Current Events :
India’s sad and bad relations with her neighbours—in particular Pakistan and Nepal—has given a huge boost to China in the region, much to the dismay of Indian diplomats who are passively watching diplomatic initiatives taken in the past to keep South Asia secure go up in smoke as it were.
India’s relations with Nepal, a Kingdom that many would boast of “eating out of our hands” till not so long ago has moved decisively towards the East. The recent recall of Nepal’s Ambassador to India Deep Kumar Upadhyay charged with conspiring with the Indian Ambassador in Kathmandu to topple the Oli government is a serious case in point.
The cancellation of Nepal President’s five day visit is the second indicator that Nepals PM Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli has more or less succeeded in what was initially seen as just a threat, in moving out his eggs from the Indian basket and transferring them safely to Beijing. And despite the Ambassador’s warnings of spoiling relations with India when these were just moving back on track, has adopted the “I do not care” approach that keeps the road between Nepal and China open and well tarred.
Indian diplomacy took a hostile turn after Kathmandu did not allow Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address a series of public meetings in that country just before the Saarc summit. Responding to local pressure, Kathmandu called off these meetings. The cold Indian response turned positively hostile on the Nepal Constitution controversy when New Delhi used the Madhesi concerns to start an economic blockade of Nepal.
This blockade, as a senior Nepal officer told The Citizen at the time, was perhaps the most traumatic event in India-Nepal relations as it completely deprived the country of essential commodities and placed the Nepalese in deep deprivation leading their government to panic.
At that time PM Oli decided to move towards China but as the sources said, he was well aware that the transition of dependency would take a minimum of six months if not more. Beijing responded very positively to the overtures and stepped in almost immediately with a supply of essential gas to help Nepal tide over the bitter winter months. As the sources said, the hardship to the people was unimaginable and the anger against India reached new heights in Nepal.
Subsequently PM Oli has had a very successful week long visit to China, several agreements have been signed, and reports from both Kathmandu and Beijing suggest a burgeoning relationship that are intended—at least for the moment—to eclipse Nepal-India ties. China’s Belt and Road Initiative, that involves the land and maritime old Silk routes has a strong taker in Nepal now, even as New Delhi continues to regard it with deep suspicion and has opted to stay out of it.
A few steps taken recently by India and Nepal to bridge the widening chasm in relations has now received a severe setback with the recall of the Nepalese Ambassador to India, yet another charge on India for trying to topple the government of a sovereign state, and the cancellation of the Presidential visit at the last moment. New Delhi has been caught by complete surprise, and in more knowledgeable and sensitive sections of the foreign policy establishment, deep dismay.
More so as China, despite efforts, had earlier not been able to replace India in Nepal for political, social, economic and geographical reasons. But the economic blockade and what Nepalese describe as the “arrogance” of the Indian government, have now placed Nepal-China relations on the fast track with sources pointing out that PM Oli is determined never to allow his country to be held “ransom” by such blockades again. There is palpable anger in Nepal about New Delhi’s “tendency to treat as as your backyard,” as a Nepal journalist said.
Significantly, the Chinese footprint in Pakistan has grown larger over the last months with now Chinese soldiers being sighted at the Line of Control between India and Pakistan. This has rung alarm bells here, as it is a clear indication of the growing bonhomie between Pakistan and China as seen in the frequent high level visits for several years now, and the almost intimate strategic and political relationship that has been placed, rather effectively, under an economic umbrella. The large scale presence of Chinese officials, workers and now even soldiers at is being explained as part of the projects undertaken by Beijing—from the Gwadar port, to the occupied land of Kashmir, to now the LOC.
What is not making an impression on Indian foreign policy makers, at least not publicly so, is the evidence that Pakistan has rejigged its policy assessment to conclude that talks with the Modi government are not possible in the foreseeable future. And has been indicating that while the lip service in support of the comprehensive dialogue will remain in place, it will open new doors for China at what now seems to be an escalating pace.
