National Security Adviser Ajit Doval called on Russian President Vladimir Putin and held a wide-ranging discussion on bilateral and regional issues. “They agreed to continue work towards implementing the India-Russia strategic partnership,” tweeted the Indian Embassy in Moscow.
G20 ministerial meeting in march
NSA Doval’s visit to Moscow takes place ahead of the G-20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in New Delhi
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected to travel to India to attend the meeting on March 1 and 2
This is Doval’s third major stopover in a major international capital in recent weeks. He had earlier met his counterparts Jake Sullivan in Washington and Tim Barrow in London
This was Doval’s third major stopover in a major international capital in recent weeks. He had earlier met his counterparts Jake Sullivan in Washington and Tim Barrow in London. Significantly, Foreign Ministers from these countries will be in New Delhi in early March for the G20 ministerial.
The NSA also interacted with his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev a day earlier as part of the meeting of regional NSAs on Afghanistan which was also attended by Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui and Iranian NSA Ali Shamkhani. Foreign Ministers from China and Russia will also be in Delhi for the G20 meet.
Doval’s interactions with Russian President Putin and NSA Patrushev come against the backdrop of Indian reluctance to go the whole hog on rupee-rouble trade as officials here are reluctant to join the Russia system that has been developed as an alternative to SWIFT. They feel India would not want to be singled out and will show interest if other emerging nations such as Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia and South Africa also do so.
On Wednesday, the fifth meeting of Secretaries of Security Councils/NSAs on Afghanistan was not attended by Pakistan. Besides hosts Russia and India, it was also attended by top security officials from all five Central Asian countries and China.
In a boost to the “Atmanirbhar Bharat”, the Ministry of Defence has approved a proposal for building 41 modular bridges for the Indian Army Corps of Engineers.
A modular bridge is fabricated in modules that can be installed quickly in the field.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has designed and developed the bridges. Larsen & Toubro (L&T), as a DRDO-nominated production agency, will construct the bridges.
The ministry today signed a contract with L&T for the procurement of modular bridges worth more than Rs 2,585 crore.
Each set of modular bridge shall consist of seven carrier vehicles based on heavy vehicles. Each set shall be capable of mechanically launching a single-span fully decked 46-m assault bridge.
Modular bridge can be employed over various types of obstacles such as canals and ditches with quick launching and retrieval capabilities. The modular bridges will replace the manually launched medium girder bridges (MGB) that are currently being used by the Army. — TNS
Boost to ‘Make in India’
A modular bridge can be employed over obstacles such as canals and ditches with quick launching and retrieval capabilities
The indigenously developed bridges will replace the manually launched medium girder bridges that are being used by the Army
Chinese ‘surveillance’ balloons targeted India too, says report
China has operated a fleet of spy balloons targeting several countries, including India and Japan, a media report has said, days after the US military shot down a Chinese “surveillance” craft floating over sensitive installations in the country.
US officials have briefed its friends and allies, including India, on the finds of the Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down by a fighter jet off the coast of South Carolina in the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday.
On Monday, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman briefed officials from about 40 embassies here about it.
“The surveillance balloon effort, which has operated for several years partly out of Hainan province off China’s south coast, has collected information on military assets in countries and areas of emerging strategic interest to China, including Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines,” The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
The Post’s report was based on interviews with anonymous defence and intelligence officials. Officials have said these surveillance airships, operated in part by the PLA air force, have been spotted over five continents, the daily reported.
“These balloons are all part of a PRC ( People’s Republic of China) fleet of balloons developed to conduct surveillance operations,” a defence official was quoted as saying
Days after a US Air Force fighter jet shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon — which the US claimed was a ‘spy balloon’ — off the South Carolina coast, it has been reported that China operates a fleet of such balloons and has targeted several countries, including India and Japan, in the past. A US media report, quoting several unnamed defence and intelligence officials, alleged that the spy balloon project has been operating for several years, and ‘has collected information on military assets in countries and areas of emerging strategic interest to China including Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines’. Senior US officials are reported to have briefed ‘nearly 150 foreign diplomats across 40 embassies’ in the US and Beijing, explaining its action of shooting down the balloon, presenting reasons why it was not a ‘civilian’ weather balloon, as China claimed, but an intelligence-gathering device.
