation in warfare against India, support of airfields, and innovation in the field of making drones, predator drones, and UAVs.