New Delhi seems to be remain mired in a tit for tat policy, but both Pakistan and China are using the atmospherics of this to forge stronger strategic bonds. Even as both ratchet up pressure on India to ensure that the basic status quo with each remains, and when tampered with, is restored. For instance the Indian objections to the Pakistan High Commission’s dialogue with the Hurriyat leaders, because of which bilateral talks were cancelled, has been restored. New Delhi, under pressure from Washington where Islamabad took its case, has conceded ground on this and said it has no objections. These talks with the Hurriyat leaders carry great symbolic value for Pakistan, as these demonstrate its claim over Kashmir, and establish the state as ‘disputed.’
Insofar as China is concerned, the recent climbdown on the Chinese dissidents conference in Dharamshala is a case in point. New Delhi in its tit for tat foreign policy decided to grant visas to controversial Chinese dissidents for this conference, after Beijing used what India described as a “hidden veto” on its proposal to declare Jaish e Mohammad chief Masood Azhar a terrorist.
At the end of the controversy, India has cancelled the visas, and the conference as well to appease China on the Tibet issue that remains a bottom line in these bilateral relations, while China has not given an inch at the United Nations on Azhar. It will not, as this ‘technical hold’ on the Indian proposal was also to strengthen its relationship with Pakistan that has given it a big strategic and economic foothold in its land, and so is clearly more important to Beijing at this point in time.
Interestingly,indications from Pakistan suggest a shift in policy wherein a decision seems to have been taken to end this strategic obsession with talks with India. Pakistan is moving away from its obsessive preoccupation with India, opening all doors to China, forging new relations with Russia, keeping Washington on its side, and unlike India keeping out of thorny issues in South Asia. The equations have changed ever sine the Pakistan Army replaced civilian NSA Sartaj Aziz with a military general, with Islamabad now clearly looking at forging new relations, and becoming a player out of the Indian and Kashmir shadow in the world. A shift that is attracting world attention through high level visits, even though it not being noticed in New Delhi.
New Delhi, April 8
The Supreme Court today sought the Centre’s response to a PIL by former Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar for setting up old age homes and exclusive hospitals for the rising population of senior citizens in each of the 622 districts in the country.Arguing before a Bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur, Kumar pleaded that this was necessary as most of the old people were living in poverty — without any roof over their head or proper clothes and food. They were also increasingly becoming victims of abuse and violence.Kumar acknowledged that the Centre had put in place several laws and schemes such as the National Policy on Older Persons 1999, the old age pension scheme 1995, the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007 and the Integrated Programme for Older Persons. The government also announced a health care policy in 2010-11. — TNS
Shahira Naim
Now 27, Jagrup Singh was five when his father, TADA prisoner Sarvjit Singh, was beaten to death inside the Pilibhit district jail and uncle Trilok Singh virtually debilitated.Growing up on the horror stories of that fateful day, Jagrup’s only mission in life is justice for his family.Their land in Jagat Kundro village under Amaria police station went under water in a subsequent flood, rendering the family landless. He now earns a living driving a truck for a transporter in Sitarganj in Uttarakhand.After reading a news item in a local paper last month about the jail staff of Pilibhit district jail going scot-free after beating to death his father and six other prisoners, he wrote a letter to the head of the Shiromani Gurdwara Committee of the historic Nanak Mata Sahib near Sitarganj in Uttarakhand, asking to ensure the reopening of the murder cases against the Pilibhit jail staff.He also asked the gurdwara management to press for compensation for the families of the victims and jobs for their children.Showing a copy of the letter, Jagrup brings out stacks of sepia-coloured papers relating to the case. He has preserved every bit of paper related to the case at his rented house in Bara Dunwa village, not far from his village.A father of two, Jagrup regrets that his mother Jasbir Kaur died three months ago before she could see him getting the guilty punished.The family lives with his maternal aunt while he works in Sitarganj. Tarsem Singh, brother of the maternal aunt’s husband, had brought his father’s body from the Pilibhit hospital in his tractor in 1994.“The sole of his feet had been reduced to pulp. The nails had been pulled out. The police did not let us call anyone for the last rites and insisted on disposing of the body quickly,” he recalls.Jagrup’s uncle Trilok Singh, who survived the beating, cannot walk without support. After being released from Pilibhit jail in 1997, he shifted to Rasul Kalan village under Jandiala police station in Amritsar. Speaking to this reporter from Amritsar, he said that fateful night inside the jail ruined his life. “I have rods inside my leg; I am in pain most of the time and can barely walk with a stick.”He lives with his brother Lakhwinder Singh, who retired from the Border Security Force. Similarly, there was another set of brothers incarcerated under TADA from Saddarpur village under Amaria police station. Jeet Singh was killed inside the jail while his younger brother Harbhajan Singh was brutally beaten up and moved to Amritsar after he left the prison. The wife and family of the third brother, Gurmej Singh, now live in the family house and look after a 10-acre farm.