It seems counterintuitive to use an apparently low-tech method such as a balloon for intelligence-gathering when high-resolution satellite images of the earth’s surface are easily available, but such debates are best left to techint experts. Also, China keeping a spying eye on its neighbours and adversaries is not a significant point — it’s a fact that all countries engage in intelligence-gathering, or spying, even if not one would admit it publicly. What is really remarkable about the Chinese balloon is that if it were indeed spying, it was doing so in a very brazen manner; and if it indeed was a ‘civilian airship’ intended for ‘meteorological research’, China’s secretiveness about it is quite inexplicable.
One takeaway for India from this episode is that it must keep its eyes open — it’s not quite a new lesson but the reinforcement of one, because China’s increased aggressiveness at the borders during the last few years has already underlined the need for India to always keep its guard up. For the countries that are concerned over China’s hegemonistic ambitions, it is imperative to share technology and intelligence in order to not be outsmarted and outmanoeuvred in geopolitical games.
Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Air Power Studies
Pakistan is in a severe economic crisis with foreign exchange reserves down to nearly $3 billion and inflation at approximately 28 per cent. Reports suggest a high probability of a breakdown of the supply chain, which will potentially worsen inflation in the coming months.
The fuel prices have been hiked by Pakistani Rs (PKR) 35 a litre and the PKR has declined to a historic low, about 20 per cent, against the US dollar. Pakistan is hopeful of getting the approval of the ninth review of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. The assistance from the international donor carries tough conditionalities that will directly or indirectly affect inflation and the cost of living. This, in turn, would further add to the anger and frustration among the people against the Shehbaz Sharif government, which is already bearing the brunt of its economic decisions.
The economic desperation, suggestive of an economic default in the coming months, is coupled with continuing political volatility. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan has dissolved the provincial assemblies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in his bid to press for an early election. From the time Imran was disqualified from the government in April last year in a vote of no-confidence, he has been staging protests and leading a series of rallies to gather support against the current government on the narrative of corruption and incompetence, adding to the existing challenges of governance.
The deadly terror attack in Peshawar on January 30, which killed more than 100 people, and the attack on February 5 in Quetta indicate that Pakistan’s security challenges have intensified. Post US troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2022, the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan (TTP) has emboldened its posture and a series of terror attacks specifically targeting the police personnel have taken place.
Last year, the regime’s efforts to negotiate with and pacify the TTP failed. The group has been holding its head high with unrelenting and implicit tactical support from its ideological allies on Pakistan’s western border, the Afghan Taliban. Lately, the TTP has been projecting itself as a nationalist movement and it announced a parallel government. In fact, a closer look at the TTP’s expansion indicates that it is following the expansion pattern of the Afghan Taliban. The Taliban’s support for the TTP has been a significant point of contention between the Pakistani leadership and the Taliban.
This is indeed one of the most challenging times for a country when it is compelled to deal with multiple crises. The economic, political and security challenges invariably share a linkage, and one intensifies the other. This is not the first time that Pakistan is facing an economic crisis. The nation has been in a gradually intensifying debt spiral on account of financial mismanagement, structural economic flaws and, more importantly, the national priorities it defined for itself and the path it chose to fulfil these priorities. With all the existing problems, the reality is also that Pakistan has a large military well equipped with modern weaponry, which it received from the West and continues to import from its all-weather ally China. Pakistan also has a rapidly growing nuclear arsenal with reportedly 165 warheads and is immensely proud of achieving full-spectrum deterrence.
The nuclear weapons for Pakistan are aimed at war prevention and denying India space for a conventional war. It has conducted a proxy war through terrorism in India (in Kashmir and other parts) for more than three decades under the nuclear overhang. Pakistan’s geographical location facilitated strategic dividends for the state from major powers, including the US and China. The nuclear weapons that it developed during the 1980s while fighting the Russians as a frontline state of the US and the terrorism infrastructure it has nurtured for decades to ‘bleed India’ and ‘seek strategic depth’ in the neighbouring Afghanistan have made Pakistan a state that is arguably ‘too dangerous to fail.
In the past, Pakistan’s debt burdens have been occasionally eased by its friends and allies who believed stability in Pakistan was in their strategic interest. However, this phase of the economic crisis in Pakistan is experiencing a different positioning from Pakistan’s traditional donors, where the commitments have been limited.
The IMF has been tough with the conditions and scrutiny. China has promised some money, while Saudi Arabia and the UAE have committed to some relief. However, no substantive commitments have been made that could potentially allow Pakistan to evade the economic default. Over the years, Pakistan’s so-called friends have witnessed the nation’s incapability to overcome financial distress even with constant external assistance. Pakistan’s relevance at the global level also seems to have declined.