“Our whole family split up after that incident,” reminisces Sukhwant Kaur. She recalls that Jeet had been married for barely four years. After his death, his widow remarried when Harbhajan did not marry her.Too bitter by the experience, Harbhajan sold off his share of the family property and moved to Punjab. Sukhwant Kaur says that he neither keeps in touch with the family, nor has anything to do with Pilibhit.“Pained by all this, my husband died of a heart attack eight years ago. Since then, I and my children are fending for ourselves”.Recalling the horror of those days Sukhwant says that one lived in constant dread.“So-called terrorists from Punjab hid in the fields and forests out here and demanded food from us. If we obliged, the police would get us and if we refused, they gave us hell.”In her family’s case, some alleged terrorists were hiding in their fields and caught hold of her brothers-in-law when they had gone to water the fields. “We were forced to feed them and they went away. After some time, SHO of Amaria police station Rajinder Singh and SI Harpal Singh came in a jeep and started questioning us about that incident. My brothers-in-law refused having sheltered any terrorist. Just then this man came out of the police jeep and reminded them of the food that they had provided. The police immediately arrested and took away both my brothers-in-law,” recalls Sukhwant Kaur.Incidentally, the SO and SI who had visited her house to pick her brothers-in-law are among the policemen sentenced to life imprisonment by a CBI special court for carrying out fake encounters in 1991 in Pilibhit.Jail staff chargesheetedVindhyachal Singh Yadav (Jail Supdt)
Shahjehan Hussain Jafri (Jailor)
Ram Kishore Tripathi
Munna Lal Dwivedi
Liaqat Ali
Bharat Singh Chaudhury
Rajendra Prasad Dikshit
Hem Chand
Girija Shankar
Harpal Singh
Hardwari Lal
Chote Lal
Janki Prasad Gangwar
Rameshwar Dayal 1
Bhagwan Das
Yashwant Singh
Mohammad Sulaiman
Mohan Lal
Ram Swaroop
Rameshwar Dayal 2
Rampal
Anil Kumar Singh
Rampal Singh
Parmanand
Ram Bahadur
Hira Singh
Shanti Swarup
Mewa Ram
Krishan Pal
Sukhlal
Janki Prasad
Lal Bahadur
Jagat Narayan
Kallu Singh
Nokhey Singh
Bharatji
Gangaram
Shyam Singh
Malkhan Singh
Devi Singh
Khempal Singh
Anokh Singh
Simran Sodhi
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 7
Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit today said the peace process with India stood “suspended”, and there were no talks scheduled between the two countries as of now. The statement is being seen as a setback for bilateral ties as the word “suspended” had so far not been used by either nation to define the delay in holding a dialogue. Interacting with the media here, Basit said, “There is no meeting scheduled as of now. I think at present the peace process is suspended.” Basit was also non-committal on the visit by an NIA team to Pakistan: “It is not about reciprocity, but cooperation between the two countries.” He went on to state that dialogue was not a favour by one country to another, and that if India was not ready for talks, Pakistan could always wait. New Delhi was quick to hit back on both the issues. Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Vikas Swarup cited today’s response of a Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson, who said: “I will again state that negotiations are the best means to resolve the issues. I have read the statement of the Indian Foreign Secretary you are referring to and in that also, there was an indication that the talks would take place.”India, as such, has questioned Basit’s statement on “suspension of talks”.Swarup said on March 26, before the visit of the Pakistan JIT, the Indian High Commission had formally conveyed to the Pakistani Foreign Ministry that “the terms of reference had been broadly agreed upon with the proviso that these would be on the basis of reciprocity and followed in accordance with extant legal provisions”.Basit also sought to push the Jammu and Kashmir dispute back in the forefront. “It is the Jammu and Kashmir dispute that is the root cause of mutual distrust and other bilateral issues. Therefore, its fair and just resolution, as per the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, is imperative. Attempts to put it on the back burner will be counterproductive,” he said.The Pakistan envoy also raised the recent arrest of alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav by Pakistan security agencies, and said that it once again “irrefutably corroborates what Pakistan has been saying all along — we all are well aware of those who seem to create unrest and destabilise the country”.On India’s request for consular access to Yadav, Basit said, “The request is under consideration, but can’t say when they would be given consular access.” He also said that Pakistan “subscribed to China’s viewpoint on Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Masood Azhar”. India tried getting the JuD chief designated as a terrorist at the United Nations recently but the Indian move was stalled by the Chinese over a “technical hold”. China had subsequently said that Azhar was not a terrorist.
A U.S.-China war seems to be up ahead in the horizon as the United States is reportedly in talks with India to help each other track submarines in the Indian Ocean in response to China stepping up its undersea activities in the area.
The United States and India will be holding talks on strengthening cooperation on anti-submarine warfare (ASW) in order to devise strategies to keep in Chinese submarines, reports Reuters.
With the tension in South China Sea growing over China’s continued militarization of the area, the United States is seeking help from New Delhi, who so far has remained reluctant to be drawn into America’s embrace.
But troubled by Beijing’s repeated incursions into the Indian Ocean, New Delhi agreed to open up its military bases to the U.S. in exchange for access to weapons technology to help it narrow the gap with China. Indian naval officials say Chinese submarines have been sighted on an average four times every three months. Some are seen near India’s Andamans and Nicobar islands that lie near the Malacca Straits, the entry to the South China Sea through which more than 80 percent of China’s fuel supplies pass.
Neither India nor U.S. military officials, however, have officially revealed details of the talks. “These types of basic engagements will be the building blocks for an enduring navy-to-navy relationship that we hope will grow over time into a shared ASW capability,” a U.S. official told Reuters.
According to an Indian naval source, this year’s Malabar naval exercise taking place in the northern Philippine Sea in June will allegedly include Indo-U.S. ASW drills.
India and the United States already operate variants of the Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol/anti-submarine warfare aircraft, says The Diplomat. The Indian Navy currently operates eight P-8I Neptune, an export version of the P-8A, and has placed an order for four more aircraft in July 2015. The P-8I is equipped with some of the most modern U.S. ASW technology including a Telephonics APS-143 OceanEye aft radar system and a cutting-edge magnetic anomaly detector. The aircraft is also armed with U.S. weapons systems including Harpoon Block-II missiles, MK-54 lightweight torpedoes, rockets and Mark 82 depth charges.
On the other hand, China is seeking to break up nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the South China Sea dispute in a push against Washington. China’s foreign minister Wang Yi recently announced in Laos that Beijing had reached a four-point consensus with three of 10 countries including Brunei, Cambodia and Laos of the ASEAN on the South China Sea issue.
They agreed that the sovereign states were free to choose their own ways to solve disputes; and there should be no attempt to unilaterally impose an agenda on other countries. They further asserted that territorial and maritime disputes should be resolved through consultations and negotiations by parties directly concerned; and that China and ASEAN should be able to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea through cooperation.
China is attempting to secure diplomatic support from states on the disputed islands that they hold, ahead of the verdict on the Philippines’ case against Beijing at The Hague expected in May or June.
So the tensions in the region continue to rise and with the Hague verdict nearing, the possibility of war also nears in case China refuses to let go of the disputed area that the International Court of Arbitration may give to Philippines.
Bodies of two Hizbul Mujahideen militants killed during an encounter in Shopian, Jammu and Kashmir. ANI photo
Srinagar, April 7
Two top Hizbul Mujahideen militants, including a former policeman, were killed on Thursday in a gunbattle with security forces in Shopian district of south Kashmir.