The US has been focused more on its Indo-Pacific strategy aimed at countering China. The fallouts of the Russia-Ukraine war have engaged the attention of the Muslim world. India’s economic growth and expanding diplomatic profile have attracted suitable attention and curiosity at the global level. Now, what remains to be seen is what Pakistan will do to regain its relevance. Will it revert to its old tactics of mis-adventurism, or will the realisation of rethinking its national priorities finally sink in
INDIA was the world’s biggest arms importer from 2017 to 2021, but that’s the price the country had to pay for its geographical location — there is an exporter of terrorism at our western border and a belligerent neighbour in the north. In its efforts to cut down on the import bill, the government has been encouraging startups, especially relating to smaller, cutting-edge technology products such as drones used for surveillance and in warfare. The inauguration of the country’s largest helicopter manufacturing facility — the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) factory in Tumakuru district, Karnataka — by PM Modi is a significant step towards indigenisation. Initially, Light Utility Helicopters (LUH) would be manufactured at this factory but over 20 years, HAL plans to produce over 1,000 helicopters in the 3-15 tonne range there. This is expected to fulfil our requirement of helicopters.
The LUH, a 3-tonne class, single-engine multipurpose utility helicopter, has been designed and developed indigenously. Officials say the factory will be augmented to produce superior machines such as Light Combat Helicopters and Indian Multirole Helicopters. It will also be used for maintenance, repair and overhaul of helicopters, and the possibility of exports would be explored. India is beginning to get a toehold in the defence exports market, with defence items and technology worth a record Rs 13,000 crore being exported in 2021-22, a 54.1% rise over the previous year. However, the more compelling reason to indigenise is to cut down the import bill; another pressing reason is Russia’s conflict with Ukraine — India has been the biggest buyer of Russian arms and needs alternatives, including home-grown ones.
Indigenisation of defence products was a significant theme of this year’s Republic Day, with the ceremonial 21-gun salute being presented for the first time by Indian-made 105-mm field guns. Also showcased were Indian-made equipment such as the NAG missile system, battle tank Arjun, K-9 Vajra-T gun system, AKASH air defence system, and Brahmos missile. Developing new armament is not the priority but a necessity. The new helicopter factory in Tumakuru is, thus, cause for pride for those engaged in research, development and manufacturing in the defence sector.
A glacier inventory generated by the Space Application Centre of ISRO using satellite data from 2004 to 2010 show that 32,392 glaciers covering over 71,000 sq km are draining into the Indian territory. These glaciers are in the Indus, Ganga and the Brahmaputra basins encompassing the Himalayas, Trans-Himalaya and Karakoram regions.
During the second phase of the project, the work was extended to map glaciers draining into neighbouring countries. This showed 2,527 additional glaciers, a report by the Department of Space tabled in Parliament today said.
Glacier monitoring has been carried out for select glaciers using satellite data to figure out the general trend of the glacier dynamics. Changes in the size of glaciers between 1962 and 2001 were assessed for 2,630 glaciers. The data on the glacier size for 1962 was taken from Survey of India (SOI) topographical maps as reference and that of 2001 was taken from satellite details. The study showed loss of 13.4 per cent in area of glaciers.
In continuation, monitoring of change in the size of 2,018 glaciers was carried out using satellite data. It indicated that 87 per cent of the glaciers had showed no change, 12 per cent had retreated and one per cent had advanced. It showed a net loss of 20.94 sq km in the total area of 10,250.68 sq km for all monitored glaciers mapped in 2000-01.
Further, 5,234 glaciers were monitored between 2001 and 2018 across the Himalayan-Karakoram region from Kashmir to Sikkim using satellite data and limited Landsat data. The 5,234 ice bodies included 3,435 debris-free glaciers also. In the Karakoram region, 2,058 glacier bodies were checked and mapped. In this region, gain in area (0.056 per cent) has been observed.
3 million at risk of flooding: Study
Three million people in India are at risk of flooding caused by glacial lakes, the highest number of those exposed in the world, according to a new study
The study by scientists at UK’s Newcastle University, UK, is the first global assessment of areas at the greatest risk of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF)
These lakes can suddenly burst and create a fast-flowing GLOF that can spread over a large distance from the original site — more than 120 kilometres in some cases