An encounter broke out between security forces and militants in Vehil village of Shopian, 55 km from here, after the troops of 62 Rashtriya Rifles launched a search operation in the area, an Army official said.
Two militants were killed in the encounter, he said, adding that two weapons were recovered from them.
The dead militants have been identified as Naseer Ahmad Pandit and Inamul Haq, alias Waseem Malla, both wanted militants of the Hizbul Mujahideen, the official said.
Pandit had joined militant ranks after deserting police force last year. He was posted on security duty at the residence of PDP MLA and then Works Minister Altaf Bukhari at the time of quitting the force. — PTI
PRIME Minister Nawaz Sharif described his country’s relations with China as: “Sweeter than the sweetest honey”. Pakistan’s ambassador to China gushingly described the Sino-Pakistan relationship as: “Deeper than the ocean, higher than the mountains and stronger than steel”. In the meantime, we are learning more about the real implications of this relationship, which is based on “strategic containment” of India. The China-Pakistan relationship has no parallel anywhere in the world, as nowhere has any country transferred nuclear weapons designs, nuclear enrichment and reprocessing capabilities, ballistic missile designs and manufacturing facilities, as China has done to Pakistan. These details have been described in the book authored by the Washington-based scholar, Andrew Small, titled: “The China-Pakistan Axis: Asia’s New Geopolitics”.The recent revelations of those involved in holding “offshore” accounts in Panama brought out the names of relatives of both Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and of Xi Jinping, China’s all-powerful President, who is also head of the Communist Party’s apex Military Commission. Following domestic political pressure, evidently backed by army chief Raheel Sharif, Nawaz Sharif’s influence has been further eroded. He has, however, hit back at the army, drawing attention to the protection from prosecution it has provided to General Musharraf who has acquired valuable properties in London and Dubai. The Panama revelations have also drawn attention to offshore accounts of the family/relatives of Xi Jinping and of other top Chinese leaders. At least eight current and former members of the standing committee of the Communist Party politburo find distinguished mention in the Panama documents, as does Deng Jingui, who is President Xi’s brother-in-law. Deng has reportedly set up two companies in the British Virgin Islands. While Sharif is showing signs that he is feeling the heat, President Xi has reacted defiantly, enhancing his already extensive powers. He is the first leader since Deng Xiaoping to head the party’s powerful Military Commission. He has gone a step further by nominating himself as the commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces, while unprecedentedly clad in army camouflage uniform. This has predictably led to speculation of President Xi wanting to make sure that the army remains directly under his command. While Xi has taken a tough posture against corruption, it is well known that members of his family/relatives have wide-ranging business connections and interests. It was also no secret that family members of former Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, led by his mother, had business assets exceeding $2 billion.All this is occurring when China is going through a painful economic transition. Its export-driven economic growth over the past three decades has been unparalleled in contemporary history, with growth rates of around 10 per cent over the past two decades. While its present growth rates of around 6.9 per cent may appear problematic for China, it is still around the highest in the world. But the days of China being the sole exporting hub for manufactured goods are slowly declining. As China moves towards becoming a consumption-based economy, huge capacities built for manufacturing will have to be shut down, though some relief can be obtained from supplies to ventures abroad like its Silk Road economic belt and the Maritime Silk Road. With the prospects of growing unemployment, as surplus capacities in manufacturing are shut down, one will likely be staring at the face of a jingoistic China ready to divert attention by becoming more aggressive on its maritime and land border claims. While China would remain primarily focused on its maritime boundaries, it will also be unlikely to agree on issues like demarcating the Line of Actual Control along its borders with India. But both countries will gain by moving ahead with confidence-building measures and better communications between the border forces. Xi Jinping has restructured the command of the PLA along borders with India, with a unified command now established in Chengdu. China appears unlikely to embark on a large-scale military adventure, though pressures will be maintained for keeping us unsettled along our borders. Nothing, however, can be taken for granted. New Delhi would be well advised to hasten the establishment of a Mountain Strike Corps and modernisation of its air power. Beijing’s “one belt one road” initiative across Pakistan, involving an investment of $46 billion, and its virtual takeover of the Gwadar Port in Baluchistan will require new initiatives by India, involving regional and extra-regional powers, to balance Chinese maritime power across the sea lanes of the Indian Ocean, which will be reinforced by continuing supplies of submarines and frigates to Pakistan.We should have no illusions of how China views India. Beijing has built Pakistan’s nuclear, missile and conventional arsenals. It welcomes political leaders and visitors from POK and Gilgit-Baluchistan, while treating visitors from J&K on an entirely different footing. It denies normal visas to Indian nationals from Arunachal Pradesh. Beijing aids and trains members of Northeastern insurgent groups like ULFA, along the Myanmar-China border. It seeks to constantly undermine Indian influence and promotes anti-Indian forces in all our SAARC neighbours. It blocks India’s membership in multilateral forums like the Nuclear Suppliers Group. It protects Pakistan-based terrorist groups like the LeT and JeM from international sanctions in the UN. Given China’s domestic economic and political problems and its aggressiveness with neighbours, there has to be a sustained dialogue to address tensions that will arise periodically along the Sino-Indian border. The trade, economic and investment relationship with China should be expanded. New Delhi should continue cooperation with China in forums like BRICS, the Asian Infrastructure Bank and G20. China’s policies of undermining India’s relations with its South Asian neighbours should be countered by a robust relationship with China’s maritime neighbours like Vietnam, Japan and the Philippines. Military exercises with the US, Japan, Australia and Indonesia in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean should be expanded. Military cooperation with Vietnam must include supplies of Brahmos Cruise missiles, which will serve as a deterrent to Chinese maritime adventurism. Given China’s links with armed separatist groups in the Northeast, India need not be apologetic about the Dalai Lama’s presence in India, or about the carefully nuanced support for democratic and religious freedoms. India must adopt a policy of cooperation combined with containment, in partnership with like-minded powers, in dealing with China.
FINANCE MINISTER Arun Jaitley seems to have been third time lucky this year. This is his first budget which has broken out of the mould of the past. The proposals for 2016-17 give little in the form of an impetus to investment, but he has managed to stick to the fiscal deficit goals laid down in the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management legislation. The very fact that India has kept to its fiscal deficit target of 3.5 per cent is bound to enthuse global credit rating agencies, for whom meeting this criteria is a vital factor in giving a country a high investor rating. It is a different matter that these same rating agencies remained clueless about the viability of leading western financial institutions just before they crashed and burned in 2008. Nonetheless, it improves the investment climate in India in the eyes of foreign corporates.It will also please RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan who has been persistent in pleas for the government to conform to the fiscal deficit targets. In turn, the central government will now expect the RBI to oblige with cuts in interest rates, which may possibly provide a stimulus to kick-start the investment cycle.The second achievement has been the effort to carry out tax reforms, though these are rather piecemeal and patchy. Undoubtedly, however, Mr Jaitley is finally trying to take power out of the hands of the tax official and bring a system where there are less discretionary powers and thus less scope for corruption. The decision to avoid any more retrospective taxation is also welcome, as are the moves to create a better dispute resolution mechanism to reduce tax litigation.The third positive element is the focus on raising public investment in roads and highways. The investments are pegged at a massive Rs 2.18 lakh crore, though this includes the funding for the railways. A push in roads construction has always provided an impetus to the economy as it did when Atal Behari Vajpayee launched the Golden Quadrilateral project.On the other hand, there is virtually nothing for exporters on the grounds that global headwinds are weak and the country needs to focus on the domestic market. This is a rather defeatist approach as exports are clearly a drag on the economy currently. It is surely time to provide support to export industries which had been growing consistently till about two years ago. The plans for the agriculture sector and the rural economy appear to be more political grandstanding with an eye to the forthcoming state elections, as many targets seem unachievable like the expansion in irrigation over 80.6 lakh hectares. Besides, the aim of doubling farm incomes in five years is laudable, but not possible unless minimum support prices are raised sharply. This could, in turn, lead to a spiralling of food prices and raise prices significantly. Interestingly, the budget proposals also highlight the fact the highest-ever allocation of Rs 38,500 crore has been made for the MGNREGA, UPA’s flagship programme which had been severely criticised by the BJP before winning the elections. It has now been adopted, wisely so, by the NDA as a scheme that can alleviate the problems of the rural populations after two years of failing monsoon.Yet the biggest lacuna in the budget is any real stimulus for the creation of jobs. Barring the proposals for sops to fresh recruitment by companies, there is hardly any incentive for increasing the setting up of manufacturing units. Companies will hire new employees only when they are needed and not just to avail of these relatively minor benefits. In the roads sector, for which big public investments are being made, employment is available largely on a temporary basis and for unskilled workers. The only push to manufacturing, and hence large scale employment, in the proposals are the excise concessions being given to sectors covered by the ‘Make in India’ scheme.As far as the recapitalisation of banks is concerned, the amount of Rs 25,000 crore is far too little compared to the lakhs of crores of stressed assets in this sector. At the same time, the effort to move forward on a new insolvency code as well as the plans for the legislation to prevent illicit deposit scams that ensnare many is laudable. The proposals have little succour for the common man facing rising prices especially of food products. The cost of services will go up across the board with the new 0.5 per cent Krishi Vikas cess. The middle class may welcome the new provisions for pension schemes and the higher deduction for housing loans, but there is little that is heartening for a segment that used to be the traditional constituency of the BJP. Even the crash in world oil prices has not been passed on by way of lower petrol or diesel prices to consumers. In this context, it is amazing to find a special scheme proposed to lure foreign oil majors to invest in highly expensive projects of deep sea and ultra deep oil and gas exploration. At a time when oil prices are at historic lows, no oil company is likely to venture into the highly risky and costly job of deep sea exploration. Such ventures become cost effective only when prices are ruling at high levels. There are some definite plus points in the proposals, like the scheme to provide LPG stoves to women in rural areas as well as the plan for the modernisation of land records and the digital literacy mission. The allocation for the social sector has also been raised significantly, clearly in response to severe criticism over the cuts made last year. However, it abounds in a mass of trivia about individual concessions especially on the tax side. Mr Jaitley’s third budget is thus a mixed bag. It is a definite departure from the past in terms of presentation, and also in firmly adhering to fiscal goals. But it lacks a holistic vision and, most importantly, fails to provide the much-needed push to investment and employment growth. In the absence of such a stimulus, it may be difficult for the economy to reach the goal of a high growth path of 8 to 10 per cent in the years to come.
Beijing, April 6
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar will visit China later this month to strengthen military ties despite strains in bilateral relations over Beijing’s move to block India’s attempts in the UN to clamp a ban on Pakistan-based terror group JeM chief Masood Azhar.Parrikar, the first Indian defence minister to visit China since 2013, will pay a three-day visit starting from April 18 during which he is expected to hold talks with top Chinese political and defence leaders, official sources here said.His predecessor AK Antony visited China in 2013.No agreements were expected during Parrikar’s visit which is being regarded as bilateral visit aimed at firming up ties, officials said.His trip follows high-level visits by top Chinese defence officials, including Central Military Commission (CMC) Vice-Chairman General Fan Changlong, to India last year.CMC headed by President Xi Jinping is the highest commanding authority of the 2.3-million strong People’s Liberation Army.While the two sides had set up a dialogue mechanism under Special Representatives of both the countries to find a solution to the vexed boundary dispute spanning 3,488 km, they also operationalised a Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination to address tensions arising out of aggressive patrolling of the disputed boundary.The Special Representatives have held 18 rounds of talks so far. The two sides also opened more border points for regular interactions between their officers and men to build friendly rapport between them.Chinese officials say the border situation is generally stable and the two militaries should take concrete actions to implement the consensus reached by their leaders on the issue.Parrikar’s visit also comes as concerns were rising in India about China’s move to block its bid to have JeM chief Azhar designated as terrorist by the UN in the aftermath of the terror attack on an air base in Pathankot in January.While Indian officials say that strains resulting out of this controversy will not affect Parrikar’s visit as both sides attached importance to improving military ties, reports say India mulled to re-clamp security checks on Chinese firms investing in India to show its concern over the issue.India is also concerned by reports of presence of Chinese troops in the forward positions in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.China has termed such reports as baseless. — PTI
